Something Old

The last day of the Blogtember Challenge! We're about to be back to our regularly scheduled programming around here, and I'm OK with that. As per usual, I struggled with committing to a whole month-long deal, but it was good for me, and obviously I HAD to see it through, since I hosted! I had so much fun working through the prompts with many of you this month, and I hope you did too. :) And now, for the last day. Share a photo of something old. Maybe something that has personal history for you, that was passed down to you, and that has special meaning to you. Tell us about it and why it's special.

This was my sweet late grandma's HIGH SCHOOL ring. My mom brought it back after the funeral along with some other keepsakes of my Grandma's, and I claimed this one. I wear it almost every single day, and think of her whenever I put it on. "Peg" is engraved on the inside, which makes it even more special and personal... I feel a little closer to her when I wear it. It gives me courage and peace when I'm feeling anxious about something, and I love to imagine her going about her day some 60 years ago, wearing this ring that I now wear, never imagining how much it would mean to her granddaughter when she was gone. Love you and miss you so much, Grandma. Always.

The Facebook one

Day 19 of Blogtember. Can you believe Monday is the last day? But today... An anonymous letter to your Facebook friends. Be as snarky as you'd like. (but don't include people's real names.) 

It turns out that I don't actually have a whole lot of stored up animosity regarding Facebook. I have long since blocked or unfriended all the people that annoy me most, so now Facebook is a mostly peaceful and enjoyable place. 

BUT. Things that will get you blocked or unfriended by me:

- Too many political posts, in either direction. Election time is the absolute worst. It is exactly what is wrong with social media - too many un-censored zealots in dire need of an editor and maybe a Xanex or two. SHUT UP.

- This is too obvious, I know, but people that post way too many photos of their babies/children will also earn themselves a nice swift blocking. We all know your kids are cute and you love them immensely. But we don't need to see 7 terrible cell phone pics of them per day, mmkay?

- Poor grammar. I can't help it. Bad grammar and spelling are the virtual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard to me. And I can't help but judge you a little.

- Silent stalkers. The people that are always on, a "like" at the ready (IF that), but never have anything to say or share for themselves. I don't really know why this bothers me, but it does. I guess it just seems a little TOO voyeuristic, if you're so keen to peek in on all your friends' lives but never willing to share anything of your own, or even reach out to others with a text, email, or an actual nice comment (which, yes, might take thought).  

- Slutty selfies will also earn you a swift blocking. I have no idea why so many girls feel the need to post constant photos of themselves in bikinis or low cut shirts. It just screams "LOOK AT ME I NEED ATTENTION AND VALIDATION." How about getting attention for doing something good or worthwhile or useful, eh?

- Passive aggression and/or cryptic postings that don't actually say anything but just inject negativity into the universe. BIG pet peeve.

Phew. Felt good to get that off my chest. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to say for this one... share your letters in the linkup below! And have a great weekend! :)

The post written in a coffee shop... except not.

So, I DID go to a coffee shop for day 18 of Blogtember. I ordered myself a cinnamon-vanilla latte, and I sat down at a table to enjoy said latte and write my post... and then, and only then, did it occur to me that I completely forgot to bring my laptop. Super bright of me, right? I'm still scratching my head over that one.

Now I feel like a big fat phony, and I can't write a post here at home that was meant to have been written in a coffee shop. It's just not the same. But you should watch this video. It will probably make your day.

CHEATER

Did you know there are only three more days of Blogtember?! So proud of all you who've stuck with me this long! Today's prompt is to write about a time you screwed up - a mistake you made.

Last time I can recall, I was in about 1st grade.

Kidding! But I did majorly screw up and cheat on a spelling test back then. To this day, it's one of my most vivid memories. I guess I wasn't prepared for the test, so I filled out a sheet with all the correctly spelled words, and placed it on the ground beside my chair (I was home-schooled at that point, so I did my work at the kitchen table). I remember my heart pounding in my chest, and feeling so nervous that my mom would catch me. I was probably acting pretty unnatural, and of course also kept sneaking peeks at the paper on the ground during the test.  I totally got caught and spanked, and I felt horrible, HORRIBLE, afterwards.  Like such a disappointment.

I've never liked breaking rules, since then. Of course there was another small bout with cheating in 9th grade geometry class... me and my friends may or may not have written formulas on our thighs and peeked at them during tests (we wore those God-awful plaid private school skirts), HOWEVER, I never got caught for that and geometry is bullshit anyway. Probably the worst subject of all time, and I knew I had no future where the Pythagorean Theorem was concerned. Quite frankly, I don't even feel bad.

But mistakes. I feel like I'm one of those people who really does live their life tiptoeing around them. I try to never make mistakes, though of course sometimes I still do. All I know now is that the mistakes I have made have always, always made me a better person and taught me a valuable lesson. So in that sense,  mistakes aren't so bad sometimes, if you don't abuse your privilege to make them.

Share your links below, if you're participating in Blogtember! :)

Lick

Day 16 of Blogtember: Review a book, place, or product.

I'm a little ashamed to be just now trying Lick, and it's almost October. I've heard rave reviews of this hopping little ice cream spot, so I've been dying to get the scoop. Pun intended.

Anyway, my mom and I checked it out, and I can honestly say this is the very best ice cream I've ever (eveerrr) had.  Such curious flavors, and every one we tried was so incredibly delicious! My favorite was Lemon Lavender, but Cardamom Pear Cake and Hill Country Honey & Vanilla Bean received very high marks as well. I'll be back to try all the other flavors. All of them. Thanks for being innovative and awesome, Lick! ;)

Life Lately

Day 15 of Blogtember: life lately.

I've sort of written a couple life lately posts in the last week or so... shame on me for not thinking ahead to today's post topic! But life, lately... is good. Really, really good. I am happy. Our house isn't ready yet, or anywhere near ready, but they started bricking the outside last week, and dropped off all the drywall, which was encouraging. Then it failed a few insulation inspections and it rained for like 50035973513 days, so of course more delays, more delays, more delays.

But I have my little family and I have my passion for the work I'm doing right now, and we've been blessed with our first set of incredibly beautiful fall mornings, and that is just a breath of fresh air.   There have been movies and popcorn and cuddling and date nights and coffee in bed each morning and new rules going forward to show love with conduct instead of just words. It's a good plan, and it's been working, and our lives are happier for it.

Hope you have a great Monday!

*Prior Blogtember link-ups are missing at the moment, but should be back online soon!

A little bit of fiction

Blogtember Day 12 - Creative writing day: write a (very short) fictional story that starts with this sentence: "To say I was dreading the dinner party would be the understatement of the century."

It turns out that my story today kind of sucked, but after I'd written a couple paragraphs and realized it sucked, I was already sick of the topic and also by that point in need of some Viagra for writers to help with a little performance anxiety. Also, if you don't like the F word, you probably shouldn't read this. I try to keep that word out of my blog, but hey, it found its way into my short story, oops.

Also, wasn't this fun? It reminded me that I really enjoy writing stories and all the possibilities of it. This is the first fictional thing I've written in a loooong time, and I absolutely want to keep after it and hone that skill, because it definitely needs honing. Can't wait to read everyone else's! And please don't worry about it being perfect. None of us are trying to get this 'ish published, it's just for fun. ;) Happy Thursday...

*couldn't find source, please let me know if you know where this image originated!

To say I was dreading the dinner party would be the understatement of the century. If I wasn’t so damn cheap, I’d just not go, but at $450.00 a ticket, I planned to at least get a meal out of my humiliation, while of course giving all the slap-dick wives something to chit chit about during their next tennis match.  We’ll call that my gift to society. Gossip fodder. Glad I could at least contribute something.

As I dabbed on makeup and stuffed extra padding into my bra, I made a valiant effort not to think about King Henry, as I liked to call him, since didn’t one of the Henrys kill off his wives or something? Fucking Henrys. They’re all the same.  It’s funny, because while I was busy NOT thinking about him, my body was still having a physical reaction to the fact that he would be there tonight. You know, the ol’ pounding heart, cold sweat, and unsteady hand trick. Ridiculous. I have nothing to prove to these people, and as far as Henry goes, I figured it’d be unlikely we even run into each other at all. But if we do, I’d be ready.  If we do, I’d be on his mind all night, I was going to make sure of that.

By 7:55 it was dusky and nearly dark in the house, and as I pushed a sparkly earring into my ear, I peered out the lace curtains of my front window. A shiny black Lexus waited there at the curb outside the townhouse, exactly where and when it should be, and yet somehow its presence seemed to solidify my fate and/or pound the proverbial nail in my coffin. My heart dropped into my stomach with no warning. Why didn’t I just give up my ticket? Why didn’t I just not go? It’s a charity dinner, after all. Charity! I could just write this off as a selfless donation and call it a day. But who are we kidding. These things are never selfless. They’re an excuse to show off how much you’re making and who you’re fucking. Of course, I’d be showing off none of those things, so my presence there would be laughable at best.  But it seemed like defeat, to not go. I’m not sure which would give them more to talk about, being there and looking happy, composed, and amazing, or not being there and letting Henry win.

I pushed open the heavy front door and stepped out into the night.

Only photos (a cop out)

Today's Blogtember prompt is only photos. I realize that this is a complete cop-out, but instead of photos from my own life today, I'm going to post photos I've recently taken for my business, since it's certainly consumed my life and my camera as of late. Hope you enjoy... :)

Love letters to two dear friends

Blogtember topic for the day: Write a public love letter to someone in your life. (It doesn't necessarily need to be romantic.)

Today I found that there are two ladies I really wanted to write to - both are so special to me and have been so impactful in my life. Here are my letters...

Dear Megan,

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL! You're 27 today, an age I know you've dreaded for some silly reason, but don't worry, I'll be there with you in just a couple more months. I bet it won't be so bad. :)

I wanted to thank you today for 11-ish years of loyal friendship. You and I have known each other through so many clunky and awkward stages of life - the end of high school, all of college, several boyfriends, big life changes like marriage and moving and the death of loved ones and redefining who we are after school and after we both worked at that same little restaurant for weirdly lengthy amounts of our life, and moving into new homes and thinking about babies and planning for the future and worrying about getting older. We had so many Friday nights and Saturday or Sunday mornings together, bitching about nasty customers and loving on old people and rolling in the tips and late nights at Chili's and the movies when we had to be back up in four more hours for the next shift. We've been friends through all of that, though you've always been more constant and reliable than me, which is part of your personality as a Caregiver, I now see. Thank you for being my friend through it all, even when we got on each other's nerves, which is bound to happen over the course of 11 years... ;) One thing is for sure, I never stop loving you, respecting you, and admiring you for your wonderful heart. Cannot wait to see what the future holds for us both. It's always nice to walk through life with a friend, isn't it? Hope today and year 27 are beautiful, just like you. :)

Love, love, love,

Jenni

* * * * *

Dear Kristin,

I'm not even sure where to start on this letter - it's funny, because we've had our ups and downs in this weird online/offline friendship, but one thing that remains constant is that I always have so much fondness and warmth in my heart for you, and I'm always so thankful you're my friend. You've said before that you feel out of place in this world, like an outsider sometimes, but I disagree, and I think you belong very much and add so much beauty, specifically to anyone who is lucky enough to be close to you. You've inspired me endlessly with the warmth of your beautiful home and spirit, the way you care for people (the way you've cared for me), the care you take for the small details of your world (you know how God-awful I am with small details, so I find this particularly inspiring), and the fresh perspective you always give me and which always surprises me in pleasant and helpful ways. On more than one occasion you've given me advice that was exactly what I needed to hear and saved my life in different ways, and I've appreciated our relationship of accountability, even when it seemed like I didn't. For people like me, accountability can be extremely annoying but nonetheless extremely important. I've loved growing closer to you over the last year in particular, and I hope that only continues. I respect and admire you more than you know, and I'm so proud of all you continue to accomplish. 

Lots and lots of love,
Jenni

How has social media changed you?

Day 8 Blogtember topic: Discuss ways that blogging or social media has changed you.

This one is difficult for me because blogging and social media has changed my life so much that I hardly know where to begin. For the sake of this exercise, I just went back to the very first post on my very first blog - if you’re wondering, it was on July 6th, 2008. It’s interesting, because I found that my writing voice and style has actually not changed much at all since then. But boy, so many other things sure have.

Blogging and social media have had many both positive and negative effects on my life. For one thing, they’ve caused this addiction in me to share my experiences with others. I used to live my life in a solitary fashion - you know, like most people do - but now, if I can’t photograph it, instagram it, tweet it, blog it, share it with the world, it almost feels like it wasn’t even worth doing. It’s such a strange thing, and when I put it that way, it sounds sort of negative (not to mention pathetic). But I find that in my life, this is a good thing. I am naturally disinclined to change, grow, experience new things, and get out of my comfort zone. Blogging and social media have helped me be less that way. Because, you know, my blog would be boring as hell if I remained a sad stagnant hermit covered in dog hair who mostly never leaves the house.

A second way that blogging, in particular, has changed me, is that it’s given me confidence I never, ever had before. I specifically remember being at the grocery store one day, a few months after I started Story of My Life and after I had picked up a few dozen or maybe a couple hundred readers by then. I remember noticing I had this extra spring in my step, and a stronger sense of self than I had ever had before. I remember noticing that and then immediately attributing it to my blog. People cared what I had to say, my great passion for writing was being affirmed, and I was connecting with people in a way I was missing in my “real” life! It just generally felt really nice. To have found a niche, a hobby, and something I knew I could excel at.

Social media has also caused me to be really freaking ADD/all-over-the-place, which I discussed in this post (the response to it was pretty incredible… so many of us suffer with this!). Since I already talked about it, I won’t go into anymore detail on that one. I’m getting a LITTLE better about this though. Re-training myself to focus when I really need to. It’s not easy.

And finally, this conversation would be so incomplete if I didn’t mention the way that blogging and social media have had an incredibly globalizing effect on my life - meaning, it’s brought the entire world right here into MY world. The things I have learned have been countless. The relationships I’ve made have been priceless. The art and talent I’ve been exposed to have been inspiring and invaluable. Basically, it's all made a giant world feel so much smaller and less intimidating. Maybe that’s the optimist in me talking. But I think it mainly just comes from a place of genuine passion for social media and other humans and their endless abilities to share and create.

What about you? How has blogging and social media changed you? Speak up in a comment or in the linkup below!

Favorite online places (to drop some dough)

For Day 7 of Blogtember we're sharing links to favorite online shops. I have so many and there are seemingly endless fantastic handmade shops in places like Etsy... it is a veritable black hole of awesomeness over there. But here are just a few of my favorites! Cannot wait to browse everyone else's picks, too. Happy Hump Day!


BLOOM THEORY // The loveliest camera straps I've ever seen. I don't own one, but it's on my bucket list.

DIMDIMINI // When we have a baby someday I will be decorating with these little critters. There are so many adorably whimsical watercolor animal prints in this shop!

PETITOR // This is one of my favorite shops for beautiful and inexpensive gifts for friends (and myself).

IVIEBABY // One of the major reasons I'd like a baby is so I can decorate its nursery with some Iviebaby.

RUCHE // Ruche is so timeless and classy, and new arrivals are added almost every day. I love this adorable shop!

Share your favorite shops in the linkup below! Have fun browsing. :)