Author Archives: 365 days of marriage

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About 365 days of marriage

I started this blog in April of 2011. At the time, Bret and I were wedding photographers and it was a way to share how marriage is more about the day to day and so much more than the wedding day itself. For about 5 years, I blogged about the joys and sorrows of the Christian walk, marriage, work, family and friends. I’ve blogged every day since a few weeks after I started. In May of 2015, we photographed our last wedding. Now, I have become passionate about simplicity, particularly in marriage, Christianity, business, travel and life. For a number of reasons, we have become minimalists. I’ve found that having simplicity makes life so much deeper, refreshing and joyful. I hope that this blog will help others see the benefits of living simply.

Day 2055 – You Have No Excuse For Not Reading

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I hate excuses. I hate when my tendency is to make them. Starting an email to someone saying “I’m sorry this took so long” kills me. I hate when people whine and complain and don’t DO anything about it. Seriously, if you hate your job, do something else or be thankful for what you have.

Ok, ahem, let me step down from my soap box and give you some practical tips I’ve used over the last week or so.

A list of tips for everyone who thinks they don’t have time to read:

– Take Facebook, Twitter, whatever off your phone and install/use your ebook reader. When you have the two minutes to kill in line somewhere, pull up the ebook reader and READ.

– Turn off the TV at the end of the day and READ. Want mindless entertainment? There are a ton of books that fit that bill. (But I’ll be nice and not give suggestions.) 😀

– Waiting for someone? Pull out the book in your purse, laptop bag or satchel and READ.

– Fun fact – the average person reads between 40-100 pages per hour. Even if you’re SUPPPPPPER slow and read 10 pages per hour, if you cut out that hour TV show each night, you’ll read a 200 page book in under 3 weeks. If you read your 10 pages every night for an hour, you’ll read about 17 200 page books in a year. If you can read 50 pages an hour, that’s one 200 page book every 4 days…..averaging that, you’re looking at about 90 books in a year.

– Accountability/tracking app – Goodreads. You can find your friends and share books with them, add books you want to read and find books you didn’t know about through suggestions.

– Listen to them! Books on tape are a great way to rack up the numbers. The last two weeks, I’ve gone down to a friend’s house in DC, which is about an hour from Bret’s school. So I’ve been listening to How To Win Friends And Influence People In The Digital Age. It also helps to pass the time of a long drive. This particular book helped me figure out a problem I was facing almost immediately. Great read!

– Read to your kids, spouse, dog, cat, invisible friend.

What’s your excuse? I’ll talk you out of it. 🙂

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Day 2054 – Sometimes Sacrifice Leads To Regret, Sometimes It Leads To Untold Blessing

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I’ve blogged a lot about sacrifice. I’ve blogged a lot about what we’ve cut out of our lives to pay off our debt.

I’m the type of person that does not live with regret. I can look at things and think, wow, that was a bad decision, but I learned from it. Or I can look at something and see how God could have used the situation in one way or another. If I offend someone, I do what is in my power to fix the situation, but at the end of the day, I’m not worried about my reputation. I truly believe that if I am in the right, one day God will defend me.

I can look back on my life and think, wow, it would’ve been really cool if I could have done that or should have done that.

Regret? No sir. I have lived my life, my choices are my own and I live with the consequences.

But I will say there was one thing that I do deeply regret. What’s funny, is that this is a seemingly small thing. You would think that I would deeply regret something big.

A few years back, Bret and I had the opportunity to go see a band we both really love, Thrice. The band has moving songs and a great range of style. The concert was during their farewell tour. It was one of those “we have to go or we will never be able to see them live” type things. But, they were touring during our very hard financial times….the times when we had to cut EVERYTHING out. So even though it wasn’t an expensive show, maybe $20-30, it was still too much.

I look back and see that it was wise to not go. And I HAD seen them myself…just not with Bret.

So, I harbored my regrets but knew nothing could be done.

Then something happened.

I’ve been a “fan” of Thrice on Facebook for years. Since they aren’t touring/together, I didn’t see many updates. But one day, an article popped up, the “Thrice was mentioned in a post” type thing. By George, it was an interview with a band member saying that they may tour again. WHAT?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me??? Are you saying that I may have a chance to see this band again? WITH MY HUSBAND??? I did some research, but no information. I then created a monthly reminder to check for a show. A few weeks back, I saw a post about a festival in Canada…but it was during the week and school….so, that wouldn’t work. But I pressed on and kept checking.

Yesterday, the heavens opened wide and a post was shared by Thrice. They would be playing at the Surf and Skate Festival in New Jersey. Three and a half short hours away.

Friends, we now have two tickets to see our beloved band in a few weeks. We’re even talking about splurging to get a hotel for the whole weekend.

So, if you’re going through a time of sacrifice. Of regret. Of thinking you will never get a chance to do/see/buy/whatever something. Take heart. Sometimes God sees your sacrifice and overwhelmingly blesses you with a gift you never expected.

Heaven knows we’re jumping for joy. 🙂

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Day 2053 – When Life Gives You A Car Fire, You Get Yourself A Cup Of Coffee

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I only had one thing on my to-do list today…well, that HAD to be done today….return some books to the library and mail an album and a few DVDs. As I’m driving up to the post office, I see some dark smoke floating around. Hmmm, I wonder if there’s actually a fire? Weird.

As I pull around the curve and go to turn into the parking lot, I see the source of the smoke. Holy smokes! It’s a CAR ON FIRE! Sitting right in the middle of the parking lot in front of the post office, was a car totally engulfed in flames. I parked the car (my mom’s) and thought, hmmm, I guess I can still run into the post office and return my books….but then I thought, you know, those books can return themselves later and I can go to another post office.

So after a little detour, I’ve sent my mail and am about to go home. Now, let’s talk about a little quirk I have….I HATE left hand turns…especially on busy roads. I honestly will reroute my whole trip based around left hand turns…or lights. A further sidenote, when Bret and I were searching for a place to eat last night, he was commenting about making a few right hand turns…and said, wow, you have rubbed off on me!

Anyways (shut up rambling Jennilyn!), I thought, well, I don’t feel like making a left, so let’s go right and get some Dunkin’ Donuts!

I now have a delicious cup of coffee and three donuts.

So, even if there’s a metaphoric car on fire in your day, just grab a cup of coffee. 🙂

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