The Thankful Post

Thanksgiving has come and gone. And Christmas is just around the corner. But, I never took the opportunity to tell you some of the things I'm thankful for. So, as we draw near to the end of another year {and a decade!}, I thought it would be a good time to share. I'm thankful for:

1. A loving husband and two wonderful children. I wouldn't be the same person without these three people in my life.
2. Amazing parents and three fantastic siblings. They're the ones who've known me the longest and have always had my back. They've been my rock and my soft-place to land.
3. The opportunity to practice my art and to be financially rewarded to do so. What a blessing.
4. HGTV and the WE Network!
5. Amazing industry friends who support me, challenge me and encourage me.
6. A brand new company {Gwyneth Paige} and all of the possibilities that she holds.
7. Tums anti-acid tablets :)
8. My assistant Jillian, who somehow manages to keep my life running smoothly from day-to-day {a BIG task!}
9. My housekeeper who can do laundry and clean the house at the same time!
10. Good health, good friends, and a good life!

~Jodi

Notes From the Future "Mrs." - Engagement Photos are Here!

Receiving these was like getting an early Christmas present. When Jen Kroll emailed me earlier this week, I could hardly wait for today to come so I could post them on the blog and share them with you!

But first, let me just mention a quick side note before sending you off to view these little delights. Reading and studying wedding magazines has occupied 90% of my alone time for the past four years. I am also an avid blog reader. Therefore, I can't even begin to estimate how many engagement and wedding photos I've seen. Well, you have no clue how different it feels to actually be the one in front of the camera. To be the one trying to creating the poses. Being the photographer's muse. Let's just say Chris and I are no professional models. Thankfully, though, Jen knew how to handle us well. And we ended up having way more fun than we expected.

Anyone getting professional photos taken, whether it's wedding-related or not, you need to let yourself enjoy the experience. Trust your photographer. That is what they are there for. Just be sure to prepare yourself for the occasion. We brought props (well actually just balloons, but still), a few different sets of clothes, and of course a pair of nervous smiles. Fortunately, the 'nervous' part faded away after the first handful of shots. Just as Jen had promised they would.

Having said that, I invite you now to Jen Kroll's blog to see her lovely little post with a closer look at the photos, as well as many more shots to enjoy!

~ Jillian

If you haven't picked up the latest copy of The Knot Michigan {Spring/Summer 2010}, be sure to do so. My lovely sister's wedding has been published in the current issue in a four-page spread photographed by the amazing Jen of Jen Kroll Photography.

There's also a beautiful wedding in this issue photographed by the uber talented Ben and Laura of Harrison Studio. I'm lucky to count Ben and Laura as dear friends and their work speaks for itself. I hope we're lucky enough to work on an event together in 2010!

~Jodi

'Are We Doing Enough?'

My husband and I saw an amazing movie last night. So amazing, in fact, that I can't get it out of my mind today. Truth is, it's made me realize that I'm not doing enough. I live an extremely comfortable life in the suburbs. I've got an amazing business, my husband has a fantastic job and our children go to private school. But is that enough?

We saw The Blind Side. And my husband really didn't want to go. I believe his exact quote was, 'What stupid movie are you dragging me to tonight?' He wasn't saying that after the credits rolled. Today I asked him, 'Do you feel like we're doing enough?' His response was, 'No.'

I've never made it a secret that I'm a Christian. And my family and I live by a different set of rules and values. But it's not enough to just say that. I need to show it in different ways, too. I need to be open for uncomfortable situations that I can respond to in a Christ-like way. Situations that take me outside of my comfort zone.

Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up the telephone and call an organization in town that's been on my heart for many years. And I'm going to offer some of my time to them. And I'm going to pray that my time makes a difference in someone's life.

~Jodi

He's Arrived!

After 40 hours in labor and delivery, my amazing sister, whom I love with every ounce of my being, delivered a healthy beautiful baby boy this morning! Lucas William weighed in at 9lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long. Not bad for a first baby! I can only imagine how much baby #2 is going to weigh!

Lucas is absolutely perfect! His skin was so pink and I was able to see him within 20 minutes of his birth. Kara saw both of my babies within 20 minutes of their birth, too. And it felt so special to be able to do the same for her.

{Disclaimer: I'm no Jen Kroll, but I did my best to capture this bundle of wonderfulness!}

~Jodi

Notes From the Future "Mrs." - The Official Launch of Our Wedding Website!

{Photo: Courtesy of WedShare}

Remember when I made a post a while back about creating a wedding website? Well, great news! After being under construction {for what seems like forever}, our wedding website is finally up!

Many months ago, I took time to scour the variety of templates available out there. And boy oh boy, there are a lot of options. Truthfully, it's almost overwhelming. But after hours of shopping around, we eventually narrowed it down. The final choice for our site came from WedShare.com. Why? Well, for one thing their site templates are overflowing with feature options. WedShare was able to provide us with my "must-have" feature, a flash site {simply put, they just look impressive, don't they?} Another great thing is that the page design of our selected template, in my humble opinion, is just plain adorable.

And the final big selling point? Being able to customize the design with our wedding colors. When I said I want everything in my wedding to coordinate, I meant everything.

So, if you are planning on creating a website, I highly recommend this one. This particular site does have a small monthly fee, I should warn you. But there are many free templates our there if you can't bare the thought of putting money into a wedding website. Check out these other sites I found. The $14/month is more than worth it for me though.

Now, I welcome you to pop onto our new wedding website and take a gander! We still have some tweaks to do here and there. But I'd love for you to check out the progress we've made so far!

www.chrisandjillian.com

~ Jillian

Wednesday What-Not's

Can you believe it's Wednesday already?! I returned home from Connecticut earlier this week and I've been playing some major catch-up; mostly as it relates to Gwyneth Paige. All 12 invitation suites are complete and on press right now! We will have everything in our hands right after Thanksgiving. Then, we will begin the task of assembling binders in preparation for NSS. And we'll also start sending out samples to our favorite bloggers and magazine editors. It's all so much fun!

In other news, we just had a pretty fancy little telephone system installed in the office. We're all pretty giddy about it over here. In addition to four lines, we also have a new toll-free number. And as soon as the voicemail boxes and the auto-attendant is up and fully running, we'll get those new numbers posted for you.

I also need to share my love for Paper Source with you. Oh yeah, and Midori. These two companies have amazing products that will be incorporated into the Gwyneth Paige invitation line. I'm so excited to be working with both of them and I can't wait to show you all of the goodness that we're using.

In case you missed the 'sneak peek' of the invitation line over on Gwyneth Paige's blog, I thought I would show you here, too.

What do you think? Of course, this is just a small sample of what we'll offer. These invites have some amazing coordinating pieces like custom envelope liners for the invitation and response card, amazing save-the-dates and more.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

~Jodi