dear dating world,

i know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me – try 10 months to be exact – but this weekend i am quite the hot commodity.

seriously, check out this line-up…


date #1: my car

[this is actually someone else's messy car. i wouldn't incriminate myself by putting up a picture of mine]
i have been needing to give him some quality time for a while now. he has been on my case lately – saying how i only use him for rides, but never care about his needs, like being filled up with gasoline goodness. apparently he’s been running on empty all week and he says i don’t even care! then, he tells me that i obviously don’t love him, considering the mess i’m always leaving him in. i think he’s been talking to my bedroom about starting a support group. needy needy.

date #2: scrapbooking
[insert awesome scrapbook page here]
this is pretty much the exact the exact opposite of my car situation. it feels like no matter how much time i set aside for us, scrapbooking is always making these excuses so we can’t get together: your printer isn’t here yet, wait it didn’t come with ink cartridges, do you really want to pull out all of your supplies just to put them away again the next day? yes, scrapbooking, as a matter of fact – i do! so quit avoiding my calls because we are hanging out sunday whether you like it or not.

date #3: the camera

so excited for this one. it has been so so long since we’ve been able to hang out and take some fun people pictures together. but lucky for us, nate the great turned 3 yesterday and i told my sister-in-law that i am designating myself the official photographer for his birthday bash on saturday so she can relax and enjoy the party – though i’m not sure how much “relaxing” can really be had when the party guests are mainly 3-year-olds.



who knows? maybe if i’m lucky i’ll be able to score a 4th date watching a movie at home with ben & jerry.

though i hate it when they fight over me - it’s quite the complicated love triangle.



so if anyone else calls for some jana lovin’, please tell them i’m busy this weekend. next week doesn’t look so good either – painting and i have a lot planned together.


what can i say? people want me :)





xoxo.
jana


p.s. don’t worry giveaway hopefuls, i haven’t forgotten about you. i wouldn’t want anyone to miss out, so there are still a few more days to enter here. i’ll be back monday to choose the lucky winners!

can anyone else not sleep?

or is it just me?

it's almost 1:00 in the morning, i worked a 10-hour office day, i've e-mailed everyone back [at least i think so - please tell me if i haven't], and my eyes aren't even tired - i have some horrible sleeping habits [see numbers 16 and 17 here].

so naturally, i began perusing my photo library and realized that there are quite a few things that i miss.

for instance.

i miss scrapbooking...

[i'll call you soon - promise!]

i miss high school. definitely not all of it, but i do miss the having an excuse to dress up and be ridiculous part. [photo circa october 2005. check out my tan legs. i miss being a lifeguard].

i miss these girls in general, and the summer, and my tan, and concerts on my birthday, and trips to candy rock... [photo circa june 2008]

i miss this guy. not the one on the left - i don't know him. i miss the cute boy on the right. may 8. enough said. [i may or may not have a countdown on my calendar at work].

i miss utah. and byu football games, and student wards, and smart cookie, and school in general - weird? [photo circa november 2007]

i miss babies. i love when they get bigger too, but there's nothing like that sweet smell of a newborn to get your biological clock ticking. but since i kind of need a husband to have some of my own... ahem. don't worry sister-in-laws, no pressure :) [photo circa january 2008]

i miss the beach, and i miss san francisco, and i miss ice cream sundaes from mr. ghirardelli, and i miss beautiful picture taking weather. [photo circa october 2008]

don't get me wrong - life is good and the future looks beautiful, but today i am in a reminiscing kind of mood :)

i'm sure i could even keep going, but now my eyes are tired.

xoxo.

jana

p.s. don't worry, if you haven't yet you can still enter my fun little giveaway here. 

i've been loving all your sweet comments and creative ideas - can't wait to pick some winners!

lucky you.

lucky 5 of you, actually.

i have been having the best day! mostly because of all the sweet e-mails and comments i’ve received thanks to liz and this wonderful post. [i’m in the process of responding to everyone – i promise i haven’t forgotten about you]

so in honor of my awesome day, i decided that the time has come for my very first giveaway!

[a mess crafted by me]

but first – some restrictions and limitations may apply:

1.  5 lucky winners will receive something handmade by me, especially for them. which means each prize will be different and completely awesome.
2.  prizes have a 99% satisfaction guarantee. so in the event that you win and don’t like your prize [which hopefully won’t happen], i’ll be incredibly sorry, but there are no refunds or exchanges.
3.  winners may have to be patient. i have a couple of really good ideas, and i know for a fact that some of them will take longer than others. but i promise that your prize will come, and it will come in 2009.
4.  to enter, simply leave a comment below telling me what creative thing you wish you could do most. [i personally would love to learn how to sew and play the guitar or the piano, but you only have to tell me one]. feel free to comment even if you don’t know me and/or you don't have a blog of your own and/or if you live in a foreign country – i promise i’m nice.
5.  last but not least, these 5 lucky winners will be chosen completely at random next monday [march 2 at 11:00pm pacific standard time] after i finish watching the much-anticipated finale of the bachelor [dear jason, pick melissa… i guess].

sound good?

hope you’re having a happy day too! 

comment away!



xoxo.
jana

p.s. thanks for the idea chelsi!

i've had a lot of questions...

about paintings.

if you're interested in having a lovely piece of art for yourself:
1. you're way cool
2. e-mail me at janalaurene@gmail.com and tell me what you are looking for and i can give you quote. [sorry i don't have set prices yet - hopefully someday soon]

better late than never.

right?

i know valentine's day was last week, but i couldn't resist making my favorite cookies anyway.

in case you were wondering, a batch and a half makes about this many

this slightly made me want to be a food stylist. it's a real job, i swear. i'm just pretty sure they're not in very high demand. but if you hear of any job openings for martha stewart, feel free to let me know :)

[i really hope i'm not the only person that thinks these pictures are cool].

the end.

p.s. if you would like some cookies, please let me know - otherwise i may just eat the entire batch and a half by myself.

dear birthday fairy,

remember that time i told you i would be ok with having no pets? well, i lied.

i want one of these.

this one belongs to my friend rachael, but i would love you forever if you got me my own.

xoxo.

jana

p.s. i'm slightly kidding - $850 is a kind of pricey birthday present. but just in case - i would want a girl puppy. you know when my birthday is :)

meet the men in my life.

jack. nathan. and mckay

[from left to right]

>

the first time jack and i met – he threw up all over me. i’m happy to report that our relationship has gotten much better over the last 5 years. i love that jack is an awesome sleepover buddy and i love how he is mr. romantic. [seriously, this kid has some awesome pick-up lines]. i also love how when people see me and jack together they say my boys will probably look just like him – oh, i can only hope.

last week, nate woke up from his sunday nap and was super grumpy. [don’t worry nate, i hate when i get woken up from naps too.] i tried to get a picture of him holding his painting, but the only one i got was of him screaming and trying to throw it. later we tried to get him to quote kung fu panda, but everytime we asked, all we got was a whiney “noooo” and a pouty face. that was until we told nate this – no kung fu panda, no cake. “noodles? you had a dream about noodles?” we even got a smile. [i know it’s bad to pick favorites, but his painting is my favorite so far].

mckay was the only one of the three that I got to see in the hospital just a few hours after he was born, when I was on my way to the airport to go back to school. i even got to hold him before either of his grandmas – so i considered myself pretty lucky. he also happens to be one of my favorite people to snuggle with at the moment. The other night when I was babysitting, he woke up about an hour after i put him down, so i went in his room to get him before he woke up the other two. i figured i would be spending the next couple hours trying to calm him down until his parents got back, but instead he just stared at me while i held him, happy as a tired little clam. we both fell asleep on the couch, and the entire next day my arms felt so empty – i just wanted a little mckay to hold. [don’t worry, i’m not 20-years-old and baby hungry at all]


i guess these really aren’t my men – but i love melissa for sharing them with me :)



paintings done from these photos.

dear jason the bachelor,

seriously, i think you are quite possibly a huge idiot.

you picked mandy moore the cheerleader and boring molly over jillian? i seriously don't even want to watch the finale. i'm going to, but i don't want to.

and i hope jillian finds someone nicer, smarter, taller, hotter, and richer than you because she was by far the best catch on the show.

that's all - no x's and o's for you.

jana.

celeste + david.

rewind to december 2008.

celeste, whom i've known since before kindergarten, called and asked if i would like to take some candid pictures at her wedding reception - and of course i said yes!

i really can't believe it has taken me this long to post a few of my favorites, but here they are anyway. i hope they're ok for my first wedding photographs - please tell me what you think!!


some of the details...


















some of the faces...




















and of course, the happy couple...



[on the right is a pole with mistletoe at the top - celeste's little brother kept following the couple around trying to get them to kiss]












the end.

dear valentine's day,

i heart you. [no pun intended]. 

i really do though... for some reason, i always choose to make the most of you, despite the fact that i've never had a valentine.

for example, last year, i celebrated you by sharing a candlelit dinner with my roommate and her boyfriend. talk about a third wheel.

the year before, i made cookies and gave them to strangers in all my classes to spread the love.

this year, i made me and britney a romantic breakfast - just kidding, we had captain crunch. but i am going to lunch with my mom and sisters, and tonight brit and i are going to see "he's just not that into you". i don't know why everyone laughs when we tell them that's our plan for our valentine's date.

well, i hope everyone has a wonderful day full of love.

and next year, valentine's day, let's make sure i do have someone to make a romantic breakfast for.

xoxo.

jana

photo via martha stewart

25 things.

1. if someone “tags” me to do something, i’ll always do it. i’m not sure why – partially because i'm usually bored and partially because i’ll probably feel guilty if i don’t. this picture was the fourth in my fourth album [tagged by kerri]. in case you're wondering what i'm wearing - it's a sweatshirt that's clearly too big for me tucked into red sweatpants. i'm sure my dad picked it out. but wasn’t i a cute little thing anyway?

2. the first time i kissed a boy, i kissed him on the belly button. i was 4 and kristin told me to.

3. if i could eat 3 regular meals in a day or the same amount of calories in cookies, most days i would go for the cookies.

4. i always thought i hated drawing people, until a couple weeks ago.

5. i like to practice my handwriting – i have since 6th grade [at least that’s as far back as I remember doing it]. really, in school I almost always write things out, even if we have the option to type them. i think that’s why I like making lists and writing letters so much too.

6. the security question for one of my passwords at work is “what is your spouse’s middle name?” i don’t have a spouse, but all of the other questions were lame. the funny thing is, i have about 10 passwords for different things at work, and this is the only one i’ve forgotten and had to call in to get it. when the lady asked my security question, i laughed.

7. i have a dream house. it has a red door, a white kitched, a jungle-themed nursery for the baby and it will have a neverland-themed playroom when the babies are older. those are actually the only things i care about in my dream house – someone else can pick the rest.

8. my cousin britney’s first word was jana. i know that’s not a fact about me, but i think it’s cool… and i don’t know what my first word was.

9. some days i think it might be cool to have 12 kids.


10. if I could have any job in the world right now i would be a high school teacher. seriously, 11th grade english + an art class.

11. i like to see midnight showings of movies. even if i have to go to work or school the next day, and even if it’s a movie i don’t really even care that much about seeing. if there’s a midnight showing, count me in.

12. speaking of movies, i like going to the theater to see movies way too much. i would rather spend money on a movie than clothes. it doesn’t really make sense, considering clothes last a lot longer, but it does explain my lack of a wardrobe.

13. i sleep at the hess house close to every night. i’m a sucker for sleepovers.

14. i’ve always wanted a good reason to punch someone in the face. i slapped my cousin, britney, once in 7th or 8th grade because she pulled my hair – that’s the closest i got.

15. i’m pretty sure my favorite kind of cookie is sister child’s super duper amazing sugar cookie. but they take me forever to make, and even longer to make pretty, so i only make them 3 times a year – valentine’s day, easter, and christmas.

16. i love to sleep. when i don’t have anything to do in the morning, i could easily sleep 12 hours.

17. with that being said, i am a serious night owl and can run on little or no sleep – i know it doesn’t really make sense. last night i stayed up past one in the morning. i have a pretty good feeling that this exact scene will occur lots of nights after I’m married:

11:00pm
husband: i’m going to bed
me: ok, i’ll be right up.

3 hours later – husband wakes up and walks in the room with sleepy eyes, staring at me incredulously as i’m doing something ridiculous for that time of night/morning
husband: seriously jana?
me: my bad.

britney and i were laughing pretty hard after i said this last night because it’s totally going to happen.


18. i now have 8,003 pictures in iphoto. i really need an external hard drive

19. sometimes, when nothing good is on the radio, i’ll pull my ipod out and listen to that instead [only one headphone, don’t worry – i’m a safe driver]. and sometimes if i don’t have my ipod with me, i’ll just sing whatever song i wish was on the radio.

20. and even though i’m not that talented of a singer, i like to choose which songs i would use for my american idol audition.

21. i am a sucker for reality tv. now i know the bachelor is probably partially staged, and it’s kind of not right to be kissing so many girls at the same time – but i still love it!!!! so much, in fact, that the other night i dreamt i was on the show and when my missionary’s mom heard, i lied and told her my cousin entered me to be funny. that was almost as good as the dream I had about will smith’s family coming over to watch general conference – it was a saturday session too. talk about some serious investigators… anyway, i hardly ever remember my dreams lately, so i think it’s hilarious when i actually do.

22. i have 25 folders on my desktop. my favorite is titled “weddings” – guess what’s inside.

23. i don’t pick favorites. no favorite movie, color, artist, flower. i’m too indecisive for favorites.

24. it drives me crazy when people add the letter s onto words that shouldn’t have it – mostly in regards to people’s last names, stores, and restaurants [ex. nordstroms, bajios...]. it’s like the equivalent of bad grammar to me. like when people say “i says” or “i seen”. ugh, i cringe slightly.

25. the application deadline for the art program at byu is february 15th. yikes – thank goodness for fedex. feel free to keep your fingers crossed for me.


[i already did this on facebook, but i felt like posting it here too - so  a lot of them are the same. feel free to play along!]