Chronicles of Jen... and Ryan

And for the curious- here are a few wedding photos

2008-11-20T20:34:00.002-06:00

Our own honeymoon pictures

2008-11-20T20:28:00.001-06:00

Honeymoon update.... day?? too close to leaving...

2008-11-16T14:11:00.008-06:00

Sorry, this is a long one... partly because I want to remember the history of our one of our visits.

Its Sunday... The wind is going CA-RAZY!!!! It started last night.... According to the one weather station its blowing 220 km per hour... i don't know about that... but it sure is blowing. Ryan says its "rediqulous" and he feels like he's "already back in Oklahoma". I would not want to be here during a tropical storm, that's for sure, though this little cabanas are pretty tough. Asside from hearing the wind and the breeze through the 2 open doors, nothing is rattling. and I can't feel any breeze through out closed screen window door things. Plus, we got things scheduled just right. We had all our tours done. Today was massage day which happens on the island... and we requested a couple movies... so we're nice and cozy. PLUS- its football day... so we weren't planning to go anywhere out of the cabana anyway. It also is keeping the mosquitoes at bay.

It seems strange to be going home tomorrow. I'm a bit torn. I'm ready to come home and move completely into OUR house... see the puppy, cuddle in OUR bed and have MY pillow back. And yet, we have had amazing weather and done awesome things. People here (not just on our private island) are so nice. We have seen some cool things and waking up to the sounds of water, overlooking total blue is not a bad way to live. We've been trying to figure out how to pack for our return trip.... Its a little tight. We should have just brought a bigger suitcase, but alas, we weren't thinking... I think we'll get it though. We can leave behind some of the toiletries we brought and we've used up most of the 80 SPF.

At anyrate... You don't want to hear about packing and I'm rambling here.... So- On with more stolen pictures!

Yesterday we took a boat from our little island and crossed the blue water to the mainland. We took a river inland farther to a tiny little town called Bomba. It has between 75-100 people who live there, and its primary buisness is selling would carving to tourists and taking them up the river and in buses to various other tourist sites. It is a very impoverished little town. Everyone goes barefoot (though I did notice that's more of a choice than a necessity). There are about as many dogs that live in the town as children (about 7 or 8 of each), and everyone there basically lives off the land and has enough garden and chicken to feed their family.

From there, by bus its about 20 minutes to the next larger town (maybe 300 people, but i'm guessing here) where the school and hurricane shelter is. Its a gnarly little road that looks like at one point in time it may have been paved. Today its this chalky colored dirt with tons of potholes and crosses a stream a couple of times. The waters around here are supposedly home to crocodiles, though we never saw any. Later on we found out the water is about 7ft higher than normal (not sure why), but that's why we didn't see as many turtles or any crocs.

So from Bomba we took the bus about an hour and a half to Orange Walk -a larger city along the main north/south highway. We didn't actually go into the town; from the outskirts we took another boat 30 miles south to Lamani (which is supposed to mean "submerged crocodile" but the Brits screwed it up and now it actually means "submerged insect")-- at anyrate, its a Mayan site.
Lamani is one of the largest in Belize, and has over 700 buildings on the site, most aren't excavated however. Our tour guide told us that just about every hill you see on the site is not a hill, but some sort of Mayan temple or building. It makes sense as the land all around is very flat. The Mayan's in this area were farmers and traders and, according to our guide, clear cut most of the jungle away. According to history it was inhabited by Maya for over 3000 years until at least 1600 AD. The jungle has definately grown back since then. Howler Monkies inhabit the trees above, and reportedly all assortments of wild cats and snakes lurk in its jungles, though we didn't see any of the later.
As you come down the river if you look carefully you see one of the temples, affectionately named 10-43 peaking out from the jungle. It is 108 feet tall, and while a short climb, it is quite uh... tiresome. The "steps" up are very tall and shallow. They have a yellow rope hooked near the top to assist you in your climb... good thing too, and getting up to the top isn't nearly as bad as coming down.

This is also the site of a cool temple thing with a face on it, appropriately called the Mask Temple. It had 4 masks on it at one point, the top two were removed and one is still uncovered. The one showing is covered with a poor shed type structure, which was put in place when the blue paint that once covered the face was washed away, along with a crocodile headpiece on the mask. It is someone from the Olmec society. It is believed that the origins of Olmec are African as the features on this face are not typical to the Mayan (broad nose, large lips).

Ok. So enough of the history lesson- Here are some stolen pictures from our journey.

Map outline of our journey

Typical Bomba "shop" We bought a bowl from this man.

A broader view of the town of Bomba, and the bus we took.

Lamani peaking over the jungle.

The tall temple we climbed to the top.

The Olmec Mask

Honeymoon update...day #...?????

2008-11-14T10:39:00.010-06:00

So, I'm not entirely sure what day it is... I think its Friday.... which means I've been on this island for.... ummmmm.... ah, who's counting!?!?

We have taken tons of pictures... alas we don't have a card reader to upload those pictures.... so i've scoured the internet.... (spent about 10 minutes googling) for some update pictures for you all.... here is what I've stolen:

We took a flight out of Dallas on Tuesday into Belize City... Here's the international airport... as you can see, its HUGE! (ok... not really.... about the size of Chattanooga Airport... maybe a bit smaller)

From there we waited on our little plane.... (I actually flew in this plane and wasn't TOO freaked out... I'm growing!-- actually it was kinda cool- so long as you didn't think about a rough landing in the ocean). Sadly, it wasn't one of those planes that have the cool pontoon landing pads...

--- just took a little break to learn to fly fish and my face feels sufficiently burned. yay. ------

At anyrate.... we took our little plane to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye where the people from Cayo Espanto picked us up and took us on our little boat ride to our private get away....

This is my current view:

Actually, this was my view all day yesterday too... while Ryan went scuba diving ..... i didn't go.... thought about it... but ended up not... which was good because I ended up very sick yesterday.... but by the time he got home I was much better... still didn't eat much, but all ok....

I know I should probably be upset that he had fun and i was in bed ill.... especially when I was entertained with stories of coral and fish at his return... and then he told me he saw lots of boobies. ON OUR HONEYMOON! He even went to the Booby shop, but in the end, I suppose it was ok...

Actally, yesterday wasn't all bad... once i felt better I had my mini massage and then a got a coffee, honey, coconut scrub and a facial.... so by the time he got back I was quite relaxed, and I smelled really good too.
and now that I've made you all sufficiently jealous, I am heading to change into my swim suit and sit in our shaded plunge pool and nurse this sunburn.

Sabbath we head to the jungles and go on a tour of Lamani... will definately post some from that too.

That's MRS DOHLMAN to you!

2008-11-11T11:14:00.003-06:00

Well- the grand event has come and gone.... it was everything I had hoped it would be... minus a few of my friends who are new moms.... but i still love them... :)

The only thing that I think went wrong was that I forgot my beautiful garters I had ordered with Ryan and my names on them.... but thank goodness for good friends. Keri, armed with GPS trapsed around Tulsa until she found me an ivory one. And only a couple were the wiser.

It was so wonderful to have so many girlfriend, good friends, and family there, and despite the coldness of outside the wedding was just as warm and as beautiful as I had hoped... (and I wasn't all the cold, despite what people thought... i just didn't know what to do with myself... so I was a little jumpy).

At anyrate... friends have already started posting pictures on the internet.... so here a couple of my favorites thus far.

Oklahoma- Land of Strangeness.

2008-10-05T15:56:00.003-05:00

Yet another strange experience since moving to the wilds. We went to church yesterday- the Adventist church here was holding its Fall Retreat at Quartz Mountains, when we came home after lunch and our Sabbath afternoon drive, this met us at the door. (this happened in about 3 hours time). These mini-tumbleweeds tumble around pretty frequently.... but I've never seen them get this type of group rate....

Outside Ryan's house

Dad lends perspective

This is Ryan's friend Brian's house... he lives just around the corner...

MY FAVORITE PICTURE

2008-09-17T15:01:00.000-05:00

More Great Photos

2008-09-17T14:58:00.003-05:00

Engagement Photos

2008-09-16T20:25:00.002-05:00

So we had our official photos taken about 3 weeks ago... The photographer has been a little slow for my taste in getting them back to me... I have gripes, but I'm also a little stressed and am tired of waiting in general. Still waiting on the dress, still waiting on doo-dads that have been ordered, still waiting on the mail to get me my veil. I don't like having things unfinished. And it feels like there are too many loose ends right now. I know things are coming together really well, and I know things will work themselves out.... but I hate not having ANY control over things. I have my own slackerish attitude about many things and procrastinate about many things, but what can I say, I've always been a bit impatient.

At anyrate... while these aren't the "offical" web-allowed postings... I'm tired of waiting... I was sent the web-allowed postings but they were of a different Ryan and his bride.
So I'll post a couple now and then I'll post the others when they show up.....

You the reader is the real winner in all this... you'll get 2 postings. AND a lot more pictures.

Its an East Coast thing....

2008-08-22T22:36:00.003-05:00

So, I was watching a thing with Ryan this afternoon and it had a guy in NY eating a pretzel with mustard on it..... YUMMMMMM.... Ryan doesn't get it. When we were in Dallas we went to the theater and saw the newer Mummy. I got a soft pretzel, and then asked for something to put mustard in to dip my pretzel, both Ryan and the kid behind the counter thought I was nuts! I mean, I don't get it..... doesn't everyone put mustard on pretzels... evidentially not.... people there asked for cheese... and on occasion honey. Cheese I get, but it's all still strange to me. Anyhow, they make fun of my mustard, but they sell giant size pickles and they think there's nothing strange about that.... Big pickles.... In a jumbo jar, all next to each other, like 10 pickles in a jar.... say what??? Out of all the places I've lived, I've never heard of that... then Ryan tells me he dated a girl who wouldn't watch a movie unless she a pickle.

The Midwest is a very strange land.... hmmmm.

dohlman-ryan.jpg (JPEG Image, 1000x97 pixels)

2008-08-15T12:43:00.001-05:00

This is the custom design for my wedding ring. It has the knot that is in my ring from Scotland which Ryan used to propose (amidst the engagement ring fiasco). It also has the hearts for love, the oak leaves for our fall wedding and our monogram. The actual ring arrived this past Monday and it is STUNNING!

Its all getting so close now.... we are starting to send invitations next week, so keep your eyes on that mail box!

Marty Stouffer where are you?

2008-08-04T19:57:00.001-05:00

This post is not intended for the squeemish or faint of heart. If the feeling of creepy crawlies occurs, or if you feel nauseous at any point, please discontinue reading and seek out a large bowl of ice cream, which has been stored properly in the fridge, and sealed well... perhaps you might also want to put on a movie for distraction. I would suggest Oceans 11- Amusing, and with many good looking men. I however, would not recommend Oceans 13-- while this movie is amusing, and has many good looking men, it also has a couple scenes that might cause you to never want to stay in a hotel room every again- Or sleep on a bed... ANY BED!

Now-- On with the show.

I have been home displaced for a couple of month. On June 5 storms ripped through my happy little prairie and wrought havoc. Do to so many downed power lines as well as poor communication within the electric company, my power was disrupted for about 3 weeks. I had partial power off and on for a while, but my house was not at all livable. During that time I helped run the Hostel Dohlman, where other displaced young Altians sought refuge.
Once my power was back on I began the task of packing and sorting and cleaning for my impending move to the Castle Dohlman, where I will take up permanent residence in November. I got another bed moved into my home and my office packed up an moved to the Castle. The Padiero's were going to take up residence at my home for a couple of weeks in July and I was making space for them, and getting cleaned up and such, as my parents were going to come in August. Last week I finally got my house cleaned and went grocery shopping for the Murdoch invasion. Upon unpacking my food I came across small black droppings.... MICE!!! I proceeded to clean out counters and cabinets. I removed shelf paper, through out tons and lysoled the remainders, unpacked groceries, organized and set traps with little pieces of cheese squished onto little metal levers... and waited. The following day I checked the traps, only to discover I had made a wonderful buffet and severed a scrumptious dinner to the neighborhood vermin, and not one had remained to say thank you.
Traps reset, I spread peanut butter up and down the lever. Returning the following day I had caught for my efforts: 1 field mouse.
Jen-1, mice-0... unless you count all my toil up until this point, and the amount of food that was tossed (in which case, I think the mice may be winning).

In addition to little black mice droppings I also came across more little black things. I initially suspected more mice, but these turned out to be little beetles or weevils or something wicked my way came... It invaded a box of mostly used macaroni elbows. All pastas and grains now resealed and another shelf liner replaced, I hoped my troubles were over.... no such luck.

Last night, or more accurately, 4:30 this morning I heard a bizarre sound coming from outside my room. Judah with a hairball?? I got up, and crept down the hallway.... It wasn't Judah, nor was it my dad snoring... I turned on a bathroom light just in time to see a creature, body and tail included about 14 inches in length run past the doorway into my living room. EEEWWWWW!!!! I went and got my dad-- "I think we have rats, want to help me catch one?". Now, both of us up and armed with towels we turned lights on in the living room, only to discover this was no ordinary rat, but a small young opossum, who was very upset with us for blinding him with light, and probably still trying to holler for his mother. The chase in sued. Behind the curtain to behind the mirror to under the cabinet, across the floor and into the bottom drawer of my china cabinet and under the table clothes. Drawers opened and closed and table clothes removed, the little critter scampered under the entertainment center and then proceeded to climb up the cords to behind the TV. Cornered and finally caught the little guy proceeded to try and nibble on his captors fingers through the towel my dad was holding. He was released out into the wilds but not before posing for one picture.

Jen-2, Wild America-0, unless you count the crazy dreams of opossum families taking over my kitchen and weevils dancing in my flour and mice scampering and pooping and scampering and pooping... and we still aren't exactly sure where they are getting in....
While I would like to think that this is the end of my trials and tribulations as a home owner in Southwest Oklahoma... I have a feeling the adventures have only just begun. As I said, we don't know how these little boogers are finding their way into my home. Though we think we know how they're getting UNDER my home.... trapping and catching to peruse I am sure. I am not entirely sure but the skunk that sprayed my dear little girl Judah may not be living underneath as well.
I would love to get a verminator out to the house and have him spray and poison to his hearts content. I will probably have to wait until after my parents leave however.... and I would actually like to be able to wait until this triple digit heat has past, because the odor of dead animals in 107 degree weather does not sound like a good thing to me.

Alas, until taken care of, I take comfort in the fact that opossums eat roaches, and the roach population seems to have dwindled and the fact that I have both opossums and mice probably means that I don't have any rattlesnakes around...

Until Next time,
I'm Jennifer Murdoch,
and this...
is...
Wild America....

Engagement Pics

2008-07-29T21:20:00.002-05:00

Our friend Brandi took some pictures of Ryan and I with Judah as we wont be taking her with us for the official pictures end of August.... I think we got some real cute ones... here are just a couple....

A couple updates....

2008-07-29T20:48:00.005-05:00

So its a month and two months over due, but figured I should add a couple photos from the 4th of July and maybe a couple from the storms that came through in early June that displaced me for so long...
For 4th we went to Tulsa and spent time with Ryan's family... 4th is a big family tradition for Ryan's fam, so I was happy to be finally initiated into this.
The storm that came through has reportedly been diagnosed as a rainspout or something to that affect. Basically it was a tornado, but it wasn't rotating, so it wasn't. Even the there were tornado force winds, they were going mostly straight.... still did plenty of damage though... check it out.

THE BLING!!!!!!

2008-07-03T16:33:00.002-05:00

FINALLY--- It's arrived!!!!

After four months of drama, I finally have my real engagement ring to wear and show off and stare at!
We had HORRIBLE problems with the Jeweler, Bill Barnes, out of Texas. Don't EVER use them! They had our ring who knows where, doing who knows what with it. The only reason I think we have it now is because we kept on them and finally said enough is enough. Every time we called there was a different reason we didn't have it yet. It was at the apraisers, some how they didn't have our diamond, it was shipping out at the end of the week-- etc etc, how can you ship a diamond engagement ring with out the diamond that had been paid for? Anyway, some very sketchy and unethical problems, so after reporting them to multiple powers that be, we finally just got the semi-mount setting. Which he had just about 24 hours before we shipped it off to the most wonderful people ever, Kantor Diamonds, in Tacoma, Washington. Use them!!! Michelle was so awesome and 2 weeks later I have the most divine engagement ring ever!

The picture shows my ring, with the ring that Ryan actually used when he got down on one knee and officially proposed (my favorite ring that I got in Scotland)... we have this all backwards. We started planning the wedding, then Ryan proposed, then we got the engagement ring.... Who knows what happens next!

Pictures

2008-05-20T22:17:00.004-05:00

Ok... if you haven't seen the mexico pictures yet its your own fault- they're on the wedding website, my flickr account and my myspace account... but for those who seem to have trouble navigating away from this page:

Snorkeling in Cozumel, the official hammock where Ryan proposed, tulum, rapelling in jungle and the cozumel ferry dock

More Pictures, More wedding stuff. . .

2008-05-15T21:45:00.004-05:00

For all the wedding info check out our wedding website:
www.jen-ryan.net

and for ALL the pictures from Mexico check out my flickr account:
www.flickr.com/jenmur

I was trying to be nice and post some on here for those of us who are too lazy to click links, but the photo upload stuff was being too slow, so I'm being lazy...

if you don't want to click any links, you'll have to come back tomorrow.... or maybe Sabbath or Sunday....

ENGAGED... and back from Mexico

2008-05-15T16:41:00.002-05:00

Yes... Its now officially official and you can tell all your friends and family!

Ryan asked me to be his wife on our last night in Playa del Carmen.

(I said yes by the way)....

I'll have plenty of pictures to come I promise.... but in the mean time, here's a little one from our snorkeling adventure in a cenote!

VACATION!!!!!!!!

2008-05-08T19:15:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow my dad and my dog are taking me and my fian.....boyfriend to Dallas to catch our flight to Cancun!!! YAY!!! We're spending 5 FABULOUS nights at an all-inclusive resort at Playa del Carmen! I have my Vallum for the flight so I should be good to go... I've been a bit stressed this week trying to get everything done, so if you haven't heard from me, and I've been intending to call you (Norma--) that is why.

As of last I knew "THE RING" had not come in yet... which is why there is still no official announcement. I am not sure at this point if it really hasn't come in, or if Ryan is messing with me and has secretly packed it.... Really at this point it could go either way.... 50/50. I don't know.... Mexico would be a cool place for the question to happen, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Pictures will be coming.... as well as more updates.

More Visitors

2008-04-30T16:43:00.004-05:00

Another little visitor today... found a 3rd in the back... sure hope mama is around.... this one tried to cross the street....

A Visitor at Work

2008-04-28T20:45:00.002-05:00

This little cutie was outside my office today crying. We never did see the mother. The little guy was taken to the vet's office, so hopefully he'll have a good life.

Not the big announcement... yet

2008-04-27T21:19:00.003-05:00

Still nothing big to report... Rumor has it the item in question is currently in Texas- so hopefully in the next week or two.

Here's a little peak as to what's going on right now, while we wait.
The first couple of pictures are from the mountains about a half hour from my house, the next one is from Last weekend in Scottsdale at our friend Dave's wedding, and finally, the adorable pupper I love...

More updates

2008-04-03T21:47:00.002-05:00

So life is getting even busier. I've started working on my own practice. I have my first clients next week. 2 siblings and their mother (who just got out of an abusive relationship). I'm excited and nervous. I haven't worked with kids or done long term individual therapy in a couple years... I'm so programed for crisis-- I guess we'll see. I got an Oklahoma cell phone number to use with my clients, and have a few family members and friends programmed in to call for free. I still have my Maryland number so nobody panic. I got my new cell phone so I could order some business cards. I ordered the cards for that and then thought about some of my side business that have had some good moments lately.
One of the girls I work with brought me $50 today from jewelry of mine she has sold. So I made up some cards for my jewelry business and started a myspace address for posting pictures of my work. I also put floral design on the cards and need to start doing some arrangements to post. I figure I'll be working with a lot of flowers here in the next few months, so I might as well get some benefit from it too.

On another note, I recently spoke with a photographer to do an event in November. I saw his face pop up on the news. Turns out he had ALL his photography equipment stollen out of his car.... Its all been recovered, but sounds like its been a stressful week. Check out his blog for all the news. Really is a miracle.

Love you guys!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

2008-03-25T16:36:00.002-05:00

Just so everyone knows... yes, I'm still alive... we've been all over the place in the last couple months and that isn't going to change any time soon. We've been up to Tulsa twice this month, and I've been to Dallas and Amarillo on top of that. I have CEUs in OKC and Lawton for the next couple of Fridays, then we're off to Phoenix for our friend David's wedding, then my parents will be here, then its off to Mexico or something (ryan's planning that one)... .then I think we're good for a while, but weekends are already filling up. Yvette and hopefully Andi are coming out in early June and life is just busy busy busy!!!!

I haven't forgotten you all though, and I will be adding more....

Also, expect a big anncouncement (yes that one) in the next month to show up, complete with pictures, and clear your callanders for November 9. And that's ALL i'm saying...

Pictures later! Off to run errands for now!

Couple from the Quartz Mountains

2008-02-09T17:54:00.001-06:00

Birthday dinner at the lodge at Quartz Mountains
We took a hike today... it was 70 degrees... AT LEAST! BEAUTIFUL!

S'more Christmas Photos

2008-02-09T17:42:00.000-06:00

My house all decked out
the picture from our Christmas Card
My judah-deer
My happy Family

Ryan and Jen

2007-12-02T15:26:00.000-06:00

Went hiking this afternoon with Brian and Ryan..... and I realized that there were some other fun pictures of Ryan and me missing. So, here you go, here's some of what I've been up to since moving to Altus.

Ryan and I-- at the Wildlife Refuge
Hanging out at Brian's House
Hiking today at the Quartz Mountains.

More Updates...

2007-12-02T12:00:00.001-06:00

I realize I haven't posted in a bit, and there's still some of my life on here missing. So, here's some more of my house and some from Thanksgiving.

Ryan's Family Peggy (Ryan's Mom), Me, Ryan, Matthew (Ryan's Brother) In Front: Kaitlyn (niece), and Jennifer (sister in law)

Ryan and Me at the lighting

And here's a few pictures of my bedroom:

2007-10-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

Alright... i haven't posted in a while and really I just have tons of pictures to catch up on-- Here's a few of the house for now.

More Moving Fun!!!

2007-10-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

MY HEROS!!!!!

Here it is-- more updates and pictures!

My poor barbies got the black death mold while living in the crawl space....

but we got the truck today

and then my heros from Frederick Church helped dad load the truck!!

One Last Dinner

2007-10-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

I met up with Keri and Steph tonight for supper. Girls I've grown up with and who currently live within a half hour of me, and I NEVER SEE!!! They were two of my first best friends. We took swimming lessons together, watched all sorts of kiddie movies together, slumber parties... all the fun that 3 little girls could have. And now-- we never see each other. This is what being an adult does to people! It SUCKS!!!

So now, I'm moving! 3 days and I'm off to Oklahoma, and we FINALLY get together.... we're a bunch of morons!

I must say though, for a group of morons Keri and Stephanie are two of the most beautiful, smart and talented girls you could ever know and I feel very lucky to have them in my life... even if now, that means only by email....

And the boxes continue...

2007-10-10T04:09:00.001-05:00

5am--- just a few minutes ago, i took the last box of stuff out of my room into the hall way. All the things from dad's library are now in the living room. I will be taking those final boxes down to add to the pile every trip i go for the next few days. My suitcase for the trip is packed. Sheesh.... I didn't think I'd get it all done!

So whats left???
I need to empty out my poor car which has my box from the nature center... well, puppy bath big tupperware, and a drawers worth of clothing. Laundry that's been cleaned needs to be packed. I suppose i get to start bringing stuff up from the basement... thats a bit of a scary thought. I guess the basement needs to be finished on Friday afternoon.

I have 5 work days left. 3 with Norma and one with Betty-Ann, my two favorite nurses, so thats a good way to go out I suppose.

Sunday the truck gets loaded from Hagerstown. My mom also comes back from Nashville Sunday night. Monday the truck gets loaded here at home. I hope there's enough room.

The countdown clock on my myspace says: 6 Days, 3 hours and 12 minutes till we leave!

WOW!!!

2007-10-08T23:49:00.000-05:00

The packing --- UGH! So, in 1993 I packed up some of my earthy posessions and went away to academy, then to college, then to England, then to Southern, then graduated from Southern, moved to MI, moved back to Southern, graduated from Southern, stayed in TN, moved back to MD--- in all of that, my wonderful parents have helped me out, and in all of that, I've never had to pack up my childhood bedroom.... This has changed. Who knew I had that much junk??? My goodness.... of course there will be more pictures, the truck loaded, the wonderful guys that have offered to help (YAY FREDERICK CHURCH!!!), the actual moving day..... the ride.... but here's the begining... this all came out of my room.... and there's still more to come!! I think I'm going to need a bigger house.

2007-10-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

my crazy little pupper! This was at my brother's before they moved to Florida... poor Raleigh doesn't seem to know what to do with himself, as my dad tries to get Judah's attention.

OKLAHOMA???!?!?!?!?!!!

2007-10-05T02:56:00.000-05:00

Yup, thats right, and for those of you who found via mass emailing over night.... that's probably exactly what is going on through your head. But its true.... October 16, as soon as I get home from work, mom, dad, puppy and yours-truly are headin' half way across the country to Oklahoma.

If this is a shocker, I'm sorry, I have no organized way of filling you in on the last 5 years of my life. So, here it is, in chaotic form:

(Dear English Teachers, please excuse the multiple changes in tenses and horrible run-on sentences in the following assortment or words. You taught me well, I promise, its not your fault).

I met a guy while I was working on my masters (2001). Ryan Dohlman. We were introduced through a mutual friend at Andrews and started a casual friendship joking back and forth through emails and increasingly long Friday night phone calls. Eventually that friendship turned into a .... um.... slightly more than friendship.... that went on for about two years and then we just sorta drifted apart -- it was always pretty much a long distance thing. Dated other people, then I went to Texas to visit said boy and it completely crumbled...
I moved back to DC.... 1 year later, boy visits, and it turns back into a great friendship. Then I got involved in a very serious relationship and our friendship took a backseat again.... 2 months after Steven and I broke up, Ryan was back.... and this time he was VERY back. Like nothing I had ever seen before... but I wasn't ready.... we became very good friends again, and in December (2006) dated again. But I wasn't ready.... are you all still with me??

Fast forward to now....
Ryan and I have been together for 4 months (ok, so really its more like 3 years 4 months and some change, but that just gets very confusing, as witnessed above).

He's a physical therapist in Oklahoma and together with another PT owns his own home health physical therapy practice. He's great! Amazing cook! Loves the outdoors. Is just as nutty (nuttier actually) about football. Is super smart, a really hard worker, And he makes me laugh. And when I say he makes me laugh, I mean, our sense of humors completely mesh. He's the funniest person in the world to me, and-- He TOTALLY gets me-- and TOTALLY accepts and loves me the way I am. I never feel so confident or sure of myself as when I am with him. All my strange little insecurities are totally out the window. (alright, I'm sorry, that probably got a little mushy).

At anyrate-- So-- I'm moving to Oklahoma... I've bought a house about 3 miles away from him. I'll be working at a Seniors Behavioral Health program connected with the local hospital, mostly doing groups. Its a day job with no weekends and no evenings/ on call... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself.

Puppy will have a fenced in yard to play in, and my home is a completely flipped home, new floors, new windows, year old roof etc.... (however, the bathroom could use a little work).

Over the next few weeks I will be posting pictures of move, the boxes, the drive, the move in, Oklahoma and the boy.... but to help satisfy your current curiosity... here are 2.

The House

The Ryan (and the jen)

Just a Couple Florida Highlights

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Debbie, me and Yvette

Heather and I

Jen's favorite nephew

I Forgot I Even Had a Blog

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But thats ok, because you probably didn't even know I had one. Obviously you do now, or you wouldn't be here.... but you have not missed much, at least on this page, so don't go getting all offended on me.So much to write about, so much going on... where to start...

1. The renewal of the blog I forgot I had: My brother has started up a blog of the Florida Murdoch happenings... This is good, because as of two months ago they stopped living an hour away from me, thus depriving me of one of my best friends (Debbie, my sister-in-law) and Carson (the most adorable 2 year old nephew EVER). Now, at least I can keep up with them, should they keep up with their blog. Monty has posted updates on them, including some of the
pictures I took while I was visiting in Florida. --Which leads me to number 2.

2. I just went to Florida. I went last weekend for a quick, "gotta see my peeps before I move west" trip. I stayed with my friend Yvette for a night and we watched an old Doris Day film: Glass Bottom Boat, which was ANYTHING BUT - "D-U-L, Dull", it was actually quite cute. I went to a teahouse in Mount Dora with Debbie and Yvette and had a very tasty Chicken Pot Pie, but managed to escape the rest of the adorable little city without spending any money. (AMAZING). I went swimming with said 2 year old nephew who was not at ALL in the mood to have pictures taken, much to my chagrin. I watched the season premier of Greys Anatomy with my Debbie, who has me to blame for getting her sucked in, and I have her to blame for my Lost obsession.... (a very dangerous relationship obviously). And met up with my blue-eyed, left-handed, subroommate, RA buddy from HVA and Southern- Heather (Smith) Landers, and her cute family. All in all it was fast, fun and fabulous trip.

3. I move to Oklahoma in 11 DAYS!!!! ACK! And even more terrifying is the fact that I only have 3 more packing days left. Thankfully, the bulk of my house is in a storage unit in Hagerstown, however, that does not make me feel much better about my Mary Poppins Bag of a bedroom, where things just seem to keep multiplying, no matter the number of boxes packed.Things on the house front out there are going well. The inspection passed, with a number of minor issues that I will want to fix, but from all appearances there is nothing MAJOR!!! YAY!!!! So on with the closing! This time in 2 weeks I hope to have all my boxes unloaded into my first home. That way I can spend Friday further unpacking, and have my home somewhat livable for my first Sabbath in Altus.

I have been gradually telling everyone I work with from the ER of the upcoming move, and I am discovering a lot of "lasts" coming up, which is begining to freak me out... and I'm afraid its only going to get worse. I worked my last sift with Roz last week. I am taking my last trip to the Nature Center tomorrow (though, if I miss anything, we'll be driving through there on the way out, so thats good). Tomorrow is also my last vespers at Frederick (most likely). I will have to take my camera. I'm sure it will be very sad. I had my last dinner date with Shara a couple weeks ago. Ack!!!!! I am so excited about Ryan and Oklahoma and my new job and my own home, but wow this is freaky!

There is so much more to update on, and that has been happening but it would be overwhelming to try and fill it all in. Work is a constant source of entertaining stories, a recent trip to Tennessee, hanging out with the slacker Louis who was in town on some business.At anyrate, this is already probably too much for everyone to read, so to see pictures from some of the above check out my flickr account ....http://www.flickr.com/jenmur

Trip to Tennessee- Mid September

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Alright.... So, I'm converting my flickr account to gross picture uploads, and turning this into the informative, whats going on in Jen's world.... So, depending on what you want you can decide where to go, here's some highlights from my recent trip to Tennessee

Saving the TATAS!!!

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So, here it is! 2 Days Over! I did walked 30 miles, From the Kennedy Center at the southwest point of DC through Georgetown and north into Chevy Chase and Bethesda Maryland. (Just at 17 miles for me). We stayed at the Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring MD-- and I'm wishing I had taken some pictures of the shower trailers and portapots! (Let me tell you, the highlight of my Sunday was using a FLUSHING toilet before heading home after closing ceremony). Just about every stop along the way had about 15-20 portajohns ALL lined up. At the Village they had about 5 trailers lined up with 10 or so individual showers each. UP the hill from that, was the medical tent with hundreds of women getting treatment for blisters and hypothermia. They provided massages and physical therapists to help stretch you out! It was GREAT!!!!

Sunday we were up at 5:45 to get out onto the route and 13 miles from Silver Spring and back into DC for closing ceremonies!

However, I know most of you are here for the pictures, so lets see if we can get that up!

Jen