Jen Russum

It’s time…

It’s time…

I was just cleaning out the picture folders on my computer and realized I never posted all the winter outfit pics I took. But let's be honest.... it's very much spring-verging-on-summer around here {supposed to be in upper 90s this week} and I am not going to see my sweaters and dress pants for a good seven or eight months. It's full on dress season. I love wearing dresses, but after living in the dessert for almost two years now, I know to stretch my winter clothes for as long as I can because we live in summer temps for about 2/3 of the year here. So when it's late March, and it's 79 degrees outside and you see one cloud in the sky, you convince yourself it's still winter and wear a jacket with a scarf... because, hey, it's not 80 degrees and there IS that one cloud in the blue sky... But, finally, one day you give up. You admit that summer is here. It's time for sandals and dresses and burning your buns and hands when you get into your 120 degree car basking in the parking lot. The time has come... And I love it. {Dress: Urban Outfitters // Sweater: Madewell for J.Crew // Shoes: BP - Nordstrom} *Linking up with The Pleated Poppy and The Letter 4* ... Read more

Gender Neutral Baby Shower…

Gender Neutral Baby Shower…

This past weekend I threw a baby shower with a couple of ladies from church for our dear friend, Veronica. She is due at the beginning of May and she is not finding out the gender, which I think is so fun! They also aren't telling anyone their name choices until the baby is born, so there are going to be lots of surprises in a few weeks when he/she arrives. I love surprises. I also need to add at this point that Veronica is a delightful and positive person and she makes pregnancy look like a breeze. She never complains and says she actually enjoys being pregnant. Oh, and she does yoga three days a week, goes on five mile walks, and ran a half marathon during her 5th month. She is a rock star. Anyway, back to the gender neutral party thing... When one of my co-hosts, Anne, found an adorable gray and yellow invite on Etsy, we used that as our theme. Since I've thrown a big gray and yellow party before (ahem... my wedding), I loved the idea and knew we could pull it off well. {via} Anne was in charge of  décor, and her mom made us some adorable bunting with scrap fabric. We also had yellow and white spring flowers in vases and mason jars scattered all over, and a fun little clothes line with onesies hanging from clothes pins. The food was delicious. So good, in fact, that after I overloaded my plate and ate it all, I could hardly eat again the rest of the day. I will share a couple of the recipes soon. One of them was called Cinnamon Roll Cake... which is one of the main reasons my pants barely fit me the day after the party... I'll let you look at more pictures while I go figure out a work out plan to overcome this amazing cake... Sister was in town for our party {and it was windy}! With precious Veronica! The hostesses. ... Read more

Easter… a week late.

Easter… a week late.

I know I was supposed to post about Easter last week, but that just didn't happen. I was busy with visitors and school and a quick trip out of town and baby showers and the list goes on and on. I so appreciate the lovely ladies that guest posted for me in my absence. Clearly, I was not really resting, as I have so many things on my plate this month, but I did take a short rest from blogging, which was so good for me during this crazy time. During my break, I thought it would be uplifting to hear some Godly women talk about the practice of REST. I hope you enjoyed their posts as much as I did. {And if you missed them, read them here... Olivia // Sarah // Jami // Blair!} And, you know what? I am going to take another blogging break at the the end of the month while I finish up the semester... so you can look forward to some more amazing guest posters in a few weeks. Until then... I'm back. Easter was beautiful this year. I feel like we celebrated the resurrection of Christ just right. My sister flew in the night before the holiday and got to go to church with us on Sunday morning. After worshiping with our beloved church family, we headed out to my cousin's house for a day of grilling, playing with cute kids, egg hunts and dodge ball... a game in which I failed miserably, got out every single time, and fell backward and landed all 130 pounds of me on a six year old child. Oops. I scraped my hand. He shed a few tears and then we gave each other knuckles and got back in the game... where I continued to get pegged out within the first 30 seconds of every game. Oh well. The day was beautiful and relaxing and I am so thankful to live close to family in our new town! {P.S. Rumor has it that I might be getting a beach cruiser! My cousin's husband sells them and we might have just placed an order on Easter. I can't wait!!! I've wanted one ever since we moved here.} Church with slister. Sometimes Micah jokes that he doesn't want to have any kids. He just wants to play with other people's. At least, I think it's a joke... ;) *Linking up with Finding Beauty and Bits of Splendor.* ... Read more