On The Road To A Cure

I'm not really sure how many people read my blog (or how many of you have read my blog from the past), but if you know me you know I have have Multiple Sclerosis. I was diagnosed 8 years ago and while I'm very healthy and doing well, this is a condition I have to treat with meds as well as regular check ups with my neurologist.

My daughter Shannon is finishing up her senior year of high school, and as such she had to do a senior project. She chose to do her project on MS, raising awarness for it. She has made a movie (staring moi) as well as putting together a Power Point presentation she will give at school this week, about her project. Part of this endeavor was to raise money for the Accelerated Cure Project, which she worked with while making her movie. It's an amazing organiztion that has done so much to not just help those with MS, but to find a cure.

How is she raising money? By selling t-shirts online here at www.booster.com. She has set a goal to sell 50 t-shirts with all the proceeds going to Accelerated Cure.

I don't who reads this, but if you do, I would love it if you could check out the link above and make a donation. And spread the word. This is all going to a very good cause and you will have my undying love for the rest of ever.

Thank you so much.

The Old College Try

My daughter has just under a month left of her senior year of school. In the upcoming weeks she'll have her go to her prom, she'll go on a few senior trips and most importantly, she'll decide where she will go to college.

The college process has been daunting, to put it lightly. Deciding which schools to apply to, jumping through the hoops of what college wants what for their applications (essays, test scores, etc), actually getting it all done then waiting to see who sends you the big envelopes and who doesn't.

Luckily, my daughter got all big envelopes and was wait listed at one school (which she wasn't sure she wanted to go to anyway so that was good). To say I'm proud of her is an understatement. She has spent her high school years working her butt off and it's paid.

Since October we have been going to most of these schools, to see which ones she likes and which ones she doesn't. Pictured above is Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island. The campus actually sits in the middle of all the mansions (the Breakers is next door). It's a stunning location, right on the ocean and gorgeous as all get out, but it wasn't what she was looking for. 

We have a couple more schools to look at this weekend, but I have the feeling she knows what she wants to do. I know as her mother what I'd like her to do, but I also know that if I push too hard in a certain direction, she won't want to do it (it's the law of teenagers. Whatever you want, they don't). 

She has until May 1st to make her final choice and I'm going to be brutally honest here…the next few weeks are going to be rough. When she finally does decide, I'm going to take her out for the biggest dang dinner ever to celebrate because one, she did it and two, because I lived through the process. But mostly for number two.

Life With Cali

Everyday, around 1:30 to 2 pm, my cat Cali will come upstairs where I'm sitting at my computer looking up pictures of Leonard Nimoy on Pinterest.

Don't judge me.

She will not fully come into the room I'm in. Instead she will sit at the door way, scream at me a few times and try to look cute, so I will stop my Leonardy pursuits and feed her lunch.

Wouldn't you like to feed a cat like me?

Look at me, all cute and rolling around like a spaz.

I will even stretch my wee little paws out toward you mommy.

You're just going to sit there and take pictures of me?

I'm so done.

I don't know what's more disturbing. The Leonard Nimoy admission or the fact that my cat and I know each other as well as we do. Either way…send help.

Downton Jenny

This week will go down in history as the week I became utterly obsessed with started watching Downton Abbey. 

Several of my friends have been watching this show for awhile and have begged me to start watching it. Every time I saw an ad for it I thought "This isn't for me. It looks boring and slow paced and not at all something I'd like." And when season 4 premiered recently, all the same friends were planning English dinners to eat while they watched it. I laughed at them, thinking it was silly even though the new season of Justified was premiering at the same time and I was trying to decide which bourbon to drink while I watched it. 

But that was different. It's Rayland after all.

Then something happened last Wednesday…I was at home alone, cleaning up files on my computer and there was a Polar Vortex so it was -356 degrees out and as such I wasn't going to leave the house for anything (other than to pick my kid up at school). So I turned on the TV, went to Amazon Streaming and saw Downton Abbey was available for instant viewing for Prime members (turns out membership does have its privileges). I decided what the hey, I'll watch the first one and see what it's like.

The rest, as they say, is history.

As the first episode ended, I texted my husband to tell him I watched it, it was so much better than I ever thought it would be and he had to watch it when he got home. Which he did. Then we spent Thursday and Friday watching the rest of seasons 1. And since Saturday was rainy and awful we thought "What the frak…let's spend the entire day watching season 2!"

Funny side note: I got a backache from sitting on the couch all day binge watching this English masterpiece. Such an affliction from binge watching a show shall henceforth be known as "Downton Abbey Back" or whatever body part it is that ails you.

As Saturday evening came to a close, Cali joined us on the couch and became as enamored of the show as we were.

You can see how worried she is about poor Mr. Bates and Anna. We all were.

And now here I am, the newest devotee of the Crawley family and the rest of the brilliant cast. I'm more than ready to sit myself down and watch season 3…I want to see what happens with Matthew and Mary (I think they would have the most beautiful dark haired, blue eyed babies on the planet), Mr. Bates and Anna (I cry ever single time they have a scene together) as well as Miss O'Brien and Thomas (creepers keep on creeping with those two). 

Now I'm off to Amazon to see if I can find an English tea set to buy so I can drink my tea properly while I watch it. Send help.

Here's My Card

So I've been thinking about getting myself some business cards so I can try and get a photography business thing started for myself, but I'm feeling a little apprehensive about actually doing it.

I discovered a website called moo.com this afternoon (thank you Instagram) that has some really awesome, artistic business cards, like these Polaroid style ones above. They use 5 of your own images and have all your contact information on the back in a really cool looking font.

I picked 5 shots from the various senior portrait sessions I did with my daughter last summer and fall, then typed in some random info on the back, just to see how it would look.

The answer? Like I know what I'm doing.

But as I looked them over a few things started to nag at me…

• I don't have specific information where people can reach me (just my regular numbers and email address but that is easily remedied).
• I don't really have any set price lists in case someone wanted me to do a session.
• I would actually have to hand these out to people, which means talking to them and that always strikes fear in my heart.

I will freely admit that starting a photography business of my own is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but the fact that I don't really know where to start or how has always been a huge obstacle for me, so I tend to let it go and say to myself "Well, maybe someday".

But in my year of being open (and really trying to live up to that word), I've begun to think that maybe now is the time to do it. And maybe if I buy myself some business cards and actually hand them out to people, I will find someone who says "Hey, I'd like you to take pictures of me, my kids or my cat!" Because I would seriously do that. I really would.

But I've got this little nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me there are a million billion photographers out there already, who have way more experience than I do and why would anyone ask me to photograph anything for them?

Yes, there are a million billion photographers out there (some with more or less experience than I've got), but they've managed to carve a little niche out for themselves. Why should I be any different? It's not like I want to do this everyday for the rest of ever, I'd just like to offer my services to people out there who'd like a nice portrait of themselves, their children or their families at an affordable price. 

And what's the worst that could happen? I get these cards, hand a few out, no one calls and I'm stuck with the rest of them? They're really cool looking so it's not a total loss… 

The Weekend

Thanks to the snow day on Friday, we had a nice, long weekend.

There was a salon appointment for me (way cheaper than therapy)...

Cats in boxes (always with the boxes)...

Taking down the tree (way more fun putting it up than taking it down)...

Chocolate souffle cake in a mug (a/k/a everything that is right with the world in a mug)...

Trivial Pursuit for National Game Day (and the first time I've beat my husband ever)...

Playing in the snow (you're never too old for this)...

Making a snow girl (named Regina George who was personally victimized by the warm weather we had today)...

And a fresh roast turkey dinner from our favorite local farm (turkey...it ain't just for Thanksgiving)...

Hope your weekend was good.

Snow Day

Today was our first official snow day of the year. 

Since  I knew it was going to be a snow day yesterday afternoon (my daughter's school called well in advance instead of 5:30 am the morning of the actual snow day), I was super smart and stayed up until almost 1 am reading a really great romantic historical fiction book (don't judge me). As a consequence, when it was time to get up and feed the cat, I was doing a pretty good Rip Van Winkle impersonation and was unable to rouse myself. Thankfully my loving husband did it so I could be a lump. Of course, once the cat was done with breakfast, she decided to join me in bed because why not?

In order for me to get out of bed at a human regular time, I had to turn myself into a contortionist a la Cirque de Soleil to get up without disturbing the furry hell beast cat. 

Once I was up (and having only pulled one muscle doing so) I went downstairs and made pancakes because IT'S WAS A SNOW DAY.

Regular pancakes for the rents...

And a fun snowman pancake for the kid. Look at that...I even sprinkled it with powdered sugar to give it a snowy effect. Y'all can stand in line behind me, THE MOTHER OF THE  YEAR.

As the day went on, there was a debate as to whether our daughter would go to her voice lesson in the afternoon or not. After much debate where my husband and myself tried to persuade her to just stay home, she won and I took her to lessons despite the 12+ inches of snow and 12 degree temps.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR PEOPLE.

The day has ended with our daughter going to a post holiday party with some friends while we stayed in and pretended I'm we're not living somewhere where it's 2 degrees out. My husband suggested we get pizza and watch Timeline this evening. So in the end...greatest day ever.

Accomplished

I am feeling pretty dang accomplished today.

Everyone is back to work and school today (although there may be a snow day to tomorrow…knock on wood), so I'm home alone, doing my thang and getting it done in a very expedient manner.

I've worked out, started the laundry, bathed, eaten fairly healthy (the small portion of sea salt and vinegar chips I had with lunch should not be held against me) and watched several episodes of Torchwood while I finished these two babies:

My 2013 Project Life and my December 2013 Picture The Holidays albums.

This is the third Project Life album I've done and I really have to say…I love doing these. Back in the day, I was a rabid scrapbooker. I had taken my daughter to a local playgroup and one of the other moms was a Creative Memories rep. She had a small album with her that she had put together and showed it to all of us. I went bonkers. It was photos (I've always loved taking pictures), stickers (I had a sticker album when I was a kid) and was everything I felt like I needed to do, especially since my daughter was 3 years old.

But as the years went by, I gradually fell off the scrapbooking bandwagon. My daughter was entering her teenage years so there weren't as many photographic opportunities as there had been when she was little. I would put an album together every now and then, but the days of putting a two page spread together were gone.

Enter the idea of taking a photo a day to document your life plus the Project Life kits by Becky Higgins, and I was pulled back in like nobody's business. I love capturing the big events of life as well as the small, mundane moments that are often overlooked. Plus it's very cool to have a whole year laid out in front of you.

So, on the second day of the new year, I put the last two pictures in my 2013 album, added a few finishing touches then put it on the shelf to be perused at one's leisure.

Naturally I've already started on the 2014 album and even though it's only got two photos in it, I'm enjoying it. I got too comfortable with last year's album, not really venturing too much away from the basics of the kit set. But this year I've got a few ideas that I plan on incorporating to make it a little different and more personalized.

As for my Picture The Holidays album…ugh, I love it. I loved capturing the whole month in pictures. Plus I added all the Christmas cards we got in the mail to it, so that was kind of fun. I followed some of the prompts in the Tracy Clark class at Big Picture Classes. If you're into photography, you should look into her classes. They are so good and she is such an amazing photographer. 

An hour has passed since I started writing this and now my man and kid are home with donuts. I guess it's a good thing I worked out this morning...

New Year, New Me

It's the afternoon of January 1st, 2014 and I am already tired of hearing the phrase "New Year, New Me" along with the litany of resolutions that everyone seems to be craming down our collective throats on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else one can make a public proclomation.

That's me. Just a little ray of sunshine.

Don't get me wrong...I understand that people want to better themselves and the act of putting their goals out into the world makes them more motivated to accomplish them. Add to this the idea of a fresh start of a shiny new year and it's the perfect storm for a tidal wave of resolutions.

I know what you're saying..gosh Jen, don't hold back, tell us how you really feel.

If I'm being completely honest, I've been thinking about resolutions the last few weeks. Every December I start thinking about things I'd like do in the new year. And every year I think about writing them down and putting them up over my desk, so I see them everyday. But I never do it, mostly because I'm lazy like that.

But last night I had an ephiphany...what if, instead of making a list of things I want to change about myself, I came up with a list of things I just want. And I'm not talking a list of material items, but a list of intangible things. I immediately thought "I'd like to take more meaningful pictures", "I'd like to spend more time relaxing" and "I'd like to be open to possibilities."

And that is when it hit me...instead of making a list of resolutions, I'd pick one word for the year I'd like to try and live by (Ali Edwards does this every year and I love the idea), and thus my word is open.

2014 promises to be a of change for me. My only child will be graduating from high school and starting college in the fall. I hate that these two very significant  milestones happen only a few short months apart. I feel like I should have some time to get used to the first one before the second one occurs. But I don't, and so I would like to be open to what will happen. Open to change, open to possibility, open to who I will be afterward.

So here is to a new year, and a year of being open to it and all it has to offer.

P. S. I find it extremely funny that under the labels I've made for this blog, one of them is "resolutions". Oh the irony...

Bye Bye Birdy

As you know, we had a robin's nest right outside our front door last month. It was exciting to get to watch this whole little experience unfold everyday, from the eggs being laid to them flying away. I kind of felt like they were my next door neighbors, The Robins. And they were pretty good neighbors at that. Not too noisy, kept to themselves. Just what everyone wants.

On the morning of May 16th, I noticed the parents were not on the nest and two of the baby birds were sitting on the edge of the nest. I thought "Oh, today is the day!" and just like that, one of them took off and flew away into the trees on the side of our yard. It was really amazing to see it happen.

I ran to get my camera so I could try to capture the next one before he flew away. I came back, got the next two shots, then left him alone so he could do his thing.

"Quit staring at me."

"I'll go when I'm good and ready weirdo."

Only he didn't. He sat on the edge of that nest for hours and by hours I mean like 5 straight hours. Every now and then I'd go check on him to see if he'd left, but he was still sitting there like he had no clue what do.

"Leave me alone creeper."

I tried giving him a pep talk. I told him I knew it was scary and it was hard, but he had to go out into the big wide world and make his own way, discover who he was and maybe have a family of his own.

And then I got sad from my pep talk and had to go lay down for a bit.

The entire time he was sitting there, I could hear his parents calling to him. That's when I saw them in the trees on the side of the yard where the first baby bird flew away to. They were trying to get him to come to them and he just wasn't having anything to do with it.

"Would you hurry up! Dinner is getting cold! Freaking kids."

But finally he took the leap and flew away to his mommy and daddy. That's when we noticed a third baby bird in the next who we thought at first was dead (it was just laying at the bottom of the nest not moving) but as it turns out was just taking a rest before he too flew away.

The nest is still in our rhododendron, just sitting there empty. I read online that some times robins will move into an empty nest and lay eggs. So far that hasn't happened and I doubt it really will, but I can hope that it does.

My Life, In A Nutshell

I woke up this morning to find a note on my Facebook wall from an old friend saying "Just checked your blog...". My response? "Did you see a tumbleweed blow through?" because really, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

My life, as of late, has been a tad chaotic. And by chaotic I mean bat poop crazy. This coming weekend is the first one in at least a month where we have no plans at all. None. Like I have two days wide open  with nothing going on and I don't know how to handle it.

"So what's been keeping you so busy Jen?" Here's a run down for you...

• The birds that I wrote about in earlier posts flew away. I was lucky enough to see it happen and it made me so sad I had to lay down for a while.
• I turned fourty...something. Meh.
• Mother's Day was the weekend after my birthday and I spent it at home watching Doctor Who and drinking Prosecco (greatest Mother's Day ever).
• My daughter went to the prom. All the work I put into getting her ready for it, I felt like I was the one going (side note: she had a great time and looked beautiful. All the work was totally worth it).
• I tripped over the hem of a maxi dress while out on a romantic date night with my husband and went down like a ton of bricks. I hit my left knee, right hand and chin on the curb. I skinned my knee and hand and got a lump on my chin that made me look like Jay Leno. Lesson I took away? Hobbits shouldn't wear maxi dresses.
• My husband turned and even older than me forty-something.
• We took our daughter and a friend to Boston Calling over Memorial Day weekend. This was a big, outdoor music festival in Government Center in Boston. It would have been great had the first day not been rainy and cold. Only in Boston can Memorial Day weekend be lousy and awful. But I had a cute rain coat and kept my social anxiety levels in check despite being in the middle of a crowd of 20,000 college kids all smoking pot.
• My daughter, who will be ending her junior year of high school in just a couple of weeks, has been occupied by all these wonderful tests like an AP Language, the SATs as well as these gems called Subject Tests that I've never heard of in my life but are the biggest pain in the butt. She took the Subject Tests this past weekend. I thought "Yay, we're done!" but apparently not. She plans on taking the SAT again in the fall in the hopes of improving her test scores (yes, she is an overachiever).

All this plus loads of laundry, sinks full of dishes and all the other daily nuisances of life have prevented me from keeping up on my blog duties. I really should do a post on all these separate things because I got some great pictures of each event (except the tripping and injuring myself. If I got that on film I'd cry for the rest of my life). Perhaps I'll be able to do that, what with the entire weekend open before me...

And since I hate a blog post without pictures, I'll leave you with this shot I got of my cat Cali recently...

In my next life, I want to come back as a cat so I can lay around in the sun and sleep all day.

Bird Paparazzi

It is beautiful in my neck of the woods today. It's so sunny and warm it makes you want to go outside, running around like Julie Andrews in The Sound Of Music, singing your brains out and looking certifiable. Which is so much better than it was yesterday, which was so cold and rainy and wrong that all you wanted to do was hide in a cave until it passed.

Of course, this made me worry about the robins nest in my rhododendron. I was afraid the little eggs would be cold and shivery and wouldn't incubate properly (yes, I thought this even though I knew the mother or father bird sat on that nest all day long). When I voiced my concerns to my husband he sighed and said "They're fine Jen. Don't worry." But he knows me and knows that was a useless thing to say.

As it turns out, he was right (but don't tell him I said that). The mama or daddy bird was right back on the nest today, and sitting in a really great position for me to get a great shot:

I mean really...is this the most considerate bird you've ever seen or what? I'm fairly certain it saw me hanging out the window (now that's a picture I should get and share here), but it didn't fly away or start yelling at me which I'm sure is what I'd do if someone were hanging out a window trying to get pictures of me.

I just found this great site online. I'm fairly certain the eggs were laid Friday to Sunday time frame, so it looks like I've probably got a week and a half before the little ones make their big debut.

Is it wrong how excite I am about this? I don't care. I feel like I've got the greatest science experience happening right in my yard. 

Birds Do It, Bees Do It...

I live in an area that is fairly heavily wooded. Not that I live in the middle of Burkittsville, but there are a lot of trees and vegetation in my area and with that comes a fair number of wildlife creatures as well. In my yard alone I can tell you I have rabbits, skunks, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, groundhogs and about 3 kabillion varieties of birds. If the chupacabra  walked through my yard I would not be surprised in the least.

And with it being spring time (at least I think it is, today is rainy and 40 degrees so it doesn't feel particularly springy) all the critters have come out to play, if you know what I mean.

Next to my front door is a big rhododendron that I'm certain has been there since the Jurassic period. It's huge I'm sure that if we ever got rid of it we'd find the most complex root system known to man. There are always birds flying in and out of it, but the other day a robin bolted out of it when my husband left the house and that's when I noticed a nest built in the branches.

This is not the first time we've had this happen. We had a nest there once years ago (it caused me great distress when it appeared that the parents had abandoned it and the babies right after they hatched. I was sure they left because I was watching the nest 24-7 and I called my husband at work in tears. That is an absolutely true story. I was beside myself and as he recalled the story to a fellow coworker said "I'm now going to have to get Jen a dog or a cat that she can take care of". Yes, I am certifiable). We also had nests in a large shrub on the side of our yard as well as a small tree in the center of the yard. I don't know what I've done to make my yard so hospitable to robins, but I'm glad I did.

I've been trying to give Mr. and Mrs. Robin their space, trying not to freak them out too much when I leave or enter the house. I tried getting pictures of the nest by just standing on the stairs next to the rhododendron, but it didn't work. That's when I became enterprising and realized the window of my office room was right over the bush and if I put my 70-300mm lens on my camera and hung out the window, I could get a pretty good shot without disturbing them too much. Of course anyone driving by would see me and think I'd lost my mind. And they'd be right.

See? There are three little eggs in the nest and they're so tiny and cute I may pass out. I even got a shot of Mrs. Robin (or Mr. Robin, I'm equal opportunity here) sitting on the nest. It's just so sweet I can't handle it.

I'm really looking forward to the babies hatching and getting pictures of them. Be prepared to see more pictures just like this in the coming days. I'm off to Google robins and find out as much info on how long it will take for the eggs to hatch and how long they will stay in the next once they are born. I'm getting way too into this, aren't I?

Amazingly They Don't Bounce

A few weeks ago (probably more like a few months ago since I have no linear concept of time...maybe I'm a Time Lord! How cool would that be?) I had my camera and my favorite lens in the universe (my 50mm) in hand, ready to take a few shots (of what I don't recall and you'll see why). I needed to put said lens on my camera so I sat the camera down on the back of our arm chair (bad idea) as well as the lens (even badder idea).

The lens, being round and having the ability to roll, rolled right off the back of the arm chair where it plummeted toward my hardwood floor at an alarming rate.

This all took about 3.6 nanoseconds to unfold, yet it seemed like I stood there for a week watching it fall, unable to do a flipping thing about it.

Once it had completed it's journey, I bent over and gingerly picked it up, silently praying that it was okay because this was a really expensive lens and my life would be on the line if it wasn't.

I won't try to describe the damage. I'll let a photo illustrate the damage:

When one has just dropped a pricey piece of equipment and thus does not have the ability to use their camera, they turn to one that is still working. In that moment it was my iPhone and Instagram.

I honestly thought for a minute that I could fix this. That passed quickly when I realized monkeys are smarter than me, so I had to muster up the courage to let my husband know that this had happened. I also planned to dye my hair black and go to Mexico.

I worried for naught...he was sweet, he said accidents happen and we'd send it in to have it fixed. I married a saint people. A SAINT.

I just got my lens back today and I am happy to report that it works extremely well.

So learn from my mistake children. Although camera lenses are round, they don't bounce. And they will break if dropped. They're kind of fickle like that.

Freaking Out Level: Boss

So I was sitting here at my desk, looking at all the glory that the world wide of webs has to offer, when I thought "I haven't written a blog post in a while, I should do that!" I even had the perfect subject for said post, along with a photo I took this morning...

"Coming Out Of My Winter Hibernation Just Like My Hydrangea"

Only when I typed my blog name into my browser it didn't take me to my blog. Instead it showed me a message saying something along the lines of "Hey! This blog has been removed! Click here to find out why!"

Now, a normal person would just click on the link and rectify the situation. But I'm not a normal person. I'm an Abby Normal type person, so I freaked out and when I say freaked out I mean my heart started pounding and I was sure Kim Jong-un was behind the whole thing (he seems to be behind everything these days so it made perfect sense to me). 

When I stopped being weird about the message (I never stopped being weird, do not fear) I clicked on the link and it told me to provide Google with a phone number so they could get a hold of me and see what was going on.

Okay...freak out still on...thankfully I'm married to a man who is smarter than the average bear so I shot him off a text trying to paraphrase this whole predicament. Being the sweet, level headed man that he is (and after 20 years together knows how to handle my crazy) he explained that this is what Google does and assured me it was totally fine and the world wasn't going to end.

So I provided a number and was immediately given a security code to get my account back. I punched that in and was strongly urged to change my password as the existing one was "weak". That made me feel a little bad about myself since I had come up with the password in the first place, but I acquiesced and gave them a new one that they verified as being "strong". So apparently my new password could kick my old password's butt.

I have to admit...this story I just told is way better than my original idea for a blog post. Dear World Wide of Webs, Keep freaking me out and I'll have some great stuff to write about. Love, Jen

By Popular Demand

So, one of my New Year's resolutions was to learn how to play my ukulele, or at least learn how to play a song that people know. If I'm being honest, I can actually play two songs: Jambalaya and Little Liza Jane. They both use the same two chords (C and F) but the strumming pattern is different for each one so technically they are different. 

Last night I busted the ukulele out along with my Ukulele for Dummies ebook and decided to try and progress beyond the C and F chords I already play like a pro.

The next lesson was to learn how to play I'll Fly Away. I don't know this song, but I'm sure someone does so it falls into the catagory of a "song that people know". Bonus to this? I got to learn a new chord! 

And to make this all the more interesting (yeah, that's the word to best describe this), I video taped myself trying to play it. 

I wasn't sure I would share this with anyone outside of my husband and daughter (because they know the level of my oddness and love me despite it), but I had a group of weirdos friends on Facebook that wanted to witness this for themselves.

So this is for them. Just remember, you asked for it.

To Blog Or Not To Blog

It's a new year...time to start anew, to make a list of resolutions and be the super human you hope you can be!

That seems like a lot to expect out of a few resolututions, but we can all hope and dream, right?

As 2012 was coming to a close, I began to think about some of the things I'd like to try to accomplish this year. Some were pretty basic (exercise more) some not so much (really learn how to play more than two songs on the ukulele or at least one people know) but one I kept thinking about whether I wanted to return to blogging or not.

When I first started blogging way back in 2005 (or maybe it 2004...I'm too old to remember such things) it was still shiny and new and exciting. But, as with many things, the shine wore off and I became bored with it, too caught up in the mundane aspects of daily life to remember to sit down and write (I also joined Facebook around this time...coincidence? You be the judge). 

But I had been thinking lately about how much I missed it. Missed sharing my photos, my stories, my mundane life. And I thought to myself "Yeah. You know you want to start blogging again Jen. Just do it."

So here I am. Blogging and sharing a photo of my mundane morning of coffee in front of the computer.   Believe me, there's more where with this came from, lest you thought you'd be disappointed...

Here's to 2013 and keeping resolutions! Also...it freaked me out to write 2013. That just ain't right.

Pinterest: Everything That Is Right With The Internet

So I'm slightly addicted to Pinterest. And when I say addicted, I mean that if I actually physically had one of everything I'd ever pinned, I'd be the most watched episode of Hoarders ever.

That's just how I roll.

And like all you other Pinteresting people (check that out! I just invented that word. That is how I'm going to refer to people who use Pinterest. Pinteresting. Everyone is going to start using it now. Mark my words), I have tried to recreate several of the ideas I have pinned. Some have gone well (this recipe for lemon bar "brownies" is so good you should eat them in a coffin because you're going to go straight to Heaven) others, not so well (let's just say it was a shake that claimed to only have 50 calories. After making it, tasting it and taking a second look at the ingredients, I'd say it was more like 550 calories). In other words, it's kind of a crap shoot. Some times you win, some times you just ingest a ton of calories.

Recently though, I saw a pin that claimed if you put vanilla scented candles in a small container with coffee beans, the warmth of the candle will heat up the coffee beans, making your house smell like french vanilla coffee. Seems legit, right? Even if you don't like coffee (what are you, un-American?) you can't deny the smell is full of awesome.

So while I was at Target yesterday I picked up some vanilla tea lights, a package of whole coffee beans (I literally sat in the coffee section debating what kind to get for about 5 minutes. In the end I went with the cheapest) and 3 ramekins to put them in. When I got home I busted it all out and put it on my kitchen table:

At first, all I could smell was the coffee. But low and behold, about 30 minutes later the vanilla of the candles started to mix with the coffee and my kitchen smelled so nice I just wanted to die.

Well, not really actually die, but it was pretty good.

I left the candles burning while I made dinner, which consisted of me making a batch of french fries in the oven. My husband came into the kitchen and said "It smells like coffee and french fries in here." I said "What are you saying? Our kitchen smells like McDonald's?" He said "No, I don't smell old people and a loss of hope."

So in the end? This pin had winning all over it. Even if it did make my house smell like a fast food joint.

Love, Jen

Blogging Is Hard, Like Math.

Just last month the other day, I was doing something completely mundane (like teasing the cat) when I thought "Hey...I have a blog, don't I?" and the answer was "Yes Jen, you do. But you're a bad person and you've abandoned it. For shame." Then I went back to teasing the cat and forgot all about it.

Until this afternoon. I was sitting here fairly bored (my house is clean, the kid is doing homework, I've checked Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter...several times) when I thought "Huh...maybe I should check on my blog. I bet it's been a year since I posted anything." 

Yeah. My last post was in April. Of this year.

4 months. It can seem like a year.

In those 4 long months, I've thought about blogging. I really have. Many are the times I've sat down to write something (anything at this point), but it always left me feeling like this...

But today? Today I'm feeling different. Inspired, maybe. Hopeful, perhaps. Maybe it's because I've got nothing else to do right now and I want to get it out of my system (seems legit). What I'm trying to say is I think I've missed this blogging thing. Yeah. I have. I missed writing about my mundane little life, missed reading everyone else's blogs and thinking "God, I wish I were that (fill in the blank)." 

I think it's time to climb back on this virtual horse and see where it takes me.

Just so you know...it took me 3 attempts to spell virtual correctly in that last sentence. I'm just trying to keep it real. Real stupid. 

Love, Jen

fun.

Last week was Spring Break for us. We didn't go away or do anything hugely monumental, but we did manage to do something fun. Literally and figuratively.

This past Saturday was Record Store Day, which I would never have known about if I didn't have a 16 year old hipster living in my house. Naturally, she knew what records stores were doing what and where she wanted to go. And that was to the Newbury Comics in Faniuel Hall in Boston to see the group fun. And also to buy records but seeing fun. play was the ultimate goal of the day.

Now, this was not an event where you could buy tickets. No no no. You had to get there early, stand in line and take your chances at being one of the lucky 125 people to get a special bracelet that would let you in to see the performance.

At first I thought "Ugh...drive into Boston early in the morning, stand outside to wait to see if we get in? I don't think so." But then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that maybe we'd get in, maybe we wouldn't, and either way we'd have fun. Besides, Newbury Comics was going to be selling a limited edition record of the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. On pink vinyl. There was no way I'd pass up the chance to get that.

So we got up early Saturday morning, headed into Boston and got to Faniuel Hall around 8:30 AM to find a line had already formed outside the store.

I'd love to tell you the entrance was right under the Newbury Comics sign, but it was not. It was further up.

Turns out we were around 80th in line, which assured us we would get it.

And we did. 

The show was scheduled to start at 1PM, and after we were given the bracelets we were told we had to be in line at the back entrance at noon. That's a lot of standing around in line for one day. Luckily, the people around us proved to be great entertainment. The girl with the iPad on the right said at one point in time "It's so hard to tell professional photographers from hipsters anymore." I think I might have that put on a t-shirt, it's that good.

A little after 1 PM they began to herd us into the store into what can only be described the world's smallest room. We were packed in like sardines which was extra fun for someone who has claustrophobic tendencies. Which is not me. I'm just saying I imagine it would be bad if you had them.

We finally got our spot and this was the view I had:

I never really think of myself as being short, but as you can see, apparently I am.

I was able to lift my camera (way above my head) and get a shot of the band:

Or at least a dozen heads and a blurry shot of the lead singer. 

Funny side story: everyone around us had their iPhones out recording the performance. This allowed me to use their phones like a Jumbotron so I could see the band.

I hate being short.

In the end? We had a great time. We saw (or in my case heard) a great band play and my daughter got to meet the band and have a couple of things signed which I know made her day.

And me? I got my Pretty In Pink soundtrack on pink vinyl. So worth it.