The weekend, in le nutshell.

Today is merry simply for the fact that I do not have to go to work and type up my 700 TPS reports all day. (mycoworkersaresuckers.com!) <---I made it up, don't go to it.

This weekend was fun! I had dinner with my girlies at Ginger Hop in NE Minneapolis. The atmosphere was great, the service was ample and the food was delicious. I had a bowl of Tom Yum -- my Thai go-to dish and it was perfectly sour and spicy, like it should be. The only problem is that whenever I eat at a Thai restaurant, this is what I order. Maybe I should step outside of the box, or the soup bowl, or whatever, sometime. Afterwards, I went to my sister and brother-in-law's house to celebrate the unveiling of their forthcoming brewery! Lease signed, press releases released, and all of social media aflutter! You should probably check it out and get excited for this summer when it all comes true. Indeed, it will be worth it.

Saturday was full of cleaning, organizing, purging old beauty products, and then rushing out of the house to get to a comedy show. I went with a few friends to Joke Joint in Lilydale, MN which is basically a weird part of St. Paul. The comedian, Chris Barnes, is one of my favorites (I haven't seen that many) and my face was sore after the night of laughing hysterically. We headed over to Downtown White Bear Lake to spend time with the boyfriend's friends and brother and had a really fun time at small, unpopulated bars. My kind of night.

On Sunday I ran errands, went for a run (outside!) and then headed over to my sister's house to watch the Super Bowl. Just kidding, I didn't watch it, but the party was fun anyway. Only mistake? Not bringing stretchy pants. Glamorous - for sure.

My head is kind of all over the place today and this was more than a nutshell, but whatever. I guess it's the whole nut and that sounds pretty weird. You know me! Have a weird day!

Resolve to do something better.

Happy 2012! The New Year seems to always go hand-in-hand with resolutions and new beginnings. I like Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project idea of always having resolutions. Ever since I read her book for book club last summer, I have had a Resolutions Chart. This chart is something I kept up every day at first, then my dedication waned and waxed and waned. It's hard to keep resolutions every day, but it's sure worth a try.

I had daily, weekly, monthly, and annual resolutions. The daily ones included drinking 8 glasses of water a day and taking my contacts out by 10pm. The weekly and monthly resolutions included hanging out with each group of people I like to hang out with (yes, I had a spreadsheet for hanging out with friends), exercising five times per week, spending time with JUST the boyfran and not in a big group, reading a book every month, scrapbooking, etc.

This year will be more of the same, with a few minor adjustments. My broad resolutions go a little something like this:

Easier said than done. I will be one of those people who is always drinking water.

You know, this is the toughest battle for me. There's just so much to do in awake life. But no sleep makes for a very tired and probably less productive awake life.

Hahahaha. No, but really.

I had a goal of running 300 miles this year but made it just short of 200. This year I will stick to my goals and be healthy for the sake of being healthy. Oh, and my stinky sister convinced me to sign up for the Minneapolis Half Marathon in June 2012, so there's that.

I want to put intention in my thoughts, words, and actions. 

There is always, always room for improvement and growth and education. I am continuously learning at work, in my social groups, and even on this little blog. It's amazing what having a passion for something can do to how much you know about it.

My life is so full of things and thoughts and tasks and events. I need to break it down and breathe.

In 2011, I achieved my goal of donating money or time every month. This year I plan to do more of the same, with a little more focus on the volunteering portion of it.

Driving up North makes me wonder why I don't do more exploring in my own state. I'm always dreaming of globe trotting, but I want to state trot as well! 

This has been surprisingly easy for me in 2011. If you know my past, you know that this was not always the case. For some reason, I rarely find time to be discontent. Maybe that reason is you. Maybe that reason is me. Maybe that reason is my quest for happiness.

All in all, this is what I want to do: Be great every day. 

Happy New Year everyone, make it a good one!

Baby Archer

No, this is not a post about a small person with a bow and arrow, but rather, my new baby nephew, hot off the press! I can't say much about the character of a baby who doesn't open his eyes or do anything but sleep, but he's a peanut and I love him! That's all.

I also love his big brother Theodore who says in the most adorable voice ever, "baby cry" which sounds like "baby kai."

Things fall apart...

Everywhere I turn, it feels like a relationship is crumbling into pieces. I've recently heard of a marriage ending after 19 years, another one after five, another one before it begins. (Not to mention the various other relationships that are seemingly in shambles…)

It’s incredibly sad to me when things don’t go the way you plan them to, mostly because I’m a planner and “this is how it was supposed to be.” When couples part ways, it’s not just that they are breaking up from a single person, but everything they are attached to: families, mutual friends, and in some cases pets and homes and even businesses. It’s obviously not something taken lightly; they’ve tried and they’ve tried and exhausted all of their supplies and are ready to close that chapter and look to a brighter future.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It’s pretty difficult to understand just what that reason is right away, but it comes. I know of a couple who are so good together and marriage is on their near-horizon. The woman in the relationship was once engaged, and looking back, she is glad that it was called off. If her engagement didn’t “crumble,” then she would probably not be in the great relationship she is part of now (and I would not have met her). More personally, I’ve been involved in more relationships than I care to admit, and I am almost thankful that each one of them ended. At the time, I thought the world was over and there was no reason to go on. Seriously...they marked some of my lower points in life. I was going to miss their families and everything we did together. And I did. I missed them a lot. Occasionally a thought of them comes to mind, but it is fleeting. In hindsight, these were just small pieces of my past that I needed to have in order to create the bigger picture.

Mason Jennings captures it perfectly: "The past is beautiful, like the darkness between the fireflies."

I hope each and every one of these people find their way to the fireflies. I know they will.

Although it seems like these heartbreaks are around each and every corner, they are in fact, few and far between. Many people I know are happily married. One of my best friends just got married and is currently still on her honeymoon. Another is having her engagement party this weekend.

Indeed, things do fall apart. So better things can fall together.

Merry Monday - Labor Day Edition

Being that today is a holiday, this version of Merry Monday isn't as legitimate. I slept nine hours last night, I don't have to go to work today, the sun is shining, the weather is cool, and my only obligation is a Twins game in this gorgeous weather.

Still, there are a few things that make today one of the best:
1. Sleeping in. Almost everyone I know has a routine of when they go to bed and when they wake up. Mine is pretty erratic but the one thing that is somewhat regular is that I sleep fewer hours than I think I should. So when I don't really have to pay attention to any alarm clocks, external or internal, it's bliss.
2. Drinking coffee through a straw. Even though it's about 60 degrees outside (yeay!), I'm still enjoying iced coffee...through a straw.
3. Easy communication. Text messages rule.

That's it for today. Here's a little lyric from Vampire Weekend in spirit of labor:

"We only work to live. Until we live to work." I hope you have some kind of happy medium in your life.

Enjoy your labor day and celebrate what it means to you. Whether it's all of the people who have come before us who worked hard to provide infrastructure, freedoms, and convenience, or if it's about the end of summer, the start of something new, or the last day of the State Fair - celebrate it.

You are Possible.

Every time a friend's blog starts, Jennifer's heart sings.


I have an overwhelming sense of happiness when I hear that one of my friends has entered the blogosphere. Sometimes, I literally jump up and down. I know I'm still a rookie, but it's awesome to hear that I have played even a little role in someone else's adventure. What's even more excellent is when a friend tells me I inspired her to start a blog, and then her friend is inspired by her to start a blog, and then and then and then.


As you may know, I have a special spot in my heart for writing. Writing is its own therapy and allows us to articulate whatever emotion or thought is bubbling inside us. It's amazing how far back it dates (someone look this up for me) and how it preserves thoughts, events, and feelings. (I don't like the mushy connotation that the word "feelings" has). Writing is a spectacular form of communication, like I gushed about here, and it's pretty amazing that humans developed it in the first place. Don't even get me started on language itself.


Back to the part about my friends being awesome-I assume that since you're blogging, you're okay with it being publicized. So here you/they are in birth order:   


If you are living life to the fullest and enjoying every little bit: then you should Know I Lived.
If you appreciate life and want to cook delicious meals: plan a trip to Spicyland.
If your thoughts are on design and style, inside and out: mind your head and Pear of Hearts.
If you wonder how it's possible to leave your career for your passion: you ought to be Stumbling Towards Bakery.
If you like philosophy and making your life happier: close your eyes and Imagine Rappy Happy.

One last tidbit before I get off the internet for crying out loud: 

My heart is so full, it just may burst. We. Are. All. Possible.

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.”

I have been on a quest for happy for much of my life. It seems almost ridiculous that a 24-year-old has anything to say about "much of her life," but it's true. When I was little, I would answer the standard "what do you want to be when you grow up?" question with a non-standard answer, "happy."  I like to think I was beyond my years in answering this way, but part of me feels a little sad for the younger version of myself. How was I not happy? I didn't grow up in foster care, I didn't battle any chronic illness, I wasn't in a bad financial situation, and I had, for the most part, what I needed.

Yet, I knew there was something more. And I still do.

I've read some of the books about happiness, peaceful living, de-stressing, etc. but it wasn't until I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin that I felt real inspiration to make resolutions and change my life for the better.  

I spent many days of my past feeling that life wasn't fair and that I was missing something or missing out on something. These days, I feel happy a lot of the time. My aim is to increase the size of that particular slice of pie and feel happy most of the time.  I know that down time is inevitable, and some balance can be healthy, but I want to feel happy and I'm going to.

Part of the reason I am sharing my thoughts is to foster happiness since I really enjoy writing. I've been thinking about what I could blog about for a long time, and since I really have come up with nothing but can't resist the urge to write, this is what I have come up with.

Things that make me happy

Listening to music (Then, seeing it live)

Puppies (I'm human)

Traveling (Everywhere)

Reading (Mostly fiction, some business nonfiction...)

Watching baseball (Twins)

Drinking beer (Mostly Belgians and wheats)

Running (To get rid of the Belgians and wheats)

Making lists (How could you tell?)

Writing (Really, how could you tell?)

Shopping (Like it is my job)

Practicing yoga (It helps my mind)

Taking photos (Canon S95 gets it done)

Scrapbooking (I am a grandmother in training)

Watching television (I'm not ashamed)

Justifying things (By putting explanations in parentheses)

These are undoubtedly some of the things I will write about. Some more than others, and some in happy matrimony with each other.  For example, watching baseball and drinking beer are almost the same thing. However, I don't call it "drinking beer" if you're buying $8 Miller Lites.

Anyway, this is about the greater picture of happiness. It's also about the little things in life that make me happy. Robert Brault captured it perfectly - "Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

Here is to the little things that make up the big things. (TWSS).