Christmas Favorites

It's a sad thing when Christmas ends. Really. I get bummed. One, because that means I have to go back to work. Blech! Two, because now there's really nothing to look forward to in the winter now that Christmas is over. And three, Christmas music and movies come to an end. BUT, there are LOTS of things to look forward to now that Christmas is over...SPRING...and then SUMMER!! (how many more weeks till I'm doing freezing my toenails off everyday?)

Brian and I made our way to the big Mitt, the Glove, the up North, the cold, Michigan for Christmas. We had our own little Christmas Thursday morning where we opened each other's gifts. Brian is a darn good shopper! I love all my presents!! And I must say, I'm the way cool wife that got my hubby DJ Hero. Ok, ok, the gift was 40% selfish too. I love that game! We ate our crepes with ligon berries and got ready for the drive to MI. Well, my eye was hurting really bad the day before. I was going to try to wait it out, but as we kept driving on, my eye kept getting worse. We weren't going to make it to MI in time for an eye doctor to see me that day and they were closed the next day. So we stopped at an eye doctor in Maryland on our way. It's a good thing we did. I ended up with a bacterial infection in my left eye. It's my third time having this. It's a KILLER when it gets really bad. My doctor said if I didn't get it treated in time, it would've gotten much worse and could've lead to blindness in my left eye...UMMM...YIKES!!!!! As a photographer, I generally rely on my eyes to see things that would make a great picture. I'm sure I could use ONE eye and still be a photographer, BUT I still think it might've been kinda hard. We are so thankful God provided and allowed us to see the doctor just in time in order to get my medicine. God provides for his children. He knows what we need even before we ask.

Anyway, our Christmas was great! The Barnhart family did their usual Christmas tradition. Christmas Eve, Mom's birthday, dinner at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, then off to Bronner's to check out all the ornaments, and then off to some Christmas Eve service. This was Brian's first time attending a Barnhart Christmas Tradition. haha...poor guy. I think he was in shock when he first stepped inside the Bavarian Inn to eat lunch/dinner. I can't really explain this place to anyone. (I've also found that I have a hard time explaining my elementary/high school and college experience at Pensacola Christian College to anyone...really, only those who have been through it know what we are talking about) Anyway, it's a Bavarian themed restaurant where the servers dress is knee socks and other garb I don't know how to say. The walls are very brightly colored and well...it's just weird. But, we like it! We've been going since before I was born.


The pictures below are just a few of my favorite that happened over Christmas break.

Mom, pretending I'm not there with my camera in her face.

Mandy, humoring me.

My dad, also humoring me.

My husband, tired of humoring me.

David being dragged into the picture to also humor me.


My mom, moments away from pulling off Santa's beard and dashing all the hopes and dreams of every child (and brother's named David) in the room.

These little plastic German boy and girl that come in our frozen yogurt and how we'd all remember Nanni collecting all of ours and taking them home with her.

The side of the restaurant from where we were sitting.

The view into the restaurant where our table was. (sidenote: this place has like FIVE other rooms for eating and they are all themed.)

Ok, this is NOT a favorite. This is a creepy doll face.

Bronner's, where it's Christmas ALL. YEAR. LONG.

Dad and a plastic Santa number 54 (There are thousands in this store).

This picture shows 2% of what the rest of the store looks like.

A Mermaid themed Christmas tree. Creepy? yes.

One of the many halls where ornaments are found.

I LOVE this picture!

I played with different Bokeh's in this store. It was perfect for playing with the Bokeh on my camera. (Bokeh - where you can get your camera to blur out the background in a picture. Sometimes you can get the background to be blurry circles, stars, hearts, etc...it's make the foreground of the picture stand out more.)

Bokeh.

Jolly Bokeh.

Perfect example of Bokeh. (notice the blurry circles? That's Bokeh.)

Brian copying Santa number 987.

Santa number 987 blushing whilst I kiss his rosey cheek.

Jack (my buddy) looking from the outside in.

Mandi's very festive cake she made for my mom's bday.

Singing Happy Birthday...off key.

THIS PICTURE! done. (she'll kill me when she finds out it's up, but I couldn't resist)

Jack, when he get's punished. He has to go down the basement. But he's smart enough to use the cat door to peek out...and actually get his WHOLE body out of the door.

Stocking's by the fire. (which one is not like the other)

My family in the living room, David watching The Christmas Story and us playing Speed Scrabble.

The dog's opening their presents first Christmas morning.

The Christmas tree after everything has been opened.

Rental's.

Offspring.

Offspring's and Offspring's in law.

Seester's.

Playing DJ Hero. What. Gangstaaaaaa.

And my buddy and me for a two minute stroll in the icey wilderness.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!!

Tell me about it!

365 Days Ago

In 365 days...I met a boy.



Two days before we met, I got a call from this boy I had never heard of. He asked me out on a date for Saturday, December 19. We were to meet at Ebenezzar's coffee shop (a 10 minutes walk from my house on the Hill and normally a 15 minute drive for him from Alexandria).
I remember EVERYTHING about that day. EVERYTHING. That day was so crystal clear to me.
I remember waking up and being extra happy.

I remember running into my roommate's Leslie's room to wake her up by pouncing on her bed so we could go make a snowman. I remember her telling me 10 more minutes and then I went to the second floor to wake up my other roommate Kate. No one wanted to wake up so I went downstairs to wait for everyone. FINALLY, the house woke up and some of us were headed out to venture in the snow. I was extra happy.

Brian and I were supposed to meet at 1pm that day, but I texted him to see if we could meet later. I wanted more time to play in the snow with roommates. I just remember not being so bummed about it snowing, but I was excited! I'm NEVER excited about snow...but maybe my excitement was for something more that would happen that day. I just know I was extra happy that day.

After my roommates and I met some friends that were making their way towards Starbucks, we came back in. I got a shower, did my hair (who knows why...it was just going to get messed up anyway), talked to my roommates, and opened the door to get in my car to drive to Eb's. Closed the door and called Brian. "Umm, I'm not sure I can make it...you see, I can't get my car out of the snow and it's too deep to walk in." But then decided, hey, I'm from Michigan! I can do this!

Plus, I don't want to leave for Christmas break and have this guy forget to call me again. So I stepped out of our door, sludged through over the knee high snow, pushed against a blizzardy wind, mumbled under my breath "this guy better be worth this" and finally made it to Eb'z.

I stepped inside the door, stomped off the snow from my new boots, tried to fix the mess of my hair, and walked over to the guy that looked like the guy I was supposed to be meeting. I tapped on his shoulder and he quickly got off the phone, which from what I heard, he was trying to find a middle ground meeting place for us so I wouldn't have to walk in the snow. He stood up and I took off my coat and he said "Hi, I'm Brian." I said "Hi, I'm Jenny, I have to go to the bathroom."

He asked me what I would like to drink and I ordered a small gingerbread latte, skim, and then off to the bathroom I went to fix my hair and put myself together again.

The next three hours flew by as we sat and talked about who we are, what we dream of becoming, our family, our friends, college experiences, God, church, books, music, sports...everything. He made me laugh. I made him laugh. We laughed together. I took quick glances at him to subtly check him out. ;) Thought he was SUPER cute and that we really hit it off.

We looked out the window to see the sky get darker and noticed it was getting pretty late. I had a Christmas party that night I was going to. Though I wanted to spend the rest of the evening with him and contemplated on inviting him to the party, I refrained. He walked me back to my house...and I noticed his shoes. He was wearing Sperry's. :) Sperry's are boat shoes, not really meant for trudging in over-the-knee-deep snow. I also contemplated on throwing a snowball at him...but also refrained from that too. I didn't want to scare him off right away with my weirdness. We passed by the corner of the gas station where this homeless man often sits and says good morning to those passerbyers walking to the metro.

We finally came to my house where we stood outside of the gate to say goodbye. We both said we had a lot of fun. And I couldn't stop smiling. Maybe it was because my face was frozen that way, or maybe it was because I kinda knew I had just met my husband. Either way...I was happy. We talked again about our Christmas plans and then he said he'd like to do this again once we are back from Christmas break to which I very eagerly muttered underbreath , YEAH! DEFINITELY!

I walked in the house to find all my roommates sitting in the living room. They couldn't help but notice the HUGE (frozen) grin on my face. "How'd it go?" they asked. "Umm...it was GREAT!!" I said. One of them chirped up to say the moment I left the house, she knew there would be something different about this one. I kinda knew it too. I was extra excited that day...maybe because of the snow...maybe because of something else. ;)

"Will you see him again?"

"Gosh, I don't know. I really hope so, but I doubt he will call again. I think he thinks I'm weird. Plus, it's Christmas break, he'll probably forget all about me."

We all got ready for the Christmas party which was a block away from our house and then soon we were off to celebrate with good friends. The whole time wishing Brian had come with me or we could have spent more time together. I got in the house to find my friend Karen.

"Karen!! I had a blind date today!!!"

With those words, we quickly went down to her room to find him on Facebook.

"Jenny, he's CUTE!"

"Yep! and we had so much fun just talking! I feel like I could've talked to him forever! We'll see if he calls or texts me again though."

After the Christmas party, the text ring on my phone chimes! I open it to see Brian's name. :)

I smiled... It was simple text. Nothing that really said "Hey, I like you...alot!" It simply said "Hope your Christmas party was fun!" It was a good text to let me know, yes, I still want to take you out after Christmas.

At the end of the night, I was extra happy. Maybe it was because of the snow...or maybe it was because of something else.

On my drive back to MI, we talked what seemed like the whole way home. I smiled some more and was excited because it seeeeeeemed like he liked me back too. We talked all during Christmas break and finally I came back and so did he and we had our second date.

I was more nervous for our second date because that's when they REALLY decide if they want to take you out AGAIN. I wasn't really nervous for our first date. But the second, phew! BUTTER.FLIES. He picked me up from my house and we walked on a very very windy night to a restaurant called Sonoma. I mistakenly order Spaghetti...Ugh. I tried my darndest not to slurp and get it all over my face and clothes. I didn't eat much and neither did he. We mostly were both nervous and just talked the whole time. At the end of our date, we decided to take a little detour to the Capitol for a stroll. I had heels on that night and it was really really really cold and windy. But I didn't seem to mind. I just wanted to spend more time with him.

We then walked back to my house and about two blocks away, we held hands for the first time. It was kind of on accident and kind of not. He had a glove on and I didn't. :)

I invited him in to play a card game. Mostly, I just wanted to spend more time with him. I don't think he really cared for cards and frankly, I didn't either.


A few weeks go by and on January 3, he officially asks me to be his girlfriend. YES!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe this guy liked me!!! Where ON EARTH did he come from?

After a few months...ok one month, my feelings for him grew and I started to notice his did too. He would do things for me that no one else would ever think to do. My car was stuck under an igloo of ice, and he drove in one morning before I was up to dig it out of the igloo. He would tackle the mounds of ice surrounding our street parking so I would have a place to park my car. He drove in at midnight one night just to say goodnight to me and then quickly drove back to Alexandria. I fell in love.

He threw me a surprise birthday party...which I actually knew about it, but pretended not to know. :) Then on February 14, he told me he loved me and I said it back. I knew at this point, he was definitely the man I was going to marry. I couldn't picture myself with anyone else. I was amazed at how unbelievably perfect he was for me. I didn't actually think there could be anyone like that.

A few months go by and then he meets my parents for the first time. Another month goes by and we travel to NYC together. Little did I know he would ask me to be his wife that night on May 15 next to the Plaza Hotel.

I cried and said YES!!

Wedding planning happens during the summer.

And on September 4, 2010, we became Husband and Wife...Mr. and Mrs. Bosak.

They went on a very relaxing honeymoon to Cancun, had lots of fun, slept, ate, and drank all day, everyday.





And now, we are building our home together, making memories as husband and wife for the first time and praying through building our family someday.



We have many fond memories and inside jokes. There are things only I know and things only he knows. It's wonderful.

It's amazing the difference one year can make. We met, starting dating, got engaged, and married within the year. What? Who does that? But when you know...you just know and why on earth WAIT any longer??

I love being Mrs. Brian Bosak. I couldn't have picked a better husband. I had a picture this guy who I wanted to marry in my head forever and never ever thought he would actually exist until I met him 365 days ago on December 19...the day I was extra happy.