My Spontaneous End-of-Summer Vacation.

Summer is over (sad story), even if we ARE having a spectacularly beautiful fall so far.  I didn't manage to take any sort of summer vacation, but I did manage to take a last minute trip to Las Vegas to hang out with my beautiful best friend and her adorable children and sweet husband.  She needed help, I had time off, and we found cheap tickets with 1 week's notice, so it was a go!

I was working on the day of my flight and kept getting texts that my flight, which was already going to get in rather late, was delayed and delayed and delayed.  Then I got a phone call from the airline that if I could make it to the airport earlier, I could get on a flight at 6:00.  This was a serious challenge since I was 45 minutes south of Portland until 4:00 for work, and I still had to go home before I could go to the airport, but I decided to go for it.  So between leaving my training 15 minutes early, racing home, packing in literally less than ten minutes, and a crazy mad dash through the airport, I somehow managed to get the VERY LAST seat on the flight.  

April's husband, Jeff, came to the airport to pick me up, along with their two middle kiddos, Logan and Kelsi.  Holy moly, their kids are adorable.  It was dark when they picked me up, and Logan kept saying, "Dad, what does she look like?  What does she look like, dad?"  Hahaha!  I finally told him he could see me in the light when we got home...and they both promptly fell asleep.  :)

Luke thinks we talk too much...

I was soooooo happy to snuggle their newest little one, and you'd better believe that was one of the first things I did when I got there!  He is SO sweet.  Granted, I'm a sucker for babies, but he is such a good, sweet, cute baby!  Luckily April was more than happy to share.  :)  So I spent four and a half days driving kids around, helping around the house, playing with the big kids and snuggling the little one, getting one million sweet kid hugs, and staying up wayyyyy too late with April (as per usual).  I love this girl so much--it doesn't matter how often we see each other, it's always just like no time has passed at all, and we could seriously talk for days.  We even managed to run away for a little girl time, with pedis and lunch on the menu, and a phone date with one friend and a skype date with another.  It was great.

Kelsi begged to hold Luke...
then promptly fell asleep!
So cute!!

On the last night, before they drove me to the airport, we took a walk down to the park with the whole family.  I was sitting in a swing with baby Luke, watching the big kids play and chatting with April and Jeff and a couple of their friends, and it hit me like a ton of bricks how badly I needed a vacation and how lucky I was to have such amazing friends and to be able to be there.  To be totally honest, I was pretty teary when I had to leave (and the texts from April saying her kids missed me already and have decided I need to live next door didn't help), and I literally walked through the airport with tears streaming down my face.  

It's so crazy to me that I've reached the point in my life that most of my best friends have been my friends for more than half my life--getting almost to the 20 year point.  But I love these girls so much.  Sometimes living in Portland is tough for me.  I love, love, love living near my sister and brother-in-law (best thing ever), but over the last few years many of my Portland friends have moved on, and sometimes it's kind of a lonely place to be.  So remembering that I have truly amazing friends all over the place who really do love me a lot is a pretty awesome feeling.  

I love all April's kids, but I tell you what, I have a soft spot in my heart for that little Logan.
There's just something about that kid that nuzzles his way into your heart.

Thanks for an amazing time, April.  I needed that sooooo much--more than you know.  Love your family, love your kiddos, love you.  SO, SO much.

A Preview...

I am just about to sign off and climb into bed, but I wanted to give you a quick preview of what I've been up to lately, and hopefully there will be big news coming soon.

In August I...

...worked about one million hours.  Or at least twice as many as I should have.

...tried not to melt in the heat and humidity when summer finally decided to show up in Portland during the one week I had to spend every waking hour outside.

...successfully almost single-handedly managed to pull off a summer camp for almost 100 middle school kids (no one died, hardly anyone cried, and I did not quit my job).

...then promptly took two weeks off.

...made some major life decisions and started taking some steps to make them happen (yay!  It's about stinking time).

...and spent four and a half glorious days with my best friend and her beautiful family, snuggling this little guy...

...and yes, newborn babies and my best friend really do make me THAT happy.  :)  Even after working all day, a crazy mad dash to the airport, and two flights.

Details to come soon.

Cake!

I made this pretty cake for my supervisor's birthday--didn't it turn out great?  (Okay, so I might have been kissing up a little...hey, I know good business practices when I see them, and making nice on your boss's birthday is never a bad idea!)  I had never tried the "don't frost the edges" look, but I thought it was really cute and rustic-looking on a blog I saw.  It was white cake with chocolate chips, with chocolate frosting and fresh raspberries.  YUM!  And apparently it was worth the effort (and the hot apartment), because she sent me this email the next day:

"Hi Jen:
Just wanted you to know that I took the cake you made me for my birthday home-----and my husband LOVED it!!!  He said it’s the best cake he’s EVER eaten!  So I’m trying really hard not to be offended that he doesn’t seem to remember any of the cakes I’ve ever made---but thought I would pass that along to you.  I enjoyed it an awful lot  too.

Thanks so much for sharing your talent in that way…you are an amazing baker!

Cindy"

I also tried using a little bit of the cake mix to "flour" the pan instead of using flour and it turned out GREAT--it didn't leave the weird white edges at all, and having just slightly less of the dry ingredients made the cake extra moist.  So YAY for another fun creation.  :)

GET OVER IT.

I'm probably a huge jerkface, but lately I know a few folks who could benefit from this message...
and okay, it made me laugh on a tough day.

(Don't worry...none of my friends or family qualify.)

Mmmmm, Garden Tomatoes!

I LOVE TOMATOES!!  Seriously, I could live on tomatoes (in high school, my best friend April and I literally did survive on tomato sandwiches for a couple months--YUM!), and there is NOTHING better than a tomato fresh from the garden.

This year is my first ever attempt at growing my own tomatoes.  I'm growing three in topsy turvies (which are super cool, by the way), and four in pots.  This beauty was my first ripe one, which coincidentally turned red on my birthday!  Happy birthday to me!  :)  Even though I've accidently tried to kill them about a dozen times already, they are absolutely loaded with tomatoes and I'm just about ready to pick the second red one (that green one in the photo is finally almost ripe).  I'm soooo excited!  Cheers to an awesome garden bounty for everyone trying out their green thumb!  :)

Rafting 2012

I wasn't having any fun at all.  Can you tell?  :)

About a week and a half ago, I had the opportunity to go rafting with a bunch of people from my work.  My friend and co-worker, Scott, sets it up and we all take the day off and go play on the Deschutes River.  Scott is a guide, and if you ride on his boat, you can expect to be very wet and have a GREAT ride.  We had a lot of fun...even though a week and a half later I am still black and blue.  I guess that means it was a really good time, huh?  

I told you he gives us an intense ride!  :)  But no one fell out!

 

So, yep.  That's what I've been up to lately.  :)  Hanging in there.

Endings.

"Everyone deserves a happy ending.  If it's not all you've dreamed, then it's not your happy ending."

I read this quote today, and it really resonated with me.  As my friend Jo said recently, sometimes the Lord has other plans for us, and sometimes we don't understand, at least not right away.  Apparently Clay was not my happy ending.  :( After a rough week or so, Clay and I broke up.  We both still care deeply about each other and hopefully someday we'll be able to be friends, because he's awesome.  I am, of course, heartbroken, but I am trusting that if Clay (or any of the other great guys I've dated) isn't the one God has for me, then whoever "the one" is must be pretty darn special.  If only God could hurry up and send him my way...

I'm trying hard to be brave and strong and keep my head up, but I'm sure you all know it's just tough.  And breaking up a week before my birthday is especially hard.  I have the best friends (although I wish I lived closer to all of you!), and I know I am a very lucky and blessed girl.  It's just hard sometimes.  I know that fear and frustration and hurt are not what God wants for me, and not what will help my heart heal.  But God has a plan and I trust that He loves me and wants me to be happy, and has an amazing future for me and for all of us.  I'm praying for confidence and courage in God's plan, and the ability to let go of all my insecurity and allow God to heal me and help me move on to a future full of hope.

So please pray for me.  I know we all go through hard things, and lots of my friends are going through a huge variety of hard things right now, so know that you all are also in my prayers, and I love you.  Here's to all of our happy endings...