Home

I was going to write a blog post on my birthday. And entitle it "26." And talk about all the exciting things that will be happening in my life over the next year; new apartment, new job, new husband, etc.

But then the events of today really shifted my mind to other things. Our family dog, Bailey, passed away this morning. He would've been 11 years old next month. After hearing the sad news, I spent some of the afternoon cleaning up my old apartment, where I lived for 2 years, and packing the last of my belongings in the car. I started to think about the concept of "home." These two events probably don't seem to be related just yet, but bear with me.

Many of us have lived in multiple houses, starting out living with our parents, then maybe living in several temporary dorms or apartments throughout college, and finally making it out on our own. To me, home has always seemed like a relative term, depending on where I am living at the time. But there is no doubt that there's a little bit of pain involved with saying goodbye to a place you've called "home," whether you lived there for a couple months, a couple years, or a lifetime. For the last couple of years, I have prided myself on my bravery in moving away from home and living in other places. It was difficult at first; moving away to college for the first time, studying abroad in Spain; but after the first couple times it has gotten easier. I moved to Minneapolis right after graduating college, and lived in 2 different apartments within the same year. I also picked up, left my job and moved to Brazil for a couple months this past summer. I guess you could say I've grown into the type of person who prefers to look forward and make plans and be excited about the future more than I like to look back and reflect on what I'm leaving behind.

Needless to say, I've been very excited about moving into my new apartment and have spent the last couple weeks packing, preparing and making mental maps of where I want my furniture to go in the new place. I was feeling very surprised at the fact that I wasn't feeling sad about leaving the old apartment, despite the great memories I have from my 2 years living there and starting a new life with Franchesco there after our return from Brazil.

I don't know if it was just because I was feeling sad about Bailey this morning, but as I went to clean out the old apartment I started feeling very sad and emotional about leaving my old home behind. Then it hit me...none of us are really ever at home on this earth. We are not living the life the God intended for us to live. We should be spending every moment in this life preparing ourselves to go home with God when it's all over. I know that not everyone will share my beliefs on this matter, but I truly do believe that there is something better waiting for us, and that animals are no exception.

Although seemingly wonderful at times, this is not the way that life was meant to be. So if you're sad...no wonder. Hang in there! If you're happy...just wait, it will only get better!

"In this world you will have trouble. But in me you will have peace." - John 16:33

"Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." - John 16:22

"I am still confident of this:
   I will see the goodness of the Lord
   in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
   be strong and take heart
   and wait for the Lord." - Psalm 27:13-14



Dear Bailey,
I hope your new home is better than the last!

Love,
Jacqueline



138 To Do's

Like I said, there are still plenty of things to do for the wedding! I have a checklist on my account at http://www.theknot.com/ and today it's telling me I have 138 items to complete on my to-do list, and 138 days until our wedding. I guess I better start by completing 1 task each day from now until the wedding :)

On another note, tonight I didn't get any wedding tasks done because Franchesco and I went to Benihana for my birthday-week dinner! Did you know that Benihana gives you $30 off your meal during the month of your birthday? (You just have to sign up for their email list). Totally worth it! $30 will get you a very big, very free meal :) I even got free ice cream, and I have enough food leftover for another meal tomorrow!

September

It's amazing to me that we are nearing the end of September, and how fast this engagement period goes. There are less than 5 months until our wedding, and I really want to soak in the joy of this chapter of my life. Planning my wedding is something I have dreamed about for years, and the only thing sad about it is how fast it flies by. I don't want to take anything for granted, and I want to have as much fun as possible during these last few months of wedding planning :) Luckily for me, there is still plenty left to do!

September 3rd, 2011 was a big day for us -- and the lovely Brianna Millett (http://briannacolleen.com/) helped us to capture all the special moments :) Here is a sneak peak of some of our engagment photos, and there will be more to come in a couple weeks!

I also had the pleasure of going dress shopping with 3 of my beautiful bridesmaids - Alicia, Allie and Rachel - last weekend. So far, all the girls like the same dress so we may choose to go with just 1 style rather than the girls wearing different styles in the same color. We've chosen the below style in the color shown - "Lapis." We liked the shorter dress styles better than the longer ones. I hope the girls aren't too cold in February!



I also thought I'd throw in a picture of this pair of shoes that I love, also in Lapis. I'm thinking I might wear these with my wedding gown :)

It's been really fun working at David's Bridal over the past month. I'm getting lots of great ideas for my own wedding and it's really fun to help other brides find a wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses! Speaking of working, I also got a new full-time job (just found out on Monday) working for the J.M. Smucker Company as a Category Development Analyst. Once again, I'll be working with the buyers at Target doing sales analysis for Smucker's product categories (peanut butter & jelly, baking mixes, oils, coffee, etc.) I start on October 3rd and I'm very excited!! I also plan to continue helping out at David's Bridal on a part-time basis after I start my full-time job.

In addition to the new job, Franchesco and I are also planning to move to a new apartment next week! It will be a little bigger than the apartment we're in right now, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and it's just a little bit outside of downtown Minneapolis. It's going to be an exciting fall and of course winter as well with the wedding and everything. We're very excited about all the positive changes in our lives! Thanks for being part of it :)