Jen's Rules for Being a Human Being

You are not allowed to eat canned tuna near me as I will gag.

You are not allowed to carry your cell phone in your cleavage.

You are not allowed to end a relationship via a text or email, single guys. You must break up with a woman in person. Be a man.

You are not allowed to give Paula Abdul a microphone and allow her to do a "comedy" sketch for approximately 6 minutes as it is awkward and painful.

You are not allowed to wear daisy dukes with Ugg boots.

You are not allowed to wear flip-flops if you have not pedicured your feet in over 1 year.

You are not allowed to say phrases like "took it for granite" or "he was unconscience".

You are not allowed to write a script for a hit television show that runs 2 hours long and involves every core member of the cast almost getting shot in a hospital.

You are not allowed to cancel "Chuck".

You are not allowed to ask me if I'm old enough to be married. I know I look young but let's not get insulting. I atleast look 18, right?!

You are not allowed to tell someone incredibly personal things when you have not spoken to that person since the 10th grade and you are standing in the mall outside of the Gap.

You are not allowed to be mad at everyone all the time. No one did anything to you.

You are not allowed to mock my love for broadway shows. I don't mock your love for Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, nerd.

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND IN CHURCH.

You are not allowed to curse at people when they have nothing to do with the reason you're so upset. Actually, you are not allowed to curse at people, period.

You are not allowed to write a facebook status about your period. Period.

You are not allowed to talk about your sex life at work.

You are not allowed to talk about your bathroom habits at work.

You are not allowed to cook smelly smelly foods in the microwave at work.

You are not allowed to eat things from the fridge at work that you did not put there.

I think that is all I have to say. For now. I think.

There Was a Leaky Faucet in Church Yesterday

And the leaky faucet was me.

Our dear Pastor Gregg did an entire sermon on the increasingly relevant topic of infertility.

He did a fantastic job. He came at it with a spirit of prayer, gentleness, empathy, truth, and sincerity.

I cried the entire time. I'll break my emotions down for you in 4 parts.

PART ONE

A couple from the congregation shared their testimony of their journey with infertility. Hearing their struggles and their victories is what initially brought tears to my eyes.

PART TWO

As Pastor Gregg began to preach, images and memories of some of my dearest friends and family members came to mind. Some of my dearest girlfriends and my sisters have fought this battle. Thinking of the children that have come from their struggles, the miscarriages that have taken place, and those that still have empty cradles were on my mind and in my heart. Tears started flowing a bit harder.

PART THREE

This is the part of the sermon where it got a bit personal. And this is the part of the blog where I am about to get a bit personal. You see, this is the part where Pastor Gregg started preaching some TRUTH over me. He said that A CHILD IS A GIFT, NOT A RIGHT. It cannot be an expectation that it will automatically happen for you.

This was very real to me as I have slowly come to grips with the fact that I may struggle with this very issue. Last year, I was diagnosed with something that may or may not affect my ability to conceive. Again, we could have no problem at all, but it is a very real possibility that we could have a problem. I try not to think about it too much as we are not yet ready to start our family and therefore can't spend too much time thinking about it. No use fretting over something that we aren't even sure is a problem yet.

But hearing those words, and knowing that it very well may be that God has chosen a different path for me and Grant overwhelmed me.

He then explained that even those who don't have children in their home need to know that they are complete. Their family is complete in Jesus and they are lacking nothing.

Heavy, heavy tears started here.

PART FOUR

At the end of the service, Pastor Gregg invited those that are struggling with infertility or those that would like to intercede on their behalf to come forward to the prayer rails. THERE WAS NO ROOM AT THE ALTAR. People flooded the front of the church. There simply was no more room. I wept as I saw couples walking to the altar together, most of them weeping themselves. Some were even pregnant. Others looked too old to conceive, and they seemed to cry the hardest.

Two girls sang "All of You is more than enough for all of me" as we as a congregation prayed over these couples. Gregg was on his knees asking the Lord to open the wombs of those that were gathered. All of my emotions were now combined and exploding and I was doing the "I CAN'T STOP CRYING" thing like women do.

It was one of the most touching and important services of my life. Even if I was a hot mess.

I invite you to listen to his sermon if this is something that you think you need to hear. I have a link to it here.

And now I am back to doing the ugly cry.

Thank You, Lord, for truth.

A List Format Post Cause I Am Oozing With Creativity

1. Today sooo should have been Friday. This work week has been 8 days long and I don't appreciate that.

2. However, today was extra awesome as I worked in the morning at the office and then watched "Ellen" and various Law & Order shows during the afternoon. Every few months, my boss has some home maintenance work done on his house and needs someone to be there to wait for the various repair men. I get to be that person. So, at lunch time, I headed over to his casa and watched TV while a very nice man named David fixed the A/C. It was a nice afternoon.

3. I went to Garden Ridge today and bought a wreath for my door cause I've been feeling like the front of my house needs some color. It's a (fake) wreath of blue hydrangea. Grant isn't home yet and he is going to get home and see the wreath and then he is going to walk in and give me crap about it but then I am going to announce that it was only $14.99 and then he will have to shut it. If he continues, I will walk into the closet and come out holding the 49 golf clubs he has bought in the last 3 months. I won't hit him with the golf clubs. I will just use them as Exhibit A in my winning argument.

4. Yes, Grant is not home yet and I am going semi-crazy as there is some important stuff happening tonight on the television. Not only is it finale night, but there is a shooting at Seattle Grace Hospital and I'm worried someone is going to get killed and I'm worried about who that person might be. Someone from Mercy West is the only person I will be even somewhat okay with. The Mercy Westers don't mesh well. My point is, Grant needs to get home ASAP. For right now I am walking down memory lane with Detectives Benson and Stabler. These 2004 episodes are a hoot. Olivia's hair is just a treasure.

5. I've been keeping the house really really clean lately. So clean, that last night Grant got home from work, looked around the house and then seriously said to me, "Okay, what's going on?". How sad.

6. This morning I was on the phone with my sister Jaclyn who informed me that her sweet little Dean is now saying "Mama". She put the phone up to him and tried to get him to do it for me but he was being shy about it. However, his big sister Grace was extremely proud of herself as she said "Mama" to me in the phone several times as she is very talented and has been saying "mama" for a long time now and doesn't really understand what the big deal is about Dean saying it and he doesn't even always say it on cue.

7. I've gone pretty much the entire season without saying much of anything about American Idol. However, as we are now down to the final two I have formed an opinion and that opinion is OH MY WORD I LOVE LEE.

8. Do any of my readers have a Roomba? I'm thinking about saving up and buying one as I genuinely hate cleaning floors. If you have one, is it worth it? Does your dog destroy it? Does it kinda freak you out? Did you name yours? Cause I think I would name mine. All robot things need a name.

9. I ate an obscene amount of Cool Ranch Doritos this afternoon while watching Oprah. Seriously, I couldn't stop myself. And you know what? It was oh-so-satisfying.

10. I'm going to share a weird fact about myself with you. This is the only weird thing about me. Everything else about me is totally normal. The weird fact is this: Every morning when I get ready for work, I daydream and imagine about what I'm going to wear to work on Friday. You see, we can wear jeans to work on Friday. So every morning as I'm putting on my dress pants, I think about which jeans I'm going to wear, what shirt I'll wear, and what shoes I'll wear. Monday thru Thursday I walk into my closet with no idea about what I'll walk out wearing. But ohhhh Friday morning. I have a plan.

I'm going to stop talking now and begin incessantly texting my husband till he comes home.

Love you bye.

Raising Our Expectations

I don't think we'll ever get to the point where we can fully comprehend the power of God. It is beyond our earthly capacity.

But are we even close?

I believe that we are profoundly underestimating what He can do and what He has done. We are told that we can approach the Throne of Grace with confidence, but are we really doing that? What are we confident of? What and WHO are we confident in?

My friend, let me tell you something. THERE IS NOTHING HE CANNOT DO. He is fully able to do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the impossible, and the things you've given up on.

He can heal a medical issue that "can't" be healed.

He can mend a relationship that you thought could never be fixed.

He can change someone's mind.

He can change someone's heart.

He can fix you.

He can heal you.

He can help you.

Everything He does is for a purpose, it is intentional, it is for His will and His glory.

My friend Emily has a little boy with down syndrome. He has profound hearing loss. One ear was entirely deaf. But she prayed and she prayed and she prayed. She didn't pray that the Lord would give her guidance as she helped her little boy through a life without hearing. SHE PRAYED THAT THE LORD WOULD RESTORE IT. She didn't underestimate the Lord's power. And you know what?

She took that little boy to the doctor. And he passed his hearing test. IN BOTH EARS.

I have a person in my life who can be particularly difficult. A strong personality, if you will. And sometimes I would get so upset cause I thought that we could never make this work. But then I started praying, not that I would be patient with this person, but that God would CHANGE THE RELATIONSHIP. Fix it. Make it better. Make us friends.

Within weeks, something happened. And to this day, the relationship has transformed. A total 180. He changed personalities, y'all. He changed people's hearts.... a person who I thought could only be one way...... this person became another way.

He changed ME. He changed the way I operate, the way I do things, what triggers me. Character flaws that have been a part of me since childhood.... gone.

I say all this to make one point. We need to raise our expectations. We need to give Him credit where all the credit in the world is due. He is an Almighty God with an Almighty purpose and plan. He doesn't need us or our prayers to do His good and perfect will, but He does want to show His glory and have His name praised.

My friend, I ask you.... WHAT ARE YOU NOT ASKING HIM FOR?

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" -Ephesians 4:20-21 (ESV)

"You are Able" by Christy Nockels

Jehovah, provider
The joy of man's desire, it's You.
Always, You.
Keeper of history, glorious mystery, It's You.
Always, You.

Fulfillment of every longing of man
It's You, our God, it's You!

You are able, higher is our God
than anything that comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, higher is our God
than anything the comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, You are able.

Abba, our Father
We run to our Protector, You.
Always, You.
Healer of all things,
we trust no other name but You
Only You.

Fulfillment of every longing of man
It's You, our God, it's You.


You are able, and higher is our God
than anything that comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, higher is our God
than anything the comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, You are able!

One of Those Taggin' Things

My dear friend Jessica tagged me in this fun little thing. Jessica is a red-head and she is irritatingly beautiful but she's just so sweet and precious that it is no longer irritating because you just like her so gosh-darn much. She's pretty awesome.

I rarely am tagged in the blogworld, and sometimes when I am tagged I don't do them because I'm all full of lazy. But this one in particular seemed kinda fun.

1. Who is your style icon?

I'm gonna go with Lady Gaga. Or, not. She is a spaz and a half. I normally don't like to trash talk on the blog, but I'm just gonna come out and say it. That woman is straight up cuckoo for cocoa puffs

For real though, I have a slight obsession with Ann Taylor. The store, not the person. I would say that 90% of my closet is Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, or Ann Taylor Factory Store. As a petite girl with especially short legs, the clothes fit me to a tee. I never have to get anything hemmed or altered. Everything is modest and feminine and is great for the work wardrobe as well.

I wore a dress very similar to this to a wedding shower today!

2. What is your favorite socialite lit book?

Well, I can answer this question in one of two ways. The first way I could answer it is I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. Apparently I'm not well read in socialite lit.

I will take this moment to admit to you that I have been a subscriber to People magazine since I was 18.

Moving on.

3. Your favorite party theme?

I would say the easiest is a Fiesta since all you really need is some fajitas and margaritas and you've got yourself a par-tay.

4. Your go-to Halloween costume?

Someone once gave her prom dress to me so that I could wear it when I grew up. When I got old enough to wear it, that particular style was no longer, well, in style. However, I sure did use it for Halloween costumes. All I needed was some high heels, alot of eye shadow and a hair crimper. It must be said that the original owner/wearer of this prom dress is a reader of this here blog. Thanks for the great dress, Kim. :)

It is a long story as to why I am in this dress in this picture as my beautiful friend Laura is not dressed up and I don't have time to explain all this out here but it was a special night and I only wore the dress for 10 minutes and then I got back into normal clothing :)

5. An extravagance you can't live without?

Pedicures. Pedicures. Pedicures. In fact, this weekend I decided not to get a pedicure even when I so badly needed one. I decided to save money because I spent $150 at Target and Grant about died when I told him because he doesn't understand how Target is so wonderful and so I thought "I won't get my toes done and it will make up for it" but I have been incredibly self-conscious and insecure about my toes all weekend. Even though I read "So Long Insecurity" and went to a whole seminar about it in Atlanta a few weeks back, I am insecure about my toes. I don't feel pretty unless my toes are done. Target or no Target, I am getting pedicures once a month from here on out. The end.

6. A living person you admire

I admire Lindsee. I can't even start to put it all into words now as I will start crying and I have to save something for all the speeches I will give at her rehearsal dinner someday but I just love her. I got to see her today and it is good for my soul. I love you, Lou.

7. Your greatest fear

I really don't want to get into all my real true life greatest fears as it is currently 10:30 at night and I will not be able to sleep if I write them all out. But some of my fears include car accidents, fire, and ceiling fans spinning out of control and flying in pieces all over the room.

Seriously.

8. Trait you deplore about yourself

Where do I begin? I talk too much. I am very lethargic. My handsome husband is currently doing the dishes while I'm laying in bed blogging. And sometimes I have one of those "insert foot in mouth" moments where I'm all "WOMAN WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU JUST SAY AND WHY IN THE SAM HILL DID YOU SAY IT OUT LOUD?!?"

9. Talent you wish you had

I wish I had the ability to decorate and organize a bit better. And clean a little better. And I wish I was an artist... I wish I could paint. I wish I had toned arms. I know that that's not really talent but while we were on the subject I thought I'd throw that in there. Toned arms.

10. Your greatest achievement

I have done alot of cool things that I'm proud of... my years in acting/theater/musicals and the awesome roles I got to play are definitely a time in my life that I wish I could revisit sometimes. And the work I've done with children's choirs is something I'm proud to speak of.

Also, I ate fettucine alfredo twice this week.

Achievement. And well on my way to those toned arms.

Okay... I am tagging 3 people!

Kelli over at Breathing His Joy

Ashley at Life Beyond the Pink

Allison at Collecting the Dots

My Blog Just Woke Up

Good Morning!

So let me confess a little something to you.

When I started this blog over 3 years ago, I totally had no plans for it to go 3 years. I had no plans for it to go 1 year. I just liked writing and it was a great way for me to stay in touch with friends and family while we were living in Louisiana.

And then, something happened.

I fell in love with blogging.

For this creative soul who works in a non-creative job, this blog was an outlet. I got to write about things I wanted to write about. At my own pace.

I could write about feeling sad. I could write about things that made me laugh.

And most importantly, I could be totally honest with you people. Because we have this veil in between us, this computer screen, I don't have to see your reactions when I say that I haven't done laundry in two weeks. I can say "I have consumed 196,000 calories today" and I don't have the task of seeing your jaw drop with a look of disgust. So I can say these things to you and I don't feel judged. Even if you are judging me, I would never know it. It's a beautiful thing.

I have met amazing people. People that are amazing... women that I can now call my "real life" friends. I truly believe that God uses blogs to bring people together that never would have met in any other circumstance.

In the last year or so... I have kinda felt that my blog was a little....well.... dormant, maybe? I had "readers" or whatever, (I feel weird saying that) but I felt that my readers were my mom and all my best friends and a few of the "originals" that have been reading it since the early days. I have the Site Meter down there that I can use to see how many people are on my blog and where they are located. I can also see referrals.... how you found me. Usually people find me from other people's blogs. But there has been no significant change in a long time.

But over the last few weeks, I've been so excited. People have been commenting... people that I don't know! People have been coming OUT OF THE WOOD WORK and saying hello! It has been so fun. I've been popping over to your blogs and reading your stories.... it has been so fun. Y'all have some fascinating stories. Y'all have some adorable dogs. Y'all have some ADORABLE CHILDREN. And y'all have been saying the nicest, most wonderful things... it is making me excited about blogging again and I feel like I am writing to a new group of people. I feel like there's "company" coming over and I need to spiff the place up a bit. :)

So, to all you newbies... I don't know how you got here, but WELCOME! I am so glad you're here. And if you're a newbie and you haven't said hello yet... please do!

Coffee Talk

I'm seriously about to write an entire post about coffee. Brace yourself for the most interesting edition of "Jen the Newlywed" ever. Or go ahead and click your way into someone else's blog. You probably got here and were like "A whole post about coffee? Wow, Jen. I'm gonna go read Big Mama" or something like that.

Go ahead. I understand. Heck, I'll even branch out and say that I forgive you. Have a great day.

For those of you who are still here.... I give you.... the coffee blog.

My relationship with coffee has developed slowly over the last 15 years or so. I've never absolutely loved coffee, but never hated it.

My first consistent coffee drink was the Starbuck's Caramel Macchiato. This was my highschool coffee of choice when we would all go to the Starbucks on 1960 by the mall and sit on that little grassy knoll.... all 100 of us.... and watch the cars go by.

Occasionally in college I would go to Starbucks but Diet Coke has always been my best friend so if I needed caffeine, Diet Coke was always there. I enjoyed coffee, but only socially. Once every few months I would get a coffee craving and go get something warm and sweet from Starbucks but I have never been a daily coffee drinker.

A few months ago, I betrayed Diet Coke. I was forced to quit due to something horrible called a stomach ulcer. I went an entire month without Diet Coke, and now I have only 1 or 2 a week. However, during the time of no Diet Coke, I really needed caffeine at work. So, I started drinking coffee here at the office.

We have this neat little machine called a Senseo and I love it. It makes one really good frothy cup of coffee and I just love it.

I also will soemtimes get a coffee from McDonald's on the way to work in the mornings. I usually get a medium non-fat latte with sugar-free vanilla, which is a heck-of-a-lot cheaper than the Starbucks Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte which is exactly the same thing.

Also, I am known to frequent the coffee section at Valero. Yes, I drink gas station coffee. But it is REALLY good and only a $1.19. Can't beat that!

I guess I can officially say that I am a daily coffee drinker. Atleast on work days.

So what do you drink? Where do you get it from?

This Is Way Too Much For You To Read And I Apologize

The weekend began with Pappasito's. Oh yes, it did.

For those of you that have never eaten at Pappasito's, then please let me know so I can add you to my prayer list.

It was Heather's birthday so the girls got together to celebrate. It was SO MUCH FUN. Lindsee and I split fajitas and there is just something magical about those tortillas. Love. LOVE.

Oh, and I had a Diet Coke. It was glorious.

Some of the girls headed back to Heather's to play cards but I rushed home as I had to wake up early the next morning to take my Grant to the airport for his annual fishing trip with his dad and brother. However, when I got home I learned that there had been a slight.... scratch that... major change of plans and the trip was cancelled. It is a LONG story that involved some very late night and last minute decisions that cannot be written all out here on the blog but the best decision was for the trip to be postponed. I was glad to not have to wake up at the crack of dawn and take him to the airport :)

Saturday morning I woke up and got ready for my little brunch party! Some of the girls from our Bible study group came over for breakfast. Christen brought the yummiest breakfast casserole (remind me to get that recipe from you, Christen!). I made cinnamon rolls and we had coffee and chatted. It was so fun and the girls were confused as to why Grant was walking around the backyard when he was supposed to be out of town!

Saturday afternoon I sat on my butt and watched "In Her Shoes" and took a nap. Because that i what Saturday's are made for.

Then, Grant and I drove to the golf course and I drove the cart and talked to my friend Julie while our husbands played golf. Well, Julie played too. She just wasn't quite as into it as the guys were. It was a pretty day though and I had a good time watching my husband do something he loves so much.

Following that, Grant and I headed over to catch the 9:00 showing of Iron Man 2. Very entertaining movie, but I felt like I have aged 30 years all of a sudden as I was having a hard time staying awake. The movie wasn't boring, but I was just soooo sleepy. I came home and went straight to bed by 12:00.

As a young and energetic 25 year old girl in my prime, I know how to par-ty.

Then, this morning, we made the executive decision to sleep in. We rarely do it, but we skipped church this morning. I know, I know, we are terrible people. But I woke up at 10:30 and that hasn't happened since college. Actually, that's a lie. It was probably about 6 months ago but still, it was wonderful.

Then I got up and made waffles for breakfast. And by "made waffles" I mean that I put 2 Eggo's in a toaster. I am so domestic.

Following that, I showered to wash the golf course off of me and then helped Grant out in the yard a little bit. You see, my husband has the moments of pure insanity where he decides that he doesn't like the grass that we have in our backyard. He is very into grass and decides that he wants new grass.

So he rents a sod cutter from Home Depot, pulls up every blade of grass we have, than re-soils it and re-seeds it with the new grass that we've purchased. He was in the yard for approximately 196 hours this weekend and I am exhausted just from watching him.

I was bummed as I got a kick to decorate the front porch and put some potted plants there but they didn't have the flowers I wanted at Lowe's and I just got all sad and decided to cancel my project.

I promise you this post is almost over. We have made it to Sunday at around 4:00. We are almost there. If you have stopped reading, I totally don't blame you. This is mind-blowingly boring, isn't it?

I went grocery shopping. I was buying body wash for myself and then I saw the Old Spice body wash and there was a $1.00 coupon for it and I started giggling to myself as I thought of that silly commercial so then I just went ahead and bought some body wash for Grant. Advertising works, y'all.

Came home. Watched 27 Dresses.

Cooked Pioneer Woman's meatloaf (YUM) and made mashed potatoes to last us through the week.

Blogged.

Going to bed.

You are dismissed.

All the Workin' Ladies

I work full time.

Let's be honest, sometimes I work more than full time.

I don't write very much about my job on the blog. Mainly because (a) my job would be boring to you and (b) I don't think anyone from my office knows I have a blog but they may and I don't want to say anything about work if someone could find out about it.

But this is the season of life I am in right now. I am 25 years old, married, no children, and trying to save some money. I need to work right now.

And 90% of the time, I enjoy working.

I feel like I'm pretty good at what I do.

I LOVE the people I work with. They are HILARIOUS.

I work at a place that is very good to us. We are spoiled rotten, to be honest. Sometimes we have Cupcake Day. This week we had Sundae Tuesday. We get taken out to lunch. We get naptime during the middle of the day if we choose to do that on our lunch hour. We are not micro-managed and we are given alot of freedom. I work at a great place.

But sometimes.... ohhhhh sometimes..... I just get so burnt out. Not because of the actual job that I do, but just for the mere fact that I work full time. I feel like I can't be good at anything else in life because work wears me out so much.

Now I'm going to write something that is going to make alot of people very mad if I don't preface it by explaining myself. Before I say anything, I'm going to say this. I THINK STAY AT HOME MOM'S HAVE THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WORLD. I am NOT for one minute saying that I think S.A.H.M.'s have a cushy life.

But what I am saying is that sometimes I long for the years where I can wear tennis shoes or flip flops everyday. I long for the years that I don't have to ask permission to go on vacation. I long for the years that I can help someone with something and be a servant to them between the hours of 7:00am and 6:00pm. I feel like I can only be a good friend/daughter/sister on nights and weekends.

I guess I just feel like I work all day and then I come home and I have another job here.

Is there anyone else that feels the way I feel?

I'm curious about my readers and I'd like to do a survey. I would love if you would leave a comment with your answers.

1. Your first name
2. Where in the world do you live?
3. Do you have a job? If so, what do you do? (Nothing specific... you can just say "teacher" or "Marketing" or whatever)
4. Do you work from home? Or an office? (Or hospital, school, store, or whatever)
5. Do you have children?
6. If you could quit working, would you? Or if you don't have a job, if you could go back to work, would you?
7. And a just for fun question.... what was the first concert you ever went to?

I'll go ahead and do my answers here....

1. My name is Jen
2. I live in Houston, Texas
3. I do have a job. I'm a legal secretary/paralegal or whatever we're called now.
4. I work in an office.
5. I do not have children. Someday :)
6. I don't know if I would quit working right now. I'm happy with where I work and what I do. And the money is helpful. But somedays I would like to put 100% into other areas of my life.
7. First concert ever.... Amy Grant :)

I'm excited to see your answers!

The Real Cinderella

My beautiful precious niece Grace turned 3 this past weekend. After her big party at Gymboree, Grace came back to her house to open presents. Her cousins Scarlett & Juliet were there too. After the present, her mommy and daddy had one more surprise for her.

This is the girls right as they were seeing who was walking through the door.

It was the REAL CINDERELLA. Also known as "Cinda-we-wa". It just so happened that the birthday girl was also wearing her Cinderella gown.

Then, our Grace Parker wanted to show Cinderella her room. Cinderella loved her room.

Then, Cinderella helped Princess Grace put her glass slippers on. THIS WAS A HUGE MOMENT.

The girls were slightly excited to talk to Cinderella. They asked her all kinds of questions.

Cinderella read the girls a Cinderella storybook.

However, she really couldn't get through much of the story as Grace kept standing up and telling Cinderella who was who in the story book. "That's fairy godmother! That's the prince! That's YOU!"

Then Cinderella helped the girls do a craft.

She was very helpful. The twins took this very seriously.

There was a quick photo shoot before Cinderella had to go back to the crawfish boil that she had just come from. Wait, did I say crawfish boil? I mean castle.

It's a shame that this isn't a cute picture.

Bye bye, Cinderella!



Happy Birthday to my beautiful Grace Parker. You have brought me more joy and more laughter than I ever could've imagined. You are such a special, smart, silly, compassionate and imaginative little girl. Aunt Jenny loves you with my whole heart!

Observations

I've been avoiding the blog the last few days. On Sunday night, I tried to do a BIG blog post full of lots of pictures. But then, it took me 45 minutes to upload 5 pictures and then it was my bedtime and I said "well, forget it". (If you have any kind of trick as to how to upload photos onto blogger without wanting to shoot someone, please let me know). But I kinda don't want to blog until I've blogged about those pictures. I generally like to blog things in chronological order. But because I am at work right now, and there is no way I can upload all these pictures here, I guess I'll just have to find something else to write about.

That was quite an introduction, wasn't it?

Ladies and Gentlemen, (re-phrase) Ladies and the 2 Guys that read this blog.... I give you.... OBSERVATIONS.

Observation #1 - Folding laundry is not as much fun as not folding laundry.

Observation #2- When you tell a 3 year old little girl that THE REAL CINDERELLA will be coming to her birthday party, she won't believe you till she sees it. But then, when she sees it, OH MY WORD, She BELIEVES it!! (Pictures will be in a future post. See paragraph 1).

Observation #3- Swoosie Kurtz was on "Chuck" last night, and it was nice to see her. But then I got to thinking.... why in the world did her parents think naming her that was a good idea? And if it is indeed a stage name, WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL HER THAT THAT IS JUST PLAIN SILLY?!?

Observation #4- There are people in the grocery store that stand there and spend WAY TOO LONG picking out produce. You're just cooking it, people. You don't have to marry it.

Observation #5- I have concluded that the one thing in the world that makes me gag everytime wtihout fail and makes me want to take a shower immediately is meat juice. You know what I'm talking about? When you're taking chicken out of a package or cooking steaks and all the "juice" is in the package that the meat was in? Ohhhhhhhh I hate it ever so much. If it happens to touch me, then I feel like I need to be quarantined.

Observation #6- I do a heck-of-a-lot of list formatted posts. I think that means that my creative juices don't flow most days.

Observation #7 - I'm sorry, but I'm not in love with anyone on this season of American Idol.

Observation #8- While I'm not drinking Diet Cokes everyday, I have now turned into a coffee drinker. I've always been a coffee fan, but I've never been one of those EVERY MORNING I HAVE TO HAVE MY COFFEE coffee people. And now I am one. Don't know which is worse... the Diet Coke or the coffee.... but I know that I have to have caffeine.

Observation #9- My house is clean right now and I really really enjoy that.

Observation #10- When we bought our house, the master bathroom wallpaper was on the "Get This Fixed" priority list. The master bathroom is spacious and pretty except for the GIANT LEAVES all over the walls. It is like walking into Narnia. As we have been waiting for the right time to get this done for the right price, I've slowly started to ignore the "Forest Bathroom" and try not to notice the foliage. But this morning when I turned on the light, it is as if the leaves were yelling at me. And you know what they said? "GOOD MORNING, LEAF LADY! DON'T YOU JUST LOVE YOUR LEAFY BATHROOM?". No, leaves, I do not. I am getting rid of you as soon as is humanly possible.