I have a confession to make...

Hello, my name is Taryn and I am a Grammar Nazi. Truthfully, it's not much of a confession though. Those that know me, know I am picky about grammar...and, if I know you well enough, I will probably correct your mistakes. In the most loving way possible, of course.

That's not to say I run around reading people's blogs and judging them by the way they write...I would never do that. Heck, I know I'm not perfect...I just try to be the best little English major I can be. :)

A friend of mine showed me this link today...needless to say, I was amused. There are more than a few people I know who should print this out and post it next to the computer. Just sayin'...

Silent Sunday - Christmas Cats

Mr Jones and I are done with our Christmases...4 days, 4 Christmases...it was hectic to say the least! I'm thankful for the peace and quiet of a lazy Sunday with my husband and kitties.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Mr Jones and I are heading over to my brother and sis-in-law's house today for Christmas. I hope all of my bloggy-buddies have an absolutely wonderful day!

Just for fun, a few Christmas LOLcats... :)

Christmas Rule #1

Never trust a guy when it comes to the Christmas tree. They want big...the bigger, the better. Seriously. When a guy tells you "Oh, it's not that big...look, I can almost touch the top", don't believe him. He's lying.

Well, the good news is, we finally have a Christmas tree. And...it's huge. Thankfully, we have a vaulted ceiling in the living room because when the box says 9' Christmas tree, the box means 9' Christmas tree...not 8' with a foot long branch sticking out of the top like Mr Jones led me to believe. The tree and the ceiling have become best friends.

Yup, the tree is definitely that big.

You know it's Christmas when...

You know it's the Christmas season when you approach the entrance to your favorite store and hear the familiar incessant ringing of THE BELL!

We all know the Salvation Army is known for bell ringing...non-stop, deafening bell ringing. There have been times I was so teeth-gratingly annoyed by the sound in the short walk from my car to the store's entrance, I gladly dropped some money into the bucket just to get the ringing to stop. (Sorry, but it's true...)

Because of the toll it takes on the wrist (and one's sanity), bell-ringing shifts are usually short - an hour or two - before another volunteer takes over. This especially holds true in Michigan where the bell ringer is likely frozen solid after an hour or two. A frozen solid bell ringer is a useless bell ringer.

A shift change is quite a remarkable feat (in my opinion). Somehow, they are able to pass the bell to from one ringer to the next without missing a single "ding-a-ling-a-ling." Either they are professional bell ringers or they've been practicing...much like relay runners. Such skill and coordinated agility must take hours and hours of practice. Seriously.

Yup, there's nothing quite like the Christmas season.

The spirit of Christmas is about giving...but my question is: Do the ringers really need to deafen everyone who crosses their path??

Happy Holidays everyone!

Biggest hit at our wedding? The favors!

When we started thinking about favors for our wedding, we knew we wanted to do something really fun/cool...what better than Jones Sodas?! I mean, our last name is Jones after all!! Once we decided on fell in love with this idea, the obvious choice was to look into ordering personalized bottles from the company (because personalized bottles are so much cooler!). Unfortunately, they would have been close to $600 after shipping...not something we could afford. :(

Time to start brainstorming again, right? Wrong!! Why not make our own?! Mr Jones is a photographer and quite handy with Photoshop (if I do say so myself). This would be an easy project for him. After we talked it over and came up with a Game Plan, I tasked him with making the labels. I absolutely love how they turned out!!

And, our cost was a lot less - BONUS.

Labels - we made a different one for each flavor


Taking off the old labels...


And putting on new ones!


The finished product at our reception! :)



P.S. The barcodes were altered so the bottles cannot be returned for a deposit.

'Tis the Season for buying gifts

...for myself?? Yup, you heard that right. I went out tonight in search of Christmas gifts...and walked out with a new winter coat and black flats for myself. Oops.


Will re-attempt Christmas shopping tomorrow. Fingers crossed it goes better than tonight.

Speaking of Christmas, Mr Jones and I realized the other night that Christmas is (much) sooner than later...as in 2 weeks away! We were so consumed with the wedding and the honeymoon, that this little fact completely slipped our minds. It's going to be an interesting 2 weeks as we scramble to get everything together in time for the holidays.

We did put up our Christmas wreath yesterday though. After all of the wedding DIY projects, we were feeling crafty so we headed over to Hobby Lobby and bought a plain wreath, gold pinecones, and some berries. I think we did a pretty good job...what do you think?

Baby, you (we) should be in pictures...or at least a wedding video!

My fabulous videographer, Shutterspeed Productions, blogged a preview of our wedding video today. Let me just say, I LOVE IT - not that I'm completely biased or anything. :) It captures all of the emotions of our beautiful day - the laughter, the tears (but that was the only time I cried all day!), the love, and, most of all, the absolutely wonderful time we had!

I've watched it a few (ok, more like 20) times so far. You could say I'm slightly obsessed...but I'm justified right?! I've even gone into stealth mode and turned off the speakers on my laptop so Mr Jones doesn't know I'm watching it...again.

The bigger version can be found here: Taryn & Brian

Back from Mexico...and freezing my butt off!

Mr Jones and I spent today trying to stay warm and wondering where our 85* Mexico weather went. Needless to say, we weren't too happy to be thrown kicking and screaming (inside only...we would never cause a scene at the aiport...we're far too mature for that...hehe) back into the 30* Michigan weather last night. The only good thing about coming home is getting my rings back. I had them resized and soldered together while we were gone. I officially feel married again!!


Since Mr is the photographer, I left most of the honeymoon picture-taking to him. Here are a few that I took (I know, pretty pathetic...I promise I will have more to share soon!).

Mr and his octopus, squid, and cactus stirfry from The Lobster House...I know it sounds like an odd combo, but it was yummy!


Hanging out/surfing the web in a poolside bungalow (my favorite lounging spot!)...Mr decided to play paparazzi with my camera.



Mr floating by the bungalow in the lazy river...definitely our favorite pastime.