28 July 2007

Has is been so long?

Whew - it HAS been a while! Since I included this link in our ever so slightly overdue (grandmas all over the world snicker at this point) thank you notes, it might be good to update, huh? Well here is the short version for now, and once your appetite has been whetted (whet? whettened?), you'll be forced to come back for more details later. Brilliant!

Number One:

Brad and I are having a baby soon! Katherine Leigh is due August 28th, but as we have about one million things to do before she arrives, my instincts tell me she will make her world debut at her leisure. And what is causing all this busyness in our lives, you ask? Well...

Number Two:

We are moving into our new house! We closed on July 12, just five days after they installed the house's first central AC. Ever. Mom and Dad have already given us a lot of help - mostly in the form of hard labor, but also in the way of advice and perspective (Soon after they bought their house on Swako they found out they were pregnant and that Mom's sporty little car was too small for a car seat - wait, that sounds familiar...) and they are back for more abuse this weekend! I think painting ought to be done by the end of the weekend or by mid-week at the latest, and then we can start the slow-motion moving.

Those are the biggest updates. They kind of over-shadow things like, it turns out Brad and I don't like tabouli after all, Transformers the movie was a bit of a let down, and my Mom and Louisa throw the most awesome baby showers of all time.

Since my little kitty brain is tired and blogspot is being silly about letting me put pictures right up on this little page, I invite you to visit j3pickering.smugmug.com to satiate your voyeuristic needs (look at pictures). TX baby shower and house pictures are coming soon!

With love and laughs,

Jenny

20 February 2007

Recital Time!

I am officially approved and scheduled for my Artist Certificate Rectial at SMU!! All I have left to do is circle Saturday, April 28 at 2pm in red in my calendar and it is set it stone.

Please join me now in a big sigh of relief that the time worked for everyone.(ahhhhhhh..........) And for your viewing pleasure, my almost constant view for the next couple of months:



Long live the percussion recital!

-Jenny

01 December 2006

Thanksgiving in KC

Traveling by train, roasting a turkey in the world's smallest kitchen, being privy to the super-secret 24 hour salad recipe, watching the Macy's Day Parade Live then passing out in your friends' NYC apartment - this was Thanksgiving '05.


This year we faced the holiday with equal parts excitement (visiting with family, getting out of town, eating) and trepidation (how the heck do you top T-day in NYC??). Now that we are safely back home, I can tell you, we were right to be eager and foolish in our worry - we had a wonderful time! Driving was not nearly as nice as riding the train, although napping was easier.


Susie's feast was equally as great as Louisa's, and we had more room to stretch out! In fact, with Frank and Susie keeping seperate houses, Brad and I could have Frank's entire HOUSE to ourselves. We slept in, we relaxed, we watched TV for the first since July, we got wonderful camping gear for early Christmas and we were thankful. We saw all the old Kansas City favorites - Frank and Susie, Susie's boys Alex and Andrew (15 and 17), Danielle and Vicki - and a new addition - wonderful Jeff, Vicki's boyfriend (apprentice tattoo artist and cat lover).


Also, Melanie and her boyfriend Mike (an Aussie and a gentleman) drove to KC for the weekend and we got to visit with them on Saturday. We got to hang out at the Roasterie where Danielle works to look at pictures and catch up.


Afterward we went to the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City and saw some amazing doll houses, then had Mongolian Barbecue for dinner - yum! On our way back to Frank's house we got to see The Plaza all lit up for Christmas. All in all - a great weekend.


Jenny

Who said Texas doesn't have fall???

Well, when we moved to Texas, I thought it would be summer all year long... Boy, was I wrong. Suddenly, it's winter time. Fall decided to rear its pretty head last weekend. Too bad we weren't even in town to enjoy the three days of color changing. We were in Kansas City visiting family for Thanksgiving and when we returned the trees had already started shedding their leaves.


We settled in to enjoy fall and winter snuck up on us. I guess it didn't sneak, because the weathermen were telling us all about the major winter storm about to show up. It went from 75 to less than 30 overnight. And with it came a little freezing rain and a few snow flurries. I guess major is a relative term (for those of us from Wisconsin, at least).



So, whoever said Texas doesn't have a fall was wrong. We DO have a fall! And it lasts a whole week. Oh ya, winter lasts about a week, too.

Brad

27 November 2006

The Wedding


Wedding pictures are up!

Visit www.j3pickering.smugmug.com

Enjoy!

About time!

Dear, lovely, wonderful and patient family and friends, here they are....

UPDATES!

We know the wait was unfair, but we hope you enjoy them all the same.

With Love,

Jenny and Brad

29 July 2006

Home!

We just walked in the door from our fabulous honeymoon at Disney World. When we have eaten and rested a bit, you can expect a full report and pictures to boot. Man, it's good to be home!

09 July 2006

We have a cake!

Well, our adventures in cake land are finally over. It took a while to get everything finalized, but the effort seems to be worth the wait. I met with our baker (Petit 4) this morning and everything was agreed upon. The cake will consist of rich chocalately goodness, with a smattering of berries. Or, as described by our baker: Delicious Sacher torte (chocolate almond) soaked in Grand Marnier, filled with ganache, raspberries and blackberries, and bittersweet chocolate buttercream. The outside shall be decorated with Italian meringue buttercream with straight edges and elegant borders.

Yum Yum.

If you look really hard and squint your eyes at these two pictures, you might be able to imagine what our cake will look like:



-Brad

05 July 2006

What Wedding?

Two and a half weeks until the wedding!! Am I worrying about the wedding? the honeymoon? the move? the whole 'starting a new life in a new place' thing? No. I'm worrying about placement auditions for S*M*U's orchestra.
They will be held a week after Brad and I move, and I am thinking maybe I ought to be working on the music, even though I had promised myself a practice-free month before the wedding. Obviously the nagging practice guilt has not motivated me very far since it hit a couple of days ago:

In other news, I am still holding out hope that my baby garden is going to produce before we have to leave! I am just sure my morning glories are going to start to bloom any day now and that my brave little green tomatoes are going to ripen at any moment. Maybe.


-Jenny