…Well, pretty well actually. I know. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but after two rather slack summers of (for the most part) failed gardening attempts, I’m thrilled to see my thumbs are finally easing up the Pantone scale towards green.

While it’s a concept I find hard to get my brain around, “keeping it simple” this year has definitely helped. Filling our 1.5ft x 15ft balcony with a series of pots, giving each plant it’s own eco system (and resisting the urge to over water) means that instead of my stunted, bug infested, caterpillar-chewed previous attempts, I now have very healthy herbs, peppers that look like they might actually reach full size without turning black (hey, it’s early days yet) and tomato plants that don’t need to reach 9 foot just to grab enough rays to bear fruit.

As my garden guardians Stoney The Bear and The Wizard (yes, he is nursing a baby dragon) will attest, things are coming along nicely. Hey, I’m aware mint grows itself, but as a total upgrade to the harvest I’ve reaped in the past, I’m taking it. A win my default is still a win, friends.

[posted by Jenny]

In the midst of the craft explosion Jenny and I are experiencing here in 2011, we have fallen in love.  And without hesitation, we have jumped into action.  The process of acquisition was a bit tedious, but in the end, all of the hardships were met with exuberation (Urban Dictionary Approved). Behold, our newest family member, Frenchy.  Don’t be fooled by his European name and sassy ways, he’s all brawn and workhorse.  

Stay tuned, we are sure to turn out some amazingness over the next few months!

Frenchy’s Pedigree:

Frenchy is a Chandler and Price 6x10 Pilot letterpress printing press.  Born in Cleveland, OH sometime in the early half of the 20th century and was originally acquired by the Nessler & Wagner Co. of Cincinnati, OH.  After some many years spent with N&W Co. Frenchy seemed to disappear until just a few years ago, showing up at Otto Printing in Newport, KY.  Being a bit long in the tooth, he took to teaching with Otto Printing instead of stepping back into full production.  Now, a few year later, he has joined our family to help enlighten us and push us through to the future…

Posted by Keith

My stepmother has been so inspired by all the wedding, crafting, and general good times energy that she has decided to teach herself how to create and edit videos.  This is an amazing feat seeing as how I’ve only just recently stared delving in myself. 

Below is one of the first videos she has made from her pictures from the wedding, bridal shower and pre-party BBQ. Enough from me, watch the video below and make sure you have some tissues available…

PS, drop her a line HERE at her Facebook. Make friends and let her know what a good job she did!

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As an extra added bonus, below is a video of Elvis’ special performance. There are a few more not posted here at Judy’s Facebook page if you are a glutton for more punishment.

Enjoy!

ELVIS LIVES!

Posted by Keith

What do you get if you leave 80 people with an open bar, some postcards and crayons? Some interesting results. Running with the vintage travel theme of our wedding we named each table in the reception after a different place from our adventures, leaving postcards from each destination at each table for guests to write us messages in lieu of the traditional guestbook. Here are some of our favorite ones.

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To say that Koenig travels are adventurous is an understatement.  Whenever we or I (Keith) travel, things will never go as planned.  There is always some sort of  “fun” involved that changes things up and ultimately leads to better stories…though, is the stress worth it?  Most of the time…yes.

On our trip to Joshua Tree, the “Koenig Curse” did not hesitate to show it’s wonderful head.  The trip started out as normal, Jenny and I met Eric and Matt at their house after work and took off on our 2 1/2 hour drive to the high desert.  The trip was fairly uneventful with good conversation and the counting of an exorbitant amount of Del Taco’s on the Yuca Valley.  Uneventful until I missed my turn to off the freeway and ended up taking that next road.  This was more like a glorified country road so there were side streets right off of it.  We turned onto this “road” and realized quickly that the unpaved road we had just turned on could be an issue.  After a few moments of deliberation, I proclaimed “I’m going for it”.

Flashback about 5 weeks earlier, I made the same sort or proclamation while on a back country drive Jenny and I were on in Hawaii for our honeymoon.  This was a mistake seeing as how were were driving this unpaved road in an compact sedan low enough that the large rocks sticking out of the road were rubbing the bottom of the car.  Needless to say, I drove, with skilled precision, around these rocks for about 3/4 or a mile and then realized we could not pass any further.  Luckily, we made it back to the safety of the paved road and vowed to not ever do that again.

Flashing forward to present time, here we are rumbling down another unpaved road in a remote area, in the dark, with no heed for caution.  I was going to conquer this one and with a valiant effort at that. Right? Well, a mile or so down the “road, what was once packed dirt and sand turns into a giant’s sand box and within feet my trusty stead, my 2 door Honda coupe, is stuck and wont move either forward or backwards.  I’ve done it again.  And this time I have an audience.

So here we are, stuck in the dark in the middle of a high desert sand trap with only faint flickering lights off in the distance.  What are we to do?  We get it out!  That’s what we do!  Without hesitation, Jenny, Matt and Eric all jump out of the car and start pushing her backwards.  With amazement, and some cajoling, we were able to get some backward movement.  20 minutes later, a headlamp, lots of sand in “places”, tons of heart, the car is free and rolling backwards onto the hardpack again.  We gather ourselves and set back the way we came.  Back to the glory of a paved road and the hope that there will be a few whiskey shots and good times to rectify this beginning.

The night end up being one to top them all.  We drank and partied our night away in the middle of the desert.  At times dancing, raving to the light of pen lasers and yelling at the moon.  It was one of the best times I’ve ever had and will always remember.

Below are a few shots from a new Fuji Instax Polaroid camera (Thanks Abby & Amy!) of the rest of the evening.  The smiles on our faces says it all.

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Today’s post comes courtesy of the entries in my (Jenny) Schemes Pad. I have approximately three different notepads in my bag at any one time, as I am a fan of making lists, and sketching out ideas rather than describing them. My Schemes Pad is in constant use, and no more so than in the run up to the wedding, where I drew out ideas as they came to me for the details of the big day. It was pretty special seeing some of these sketches come to life in the photos of the event, some of which are below. Schemes Come True, anyone?*

*(Gratuitous plug alert)

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Ah, Memorial Day weekend and it’s time to set off on another adventure.  This year we are teaming up with Matt and Eric and heading to Joshua Tree for part of the weekend.  Our intentions were first to camp.  Alas, in California people book camping sites for this weekend almost 2 years in advance.  So that was a fail.  The next, and probably better, idea is a vacation rental home.  Success!  We have found one that is equipped with lots of desert sand, desert foliage, and lots of big skies!

The highlights of this trip are sure to be Pioneertown, yes it’s probably as brilliant as it sounds, and the outside sound system our rental has that we will be pumping jams late into the desert night.

So off we are to the desert…with dog and friends in tow.  We leave you with a new song from Death Cab For Cutie, “Underneath The Sycamore”, in honor of our traveling soundtrack to our weekend…and well, a picture to let you know we haven’t forgotten the Obama’s.  Enjoy yourselves!

Love J&K

Few times in my life am I (Jenny) lost for words. I mean, words are what I DO. But then I see something like this, and I have nothing. This, you will see, is a good thing because the “this” I am referring to are the wonderful photos Gabe Aceves took at our wedding. While our big day could have been a quite literal wash-out, his pictures make it feel like the sunniest day ever from the sheer warmth he has captured from everyone who was a part of our celebration.

And it’s not just us who is raving about them - check us out on the very not-lame wedding blog RUFFLED today, where you’ll see our wedding featured.

Fame, it seems, in it’s own small way, is beckoning. Take a look HERE to see why. Then go Facebook Gabe to tell him how much he rules.

They say a picture says a thousand words. If that’s the case, then this assortment of pics from our wedding photobooth says, ooh, approximately 67,000. See if you can find yourself and rate your favorites. Bonus points to anyone that sourced a prop from outside the designated prop table.

Music:   Two Door Cinema Club “Something Good Can Work”

Click HERE to view a larger version of this video!

Ahoy there!

A BIG thank you to everyone who made it to Virginia for our wedding last month. We count you all as our new extended family, so thank you for your help and for being a part of such an amazing day. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

As you can see, we have re-launched JennyAndKeith,com. Over the coming weeks we’ll be rolling out highlights and pictures from the wedding, and give you a sneak peek into the creative projects we have on the way, so come back often to see what’s new.  We have a lot of new schemes in the pipeline, so come get the early scoop on what’s next!

In the meantime, our photographer Gabe Aceves has posted a photo of Jenny as a feature on his blog – you’ll remember him as the snappily dressed guy with the lens from the wedding. We’re excited to have such an amazing photographer capturing everything from our stormy big day, and happy to now count him as a friend, so go on over and show him some love! You’ll be seeing his work pop up on wedding blogs in the coming weeks so we’ll be sure to keep you updated.

As a Wednesday treat, mosey on back to J&K.com tomorrow to spot yourself in the pics from the photobooth! For now, go HERE for the first official look at the wedding pics!

It’s all happening!
Jenny & Keith