Jen Russum

Remember, a long time ago, when I said I was looking for a new purse? Well, I finally found one. Never rush a new handbag, sweet friends. It will come to you when it comes and not a moment too soon.

My new purse came to me last week. I decided on a cross-body bag. I've never had one before and I wanted to give it a try.

Here's one thing you should know about me, I hate names and labels on purses. On most clothing really, but especially on purses. Whether it says Liz Claiborne or Coach, Prada or Faded Glory, I hate it. Maybe it's because my purse will never say Prada or Coach and I'm bitter, but I don't think so. I just don't want someone else's name on my purse. If it says "Jen" fine, but no one else is allowed!

Second thing to know about my purse selection... I like them bright. My clothes are usually fairly muted and neutral, so I love having a bright purse for a pop of color. In the recent past, my purses have been mustard yellow, peachy orange and bright orange. Bring it. I don't think I've had a black or brown purse in at least five years.


But finding a purse that is stylish... with no labels... in a fun color can be a chore. So when this little beauty flashed before my eyes last week, I was sold almost instantly. Well, after a little trial in the only mirror I could find in the store to confirm that I wanted to switch from a regular mid-size shoulder bag to a cross-body style....


But I crossed over in more ways than one last week. Here's one more thing to know about me... I kinda pride myself {bad, I know} on not being a clothing snob. I don't care about labels and I can happily say that I am willing to shop at almost any store if they have cute clothing to buy. I've spent the last few years of my life trying to convince my friends that Kohl's has great business casual clothes. Don't get me wrong. I love Nordstrom and Banana like the next girl, but Kohl's and Target are on the list too. However, if I am really honest, I don't really shop at just any store. There are a few stores that I completely avoid. Sears, KMart, and JCPenney come to mind...

Except the other night I found myself in JCPenney for the first time in years. I was looking for new bedding and rumor has it they have cute home products. I actually found amazing bedding and then on my way out of the store, I spotted this cute little green bag. It was so perfect that I pushed the JCPenney stigma out of my mind and tried it on...


Humbled. JCPenney is legit.

And now you'll probably find me shopping at Sears or KMart next week...


Merry Christmas!
Jen

Over the weekend I finished up my Christmas list. Yes, this 29 year old still makes a Christmas list. It's not that I am über greedy, it's just that I love gift giving and I want everyone in my family to give and receive good gifts. I think this is best accomplished if everyone shares a gift list of items they actually want/need. I would rather get an item that costs $10 that I really love than a $50 item that is only mediocre.

However, one thing about my Christmas list was very different this year. It's still mostly clothes and other pretty things, but it's the source of these items that has changed. My family doesn't need to fight the crowds at the mall to get me something I will love. No. They only need to hop online because over half of my wish list items can be found on Etsy. I guess I'm really a true blogger now...

Here are some of my favorite handmade items this Christmas season...



And this doesn't really count, because I already bought these... but to kick off the Christmas season I ordered our Christmas cards from Naptime Diaries. And if you haven't met Jessi, please head to her blog. Her love for Jesus and her family inspires me daily.

We are back from North Dakota my friends. The weather was actually quite amazing while we were there. No snow. Sunshine. Upper to lower 30s for daytime temps. On Thanksgiving Day we took a walk around the neighborhood after dinner and some people didn't even wear coats because it was so sunny, crisp, and pleasant. {I wore a coat though...are you kidding me? My idea of truly amazing winter temps is about 75 degrees...}

We ate lots of delicious food, including the Norwegian treats lefse and krumkake. So good. I would have flown all the way to North Dakota for those two delights alone.

We did a little Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving night, and by a little I mean we failed miserably. We only had two items on our list - a flat screen TV and a PlayStation 3. After a brutal experience at Walmart at 11pm, where they didn't have the TV we wanted and the PS3s sold out at 10pm, we also went to GameStop where we waited in the cold for an hour only to find out right when we finally made it into the store that they had just sold the last PS3. Boo hiss. It was 1am and I was running off two hours of sleep from our early morning flight.

But I didn't fail completely. While in line at GameStop, I called my mom back in Washington where it was only 10pm. She told me that she and my dad were going to Target at midnight to try to get a TV. We are from a small town and the Black Friday shopping there is pretty tame. I asked her if she would also see if they had the PS3 available and I would pay her back if she could get it {Micah's Christmas gift}. After an unsuccessful night in Fargo, I awoke to a text on Friday morning {the real morning... 9am not 1am} that said she got the PS3! Win! And later that day Micah and I ordered a TV off Amazon - no tax and no shipping thanks to my free student Amazon Prime account. It will arrive to our doorstep Friday morning. Take that, Best Buy!

For the rest of the weekend we just experienced North Dakota in all its majesty. We took Russum family portraits on Friday afternoon and there are so many spouses and great-grandchildren now that we hardly fit into the studio. The Russums can thank Micah and I for not having children yet {you're welcome} because with one more bundle of love in the fam I don't think the photo would have been possible. Other highlights included a trip to the movies, a North Dakota State basketball game and hearing Micah's aunt, uncle and cousin play the bells at church on Sunday morning before we left. Other than that, I just played with babies - lots and lots of cute babies.

We are off to North Dakota early this morning. Praying I was able to stuff enough clothing into my carry-on to keep me warm all weekend. If I'm not back on Monday assume I am frozen somewhere in the Midwest. While the cold weather is not my favorite, I am excited to spend the weekend with Micah's family. I've heard their food is amazing and that the aunts and girl cousins are hard core shoppers. Sign me up!

And here are some things I'm thanking the Lord for today:

A pretty new kitchen with lots of storage space....




 
 Sister-in-law living with us and lots of fun visitors this fall...

 The opportunity to go to grad school...

Well, friends, I have made the leap. I finally feel like a true blogger. Does it have to do with how often I write? No. My number of followers? No way.

It's because of this...



I now own a Whippy Cake headband. It's official.

Two weeks ago I attended the Believe Boutique in Chandler with my friend, Ashley. Nothing makes you feel more like a blogger than being at a craft fair full of headbands and baby clothes and jewelry and calendars. Nothing except walking home with two Whippy Cake headbands bought at discounted boutique prices that is.


I am in love. You can probably tell by how often I've worn these bad boys...uh... little ladies over the past two weeks.