Summer Adventures

Man, this has been a busy summer! I cannot believe my birthday is next week – which marks the end of summer, usually. To commemorate Summer 2010, I’ve decided I will list-blog about all the awesome things I’ve done. :)

1. I quit my job…

   as noted in my Quarter Life Crisis post. And for a lot of my summer, I have been spending my time taking care of two of the most beautiful kids ever. In that same post, I mentioned my good friends Brian and Michelle, and how they took me in. Well, for a while now I’ve also been taking care of their children. And can I just say? It’s been so much fun! It’s probably why the summer has gone by so fast. Our days usually consist of going to the park, or playing in the sprinkler. Along with coloring and putting together puzzles! I know you’re jealous. haha

2. American Cancer Society – Relay for Life

   
   I joined Team Awesome earlier this year, thanks to my very good friend, Michelle (our Team Captain), and I set a goal of $500 to raise. To raise money before the actual relay we each asked people we knew for support, held a bake sale, a car wash, and a benefit gala (that involved an auction of items donated from businesses around town, and desserts made by team members).  Then at the actual Relay event we sold some more baked goods and auction items. I raised $330 through support from amazing friends and family, then obliterated my $500 goal through the car wash and benefit gala participation (Grand Total: $1052.50). I have so many generous people in my life, it wasn’t hard to get people involved. I love that about my family and friends. They’re all great people (especially my Grandma and Mother, they alone account for about a quarter of what our entire team raised). Team Awesome is currently in 1st place for most funds raised in Bonneville County with $6,854.10! We really are AWESOME. I’m not proud because we’re in first, I’m proud because we very obviously made a difference with our participation this year. What an amazing event. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

3. Eastern Idaho Technical College’s Great Race for Education

   
   The Great Race for Education is a fundraising event to raise scholarship dollars for local EITC students. It involves a large scavenger hunt that starts at Snake River Landing, in Idaho Falls, and leads teams downtown. Each team is given a clue that leads them to another challenge. After 6 challenges, teams sprint back to Snake River Landing in hopes of placing in the top 10. Top 10 teams went to quarter finals. Top 5 went to semi finals. And the top 3 competed for the title. I was asked the night before the event to fill in for someone who had bailed on the Idaho Falls Magazine team. Having heard all the hype about the event, I decided – what the hell. I can try! So, not only did our team have 2 people that hadn’t prepared or trained at all since we had short (zero) notice, but we also only had one Team Owner. Team Owners can help you solve clues – they can use anything; laptops, thesauruses, encyclopedias, whatever. You can have as many as you can find. And we only  had one. Compared to other teams that had 20 or 30. Nonetheless, I think we did GREAT! We took 12th out of 24 teams. I was actually relieved to be done with it, so we could just relax and watch other teams in the final rounds. All-in-all, it was a really fun day! I’m so glad I was able to participate, again – thanks to Michelle. :)

4. Monday Adventures with Jeffie <3

   Now that I have a different schedule, Jeff and I FINALLY have a day off on the same day! The whole time I’ve been home, we’d never had that until this summer. So we’ve been trying our best to utilize those days. Like one day we went up to Heise to golf. I sucked. Another day we went and played frisbee golf. I sucked. Haha. One Monday, we went to Lagoon (six flags amusement park about 3 hrs south of IF). It’s been really nice to have a day to do those kinds of things with him. I feel like it’s just another reminder of how great things finally are with us.

5. I got my first tattoo!

   Earlier this year, I decided I was finally ready to get a tattoo. I’ve always wanted one, but only wanted to get one if it really meant something to me. After going through everything this year, I really felt like I was getting to know myself. Going back to me, and what matters most to ME, instead of everyone else in my life I’ve been trying to please. So, I decided to reference my childhood in my tattoo. My nickname as a kid was “Foo Foo” because my cousin couldn’t say Jennifer. No one really knows how he got “Foo Foo” out of “Jennifer”, but it stuck. So, I had a friend from college, whom I’d always admired for her drawing abilities, draw a bunny for me (“Little Bunny Foo Foo…”). I’d done some research online and gave her some suggestions. She came up with this:
   I LOVED it! I took it and vectorized the lines (to make them crisper, rather than sketchy), flipped it, and added color to the balloon and text:
   
   Then, after talking about it for months – I finally did it.
   And, I’m pretty darned excited about it!!

6. My first outdoor climbing experience!!

   I’ve been climbing indoors for a little over a year. Mostly during the winter, I went regularly. But I wouldn’t call myself good or anything. And when summer rolled around, I was pretty excited to try outdoor climbing. Only, life happened and I got really busy. Haha. So, I got to go once, last weekend. I made the trip to Boise for the day and my friend Angela and her friends (who go all of the time) showed me what was up.
   I pretty much sucked. But it was quite the rush. And super fun. Since going, I can’t stop thinking about climbing. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it up to the gym a few times and maybe even back over to Boise for some more outdoor before summer’s over.

It was a very busy summer, but it has been a very good summer. Next week, Jeff and I are even going to Vegas for my birthday! We’re both very excited. :D

The Un/Re Bachelorette Weekend

I was supposed to get married the weekend of May 15th this year, but as mentioned – the wedding was called off. So, to avoid the town and the giant reminder, I decided to invite all of my girlfriends to Vegas to celebrate my new life direction. :D Woooo!

We were able to all stay in my mom’s house, located about 20 minutes from the strip. The ladies came from all over – Carina came from Seattle, HaLee from Portland, Angela from Boise, and Michelle & Mary came from Idaho Falls. I was so glad for all of my favorite ladies to join me for a weekend of Vegas fun.

We really didn’t drink much – the one time we were anywhere close to drunk was the day we spent by the pool.

We went to the Flamingo’s pool. It was the only pool we found where you can get in for free (if you’re a girl). We bought giant slushee drinks, which took us a few hours to consume, but were mighty tasty!!

Our other festivities included shopping, walking the strip and going out. When we were at the pool we were approached by 3 or 4 club reps who wanted us to come to their clubs. It’s their job to fill up the clubs and we were prime candidates considering we were a big group of pretty girls. We decided to take up one guy’s offer. We ended up at Lavo, at the Palazzo hotel, the first night. We were treated to $250 worth of free drinks and our own private seating section.

HaLee, Angela, Me, Carina, Michelle & Mary @ Lavo

The second night we went to TAO at the Caesar’s Palace, for Captain Morgan’s 375th(ish) birthday thrown by Maxim Magazine. It was a gorgeous club, equipped with it’s own rooftop pool, cabanas and dance floor. While the clubs were really beautiful and interesting to see, honestly, it was all kind of ridiculous. The going out process, I mean. If you weren’t VIP, which we luckily were for the weekend, you had to wait in ridiculous lines to go into overly crowded clubs where you tried to dance, but actually just got drinks spilled on you and you were stepped on. All in all though, it was still a good time. haha

We were able to eat a bunch of really yummy food too and not blow all of our money. The trick is to eat off the strip. Then you don’t spend as much money! Michelle’s friend who’s a local taught us that handy trick.

We had three Vegas virgins; Mary, Carina and HaLee. I say we gave them a pretty good first impression. I tried my best to be a good tour guide!

Hopefully we can all make it a habit and do some repeat trips in the near future. Miss you, ladies!

Quarter Life Crisis

Well, it’s been a while since I posted. So much has changed. Life is an interesting thing. haha

Last time I posted, I was healing from a fresh break up with a guy I’d been in a relationship with for 6 years. We’ve since reunited, much to the surprise of several people in our lives.

It’s been an interesting few months. After the infamous break-up I decided it was time for me to find happiness in my life, FOR me. It’s easy to think about… but turned out extra hard to actually do. Because when I sat down and thought about what would make me happy, I came up blank.

I knew one thing, I wasn’t and hadn’t been satisfied with the work I was doing. And since I invest myself so much in what I do, I wasn’t happy with myself as a person. When I moved home over a year and a half ago, I resolved to get any job I could. I got a graphic design job, even though I haven’t been passionate about design for years, at a newborn company and was really excited to learn and grow with everyone there. Only problem was, I didn’t seem to be growing. I felt stuck, unmotivated and guilty for being so. So, after much deliberation – I resigned. And boy did it blow everyone’s minds. No, I didn’t have some high-paying job waiting for me on the other side. I decided it was just time for me to figure out what I need to make me happy.

Luckily, my very generous and very best friends offered to take me in. Newly single, and about to be unemployed, I was living in a house paying bills by myself. They live in a beautiful home with their 2 beautiful children whom I get to spend all my time with now. <3

Me (in the middle) and my good good friends Brian and Michelle

Let’s just say – it’s been an amazing couple of months.

Things with Jeff are better than ever, we’re in an entirely different relationship than we ever were before and I’m really glad we were able to work through things. We still have the not-so-fun pleasure of proving ourselves to the people in our lives who thought our break up was for the best. But since I, admittedly, was the leader of that club 2 months ago, I understand that minds can change about it. And mostly – it doesn’t matter what people think. It matters how I feel. And I feel great.

Me, Jeff and Penny

Someday, I’ll go back to some sort of web job, but in the meantime, I’m trying to figure out what exactly I’d like to do in that realm. Bur for now, it’s time to reboot, refocus and move on. Life’s too short to get hung up on drama and what-ifs.

Dream Meanings

So, as mentioned in my last post – I recently went through a break up. We lived together so I am a newly single lady (all the single-ladies, all the single-ladies…) living in a house all by my lonesome. And I’ve been having these dreams about getting robbed. A few times now.

At first I brushed it off as feeling insecure in a big house all alone. But when they kept happening, I mentioned it to my friend Angela and she looked up the meaning for me at http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/:

To dream that you have been robbed, denotes that you are experiencing an identity crisis or you are suffering some sort of loss in your life.

Well… yep. That hits the nail on the head!

Basically, I am no longer a skeptic on dream interpretations.

Time to Move On

Well, a lot’s happened since my last post. Probably because my last posts had to do with an engagement that was called off. Wah wah wah. For a while there, my life felt like a bad country song. He left me, and he took my dog. FML

But… happy to report. All is well. Everything happens for a reason.

It happened March 10th. Once I make it past April 20th (our would’ve been 6 year anniversary) and May 15th (our would’ve been wedding date) I think I’ll be juuuust fine. :)

In the meantime, I’m just keeping busy with friends. Last weekend I went to Vegas with my Mom and my good friend Rachael. It was so much fun and a seriously needed escape from Idaho Falls. We went to two concerts (30 Seconds to Mars and Muse), ate a ton, drank a ton, danced some, shopped some, laid out by the pool. Life was good.

Luckily I will be back there again in 1 month. I’ve gathered all of my girlfriends for a un/re-bachelorette party weekend. We shall celebrate my recent re-introduction into freedom, in style. So far there are 8 of us going. It’s going to be EPIC. Stay tuned. What happens in Vegas may or may not stay there. TBD

I’d say, for having gone through a not-so-welcome break up a month ish ago, I’m doing pretty damn good. I owe it all to my friends – some old, some new, but all favorites. If it weren’t for them and our dance parties, jello shot nights, sleepovers, day long IM-conversations and Vegas trips. I don’t know what I’d be doing with myself. I love them dearly.

Side note – I’ve decided that several cliche things they say about breakups is true. Off the top of my head:

• I lost 6 lbs in the first week because I was so devastated I didn’t have an appetite.
• I instantly wanted to move out, leave town. Anything. GMTFO!
• I wanted to chop off all my hair and dye it.

Well I didn’t move out and leave town – but I did chop off all my hair and dye it! :D

I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Feeling light and free. As my friend Brian has declared – April is liberation month! And I believe there is much more liberation to come. :)