Catch Up

Steven's Wedding :) Random, but cute!

Dear Familia,

Zane said my last posts were not his favorites b/c they were all about random things and not about what I've been up to lately. So I'll give you a brief synopsis of my days lately:

-I've been working a ton...I guess a lot of the Snowbirds are also substitutes, because once the temperatures started rising, I got a job pretty much every day.

-I've been doing my best to get some wedding planning done before I leave to DC (ON SUNDAY :) I've gone to a few reception venues, met with All Saints to finalize our date (save the date coming soon!), and started asking my bridal party.

-I went to Tannyn's graduation and Vanessa's dance recital during another "blink and you'll miss it" trip to Miami.

-I've spent a lot of time on craigslist looking for a house for the fall...it's ridiculously expensive to live in major cities on the East coast and really hard to search for things without actually being in the same city (or even on the same side of the country).

-I spent some time with Tara this morning and with Mom M, Auntie Carla, Sorrin, and Tannyn this afternoon. That was fun.

Tomorrow I am going to pack during the day and then we are filming a music video in the evening. Yes, you read right, a MUSIC VIDEO. Stop by later this weekend to check it out.

Love,

Jem

Matchbook Mag

Source: matchbookmag.com via Jeramia on Pinterest

Dear Familia,

Last up (for now), Matchbook Magazine, "an online lifestyle publication celebrating classics - shaken and stirred." They had a checklist of "50 classics for your closet" that caught my fancy.

Love,

Jem

Source: matchbookmag.tumblr.com via Jeramia on Pinterest

Lonny Mag

Source: lonnymag.com via Jeramia on Pinterest

Dear Familia,

Next up, Lonny Magazine, "a bimonthly online magazine that focuses on lifestyle and home decor." Definitely a lot of eye candy!

Love,

Jem

Rue Magazine

Source: ruemag.com via Jeramia on Pinterest

Dear Magazine Readers,

You know I'm always looking for the eco-friendly option out there...so this next few of posts are going to be on three fabulous online magazines there are these days. Why are they so great?

-No printed paper...no waste :)

-You can click on products you see that you like straight from the magazine pages!

-You can "clip" pages and keep them organized on pinterest, Evernote (post coming soon) or in your bookmarks folder.

Really, the possibilities are endless. First up Rue Magazine, "an online interiors and entertaining magazine with a fashion and lifestyle sensibility." It's full of fun inspiration on everything from fashion to party planning. I love it!

Love,

Jem

Skin Deep

Dear Familia,

As a follow up to my last post I just wanted to give a shout out to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. I have used this frequently to check out all of the products I use (sometimes with horrifying results). It's a great resource!

Love,

Jem

Sunscreen

Dear Familia,

It's summer time which means lots of time outdoors in the sun. This is a great guide to finding sunscreens that don't contain ingredients known to cause cancer (this was a news-flash for me as well...most popular sunscreens contain carcinogens)!

Check it out!

Love,

Jem

Dear 16 Year Old Me

Read the story behind the video.

Smallville Wedding

Dear B,

How perfect is it that on the series finale of Smallville, Lois and Clark got married?

1. I remember getting hooked on Smallville when I came to visit you in Hawaii and you were doing your 12 hour shifts.

b. We are both planning weddings! I love it.

I'm so sad it's over :(

Paz,

Jem

PS More pics to come!

Confirmation

horrible camera phone picture, but it works

Dear Familia,

Tonight Cassi, Kiki, and Abbi celebrated their Confirmation. Bishop Olmstead, head of the Phoenix diocese, presided over the lovely Mass in their honor. He gave a fabulous homily talking about 3 reasons what made Pope John Paul II, or any person for that matter, great. I will work my hardest to remember and incorporate these things into my daily life.

1. He was a good friend

2. He was a good family member

2. He was good at forgiving

Did you know that JPII was beatified (the first step to becoming a Saint) on the same day Osama Bin Laden was killed. That is mind blowing! How different could two people really be??

Paz,

Jem

Busy Weekend!

Kiki's "house" the clear winner of the night!

Kiki getting ready to take care of business.

Dear Familia,

What a whirlwind of a weekend! First up, right after work on Friday, I picked up the older three girls and we headed to church for the "In His Name" retreat before Confirmation this coming Tuesday. I gave a talk on John 3:30 (He must increase; I must decrease) which I think went well. Thanks Steven for all your help with that. It was also a retreat to shed some light on homelessness in America so we spent a bit of time constructing cardboard box "houses" that we slept in for the night. We had to leave the retreat early Saturday morning because we had Kiki's basketball tournament at noon. They lost by 3 in a fierce battle in the semi-finals. Alysha and I had to leave that early to meet up with Auntie Lucy to head to Miami for Sorrin's dance recital. Unfortunately Sorrin was in tears because she was so exhausted from a full day of dancing that I didn't get any cute pictures with her after the dance, but we had a lot of fun! Today we went to Church and then had practice for Confirmation. I also finally got to talk with my friend Brian who is currently in Afghanistan doing secret squirrel stuff. Him and I are probably getting married around the same time so we were both excited to chat about our big plans. It was a great weekend :)

Up this week? Full on MOH mode to tie up some loose ends for Alysha's big day!

Paz,

Jem

E.L.P.

Dear Rudy and Madi,

I am SO proud of you for testing into the Extended Learning Program with Mesa Public Schools. I literally had to test twice a year for 3 years before i finally got into the program. Trust me when I say that it will be the one of the best things to happen to you in school :) Forget what all those crazy movies say, it's Nerds that rule the school!! I love you.

Paz,

Jem

The Ring

Dear Familia,

I've had lots of requests pertaining to the ring, so I thought I would give you some fun details.

1. The ring was custom made from a designer Zane found on Etsy*. Her name is Kate Szaabone and you can click on her name to see more of her work.

2. Knowing how much it would mean to me, Zane looked for a ring with a conflict-free stone. This one happens to be moissanite which is said to have "been born from the stars" and was originally found in a meteor crater in Arizona!

3. I'm not really a jewelry kind of girl, but Zane wanted me to have something special and he really just did an amazing job finding a ring that I love.

*I will have to do a different post about Etsy one of these days because I am obsessed.

The first three photos are courtesy of the jeweler and the last one is courtesy of yours truly :)

Paz,

Jem

Adele

A heartbreakingly beautiful song that is on repeat on my Itunes

DIY Water Bottle

Dear Familia,

How cool is this DIY project? She reused a glass jar (like one you would have from spagetti) to make a water bottle, complete with straw :) How To

Paz,

Jem

Pinterest

Source: thebridesguide.marthastewartweddings.com via Jeramia on Pinterest

Dear Ladies in my Life (LIML),

Ok, I am definitely obsessed with this site. Basically anything you see on the internet, you can "pin" onto one of your "boards" for future reference. For example, I have some wedding boards set up so when I see something I like for the wedding, I "pin" it onto the appropriate board and later on down the line I can refer back to the board to remember what I liked. It is the eco-friendly way to keep an inspiration binder :)

Click here to check mine out:

Paz,

Jem

Bird Release

Dear Kate,

Yesterday I went to the bird release in your honor. He was the cutest owl I've ever seen up close (ok, also the first) and had only needed to be at Liberty Wildlife for about a month to get back into tip-top shape. We got to say a wish as he flew away in the hopes that it gets carried up to heaven to you. I selfishly wished that you will continue to support me on my never ending quest to become a person that will change this world for the better. You were such a great role model Kate and I will never forget all of the things you did for me and for the people I love.

The morning I found out that you had passed I called my Mom crying and she told me we couldn't be selfish about this, that we needed to be happy that you were not in terrible pain anymore. I am happy that you didn't suffer long Kate, but I am devastated for this world you left behind. You were one of the "good guys" and we needed you. On this Mother's Day you will be in my heart because you helped me grow into the woman I am today. Keep watch over us down here and we will see you again someday.

I love you!

Jem

Adele and Billy's video was much better than mine (I was facing the sun) so I am going to steal theirs and put it here :)

I Love Glee

This video of Chris Colfer accepting his Golden Globe reminds me of my favorite episode of Glee, Original Song.

Love. This. Show.

Substitute Teaching

Dear Familia,

So I started substitute teaching in January and so far it's been...interesting. I've taught every grade from k-12 and done Math, English, Science, Art, and even sports (hilarious). Some days are amazing and some days seriously test my patience. For example, today I had to call security twice at the shall-remain-nameless high school where I was covering a Math class. Once the kids were literally lighting things on fire and once one of the kids refused to give me his name when I was writing him up. I actually didn't call security the second time, but they showed up and I let them deal with his attitude. Outrageous. I've only been to Mountain View once and haven't been to Kino at all which makes me super sad. Skyline High has been my favorite school so far and I even have a favorite class of kids. They make me want to ditch the masters track and sign up to get my teaching certificate (Amundsen's 4th hour, you are superb).

It's a pretty amazing feeling to teach someone how to do something and even more amazing just to get to connect with students on a day-to-day basis. Only having classes for a day is really hard even on days like today. I want to be able to stay with those kids and help them realize that they should be taking full advantage of a FREE education. Even if Arizona is behind in the US education game, Mesa has one of the best districts in the state and we are light years ahead of countries like Guatemala. I had some incredible teachers over the years that truly inspire and motivate me to this day and it is pretty special to even be a tiny bit connected to this profession!

Paz,

Jem

Zane's Job

Dear Familia,

I get a lot of questions about what Zane does for a living so I thought I would take the time to give you all an answer. These days you can find this amazing man lending his numerous talents to the Overseas Programming and Training Support (OPATS) division of the Peace Corps headquarters in DC. The office has three main units: the Program Support Unit, the Training & Evaluation Unit, and the Knowledge Exchange Unit. They are in charge of pretty much anything and everything having to do with training in Peace Corps. 50% of his job is being the HR Rep for his office. When someone in OPATS has an HR issue he deals with the HR department for them.

The other 50% is being is the "Administrative Specialist" to the three unit managers, the Chief of Operations, and the Director of the Office. One of the very cool things he does in this role is attend the weekly Directors meetings where he gets to hear from development professionals with decades of experience under their belts. He mainly works with the Director of the Office but occasionally something will come up with one of the other four. This week the Chief of Operations had him help out on a new initiative USAID is rolling out called Feed the Future. The program is a government wide effort to increase investment in the agriculture sector and Zane was very excited that OPATS would be the lead Peace Corps agency on this initiative.

Right now he has a 2.5 year assignment and after that he might stay with OPATS or move within Peace Corps for another 2.5 year assignment or move on to another organization (kinda strange but you can only work for Peace Corps for a total of 5 years consecutively, then you have to wait 5 years before you can work for them again). Considering we can't even give you a 100% on a wedding date and location, giving you a 3 year plan is a stretch ;)

Paz,

Jem

PS The picture is from Peace Corps Guatemala...a tradition they started in his site of signing an American flag at Close of Service (COS). He was the first, but there will be 4 before the end of the year!

Happy Friday!

Dear Familia,

via

This is a great video that is sure to perk up your day :)

Paz,

Jem

Viva la Raza!

Check out Style Me Pretty's Shoot Here

Dear Familia,

Happy 5 de Mayo everyone! Although most people don't know the actual reason for the holiday (the Mexican defeat of the French in the Battle of Puebla and not Mexico's Independence Day which is September 16th), it is a fantastic way to celebrate Mexican pride and eat amazingly delicious food.

This year it was especially fun to see some of the wedding blogs feature some hispanic flavor in their posts today and reminded me of all of the great details I'll be able to use at my wedding!

Paz,

Jem

Wedding Questions

Dear Familia,

Since we've only been engaged 3 days, we still do not have a lot of the details ironed out. However, we do know that there is a 99% chance that it will be at All Saints Roman Catholic Parish in Mesa, Arizona in 2012 ;) What, not enough details for you?? Haha.

As some of you may know, I am currently waiting anxiously to hear back from Georgetown Law regarding my admission off their wait-list (and thus into the dual MPP/JD program with the public policy school). Their seat deposits are due today so I should find out in the next couple of weeks if I am in or not. Until then, it is hard to nail down the date which in turn makes it hard to nail down pretty much anything else. We have a list of 9 possible dates (compiled by my amazing fiance using my academic calendar) and I will let everyone know as soon as we choose one! Expect a wedding website to be up and running by June 1st.

Paz,

Jem

Engaged! (a recap of the bday weekend)

Dear Familia,

My birthday festivities started at midnight on April 29th and continued right through till Sunday morning! On Saturday afternoon Sam and Sarah, Tara and her family, Roberta, and Sari and her kids came over for the Grilled Cheese Party. It was great to have everyone over, especially because Zane made a birthday toast that turned into a proposal that I happily accepted!! He got down on one knee and everything :) After the party, Auntie Lisa invited us out to Queen Creek for a celebratory sushi dinner that was delicious and so fun. Then we had breakfast with Auntie Lucy on Sunday morning before Zane flew back to DC. It was an incredible weekend to say the least! Unfortunately only cell phone pics were taken of us after the engagement, but I will make sure we have some beauties on our wedding website!

Paz,

Jem

Kaiya's 1st Steps

Dear Tara,

Does this seem like she was auditioning for "flower girl" or what? Taking her first steps just a few minutes before Zane proposes, how ridiculously cute :)

Paz,

Tia Mia