Blogging

Do you ever feel like everyone else has their life figured out? That you're the only scrambling to find something to create, produce that is totally and completely yours? I have a friend, Danny, who has always had her act together. I met her back in 2005 in an English/History humanities course at the local community college. She had just graduated high school, myself out of it for the past three years. She knew what courses she had to take to get her associates degree banged out in exactly two years with an impeccable grade point average to boot. I, at only a mere 21 was completely speechless at this independent, go-getter, hippie 18 year-old. It's because of her that I even finished going to college, not only because she pushed me and encouraged me along the way, but I'm a bit competitive too...(with myself).

Now, she has a very successful craft, sewing, cooking blog along with a precious daughter and doting husband to take of. I've never actually asked her how many hours of sleep she gets at night. Those determined types must survive on something else other than food, water, and sleep. I bet it's some secret elixir that only inductees into the "It Must Get Done At Any Cost" club get after strenuous tests to prove their eligibility. I'm still applying.

At the risk of sounding like a bitter, jealous teenager I'm actually very proud of Danny for all that she accomplishes and still looks great doing it!

I love you Danny and thanks for keeping me in check.

~Lady Jane

p.s. you seriously should check out her blog though, it's amazing!

http://mommyforreals.blogspot.com

Obstacles

It started out as the camping trip from he- you know. We forgot our blankets, pillows, sleeping bags and had to turn around and drive back for them after we already left an hour and a half later than I wanted to. Then while driving I remembered that we forgot to bring our box of chips and hot dogs, I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal since we were coming closer and closer to civilization and could buy another pack of hot dogs and a couple bags of chips. When obstacles get in my way I immediately think of, "who is trying to stop me from going? or doing this thing?"

Similar obstacles befell me when I started my first day as a vocal coach. My babysitter got into a fender bender leaving school and I had to bring F with me which meant working it out with my husband to meet me at the studio to pick F when he got off work and switch cars. Then as I was heading out to my husband's car and I tried to turn the lock with my key, nothing happened. F was already in bed by the time I was done teaching. Hubby couldn't come and rescue me. Luckily, I had a spare key which turned out to be for the lock and nothing else.

I wonder if that's why my hair is falling out in thick strands? Am I stressed? I suppose these new hats of home ownership and voice teacher that I've donned have magical properties that release my hair from its roots.

I try to remember that there is only so much I can control. I'm trying to be better about sorting through the mail and reminding myself to pay the bills (hubs has been the primary bill payer for about the last nine years of marriage). There are days where I feel really in control of my life, but when obstacles find their way to me, I lose my footing. Blogging has been my stabilizer though since I haven't devoted time to write more in my book. It's nice to have a release that I can always come back to, something that I know I will never tire from.

~Lady Jane

I Knew I Could Do It

I love it when I figure things out. Since having F I've felt like, at times, my brain doesn't operate at 100% like it used to. For the longest time I couldn't update my pages (have you even looked at those? Yes, those tabs at the top of the page for the curious eye) and it was driving me nuts! Do you want to know the problem, I had been able to post under another email login but I couldn't really change anything about my blog (especially the stuff that I wanted to change). I figured out I needed to name my other login an admin too. * SIGH *  That feels so much better!

But on another note, I feel like my life is going to become very stressful in the very near future. I'm going to have to learn how to really prioritize my time. I recently accepted an offer to be a vocal coach for a performing arts group. Yes, I sing too.

A couple of pros:
I'm getting paid!
It's in the afternoon so it shouldn't interfere too much with the home life
I'll be improving on my skills as a singer as well as my teaching skills
I get to do something fun

And the cons:
I have to hire a babysitter for the time I start until hubs gets home
My time won't always be my own
I'll miss F's bedtime twice a week

So now I have the wonderful task of trying to figure out how to do the mom thing, wife thing, and career woman thing.

Hopefully by the semester's end I will be saying...I knew I could do it.

~Lady Jane

On the Brain

I think my brain is empty. I've had so many things on my mind lately that I don't even know what to post at the moment. BAM! It just hit me. I could talk about my upcoming tea party I'm planning for my 28th birthday with my two cousins and their cousin from their mom's side and my good friend Danny.

Why tea party? Because they're fun. I'm hoping to recreate as much as I can remember about my 8th birthday tea party. I know that we wore Sunday dresses, costume jewelry, hats and faux fur shawls. And we felt like princesses. At least I did. My other aunt was generous enough to send down her collection of hats, jewelry and faux furs that I'm hoping she might let me borrow what she has left.

I am beyond looking forward to this! A couple of years ago, I had mentioned this idea to the original party guests and they all said they were excited to do it again for my 28th. I was worried when one of my cousins moved out of the country, but was immediately relieved when I found out she was coming for a visit. Who cares if it's not on my actual birthday, I'm just glad the original group (plus Danny) will all be here to join in on the fun. So stayed tuned for some fabulous how-tos from me about pulling off a smashing tea party!

Also on the horizon: I love to sing, so I'm going to work on my craft this summer by joining a choir. I'm stoked!

What do you have planned for the summer?

~ Lady Jane

Deadlines

I missed my own deadline again! Check back next week for my new post. It's been a crazy week!

~ Lady Jane

Spring Break

Happy Spring Break everyone! I hope you do something especially spring-y this week. See you next Thursday!

Already a Slacker

I've only had this blog for how many weeks now, and I've already missed a deadline?!?! I blame it on everybody else but me. Other people I know have been busy and planning parties and weddings but then I thought, "Oh yeah! I was busy planning a bridal shower for my husband's sister, so there!" I had a good reason. That was a couple of weeks ago now and I really haven't had anything pressing on my plate and nap times haven't been used as efficiently. I knew that I was going to be busy a couple of weeks ago so that's why I got prepared, but it's already almost five in the evening (my time) and I'm just now starting to post!

A couple of things about the bridal shower, at least I didn't have to plan it all myself and I had the help of my incredibly talented SIL to help me decorate the concessions table in the theme of "Night at the Movies." I decided to go with this theme because the bride-to-be worked at a movie theater when she was in high school. I figured it would be a fun theme for her. It turned out darling, if I do say so myself. Hopefully I will get pictures posted soon, I can't seem to figure that out right now, what with buying a new camera and hubby and I trying to figure out using one laptop. Turns out that my user can't access our shared pictures, weird.

As guests came in, they wrote down a word of advice for the happy couple on ticket stubs

The concessions table

No movie theme is complete without Red Vines!

Boston Baked Beans and Tropical Lemon Heads

Whoppers, Mike&Ike's, Reese's Pieces

Popcorn!

My sister in-law (the bride to be) and me!

Well, whaddaya know?! Turns out I figured out how to get the pictures I wanted to post all by myself. I'm so glad that she liked the theme and that she had some good friends turn up to support her.

Next up on my social calendar, planning a little shindig for F's second birthday! We'll be doing a Toy Story theme, seems appropriate since F is completely obsessed with the franchise. My hubby is even talking about purchasing the Hawaiian Vacation short film just to add some variety to our collection. To be honest, I love that about hubby, he's willing to put off his own happiness for his son's. I'm sure there are more awesome things that he would want to spend money on.

In case you were wondering: I was able to pull off this theme due to the fact that my sister threw a baby shower for me using popcorn as the jumping off point. The blue/teal framed chalkboard as well as the other one and a movie themed canvas was borrowed as were the plates, popcorn machine and glassware for the service of Red Vines and Pretzels. I got the idea of the red and white striped tablecloth from my baby shower that I recreated. We just used the empty candy boxes as decor to make the table look fuller and had a couple of candy bar prizes (Skor, Whatchamacallit, and Mr. Goodbar) for a guessing game. We had a mad-lib for the bride and groom since the bride is a fan. The center pieces were already assembled from my baby shower so we just covered up the reference to pregnancy and added our own catch phrase, Popping with Joy! Since my mother in-law and I split the cost of stamps, the bridal shower only cost me $50 dollars (happened to be my budget)! The key to keeping functions inexpensive-BORROW, BORROW, BORROW and ask for help!