A Poofy Dress and Butterfly Wings, These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

So Halloween is coming up and it is actually one of my favorite days of the year. Not because of the dark scary goblins, the black cats and the creepy crawlies like you would think, but it is the one day of the year that I can get away with playing dress up at my age.
Silly I know, but it's one of the things I miss about being a kid the most.
There's the playing dress up with my sister and my friends, or scattering by 3 giant boxes of Barbies all over my room, or being able to carry a stuffed animal with me wherever I went, or pretending that I was a mermaid in my swimming pool, or playing "Martha Stewart" in my backyard with an overturned crate for a kitchen counter and dirt and rocks to make chocolate chip cookies on my imaginary cooking show. These are the things in life that make me wish I could have stayed a little girl.
I guess in some ways though I still do get to do these things though, it's just not pretend anymore. I get to set up my own house instead of Barbie's, I have a pet cat that snuggles with me instead of a stuffed one, I get to cook for my husband every day with real food not dirt.... and play dress up every Halloween.
It's the little things in life that I get excited about. Hopefully God will bless me with a daughter to play dolls with though. I'm pretty sure that would be awesome. I can't wait until the day when I have the excuse to play with Barbies again ;)
But until then, I'm breaking out the poofy dress and butterfly wings on halloween. Once a year I get to pretend I am little again. Only 31 days to go! :)

Just Pick Up Where You Left Off

New books, new paints, new yarn, new pencils, new sketch pads, new clothes, new shoes, new tattoos, new jewelry, new hair color, new jeans, new jackets, new canvases, new movies, new cereal, new pens, new fabric, new nail polish, new conditioner, new sheets, new laundry detergent, new lotion, new crayons and coloring books... It's the little things in life that make me super excited. I love little new things. Like, the things that normally don't cost too much or can be found at a great value. I also love buying things on sale with coupons and getting an awesome deal. Or the things that make your hair softer or clothes smell new and fresher or just make your house feel warm and cozy. That's super exciting to me.
I love new little things. And I love starting new things. Like paintings and projects. Hence why I get excited about paints and yarn and canvases and pencils... It's just fun to start something new. The thing that I don't like so much, is finishing them. Expecially the big projects. I'm a big instant gratification crafter. If I know I can sit down and make something within a few hours and see the end result, It'll be a great day. If I know it is something that will take days, weeks, months or even years to finish, I get a little bit discouraged and disinterested. It's a fault that Michelangelo and Botticelli would no doubt scold me about. The art masters who sit and stare at marble for months to decide what to do with it, and then spend years carving it into a masterpiece. Man, if only I had that kind of patience. Or the builders who spent their lifetime only to lay the foundation for beautiful cathedrals knowing that they would never see the finished product. Maybe I should take on sculpting, that'll teach me patience with the arts....... Uhhh maybe later.
I have so many awesome projects around my house that I so badly want to see finished, but the getting there is so... time consuming. Like my gynormous magnum opus painting of Lake Tahoe, or my sweater, or my painting of a maple leaf, or practicing my guitar or piano, or finishing the books I have started reading, or my sketches, or my apron that I need to sew together. All of these things would just be super awesome to finish, but golly gee, I need some motivation. Maybe, If I hide them, and then find them later, they will seem new again. Probably a bad idea. Oh dear. I think the reality is I just need to start, and get in the zone, and before I know it, it will be complete. I wish I could be as excited about it as I sounded right then. Lame that I'm not. Haha. Oh well. These are my thoughts for today.
I love new little things. The feel of the new fabric, the smell of a new books pages, the look of a new nail polish, the curve hugging feel of new jeans, the crispness of new sheets, the bounciness new conditioner gives to hair, the smoothness of writing with a new pen, the first bowl of cocoa pops from the box, the smell of a new perfume....

You Make Me New. You Are Making Me New.

So last night I finally did it. I went in and got my first tattoo. I have been wanting this one for quite some time now and the waiting and pain is over. It is finished.
Ever since I was super little I have always loved butterflies, and the blue morpho butterfly has always been my favorite with its vibrant blue iridescent wings. I also love the symbolism of the butterfly, transforming the old to something new and beautiful. "Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
So I didn't know this going into it, but apparently the back of the neck is one of the most painful places to get a tattoo. He basically said that if I can handle that, I can pretty much handle a tattoo anywhere else on my body.
It felt a lot like I was being scratched by a cat with really long nails for the most part. Then it felt like he threw some fire ants on there and they were biting me, then when he was doing some deep shading, it felt like he was trying to dig a hole in my neck, and when it was all over it just feels like a crunchy sunburn. It took about an hour and a half to finish but it was totally worth it.

Then Angelo was up next. He got Philippians 4:13 on his bicep. Very fitting since the verse says "I can to all things through Christ who strengthens me" His took about 20 min.

Tattoos tend to symbolize a new beginning or landmark in life. I think that is pretty much accurate. After all that has happened in life, my Savior has taken the old, weak and ugly and turned it into something beautiful and strong. AND I have learned that I'm not as much of a chicken as I thought I was. He has made me new. So in conclusion, yes, last night was a great night of painful new beginnings. :)

The Crazy Life of an American Crazy Person

The thing about being a crazy person, is that while your reality may seem quite the norm to you, to everyone else you just look plain nuts.
I feel like that's pretty much what sums up the entirety of my epic summer experience of 2011. Maybe I'm just used to it, things not working out the way I want, like, ever. Maybe I've dropped all expectations of anything and so therefore they can never be failed. Whatever it is, it's kinda nice to be on a roller coaster and not even realize it.

So here's the story.

Once upon a time,

Jennifer really really enjoyed this summer.

We started it out with a fantastic trip to Italy, and I faced my fear of flying over the ocean. On top of that there was also a super high risk to travel due to the whole Osama Bin Laden dealio and the outbreaks in Lybia. I have always been afraid of flying over water anyways ever since I saw the movie "Cast Away" and ever since 9/11 flying when the government was recommending that you don't has always been scary. But the trip was awesome so the fear was worth it.

We got back to America and then found out that there was a ton of family drama with the in-laws. Parents were moving, now they're not, now brother and sister are moving, debates about who should and shouldn't stay in the business, pissed off about desk placement and how close we all have to be, hurt feelings and we were all pretty much sick of seeing each others faces every other day. It was a mess.

But communication is a blessing. After barely being able to get across was I was trying to say in Italy I was more than willing to listen when I could understand every English word that was coming out of their mouths. I took a hold and sure learned a lot about myself and situations that I thought I had no control over but, in fact I had the ability to fix it all if I put aside my pride. So I did.

A few days later we decided we needed a break so we went to a rock crawling competition to get away for a day. It was SO fun! But I got the worst sunburn of my life. So bad it blistered.

Then to make myself feel better I dyed my hair. Which all around was just a good thing. No bad story here, thank goodness. That one had potential.

Friendships grew and I was getting to know some pretty fun new people, camping, jet skiing, and spending late nights with good friends.

And then my cat gets sick and could need a $1200 surgery.

So after the stress of trying to decide what to do with that, I thought now was the time to do something fun, so I joined a hip hop dance class.

And then, while helping plan my dear friends wedding, serious drama erupts among bridesmaids. Again. That's a long story but let me just say, that sucked. I just wanted to fix it and make it all better, but there was nothing I could do except be there for the bride during the ridiculousness.

Then at a jr high event at church, I got to pray with a girl to invite Jesus to come into her life and her heart. Hallelujah what a blessing! That made my day.

And then our car breaks. And it costs $1100 to fix it. Poop.

So we take my Miata to the Tognottis Car Show instead. Ha! SO fun.

We got to go to Hot August Nights this year finally and that was pretty awesome being able to see the sweet cars, but the drag racing that the show promised was a bust.

And then, on a Saturday morning I woke up doubled over in pain from my right ovary and have to be rushed to the hospital by my sister in law since Angelo had to be at the shop. I got to have some pretty awkward embarrassing unique bonding time with Candice though. Haha.
After a few days of testing and stressing out that I was never going to be able to have kids the verdict was that I had a common condition and that I would be fine. Whew!

Then I find out that my birthday weekend is going to be super busy so our plan to stay for a weekend in Napa to go wine tasting for my 21st wasn't going to happen. This was rather disappointing.

But then my mom surprises me with a day at Marine World and I overcome my fear FINALLY of riding roller coasters without panicking. I was free to just enjoy it. No anxiety?! It was a miracle.

We then got to spend a weekend away with our church youth staff at Woodleaf which was a lot of fun and Melissa and I learned how to FISH! This brought us so much joy.

Then my birthday comes and I got to spend the whole day with my husband. I wouldn't have had it any other way. :) We went out to see a movie, went out to lunch, went on a hike, went to dinner and danced the night away.

And then, a few nights later we get called to the shop at 2:30am because someone had tried to break in. Freaking out the whole drive there, we waited to see the damage. And luckily, there was none. Thank you Jesus.

Then we get the news that the Brother and Sister in law were not leaving us after all! And that she got a job at a yarn shop! Yippee!

The summer ended with a secret Bachelorette party for Melissa, and on Saturday our best friends got married!

And all was well.

"This was the best summer ever!" Jennifer said.

The End.




Wow.