Will not

My usual combination of lofty aspirations and a pathetic amount of follow-through often leads to apathy and disappointment in myself. My 101 things list seems daunting but part of the goal of that project is to help me to become a more productive person (outside of work – I’m pretty productive at work I guess). Because of my usual attitude, it is often easier to pledge not to do something, rather than promise to do it. For example, back in July, I made a pledge to forego buying any tchotchkes or other dust-catchers for my house and I haven’t bought one since, not even a Christmas decoration. [caveat: I did buy some Halloween stuff because we were having a party, but most of that we made.] I pledged not to eat meat ever again in college, and I never have. I pledged not to drink soda in high school and didn’t drink any for four years afterward (until I discovered the art of moderation and realized that a diet coke every once in a while won’t kill me).

I also want to make a pledge to shop online less. Mrs. French of Bliss posted about starting her blog to cure a shopping addiction and I can completely see her point. A blog about great things that you enjoy is a wonderful alternative to actually buying new items all the time for yourself and your home. And maybe someone else will stumble across them and find the perfect vintage luggage, stacking ring set, or photographic print that is just the thing to give something or someone in their life a little spruce. In addition, if I can help an independent seller, so much the better.

But, I digress, the point of this post is (yes, you guessed it!) to make another list. Oh man, I love lists!

I will not…

…share any office gossip (I’m usually pretty good at letting the gossip chain stop with me)

…buy any new clothes until I’ve cleaned out my closet and returned those pants I didn’t like. I literally started throwing my clothes into a pile on the floor in disgust the other morning because there was so much stuff that was faded/misshapen/shrunken and needed to be donated or thrown out.

…buy super cheap clothes for work. They don’t last very long and the more expensive stuff looks nicer and lasts a lot longer.

…buy any more clothes online unless I am absolutely certain of the fit/style (i.e. Nine West shoes, pants in styles I have purchased before) – because I’m so lazy about returning them

…bring my laptop to bed.  

…let the water cups pile up on my bedside table

…wear my gym shoes into the house – then they won’t go back to work with me (where my gym is)

… sleep on the couch. This is a BIG problem for me. I fall asleep on the couch almost every night and, more often that I’d care to admit, I sleep there all night. I know myself and I know that I should probably go to bed when I’m dozing off and not “just try to watch the rest of the episode.”

… Neglect my appearance. I will make that overdue haircut appointment, get my suits and blazers dry-cleaned, and get a manicure when my nails are scraggly. If my eyebrows need maintenance, I should do it right away. After 3 years, I really need to stop thinking like a college student and start being more professional in my appearance. 

…Let the laundry overwhelm me. No more waiting until I am out of clean underwear to do a load!

…buy anything without thinking about it for at least 2 days.  

...buy any more cameras for a while.

I’m sure there are many more things I shouldn’t be doing, but the thought depresses me so I’ll leave it here for now.

Why I'm afraid of lipstick

I never wear lipstick. Whenever I put it on, I usually freak out and rub most of it off right away. It just looks so unnatural to me. I have pretty good natural lip color so any strong color that strays too far from natural looks strange to me. Plus, I have total paranoia about getting it on my teeth or smeared all over my face and look like this: 

(source)

I bought some sort of lip stain to counteract this problem and it totally freaked me out. It was like drawing on my lips with a marker. It worked really well, but I think I need a different shade. It was a bit intense for me.

I agonized over the lipstick color that was originally suggested by the makeup/hairstylist for my wedding for days and then finally called her and told her I absolutely couldn't do brown lipstick. I'm pretty sure she thought I was off-the-wall certifiably insane. She was very nice, though, and said of course we could go with a different color (and didn't mention that it was completely nuts that I had just called about lipstick). 

The thing is, I think lipstick is absolutely beautiful. I even like the word "lipstick." There's something about the way people say it (even when they are making Sarah Palin jokes). 

It's absolutely timeless and iconic, not to mention the amazing array of colors and cases.

(lipstick pics source)

I wish I wasn't so sloppy and unsophisticated so I could pull off wearing it!

typecase drawer

typecase drawer
Originally uploaded by julochka

This is the most ingenius thing ever. I defintely need one of these to organize doodads or use as a shadowbox.

Excuse me while I eBayify.

"starbuck IS the..."

"starbuck IS the..."
Originally uploaded by icedsoul photography .:teymur madjderey

click on this picture... if you get the reference in the title and the dialogue below, you can be my friend.

Enjoy the rest of this amazing photo set HERE.

Striptease

Striptease (365/323)
Originally uploaded by JenniPenni

Cutest photo featuring a stripping banana ever.

If you're gonna have valentines, they should feature Robert Downey Jr.

Here is my Valentine for all of you. 

My friend Meg of Movie Meg (she does some honest and amusing movie reviews with a popcorn size review scale - go check it out!) made these valentines. I just love Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the big screen. 

heehee. Go visit Meg's blog to see them all. 

Who gives a f**k about an Oxford Comma?

(name that band!)

There are several English majors reading this blog. They probably cringe at all my grammatical faux pas that I didn't have drilled into my head over and over for 4+ years after high school and have therefore forgotten. I challenge anyone who actually deigns to correct and/or mock such mistakes to balance a balance sheet or prepare a tax return for a publicly-traded international corporation. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Now, however, I'm actually asking your grammatical advice about the Oxford Comma. When I was originally taught the rules, I was told to put in a comma before the conjunction and last item in a list (e.g., 'Sally loves dogs, cats, and bunnies' rather than 'Sally loves dogs, cats and bunnies). When I worked for a newspaper, however, AP Style says "no way, get that comma outta there" (or something grammatically correct).

Let's take a poll - who's for it and who's against it? No crap about how both ways are technically correct, I want to hear what you actually do when you write.

Yeah, I just wrote a whole blog entry about a comma. That's right.

I liked this and I don't like Valentine's Day

I'm not a big fan of the holiday - I think it's sort of manufactured and plastic (in the US at least - look how awesome Valentines Day is in Paris). Plus, I'm not really into pink and going out to a fancy dinner with every other couple in the world and having to wait forever to get a table, etc. Lame.

I do really like this internet project, though. And no babe, I did not submit this one.

This is totally cheating

(click photo to embiggen)

So, due to my new external light meter and zany lighting conditions (the sun came out, and went back behind a cloud, then came out again etc. etc.), my first roll for photo class was kind of a bust. On the plus side, I totally got to mess with my negative scanner and it pretty much rocks. It's nice to see what the print might look like without messing with contact sheets and such (though I will still have to use those).

I had fun developing my film. It's kind of a zen process. And the end result is (mostly) pretty cool. At least they weren't all bad :)

My name is Jen, and I am a plant killer.

The only reason that I have living plants is because I have a husband who waters them. I'm also not entirely convinced that my cat would be alive if she didn't yowl for food and water annoyingly the second I walk in the door. But, I digress.

This message is for all the rest of you plant killers out there. Those poor plants won't whine to be watered, they just wither in the corner and by the time you notice it is TOO LATE. The only plants that I managed to keep alive were on my desk at work and even then I would forget for a while until they became quite droopy.

Enter, the grobal. The magical magical grobal.

It waters the plant for you!!!!! I have had a plant in mine for over a month and it still has plenty of water in it. And it even has a handy dandy indicator on the side to show you the water level. And, it is so sleek and pretty and comes in really great colors to complement your plants. This draws your eye to it even more and thus, you end up checking the water level indicator.

It is so cool. Mike and I are slowly replacing all our current indoor pots with them.

They come in this mini "baby grobal" size, too.

We have a tangerine one with aloe vera growing in it, similar to this photo.

All images via grobal.

The life list

***I'm relocating my life list into a post for blogover purposes - it's the same one that has been on the sidebar***

...in no particular order...

Visit every continent
See a space shuttle launch in person
Have my own dog friend
Have a kitty friend
Get a good job I like
Get a masters degree
Backpack around Europe
Build dream home
Visit China
Visit Japan
Return to Japan to see cherry blossoms
Visit Australia
Visit Canada
Dive the Great Barrier Reef
Play a musical instrument
Get married to the one
See the olympics live
Pass CPA Exam
Become a CPA
Have my picture taken with a celebrity, the fact that I'm scared to talk to them notwithstanding
Have my picture taken with Katee Sackhoff, in particular
Have my picture taken with Lauren Graham, though less likely
Eat gelato in Italy
Publish...something (even a boring business article will do)
Go Skydiving
Take an autumnal road trip just to enjoy the leaves
Hike the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim
Float the Grand Canyon
Take a basic art class
Take a refresher photography class

See in real life (not in a zoo):
a shark
a whale
a dolphin
a sea lion
a sea turtle
a manatee
a giraffe
a bear

Swim with:
a whale
a shark
a sea lion
a sea turtle
a dolphin
a manatee

Visit every state in the U.S.:


visited 19 states (38%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Mr. Rogers meets Ben Folds and a ukulele, sung by a girl.

(Kate Micucci's tagline on CD Baby)

Kate Micucci was the kick-ass ukulele player on the last episode of scrubs. Her songs were so adorable that I looked her up on the interwebs. Check out her myspace for some tunage. (Sidenote: finding interesting music is just about the only thing I use myspace for). Buy her CD HERE. Check out her sandcastles (yes, she builds sandcastles for a living - how cool is that?) on her website.

My cat would rather sleep on a plastic bag a foot away from me on the couch rather than cuddle and be petted. That is how much she loves plastic bags. Also pieces of paper, feathered toys, and swaths of sunlight are much beloved. One time, she was laying in a patch of sun in the guest bedroom and looked so contented that I laid down with her. She got annoyed with me for invading her space and stalked off. I enjoyed that sun, though. And eventually she came back.



a different kind of post for a different kind of mindset

Blogover color scheme

Thanks for everyone who chimed in here and on twitter. The vote was unanimously for red/aqua. Now I'm really excited about the blogover! I just need to get the rest of my act together!

Ever notice how people and their pets start to look alike after a while?

100_2327, originally uploaded by uacheesehead.

Josh & Bert Schlag. Stolen from Courtesy of Josh's flickr photostream.