Currently

Loving having Jason home for two extra days this week. It’s been an interesting time trying to pin down his time off this month. (He had to use it, or lose it).

Listening to Christmas music at every opportunity. I love the different Pandora stations.

Reading my next batch of books for my Holiday Murder Mystery Extravaganza. If that’s not your thing, the NovelTea book club is rereading Harry Potter this month, and the discussions are pretty great.

Watching scrapbook flip-through videos on YouTube like crazy. I’m obsessed, and if you know of any good ones, please share! Nic Mackin and Kitty Scrapper are new favorites. Megan also has a highly anticipated Project Life overview video.

Clearing our DVR, slowly but surely. We’re all caught up on Once, S.H.I.E.L.D., NCIS (regular and New Orleans), Elementary, and our new favorite this season, Forever. Jason is also digging The Flash and Gotham.

Making lots of pages from Louisiana and December Daily.

Looking forward to a relaxing December. November was kind of crazy busy.

Making mental notes on things I want to do differently next Christmas.

Feeling the cold- it was down in the 40’s last night!

Pinning lots of inspiration for December Daily.

Leaving lots of love in the GingerScraps gallery.

Drinking lots of port. Well not “lots”, but we finished up a whole bottle in two weeks, which is a record for us.

Thinking a lot about living my values lately.

Picking my One Little Word pretty early this time around. It’s going to be way more fun than my last few… or all of them, come to think of it.

Snuggling with a certain Miss, who actually Fell Asleep In My Lap this week for possibly the first time ever! That only took nearly a decade.

The house

The house where we moved when I was a baby.

The house I walked to after school.

The house where my parents’ marriage fell apart.

The house I stayed in with my dad.

The house I left when I was thirteen.

The house I returned to the day I graduated high school.

The house where I learned to cook and keep a home.

The house where horrific things happened.

The house where fantastic things happened.

The house that I brought home the man I wanted to marry.

The house my dad left when he got remarried.

The house that my sister made a home.

The house that burned.

The house that nobody cared about enough to fix.

The house that has caused so many divides in our family.

I feel like we all betrayed the house. I am sad and angry at all of us for that. My head understands the reasons, but my heart does not.

I hope the house gets a fresh start with it’s new family.

 

Quiz time! (Jason edition)

Jason and I took the First and Last and Superficially Speaking quizzes from Angie Lucas (via Megan @ TNN) It was fun, and I actually learned something about him that I never knew, which is pretty rare after almost ten years together. We love doing quizzes and things on long road trips. (well I love it, he’s just trying to stay awake). I changed the wording slightly on some questions.

Here we go!

First kiss?
Damiana (sp?) in Arkansas

Last kiss?
Jen

First concert?
Milli Vanilli

Last concert?
Stone Temple Pilots and Filter

First big injury?
A Big Wheel accident where I was trying to avoid getting hit by a car. I crashed and needed stitches in my head

Last big injury?
Strained chest muscles that lasted for weeks.

First airplane ride?
In a tiny airplane at an air show in Alabama when I was about twelve. It was scary!

Last airplane ride?
Minnesota to pick up Charles this summer.

Why did I apply for my first job?
For money to move out on my own.

What attracted me to my last job?
The opportunity to do something different and expand my knowledge.

Most famous person you’ve met?
The man who played Chewbacca in Star Wars

Famous person I’d like to meet, past or present?
Steve Jobs, Elon Musk

Dream house?
A house by the lake near Nashville.

Who has the perfect head of hair?
Scott Forstall and Craig Federighi

Talent I wish I possessed?
Singing

Dream car?
Right now, a Tesla. Or a mustang.

What would I like to be famous for?
Writing musical scores for movies

***

I’m sure these quizzes will end up on a page or two in the future. I love simple ways to get journaling on a page, and quizzes are so much fun!

If you have a good source for quizzes, feel free to link up.

August/ September goals

The first two weeks of August went by in a NyQuil induced haze. I’m ready to ease into some goals for the next six weeks.

But first, here’s what I did for July’s goals–

1. Morning walks. This one was completed with flying colors! I walked in the mornings, mostly in the park but a couple times in my living room with Leslie. Jason and I took lots of evening walks, and we even jogged.
2. Find a book club. I found one online, but due to library software malfunctions, I didn’t get to actually read July’s book.
3. Summer Stories. Nope. Was too bummed to look at many summer pictures.
4. Make 5 new things. This was pretty open-ended. I tried a couple new recipes and made a couple of pages, so I’m calling it good.
5. Eat at home for the rest of July. We did really well on this one. We had lunch and dessert out with LM, but those were planned for in advance. We only ate out one time out of laziness (Checker’s) and it was gross. I can’t believe we used to eat there once a week.
6. Hang our family tree photos. Finally did that last Thursday.
7. Plan a cheap date. I sort of forgot about this one. We tried geocaching, but the mosquitos chased us out of the woods before we could find the cache.

Now for July/August-

1. Work up to 10,000 steps a day.
2. Find a GP, and get appointments for physicals.
3. Read 5 NF books.
4. Finish documenting the summer. Unless it makes me too sad. Plan B is to stay caught up with PL.
5. Make something pretty for the house.
6. Plant 5 things from my garden board.
7. Declutter 100 things.
8. Make football food.
9. Experiment with a capsule wardrobe.
10. Go to the beach.
11. 30 Days of Lists.
12. Make 25 LO’s.
13. Flylady zones twice a week
14. Watch 10 things from our Netflix Queue
    
15. Get to the “30 pounds gone” mark.

These are pretty random. Most of them, except #2 and #15, are things that I enjoy but always talk myself out of actually doing them. I’ve always been wary of putting weight loss goals on these lists. But I’m So Close to a big goal and I’ve been stagnant for months. Maybe this will get me over the hump. I need challenging goals that will push me this month, plus a few fun things.

July goals

Here are a few things I want to accomplish by the end of the month. I need things to keep us active and doing things (other than sitting at home and watching Buffy marathons and eating cookies all month) This month will be about getting the budget back in check, working on summer photos, and adding a few finishing touches to our home.

1. Morning walks.
2. Find a book club.
3. Summer Stories.
4. Make 5 new things.
5. Eat at home for the rest of July.
6. Hang our family tree photos.
7. Plan a cheap date.

 

May goals

I haven’t been doing monthly goals so far this year. With packing, moving, and unpacking, I figured I had enough on my plate. But now that’s mostly done so I’m ready to focus on other things.

Here are eight things I want to do this month-

1. Morning walks. With Jason or by myself.
2. Get library cards.
3. Catch up with PL.
4. Participate in NSD.
5. Finish prepping for the summer. rent car, program GPS, Summer Daily template, gather craft supplies, Summer 2014 bucket list.
6. Daily writing. For the blog, scrapbook pages, or personal journaling.
7. Have a bookstore coffee date.
8. Hang pictures.

 

 

For Jon.

Last week my cousin Jonathan passed away. He was only 33. It was a complete shock to everyone. It still doesn’t feel real.

Some of my very favorite childhood memories involved hanging out at Jon’s house. I would spend time there every summer. We built forts out of blankets and couch pillows. We roamed the neighborhood. We rolled down hills. We played kickball. We did all the normal things kids were supposed to do.

I spent a lot of time watching him do things. Playing video games, baseball, skateboarding, and basketball were not things I was into. But he loved them, so I was there, cheering him on. He reciprocated by watching Jem and the Holograms with me, and playing endless girly pretending games that I would make up. Many involving cats and horses. We played a million games of Monopoly. We played GI Joe and Voltron together. He was He-Man and I was She-Ra, and we saved the world a lot.

We didn’t get along all the time, but he and his brother, Trey always took up for me. They might not remember that, but I always will. When we would play kickball or baseball in the neighborhood, the rule was “If you get tagged, you’re out. Except Jennifer. She can keep running”. I was quite slow and clumsy, so this was a great advantage 😛

Our longest lasting game was Jon Dog and Jennifer Cat. We had many adventures together, including starting our own circus. I would boss him around (of course), and he would perform tricks. Many years later at a family gathering, I mentioned those games. He claimed to not remember, but I think his amnesia had something to do with a woman he was trying to impress who happened to be there…

We grew up, and eventually grew apart. The last time I saw him was in June 2011 when we were in Nashville for a couple of days. We celebrated his birthday. I asked Jon and Trey to take a picture with me on the front porch. It was the first one the three of us had together in a really long time. I’m so incredibly thankful to have that picture.

He will be greatly missed.

Goals, Plans, etc. for 2014

Here is a semi-random list of things I’m working on/ thinking about for the coming year. I am a list maker (obviously) so this keeps things in control for me. Most are blog/ project related that I’ll be sharing. A few are personal that I’ll be keeping to myself.

Daily
Socialize/ Reach out.
Go outside.
Gratitude.

Weekly
Currently/ Right Now/ Around Here/ High Five for Friday.
Healthy For Life.
He and She. (photos)
Get out the big camera.

Bi-weekly-ish
Good Eats.
Good reads.
Memory Monday.

Monthly
Three times Twelve.
Project Life.
Twelve.
Monthly goals (physical, mental, procrastinate/ project, for me, for others, spiritual/ gratitude, for us, home).
1 Jason page.
1 Jamie page.
Something physical with Jason (an outing involving walks/ bikes/ boats etc.).
Read 2 non-fiction books (except in June).

Other Projects/ Classes/ random things
30 Days of Lists
Self-Portrait challenge (maybe February?)
Layout A Day (January and maybe once more)
Mile A Day (November/ December)
Couch to 5k (either running or on the elliptical) 
Summer Daily (June/ July)
Learn about our money (bills, life insurance, my credit)
Make a will
Get checkups (physicals and dentist for both, mammogram and lady stuff for me)
100 family photos (June/ July)
Week in the Life
Get photos scanned
Get memorabilia corralled
Get current with printing
Organize photos
Organize digi supplies
Print some books.
Structure my weekends so that I eat better and move more.
One Little Word
Inspired Scrapbooking class
Another scrapping class (to be determined
I Choose class
2 classes through iTunes U (to be determined)
Blog things as they happen. Be present. Avoid perfectionism.
Continue chugging through my 2013 Summer Memories list.
Find a digiscrapping community I can call home.
Continue with my awesome designers.
Donate hair.
Donate blood.
Move.
Set up a new office space where we can both work/ create.
Go to North Dakota.
Explore the Keys and Naples.
Make fifty travel LO’s (okay maybe that’s ambitious, so I’ll say “Scrap lots of travel LO’s”
Go to Nashville.
Open our home to family.
Find ways to volunteer/ give back.
Read a couple of books with Jason.
Savor our last few months in West Palm. Write about some of our favorite places.
Fill in some of the gaps in my scrapbooks. (Specifically Jason, Jamie, extended family, and travel)

That’s all I can think of right now. I will probably change things as the year progresses. Ready for another awesome year!

CT Layout- My Exercise Buddy using Autumn Memories by Ohana Designs

Here is another page in my continuing quest to use Fall kits on non-fall layouts. Which really, this kit is so sweet and feminine that it can be used for lots of different kinds of pages!

Journaling reads- Whenever I get out my exercise mat to do Pilates, she always runs right to it. She thinks I’m rolling out the pink carpet just for her!

Credits:
Autumn Memories by Ohana Designs
Scraplifted from a LO by tammyishere

*I am a Creative Team Member. This means that I receive free products in exchange for making and advertising layouts for designers. However, the opinions expressed here are my own. The enthusiasm expressed here is definitely my own. See more of my CT layouts here.

Grandparents

Yesterday was National Grandparents Day, so I wanted to take a moment to remember my grandparents. I would really like to do some more pages about them. They were all such interesting people and I learned so many things from all of them.

Both sets of grandparents at my parents’ wedding. Paw and Maw, Pawpaw and Nanny, I miss you all so much and I think about you every day.

I can’t talk about grandparents without mentioning my Granny and Pawpaw Anderson. While not my family biologically, they are absolutely Family in my heart.

Happy Grandparents Day!