ENFJ

For those of you nerds out there, this four letter code holds a lot of meaning to us. It's the easiest way to figure out personality compatibility.

I've learned a few things about myself in the last few days. I'm a hopeless extrovert. On Saturday night, the hubby went to a friend's house to help paint and play games afterward. I was looking forward to complete control of the television and watch whatever I wanted to. Girls, you know what I'm talking about right?

I had the house to myself (besides the sleeping boy) around 7:30pm. That is early, like old folks' buffet dinner time for a Saturday night. So I immediately began browsing my Netflix queue, Hulu plus and my TiVo'd programs. I finally settled on What to Expect When You're Expecting not the best film to watch after having a miscarriage. But I did laugh at the completely overacted push scenes and the misery suffered by one of the characters during pregnancy along with her FIL's young wife who went through it like a champ. It was hilarious!

Before I finally settled on being alone with a sleeping boy. I was scrambling to find someone to come over and hang out with me. I used to love having the house to myself when I was a teenager and I wasn't even the oldest child, the youngest actually.

I need people and I hope they need me.

I recently attended the open house of my friend Katie's book release! That's right, I am personally friends with an author who is my age, by the way. (And I'm so excited to read it!) At this party I met a girl, who could have been my double, but with brown hair. I couldn't believe how much we had in common. Even her mom decorated wedding cakes! That's just creepy because my mom did too!

~ Happy reading!

Lady Jane

Hostess Without

I like parties. I love meeting and talking to people but there's a reason I still haven't held a housewarming party and we've been here for 9 months and 23 days. I crumble under the pressure of being responsible for other people's happiness. Maybe that's why the boy is so bored now that he can walk, talk and basically have other little toddler friends.

I found an old notebook where I planned a pretty cute 2nd birthday for the boy a year ago and to be honest, if someone else had been in charge of carrying out my vision, it would have been an adorable party. He was obsessed with Toy Story at the time and so I thought it would be fitting to have star-shaped cantaloupe, cool ranch and barbecue chips with the appropriate quote from the first film, Teddy Grahams and strawberry frosting for Lotso Huggin' Bear, and other themed food. Sounds cute right? I hope. We did half the stuff that I mentioned and we didn't even really decorate.

So for the boy's 3rd birthday, I kept it really low-key. I mean really low, like two octaves below middle C. We invited our dear friends and their sweet little girl and my parents for a barbecue. I even asked our guests not to bring the boy any more toys (he has plenty to play with and I'm starting to wonder where to store all of it in an orderly manner). I love that the boy was born in March, it is so beautiful in AZ. There was a lovely breeze that allowed us to open the windows and doors and breathe in the fresh spring air. I knew this was the last year I could pull this off, so I did the least amount of work possible.

I think the reason why I feel so pressured to do something amazing for the boy's birthdays is the recent invention of Pinterest. It's an amazing site for all things, house and pretty much life related, but I wonder how many people actually pull off the parties that have been planned by SAHM, not a professional.

And one more for good measure...

Stay tuned for my thoughts on personality types :)

~Lady Jane

Theme Song

Music speaks to me. It makes me reflect on my life and certain people in my life have their own song. Anytime it comes on the radio, my thoughts immediately flutter back to that simpler time.

I didn't have a boyfriend in high school but I did have a good friend who happened to be a boy. His parents were always so nice to me and constantly thanked me for being their son's friend. I couldn't help but feel good loved and welcomed. He didn't always make the best decisions, but he tried and that's what counted. He was one of the few people that helped me celebrate my 16th birthday. He came over at Thanksgiving and fit in like one of the family. He was my best friend. So every time I hear this song, I think fondly of him.

I will admit I loved those silly Facebook games of discovering the soundtrack to your life. I really liked it when the songs fit the category, I didn't like it so much when it didn't match up. Sometimes I wish that I had a soundtrack to smile and cry to.

Although, every time I hear this song, it reminds of a boy that I did date for a brief moment.

I wasn't exactly sure what it meant to him that I reminded him of this song, especially since a few weeks later, it fizzled out.

But the boy that stole my heart and made me a wife and mother has too many songs that remind me of him. But the one that makes my toes curl and my heart fly is this classic:

The first time that we ever danced to this song, was in front of my house. He was dropping me off from a date and this song came on the radio. He parked the car, but instead of turning off the car, he turned up the radio. He escorted me from the car and without light but the headlights, we held each other and swayed.

I had read about two characters who shared the same experience and thought that was the most romantic thing I'd ever read. I had never told the husband about this dream of mine. He just knew somehow and made it true for me. 

Music is powerful and seeded with memories.


What's your favorite song? The one that makes you happy every time you hear it?

~Lady Jane

Catharsis

Writing really is cathartic for me.  I find that I work through my problems so much better when I've written about them. It's the release that I need to move on to the next chapter. I'm gonna get pretty personal for this post, so if you'd rather read fluff, wait until next time.

I've recently suffered a loss. Two losses actually. My grandmother passed away. A wonderful, service-oriented, bubbly, caring, cheerful, lovely woman. She wrote music and played the piano masterfully. Every time I play one of her arrangements of music, I feel her near me (even before she passed away), her soul is in music. This is how I will always remember her: forever connected to the piano.

I had a miscarriage. The hubs and I were really looking forward to having another little bundle in our home to love and hold, but twas not to be. I don't think that we'll be a single-child family, but if that is to be the case. I have an awesome little man to be grateful for! I mean look at that face, who couldn't love that? 

When I first found out that we weren't going to be having another baby, it was terrible! I cried all the time at the drop of a hat and was mad at every pregnant woman I knew or didn't know for that matter. But after I went in for a procedure, it was like the last punctuation had been placed on the last page and I could turn it and move on.

So that is what I'm doing, moving on. Due to the recent events, I'm no longer working as a vocal coach. My boss felt that I should take this time to heal and we were nearly done with the season anyway. I thought that was very sympathetic of her. I am looking forward to real meal planning again and just being able to use my time the way I want to.

Until next time,

Lady Jane

Apparently, I Lied

So I thought I would get back to blogging after the weddings subsided, but I lied, apparently and certainly not on purpose. It's been almost four weeks since the last wedding I was obligated to and life seems to have said, "Nope, you're not done yet."

I get back to work and find out that my boss has somehow attracted the attention of Glenn Beck because of her school and the performing arts group that I'm the vocal coach for. So for the last two weeks, the kids and I have been working relentlessly to prepare for the fundraiser hosted by Mr. Beck himself. Then we find out that the fundraiser he was coming to town for has been postponed until October! I have a pretty big commitment that I will NOT be able to get out of, as much as I'll want to as it approaches.

I'm bummed. My kids will still get to perform, but not in the same capacity and they've been working so hard. "That's show business,"Seems to sum it all up, but it doesn't appease me.

I almost wanted to tweet him and express my disappointment that he postponed this fundraiser. Maybe I still will.


~Lady Jane

AWAL

I didn't realize how out of commission I would be with two weddings in the family. However, one already happened and the other yet to. Thus, my absence. The first was for my sister in-law and the second is for my niece, yes I have a niece old enough to get married. (I am much closer to her age than I am to her mother's.

I love weddings, families coming together, love is in the air, traditions being carried on, etc. So after this weekend, I hope to be back more regularly.

Stay tuned,

Lady Jane

The End of the World As I Know It

I'm sitting here with my laptop (several open tabs) and my smartphone nestled beside. I close a few tabs and it lands on Facebook. I then receive a notification on my phone that someone liked my photo on Instagram and am immediately distracted by that little red circle on my Facebook app (they're in close proximity). I go to check it and realize that I have stooped to the lowest level of degradation for a technology addict. I never thought it would come to this.

I am ashamed.

~ Lady Jane

The Next Big Thing

So I've been tagged to do this blog hopping thing by a new writing pal, Katie. I'm somewhat qualified to participate as I am a writer and I do have a few stories in my head that would be fun to talk about with people other than myself. There are two Works in Progress (WIP) that are battling for my attention.

1. What is the working title of your book?
- Thanks to my witty husband, I'm calling it Premarital Existence.
- Blaming Jane

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
- The first one came to me as a junior in high school. I think I was looking for YA literature and wasn't really finding it.
- Blaming Jane came from my sister when we discovered that Jane Austen is a distant cousin related to us through marriage. (Pretty cool huh?)

3. What genre does your book fall under?
- Probably YA but could fall possibly under the NA tent.
- Memoir probably but I think it might better fit as a play.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
- This is a toughie...I would want some young-ish characters since they are in their first or third years of college. This guy could do. Maybe slightly longer hair. Don't ask me who is, this is what Google, cooked up for me.

I've been told, you write what you know, and I know blond hair, blue-eyed girls very well. I think Julianne Hough could play my heroine in a movie. After all, she is starting to appear more and more on the silver screen. I think this picture really captures the down-to-earth girl I've imagined and I think these two could make a cute and believable couple.

As for the other MS (manuscript) I cannot picture anyone else playing me but me. Ha!


5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
- It's hard to find yourself while you're trying to find Mr. Right.
- A modern-day "Little Women" family with all of the problems of Jane Austen characters.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
- I don't think I would ever self-publish. I hear it's difficult and writing a book has been a challenge enough.
- I think this book/memoir would be really interesting to an agency, since there are genealogical ties.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
- Since it's first inception in 2001, I think I'm still working on my first draft. I have a difficult time finishing anything, probably because I don't always see the ending.
- Right now it's a just an idea with a few thoughts jotted down.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
- What the Doctor Ordered by Janette Rallison
- I haven't read it yet but Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo sounds like it could be very similar.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
- I think the number of books appropriate for me at age seventeen were few and far between so I decided to write one that I figured other seventeen year olds would want to read.
- My sister inspired me to write Blaming Jane because of our genealogical connection and the fact that when upon inspection our lives do resemble those of her characters.

10. What else about your book might pique your readers' interest?
- There's possibility for a sequel
- It's kind of a tell-all about living under the shadow of wealth.



Check out some other writers my friend Katie also tagged to post today...

Darci Cole
Ryan Dalton
Trisha Schmidt

Okay this is so not fair, all of these writers have author-y sounding names already. Probably because they already are.


Happy reading!

~ Lady Jane

Unfinished

I've realized something about myself as a writer: I never finish a project I start. There's always something impeding me from the task, whether it's life or another writing project that appears to be more promising. With that being said, I think I've finally found a writing project that holds some promise for accomplishment. It's a new direction for me (writing in the first person) it will somewhat resemble my own life (a teacher) and the highs and lows of creating relationships out of thin air whilst finding a soulmate.

I can't admit that I came up with this project all on my own. Like Oscar Hammerstein I have to give credit where credit is due; I've been watching old episodes of Parenthood on Netflix and a character uttered a phrase that I thought would be perfect for a book title (did ya really think I was going to give that away? Especially if I want to use it as a title).

Thanks television for giving me yet again another epiphany!

~Lady Jane

NANO, NANO

No, not Nanu, nanu from Mork and Mindy. November is National Novel Writing Month where writers try to bang out 50K words in a month. This is a very ambitious goal for me as I feel that I'm a novice writer even though I've enjoyed it since I was nine. At first for National Writing Month (Nanowrimo) I thought I would upload a story I've been working on for the last three years. I don't know if it's because of Halloween or that I'm reading Frankenstein with a few siblings, but I decided to take a completely different genre to run with for this Nanowrimo project. It's a drastic turn from the normal fluff that I write (chick-lit). I decided to summon my darker side and write a zombie plague tale. It has the potential (I think) to be nail-biting, gripping, and all those other adjectives that a zombie novel is supposed to be.

So wish me luck as I dive into the unknown of my darkest spaces to create the most chilling tale...I've ever written.

~Lady Jane

P.S. While checking some stats, I noticed that people found my blog through zombiestat.com, pretty funny if you ask me. I only just told you about this project. How did you know?!?

Scripts

Why can't people just follow a script! Life would be so much easier for me to deal with if they would just react the way I want them to.

I am a product of the 90s. I still think that it was only a decade ago. And because I am a child of the 90s, I glean how to relate with people watching sitcoms and dramas. So it's no wonder that I become discombobulated when people don't follow a script. What do sitcoms reflect if not real life? However exaggerated. How else are they able to portray real emotions unless its coming from a real place? Say what you will about my research, but I think I'm a little ahead of the curve.

I remember having a terrible conversation with an English teacher in community college about art. We were talking about "The Necklace" a short story by Guy de Maupassant where the main character is faced with a moral dilemma: whether or not she should tell her friend about the necklace. My professor proceeded to ask the class if we see examples like this in daily life. I brought up television (big surprise) and how so many sitcoms have used this dilemma. Then she railed on me for using pop culture as a means to prove my point. "Pop culture is down here. It's for the masses." I can still hear her say it, pardon me whilst I cringe. I proudly reminded her that in her first lecture she told us about how art is artificial and good art feels real. Let's just say for arguments sake that pop culture falls under the umbrella of pop art. With that being said, the sitcoms that use these types of moral dilemmas bombard the television screens of the world and almost every 90s family sitcom cued the sappy music to make a point about what was moral and ethical. So what if it is for the masses? It's the masses that are relating to these kinds of ideas. Mass this, professor!


Lady Jane

Lofty Ambitions

So I'm thinking about writing a play about how my grandpa and grandma met back in the 40s. I've never written a play before. Ever. Sure I've performed in a few plays but writing one seems a lot more arduous and daunting than learning just my own lines and few of the other characters'. The research is going to be difficult because they've both passed on and my own mom doesn't know as many specifics I would need to really flesh out their story.

But I have a wonderful opportunity to display my work. The performing arts group that I'm working for is working on opening their very own theater. I'm nervous, I'm thrilled, I'm a jumble of conflicting emotions. What's better than on opening night knowing whether or not you have the chops to be a writer? Already, you have an assorted group of people, different ages, races, religions all coming to view your work. I wouldn't do this good of a job if I hired the test subjects myself.

I've tried to get my writing out to friends for research sake and I've concluded that unless one of my friends is an editor with an unlimited amount of time to devote to reading, I will never really know what my friends think of my writing.


Lady Jane

The Pop Culture Allusion

My husband and I love to watch The Big Bang Theory and also pause to read the vanity cards at the end of the show. This is where I learn so much about Chuck Lorre and the television business in general. In the most recent episode of TBBT in the vanity card is where I learned that the writers of TBBT watch Downton Abbey! I love reading allusions in literature, but it's just cooler for a pop culture fiend like myself to see allusions to another great program that is leaps and bounds in a completely different category being referenced. I think I missed my calling: writing for a popular television show. My whole life is television, just ask my siblings.

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