Etsy Dallas Jingle Bash

Head on over to Etsy Dallas to check out the latest giveaway for $40 in Bash Bucks.

xxoo
jenni

Sad day happy day just another day

5 months ago today: the last sunrise I shared with my little fluff ball Murphy.




I still get bogged down thinking about it, his sad last day, the decision that still makes me sob ugly tears. Heck, I could probably write a book about how be a blubbering mass of wallowing sadness after you have to put your best friend down. (But I'm pretty sure I've read that book. Darned 5th grade and reading Where the Red Fern Grows ahead of everyone else in class so I'm a sobbing mess by the lockers in the back of the room while they're all still on chapter 4.)

But then my day ends with this random text from the BFF, the re-run watching insomniac:
"Mike is going to Boston to save her mothers life. She's going to meet that pretty boy doctor, but eventually realize sully is the man she really loves."

Oh, life. You give us days of unbearable sadness and just when we've been through the wringer, you send a zinger.

Thank you for the gift of laughter through tears, even when both are ridiculous.

xxoo
jenni

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Book Report: The Borrower

click to buy

The Borrower, Rebecca Makkai's debut publication, was going to be my Friday read (hah, as if I really have time to read today). 

I've been on the waiting list at the Dallas Public Library for months now (Remember, I now love eBooks!).  But with jury duty yesterday, I forgot to download the book, and I lost my spot in line. 

Cue tiny violins.  Sad trombone.  Maybe add in a wail of grief.

So now I am back on the list (number 3 of 3 waiting), so that means I'll probaly be reading this by Christmas, if I'm lucky. 

What are you reading today?

xxoo
jenni

I'm not a Disney Princess...

But I love this woman's work.

I feel like I should go sing "It's a Small World" and hold my mother's hand. 

Special Delivery from Lizzy House

So I've been bloopy lately. Sick for a while (although not serious, just enough to keep me down), work stress, and a big case of the blahs.

Today, my Lizzy House surprise box arrived and it perked me riiiiight up.

Follow my happiness here with unfiltered photos as I peeled back layer upon layer of fabric, pattern, and giftie fabulousness:


















































xxoo
jenni

- Posted using BlogPress from
my iPhone

A Field Guide to Fabric Design

I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book!

xxoo
jenni

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Color of Rain

After a long, hot, and dry summer, we've recently had a few spectacular thunderstorms in the DFW area. 

Last night, I went out to grab dinner about 7:30.  It was dark and kind of steamy outside.  (It seems like it gets dark so early and it's just October!)  While I was heading home, I swear I saw the northern night sky light up.  But there were no raindrops.  No flashes of lightning. 

I wrote it off as tired eyes from reading and grading. 

But about 9:30, as I was finally dozing off in my cozy warm bed, my house shook so hard I just knew a plane crashed near by.  No plane crash, just thunder, lightning, and a super quick, super soaking rainstorm. 

It was fabulous. 



image via pinterest

xxoo

jenni

True Confessions

True Confessions: My Glamourous Life



xxoo
jenni


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The most wonderful time of the year

Oh my goodness. It's my favorite time of year!!!! Mini mascaras!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxoo
jenni




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I have confidence in sunshine...

There's really nothing that can go wrong when one has a song from The Sound of Music in one's head.  (Yes, my inner Jenni spins around on mountaintops, singing to the skies.  My inner Jenni also swings a guitar case madly about while belting out that I have confidence in confidence alone.)

This week, my school has been celebrating Teen Issues Week.  And, as culmination of this event, today's theme was "Killer Confidence" and we were invited to wear things that made us feel confident. 

I started thinking: what on earth would I have worn in high school to feel confident?  Can I even remember a time I felt confident in high school?  I remember a few favorite outfits I had, but did  those inspire confidence? 

There's something we could say about the art of dressing that has sociological implications.  Makeup, accessories, clothing--each acts as armor and mask.  Each acts as mirror and magnifying glass.  The superficial at once hides and draws attention to us. 

So what did I wear today to embody "Killer Confidence?"

Typical Jenni: black dress, black cardigan, blingy jewelry, and leopard peep-toe pumps.  And eye makeup.  Some really great eye makeup. 

 
Actually, dear friends, I wore those peep-toes for about an hour.  Then I changed into my trusty gold flats.  I might be less confident, but I'm not stupid.  Two sets of stairs, slippery tile floors, three classes to teach today: let's just say I'd tread more confidently (during the rush of passing period) in gilded flats. 

What do you wear to feel confident? 

xxoo,
Jenni

Goddess on the mountain top

via



via pinterest

via pinterest



xxoo
jenni

To Autumn

It's beginning to be the most glorious time of year. There are so many things to love about autumn:

The bare trees and the awesome autumn sky that can be vibrant or muted, depending on the day.

Canadian maples

The rusty colors of the earth.

Autumn flowers

 Decorating with natural materials.

Wreath by Etsy Dallas Member Jane Joss

 Finally escaping the blazing Texas sun for a cuppa.

Crochet teacup by Etsy Dallas Member SheepishKnit

Crispy mornings that require KNITWEAR! 

Cowl by Meredith of SheepishKnit....can't get too much of a good thing!

And finally, Keats:

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
2. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
3. Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. xxoo jenni

Do you pin?

Pinning.  I don't like it.  Despite my background in costume construction, I rarely pin.  I see the necessity of pinning...sometimes.  But, largely, I'm in the sew-as-you-go-to-heck-with-the-rules kind of seamstress. 

But pinning?  As in Pinterest pinning?  I like it.  Very much. 

My (ten!) boards and 1300-odd pins (!!!) make me happy.  A visual feast of prettiness.  And sometimes snarkiness.  I mean, who couldn't use a bit more happiness during the day?  Or late at night when insomnia strikes....and oh, hello Pinterest for iPhone App. 

The best part about looking at individual boards is the sheer inspiration.  And sometimes the sheer hilarity--apparently I looooooved that plaid wrapping thing you see in my Gift Me Fabulous board--because I pinned it twice. 

Sometimes I don't change the caption before I re-pin, but this happens rarely because, I mean, hey, you're looking at my board, you might as well get my take on the image, right? 

So Pinterest is now live to the world after being beta for a while.  Yes, it has it's kinks.  Yes, the Pinterest App sometimes makes me crazy.  (Each time the Pinterest App is down, somewhere someone kills a glittery unicorn.)  But over all it's a fun way to inspire yourself and share pretties with people you know....and virtual strangers.  So if you haven't started pinning, what are you waiting for?  Let me know if you want an invite. 

xxoo

jenni

Etsy Dallas 4th Annual Jingle Bash

Join me and 59 other amazing local artists for 7 hours of awesome shopping.  Jingle all the way...



The Sea and Me

Even though I grew up landlocked in the middle of West Texas, I have always loved the water.  (Now, lake water doesn't do it for me--or at least what we call "lakes" here in Texas.  And beaches are just okay--unless we're talking about Brazilian ones.  But I love the rocky, craggy coastlines of New England.) 

I've always been drawn to water.  I'm not a great swimmer, nor am I a good sailor.  But the water's hypnotic movement, as it reflects the glitter of the sunlight, is something I can't resist.  Is it knowing that the water, for me, will only be enjoyed on a vacation?  That it's a brief, fleeting player in my life?  One I can dream about for 350 days of the year and experience the other 15 if I'm lucky?  

That the sea represents a romantic entity is almost archetypal.  It's unpredictable. Vast. Angry and loving.  And heavens, are there some poets out there who have tried to harness the sea in their words....

Everything on the earth bristled, the bramble
pricked and the green thread
nibbled away, the petal fell, falling
until the only flower was the falling itself.
Water is another matter,
has no direction but its own bright grace,
runs through all imaginable colors,
takes limpid lessons
from stone,
and in those functionings plays out
the unrealized ambitions of the foam.

--Pablo Neruda

I hope your weekend is full of poetry and dreams of what you love. 

xxoo
jenni

Book Report

My name is Jenni. And I'm a book addict. (This is not news.)

via

I was sick for most of the month of September.  Miserable days where, when I was able to go to school, I came home exhausted, achy, grumpy, with no ability to make my hands mind my brain and create anything.  So, I slept.  A lot.  And I read.  Quite a bit. 

Since I'm a teacher, I am always a happy recipient of Barnes and Noble gift cards.  So, I bought a NookColor this summer after spending some time with our school library's Kindle.  I was the world's most vocal opponent of eReaders before spending the summer with the Kindle.  Now I'm pretty much converted. 

It's not that I loooooooooooooooooove the eReader.  It's ok.  But I do loooooooove how it caters to my laziness.  I mean, the Nook lets me check out eBooks from the library (at the time I purchased it, the Kindle didn't support this feature.  Would I go Kindle now over NookColor?  Maybe).  Without ever having to move a muscle.  Okay, there were some muscles involved using the OverDrive website, but far fewer than actually driving to the library, checking out the book, and coming home.  Plus, there's no ick germ factor associated with eBooks from the library.  :)

(I only wish that OverDrive had a "my history" section so I'd know what I've read before...I should really keep a reading journal.  Oh well, too late now.  As I typically consume books 100000x faster than the average person.....)

So, here's a whirlwind book report on a select few tomes I devoured while under the influence of plague-combating drugs.

One Day. Read it before you see the movie (I haven't seen it yet).  I was somewhat disappointed--it wasn't really like the premise I expected.  But it was laugh-out-loud funny at parts, and that's always a plus in my book. (get it?)  And we all know I'm a sucker for love-lost/love-found stories. Maybe a B/B+ rating.

Girls in White Dresses.  I was on hold for this book for weeks.  Weeks.  The hype surrounding it suggested this was a book I would enjoy.  Wrong. I never put books down before I'm finished.  Never.  I always read to the bitter end even if I'm silently mocking it, throwing it across the room (can't really indulge in this time-honored passionate tradition now that I've invested in an eReader), or laughing aloud at the bad prose.  But with this book, I couldn't get past the first handful of pages.  Seriously. Maybe a F--- rating.

The Winter Sea.  I'm an English teacher, a woman who holds a Master's degree in English, and a life-long voracious reader.  I should be able to give shockingly good book reviews, but this book reduces me to a babbling idiot with two words: READ IT. And also maybe NOW.  Ok, so three words: READ IT NOW. 

It was so good.  The prose, the story, the historical plot interwoven with the contemporary one.  And it was hot.  Hotttttt.  But without being bodice-rippery.  If you love Scotland (me, me, me!) and are open to slightly mystic experiences (no vampires, I promise!), then you'll enjoy this.  Maybe an A/A- rating. (I know, you expected A+, right?  Well, nothing's perfect.)

Don't forget to share your #fridayreads on Twitter!

xxoo

jenni

Way out west...

Perhaps I'll take a little visit to my brother out in the badlands of Arizona since he's got a new neighbor...

via

Although, to be fair, we did have a moment in an English garden while I was there this summer....

(My friend was trying to teach me about masks and layers in PhotoShop...not quite a master.)

xxoo
jenni

Oooh, sparkly

Perhaps I've been a bit obsessed with making word art the past few days....

But it's true, y'all. 

xxoo
jenni

The Weekend Approaches

a perfect weekend

Too bad I so seldomly approach this perfection.

xxoo

jenni

Free Printable: Sparkle Power

Sometimes, we just need a little reminder...

Feel free to right click and save this printable or download here.  For personal use only, please: post it on your mirror, give it to your little girl in her lunchbox, email it to your BFF.

xxoo
jenni