Friday, May 19, 2006

The Wedding Pictures!!!

I finally got the wedding pictures from the photographer. They came out so good. There were way to many to post them all here...(149)...so I picked out a dozen or so to share with everyone.


Me and my little sister


Me and my mom


The beginning of the ceremony


Jon saying his vows...(I love this pic)


The kiss!


Mr. & Mrs. K.


The brides parents and the grooms parents.


The brides grandparents
(The wedding was at their house)


The brides other parents
(Aunt & Uncle)


The brides Aunt & Uncle


Jen's 3 bestest friends


The rings


Finally some wine and cake!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The Wedding

Wow. I'm so glad it's all over now...and life can go back to normal.

I don't even know where to begin. First...it was chaos. Things went wrong. Not normal things...it was like totally off the wall mishaps. The day before the wedding my sister and me went for our manicures and pedicures. And while we were there...she insisted that I get my eyebrows waxed. I've been kinda wanting to do that...since it hurts like hell to pluck them. But I was kind of worried about redness. The lady who was doing it assured me that the redness would only last a few hours...and it would be fine for the wedding the next day. So...I let her rip my eyebrows off my face. OUCH! Immediately my eyebrows...or where they once were....turned bright red and swelled up. I think the after effect was more painfull than the actual ripping of hair from my face. 6 hours later...they were still fiery red and swollen. By bedtime that night...it was even worse. And it burned like hell.

That night, before I went to bed, I decided to take a look at my dress. (I had picked it up from the cleaners a few days earlier and had peeked at it...but didn't really examine it) When I pulled the plastic bag over it...I noticed something wasn't quite right. All of the beads were missing. Gone. Vanished. Vaporized from my dress. Every last single bead. Now...it didn't have alot of beads. But the dress had a nice bit of beadwork down the front...kind of a floral design...the same color beads as the dress. I was like...you've got to be shitting me! And where each bead once was...was now a little indention in the dress. Kind of like an embossed design...where the beads once were. I didn't really freak out. I just kinda sat there looking at my dress...wondering what else could possibly go wrong. I put the dress on...to see how it looked beadless. And it actually looked ok. If you hadn't known there were beads at one time...you would just think it had a lovely little embossed design down the front. It just wasn't as pretty as it was when it had beads.

Before I went to bed, I put some hydrocortisone cream on my eyebrows...hoping to stop the itching and burning and swelling. At 5am...I woke up because they were burning worse and my right eye was so swollen it wouldn't open all the way. I could see my eyebrow swollen over my eye when i looked up. It was bad. So I got up and put some aloe vera gel on them to sooth them and then put ice packs on my eyes. When I woke up at 8am...the swelling was still there but the burning was better. All I could do was hope that by 3pm the swelling would go down. And hopefully I could hide the redness with makeup. (I was ready to kill the eyebrow waxing lady! All I kept hearing was her saying in her little vietnamese accent...."It ok...red be gone...few hours". Yeah right!)

While I was getting my hair done that morning, my sister called me. She had heard about my wardrobe malfunction...and was at a dress store. She wanted me to stop by after I got my hair done because she had found a dress for me. I told her that I was going to just wear the dress I had...but she insisted. So I stopped by. It was a beautiful dress. But...I wouldn't have been able to sit down...lol. I decided to just stick with what I had. But I thought it was so sweet that my little sister was insisting on buying me a $150 replacement dress the morning of my wedding. I'll have to remember that when she gets married!

After that things pretty much went smoothly. The swelling in my eyebrows had went down to almost normal. I managed to hide the redness thanks to a $15 tube of green concealer. (Green counteracts the red) And my dress looked ok once I put it on with my shoes and my hair and makeup done.

The wedding was set to start at 3pm so around 2:45 I walked next door. I swear...before I walked over there I knew my vows. But by the time I got there...I could not remember one word of them. LOL. Luckily Jon had them on paper in his pocket. I was so nervous all of a sudden. I think it was because of all the people that were there. I was paralyzed with fear. Everyone was gathered in the living room...and the minister was thanking everyone for coming...and when we should have walked out there...my feet wouldn't move. Jon was like...are you ready....and I remember saying...no...i'm not. And he was like...what do you mean your not. I think I saw fear in his eyes...lol. I just couldn't move. I remember the minister making a joke about if the bride and groom were going to join him...lol. And I think Jon had to drag me out there. LOL.

But once we got out there...everything went fine. Once we got to the minister....and the ceremony started...it seemed like there were only 3 people in the room...me, Jon and the minister. Oh...and the photographer that kept flashing the camera in our faces. Jon almost cried when he read his vows...which of course made me cry. Reading the vows that we had written made the whole ceremony so much more special. And now of course...since its all over...I remember our vows word for word...lol.

I, Jenny, take you Jonathan, to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I know that our love was heaven sent and I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand my heart and my love from this day forward. As long as we both shall live.

It was a beautiful ceremony. It was definately the happiest...most special moment of my whole life.

To bad we don't have it on video. That was the next thing that went wrong. Before the ceremony, Jon gave our video camera to my mom and asked her to find someone to tape it for us. Our camera is super easy to use. You just open the little viewer screen thingy...and switch the switch from off to record...and aim the camera. It was all set up. That was all ya had to do. LOL. We watched it the next day. Things were going good...the camera was aimed and recording us and the minister. And just as the minister said..."Jonathan and Jenny will now recite there vows to each other".....the camera went down...and for the rest of the ceremony we had a lovely view of the floor. I don't know what went wrong. LOL. It's kinda funny. You can almost hear us in the background saying our vows. At least we have alot of pictures that were taken. I'm definatly keeping that video though...lol. I'm sure the grandkids will get a kick out of it.

The rest of the wedding went beautifully. About 25 people showed up. I was really happy to see that 3 of my friends from my old job came. They were the ones that knew about me and Jonathan before my family knew. They saw how much he changed my life and how happy he made me before anyone else. So it was important for me that they were there.

There was tons of delicious food thanks to my Mom, Mawmaw and Aunt Melanie. The cake was pretty...but not as pretty as I had hoped it would be. But once it was on the cake table with all the other decorations, it really worked out nicely. When it came time for the toast...I think both me and my dad could have strangled my mom. She insisted for him to do the toast. And for anyone who knows my dad...he's a man of few words...and is so shy that just the thought of public speaking would be enough to make him pass out. So he got up there....and it went a little something like this. "I'd like everyone to raise there glasses and toast Jenny and Jonathan. Congratulations!" And that was it...lol. It was cute though. Because everyone knows how my dad is.

After everyone started leaving, we stuck around and helped clean up before we headed off to our hotel room. I felt kinda bad leaving the inlaws here to fend for themselves. But we made sure they were settled in and had everything they needed before we left.

The hotel was amazing. We had a room on the 30th floor of the Marriott. It overlooked New Orleans and we could see all the way to the lake. (You know...the whole area destroyed by Katrina! LOL) But it was really nice. At about 9pm there was a huge fireworks display on the river and we could see it from our room. And the next morning we ordered roomservice and had breakfast in our jammies. After that I was ready to run home and see my babies. I missed them horribly. I'm not used to sleeping without a bed full of furry critters.

We really enjoyed having Jon's parents stay with us. They are such cute people. So happy and cheerful. They are the type of people that you can't help but feel good around. It's like they rub off on ya...lol. Now that they are gone we miss them and can't wait for them to come visit again. They were suprised by how welcome my family made them feel. They said they felt right at home in our house and around my family. I was kinda worried for a while there...knowing how nutty my family is. I'm glad it all worked out.

And that my friends...is our wedding story! Despite the small mishaps...everything worked out beautifully. And I'm glad its all over and life can go back to normal now. Well...better than normal...because now...I'm the happiest woman in the world...and I'm married to the most wonderful man ever!

Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have the wedding pictures that I can post here!

Saturday, May 06, 2006

7 days to go!

OMG...the wedding is in less than one week. By this time next Saturday...I will be married! I'm starting to get stressed out. I'm trying not too...but my neck has been tensing up and cramping. Which is usually how I react to stress. By the time the wedding gets here...my neck is gonna be so cramped I won't be able to turn my head. :(

Despite the stressed out feeling...I'm getting excited. The cards and gifts have started arriving from those who can't attend. Me and my mom have been working on the last minute things like favors and flowers and food plans. Today me and Jon went next door to clean my grandparents house. Damn they have alot of knick-knacks to dust. Now I need to clean my house. It's a dusty mess.

Oh...one bad thing has happened. The photographer kinda overlapped his bookings...and his first wedding of the day isn't ending till 2pm...which is when mine was supposed to start. Soooo...we are having to push the wedding back to 3pm. Which isn't completely horrible. It just means that I hafta get on the phone tomorrow and start letting people know. And...since he's doing the photography for free...I can't complain too much. LOL.

Monday, May 01, 2006

12 days to go....

Wow...12 days till the wedding! I try not to think about it too much...because I know it will make me a nervous wreck. I could sit here all day and night obsessing over the details...but by the time the wedding got here they would probably have to sedate me...lol. So...I'm not thinking about it. I spend about 15 minutes each day going over my list and making sure things are being taken care of...other than that...I try to put it out of my mind. Until I fall asleep and the nightmares start...lol. But they haven't been too bad. But I think my subconcious has managed to dream up every possible thing that could go wrong.

Jon seems to be handling it all just fine. No nightmares...no anxiety...no worries. Must be nice...lol.

I remember a year ago around this time...me and Jon started our first countdown. It was the countdown of days will we would finally meet face to face. I think it started around 30 days...and each day we reminded each other how many days we had left. I think our whole summer was just a big series of countdowns to the next time we would be together. And now...one year later...we are counting down the days again. I think this is the best countdown so far...and not nearly as painful as all the others. Hmmm...I wonder what we get to countdown to next? Our first baby? :)

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Covenant Marriage

Here's another website that I found describing a covenant marriage. It has a much better explanation of it all. I hope this helps those of you who have asked!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Another Wedding Update

Wow...It's getting close! Less than a month away now. Things are slowly coming together. This past weekend we ordered our cake. Its going to be two round layers sitting on top of each other....(I didn't want the whole pillar thing separating them). It will be off white with dusty blue flowers. Instead of a cake topper...we decided to just have them fill the top with the dusty blue roses. It's sooo purty. I wish we had a picture.

We visited Mawmaw and Pawpaw for Easter and were telling them more details of the wedding. I guess they should know...since it's going to be in there house...lol. Mawmaw seemed kinda shocked when I explained what a covenant marriage was. That seems to be the reaction that we have gotten out of most people. I don't understand what the problem is. I mean...marriage is supposed to be a lifelong contract between two people and God. Is it not? So why are people so shocked and concerned when they learn that we are signing a legal document to make it just that? It almost pisses me off. Maybe nowadays most people don't have the balls to do what we are doing? Maybe people like knowing that if there marriage fails...they can take the easy way out? Maybe when they get married they aren't so sure it will work?

Well...we are definately sure. We know that we were put together for a reason. God brought us together...and this is the way it is supposed to be. From the moment we first met...neither one of us has had any doubts. And after living together for over 6 months...neither one of us has found anything about the other that we don't like...or can't live with. We have never fought or had an argument. It has been wonderful. I'm sure down the road we will have disagreements...or things we do will annoy each other. But we are prepared for that. It's only natural. And we are only human.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Our Photo Album


Click "here" to see our real life photo album.

Our Second Life Photo Album


Click "here" to see our Second Life Photo Album.

Our Second Life Wedding Album


Click "here" to see our Second Life Wedding Album on our old blog.

Wedding Update

Wow...a little less than 6 weeks till the big day. We are getting excited. And things seem to be running smoothly so far. We have the minister, who can also counsel us for our covenant marriage...we have our rings...I have my dress...and Jon has his suit...the flowers are pretty much taken care of...and we have a photographer. The invites were sent out early last week, so everyone should have them by now. And most importantly...we have a place to get married...lol.

The ceremony is going to be at my grandparents house. Their house is nice and spacious and we should be able to cram 20-25 people in it...lol.

Jon's parents will be coming down for the wedding too. It will be there first time here in New Orleans. We just wish we had more time to show them around. But things will be so hectic while they are here. We are just glad that they can come.

Hopefully everything will continue to go smoothly during all this preparation :)

Thursday, March 30, 2006

We've moved!

I just moved this blog over from blogspirit. I really liked the way blogspirit was set up because it had photoalbums and such...but apparently I ran outta room...and they wanted me to pay a monthly fee to use it. Totally sucks. But that's ok...cuz now both of my blogs are here. :)

You can still see our photo albums at www.jenandjon.blogspirit.com. I'll leave them there for a while. But from now on I'll be posting here.

3/16/06- The Big Day!

Finally...the news we have all been waiting to hear! After months of indecision...we have finally set the date! We finally decided today that we will be getting married on May 13, 2006. I'm so excited. It's gonna be a small ceremony with just immediate family. I'll tell ya more details as I get them!

May 13th is a special day for us. It's the day that we finally met in person. It was the first time that we got to see and touch each other. The first time we got to look into each others eyes and say...I love you. The first time we got to hold each other tight and never want to let go. It was one of the best days of my life. And now...one year later...we will be married. :)

Before we met face to face, people tried to warn us. They said to not expect the sparks to fly....that things are different in person....we might not be what the other expects....we just might not click...and we should be prepared for that. But it was the total opposite of that. We had already seen each other on webcam....exchanged pictures...and talked on the phone. Not to mention all the time that our pixelated charachters had spent together on Second Life. And we had already fallen in love with each other. I'm not gonna lie...I was scared before we met. What if he wasn't what I thought he would be. What if we didn't click. But...wow....when our eyes first met...it was magical. It was so intense. I won't make you sick with the details....but...WOW...that weekend was incredible. We knew we were meant to be together.

Sorry to go on and on. I guess the excitement of planning the wedding just got me thinking back to that moment when we first met.

May 13th is gonna be the happiest day of my life!

1/5/06- We're Engaged!



It's official! We are engaged! Jon asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve. I knew he was going to ask me...I just didn't know when. It's been so hard to keep the secret from everyone. In the beginning of November we had a wedding set custom made. It's beautiful! We were just waiting for my divorce to be final. It just seemed like the right thing to do. LOL. My divorce was final November 28, 2005.

We haven't made any official plans for a wedding yet. At first we considered running away to get married. We've both done the big wedding thing before, and this time we just want something small. Possibly just the two of us. We've been looking at cabins in the Smoky Mountains. We can have a beautiful wedding up there with just the two of us, either in our cabin, or in the park by a waterfall. It would be so romantic.

But then we started discussing a Covenant Marriage. And that would not be available in Tennessee. So far only Louisiana, Arkansas and one other state offers that type of marriage. It's a little different from a traditional marriage, because its a little bit more serious of a commitment. Click the link to learn more. :)

If we get married in Louisiana, it will just be a small...preferably church wedding, with just our closest friends and family. We're still looking at all the options.

However and whenever it happens...we can't wait! Nothing has ever felt more right in our lives.

11/10/05- Where It All Began

To help you understand how we met....I have to give you some background information. There is a wonderful online game called Second Life. (www.secondlife.com) It's a virtual world where anything is possible. The only limitations are your imagination. People from all over the world gather here to socialize, dream, create and live. Please visit the website for more information, video clips, and a free membership to join us in Second Life! (gee....i sound like a commercial) If you decide to try out Second Life...be sure to put one of us as a referral...and we'll show you around SL.

In Second Life, Jen is know as Jinger Curie....Jon is known as Gothotta Zander. And until recently...they were just lost souls...wandering aimlessly thru the metaverse. This story will be told by Jinger. Hopefully one day...we can hear Goth's side of the story!

Where it all began.....

March 6, 2005. It all started very innocently. I was just sitting in my SL (second life) back yard, at my picnic table...working on a project. I had noticed that someone had finally bought the land next to me that had been for sale. I saw the new neighbor looking around his yard, but didn't really think anything of it. Next thing I know, he is walking up to me to say Hi. My first thought was....who IS this freak walking up to me and talking to me??? I said Hi...and we chatted for a while. He seemed to be really nice. I showed him my house, and he was amazed at how nicely I had my house decorated. We talked some more.....exchanged calling cards (its how you keep track of your friends in SL).....and then we logged off for the night.

I didn't really think anything after my first encounter with the new neighbor. I was already in a SL relationship. Not a very good one.....my boyfriend was never online....but I wasn't really looking for anyone to get involved with. Not to mention my RL (real life) was about to be turned upside down. I was in the middle of leaving my RL husband. It was something that had been in the works for months now...and I was about to finally make the big move and leave. So....I wasn't looking for anything to complicate either of my lives.

The next night, I logged on to SL and noticed Gothotta was online too. After a few minutes he sent me a message asking if he could show one of his friends my house. I invited both of them over and we hung out for a while. There was just something about this stranger that made me want to get to know him better. The next few nights when I would log in....is seemed like he always had a reason to come over and see me. And eventually he started sharing his land with his friend Lyric....so we all started hanging out together. I would run home from work each day, anxious to see if he would be online when I logged into SL. The three of us started going places and exploring things in Second Life. I kinda felt bad because Lyric wound up being like a third wheel. Me and Goth would start getting flirty with each other...and wind up off on our own somewhere. I was REALLY starting to like him!

While all of this was going on...my second life boyfriend was no where to be found. He had gotten busy with his real life. I didn't really miss him because I was having so much fun with this new neighbor!

One night, a couple of weeks after we first me, me and Goth were sitting at a park talking...and for some strange reason I asked him if he was happily married. (At this point...all that we knew about our real lives was where we lived...and that we were each married. I had never mentioned that I was leaving my husband.) I'm not sure why I asked him that question. Something just made me do it. That was when he told me that he was very unhappy, and that he had been trying to leave her for a while now. He just wasnt sure how...or when to do it. I started telling him all that I was going thru. It was wierd how it was all sooo similar.

It wasn't long after this that we decided to be together in Second Life. I felt really bad about breaking up with my boyfriend and leaving him for the neighbor...but he understood. I didn't really have an emotional attachement to him. And in real life we were only friends. So....I left my boyrfriend for the neighbor. Eventually he allowed me to buy all of the land he owned in that area so that me and Goth could combine all of our land into one. We love where we live in SL. It's a very special place for us. For months it was the only way that we could be together.

Not long after we got together officially in Second Life....we decided to talk on the phone in real life. I was sooo nervous the first time I talked to Jon on the phone. It wasn't a long phone call, but he seemed so easy to talk to. Almost like I had known him forever. Before we hung up the phone....we agreed to talk again the next day. There was just something about him that made me smile inside. And apparently on the outside too...because everyone noticed that something was different. I guess it had been sooo long since I had smiled....people wondered what was wrong with me...lol.

I hadn't intended for our relationship to go beyond Second Life. I had way too much going on in my real life. But apparently someone else had other plans for us!

We started exchanging pictures.....calling each other daily.....sending each other text messages....and webcamming when we could. Life was getting pretty complicated. My real life husband already knew that I was leaving him...and that it was over....but he didn't know about this new chapter of my life already beginning. Finally around the middle of April, I was out on my own. And free to talk to Jon whenever I wanted to. He left his wife also....right before I finally moved out of my husbands house. I'm very thankful that I had him to help me through everything. I don't know what I would have done without him.

On May 13, 2005, we finally met in real life. Jon flew down to see me and spend the weekend with me. It was great. It felt so good to finally be able to see him and touch him in real life. He was REAL! And he was just as awesome in person as he was on the phone...on camera....and in Second Life.

We had a wonderful weekend together...and the following weekend he came down to see me again. We couldn't bare to be apart. It's like we were meant to be together. We didn't have any choice. This was how it was supposed to be.

He continued to visit me on a monthly basis. We hated to be apart. All we had was our Second Life. We eventually started to plan our Second Life wedding.....and our real life move. We decided that in October, Jon would move down to Louisiana to live with me. We weren't sure how our families would take this news...but we didn't care....we had to be together. If only we could get our divorces out of the way!

On August 20, 2005....we were married in Second Life. It was a beautiful wedding. Be sure to check out our wedding album in this blog. There are pictures and descriptions of everything.

Little did we know...someone else REALLY wanted us to be together too. On August 29th, Hurricane Katrina blew into town. The day before the storm, Jon flew into New Orleans to be with me. When he left Ohio, the plan was to come down here and ride out the storm with me. By the time his plane landed....I had the car packed...and we were getting out of here. Katrina was coming, and it didn't look like anything in her path was going to survive. I packed up all my important and unreplaceable belongings...and of course the kitties. I left enough room in the car for him...and his suitcase. I picked him up at the airport...and we started our 28 hour long journey to Jacksonville, Florida. (usually an 8 hour drive) We didn't know it at this time....but from this moment...we would never be apart again.

We made it to Florida in time to see all the destruction from the storm on TV. It was horrible. And I just knew...that there would be nothing left for me to go back to in Louisiana. After a few days, we left to drive back to Ohio. He needed to get back to work, and I was just going to hang around until we figured out what I was gonna do....or until I heard from someone letting me know that I could come back. By the time we got to Ohio, we decided that we would never be apart again. If I was going back to Louisiana...he was coming with me. And if I wasn't....we would find a place to live in Ohio.

Luckily once people started going back to Louisiana, we learned that my house was fine. We could go home. He quit his job....we packed the car....and headed home.

This area has been kinda of wierd since the storm, but things are slowly getting back to normal. Jon had found a job....I quit my job to look for another one...and we are living happily. On November 4, 2005, Jon's divorce was final. And anyday now....mine should be too.

We thank God everyday for bringing us together. Me and him were meant to be. We both have the same plans for the future....the same desires....the same dreams. Jon has made me happier than I have ever been in my whole life. Our love was definately heaven sent.

We have started making plans for our future....but we aren't gonna share those just yet. Keep reading for updates on where we are and what we are up to!