dear thanksgiving,

i know it may not seem like it, but you really are one of my favorite holidays. it makes sense - i love fall, lots of food and any kind of pumpkin desserts. but mostly, i think it is so so important to remember all of our many blessings. however, with christmas right on your heels, i tend to get pretty excited and begin planning the christmas party and listening to holiday tunes before you've even come, as hard as i try not to. so this year, instead of neglecting you and then feeling bad, like i usually do, i decided to compile a list of 100 things that i am grateful for. so thank you, thanksgiving, for the push in the right direction.

here it is, in no particular order:

1. the gospel

2. family

3. good food

4. camera warranties

5. an income

6. missionaries

7. mail

8. friends

9. running shoes

10. cheap gas

11. gyms that stay open 24 hours

12. good health

13. the boy

14. all of his ridiculous phrases

15. christmas songs

16. pumpkin spice donuts

17. the magazine rack at barnes and noble

18. marthastewart.com

19. quesadillas with avocado

20. a warm bed

21. the scriptures

22. the prophet

23. redbox

24. blogs

25. photography

26. nieces and nephews

27. the nursery

28. the temple

29. wonderful sisters-in-law

30. dad's homemade rolls

31. naps

32. walmart

33. football

34. that it doesn't snow in California

35. the beach

36. crunchy fall leaves

37. my new green coat

38. bare essentials make-up

39. prayer

40. the plan of salvation

41. strangers that say nice things

42. paper products

43. rain

44. sunflowers

45. ben & jerry

46. prop 8 passing

47. education

48. fishnet tights

49. the office

50. my i-pod

51. my macbook

52. the geniuses at apple, pretty much

53. paid vacation

54. the christmas dinner to look forward to

55. egg nog

56. movie quotes

57. the candy bowl at work

58. mom's recipes

59. snippet & ink

60. in n' out

61. fall weather

62. hairspray

63. panera mondays

64. family history

65. hershey's limited edition candy cane hugs

66. sales

67. adobe photoshop

68. lists

69. hope

70. patriarchal blessings

71. midnight showings of movies

72. airplanes

73. twinkle lights

74. oversized christmas trees

75. wicked coming to san francisco

76. sunday walks

77. any reason for boysenberry cobbler and homemade ice cream

78. burt's bees chapstick

79. grammatically correct sentences

80. the boy knowing the difference between then and than

81. facebook

82. caramel apple cider from starbucks

83. just less than 6 months

84. leftovers

85. nertz

86. sincere compliments

87. books

88. babies that don't spit up

89. pedicures

90. the grinch movie

91. ashley's grinch impressions

92. pictures in my inbox today

93. charcoal drawings

94. handmade furniture

95. water filters

96. chinese chicken salad from costco

97. the troops

98. democracy

99. personal inspiration

100. creativity

you should try it. it's certainly hard to have a bad day when you realize all that you have to be thankful for.

dear lizzie,

you sure are cute. we like you a lot. you like to steal our food and you go crazy for candy. don't tell your parents i sneak it to you so you'll like me best.

you know lots of animal noises and you like to tickle us. your scary roar is getting pretty good too.

you have pretty cute parents (mostly your mom). 
you're nice to most people. you like your dad a lot, but i think you like grandpa more. probably because he lets you drink dr. pepper.
sometimes you can be a little sassy, but it's usually funny, so we forgive you. except that one time i was trying to change your diaper and you were being a little stinker (literally). trust me liz, neither of us wanted to be there.
sometimes you get really confused. like you'll kiss my feet because i tell you thank you and you think it makes me happy. or you think car keys are q-tips and try to clean your ears with them. it's funny.
pretty much, we think you're the coolest.
love you lots girlfriend girlfriend,

auntie jana

p.s. i'll spread the word that for christmas you would like a baby brother, just like you told me.

dear scrapbooking,

oh how neglected you have been.

remember when we first met? i was in 6th grade and i wanted to document my first trip to disneyland. wasn’t that album horrible? now that i think about it, it was probably pretty good for a 12-year-old. i don’t even think i have it anymore.

we went on a break for a little while, then rekindled our relationship when my mom bought us all those stamps. why did she do that anyway? we should ask her. anyway, i actually think i spent more time that year making cards than with you, but hey, it’s all the name of paper crafts.

hey, scrapbooking, remember that time we didn’t sleep for two days straight so i could make enough pages i liked to send into that contest? that was actually a lot of fun, even though we didn’t win anything.

i’m sorry for this hiatus in our relationship. i suppose sometimes i just feel like the events in my life right now aren’t scrapbook-worthy. but i have a feeling that in a few years i might look back and wish that you and i had spent more time together.

so what do you say? date night this week?

love,
jana

p.s. here are some memories of our happier times.

dear sister obama,

congrats on the hubby winning the presidency.

and sorry about the serious fashion mishap which everyone keeps making fun of... including me, right now.

maybe you could call sarah palin for some advice.

better luck next time,

jana

would anyone be interested...

in a photo session?

i haven't decided if photography is something i am planning on doing professionally, but it is something that i am loving right now. so much, in fact, that i'm even considering applying to the photography program when i go back to BYU, just so i can keep learning.

i originally thought that having a nice camera and knowing how to use it would be something i would really value, especially once i have kids of my own. however, recently i have had a few people ask how much i "charge" and i was a little thrown off thinking that people think my pictures are nice enough to pay for them. at first, i shyed away from the idea, thinking that i had so much to learn before i could even consider charging for pictures, but i'm beginning to feel like it would be a really good opportunity for me to gain some experience and see if this is something i would be interested in pursuing, while offering families inexpensive photos at the same time.

so here it is:
- a 1-2 hour photo session at the location of your choice (preferably close)
- along with 30-50 EDITED photos from the session - yours to keep!
- at a price that you think is reasonable

it will hopefully only be a few weeks before my camera is back in action, so the pictures would be ready just in time for christmas! feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail(janalaurene@gmail.com) if you're at all interested, have any questions, or would like to tell me that i'm ridiculous.. any feedback is good feedback! :)