That's What Jenni Said

1. If you check the box on your license form to be an organ donor so that it shows up on your license or in the DMV database then if you are involved in a near fatal accident on the road, the responding EMT folks will deliberately move slowly and let you die so as to have use of your organs. Especially if you are ugly, fat, or dressed unfashionably. I still can't bring myself to be listed as an organ donor for this reason. 2. Unless you have a natural innate talent in a particular skill, all of the practicing and studying in the world is not going to really make a difference. Practice does not make perfect unless you're gifted in that area. So it's better and less frustrating to just focus in on things you seem to be naturally talented at and skip attempts at things that you don't seem to be good at from the get go. For this reason I never go back and try a second time at things I try once and suck at. I completely ignore the try try again philosophy even if at times I

I just finished reading The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank. It was a good book and I recommend it. It tells the story of a Jewish girl as she comes of age and into her adulthood. A touching story, it exposes the drama of family life and ordinary angst and I found it to be heartwarming. My favorite quotes from the book: "'Your welcome,' she said. 'I was just afraid'. It was a nice surprise to hear her say the truth. But right away the public relations part of her brain rushed in with a revised press release : 'I trust you to make the right decisions that are best for you'" "As soon as I'm in a relationship, I promote fear from clerk to president, even though all it can do is sweep up, turn off the lights, and lock the door."

One thing pneumonia does is afford its victim endless hours to consider philosophy and conduct a comprehensive assessment on one's life. Where is God taking my life this year? What goals do I want to work toward prayerfully? How can I be a better wife, better friend, better community member? I've had so much time to ponder these questions. Other than a weight loss and fitness goal that remains elusive, I've actually accomplished all of the goals I put down to paper a few years ago. It's the first time in my life where I'm not sure where to go next in long term planning. There is nothing I feel compelled to accomplish with burning desire. Instead, I'm quietly asking God to give me some new direction and goals. Jon and I are very different. He is able to find the joyful purpose in ordinary day to day living. No specific goals to strive toward are required to bring a sense of purpose and utility into his life. I love that about him - he embraces simplicity. I under

So you may have noticed that last week I never finished blogging about Paris over on travbuddy.com and if you've sent me emails or called me you've gotten no response. In my defense: pneumonia. double pneumonia even. I'm way too tired to type this out all over again so im just going to copy and paste my IM conversation with my coworker today. ---------------------------------------------- maria: how are you feeling? me: hi maria. i am able to get out of bed so that is good. today i am trying 30+ minute stints sitting up maria: wow. do you have good drugs? or is it viral pneumonia? me: its been so wierd. ive never been so sick ever. so basically maria: pneumonia will slam you. me: i felt like i had bronchitis last week so i went to my dr who said yeah looks like it and thew some amoxicillian my way and cough suppres and inhaler and told me to rest for like 3 days at home but fri i felt like a truck hit me. i couldnt breathe i couldnt stand up really and my fever w

I've begun the work of posting the adventure that was the Paris trip to my travel blog. So far I've only posted the first day of pictures and activities (and what a day it was!) but bookmark the location to come back and read all the entries this week as I finish them. The travel blog for Paris is at: http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/47153 I will not be duplicating the entire trip blog here on my regular blog, so you’ll need to bounce over there to read the entries and see the pictures. It’s really one click, quite easy, so try not to whine so about being led all over the internet.  Travbuddy.com is specifically designed to log multi-day trips with mapping and other cool features so I almost always post my longer trip entries over there and just notify you of them here.

Right now the voicemail on my cell phone is stacking up. Emails- over 300 and counting- are waiting in my inbox for reply (and more arrives every hour). I've been back from our Paris trip for approximately 32 hours and I've not yet spoken to anyone except one of my best friends and my mother. Instead, I have a compulsion to finish the blog entries for the trip as my first priority. And so it begins here, with the account of our Christmas Eve and following day… Christmas Eve was really quite stressful in that I had a very long list of "to-do" items I hoped to cross off in just that short 24 hour period. In no particular order, these included: Get in a workout at the gym Accompany my husband to Sam's Club to purchase 4 new tires for his car Declutter the house so the woman who cleans for us would have an easier time of things Wrap Jonathan's Christmas presents and place under the tree Pack for Paris Gather the last minute items onto our trip Itinerary and pri

I promised a chronicle of the Vegas trip (Dec 12th-14th, 2008) and I've carved out a few moments to finish it. The trip was offered through the Travel Meetup I organize. I planned the itinerary and made arrangements for those who wanted to come along. We flew into Vegas Friday night (the 12th) and after checking into the hotel took a taxi straightaway over to Freemont Street. I introduced the travelers to the Golden Gate Casino and 99 cent shrimp cocktail as well as the overhead light show. It was *not* the family friendly beautiful light show I'd seen before but a raunchy stripper chick performance projected onto the screen ceilings. We were not impressed or happy about this change in programming. Saturday morning we were off bright and early to explore the strip. We enjoyed breakfast at the Ellis Island casino (3 blocks behind the Tropicana and very very affordable) before visiting the Paris, Planet Hollywood, and Caesar's Palace Casinos. At Caesar's we enjoyed che