Thanks for the guest post Stephanie Smith;

When planning my trip to Canada, one of the first concerns I had was the weather. Not being the cold temperature type, I obviously chose to travel summer.

As it turns out, summer is the most popular time of year for tourists like myself in Canada. You will find higher priced air and hotel costs, but it is well worth it.
I was willing and able to spend a few months away from home. With that, I will be able to give you a month to month, regional summary of what there is to do in summertime Canada.

I began my journey at the end of June in Calgary.  This city in Albert  had perfect weather in  June averaging around 65 degrees Fahrenheit.  We ended up going to a couple festivals while in Calgary and enjoyed every second.  I recommend going to visit The Sled Island Music Festival.

Next we traveled to Niagara on Lake, Ontario. This was far from a sobering event, being that the Niagara New Vintage Festival was taking place. This consists of approximately thirty, but who’s counting, wineries offering tastings galore of Ontario’s newest fermented grapes. Along with these, are tours and other special events.

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I’ve never owned a house. To be honest, I’ve never really wanted to. I’ve moved around a lot in the last 8 years, and have really valued being able to pick up and move when I was ready to do so.

I’ve been living in apartments and/or renting houses since college, and I can say that through roommates, two-bedrooms, four-bedrooms, backyards, no backyards, pets and no pets… I’ve learned a few things about living in an apartment.

Rachel’s the opposite. She’s never lived in an apartment, so we thought we’d share our thoughts and lessons learned from our own experiences with each others’ readers. Fun, huh? So, if you’re on my blog today, Rachel’s sharing her 5 Things No One Ever Told Me About Owning a House, and here I am with -

5 Things I’ve Learned About Apartment Living in the Last 8 Years

5. Make the most of your small space. I’ve found that in smaller apartments, shelf space is super valuable. Chris and I have little cabinet space in our big new kitchen sink and like to keep the counters clean. This was almost impossible – as we needed the space on the counters for our appliances – until we added a shelf in the kitchen. We moved our pretty dishes, bowls, and glasses onto the shelf and put the appliances (blender, food processors) out of sight and in the cabinets. This works in other rooms also – keep your surfaces clean and clutter-free by making use of creative space like shelves.

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I appreciate the guest post, Emerson Moses

After viewing so many uninspiring loft spaces in the Jersey area, we were beginning to believe this simply was not the time for us to look for our first place together. With every weekend venture of property shopping was met with endless obstacles. Bad areas, scary amounts of work to be done, and then there was the one with the mysterious smell that still has us perplexed. We took a much needed break from searching and spent the weekend soaking up the city. Sunday brunch at our favorite weekend recovery café gave us time to recharge our batteries and check in with our realtor. With new pep in our step, we met up for an impulsive viewing and to our surprise, it was amazing! A little over budget but well worth it. We knew we could cut corners in another way. TO my surprise, I was able to save tons by logging onto http://www.expertsatellite.com/ and becoming new customers. The entertainment package offered more than ample programming to satisfy both of us. Here’s to new beginnings!

I try to come up with something to write here nearly every day.  I do.  Believe me.  I take pictures when I cook with the hopes that i’ll post the recipe for you guys and then I just never get around to it.  I make mental notes of things I want to share with you all.  Less than a month ago, I had my DREAM wedding and man, do I ever want to do some recaps, but the pro pics haven’t come back yet.  I feel like I’ve lost touch with so many of you guys because I haven’t been around.   In the past year and a half, my life has changed so wildly, so drastically… that i’m not really sure where to go with this blog.   This blog was built around my crazy relationships and my dating adventures and my spontaneous trips across the country.

Now, I’m the married girl that cant drop everything and fly across the country just because she misses her friend.  I’m the wife of an Airman & a police officer.  I’m the mama to a crazy pants puppy.  I have the cute house and the pretty yard right near the beach.  It’s a far cry from the person that I was back when I started Confessions of a Jersey Girl.  So many of my friends are still trying to figure out what they want in life, where they belong and me?  I know where I’m supposed to be.   I wake up there every single morning.   I work the boring 9-5 and go to sleep at 10p on a Friday.  Getting wild for me is ordering a movie on pay per view.

I’m not crafty, I don’t have an Etsy shop… so it’s not like I can write about that,  although I’m about to overhaul my office in the next few weeks and take it from man cave to girly chic so I can properly run my photography business.  I mean, I guess I could write about that?  I don’t know.

I don’t want to abandon this blog, abandon you guys.  This blog and everyone who reads it has carried me through some pretty hard stuff over the past 5 years that i’ve been writing it.  That’s a lot to walk away from.  I just feel like, since getting married and changing so much in my life… I lost my voice.  I don’t know where I fit.

So, I can’t stay away.  I have too much to talk about and I’ve realized that it’s going to take a little effort on my part, but blogging is good for the soul.  It’s funny how saying you don’t want to do something anymore has a way of making you WANT to do it.  Anyway… moving on.

When we moved into our brand new little three bedroom rancher just over a year ago, we decided to use one bedroom for a spare and the other we were going to make into an office.  I purchased dark walnut furniture for in there and painted the walls tan.  The original plan was to make the office Matt’s space… and then my photography business took off.  And I don’t want to work in a man cave.  And the dark furniture wasn’t my thing.  So late last week, I sold my office furniture for half of what I paid for it.

As you all know, I am recently married and we have been doing some research on home loans. Just wanted to share what I’ve learned the last few months in hopes that it helps inform all my followers. We have really been looking into getting an FHA loan. So this is what we’ve learned.

The Federal Housing Administration, FHA, which was formed in 1934, is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development office. FHA offers programs that assist in financing home ownership throughout the United States. They provide insurance on loans given to individuals by lenders that are FHA approved, to enable them acquire homes. The FHA refinance loan was designed to provide a way to access funds that enable individuals to pay off other debts or make timely mortgage payments in order to protect their property against possible repossession or seizure. The loan also enables people to take care of other financial emergencies that may have required them to sell their property.

You may presently own a home that is FHA insured but your property faces possible repossession, or you simply need more funds to help you reduce your monthly mortgage payments or to help you get equity on your home and use the money on something that wish to. You may also wish to merge your debts and pay them all at once, or you may simply be looking to acquire a mortgage rate that is fixed. If you fall into any of these categories, then you can apply for an FHA refinance loan with FHA rates.

Contrary to popular belief, the application process for this loan is not complicated simply because it is part of a government department. You are only required to show that your monthly expenditure for housing such as payments of the mortgage and interest rates, insurance and taxes associated with your property is not more than 35% of your monthly earnings. The other requirement is that you will need to show that you are credit worthy, i.e. your must have a good credit score. This means that if you consistently fail to make your debt payments as required, your credit history will be damaged, giving you a bad or low credit score. If you are free from bankruptcy for 2 years and more, your chances of getting an FHA refinance are enhanced.

The FHA refinance loan does not have a pre-payment penalty, has great terms of up to 30 years, and is obtainable at current market rates. You can choose to get either the FHA Cash Out refinance or the FHA Streamline refinance. The former is ideal for you if you own a home or property whose market value has increased since you purchased it. This will enable you to access almost 85% of your property value and refinance your current mortgage or to simply pay off other debts. The FHA streamline refinance will help you reduce the interest rate on your current mortgage, turning it into a fixed rate. The process of acquiring the Streamline refinance is easier and faster compared to the Cash Out refinance because it requires less paperwork.

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This post has been a long time coming, at least for me.  Back when I started CoaJG, I was a confused twenty something who didn’t know her place, who didn’t know where she would end up, who didn’t know where she belonged.  This blog started over six years ago and has chronicled so much of of my crazy life through it’s few versions.  I’ve made some of the best friends I could ever have through this blog.  I’ve Been to Vegas, Minnesota, Chicago, California and NYC to hang out with some of the most amazing people that were ever put on this earth. Above all else, this blog has helped me to feel not so alone in a time when I had very little.

And then?  Then Vegas happened.  I realized that there were so many opportunities out there, so much that I could do if I just made the choice to LIVE.  So, I did.  I really think that weekend gave me the strength to be the person I am now, to make the choices that I have and to really love my life.  I fell in love with the man that became my husband, bought a house, survived a deployment, planned a wedding and became a photographer.  A REAL photographer.  All of this happened because of this blog and because of the courage and understanding that all of you who read this blog have given me over the years.  I’m a better person because of all of you.

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When I was younger, I can remember my mom taking me to the grocery store with her and she had the menu planned out for the whole week and then we grocery shopped from that, buying whatever we needed for that week.  When I grocery shop, I basically just buy whatever produce looks good and go from there.  I never had a real rhyme or reason to what I bought except my produce was organic, I try to buy local when I can and all of the meat I buy is free range & grass fed.  I don’t eat meat, but I have a husband.  You know how that goes.  By the end of the week, I was always tossing things that I forgot to make and went bad.  Um, money down the drain people.  Seriously.  So, I’m menu planning.  I sat today and picked out a TON of recipes that I liked with the help of Pioneer Woman and Taste Spotting.  I planned the next 11 weeks of meals out and decided i’d share with you the first week!  I’m going to try to post photos and what not as I cook each thing and hopefully at the end of the week i’ll be able to show you each meal!

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My heart has been heavy lately.  I’m not really sure if it’s the winter blah’s just taking it’s toll on my little body or something that only upping the dosage on those little pills I take can fix.  It’s frustrating to say the least.  The Jersey has been gray and dark for working on a month now, we so much snow that it’s snowing before the snow from the storm the week before has even had a chance to melt.  I live at the beach people, this is NOT normal.

It’s frustrating because I take care of myself.  I’m a the gym daily.  I don’t eat poorly.  I take walks with my puppy.  And still… blah.

I’ve been working so hard and trying to do so much that it’s a struggle with myself to just hit PAUSE and be present.  I look so much to the future that I overlook the here and the now.  I guess I just get overwhelmed and then I get sad when things start to seem hopeless.  Sigh.

Oh well.  Tonight?  I’m skipping the gym for the first time in MONTHS and i’m baking a funfetti cake because I’m going to let a two year old smash it tomorrow.  Good times.

***I’LL BE IN NEW YORK CITY MARCH 20TH FOR A B.SESSIONS BOUDOIR MARATHON AT THE ANDAZ HOTEL ON WALL STREET.  SESSIONS WILL BE TAKING PLACE ALL DAY.  INTERESTED IN A SPOT? EMAIL ME!  HERE’S SOME PAST B. SESSIONS GOODNESS.  DON’T MISS OUT, I’M OFFERING A SPECIAL BLOGGER DISCOUNT!***

Aside from the Food Network, Cooking Channel & the endless re-runs of NCIS and SVU that play on USA every day, I don’t watch a whole lot of television.  I DVR American Idol, Biggest Loser and Glee to watch with my cousin (and BFF) when we need something mindless to watch when we get home from the gym every night at 9p.   I didn’t know it, but my cousin added the Bachelor to our DVD line up and popped it on one night while we were stuffing our faces with my famous kitchen sink salad.

I protested a little, but gave in because curiosity got the better of me.  I’ve never actually seen an episode of this show.  In order to be all Judgey McJudgerson, I needed to be educated.  Curiosity won the better of me and I watched the episode with her.  Now, I don’t consider myself a serious feminist.  I sort of consider myself a humanist, meaning it really irks me to see anyone being objectified, not given a fair shot, not being treated equally.

At first glance, each of the girls on this show are beautiful (except for that one redhead who sort of looks like a really ugly Isla Fisher).  Like, not girl next door beautiful either… jaw droppingly beautiful.  At first glance, they are the types of girls that, if I were near them, would send my insecurity through the roof.  They are the girls we all think could get any guy that they wanted.  They are the girls we all would think would never be alone.

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