Stormy Weather Funk-tified

I am feeling so VERY unmotivated! I feel like my permanent throne in my home is here.... at my table...doing homework (rewarding myself with the opportunity to blog). ha ha ha

I have to admit, I am so tired of it. :( I have been in school for the past decade without a break. blechity. I am really thinking HARD about taking the summer off.

I'm not as good of a student as I once was. I think the culprit is just the fact that I need a break! It seems everybody around me is feeling the drudge as well. All of them, however, blame the weather! This HAS been a long winter!

My Gramma B said today, "There hasn't been a winter this bad in forty years'. If it isn't snowing, the wind is blowing insanely hard (I'd rather have the snow). If it isn't windy OR snowy, than it rains. Once it rains...the wind blows again and freezes it all. Here is the ice on the delivery dock of my work. You should've SEEN the poor delivery guy trying unload pallets over this two inch sheet of ice. It was slightly entertaining!

Organizing While Giving a Back Combing Lesson and Fertilizing My Eyelashes

Earlier I was organizing the HELL out of my nail polishes. I just realized that I am obsessed with them and it is bordering on the line of excessive! I put them all away now, they are fabulous (and not scattered all over my bathroom counter)!

Cierra is learning to backcomb.

I find it amusing and wish I had someone to teach me when I was younger! :)

This is a VERY basic (and over-looked) girl-skill that will save hours of time and stress later on in life. TRUST!

Lats week I bought and started using this stuff for lashes called Rapid Lash. It runs about from 35 to fifty bucks depending on where you get it. Rapid Lash is a cheaper version of the Peter Thomas Roth Lash Serum and a non-pupil darkening version of Latisse.

Anyway, I took before pictures and have been using it. We'll see if this stuff actually works. It's my own personal experiment! (The link is a total info-mercial: Don't hate) lol I'm not a sucker for those types of adverts. But am a BIG sucker for good and solid product, pure and simple! I've had ladies come through ULTA with A-MAZING lashes. Each time I ask them if they are real, they say, 'I use Rapid Lash'.

So...yeah, I will keep you posted. I am only one week in and plan on taking another picture after the first month.

I am also taking the Nioxin hair, skin and nails vitamins. My hair doesn't seem to be growing anymore, so I am babying it every way I know how. (Vitamins, no combing, deep conditioning once a week, using paraben and sulfate-free products, and washing every other day instead of every day).

My New Specialized, Water-logged, and I Love Target Almost as Much as Jersey Shore.

My New Specialized Mountain Bike

SO today, even though there was still a lot of snow on the ground, I F I N A L L Y got my bike! Yay!
I am in LUST! Cannot wait for this stuff to melt so I can ride! (My sister thought it was funny to take pictures from her nice warm car) ha ha

Water Logged

Today I swam for the first time. Okay, well not really; but it sure felt like it! (I used to swim laps when I lived in the UK, until the pool there took a dump. I also swam over a decade ago when I life guarded and taught swim lessons at the Salvation Army camp.

The Bellevue Swim Club has as 'adult training session' on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30-8:30. It is all drill-based swimming. I have NEVER swam drills before in my LIFE (I've never swam competitively).

I will tell you this much....I STILL feel water-logged, I am pretty sure my lungs are giving me the finger right now and and I am equally sure that I swallowed half the pool during the last half of warm-ups. That being said, by the end of the session, I got my breathing in check, nailed down a rhythm and just relaxed. It was GREAT!

If anyone in Bellevue is reading this, feel free to come out. It's only 2$ per session (You buy a $20 punch card). Good times! Your body will love you later....which is all that really matters, if you ask me!

I Love Target Almost As Much As Jersey Shore

I love Target because the other day, I found the PERFECT rug for my living room for only $39.95!!! It used to be 150$! I think someone hid it, but FINDERS KEEPERS! HA! :) Here is a before and after picture; I think it really brings the sectional together and makes the living room feel nice and cozy!

Before

After

got this shirt from her swimteam. Her group is called the Cuda's. Everytime she wears this shirt, I laugh. (I think it looks a lot like 'Guido', rather than 'Cudas' (you see the print-relation here right? lolTo prove to you how obsessed I am with Jersey Shore (only the BEST brainless television out right now), Here is my proof! lol I came across this, completely randomly. I call him 'Stick-Guidoman'.

101 Things About Me

1) Name is Jennifer, but most people call me Jen and all of my family and long-time friends call me "Jenny'.

2) My online alias everywhere (aside from Facebook) is 'Jennylynn or Jennylynn13'. Lynn is my middle name and I grew up in Texas; thus 'Jennylynn'.

3) Wants to be a college-level Instructor, eventually a Professor, 'when I grow up'.

4) Love, love, love cereal.

5) I would like to operate a bulldozer for fun at some point during my lifetime!

6) Loves coffee.

7) My favorite sport to play is volleyball.

8) I REALLY love camping, though I don't get to that often!

9) Italian is my favorite food.

10) Speaking of Italian, I prefer men with dark eyes and dark hair (like all the men in my family).

11) My favorite flowers on the face of this planet are Day Lillies and Gerber Daisies.

12) My favorite ice cream is Jamoca Almond Fudge from Baskin Robins.

13) I can listen to the same song over and over again and still like it!

14) I love mechanical pencils.

15) I believe a smile can work magic.

16) Doesn't like to cry in front of people (I tend to see it as a weakness, though I'm not quite sure how I came to think that way.)

17) I love movies just not sad ones.

18) I don't mind tedious, mindless tasks like sorting, organizing or counting.(It is strangely calming)

19) I LOVE doing the dishes. (It is a zen moment for me. I started doing my families' dishes when I was ten. I would strategically volunteer RIGHT before I went to bed, so I could stay up late. I loved it then; just me, the radio, the dishes and quiet-time away from my big loud family!)

20) I don't get nervous or embarassed easily.

21) I know more words to country songs, than I look like I do. lol

22) I don't sleep well alone, which is one reason, aside for obnoxious amounts of homework, that I normally stay up so late. ( I shared a room with my sister until I was 17; I think that has something to do with it)

23) I am a total light-weight and rarely, if ever, get drunk.

24) I can't stand disrespectful women and men (mainly the way each treats the other)

25) I don't have a 'junk drawer'.

26) I LOVE cooking, but don't do it as often as I should these days.

27) I am a morning person...just a quiet one these days!

28) As a kid I went to The Annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup, EVERY. SINGLE, SUMMER!

29) I've eaten rattlesnake.

30) I've also eaten crickets (fried up with red chili and put in a tortilla) Yes, it was good, if you could get past the texture.

31) I was married for six years.

32) I've been divorced for four years, separated for longer, and have been completely legit single for a year now.

33) I'm good at relationships, but bad at dating. (I don't do casual well...unless it's on my terms) lol

34) Though I was married; I was never proposed to or had a proper wedding.

35) I was three months pregnant when I got married.

36) My daughter is now a very smart, very beautiful 9 year old!

37) My best friends don't live close to me; they are the reason I am so well 'connected'.

38) I am really close to my family.

39) I hate folding/ ironing laundry.

40) I like big chunky costume jewelry.

41) I collect camera necklaces.

42) All my dishes are white.

43) I think dirty dish sponges and make-up brushes, are the most disgusting thing on the planet.

44) I cannot pay bills or do homework, if the room I am in is messy.

45) The music I listen to changes with the weather.

46) I'd rather be cold than hot.

47) I HATE sweating, unless I am working out.

48) I appreciate straight-forward people and have low tolerance for people whom beat around the bush.

49) I've been to Disneyland, but only as an adult!

50) I've never been to New York City

51) Before I was in the Cosmetics Industry, I was in the Airline/Travel Industry (Travel Agent, Tour Guide and Passenger Service Agent, Flight School Ops. Manager) I really loved it, but 9-11 threw a wrench in that. BIG TIME!

52) I LOVE playing video games.

53) I think trust is the most important thing on the planet.

54) I've seen a tornado, on several different occasions. they are mesmerizing.

55) I was a white water rafting guide the first summer after my divorce. (Taos Box Class 5's)

56) I got my sleeve (tattoo) after my divorce. ( It marked significance in a lot of different ways)

57) My favorite color is blue.

58) My favorite outfit would be my Express cuffed skinny jeans, peep-toe stilettos and a scoop-neck, racer-back wife beater, with loads of layered necklaces!

59) I LOVE getting dressed up!

60) I adore portrait photography and am pretty decent at it!

61) I started blogging because my friend Valency said I should, this is also the reason I twittered and facebooked. LOL

62) I love blogging, it is am escape (and occasional dumping site for my headspace)!

63) I LOVE old cars. (The guys in my family were never car guys.)

64) I took shop in high school, but was forced out for being a girl. (I think that's the reason I am even MORE drawn to cars as an adult)

65) My first drag races were in Arizona (NHRA). Also went to several in the UK.

66) I went to State all four years I was on Speech/Debate Team in high school (Extemporaneous Speaking and Cx Debate)

67) My favorite Holiday is Christmas.

68) You will always find a calendar in my kitchen.

69) I went to Bible College in Missouri for my first year in College.

70) My Bachelor's degree is in Aeronautics, though I am in the Cosmetics Industry now. ha ha

71) I love cheese (mainly mature, sharp cheddar)

72) I prefer beer over hard liquor or wine.

73) I have no ambitions for my daughter. She can be what she wants to be; I believe she is even more fantastic because of it.

74) I love telling stories and making people laugh in the process.

75) I USED to bite my nails obsessively. I thought, and still think it is gross.

76) I Adore nail polish almost as much as my Urban Decay brow box and Hypnose mascara.

77) I am a freak about skincare and always have a travel size moisturizer and cleanser in my purse.

78) I love eating outside when it isn't freezing or scorching.

79) I'd prefer a house full of people over an empty one, any day!

80) I have morals, but I'm not a prude.

81) I once chased guys with their own bee bee gun for shooting my beloved dog with it. (My sister took the gun from me; I was about fifty pumps in)

82) When I was 18, moved out, and no longer living with my parents, they grounded my sister from seeing me to punish me. It worked.

83) I am a procrastinator.

84) I am a good driver.

85) I prefer to drive a manual over automatic.

86) I get into a funk in the winter time, but it only lasts a month or two (and nobody but me really notices)

87) I didn't carry a purse for YEARS, but now carry my black braided handle hobo bag EVERYWHERE.

88) My boobs aren't 'real'.

89) I don't like jelly beans.

90) I will never forget looking my name 'Jenny' up in the dictionary when I was 7, to find that it meant 'female donkey'. I came to terms with being a stubborn ass at an early age. ha ha

91) I am much stronger than I look, I also weigh a lot more than I look like I do.

92) I am a 'Taurus'. It is written all over me. I am stubborn, loyal, determined, stable, blah blah blah.

93) I had a blood transfusion after I delivered my daughter. If it had been 10 years earlier, I would've died. THANK GOD for technology!

94) I would do it again. I love being a mom.

95) I love sushi, even the raw varieties!

96) I press snooze on my alarm clock at least three times in the morning, and prefer to be woken up by people (It is much more effective)
97) My mom and dad divorced when I was 23; it was weird, but wouldn't change it.

98) I like vinyl/ Japanese toys and cute little fabric monsters.

99) I ALWAYS got the citizenship and 'friendliest' award at school.

100) I don't like miracle whip.

101) I hated mashed potatoes when I was little.

Get My Run On!

It is official I am all signed up for the Lincoln Half Marathon on my Birthday! yay! I've been running, BUT not consistently, no thanks to the weather! My plan is to simply put the miles on my body. I am starting with two mile runs four times a week. Next week will go to 2.5 miles four times. The week after...2.5 to 3 FIVE times per week. You get the picture. blah blah blah.

When I feel like I can't breath and my lungs are going to fall out, I just think of how great my legs are gonna look by May. ha ha ha Whatever works, you know?!?!

Speaking of running, I SERIOUSLY need to go sports bra shopping. (I am convinced, I don't need a bra; I need a compression chamber) lol

Just uploaded some different songs to my running mix, I'm super excited to run tomorrow! These songs are little more poppish than I normally listen to, but they make me happy to run! (even though I prefer running outside without music at all.....Warm weather, COME TO MAMA

(Playlist removed by me, because I wanna play different music now. Sue me! I am occasionally an impatient, ADD child; I can't help it!)

Snow Day Numero Tres

Today was perfect! Wanna know why?

I am STILL in my comfy pants and hoody! The same comfy pants and hoody that I put on last night before I went to bed! Ha!

Today was another snow day for Cierra, only I didn't have to work this time. Since I didn't work (yay, yay, yay), I got to sleep in! We got out of the house around noon to have breakfast at Village Inn with Gramma B. It took us a little while to get there because I had to dig my car out again, don't worry...tomorrow I will take pictures (I'm getting quite good at this shoveling business). The shovel in my trunk has become a permanent fixture this winter.

Today was also perfect because I got a lot done with little effort! I took an exam, cleaned and downsized my kitchen clutter, baked cookies did laundry and then rewarded myself by eating cookies...LOTS OF COOKIES.

Aren't they perfect?!

For the record...I WASN'T even going to bake cookies, until I saw THIS fabulousness on Etsy.com

Yesterday, when Cierra was at work with me, she got her haircut by Fabulous Amy. She looks so grown up with her hair this length. le sigh.

Spent a lot of time in the kitchen today. (not complaining)Cierra's favorite meal on the face of this planet that I make is spaghetti. I made it for us tonight to celebrate the fact that she is having ANOTHER snow day tomorrow! Snow day numero tres! Holy Cow!

THEN I got to catch up with Valency Fabulous; yay!

Hello Sarcasm.....My Name is Jen

What a day.

It was a 'snow day' for Cierra today, which was fabulous! I love snow days, because it means that I get to sleep in as well! Tomorrow is ALSO a snow day! Yessss! Seems we are having a record-low winter here in Omaha. SO glad I could be here for this little piece of history! (Hello sarcasm! My name is Jen).

My sister is the one with the four-wheel drive vehicle. I asked her to take me to work, but that was a mess and didn't happen. I ended up driving myself in my Incredible Kia Rio. I was NOT happy about this! I had to take Cierra with me because my mom and sister were still stuck in West Omaha. I always try to see the best in every situation, even when I am unbelievably pissed off! That being said, I handed Cierra my phone and had her take pictures of the wreckage along the way!

Here was the first roadblock. Just as this semi was turning a car slid into him. The whole mess blocked the entire road. luckily, a local plow made a path around it all so we could get by. (We drove up right after it happened)THIS was the wonderful, joyous visibility on the freeway. See the lanes? Don't worry, I can't either!
Here was a five car pile-up, again right after it happened (three cars on the left, and two trucks on the right)
When I got to work, an hour later, I didn't see my sister. She was supposed to meet me there....to pick up Cierra.

Yeah...THAT didn't happen.

SO, there I was...in a blizzard...at work....with my child. Yaaaaay! Hello sarcasm...my name is Jen.

My lesson today was this: It takes a lot more work to be happy than it does to be miserable. I can be a sarcastic ass, but it is that quality that keeps me healthy, laughing and happy; it is a choice, I'm good with it!