Leaving Tomorrow!!

Well, I'm actually all packed up (COMPLETELY) and ready to go... and for anyone who knows me well, you will know that this is no small feat, and you should be very proud of me! I had my suitcase packed YESTERDAY even - must mean I'm pretty excited... and anxious... and a little freaked out (but I'm okay!).

I'm waiting for my iPod to update and I'm getting antsy, so I thought I would share with you my most recent purchases in getting prepared for the trip. I was at Barnes & Noble looking for books, magazines, and my favorite: word searches, crosswords, sudoku, etc... when I came across THESE!

1) This one is my favorite
because it is sooo pretty!!

2) I'm obsessed with this one -

it's like a word search, but
they don't give you the words...
just things like "5 citrus fruits"

3) And this one is SO cool -
you can play Hangman by
yourself, because you guess a
letter, then scratch it off to see
where (or if) it goes in the blanks!

Not to mention they are the CUTEST things I've ever seen!!! They are small too, so they look like pretty little journals. They have lots of different ones... and I wanted them ALL! You can find the rest of them HERE - just scroll down about halfway.

So... ya - I've been meaning to blog about them all week (I am that obsessed with them).

We're leaving TOMORROW!!! OMGGG!!! :D Last minute details await, however, so I'm outta here. Will update when I get home!!

Grumpy.

Man, I don't know what my deal has been for the past week or so, but I have been so GRUMPY - like, bad! I keep finding myself getting super annoyed at the drop of a hat (sometimes even mad... and I really rarely get mad), or my feelings are hurt at the dumbest things, or I just don't feel like talking. To anyone. At all.

And no, I am not hormonal and/or pregnant.

I don't really have anything else to say about it... because I am currently in a state of supreme grumpiness.... I just felt like bitching about it.

Okay there. I'm done. Goodnight.

Mongolia Countdown...

Well, the Mongolia trip is only FIVE days away - I cannot believe it! I am one of those kinds of people that doesn't get overly anxious (and sometimes even excited) about huge things like this until the very last minute, and then all of a sudden it just hits me. Take our wedding for instance - yes, I was excited... but it didn't really hit me until the DAY OF (at which point I drove Andrea crazy because every 20 minutes or so I said "I can't believe I'm getting married today!").

That being said, I don't think the realization of the Mongolia trip has really hit me until now, and I don't think it will fully hit me until the night before we leave (when we're packing). The reason it kind of hit tonight, is because we took our two extra suitcases to church tonight and spent time afterward loading them (and everyone else's) up with clothes, toys, candies, toiletries, etc for the children in the orphanages we'll be visiting and for the missionaries and their kids. Seeing the outpouring of kindness and generosity from the people at church just really made the trip "real" for me. It's a small church, and it was amazing to see how much stuff had been collected. They are truly wonderful people there.

So, we have to be at the airport around 6am on Saturday. We won't be in Ulaanbaatar (the capital of Mongolia) until almost midnight their time... but with the time change, I think the total trip time is about 23 hours (about 17 actually in the air). It's kinda crazy that we leave on Saturday the 1st and since we cross the International Dateline, we technically arrive on Saturday the 2nd... time changes totally blow my mind. As in, I am incapable of figuring out the details on my own - I require someone else to do the math, and then I just trust that they know what they're doing. :)

So yeah, the trip is just kinda hitting me in the face all of a sudden, thus my feeling the need to say something about it. I'm sure I'll say more before I leave, and tons when I get back (along with pictures). So prepare to hear much more about Mongolia!

Goodnight blog friends. I'm going to attempt to fall asleep soon so that Tim and I can wake up early tomorrow... we are attempting to get back in a "wake up, drink tea together, read the news from our phones, get ready" kind of routine. I think the lack of it is making me feel like a slug.

And just to tide you over until I get back with my pictures, here are a few I found...


1) First things first... Where is Mongolia?



2) Traditional Mongolian housing - a Yert (I think we might get to stay in one for a night)



3) Mongolian Landscape... not sure if the part of the country we're going to looks like this, but it sure is beautiful!



4) The Gobi Desert - I cannot believe we are actually going here (and staying several nights!). Wow. Just WOW.

My Newest Love...

... is Plato's Closet! I know, I know - I'm a little late hopping on the bandwagon I'm sure (I usually am with most things!). I've been wanting to go there for ages, and just never got around to it I guess. If you haven't heard of it, it's a resale shop that specializes in "gently used, name-brand clothing." Most of the stuff there is pretty recent too - tons of stuff from Forever 21. Oh, and I saw several things I already own... so you KNOW their stuff is still in style. Okay, so that last part might not be true.

Well, I finally went today with Tim and Alexis - I was in search of lightweight, long-sleeved shirts for Mongolia (evenings there are cool). I came out with two of those and 2 lightweight zip-up hoodies... and then I went back and got 3 shirts and 2 dresses for work. SWEET! I am so excited!! Oh, I also got a really cute dress and a shirt at Goodwill (for a total of $8!). All in all I spent under $100 and got a BUNCH of "new" stuff - and I have no problem with other people's leftovers - wash 'em and they're as good as new!

Well... they're clean at least. :)

Takin' Care of Business

Well, my plan this summer was to work on re-vamping the 7th grade science curriculum. I was really excited about it, because it's actually a huge passion of mine - to teach science the way it should be taught... by not really "teaching" it, but having the kids do science. I had all these lofty ambitions and ideas and plans annnnd... I haven't gotten a lot accomplished. How very "Jenny" of me. That's not to say I haven't gotten anything done. I mean, it's definitely a huge process. Plus, the way I work on huge projects like that is to work, work, work (usually really late at night) for several days... then take a few weeks off. :)

SO! After a 2 or 3 week hiatus, I am BACK! I have been working like a fiend all day, it's 10:30 and I have no intention of going to bed anytime soon. I am getting so much accomplished, and I'm getting so excited about everything! Yay!!

So here is the intro slide to a PowerPoint I finished today... helping the kids get their notebooks set up!


I have been going through little spurts of obsession with my summer projects... first it was digital scrapbooking (not that that's over, but I'm taking a little break), then it was Photoshopping my wedding photos to look more dreamy and glamorous, and now it's back to what I should've been doing all along! Oh, and not to mention I read a pretty good sized book in a day - Firefly Lane (another fabulous Andrea recommendation), you should all check it out, it's great!!

Ok, so I had to take a break from working to gush about my work... but now I'm going to get back at it.

Mongolia countdown: 8 days - ohmygosh!!!

Harry Potter and such...

Okay, well I guess I should finally update on our big Harry Potter weekend!! I wish I had pictures to post, but I was lame and didn't take any. I'm really bad about that...

SO - Tim, Alicia, and I went up to Moore and met Andrea at the Warren Theater to watch HP. I know, I know... why would we go all the way to Oklahoma to see a movie?! (we got that a LOT) Well, my very best friend invited us up so we could watch it together, AND she got us balcony seats... let me just explain how amazing this place was: The most giant (regular) movie screen you've ever seen - so big in fact, that it was perfectly eye-level up in the balcony! We had plush, leather, HEATED seats - it was absolutely fantastic. With my seat cranked up on high, my jacket, Tim's jacket over my legs, and my socks I brought... I was finally not cold at a movie theather!! :) Not to mention a full dinner and drink menu (which is much better than Studio Movie Grill).

Heated seats + wine + Harry = a very happy Jenny

The movie itself was really great too. I hadn't read the book in so long, that I'd pretty much forgotten everything that happened - so it was like going through the story for the first time again! I can't believe how old all of the actors are getting... it's just crazy! Check it out...






I think it's so funny to look at the pictures from the first movie and compare them to the new one... it's crazy that they were 11 or so when the franchise started!

As for this week... I've been super lazy. Having a hard time snapping out of it. I'm going to try to Photoshop some more of our wedding photos so I can finally get them ordered (and someday scrapped - I'm doing traditional scrapbooking for our wedding pictures... have all the stuff bought, but the pictures aren't ready!)... might attempt to do some school work... attempt being the key word here.

Oh, and the countdown for Mongolia is 10 days! I can't believe it!!

PS - if you're a SYTYCD fan, be sure to watch tonight - ELLEN is the guest judge this week! How fun is that??

I'm Addicted!!

Okay okay, I promise I will start writing actual posts soon... I'm just so into this digital scrapbooking thing right now, I can't help myself!! ...not to mention that I downloaded the 30 day trial verson of Photoshop Elements... so I have 25 days left (I think) to get all the scrapbooking in I can stand! After that, I don't know... I might have to break down and buy it. It's only $99!





Okay, now off to work out, get ready, and go on a date with my husband! Can't wait!!

Yellow means slow down...

...This, among other very enlightening things, is what I am learning in my online defensive driving course. Actually... it's not that bad - it's COMEDY defensive driving! They have flash animations of Christopher Walken, Aahhnold, and even that guy from "Unsolved Mysteries"... it's pretty ridiculous, but is a more entertaining soundtrack to my scrapbooking than any other course I'm sure!

Right now, I'm learning about littering.

Annnnnd doing this:
(note, these two pages will not be appearing side by side in my book... that would just be ugly.)

Kinda Obsessed...

I am loving digital scrapbooking!! I can't do a lot of really cool techniques yet, and compared to some that I've seen, mine are a little boring (or just maybe not as artistic?). However! For just getting into it, I'm liking what I've got so far. Here are a few more of my "masterpieces" - ha! :)






So, there we are! Thank goodness my headache didn't come back today (not to speak of anyway), or there is no way I would've been able to make these pages. Seriously, I think it got even worse after I got off here... maybe the worst headache I've ever had. Terrible.

Tomorrow I'm probably going to do some more... work out again (2x this week, tomorrow will be 3!)... piddle around the house. Then I'm going down to Dallas to meet up with Alexis to hang out... we've kind of designated Wednesdays as our hang out night, since it's hard to find time for it unless we set it aside. I think we might go see a movie... go to Opening Bell (really cool coffee shop!)... and attempt to stay OUT of any and all clothing stores. Wish us luck. :)

First Attempts at Digital Scrapbooking!

oday was a blah, but productive day... cleaned the bathroom like it's never been cleaned before, did the dishes, laundry, cooked a YUMMY dinner (it was a taco bake, using crescent rolls for the crust - delish!)... felt good to get those kinds of things finished. Then I made some scrapbook pages in photoshop, pretty addicting... just like regular scrapbooking! I think I might be hooked already.

Currently though, I have the most excruciating headache, so I am off to bed. But before I go, I want to post what I've been doing all evening! Don't judge me too much... these are my first tries! :)


It's going to be a little mini 6x6 book - I took all these pictures and then realized much later that my camera settings were set on a really low resolution... so a 6x6 album is about all I could manage with my horrible quality pictures! Bummer. Oh well, I think it will be cute as a mini-book!

Annnnnd goodnight.

Help!

Ok, so I like attempting to make my blog look cute... so I looked through tons of layouts, backgrounds, etc yesterday and came up with the conclusion that I need to just make my own! Buuuuut that is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I decided to start simple by just making my own header and uploading it... but it's not working!! Anyone out there who can help me? I tried selecting the most simple layout available, and then just changing the "header element" with the one I made... looks like it works, uploads, shows that my image has been uploaded... and then when I preview my layout, it looks the exact same! No change! SO FRUSTRATING!! I even had Tim try (he is amazing), but! To no avail! Bah!

Soooo, here is the header I made (minus a title... just the background). I'm pretty proud of it. :D

I think I might be getting into this whole digital scrapbooking thing - that's how I made the header - with elements from a digital scrapbooking kit in Photoshop Elements... pretty sweet eh??

Ok, now I'll show you the whole page I made... then I discovered that the dimensions were wrong - DOH!

A little busy maybe... but cute for my very first stab at digital scrapbooking/layout making??

Okay... back to downloading free digital scrapbooking kits and creating a filing system for them... I love organizing. I think I should be a professional organizer someday. How nerdy am I? :)

Hello Blog World...

Well, I haven't blogged since the days of Xanga... I think it's been at least 2 years. Well, I tried to blog for awhile on MySpace but.... MySpace sucks. So I stopped.

I'm going to see about getting back into the world of blogging... if only for myself. I spent about an hour or so re-reading old Xanga posts last night. I went through and saved all of them to my computer... thinking I'm going to do something with them someday. Make a bound journal out of all the entries and keep it with all my "real" journals I've kept over the years. It was so funny to go back through them though! And so fun to re-read all the entries around the time that I met Tim and we first started dating. Some of it I would never remember if I hadn't typed it out... and some of it I can remember every detail. Funny how memories are like that.

I'm currently enjoying my first summer off since probably some time in high school... maybe even junior high! No job, no school - just hanging out, doing things I've been wanting to do and never have the time or energy, getting (some) school work done that has been needing some attention, spending time with my friends... oh, and being entirely too addicted to Facebook. and Twitter. and the news (regular news and ET Online... which I'm pretty sure doesn't actually qualify as "news"). Random stuff like that. It has been utterly FABULOUS!

Tim and I leave for Mongolia in 3 weeks - I cannot believe we are actually going, and that it's almost here! We will be gone for 10 days, visiting orphanages, working there, serving at shelters and a drunk ministry (apparently alcoholism is a huge problem there), hanging out with the missionaries there to "recharge their batteries", visiting the nomads in the Gobi Desert... oh, and eating "Mongolian BBQ" at the only place you can find it there... the American restaurant in the city! Figures!

Next weekend is HARRY POTTER!!! Tim, Alicia, and I are going to see it with Andrea at the Warren in Moore... SO excited - and so excited for the (freaking expensive, but totally worth it) balcony seats at the Warren. It's going to be great - and the previews look awesome.

I guess that's about it... that's a brief recap of the life and times of me, and where I'm headed in the near future. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting things to blog about next time. :)

Now I must go - my "Potato Egg Bake" is ready! Yes, I am trying to at least be a little more domestic during my summer off...

p.s. - go see "Away We Go" (with Jim from The Office) - it is so great!!!