saying goodbye to 2010

This past year has held some major highs and major lows, but regardless of what happened I came out with some great memories. Here is a little recap of 2010 (in no particular order) before I embrace 2011 with friends tomorrow night. (warning, this is a long one).

1) I started getting some real freelance work opportunities shortly after 2010 got started. I was working on several ongoing projects for a company called Cocoa Daisy, which kept me busy and somewhat financially stable for a while. Little did I know at the time that the most important thing I was actually gaining from the experience was some major networking. In April I was offered a salary position at the company I work for now. My first real design job out of college! This was a big deal. A very big high of 2010. And has enabled me to have the freedom to go do the things that I want to do because I have the money for it, for the first time ever.

2) Me and Pat bought a car together! I now have my very own and very first car. Not to mention that this was a huge financial decision both for us individually and as a couple. Another big high of 2010.

3) In the summer of '09 my Dad and Stepmom adopted a little girl, 4 at the time, named Destiny. She had been in foster care since she was an infant after being taken away from her drug addicted and neglectful mother. This was the year that she really started to understand who I was and allow a relationship to grow between us. In one visit last summer I picked her up from daycare and was greeted by her jumping up and down yelling "Jennifer, Jennifer, thats my sister!" to her teachers. The next morning she snuck into my little sisters room where I was sleeping, crawled in bed with me, and said "Jennifer, I love you." Heart. Officially. Melted.

[[ my sisters: meagan. me. destiny. jenna. missing: leah. ]]

4) August and September were really hard months. I was personally going through a lot of physical changes and issues to begin with. And then the worst thing imaginable occurred, My friend Johni passed away. I was, and still am completely devastated by this because it seems like it was only yesterday. Her memorial service was really hard, but really beautiful and I was proud that I could be a part of it.

5) There were some big changes with friends/family as well. One of my best friends Tiffany and her boyfriend Jason got engaged in July! Tiff asked me to be a bridesmaid, which I was really honored by and am really excited about! (Their wedding is in February). One of Pats best friends Brad proposed to his girlfriend Alia the weekend before Christmas, and Brad asked Pat to be his best man, which is again very exciting. Also, Pat became an uncle when his step brother Chris and his girlfriend Mandee had their first baby a few weeks ago. He is a little boy named Maddox.

[[ brad/alia. tiffany/jason. maddox. ]]

6) I had a lot of fun in 2010 partying with my friends and family. Me and Pat took some trips together to the beach, which included a visit to one of our first date locations to re-enact a picture we had taken back in 2005. I went with my family to Disneyland over Spring break which was a ton of fun! I enjoyed running around and being silly with my little sisters. For Colleens 24th birthday we had a Monster Mash and all dressed up like monsters. I was Medusa, with snakes in my hair and everything. We went to Beauty Bar for Tiffany's 23rd birthday. We went wine tasting on Valentines day in Carlton and really got to meet Nate and Alicia for the first time. Me, Pat and a ton of other friends went to Sunriver for a long weekend of snow and ridiculousness. And we went to a lot of 80s nights at The Roxy in PDX over the summer. I got to see Fran twice, once when he came to visit over the summer, and once briefly on the way back from Huntington Beach when we stopped in Santa Monica. I made some great new friends, and lost some great friends.

7) Pat turned 25 on August 16th, and I turned 24, on August 24th thus celebrating my 'Golden Birthday'! We had a joint birthday party at Grand Central, which is basically a fancy bowling alley, and EVERYONE showed up. It was a pretty amazing night ending with Tony running head first down the hallway of our hotel at 3 in the morning...

[[ boiler room w megan. wally re-enactment. sunriver suits. minnie mouses house w meagan. monster mash w tiff. halloween. 80s night group. pat & me. disneyland. sams graduation party. beauty bar for tiffs bday, new years eve party at my house 2010. ]]

8) Some friends moved out, some friends moved in. Sam graduated, and everyone left Corvallis and moved to Portland. This was a sad day. On new years day Tony moved in from Montana and brought with him the beast, also known as Loki the pooch. Adam and his pet Nala moved out in the summer, and were soon replaced by Pats little brother Hayden.

9) I went to some awesome shows. Most notably: Minus the Bear (twice in one week) at OSU/The Roseland, As I Lay Dying at The Roseland, and Silversun Pickups in The Crystal Ballroom.

10) I started blogging in September and really focusing on little projects for myself, to make me feel creative, accomplished, artistic, and happy throughout each day. So far I am really enjoying myself and finding this to be a great outlet for expression. :)


Happy New Year! I hope you have some great memories from 2010 as well. Bring it on 2011, I am ready to see what you have in store for me.  - Jenn

brasada ranch :: part II

Sunday we went sledding. I of course brought my camera along to take some pictures. Along the way we found the most excellent wooden bench caked with snow in such a way that it's very own heart cutout was completely highlighted. I made Pat stop to take some pictures with it. The remainder are from our drive home Monday afternoon.

[[ the group. me & pat sledding. pat had an accident. glorious bench. ]]

[[ scenic drive home. ]]

P.S. ((( This week I am playing catch up since I was really overwhelmed and busy last week, and was unable to post about my trip to Bend the previous weekend. Christmas posts coming soon... This is another short week though with New Years, so it may take me through the middle of next week to get back on track. )))

brasada ranch :: part I

Here are the first part of the pictures I took at Brasada Ranch as promised. These are primarily from Saturday as I walked around the grounds and took pictures of the snowy scenery in the morning. The other four are pictures of Brad and Alia after we all returned home and they announced that they were engaged. (Congratulations little lovers)! More to follow tomorrow.

[[ front of the house. snow walk. congrats to brad and alia. sunpeak. garden. ]]

weekend adventures 12

Our weekend in Bend was really fun. It consisted of Pat, me, Brad, Nate and their ladies Alia and Alicia. There was an extremely lovely house, a snowball fight, some great food/drinks, a proposal, lots of Frank Sinatra, some amazing scenery, shopping, and a sledding adventure.

12/17 - 12/20

friday
On friday we all left work early to head over the pass to Pat's moms house in Brasada Ranch where we would be staying. The pass was really clear and sunny with only a little bit of snow on the trees, which was great for driving, but I was a bit disappointed when we reached the house and there was hardly any snow on the ground. By the time we had all finished getting settled in our rooms and eaten dinner it started snowing! We played some games, drank some wine and just relaxed for the night.

[[ bottles of wine brought along for the trip. ]]

saturday
In the morning we all got up, ate breakfast, and went our separate ways. At one point I was sitting at the vanity (yes vanity, ridiculously awesome) in Pats parents bathroom, listening to Frank Sinatra playing all through the house, and watching snow fall outside... it was pretty amazing. In all the excitement of the snow, me and Pat went to Columbia and got a bunch of snow clothes. I have never had anything before, and don't know why, but I was really excited about my snow pants and boots.

When we got back to the house... SURPRISE Brad had proposed to Alia on a hike they took together, and she said yes. We returned to find them drinking champagne. (We were all of course in on the secret the whole time). Brad also asked Pat to be his best man, which was not something that we were expecting, and I think that Pat is really excited about it. To celebrate, we went out to the Blue Olive for dinner, which is a really nice restaurant on the resort.

sunday
It had dumped several more inches of snow Saturday night giving us the prime amount for sledding. The best part of this story is that we literally only had to walk outside to find good spots to do it! Since Brasada Ranch is on a golf course and obviously no one was exactly out playing, we just walked over to some of the steeper sand traps and made them our private sledding areas. It was really fun!

[[ pictures of the snow around the area. ]]

monday
Everyone headed out. Me and Pat went into Bend to do a little more shopping first and went out to lunch at a drive in type of restaurant called Dandy's. The girls working there actually serve you in roller skates and heir merionberry/vanilla milkshake was seriously amazing! There was also no one on the road while we were driving home, and a ton of snow, so we pulled off to take some sweet pictures. It looked unreal. (these coming soon)

[[ clear sunny day on monday. ]]

merry christmas !!

I know I have been really terrible about posting lately. My trip to bend over the weekend made last week a very short week for me and I had a ton of stuff to fit into that. I have a tremendous amount of pictures to post from bend, Christmas, and of some projects I have been working on. But for now, Merry Christmas! I am having lots of fun with mi familia.

[[ picture i found of me and my sister meagan. i am not sure if it is from '94 or '95. ]]

favorite christmas songs

Here are some of my favorite Christmas songs, and yes, that does in fact include one by Mariah Carey (*gasps*).

homemade paper ornaments

I love the way text looks, even pages from a book all jumbled together. After experimenting with making a wreath out of a novel for my mom's birthday last summer, and then coming across an image of an interior display with 'floating' paper orbs, I knew I just had to recreate the concept in ornament form. This could work out really nicely with some mixed paper as well. hopefully people like them.

My materials were:

1) A hot glue gun/glue. 2) A circle shape paper puncher. 3) Foam balls 1 for each ornament. 4) A recycled book. 5) Ornament hooks. I already had the hot glue gun and bought the paper puncher from the local craft store. Everything else came from the dollar tree.

I punched a bunch of circles from pages of the book, and began to layer them around the balls in a circular motion. this project was fairly time consuming, and pretty messy, so I watched two christmas movies while I worked and before I knew it I was almost done.

happy birthday johni

Today is Johni's birthday (25th).

I took a lot of pictures in bend this weekend of twisty trees that made me think of you. Happy birthday. I wish you were here.

higitus figitus

Oh my! I am so excited that it is almost Friday!!! I am working a half day tomorrow, and then it is off to Bend until Monday night! (sorry, that was a lot of explanation marks). I am in the process of packing right now, which is no easy task, in fact I am quite bad at it. I have a tendency to never know what I feel like wearing until the day of, and even then I change my mind a million times if I have the chance. I always make a check list though to help me out... this one is admittedly a little extensive for a long weekend, but you never know what you might need when you are away from home. I wish I could pack like the Sorcerer in the 'Sword In The Stone'!

Have a great weekend! Be back Tuesday.

thursday?? wednesday?!

today... totally... feels... like... thursday...

This week is going by unreasonably slow! I don't think it helps that I have been sick and not sleeping well either, but I am starting to feel better and just really want this weekend to come!!! Pat, me, our friends Brad, Nate, and their ladies are going to Brasada Ranch (near Bend) for the weekend for some serious adventures. I am sad that the month of December is going by so quickly because I have so many fun things planned, but at the same time, I have so many fun things planned that I want to come quickly.

Anyway,
I have been to the craft store a lot lately picking up little things for all of the Christmas presents I am making this year. Here are some sweet sparkly holiday decorations I saw on my last trip. I am seriously considering going back and picking up the long gold branches with the sparkly balls on the ends (I cannot think of a better way to describe those) to put in a vase or something. So awesome looking!

Those fantastic sparkly letters are from the window display at F21 (I took the pictures over Thanksgiving break). I wish I could buy those from them! They are huge, amazing, and quite inspiring for a future project...

[[ silver branches. glitter balls. candy tree. ice cream ornament. fa. la. la. snow tree. ]]

all i want for christmas...

I made my parents Christmas wish lists to give them some ideas. I did not want to exchange lists with Pat this year in hopes that we could surprise each other with some little things that we came up with ourselves, BUT just incase he still needs some help in the stocking or small gift department... I have included an extras section. Though I must say, I think that he is going to really like all of his surprise gifts (fingers crossed). :)

1) The Antique Mall Necklace :: Modcloth.   2) Cave Cadence Satchel :: Modcloth.   3) Increase Your Potential Dress :: Modcloth.   4) Echo 'Driver Touch' Wool Blend Gloves.   5) Remarkable Top :: Modcloth.   6) Cutes and Ladders Top :: Modcloth.   7) Black Peacock Feather Tights :: Modcloth.

1) Cannon Powershot. I need a new point and shoot real bad.  2) O.P.I. 'My Private Jet' is my very favorite and I can't find it in Corvallis anywhere!

1) 'The Artist in the Office: How To Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days A Week', Summer Pierre :: Amazon.   2) 'Tattoo Mystique: The Art and World of Angelique Houtkamp', Angelique Houtkamp :: Amazon.   3) Monogrammed Mugs :: Anthropologie. I have loved these forever. A P & J mug would make me very happy.   4) Clover Planner - red :: Pocketo. I feel more organized when I write things by hand.

(( P.S. Pat, if you are reading this, those numbers are links to the items. ))

weekend adventures 11

The end of last week started getting a little out of control. I had a ton of stuff to get done for our company holiday party Friday night, thus no Friday post. The party went really well, and looked awesome. Unfortunately I just did not have time to properly document the decorations before the party was in motion, but I do have a few shots of everyone. Other than that I did a little running around, saw my little sisters perform, and watched a few Christmas movies.

friday night
After going 100 mph during the day to get everything ready, I finally pulled myself away from decorating, went home to change, and came back to the office for a pre party cocktail hour. Our office was super full, so I was happy when we all left to head over to the MU Basement where the party was officially being held. Throughout the day me and Karen had hung about 150 snowflakes from the ceiling in the basement, as well as set up some other decorations and it looked really good. Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun too, including me and Pat, I guess an open bar will do that for you.

[[ location. me & pat. group shot, can you find me? bowling outfit. i signed the snowman. close game of darts. ]]

saturday
Megan Guenther came down in the morning to see me and get out of her house. After stopping by the MU to help the boss man clean up a bit, we headed to Thurston high school which is about 50 minutes south of me in Springfield, (not a very charming town). There was one guy walking across the street as slow as humanly possible reading a book out loud, normal right? Me and Megan also had a serious misadventure trying to get some food when we pretty much drove into the middle of a Christmas parade, in the pouring down rain. Who does that? anyway, I got to see my little sisters do their thing in a cheerleading competition. They got second and were not very happy about it, but they looked good to me, so whatever.

[[ jenna & meagan. meg spinning in the air. jenna floor. dest & meg. ]]

saturday night
Our old roomate Adam and friend Heather, who was visiting from California, came over to have some drinks and hang out. I had started feeling sick though on Friday, and by Saturday night it was confirmed that I had a cold, so while everyone else was having drinks, I was taking dayquill. still it was nice to see Heather again and me and Megan had a lot of fun playing with my "Talking Tom" phone app.

sunday
Pat had to go into work and I was not really feeling up to doing much of anything, so Megan and me put on cozies and watched Christmas movies: "It's a Wonderful Life", "Home Alone", and "The Great Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", which is not a Christmas movie, but we wanted to watch it anyway! Lazy sunday.

Also, sunday was my littlest Dest's 6th birthday! Happy Birthday love love!!

home made wreath project

Ok, as promised... as part of my Christmas decoration attempts I made a pretty sweet tinsel wreath. Ideally, I really want one of those AMAZING silver tinsel trees that were popular in the 60s, but remakes are expensive, and I have not been able to find one I like. So for now, this will have to do I suppose.

My materials were:
1) A hot glue gun/glue. 2) Two strands of tinsel (silver and gold). 3) A medium sized whicker ring. 4) Some black ribbon. I already had the hot glue gun and the ribbon, and bought everything else at the dollar tree.

I seriously just wrapped the strands of tinsel around the loop, and used the glue gun to make them stay. I added a little bit of ribbon in order to hang it, and tied a little bow. Viola! Super simple.

trim the tree

Well actually, there was no trimming involved, our tree is a fake one, small enough to accommodate our previous apartment dwelling lifestyle. However, it is still festive and heavily decorated with miscellaneous ornaments collected/made throughout the years, including a few from me and Pats childhoods.

I also made some stockings for the new roomates, including Loki, and hung them up tactfully on our "mantle" slash giant shelving unit from Ikea. our living room is Christmas ready, now if only we had some lights up... (*hint*hint*)

[[ the tree in all of it's glory. stockings. pat's tmnt ornaments, circa 1990. peak-a-boo. my santa ornament from my grandparents. ]]

Bare with me, I will most likely be posting Christmasy theme things over the next week. I can't help it, I love the whole season. :) Tomorrow I will talk about the awesome tinsel wreath I made for our front door for under $5! Believe it or not, I have quite a few DIY projects in the works right now that cannot quite be revealed... Ok, it is past bedtime. Goodnight!

"don't quit your day job"

I stumbled across this book today when I was looking through Etsy and reading the success stories of people who have quit their day jobs and are now self employed working on their crafts. (which would be amazing by the way). The book "Don't Quit Your Day Job: The Artist In The Office" by Summer Pierre seems to be about realizing the value and potential in your day job, while finding time throughout each day to feed your artistic need.

This is a concept I can totally relate to because it is something I strive for every day. I obviously need my job to support myself financially, and though it is creative in nature, the vibe is much more corporate than my self authored work. Therefor I think of things to work on every day to keep myself engaged with design, and to feel more productive. This blog is a huge part of that. Since starting it in September, I feel like I get more accomplished every day because I am devoting my time to creating something I like. Just for me. Because I want to.

I think I need this book asap.

[[ cover. sketch like artwork from the book. ]]

... thats a funny term, like civil war.

I am not going to post a weekend adventures this week, because the weekend was all work and very little play. I will however focus on Saturdays Civil War game: OSU vs. UO. (sort of a weird topic for me, but I live in a college town obsessed with football, what can I do?)


For those of you who don't know Oregon's college rivalry "The Civil War" lies between Oregon State University (Beavers), and University of Oregon (Ducks). This year it was in Corvallis, and we were unfortunately beat for the third year in a row. Not a great feeling, but the Ducks had a really good season, where as we had a pretty terrible one after loosing one of our key players early on. Considering the majority of my family are Duck fans (for no apparent reason aside from Leah who actually attended UO, and now Jenna who will be going there next year), I am not looking forward to being heckled at Christmas time.

The Beavers had some pretty sweet Nike Pro Combat Uniforms created for the game... they are throwbacks to the team uniforms in 1967 when we originally got the title "Giant Killers". I thought they were sweet, especially the matte black paint on the helmets with the vertical stripe. I feel like for once we looked more flashy than UO. (*gasps*)

[[ osu crowd. my favorite football tshirt. view from the club level. foam fingers. nike pro combat uniforms. ]]

Images from the middle section taken by me. Top and bottom images are from an oregonlive.com article.

christmas tree hunt

Last weekend when I was in portland I went with my family to find a Christmas tree, which is something I had not done in a really long time. Walking around town this week and seeing all the holiday window displays has made me really excited to decorate my house for Christmas!! I have even been making some new decorations this week, and am going to put everything up on Sunday, except for the lights, the boys can figure that one out. Anyway, here are some pictures from last weekend.

[[ adventures from the christmas tree farm. meagan/jenna exploring. nick carrying the tree. mushrooms. dest trying to carry the tree. puppy kisses from the puppy on the farm.  ]]