I can hardly believe today is the first day in 2015. This past year just flew by. I imagine that every year will feel like it's going by faster than the last. As usually, this year was really busy for us, but I'm also naming it the Year of Rejuvenation! I still need to add some of Alex's pictures, but here's a recap of what we've been up to the last six months.
As of my last posting in May (wow, I am ashamed of myself), Alex had recently graduated from his MBA program. He suddenly had all of this time back on his hands and he used it to focus on taking care of himself and continuing on his path of learning. This time he zeroed in on real estate investing, which was a topic he had already been researching in his sparse spare time.
Something must have stuck, because before we knew it we were knee deep in renovating a house in Cleveland. It was an amazing feeling to take a place that had been neglected and breath some new life into it. Alex loves the number crunching side of things and I get to flex my creative muscles. We make a darn good team, but none of it would've been possible without my father-in-law who runs the projects through his contracting business. The project kicked off in July right in the middle of our summer travels. {To see more photos visit my facebook page,
OrganizeDesign by LPJ} During the 4th of July we were able to visit and do a little hands-on painting at the house. We had fun exploring Edgewater Park with the Janesz clan too.
In June, Alex and I ended up in Chicago over the same weekend for some of our friends' pre-wedding activities. I found myself back in Chicago later that month to celebrate another friend. Bachelorette and bachelor parties are a great excuse to get together with friends and let loose.
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| Girl's Weekend for my College Roommate Erin |
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| Lucky in Love Cocktails! |
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| Bachelorette Party for my friend Michelle |
We had three weddings in July, two in Cleveland and one in Hocking Hills. One of our Cleveland weddings was the wedding of Alex's high school friend Matt Stricker to his lovely bride Laura. Matt and Alex spent their baseball playing days together. The same day we also had Michelle and Chase's wedding, who are our friends that we met through Alex's other high school friends from St. Ignatius. The last wedding was my college roommate Erin! I met her when I was a freshman and then we lived together for three years. After college we even worked together at the same company in Human Resources!
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| Alex and I at Michelle and Chase's Wedding July 19th |
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| Michelle and Chase Gardner! |
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| College Roommates with the Bride-to-Be, July 25th |
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| Erin & Tim Ruark, July 26th |
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| Alex and I at the Ruark Wedding! |
In August we had a wedding in Murray, KY for Alex's friend Pete from his MBA program. Pete's wife Jenny and I would have dinner together occasionally while they were at class. It made the weekdays not quite so lonely!
We made a little weekend of the wedding and stayed in this quaint little cabin on a small lake nearby. I think that was officially the only time we have driven south for a wedding! Although it was a short weekend away for the two of us it was very peaceful and a wonderful break from our hectic lives. There was even a community dog that took walks with us and rested on our porch while we had breakfast, which we both really enjoyed. It was great to get away from technology a little bit and get some fresh air!
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| Alex and I at our Cabin Getaway in Bumpus Mills, TN |
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| Jenny & Pete Thackston, August 2nd |
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| He can't resist dancing at a wedding |
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| Favorite picture session of the year! |
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| MBA Guys with the Groom |
The rest of August went by in a blur! One weekend we drove up to Springfield, OH to participate in the Happy Marathon organized by my college roommate's boyfriend. Another weekend there was a golf tournament through our church that Alex participated in. I helped set up the mixer/dinner the evening before, and we ended up bidding on a trip to Myrtle Beach during the silent auction {we'll be heading there with both families this upcoming June}. We celebrated my mom's birthday in Cincinnati, went to Cleveland for a weekend and celebrated Labor Day with a pool party at my parent's house!
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| My parents and I out for my mom's birthday |
In September Alex traveled to Denver for a long weekend to celebrate another friend's last few months as a bachelor. While he was there I took the opportunity to travel to Columbus to spend some time with my college roommate Karleya. In September the official RCIA classes at our church started up on Monday nights. Alex has been attending with me as my co-sponsor. He and I also took over the coordination for a volunteer activity the RCIA group does together once a month. We go to the Catholic Action Center near downtown Lexington loaded up with all sorts of hot food and we feed everyone breakfast. It's such a rewarding experience.
Along with CAC, since joining our new church earlier in the Spring there have been numerous opportunities to get involved. These opportunities and the church community have had a profound effect on rejuvenating our spiritual lives. And a bonus, it's right around the corner from our house so we can walk to church when the weather cooperates! We headed up to Cincinnati to take in a Red's game with my parents for my Dad's birthday and that final weekend Alex drove up to Cleveland to partake in his family's Annual Par 4 Golf Weekend. He was so excited to spend time with the guy's in his family because he hadn't been able to attend in a couple years due to school.
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Mom and I at a Red's Game
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In October we hosted some family and friends for a weekend at Keeneland Race Course. We rented a party bus and had a little too much fun. It always feels good to host our loved ones and just laugh for an entire weekend. Laughter is definitely a cure for what ails you. At the end of the month Alex took part in a weekend retreat at our church called CRHP (Christ Renews His Parish). It was a men's only retreat and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He had not been to a retreat since high school; it was spiritually enlightening, but also provided a superb opportunity to meet some more people at our church.
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| At Keeneland |
Following Alex's retreat I traveled to California for the first time ever with my work. When I got off the plane in Ontario, CA (near Pasadena, north of LA) I was struck by the beauty of the mountains. And the weather. There was so much sunshine and a gentle breeze. It's a great place to visit, but I still love the Midwest! I need Seasons! And greenery! It was a wonderful time of year to visit and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Santa Anita Race Track. Our purpose for traveling to California was to host an awards luncheon to recognize three people in the horse industry. One had saved a jockeys life and the other two had committed themselves to bettering life on the backside.
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| Santa Anita Race Track, Arcadia, CA |
(Side note: the backside is the area of a horse racing track that you don't normally see if you're just in the grandstands. There are many people that live on the backside and they work 7 days a week doing hard labor. It can be very dangerous, there is a lot of negative temptation (drinking, drugs, gambling) and the accommodations are usually very run down. They don't always have reliable transportation, they are sometimes without their families and many do not speak English. Our organization supports Chaplains on these race tracks, who minister specifically to this community of people. They hold bible studies, they perform baptisms, coordinate counseling sessions and all of the other activities that a pastor in a church would do. They also have programs for the children, ESL classes and free dinners etc.)
From California I flew directly to Pittsburgh, PA for our last wedding of the year, a past co-worker of Alex's. Alex met me at the airport and we went straight to UPS to get the closing paperwork for our flip notarized. The house had only been on the market for 6 days before we received a full price offer! What an amazing first experience, we got to work on flip #2 immediately. (It's about 2 weeks away from completion right now). Again, to follow our flips and see photos you can check out my facebook page,
Organize Design by LPJ. We had an awesome time in Pittsburgh celebrating our friends.
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| Myself and the LDP Ladies |
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| Pete & Chrissy Steele, November 2nd |
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| Alex and I outside St. Bernard in Pittsburgh, PA |
It was a relief to only have 5 weddings this year instead of 10 like the two years prior! It was a lot of fun to have one to look forward to in November. Usually they all seem to be back to back. This year Alex and I celebrated our four year anniversary (Oct 2). The groom and a few of the other people at the wedding had also been at ours so we had fun reminiscing over all the times we've been together. They live in Houston, TX and Pittsburgh, PA so we do not see them all the time.
For Thanksgiving we decided to take it easy and keep our travels limited to Cincinnati, Many years we've celebrated in both Cincinnati and Cleveland which is quite exhausting. It was very refreshing to stay in the same city and we even went home early so we could have a day to relax.
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Dad, Alex and I outside the Incline Public House, Cincinnati, OH
In December we tried to take it easy in preparation for the hectic holidays. One weekend we did take an impromptu trip down to the Abbey at Gesthemani. It was beautiful scenery and learning about the monks is quite inspiring. It's difficult to put it into words, but if you ever have the opportunity I would encourage you to visit a monastery for yourself. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take in a service while we were there, but we did catch the tail end of one. Just down the road from the Abbey is Maker's Mark Distillery so we extended our day trip to take it all in. One thing we've really loved about Kentucky is all of the history and how Kentucky is still known for the same things today {like bourbon and thoroughbred horses}.
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| Abbey at Gesthemani |
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| Maker's Mark Distillery |
For Christmas we did spend time in multiple cities, but we had the full week off so it ended up being very relaxing as well. We did not want it to end! We started off in Cincinnati with my parents. We saw my friends from college and Alex's mom's side of the family as well. On Christmas Eve we drove through Toledo to visit my mom's mom before making it to Cleveland. We stayed in Cleveland until Sunday morning and then stopped in Cincinnati for a Christmas meal with my dad's side of the family.
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| A few of the Harshman Grandkids, Cincinnati, OH |
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| The Janesz Clan at St. Stanislaus Church, Cleveland, OH |
It was definitely challenging going to work this past Monday, but it was so worth it. We had such a peaceful and enjoyable time over the break. It was nice to get away from our house and our to-do lists. And last night, New Year's Eve, we stayed home together and went to bed early. It was fabulous. At the end of the day, Alex and I just want to be together no matter what we're doing and we've had a heck of a year of adventures doing just that.
Cheers to 2015! May you have a happy and healthy new year!
"May he grant all your heart's desires and make your plans succeed." Psalm 20:44
