as of right now...

Life soundtrack

Ok, here's how this works.
1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For the first question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...just type it in!


Opening Credits:
Radio Song by R.E.M

Waking Up:
Something Is Not Right With Me by Cold War Kids

First Day at School:
Rock of Ages by Def Leppard

Falling in Love:
Good Life by One Republic

Losing Virginity:
Giving Up the Gun by Vampire Weekend

Fight Song:
Starry Eyed Surprise by Oakenfold

Breaking Up:
Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men

Prom:
Yellow by Coldplay

Life:
Easy to Love by Ivan & Alyosha

Mental Breakdown:
The Way We Move by Langhorne Slim & The Law

Driving:
Half a World Away by R.E. M

Flashback:
From Finner by Of Monsters and Men

Getting Back Together:
Please Do Not Go by Violent Femmes

Wedding:
Without You I'm Nothing by Placebo

Birth of Child:
For You by Angus and Julia Stone

Final Battle:
Been A Son by Nirvana

Death Scene:
Summer Day by Coconut Records

Funeral Song:
Loser by Beck.

This was something circulating on Facebook YEARS ago. I never did it though and was interested in what mine would be. Used by iPhone rather than my iTunes. It's surprising how well some of these work for me...LOL. I totally want Loser played at my funeral...that would be perfect.

right now 05/22/13

excited to try my hand at these Cauliflower Tortillas. The filling looks awesome too:)

wondering if polenta pizza crust can be cooked on the grill as we head into the summer months

counting down the days until my favorite show of all time shows up for a special season 4!!

assuming these cookies will totally blow my mind. We'll see this weekend. I've given up all processed sugar so these are right up my alley:)

searching for a new hairstyle

dreaming of  warm vacation (weekend) trips this summer. Other than Arizona I mean...

looking forward to the 3 day weekend. The lead in to summer:) I always have such hope for an awesome summer. I think I'll have to head to slightly warmer weather to get the real summer experience though. Speaking of which:

planning a trip to see these falls this summer. Trying to nail down a date for camping there...

stressed about lots of things at the moment. Money. One of our cats. Alex's graduation (or her possibly not graduating is the actual stress factor)

feeling good (healthy)  despite the stress. Just need to get through the next few week and much of this stress will be lifted.

 

-jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing along: 31 things.

I've decided to play along with my friend Erica's  31 day project. I am horrible at documenting stuff about myself. I put pictures in my Project Life book but I don't really make pages that tell you my real story. Someday I think my daughter might care. Might want to know a side of me that I haven't let her see.In her current self-centered teen stage I know she doesn't care much but if I make it through the 31 prompts maybe I'll put these together into a book for her:) For now I am just going to do them on this blog so they are documented.

The first prompt is : 20 Random Facts about yourself

1. I hate cantaloupe and honeydew melon. Hate them. Won't even eat other fruit that have touched them.

2. Scooby Do is my all time favorite cartoon. I will still watch them even now at the old age of 43!

3. I sleep, most of the time,  with one foot under the comforter and one foot out.

4. I wanted 6 kids.

5. If I get attached to a certain song I can play it over and over and never grow tired of it.

6. I love the smell of freshly printed money (from the ATM or bank . I am not printing my own money...hahaha)

7. I like my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with potato chips in between the two slices of bread. I like the cruch it brings to the sandwich:)

8. Some of my favorite memories are of High School marching band.

9. I played the flute and piccolo in High School but secretly wanted to be in the drumline.

10. I do not like being the center of attention, in fact, birthday gatherings are one of the hardest things to get through. Even if they are all my friends or family.

11. I used to take flowers to the elderly neighbors on my birthday when I was younger (May Day)

12. I would like to live abroad  for at least 1-2 years of my life.

13. I was obsessed with the Kennedy assassination when I was 5 (my mom had a book with pictures that I would look through because I couldn't read all the big words yet)

14. I could fully read before starting kindergarten.

15. I am horrified by the spelling and sentence structure of most  people below the age of 25. "txt"...really...cause it would be SOO much more work to put an "e" in there...

16. I said my first "bad" word whenI was 10. It was "ass" after I heard it on a television show. It's all gone downhill from that point;)

17. My favorite food is Mexican food. I could eat it every day.

18. My nickname in Girl Scouts was "Bambi".  Seriously.

19. One day I would like to take a road trip across the US with my daughter.

20. My first concert was Duran Duran when I was 13.

This was hard actually. I wanted them to tell something about me and not just be totally random. Tried to mix in a few things from different points of my life. I think I did ok:)

Looking forward to the next prompt!

-jen

 

 

 

 

right now 02/27/13

obsessed with Trader Joe's Coconut Body Butter. Seriously. Every time I open it I want to eat it. It smells that good. I bought some for Alex a few months ago but had not actually tried it (she's a stingy teenager anyway and keeps it out of my reach...hahaha) until I bought my own container. Heaven.

overwhelmed by all the trips I'm trying to plan this year. One to here. And here. And here. And here. And also one to here and our usual trip to here. I have the travel bug bad this year so let's see if I can work them all in:) It doesn't help that Nate started a new job and his vacation time doesn't start accruing for another month or so. Luckily most of these are weekend jaunts.

loving Project Life this year. I went through most of my scrapbooking crap and got rid of 80% of it. (By "got rid of " I mean it's sitting in boxes in my garage and I'm at a loss about what to do with it.) That seems to have cleared my brain by 80% too though because I'm actually keeping up with PL and doing pages that I really like. I don't seem to be blocked like last year. My goal is to get through the last bit of scrapbooking crap by the next month and rid myself of another boxful (or two).

watching Supernatural on Netflix. Why has it taken me so long to finally start watching this show? 

not reading. I am in a slump lately and just not interested in books. Went to the library the other night to try and remedy this situation so we'll see if that changes things up for me. I've been walking a lot on my lunch hour which is whenI used to read so I'm wondering if that is what is throwing me off. That and busy weekends with not a lot of extra time just to read...

That's all for now. Exciting things going on in my life...right?

 

jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right now: Pre-Thanksgiving edition

laughing at this recipe a friend linked to on Facebook.  The comments are awesome.

enjoying all the Peppermint Hot Chocolates I can fit in this holiday season:)

anticipating the end of my (short) work day today. Then I don't have to come back until Monday;)

thankful, beyond words, for my wonderful family. Life would not be as amazing as it is without them

excited to really start planning the mom-daughter trip with Alex. The trip we planned had to be postponed but we've rescheduled for March!

looking forward to all the delicious food we're making tomorrow:) This and this and this.  Plus mashed potatoes (my favorite!) and a few others:)

hoping to catch up some on my Project Life over the next 4 days. I stopped about mid-October which is when I stopped last year. Must be something about this time of year...

bummed that I didn't do ANYTHING on my fall list. Even after making a list.  I just can't seem to find any extra time during the Holiday season for extra activities. Work, Alex & Nate, cooking and gym is about all I have time for.

not loving the Daylight Savings time change. I have so much trouble adjusting to this change in light and I get so depressed and unproductive when it's dark at 5:30. My energy has felt sapped for weeks now:(

drinking one of these tonight. Or when I get home;)

preparing for the Black Friday shopping-fest. We go every year even though we don't really need anything. It's just fun to be out in the craziness. no...really. This year we're hoping to score a TV for Alex.

freaking out that my daughter is going to be 18 in less than a month.

 

I'll end the post on that note...haha. Wishing you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

right now & on my radar 10/03/12

Oops...I disappeared from blog-land again.  I seem to go through periods of time when I don't want anything to do with the world wide web (except Facebook and Instagram) and then there are the months when I get hooked once again on reading blogs and can't get enough of them.  Then I get overwhelmed and take abreak. It's a cycle I seem to repeat over and over...

some good things on my radar lately:

dating my husband. I love this line of the post "that even though we see each other a lot we are rarely connecting on the level that is needed to deepen our relationship. To become lazy in our marriage is the disease that can quickly kill it." I need to remember this in my own marriage and try harder sometimes. Real life certainly has a way, of getting in the way, of the life I want us to have. Found via this blog.

the mom stays in the picture. This article resonates with me so much right now as I lose my only child to adulthood in just a few short months. I have almost no photos of us together and am just starting to feel the regret of the decisions I 've made all these years in regards to photos of me. I know for a fact that she sees me differently than I see myself and I wish I had looked at it from this view earlier. Still have time to change things but am disappointed it's taken me this long to realize the ramifications of my own vanitly issues.

This post is EXACTLY the reason I stopped reading blogs and still do when I feel overwhelmed by it all. I would look at all these (seemingly) perfect lives and feel discouraged by my own life. That we didn't have a perfectly decorated house, or money to travel all the time, or time to travel all the time, and that I didn't have a cute sense of style or the figure to carry off a cute sense of style. I got really down on my life for a long time when really,  my life is good. It's a relief to read that others are just as overwhelmed as me.

I want to make these cinnamon rolls. My hips and thighs would like me to not make them...

planning a trip. just the girl and me. before she turns 18. One last mommy-daughter outing before she's officially an adult. And now I am going to cry.

wanting to learn to quilt. I have for years but the want is getting stronger each passing year.

making a list of things I want to do and make this Fall. Time just has a way of getting away from me...hopefully this will help.

deciding how I want to mine to look:)

craving hot meals like soup and casseroles (even though we just had 2 of the hottest days this year. 89 degrees, by the ocean, is crazy for us...)

cooking up some of these this weekend (when weather should be back to the normal 55 degrees it always is here)

reading Agatha Christie's Marple series.

working on perfecting our pizza dough recipe. Nate added red crushed peppers, herbs and a pinch of parmesan to the one on Sunday and it was really tasty. We've not sone so well at learning to grill the pizza though. Maybe we'll perfect it next summer.

 Considering doing this detox/cleanse again. Get myself ready for the holiday crap I'm sure I'll eat;)

jen 

 

right now 07-02-12

watching Magnum PI on Netflix. I didn't realize I couldn't watch all the Law and Order seasons through streaming so that was a bit of a disappointment:/ Finally moved on to Magnum which was one of my favorite shows when I was younger:) I still have a crush on young Tom Selleck;)

wearing 100% organic coconut oil as a moisturizer. I saw a few different articles about it/references to it and then I read Jess's blog entry about it and decided to give it a try. Amazing! My skin is so soft.  I tend to get dry patches on my face after being outside in the sun (even though I wear sunscreen) and after windy days(which is everyday here). I've been using it along with my usual moisturizer.

(slowly) working my way through Project Life. I fell behind. And then sort of caught up but not in any order. I seem to work on it piece by piece for different weeks without any consistency (I'm working on week 18 through week 25). Hope to be caught up (mostly) by the end of next week. I start a new album this week so that the book doesn't get too big and heavy and would like to have the first 6 months done before working on the second album. I'm taking the "unusual time off in the middle of the week" tomorrow to play catch up. Maybe I'll have something to share in the next few days. We don't have fireworks here so it will just be a quiet day at home for us.

accepting a change in vacation plans. I started making plans for our Oregon/Washington trip and then was blindsided by the other people in my household who wanted to" just go to Arizona". Arizona! In late july! It's going to be like 115 there...sigh. And we go every year. Double sigh. I'm at peace with the decision at this point but I was really upset the first few days after the decision was made. I like seeing new places and experiencing new things and I live with two people who DO NOT like change and I fear this means I will not see much of the world. Or even the US. I just need to start taking vacations by myself I guess...

craving cold tropical cocktails. I guess Arizona will be good for something. Like cold cocktails. By the pool. At 10:00 at night when it's still 100 degress out...

failing at posting the "what we're eating" post. Life got in the way. I still cook each week. And 80% of the time I stick to it...LOL.

reading Death Comes to Pemberley. I expected to like it more because Pride and Predjudice is one of my favorite books ever. I've read it at least 20 times. And watched the film (BBC TV version with Colin Firth) at least that many times. I'm having a hard time getting into it though. Not enough Elizabeth and Darcy time together maybe...

freaking out a little lot about the fact that Alex will be 18 in less than 6 months now. She starts her Senior year in a few weeks. How can this be? I get emotional if I think about it too much but it's been on my mind lately. Especially after making a trip to Arcata, Ca to check out Humboldt State University last week. It's one of the schools she's looking into. As is Arizona State University (which we'll take her to check out when we're in Arizona) and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. We''ll be making a trip down there soon to check out that area and school also. I'm encouraging community college in SLO for 2 years and transfer to Cal Poly. That's because it is the closest of all these schools and I like the idea of only being 2 hours from her rather than 8 hours or even a state away...kids grow up SO fast...

 

Jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

right now 05.11.12

enjoying this series from NY Mag- I love to read about what people eat every day. Seriously. I'm food obsessed though;)

obsessed with Zumba again. Which is good for my well being. Not so much for my wallet.

reading Fifty Shades of Grey. I don't usually go in for smut erotica books but I had to see what all the talk was about. Loved the SNL skit for the book:)

watching Sherlock Season 2 on PBS. Have you seen it? LOVE it. He's my favorite Sherlock Holmes. I'm a little Sherlock Holmes obsessed too.

thinking about our vacation this summer.  Oregon and Washington.  Trying to plan and see friends and drink beer. It seems so far away but at the same time coming up on us so quickly. I have to make sure there is enough brewery visiting for my husband and enough other stuff to entertain two teenage girls. This is our first vacation in years that isn't to Arizona to see my family. At least 5 years. Our last family vacation that wasn't to Arizona was to Florida. Alex was 12.

craving sushi.

loving my life lately.  Good friends, family, working-out, eating healthy. It's amazing what that can do for a person's well being:)

working my way through Law and Order still. On Season 8. We've been busy the past few weeks and I haven't had as much time to watch it like I was able to last month.

excited to take photos of my daughter for her prom tomorrow night. Her dress looks amazing on her. Really a WOW factor dress.

listening to a LOT of Beastie Boys. So saddened by the death of Adam Yauch. They were a huge part of my adolescence.

 

Okay...back to work. It's a beautiful day and I am stuck at my desk. Switched my days off to Mondays and this is my first Friday in a while.

jen

 

 

 

 

 

 

right now 04/05/12

planning our trip to Yosemite in a few weeks. We're going for our 7th wedding anniversary and I have somehow (in my 19 years as a California resident) NEVER been to Yosemite.

 determined to make a household budget and stick with it!

watching Law and Order on Netflix. From the beginning. ALL of them. I'm on Season 6 so far...

enjoying the hikes we've been doing the past few weeks. Trying to build up my hiking tolerance for the 4 day trip to Yosemite.

trying to figure out how to shoot photos of my Project Life book. I hate the way all my pictures are coming out. How do you guys take photos of yours?? AND yes...I am doing Project Life.  I did it last year but never posted anything about it...

wishing I had a tropical vacation planned in my future...

reading The House of Silk. I love Sherlock Holmes and this is the first Holmes book that Conan Doyle's estate has authorized to be written. So far it's very interesting. We'll have to see if it holds up to Conan Doyle's Sherlock;)

excited to be seeing this new exhibit tonight. Our friend Craig works for the Monterey Bay Aquarium and we get to go free tonight for a friends and family event! I love the jellyfish:)

counting down the minutes to my 3 day weekend( tomorrow). I switched to 4 10-hour days a while ago and it's been amazing having that extra day each week and when it gets messed up for some reason (like last week) and I only have a two day weekend I totally feel it. I know. Hard life.

listening to LCD Soundsystem on repeat. All the time. Especially this song. The first time I heard it was for this video that our friend Craig showed us after the Banff Film Festival he went to.

craving warm weather. and summer. and summer fruit. like peaches and watermelon. It's been such a mellow winter and spring but it's still SO cold all the time. Suppose to get in the 70's this weekend. Crossing my fingers;)

missing New York City. November was my first time there and I am still thinking about that city constantly. Scheming a way to get back there this year. Hoping to take my daughter for her first time too.

frustrated by my lack of willpower.

So many things on my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You'll never be what is in your heart

So I took a little break from blogging. If all of 2010 can be considered a "little" break.

I'd been feeling guilty about it for a while but 2010 was a very hard year and I just felt like I didn't have anything positive or interesting to say here. I pretty much retreated from the internet world in general. I stopped scrapbooking. I stopped following blogs. I was still doing Facebook but not like I was a year ago.

Instead I started battling my weight (and still am). We started infertility testing. I dealt  with a couple MANY other health issues. We struggled to get my daughter through her first year of high school. We dealt with financial setbacks. I turned 40. For me, personally, it's also a challenge to know how much to talk about online. I know I've found solace in regard to my weight and infertility by reading about others who struggle with my same issues  but I'm not sure I want to put my struggle out there for the world to see. I know my husband doesn't want me to put any of it out there. Unfortunately, these struggles are a huge part of who I am and so for me NOT to talk about them here...I would be lying about what my life is really about. So I've just stayed quiet.

Recently though, I read through some of my old posts and I've realized how much I miss blogging. For myself. Life moves fast and if I don't stop to record the little moments then I forget them. This was painfully obvious at my high school reunion a few years ago. I didn't remember half the stories and antics my friends were talking about even though I was assured that I was there for most of them. My daughter has grown (physically and emotionally) so much over the past year and I have nothing to reference back to. To the way she used to be. I just feel like I've missed out on so much by NOT posting about my life.

And so I am taking small baby steps back into the blogging world and you'll be seeing posts from me a couple of times a month (that's my goal at least) and we'll see how it goes from there:)