Freezing Fotos

Good Evening! Today we had a very successful, but frigid adventure. While finalizing the website this week we realized we were a few photos short and so headed out today into the New York winter for the last couple snaps! In they end they turned out great, however, the "model" was having trouble looking warm and natural. I tried warming up my face and relaxing my facial muscles but got caught in the act! Thought I would share a few of the not-so-polished moments of today. The final product you can see on our website SOON!
Have a great evening!

The Leading Man

I figure it grossly past time to officially introduce you to the leading man of this blog, JJTulum, and well my life of course! He a part of my daily life, every aspect of our business and consequently many blog posts. I could write a entire book on who he is and what makes him so wonderful, but according to the Chinese proverb, "a picture is worth ten thousand words," so here are 380,000 words in pictures (yes, this is the abbreviated version ;0) ha), a bit about our journey together thus far! With no further ado, I present to you Devin! Enjoy...

Devin and I met as I was finishing up my nursing degree and he was working at a nursing assistant, while applying for medical school. I thought him much to gorgeous, athletic, and intelligent to not be a jerk, and consequently I quickly wrote him off very quickly. His tenderness with patients, selflessness, hard work ethic, sweet spirit, and contagious smile finally won me over and I realized he was not only handsome, he was truly the most amazing man I had ever met. We started dating a few months later and oh the adventures we had! Devin does not like to sit still and loves getting out and doing things, it was so much fun to date him!

He popped the question ten months later, on Easter, with both family there (my one request). He knew me well and knew he had to distract me so that I would not suspect something was up. The distraction...competition! I am one of the most competitive people and so when I found the "golden egg" on the traditional Easter egg hunt I did not think anything more than...I WON!!! In the egg was the first clue to a treasure hunt. The last clue read..."Now it is time for your big surprise, hold out your hand and close your eyes..." Still oblivious, I followed the directions expecting someone to hand me a big fat chocolate bunny. The second he touched my hand I knew, though, and in that moment every dream came true, he made me the happiest woman in the world!

We had a short engagement, but made the most of it. I graduated from my nursing program and took my Boards, he was accepted to medical school, we traveled, planned a wedding, and soaked up a beautiful Northwest summer in five short months!

We married on 08.16.08 as the 16th was always our special day and well let us face it, it is no secret how OCD I can be. The day was perfect. We were both relaxed and just had the time of our lives. I feel unspeakably blessed to have found my soul mate so young and our wedding day was a testimony to that love!

After getting married we enjoyed a remote honeymoon and then some months at home with our loved ones before moving out to our new home in New York. It has been an adventure with beautiful scenes and not so glamorous moments, but it has brought us so close together and has taken our relationship to a place where I can truly say, I married the perfect man for me! Devin is not only my best friend, but my confidant, my encouragement, support, and accountability.

Life is very different now with opposite schedules and a full-time medical student, but who Devin is and his love for life still shines through. He loves his family deeply, has strong convictions, and loves to live life, even when it is in between months of non-stop studying! I said it within the first few months of our relationship and it is no less true today, I feel more myself when I am with Devin than when we are apart. He just has that effect...he makes people feel valued, loved, important, and free to be themselves. Thanks for letting me introduce Devin to you, for those of you who do not know him! Have a wonderful day!

Lights, Camera....DONE!

Whew, this has been one busy weekend... well, week actually. But we are very happy to announce that all of the pictures for the website have been taken, cropped, edited, and uploaded! Just a few tests that need to occur and the website will be...finally...LIVE! We hope you all look at the pictures and say, "Wow, they must have had these taken in some fancy New York City studio with a team of creative designers, expensive lighting, and a professional photographer." Here is how it really went down...

My living room "studio"



The BAGS' view this week (Yes, those are still stockings hanging on the wall...yikes!)



The many hours of lint rolling, pressing, fluffing, and beautifying!

Devin and I jumped in front of the lights for a celebratory hoorah! Our Kitty even got into the action!

We are so very excited to be so close to sharing all of our work with you! Thank you for your patience and encouragement...the final thing is just around the corner!!!
 

Perspective Change

My friend Victoria and I recently grabbed a coffee and headed to the top of the Empire State Building for a change of perspective. As we watched the sea of yellow taxis making their way down 34th and all the people rushing about like little ants below it hit me how insignificant we all are! Haha! Now how about that for a refreshing blog thought! My mother was not sure how to react when I shared my day's epiphany with her. For me however, it was quite freeing actually. We put so much pressure and expectation on ourselves on a daily basis: work harder, faster, more efficiently. Even when we determine we need to work less it usually is to fulfill another obligation: family, kids, spouse, friends, personal health to prevent burn-out, thus adding to the pressure. There are very few of us that truly live our life to the fullness of what is meant to be, not just busy calendars but full lives. I have always been a girl with big dreams...lots of them. But many times in life I have lost sight of what is most important to me and only focused on the what I need to accomplish to move me one step closer to the next big dream. With a deep inhale (of very cold air) I have my priorities set again and I am off to live a full life...not a busy one! I hope to vicariously transport that breath to you today, if you are feeling overwhelmed, overworked, frantic, frazzled, hurried, or haggard let me encourage you by saying...you really are not that significant, so give yourself some slack and live a little! Happy day to you all!

Down to Business

With the holidays behind us my husband and I decided it was time to knuckle down and get to work again. We have spend every waking moment on JJTulum's website for the past year now and were approaching burn-out. The break to be with family and friends gave us the "umf" and excitement to finish this process as energetically as we started! We have updated the website's page saver to give you sneak peak at the feel and look of the website! Although a smig behind schedule we are rapidly approaching the finish line...or would that be the starting line? Either way the website is almost ready and we are so excited to share it with you soon! Thanks for all the love and support! Here is a screen shot of the website page saver to save a click if you would prefer.

Another Stab at Resolutions

Ah, New Years! This time of year and I have always had a love/hate relationship...can you relate? I love a "fresh start", a new opportunity to be better, more productive, and healthier; you name it I like a chance to learn from the past and apply the tactics learned to a new situation. Thus a new year gives me great joy.However, resolutions and goals are easy to make and much harder to maintain. Last year I wanted to send out each family member's birthday card on time...PFFFHHH...that was a joke, my brother just received his mid-November birthday card at Christmas and my sweet sister-in-law is still waiting for her October card! Sigh...failed! Not every resolution has had such a fate, though; I set out a pair of my favorite jeans that had somehow gotten WAY too small for me last January with the goal of fitting into them again by the end of the year. I wore them again comfortably on Christmas Eve...success!

Whether failure or success I like to have goals. They give me something to strive for, a force propelling me to become better! My favorite blog, that never ceases to inspire me, is by Elsie. She has no clue I exist but she has become part of my daily life! (Quick bunny-trail: Her "Twelve Dates of Christmas" blog is something I plan on incorporating into my Christmas traditions for forever and is such a cute idea to keep the holidays and your relationship exciting). I was inspired when I saw her goal of making 52 projects this year. I realized that 52 was a bit ambitious for me and since I would be satisfied being HALF the blogger and business woman she is, I shall set my goal at 26 over the next 12 months! You will be able to find them all by clicking the D.I.Y. button to the left. Large or small keep an eye out for little projects and "how-to" blogs throughout 2012!