Boom Boom POW

I just caught word that none other than the Black Eyed Peas will be doing a benefit concert in Minot, for Minot on September 3rd! Wow. Josh and Fergie are really stepping up to help out!

But seriously…the Black Eyed Peas. If you knew how many times I've belted out their tunes in my car while driving alone, you'd be laughing at me. I've had a thing for them since…my early college days. I once held a door for Fergie during a visit to Minot, and hung on to Josh Duhamel's drink as he had his pictures taken for his sister's wedding (these are my only claims to fame and I'm really stretching out their validity). Did you know Fergie is really short? She gives me some hope of being in a hip hop group (what I want to do if my college career doesn't pan out).

Gotta get…get…get…a ticket.

One

I'm just feeling this song tonight.

good morning

I love waking up to this sight. The only thing that could make it better was if there was a really handsome man standing nearby with a plate of Oreos and a glass of milk. And a harp player. And a puppy. Maybe a rainbow.

ENTER PR9!!

Yesterday was a day I've been waiting a looooooong time for: the Project Runway Season 9 premiere! I was getting really antsy to see the new crop of contestants and pick out new favorites (though it will be near impossible to top Season 8 contestant Mondo in my mind). The opener introduced twenty designers from across the country and quickly told five to pack their bags.

So, the original crew:

And where we now stand:

• • •

I'm going to pick premature favorites as Anya (from Trinidad and Tobago) who at the time of the competition had a mere four months of sewing experience; and Bert, the OTA designer who pulled out a challenge win last night using his boxer shorts to make a chic dress. I'm hoping that Julie will step it up a notch from being in the bottom three and making ill-fitting snowboarding pants, as her portfolio was one of the more interesting. These favorites are subject to change next week!

As for Rafael's elimination, I believe he was deserving of it — after all, anyone who won't take off their headscarf for the sake of winning a challenge (because he didn't want the world to see his hot mess hair), then taking it off and making a bib out of it, doesn't have what it takes to "make it work."

End commentary. Click on the designer photos to visit the Lifetime Project Runway page, watch this season and follow along with me! I love fellow fans.

xo

j

"Herbs."

With all of my newfound time this summer, I've delved into more than a few chapters of interests. There was my bread-and-jam making phase, a yoga phase, and a cooking phase (which I suppose I'm still in). I've recently entered my gardening phase, where I'm taking interest in plants and terrariums, and finding myself in a state of jealously toward those with real live yards to harvest things. 

I bought a book a few weeks back — it's called Herbs. Can you guess what it's about? Wait…oh…yes, it's about herbs. I admittedly haven't read it yet, but when my best friend visited, I reviewed it with such strange enthusiasm that lead her to sporadic interjections of the word "herbs" in our conversations. Since then I've had herbs on the brain, just dreaming of the day I could snatch a handful of fresh mint from a plant conveniently located on my windowsill, then make a gargantuan mojito to drink the satisfaction. 

I went to a garden center yesterday and paced around for a good hour. I was looking for the easiest and the hardest route simultaneously, which I found with plants often coexist. A seed might be "easy" to grow if, say, you have light, space, and time for it. With my dark apartment the size of a mouse hole coupled with a slight case of ADD, I manage to be the worst candidate for growing anything other than fungi on decaying fruit (which is beside the point). What is most disheartening to me is that the seed packets give you the recipe for success! Everything from  directly stating what brand of soil ("We recommend (our brand of soil)") to the perfect time and place to plant, when to transfer the plant to a larger area, and what to expect. They even tell you to use the end of a pencil (specifically) to puncture the soil to plant the seed.  It seems completely failsafe! 

After eyeing an herb starter kit with eight different varieties, I brought myself back to the reality of, "Whoa, Jenny, let's not bite off more than we can chew." Nobody jumps into 10 feet of water if they don't know how to swim, and I certainly wasn't going to epic fail on this one. Maybe fail — but not epic fail. I found neat-o biodegradable planters in happy colors and with the help of a seasoned gardener, selected my three babies: Dill, Lemon Thyme, and Basil.

Okay, I cheated with the kickstarter plants. I'm not their real mother. But in my defense,  I didn't grow the seeds because instant gratification got the best of me and let's be honest, I would have killed them. My herb garden is happily nested at my bedroom window. This morning I rubbed the lemon thyme between my fingers — it smells of spicy citrus, like a perfume or lotion! 

My little guys have a little growing left to do, but until then I'll be dreaming of fresh pesto!

xo

j

Night at the VFW  — 07. 26. 11

Ta-da! It's Adventures in Ohio!

I'm back from a fabulous weekend in Ohio! Here's a peek at my journey…

Heidi making her way through the Minneapolis airport

Skies over Minnesota as we took off

• • • 

Kacy & Matt have a really cool house! 

Living room ( 1 )

Living room ( 2 )

Heidi lounging…of course

Bedroom…straight from a magazine!

Kacy & Matt win a cute couple award

Mom let her hair down and drank a lot of iced tea!

The ladies got pedicures. My toes are now neon pink!

Poppy is the sweetest dawg around!

We visited a lovely  neighborhood garden

Ladies Christen!

Detroit airport psychedelic tunnel! On the way home.

Minneapolis airport waiting for flight to Fargo.

• • • 

I have more photos that I will possibly put on in the near future! Until then…I'm wiped from the flying today! Take care, be well!

xo

jc

from here on

from the oven

*How hot it feels in my apartment right now. The Midwest is melting. A few months ago I was sleeping in my winter parka. Now this, life inside an oven.

North Dakota, you are in a midlife crisis.

It's been a long day at work. But check out my colorful kicks! 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I also started a new tumblr that you can find here! Happy Funday.

Five important things I've learned from my clients:

01. We are all the same, just in different ways

B. Life can be taken day by day by day by day. If one day doesn't work out, start over the next.

III. A little planning can change each day tremendously

04. Each day is filled with little things we don't want to do, but we have to do them to get to the fun stuff

E. Students are teachers, teachers are students

xo

j

today's bits

Fruit pops in bed // trying to feel better 

Seen on my walk home from the grocery store

Empty chairs // too hot to sit outside!

I'm off for another overnight with clients…I had yesterday off, my first full day off in about two weeks, and I ended up spending three-fourths of it in bed trying to get better.

The upcoming week is going to fly…then come the weekend I'm making a special getaway to Ohioland to see sister Kacy, brother-in-law Matthew and a baby bump (baby on the way)! Weeee! Something to look forward to!

xo

j

for minot

It would be complete negligence to go without mentioning the flood in my hometown of Minot, ND that began it's rapid ascent several weeks ago. My aunt Kelly recently sent me this photograph of a Minot neighborhood that was hit especially hard by the water. The yellow arrow is pointing at her (and my mother's) childhood home located a block from the Souris "Mouse" River. Thankfully Grandma moved out of the house several years ago and is safely situated in a home on the hill, but it saddens me to see this image and recall the decades that I spent visiting Grandma's home. She had gorgeous flowers lining the boulevard and poking through the cream picket fences, arched doorways and all sorts of fun nooks. There was a playhouse in the backyard by the garden — a miniature version of the house itself — that became a playtime dwelling for all my siblings and cousins. The backyard patio held countless back-to-school barbeques, birthdays and celebrations. I will never forget running to the basement to play the pinball machine, or yelling down the laundry chute from the top floor to a cousin in the basement.

I had to store a lot of these memories when Grandma moved after Grandpa's passing in 2003, but seeing the home under water has resurfaced many of the memories. Things won't be the same for Minot and all those affected, and my thoughts go toward their wellness; I hope that amidst what was lost, people might somehow find peace of mind, optimism and resilience.

I am so grateful that my loved ones — parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins and friends — have largely avoided the impact of this tremendous outpouring. I have heard the good and the bad. One of my good friends that's been with me since Kindergarten called me up amidst the water's rising. Sobbing, she pleaded for me to tell her that everything was going to be okay. She later told me that her house was swallowed by water clear to the eaves. How do you start over from there?

Some 12,000 people are out of a place to live and the reality hasn't even begun. When these people enter their homes, businesses, parks, schools and churches again they'll discover a shell of their lives, water-logged and stained. They have to find a way to tear down, rebuild or restore. It tears me up to think of this place I've weaved through nearly every street of as destructed.

Please continue to keep the good people of Minot in your thoughts and if you can give, give what you can — they are fighters!

Tattly

I truly want this tattoo! Find this and more "designy" temporary tats at the new Tattly shop!

here's to you, heidi beth

I have been utterly sick with an ugly cold lately, I think it's from working overtime…

Corn field — Moorhead, MN

 It's my beloved sister Heidi Beth's birthday and she's crawling behind me at 22 years old! I could never imagine my life without Heidi, she drives me crazy and keeps me sane, she's the common sense to my daydreaming, she is the best friend I would never have if she weren't my little sister. We have never been far apart and have watched one another grow (or in my case, shrink). Sure, we've had our hair-pulling, pounding-on-the-bathroom-door-waiting-for-the-shower, hey-that's-my-shirt days, but we are of the same flesh, family forever.

Here's to you, Heidi, and 22 years!

 Heidi & Paul…and the cake I made with Starbursts and white chocolate!

i don't care where you are, i miss you

To the A-Z's of my brain, people you —

the one-timers, Kindergarten gang, my old housemates and flames —

To you, care-ers, mixers, harbors of love in my veins

To east coast, to west coast to all the days

I telephoned, airported, texted the sayings

of saying I miss you, for whatever it rang

I'm telling you, I miss you every day, every day

a fair time

My client and I visited the Red River Valley Fair the other day. I admittedly wasn't too excited about the experience — I've never been much of a fair-goer —but it was actually really neat. I enjoyed people-watching, concert-going, and food-eating. There was so much activity and interesting folks of all ages. I loved photographing the little scenes. Here's what I caught…(all photos taken with iPhone and edited with Instagram)