Day Two: Why "The Jennifer Story"?

It's day two of my bloggy challenge, and I haven't quit yet! This is progress, people! The challenge for today is: Explain the meaning behind your blog name.
My blog is called "The Jennifer Story". When I was very little, every night when my parents put me to bed, I made them tell me "The Jennifer Story". The Jennifer Story was simply a record of everything I had done that day, from waking up, to eating breakfast, to playing with my toys, all the way to getting back into bed and hearing the Jennifer Story. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it would have been, if I hadn't been the detail Nazi of the early childhood world. I'm told that if my parents got even the smallest detail wrong, like what kind of cereal I ate or what pair of shorts I wore, I made them go back and fix it and tell the story "right". My poor parents. So when I started this blog, I wanted it to be a record of my life (although maybe without quite so many details.) Thus, The Jennifer Story! There you go!

Oh, and just for funsies, here's a picture of little me:

(Somehow the spacing on this post got all wonky, and I don't know how to fix it. Lo siento.)

Day One!

The topic for Day One is: A recent picture of yourself and fifteen interesting facts.

(Wow, I have never put a picture in a blog post before. Let's see if I can figure this out!)

OK, I did it! This was taken last spring when my friends and I drove down to Brenham to visit the Blue Bell factory and see some beautiful Texas wildflowers. Such a fun day.

And now for the 15 facts:

1. My favorite kind of music is country. I don't care if people think it's corny or old-fashioned, I just love it. Even the older, 80s-era stuff.
2. I love to fly. And not just because flying means you’re going somewhere new. I actually love airports, airplanes, and lame in-flight magazines. I think it has something to do with the fact that when you fly everything is very orderly, and there are rules that EVERYBODY has to follow, or they just don’t get to fly. It makes my Type-A self very happy.
3. I kind of wish I could take a few weeks or months and just sit in the library and read any book that strikes my fancy. There always seem to be more important things to do other than read, and that makes me so sad-I really do love to read.
4. I am for sure addicted to caffeine, and, more recently, I HAVE to have a cup of coffee in the morning, or else I am just all out of sorts. Ironically, though, if I have caffeine too late in the day, I can't sleep. (Apparently I'm also an 80-year old. Lame.)
5. I'm currently writing my undergraduate Honors thesis on the public perception of placing infants in non-maternal child care. Or something like that. Ask me again in May, and I'll tell you what it really ends up being about.
6. I love cucumbers, but hate pickles.
7. I have a serious fear of construction sites. I'm always afraid something is going to come crashing down on my head and crush me, or I'm going to fall straight through the floor.
8. I really dislike fluorescent light. No one looks good under it, and it baffles me why nearly every hotel in America uses it in their bathrooms. Ick.
   
9. I almost have to take a shower before I go to bed at night. I can't stand getting into bed feeling sweaty/stinky/gross in any way.
   
10. I really like sports. Football, baseball, basketball, pro, college, high school. I'll watch any of them, and I actually understand the rules pretty well.
    
11. Ever since I've lived with a roommate (all 4 years of college), I have slept with earplugs in at night, mostly to block out noise if my roomie stays up later or gets up earlier than me. Oddly, though, when I share a room with my brother at home, I don't wear them.
12. My favorite color is green. I am a lot more likely to buy something if it comes in green, and I currently own about 2014839 green shirts/sweaters/tank tops because of this.
    
13. I don't really believe that 13 is an unlucky number.
14. I have a Kindle, but for books I really like and think I'll want to read again, I still prefer to have a hard copy. I will say that Kindle's free international internet saved my life in Italy this summer, though.
15. I cannot parallel park to save my life. This was never really an issue, since I grew up in the 'burbs, but in April we moved into a more urban part of town, and several times when parking is scarce I've had to call someone inside the house to come out and park my car for me on the street. Sad, I know.
    

So, there you go! 15 random facts about me! Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this blog challenge...see ya' tomorrow!

30 Day Blog Challenge

So, as much as I have wanted to be a good blogger in the past, I have always failed at that goal. BUT-seeing as how this is my last semester at Baylor (AAH!), I really want to keep a record of the time I have left here. So to get me started, I am going to try to do this 30 day blog challenge that I found on Hannah's blog (I don't know Hannah. But I know some people who know Hannah, and I somehow clicked onto her blog and thought that this was a great idea! So I'm borrowing it.) Hopefully, this will give me something to blog about each day and maybe, just maybe, turn me into a REAL blogger!

Here are the 30 days.

Day One- A recent picture of yourself and fifteen interesting facts.
Day Two- The meaning behind your blog name.
Day Three-A picture of you and your friends.
Day Four- A habit that you wish you didn’t have.
Day Five- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day Six- Favorite super hero and why.
Day Seven- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.
Day Eight- Short term goals for this month and why.
Day Nine- Something you’re proud of in the past few days.
Day Ten- Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad.
Day Eleven- Another picture of you and your friends.
Day Twelve- How you found out about blogger and why you have one.
Day Thirteen- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.
Day Fourteen- A picture of you and your family.
Day Fifteen- Put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play.
Day Sixteen- Another picture of yourself.
Day Seventeen- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why.
Day Eighteen- Plans/dreams/goals you have.
Day Nineteen- Nicknames you have and why you have them.
Day Twenty- Someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future.
Day Twenty one- A picture of something that makes you happy.
Day Twenty two- What makes you different from everyone else.
Day Twenty three- Something you crave for a lot.
Day Twenty four- A letter to your parents.
Day Twenty five- What I would find in your bag.
Day Twenty six- What do you think about your friends?
Day Twenty eight- A picture from you last year, and now. What has changed since then?
Day Twenty nine- In this past month, what have you learned?
Day Thirty- Your favorite song.

So-here goes nothing! Day 1 post coming up soon.

Summertime!

Hey there! Well, I am officially on summer break now, and have been for over a week. So far, nothing too exciting has happened, unless you count watching lots of daytime TV and avoiding studying for the GRE as exciting. I think I'm saving up my excitement points for later in the summer. Speaking of which, I leave for Italy in exactly 20 days! WOW! I'm really excited and still unsure of exactly what it will be like, but I know it will be amazing no matter what.

Tonight is my brother's last KF Orchestra concert, and therefore the last one my family will attend after 11 straight years of them. That is so crazy and I can' t believe my "baby" brother is so close to being finished with high school! I am really getting old!

OK, one more thing (I don't think anyone reads this anyway, but if you do...) you should check out my uncles' blogs. They have the awesome opportunity to travel with the Passion World Tour all around the world; they have been to Kiev and London and are now in Tokyo, with more places to come. Passion is all about making Jesus famous with college students throughout the world, and it is amazing to see what God is doing! It's so cool that there are college students all over the world, just like us, who want to reach their countries for Jesus. So pray for them, and keep up with their blogs if you want! (Links: Jim and Todd)

I am going to get off the computer now (I've only been on it for 5 hours or something today). Dad will be home soon, and we are off to Chick-fil-A (yum!) and Sean's concert! Ciao!

O, Long-Lost and Neglected Bloggie...

Hello. I should start this post with an apology, because I haven't written in over a year (and a half!), and that definitely makes me a BAD BLOGGER. A lot of times I would think about blogging and then think about having to 'splain myself and then not do it. So I am attempting to get over this fear, and not even offering an explanation (since there isn't one) and I am going to start blogging again! (Maybe. At least I'll try.)

Enough of that. Obviously I won't be summarizing my whole life in the past 18 months in one post, but let me try and hit the high points (in random-very, very random-order):

• I'm almost done with my JUNIOR year of college (can you even believe? Because I can't.). In fact, finals start tomorrow. And yet I am blogging instead of studying. Please ignore this fact.
• I have somewhat decided on a life path/goal...I am focusing on Child and Family Studies and hope to go to grad school and get my Master's Degree in that field, and then...work with children! I know that sounds kind of lame and vague, but here's the thing. When people say they are going to med school or law school or some other kind of graduate school, there is usually a very specific, defined career goal associated with that. Doctor. Lawyer. Accountant. But with a degree in Child/Family Studies, there is still a lot of latitude with what I can do career-wise. Because of that, no, I still don't have a concrete idea of "What I Want To Do With My Life". But I am OK with that, and actually I think grad school will be a great time of refining my interests and seeing what is out there. Because, if you haven't noticed, children are EVERYWHERE. So that means I could potentially work ANYWHERE. Score.
• I spent last summer working as a mother's helper/nanny for an amazing family in Houston who were having a crazy, chaotic time of things and really needed my help. It was so much fun and I miss those kids!
  
• I have a nephew! He is adorable and has brought tons of fun and excitement into the family...we seriously sit around at family gatherings and wonder what we did before Mac was born, because it must have been so boring!
• I have made some of the best friends in the world at Baylor. It took a little while, but I think they were worth the wait. We have fun doing random goofy stuff and I sometimes can't believe there are other people in the world who are interested in the same dweeby things I am!
  
• Both of my parents have moved in the last two months...which means that I no longer have any connection to the neighborhood in which I grew up. Not sure yet how I feel about that, but I am really excited for both of them because they love their new places! (I haven't seen Dad's yet, but I am sure it is great!)
• I joined Sing Alliance, a group here at Baylor that exists solely for the purpose of participating in Sing. I had always loved watching the acts every year and finally decided to take the plunge and participate, even though I am FAR from being a dancer, and singing is only a minimal part of the show. It was absolutely amazing and I am so glad I did it. We won 3rd place overall, and People's Choice for Best Backdrop! (Go here to watch our amazing act!) Even if we hadn't won anything, it would have been worth it because the experience was so amazing. I can't wait to do Pigskin in the Fall and Sing 2011 next year!
• Finally, and possibly the most exciting piece of information (at least to me right now) is that this summer I will be going to ITALY for 8 weeks to be an au pair for an Italian family! I can't say much more than that, because I have been asked to be very cautious about the family's privacy, but I am super excited and also a little bit terrified. Again, this is something way out of my comfort zone (not really knowing what to expect, kind of spontaneous), but I am really excited for it and hope that it is an amazing experience

Obviously, I could go on and on, but I think I will stop here-that is a somewhat sufficient summary of the past 18 months. I have to credit my return to blogging to my BFF (no really, Best Friend Forever) Rebecca, because she started a blog and I had to say "Oh, hey! I have one of those, too! Well, I did have one...a long time ago..." So when she visits my blog I want there to be something more current for her to read than something I wrote when I was 19. Ha. I should probably go study now! Wish me luck, and hopefully I will talk to you sooner than November 4, 2011. =p

Rule Follower

I am a rule follower. I always have been. OCD, anal retentive, whatever you want to call it...I just like things to be done the "right way", and that includes following the rules. I always thought this was just a part of who I am, but something that happened last night got me to thinking...

My friends and I went to see Quantum of Solace last night (really good movie!). But because our schedule got a little off (read: we were unable to tear ourselves away from the Friends of Waco Library Book Sale in time to make a Wal-Mart run before dinner), we ended up having an hour to kill before our movie started. So we decided to go to Wal-Mart and get some candy to take into the movie theater with us (which is, technically, breaking the rules.) But I was fine with it...I have cousins in NC who are experts at sneaking stuff into theaters and besides, I think charging $3.50 for a box of M&M's is ridiculous. So we bought our (cheap!) candy at Wal-Mart and went back to the theater. As we were parking, Rachel and I wondered if we could also sneak in our drinks that we had left over from dinner. A few moments and some clever purse zipping later, we were walking into the theater laden with contraband candy and soda. Oooh the criminality. All was well until, as we stood in line waiting to get into the theater, I felt a strange wet sensation against my leg. Soon, a drop of Coke fell onto my toe. Yeah-my drink was leaking. All down in my favorite Vera hipster. I high-tailed it to the restroom and tried to dry out my purse and its contents (including my candy), but didn't have much luck. I poured the drink out and went back to the theater. Having a soda in the movie was SO NOT WORTH IT.

So I think this is why I always follow the rules-because when I don't, I GET IN TROUBLE. No matter what. Freshman year of high school, when everyone was sneaking out of their hotel rooms on the orchestra trip? I was in the group that got caught. It is inevitable. I know this is really a good thing, keeps me honest and everything, but sometimes it's just annoying! This is why I am a rule follower. The moral here? Don't try to get me to break the rules with you...it probably won't end well.

In other news, SIC 'EM BEARS! We totally WHOOPed up on the Aggies today, which really isn't saying much because, well, they suck, but it was still fun! And cold-very, very, cold. I think I'm going to go curl up in bed and watch some more football. Sounds good to me. Later people!

What I Know and what I Do

What I know: I serve a God who is bigger than this election. He is big enough to take care of this country, and He already knows everything that is going to happen in the next 4 years, and beyond.

What I Do: I've been glued to the TV and internet for the past few hours, counting every electoral vote and watching the little states turn blue. And worrying.

"So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -Romans 7:21-25

This is so me right now.