The truest jewels in life are those friendships that pick up exactly where they left off no matter how much time has gone by. It's those friendships that remind us who we are and that we actually like ourselves! haha I needed to rediscover one of those friendships and that's just what happened with Juls came over to prep for the photoshoot for her, her boyfriend, Cory, his beautiful little girl.

Juls, I had so much fun on this shoot! The days leading up to this shoot where perfect-weather days. But, of course the day we had planned to do the shoot turned into one of those cold, windy, overcast days. Days better spent inside. LOL But we made they most of it...

It’s been awhile. I’m saddling back up and getting on the horse on Friday and it’s exactly what I need right now. That horse? Yeah, it’s figurative. I’m really referring to my camera, my photography.


The true halt of photography was my summer devotion to working out. Hahaha no really, in my head I put working out as No. 1 priority. It’s comical now, I know. Cuz, well, my summer was hardly devoted to fitness. It’s the thought that counts, right? No, no, in this case I don’t think ‘thought’ counts AT ALL. Nonetheless, Spring 2011 was consumed with late nights of Photoshop, weekends of plans revolving around photo shoots, and lots of aspirations. I was inspired. And then I got overwhelmed. And then I got tired, and then much too soon I felt burnt out. I begin to feel like I was disappointing people cuz I would take pictures that would only go on to clutter my hard drive…and never make it anywhere for anyone to experience…I felt my interests drifting. I felt my passion fading. I felt myself letting go. Like getting your heart slowly broken, I felt numbness inside. I miss it so much.

Truth is I could go on all day about all my excuses. About how it’s so time consuming, budget bearing, and exhausting. Then again, isn’t anything worth doing exactly that?

So…Friday, Friday its back on!

And I couldn’t be any more excited! Here’s the pinterest inspiration board devoted to Friday. 

Google Earth.
Old news, right? Wrong. Oh my gosh, it’s awesome. My sister, ohh my wonderful sister with the precious children that I could gush over all day long...We need to have a family photoshoot, soon soon. Speaking of working out, we’re going run tonight. LOL Okay, I’m getting way off track….My sister & her husband referred me to a good place for a shoot. A couple of texts later and…GOOGLE EARTH…I’ve found the location. The cheap, lazy way. Really though, it’s kind of in ‘East Egypt’ and gas in $3.39 a gallon. I’m an aspiring photographer…remember. I’m scrapping pennies for my next lens…I save pennies where I can. Hahahaha

Anyways, Google Earth has photos of the location. How geniuses are those people at Google?




So, here’s to three things that continue to amaze and bewilder: Photography and Google. I may never understand you. But I’ll die trying to convince others that I do. LOL

Grey's. How long has this been in the mix? It was a long time favorite of mine. However, this season premier left me with a nasty feeling. A feeling that made me wish that I hadn't supported them, at all. If you are familiar with the episode, you may know what I am talking about. I am very disappointed in the way they handled a particular issue. I'll watch the next episode, just to see if they can possibly redeem themselves. But, I'm sad to say, that I will probably be taking Grey's Anatomy out of my normal rotation of shows. I can't do much to prevent others' minds...but pray. But, I can do what I can to cut their ratings.


Gossip Girl. I'm hoping that they spend some time this season developing the characters into the adults they've been acting like they are for the last four seasons. I'll say this, I'll continue watching just for the outfits. But, as of the first episode this season...I'm afraid that B, S, Lonely Boy, and Chuck all need a reality check. I mean, can how much more of a charmed life can these kids live? And what in the world happened to Little J and Vanessa? But, like I said....the clothes. To.Die.For. Oh and Serena gives me the confidence I need to go three days with optional brushing of my hair. 

And that is that folks. Have you watched Glee? Or Hart of Dixie? What about Dancing with the Stars? LOL

What do you think of the new blog format. I've got a feeling it's going to change again soon.

xo, Jenny

I come to you from the 'sunny' shores of Destin, Fl. I use quotation only because the sun is only trying to come out, as Tropical Depression 'Lee' is slowly blowing ashore the majority of the gulf coast, including my home in South Louisiana. It's alright though, because as I awaited this trip I felt weird basking in the sun just days before the calendar allowed me to wear boots, so the windy-overcast sky is actually allowing relaxation and lots of reading, which is exactly what vacations are suppose to conjure! At least for me.

I'm currently reading, "Love the one your with" by Emily Giffin and I can't seem to put it down. In fact, I had to leave it on the bed in my room as to not be influenced to 'read just a little' before writing this blog. hahaha It's just such a easy read and although I read slower than the average 7th grader (which is probably why I never read) I'm enjoying every minute of it. Thank you, Lauren, for the suggestion!

Our condo is located just blocks away from the beautiful Florida beaches. The beautiful beaches that David and I have only experiences thus far in our running shoes. haha, he and I have run together both mornings we've been here and it feels amazing. Not only the fact that I we are getting in cardio, but also because there is something so easy about the way we run and walk and chat about random topics both light and substantial. David, my camera and I are all suppose to make a trip to the beach today or tomorrow, after which I'll share the experience....well, hopefully!! Hahaha (Seems like the more I mean to blog the less often it happens, these days).

And, I conclude this entry, missing one very certain thing - a photo. I promise to write you at least one more time before leaving this last summer vacation. Maybe giving you a revue of the book that I may, or may not finish. Maybe with pictures summarizing the rainy days of vacation. Maybe recapping you with my purchases (including my new TV). Or maybe nothing but a hey and a good excuse why I'm writing such a short entry only to keep my promise.

And that's that. Please, all 30-somethings, don't take offense to the reference in there. I'd say we'll be there before you know it...but I'm still in denial over here. LOL

And, I'm up a whole hour past my bedtime...that's been an ongoing trend since I've turned the corner past 25. Can't be good for my metabolism. Off to sleep.

xo

I’m madly in love with summer. And it’s drawing to a close, which makes me miss it already. Much like when your honey goes on a trip and you know you’ll miss him terribly and want to spend every moment with him before he leaves. That’s how I feel about the end of summer. No more whites or linens or trips or shorts or suntan lines or 8 PM sunsets. Oh the sunsets. Me, sunsets and Instagram have shared quite the summer.



And as with every summer I have such high hopes and dreams for 3 months we have together. (As with every season, except for winter. The only good thing about winter is Christmas and possibly Mardi Gras. But Mardi Gras is so much better when it’s not in the depths of winter. I’ve digressed…). You know, always a reason to start fresh. Ah, New Beginnings.

It’s coming to a close, my friends. Although, I am looking forward to the boots of fall. Oh a warm happy feeling just went through me at the thought of how perfectly complete an outfit looks with boots and a scarf. But, I really do love summer. It’s just a little love affair with fall clothing. Nothing for summer to be overly jealous of. And, again, off track.

I made a bucket list of things to accomplish for the summer. The list is not where it needs to be and I’ve been very distracted. What was the list? Here’s a link!
What I have accomplished? Decorating the cabinets in my kitchen. And under budget!

What I didn’t accomplish? Working out. At.All. My poor body. I’m sorry for taking you for granted.

Back to the end of summer...
There is one really wonderful thing that comes with the end of summer. Oh, well, my August Birthday Tradition, of course. And that’s this weekend. Unfortunately, two of my favorites will not be in attendance this year. But that is not to say that it won’t be a perfectly wonderful weekend of fun (and PICTURES!!!). Need.To.Find.The.Point.And.Shoot.



Before I leave you. One of the things on the bucket list was ‘The New Orleans Open or Closed Project’. And it’s not finished. But it is started! Here's a taste.



I love you, Summer. And I’m deeply sorry that I’ve not blogged about you and for you more.

Nevertheless, I am pretty excited about these little girls! Just the thing to walk me from Summer right into Fall. And the necklace? That was my birthday present to myself from last year. It’s kind of been a wardrobe stable the last few weeks. It makes me feel similar to the way boots make me feel. Confident and pretty.


Hope you’ve enjoyed!!

Oh my gosh....is it really August already? Time really does start going much too fast as we get old{er}.

As far as July goes, I'd say it was a success. Almost two whole weeks of vacation, a spa day, started on my summer picture project, almost finished a website design, a lantern purchase, no home improvements but hopefully that comes in August. I've also promised myself to do 'spring cleaning' before summer is over...all my weekends in August are filling up quick tho (Eeks!).

You know what August is, don't you? If you don't know, you'll soon find out, I'm sure. It's hard to miss.

As for photography. I've got 4 photo sessions set up for the August thru September and I'm just absolutely giddy about them!

Today David and I went buzz Magazine St. in Uptown NOLA so that I could get some play time in with my camera. Who knew that camera time could actually overshadow shopping... it's more than a lust thing, (I'm tell you. I'm not making sense. And it's 7 minutes until 1 AM on a work night. Of dear gracious God.)

2 pictures from my play day:




The End.

I know, I know, it's been like a lifetime ago that I've actually posted anything. I have no excuses. But I've also had no inspiration either. So, even though I've drafted like 3 posts, the all have failed to make the cut.

I'll be short.

This is the outcome of Family Vacation :: Many of these still need to be fine tuned, but you get thE general idea!

Social Media has blow up in the last 8-10 years.

Remember when you use to sign on to your dial up, check you hotmail or aol account, and then check everyone's away messages on aim?!

And with aim came the nerds with blogs and buddy profiles. That's when I was hooked. I'd say it was about junior year of highschool, compliments of Mallory Keating, who I may or may not still be friends with on facebook. (going check...) Nope, not friends. Sad...she left such an impression. LOL

My very first blog was with blogger, whaticalllife.blogspot.com. It's still out there to be found.

I had two xangas between this blog and that blog. rebelgerl8 & love_love_jenjen. Which I will not link and stalkers beware. hahahah Honestly, I just can't check them at the moment...and well...it was college, who knows what you will find on those. Rebelgerl8, though unfortunate by name, probably held most of my life on it. And who's to thank for my xangas? None other than, Lauren-girl, herself. We blogged strong in college. My favorites are still the vague anonymous posts we wrote to very specific people.

Somewhere in late highschool on into early college came - myspace, then facebook and social media exploded. Even the generic-aim-away-messagers, 'I'm away from my computer right now', got hooked to facebook. And then came facebook photos. Oh.my.gosh. The hours of my life that were spent in front of my computer stalking and posting pictures is countless.

Then twitter. Which, then. was more a good way to mass text your friends than a way to get news and stories. Oh how times are changing. LOL

And then we graduated college.

BOOM. 2008
is when I realized how huge the blogging community was and how much it was constantly growing. It's massive. Now there's people who are paid (good money) to blog, who make livings out of it. Thank goodness that Sex and the City came before social media exploded. It just wouldn't have been the same. It's not immature or nerdy to blog anymore, it's almost mainstream - trendy. And considering my past, it makes my heart warm to be able to say I've been there to see it grow.

I'll be honest, I still get taken aback when someone who doesn't have a blog says they read mine. For a long time what happened on the internet stayed on the internet. People didn't talk about it. Was it facebook that changed all of that? No, facebook was around long before blog posts and comments were spoken of outside of the web. It was just understood (#fightclub), what happened on your blog stayed on your blog. That is not the case anymore. And I'm glad. I have plenty of followers who are only connected via facebook links if I show up in their minifeed - and I'm good with that. I love it, actually.

And with that...I'll be concluding this blog shortly. By the way, I have no idea where that all came from. Have I posted a blog like that before? I hope not...that'd be weird.

What I was going to blog about is bloglovin & instagram. I'll be short.

Even if you don't have a blog, bloglovin.com is the perfect way to follow all the blogs you love. This of blogs as free magazine subscriptions, cuz really that's what they are. Except you can't lay out by the pool with your laptop...idea forming...bloglovin for the nook. I'll get my people to get with their people.

http://www.bloglovin.com/

And the first blog you should follow is Start, Pretty & Awkward.
It's three short little tips to better yourself daily. Since I was referred to it, I rarely miss a day.

As for instagram...
I really enjoy what the sun can do for a picture, obviously.
And well...instragram is like twitter for the photo addicted.

As I grow up, I'm learning myself. Isn't that a nice thing and a frustrating thing about growing up? It seems as if, no matter how much we try to make the most out of plans - college, friendships, relationships, events - we can always look back and find things we should have/could have changed.


We slowly evolve into the person we feel most comfortable being. But, for me, it's not without struggles or without taking a few wrong turns. Oh yes, examples...

I was on the debate team in college. Why? I have absolutely no idea. This was me learning myself the Hardaway. Cuz, let's face it, I feel no joy from arguing with people or public speaking for that matter. During the situation I looked at it as a growing experience. I was trying to make myself better at something I wasn't good at. What a stupid reason to put time into something. Looking back, I did learn something. I learned, it's probably better to spend time trying to get better at things you're actually good at (or at least passionate about). hahahaha That seems to black and white, but I think that a lot of people struggle with this. Let's be honest, we've all tried to be something we're not a time or two. Me? I tried to be good at debate. Probably because my sister was good at it and my dad was good at it...I just didn't inherit that particular trait, and that's okay. At least I know I'll never wonder if I was good at it...hahaha

On my life's bucket list I've always had 'To write a book about my life'. And, again...why? I'm not a writer. In fact, I'm not even really a big fan of words. This may come as a shock, considering I 'write' a blog. Regardless, the truth of the matter is, I would much prefer to make a short film or a show of images expressing my life. Maybe it could be set to the music from various times in my life. Maybe I could have cameo appearances from people who impacted me. We could get into technicalities about how I would actually have to write a script and blah, blah...but you see my point. Why was that on my bucket list? I'm not good at that, so why would I waste the time doing it?!

Stray thought about blogging as opposed to writing: Blogging is more a instrument to express thought and less a structured reading or writing tool. And I love that about blogs. It's just free thought where formatting and spelling (hahaha) is loosely judged.

For more examples, we could get into other weird, long choices I've made in relationships & friendships, but I'll spare you. I'll just say, sometimes when I look back on times in my life I see a big question mark because I have no idea what I was thinking. hahahahahaha Everything happens for a reason...I suppose.

Thankfully, I'm coming into my own. I've realized lots of things I'm not and slowly finding more things I am.

I've learned, I love my camera and every single thing about it. I regret every single day I've lived without it. And maybe, unlike debate, I'm actually good at taking pictures.

I've learned I'm not the most analytical.  I've learned, I'm a little dyslexic - maybe. With that I don't have to be great at words and numbers (although, I should start practicing to spell common words that I misspell and I do really enjoy some algebra problems). I'm mostly right-brained and I'm good with that. On the personality test where it measured social skills directly opposed to analytical skills, I'm much more a people person. It's just who I am by nature. So, I know I don't need to go back to school to be a Chemical Engineering -- although the money sure would be nice. What I do need to do, is discover the best way my strong social skills can help me grow personally and professionally. Though that may seem obvious, I still think a lot of people struggle with this. I know I'm guilty of trying to be better at the things I'm bad at and I leave the good things at good instead of trying to make them great. I hope I stop doing that. hahahah

I've learned that 'the perfect guy' for me was/is out there. And I'm pretty dang sure I have found him!! :)) For a long time, I thought that everyone just settled for good enough. I realized, some people are guilty of that, but I didn't have to be one of those people. And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that every day I'm moving forward in life with him. Again, applying the bad things good instead of good things better...why struggle to make someone into the person you want them to be, when instead you can find the perfect person and work at making the perfect relationship!!! :)

Okay, I feel all happy now that I'm becoming who I'm suppose to be. hahahhaa sorry I'm cheesy.


'God is great, beer is good, & people are crazy.' - Billy Currington