fun with return address labels

"I need to go put myself in the mailbox."

the budding songwriter

a song Meredith composed and has been singing today:

"I'm a chicken nugget,

a chicken chicken nugget.

I'm a nugget,

I'm a chicken nugget."

scene: our kitchen on Sunday afternoon

Meredith: (sings "Amayzing Mayzie)

Jenna: I don't need to worry about getting sick during this show, because Meredith and Rebecca are practically my understudies. They could just fill in for me.

Mom: Yeah.

Meredith: But I don't know all the words!

Jenna: Yes, you do.

Meredith (sings): "I was once a snowman like you, kid..."

picnik

I discovered Picnik, a free photo editing site.

I went a little crazy editing some of the pictures Becca took at the botanical gardens...

I am a very stressed out individual.

text templates

My phone has a bunch of "text templates" that, supposedly, make texting faster/easier.
They are silly.

1. Call me when you get this message.
Apparently you can't just say, "Call me."

2. I'm in a meeting. I'll call you back.
I would just turn my phone of and apologize later.

3. I am here.
That's so short that it would be faster/easier NOT to use the template.

4. Where are you?

5. I love you.
If you loved someone enough that you wanted to text them and tell them so, couldn't you take twenty seconds out of your day and type it yourself?

6. When can we meet?

7. Where is the meeting?

8. Talk to you soon

9. I'm late and will be there in ___ minutes.

10. Sorry I missed your call, I am in a meeting. What's up?
I LOVE the "What's up?" at the end.

I am almost seventeen.

That sounds so young! I'm, like, a baby.

I feel a lot older than seventeen.

I don't think I like it.

Help!

I recently cleaned out the collection of letters, notes, cards and theatre memorabilia from years past that was sitting my closet.


I don't know why this was in with all of the birthday cards I've received in the last 7 years or so.
Don't you wish you had a puzzle of your name like me??

Why do I keep all of this? Will I really need this in the future?

Theatre posters/programs on the left, opening/closing night notes and other stuff on the right

I also sorted all the letters and things (pictured above) that Jeni Steele has sent me while we've been corresponding via snail mail for two and a half years. I found...

...a letter she wrote to me while on an airplane....it's written on a barf bag.

Jeni Steele, I love you and your barf bag letters.

the curtis' house

While in Tulsa about a month ago, we drove through the (semi-sketchy) neighborhood where the Curtis brother's house (from the movie The Outsiders) is located.

We were excited :)

It's for sale, too!! So, if anyone is looking for property in the scary parts of Tulsa, don't pass up this gem!!

The park were Johnny kills the Soc is right down the street from the house, but we didn't get any pictures.

nashville trip

A weekend of weddings, snow, presidential residences, The Sound of Music, looking at the animals in Petsmart and lots more!!

The Sauce Policy posted in the McD's where we ate breakfast...??

My mother and a very cold, cranky Meredith standing in Andrew Jackson's backyard. We visited the Hermitage on January 8, which, coincidentally, is the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans...and, in honor of the day, admission was FREE!! It was freezing, but cold weather = fewer tourists, which was nice. The Hermitage was by far my favorite presidential residence that I've visited...and, yes, I've only visited three. But it was really awesome.

The springhouse

We were driving to the McKune/Bynum wedding (congrats, Ben and Lindsey!!!) and I yelled, "Mom!! Look, it's Dave Ramsey!"

We took a picture.

Fancy coffee was served at the wedding. This was Mom's cappuccino..

....and this was my cappuccino. See the adorable little foamy heart? It was yummy.

Fun was had by all.

Except, Meredith didn't really like the Hermitage because - in an act of sheer brilliance - she didn't pack any long pants and was stuck with bare legs while we walked around Jackson's property.

cats from the past

I miss my cuddly kitties. Mr. Jefferson is friendly enough, but he doesn't like to snuggle..and that depresses me.

embrace the irrelevance

Yesterday, I showered at my grandmother's house. I showered at my grandmother's house because..I stayed up really late/early on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day morning.

Really, really late/early.

So!

I didn't have time to shower at home, so I showered at my grandparent's, because our tradition (cue Fiddler music...tradition!!!) is to go over to their place on New Year's Day.

I bet you are wondering where the heck I'm going with this. Bear with me.

It's yet another story from me that is completely irrelevant....but the only other thing that I could write about is the cough I have and the fact that I'm watching the Lord of the Rings movies again and really like them, and I don't want to write about illness and 3 hour long films!

So I write about irrelevant things.

Usually there is a bottle of "girl shampoo" (you know, that kind that smells like almonds and boasts that it contains oils and "butters" from all sorts of fruits and flowers and nuts, but probably would be just as effective without all of that..) in the shower, but not this time. Nope. All that I could find was some "boy shampoo"...it was Mary Kay Tribute for Men, and it smelled like..well, like a male. I thought, what the heck. I'll just use it.

My hair smelled like a boy. From time to time, I would catch a whiff of it and think "Who is wearing that awful, smelly cologne?" Then I would realize that it was my hair. And then I would laugh to myself and promise not to use shampoo meant for males ever again.

baking day

Today is has become our baking day. I'll try to post pictures of our creations later today.

Meredith really wanted to help, but I was having a hard time finding things that she could do. She was getting bored, and offered to wash some dishes. She washed a couple spoons, then said,

"Jenna, I'm doing it the way they did it in the old days."

I replied, "Oh, really? You mean, washing dishes by hand??"

"No," she said, "I'm using a washcloth."

I don't know what made her think that using a washcloth was "old-fashioned," but it made me laugh.

Emmanuel, God with us

Various Christmas pictures from 2009

Wonky focused/unfocused panorama stockings

"Zuzu's petals!! Zuzu's petals!!!! "

Zuzu's head has come unglued and falls off periodically.

Mom got this in Europe.


For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

a super-fantastic plan of mine

(...as if all of my plans aren't super-fantastic...ha!)

That's a joke. Hahaha.

Okay.

We're going to Tulsa tomorrow, and we very possibly-maybe-hopefully-might swing through north Tulsa and stop at a couple of the places where they filmed The Outsiders!

Yes, you heard me.

I'm very, very excited.

I found the address of the Curtis brother's house, and the park where Johnny kills the Soc is right down the street, and it wouldn't really be out of our way to stop by and take a couple pictures.

I figure that now would be a good time to post some pictures of the boys ;)

Hey, it's Matt Dillon!! He plays Dally Winston in the movie, though he doesn't have blond hair as specified in the book. Mom had a crush on him when the movie came out. He's my favorite :)

It's Ponyboy Curtis, played by C. Thomas Howell!

He's the baby of the Curtis family, and he's super adorable :)

Sodapop Curtis, played by the handsome Rob Lowe.

Soda is the one character that definitely didn't get enough screen time ;)

Here's someone you might recognize...a very young and handsome Patrick Swayze!

He played Darry Curtis, the uptight, responsible, muscular oldest brother.

The gang of greasers...aren't they wonderful?

LtoR: Twobit, Sodapop, Ponyboy, Dally, Johnny, Darry, Steve

Notice a young Tom Cruise on the far right :)

After watching the movie, I told my dad that even with all of the fighting, smoking and cussing, it was the most adorable movie that I've ever seen.

(As a precaution to anyone who hasn't seen the movie, there is some language, and all of the boys smoke.)

Watch for pictures!! :)