A quote...

“The only reason I don’t let you go is because you said you would always be there.
No matter how many days pass, I wait for you to come right back through that door.

If you never meant it, you shouldn’t have said it.
You may no longer always be here but your words will never leave me.”

via Boy Meets Love

Rock it out...

March 2009

So I've been in Louisiana the past few days.  Long story that I'll tell you another time, but the main idea is I'm staying with my BFF, Shara, and her hubs, George, back in LA where I grew up.  Some mutual friends (Amanda and TJ) of all of ours live just down the street or around the corner or something, so tonight they came over for dinner to visit before I head back to the TX. George made some rocking cheeseburgers, and Shara made yummy brownies for dessert. (win-win!) 

After a dinner of magic cheeseburgers, we decided to play some Guitar Hero.  Well, I use "we" as a very loose term.  Technically, Shara decided we should play Guitar Hero, because Amanda and I chose to make Shara choose the game.  I've only played Guitar Hero (actually, it was Rock Band) once before in my life, and truly? It changed me.  Forever.  (Please see pic above.)  I was visiting friends in Virginia Beach and Kris (left) had just gotten it for her birthday.  Needless to say, we represented.  No one has every committed themselves to Rock Band the way we did that weekend.  We were golden.

 

This is exactly why this girl is my friend for life. 

So tonight when Shara mentioned Guitar Hero, I was in.  Sure, I've played this before.  It's just like Rock Band, and I think we can all agree that I was created to play Rock Band.  Bring. It On.

First up was The Joke by The Steve Miller Band, and surprisingly, these lovely group of people suggested I sing. Me. Sing.  This is amazing for 3 reasons: (1) I am not good. At all. (2) Shara regularly tells me to not sing, which I regularly IGNORE, and (3) I was not allowed to sing during above mentioned Rock Band party (see reason #1). So getting the mic this go around was the highlight of my life.  And let me just tell you...I. Nailed. It.  96% my friends! 96!!!  I mean, who even does that?  That means I hit 96% of the notes. What that means exactly, I have no idea, but I know it's good even if my voice isn't!  To all the haters, I have one thing to say:  Boo. Yah.

Since there were 5 of us and only 3 instruments, after each song, we rotated right.  Next up for this rock star? The drums.  You guys?  I LOOOOVE the drums.  Love them with my whole heart and soul.  It has been a lifelong dream to play.  So Bon Jovi kicks on and the band plays and I kid you not, within like 4 lines of the song, the band "loses" thanks to who? The drummer.  Which is me. Gah.  Okay, let's try one more time.  Here comes Bon Jovi.  Shara is rocking the guitar. Amanda is singing her heart out.  Drums kick in.  Fail.  TWICE!  The game gave up on me (Hi Kathryn!). I slowly slid that drum set right back over to TJ who was owning it before I got my hands on it.  They finished it in style.

On the Road Again by Willie Nelson.  Instruments move to the right so I'm on guitar.  I got this.  I can do guitar.  Observe:

Music kicks in. Drummer is drumming.  I start what I believe is about to be one amazing performance.  I'm pushing red, green, red, green, yellow...and nothing is happening.  Silence from the guitar.  George says "You gotta strum Jenny!"  Oh right.  This little bar thing over here.  So I have to do one thing with my left hand, and something else entirely with my right?  Not my strongest quality.  So I'm strumming and hitting buttons and things are just going downhill fast, when all of a sudden - FAIL.  Geez Guitar Hero, is there no learning curve here or what?  When the whole game gives up because of your lacking button pushing strumming skills, it's just not good.

Dude, whatever.  Where are those dessert brownies?  The brownies never give up on you.  And you know what?  I will never give up on the brownies.

Happy 101....

What a wonderful surprise!  My dear bloggy friend Lise at Every Last Drop awarded me with this fantastic Happy 101 award.  And get this?  The acceptance directions involve list making!  Lists!  Is there anyone who does not LOVE a good list?  I think not.

So here we go.  Presenting the Jenny's Top Ten Things That Make Me Happy List:

1. Animals.  I'm happier laying around on the floor with a stinky, dirty dog than I am all fancy hanging out with people.
2. Knowing I made someone smile or brightened their day in some way.
3. Letting the people in my life know how much I love and adore them. 
4. Yoga pants.
5. Potatoes.
6. Dancing until all hours of the night to my favorite songs with my favorite girls.
7. Finding the shirt I've been shop stalking on clearance for under $5.
8. Singing loud in my car.
9. Realizing that someone really, truly gets me.
10. Big, noisy thunderstorms.

I think today I will spend some time cuddling with a sweet dog.  And maybe make some potatoes for lunch. :)

What things make you happy?

Stupid, Annoying Bones....

I would just like to say that if I see the trailer for The Lovely Bones one more time, something bad is going to happen.  I mean, seriously?  Is every. single. commercial break. really necessary?  After a certain point, I just cannot be held accountable for my actions. 

That is all.

Behold the awesome...

In case I've not mentioned it before, I come from quite a musical family.  I grew up to the sounds of my dad's acoustic strumming away in the background of our everyday life.  My brother turned out to be a natural talent as well and has been part of a few bands.  Once we moved to Austin, my dad joined a band as well and now rocks the rhythm guitar for an awesome local band.  Several extended family members play guitars, drums, etc. so family functions are known to include spontaneous jam sessions.  It is absolutey fantastic, and I owe my complete obsession and need for music to being surrounded by it my whole life.  Now, granted, the talent apple skipped this particular branch altogether, but I can certainly appreciate other people's talent.

Anyway, I tell you all this because I thought you might like a vid of my dad and bro jamming on Christmas.  I know I'm a little biased, but I think it's really great.  Makes me happy every time I watch it.  I don't think I need to point out who is who. :)  Behold:

Quote of the Day...

Did y'all see the article about the parents who were arrested for giving their kids tattoos at home?  Apparently, these two tatted up parents thought it would be an okay idea to give six of their kids (all under the age of 18 mind you) tattoos from a homemade tattoo gun.  I will say that again. HOMEMADE tattoo gun.  Are you following me here?  According to the article, they used "electrical cord, spliced wiring, and a guitar string for a needle."  ACK!  Guitar string?!  Okay, here's the thing.  I have seen a zillion guitar strings, and probably as many tattoos, but I have never (NEVER!) put the two together.  Ever.  How do you even get there, is what I want to know? 

PARENTING AWARD WINNER #1:  Baby, I been thinking.  Know what our kids need? 

PARENTING AWARD WINNER #2:  What's that baby?

PAW#1: Tats

PAW#2:  Best idea you've had since you served ham for breakfast! (ed. note: which should've been the first red flag.  Ham? Is ALWAYS wrong.  It just is.)  Too bad we don't have a tattoo gun.

PAW#1:  Aw heck, we can make one of them.  Go look in that box of stuff your brother dropped off.  I'm sure there's something in there we can use.

You know, every now and then, I get to thinking that maybe there should be tighter restrictions on google searches.  I'm just throwing that out there. If this is not an argument for that, then I don't know what is.  I want to know (or maybe I don't) what they used for ink.

Because "tattooing childen is illegal in Georgia," (I'll bet that's something you never thought you'd read) the kids were temporarily removed from their parents.  At which point, Mama Tat had this to say:

"If I'm such a bad parent, then how come they brought the kids back right after I got out jail?"

Well.  There you have it.  Can't argue with that logic.

Bits and Pieces...

Well, my immune system finally folded and the germs won the pot.  But thankfully, after careful review and extensive google research, it is not The Plague as I initially suspected, but instead just the Common Cold.  Although do you get a fever with a cold?  Because I have one.  I am rocking the temp at 101 like it's going out of style.  Fussy, sweaty, fevery 101 in the house!  Holla!  Also, I might be delirious.  You've been warned.

So this is pretty much going to be a pointless post, and I'm really only doing it because I know I have not put as much into our blogging relationship as I have taken out.  Which is just plain selfish.  I have been feeling completely unfunny lately, so I decided this will be a post of tying up loose ends.  Specifically about things that I know you've been wondering about, so we'll wrap it all up here now, so that you will finally be able to get some sleep.  Or I don't know, maybe I'll just post a bunch of pictures and ramble endlessly and pointlessly as I'm doing now.  It's working well yes?

ANYWAY, remember that I was going to bake pumpkin goodies for the wonderful pumpkin givers?  Well, I finally did it!  And from what I was told, it all turned out pretty darn good. :) 

Get a load of this empanda action:

And muffins.  YUMMO!

I made dog treats too for the dawgs, but no pics because they just didn't look quite yummy enough.  But Gracie girl sure loved them.  So there's that.

Also, Literary Christmas.  Remember me telling you about the sock puppets?  We pulled off another winning performance from what I can tell of the reviews.  The day of the party, Cousin Val and I met upor emergency poetry writing.  We decided on a rewrite of the classic 'Twas the Night Before Christmas starting with the line 'Twas the Morning of Literary Christmas.  Oh my gosh, we had to much fun.  There was lots of high fiving and table dancing and bacon eating, and then the creativity just started flowing.  After two hours at a table in IHOP, it was all finished up.  Apparently the secret is to cram in it at the last second. Haha.  Which is pretty much what the whole poem was about anyway. With a rap breakdown included of course.  I believe there is video of it somewhere so I'll try to get my hands on it for you.  Until then, here's a pic:

I hope you all got some closure here so we can move on.  Yes?  Okay, good.  I'm off to watch Lifetime with my fever.