gettin my hurrr did.

I am still playing catch up this week with posts from Christmas & New Years. Here are some things coming up this week/next: Weekend Adventures 13 & 14, shiny new toys and pretty things, New Years Eve Celebration, and my 2011 Resolutions... I am still working on these a bit.

First things first... before going home for Christmas I decided to try something new with my hair. Nothing drastic, as I am quite attached to its length, color, and easy styling. But I do have a little more bang action going on... now, if only I could figure out how to style them properly so that they stay in place. I sort of look like a mess more often then not as of right now, but I will get the hang of it soon enough.

[[ bangs. megan in the background being a fool. some spoiler pictures for new years. ]]

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*).