on being sick.

I've been a bit under the weather and a fellow blogger posted this and I sympathized with it so well, I thought I'd share rather than try to get up the energy to write my own post. (Sorry, more original content soon.)

Feel better and then worse, and hot and then cold. Feel all the little hairs on your whole body stand up. Open and close windows, get under and crawl out of blankets. Maybe one leg under, one over. Watch 30 Rock in your sleep. Awake to a red Netflix screen. Hit “Next Episode” and close your eyes. Buzz him upstairs. Look in the mirror. Move your hair to the other side. Give up. Let him bring you soup and grapefruit juice. Try to act like you know how to be taken care of. Wonder how long until he realizes you’re a fraud. Watch TV with him. Try not to touch him or breathe on him. Let him leave. Get bored and try to write, try to gchat anyone who will listen to you say absolutely nothing, try to watch reruns of everything you’ve ever seen. Clean the stove again, take another shower, take two kinds of meds that probably counteract each other. Lie in bed and think about every stupid thing you’ve said this week that you wish you could take back. Every personality flaw you wish you didn’t have. Wonder if you would be better off going to work tomorrow. Wonder if there are still 1-800 numbers for psychics. Wonder if they would just talk to you for a while, free of charge, if you told them you wanted to apply for a job. Check your e-mail. Check your e-mail. Check your e-mail.

from here.

(except I've been watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix, and at a particularly horrible moment in the middle of the night last night I found what I now realize are outdated Advil Cold & Sinus pills and took two, but the part about not knowing how to be taken care of is very true. at least, by anyone other than my mother, who is 5 hours away. a boy did offer to get me soup, though, and for that I'm very appreciative.)

Song Saturday!

Here is a (maybe new) song for your weekend!


I first heard this song in the film "It's Kind of a Funny Story." A good friend of mine got 2 free advanced screening passes and took me (!!!) so I saw it last Wednesday with her, even though it's not officially out in theaters until October 8. I liked the movie, it was truly aware of what it was at all times. (That probably doesn't make sense to everyone, but I guess what I'm saying is that it knew what it was. It wasn't trying to be some crazy romantic comedy - there was even a cinematic version of "fast forwarding" through the cheesy parts - yet there was a legitimate story line that was addressing issues that face many people today.) I digress. I thought the soundtrack was incredible. Sadly, most of the songs are not even being released until the soundtrack is on September 28. I plan on scooping it up then!

Here's a trailer for you, in case you've never heard of the movie:


(and the song in the trailer is Ida Maria's "Oh My God" which you can listen to in full here.)

Fill in the blank Friday!

Hello everyone! I know it's been a few weeks since I've participated in FITBF but here we go!
prompts and photo from here.

1.   In the story of my life the actor who would play me would be... I honestly have no idea. I guess off the top of my head I'm going to say Isla Fisher, primarily because she brought a Sophie Kinsella girl to life and (as you may remember) I have a bit of an obsession with her books. Plus she's quirky, and I've always wanted to have red hair. 

2.  If I could change one thing about the world it would be stopping the highly illegal sex trades, especially those in places where women have no other options.

3.  Yesterday  it rained and rained. and rained. and I somehow made it home in time to get the remote and watch the season premiere of grey's anatomy! 

4.  My favorite comfort food is dark chocolate.

5.  My new favorite blog find is  How About Orange! They have really wonderful diy's, lots of free downloads, and just fun posts for crafty people. 

6.  If I could meet any blog friend (who I haven't met yet) in real life, I'd choose to meet I would love to meet ms. Samantha of Indie and Chic!

7.  My favorite breakfast food is french toast. and buttermilk pancakes with delicious maple syrup. and cereal with fruit in it. and I really love scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese. and coffee. and potentially monkey bread. I'm a big fan of breakfast.

"And we had to practice during freaking Hurricane Katrina..."

A good friend of mine who plays volleyball at the college level was telling me about her match last night and how the football players had to be there but, even though the match was close and the girls won in three games, the football players didn't quite supply the cheering the girls had hoped for.

Then she talked to one of the football players who told her about how they had to practice in Hurricane Katrina-like rains that night and how they were expected to start practicing again the next morning at 6am and she let him off the hook.

While I did not have to practice football outside, I have had to run from my car to a store to the car to a restaurant to my car (I drive a lot lately...) to the bookstore/coffee shop I've currently taken up residence at. Therefore, my drenched/dried/drenched/redried hair is safely tucked into a beautiful mustard-yellow hand knit cap that I got as a present from my friend Hanna last year. I've also had my eyes on this hat from miss indie for almost a year now, and truly realize that if I've been lusting over it for that long, it's very silly that I haven't broken down yet. Around the time I found it, I also started a pretty legitimate budget. Maybe I'll splurge soon. I'm sure my willpower is breaking down as we speak.

But, as I'm reading up on all sorts of things from how to start your own business to super foods, I thought I'd say hello! Go face the rain, if you dare, and get yourself a nice Chai tea latte or something of the pumpkin/autumn specialty drink variety that's out there and take a few nice moments to yourself today. You deserve it. 

songtime.

This was last weeks playlist, and I'm not sure why but I never shared it!


I remembered it last night, when I was in a coffee/book shop and "Uncharted" by Sara Bareilles came on. Then her entire new CD followed! I hadn't listened to it in it's entirety, and I really enjoyed it while reading up on some very random subjects. I'll share more about those later, but for now, I hope you enjoy a few songs this lazy, cloudy (in the Midwest at least) Wednesday night.

Happy autumn!

You guys, I have a button!

Yay! The lovely Kam of Campfire Chic posted a DIY on how to create your own blog button, and, after a few emails back and forth for yours truly who was experiencing technical difficulties, we successfully made a blog button for nae-say!

I'd been meaning to google how to do this, so it was super helpful that Kam was so gracious with her knowledge. Thanks again, Kam, and if you are a blogger, feel free to grab my button - the code is on the right side of my main page!

Please let me know if you do, so I can grab yours!

Song Saturday.

I heard this song just as I dropped off 3 teenage boys at their friend's house to play games or eat or whatever teenage boys do at each others homes on Saturday afternoons and a memory of a time I was with a friend listening to this song came back and I was a happy lady, even though it's quite a sad song.

Anyways, that's why it's this Saturday's song. The teen I've been hanging out with since 2 Thursdays ago woke up this morning wanting to go to The Original Pancake House and to get cupcakes from a shop he knows I absolutely adore. So, naturally, we did, and it was one of the most casual, happy, relaxed, and delicious mornings I've had in a long time. And seriously, with cupcakes this pretty, how could anyone be unhappy? Hope your Saturday is just as delicious. xoxo

and this was this morning.

The teenager I am hanging out with/house sitting for and I had a bit of a slow start to the morning; namely, neither of us really wanted to wake up. But we did and ended up getting ready and finished breakfast 10 minutes before we even needed to head out! So, we watched a bit of Saved by the Bell and then I drove him to school. I remembered that we need AA batteries so I thought, ah ha! I'll get them now, but it turns out that Target is not open at 7:30am. Shoot.

Anyways so I go home and realize that it's garbage day here. I go out the side door on the garage, which opens without me having to unlock it and I think "score! i'll just come back in this way." and also "Shoot, I should have been making sure that door was locked all of these nights..."

Turns out the door locks automatically.

I went to move the garbage down to the curb, came back up and realized my fate.

I didn't have the house keys.

I didn't have my phone.

I couldn't remember the security code to get into the garage.

It was raining.

I could use an expletive here, but I'll try to refrain. Just know that in the moment I wasn't so selective with the words I used.

I had been told that two neighbors knew I would be around and if I needed anything I could ask them. So I headed over to one of the neighbors homes and rang the doorbell. and knocked on their door. and did that head twisting to the side to try to see through the small opening in the window thing you see in movies or shows like Desperate Housewives. No lights were on. No movement was sensed.

Again with the expletives.

So I trudge through a couple other neighbors yards and got to the second house. At this point I am embarrassed, wet from the rain, and pretty much thinking that I would be outside until the teenager got home from school and I imagined starving and becoming delirious and having extreme thirst and some random dogs in the neighborhood attacking me because I had seen random dogs roaming the other day.

I get pretty dramatic sometimes.

But the neighbor answers the door! And after relaying my story and her extremely large dog jumping up on me multiple times (I am suspiciously scared of large dogs ever since one bit me in my bottom when I was little) I called the number of the person I'm house sitting for. She doesn't answer. So I call another number. No answer.

The neighbor woman and her friend give me some coffee, laugh a little, and then we start talking.

Turns out they are both writers. One even went back to school and graduated with a journalism degree recently. One has a fiction book deal. Both do a little freelancing on the side. Both are my heroes.

Here's the thing. This could have made me incredibly embarrassed. I could not have tried to ask for help and sat on the porch and pouted and gotten bitten by the random dogs and starved. But instead I asked for help, and made new, incredibly inspiring friends. After I got the security code, they hugged me and made me promise to keep them updated on my job search. They are so great.

And that is why I'm okay with sharing my embarrassing story of being locked out of the house. Some people are just meant to be in your life.

words to live by.

I love both of these designs and I always get inspired by The Notebook Doodles, where they are from. If you haven't, you should check out the notebook doodles blog or Flickr. The wonderful mingling of photographs and quotes never fails to grab my attention. You won't be disappointed, and you may even be inspired.

I was tagged!

I was challenged by Kam of Campfire Chic to create my own personal style alphabet! I'm not going to lie, I usually dress for comfort and that includes jeans, tees, and cardigans. But, here we go:

A is for argyle. usually on my socks.
B is for Birkenstocks.
C is for cardigans!
D is for dresses.
E is for eclectic mixes.
F is for flats. yes please.
G is for grandma chic.
H is for hippy hair.
I is for iced coffee. I like to think of it as an accessory.
J is for jeans!
K is for kicking it up a notch every now and then. more flair, more pizazz.
L is for lines, lines, lines.
M is for moccasins.
N is for natural. put together but not trying too hard.
O is for anything but orange. I have very few orange things.
P is for polka-dots.
Q is for the Quarry, a place in mpls where I do lots of shopping.
R is for rings!
S is for stone grey.
T is for thrift clothes!
U is for utility bag.
V is for V-necks.
W is for white tanks.
X is for stumping Janae, because I don't eXactly know a word that works here.
Y is for yoga pants on lazy days.
Z is for Zoe P., a fashionista I know.

So, if you feel like playing along, leave a comment with yours or you are officially tagged by me! And thanks, Kam, for the fun challenge!

Current favorites

this photo. it's a thing we do. taken in St. Thomas, UVI and she has a swimming suit on, promise.See? It is a thing. This was in front of a dilapidated church in Antigua.

menu. it's a tough choice between bullfoot soup and goat water. (what?!) Taken in Antigua.

second favorite menu. also in Antigua. there are just too many choices...

quote: "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin

thing to do: Skype! I miss seeing this little guy's face, though. His aunt/my friend lived with him and his parents for the summer and we would make all sorts of silly faces and mustaches and tell lots of stories and I would do an excellent reenactment of the "I'm a zit. Get it?" scene from Animal House. I ran across this photo last night and definitely knew it should be shared, even if it is a bit fuzzy because of the Skype-quality photo.

p.s. if you have Skype and want to add me, I'm under janaetime. :)

What are some of your favorites right now?

thanks for sticking with me.

from here.

Hello hello friends!

I'm sorry I've been such an absent blogger lately, but I promise I'm going to try to be better. I think that with all of the moving, and random trips, and now the fact that I'm in the midst of a 10-day stint of house sitting/16-year-old boy watching (but really just making sure he wakes up for school and eats at appropriate times) has bumped everything else on my normal to-do list down a few notches. Add in job searching, event planning, and volunteering for random things and you've got exactly what I've been up to lately.

I'm learning that I need to manage the time in my days by dictating certain amounts of time for specific events. Since I'm currently chilling with a 16-year-old boy most of the time, I'm learning that he also has a schedule to stick to, and I'm trying to make it as easy as possible by keeping dinner time constant, waking him up at the same time, and making sure he gets to school when he wants/needs to. It's a process that we are thankfully getting down!

Like most people in September/at the start of the new school year/new season I'm adjusting and readjusting and transitioning and still figuring things out.

But in lieu of all of that, I'm going to be a bit more present on here from now on! Thank you for reading this little place of mine on the internet. Your comments really do always make my day.

song/vid of the day.

Video is here. (embedding is disabled, sorry!)

first heard here.

Good advice.

I took an impromptu trip to see family and friends, so I've been reveling in delicious food and relaxation. I will be back to blogging more frequently in a few days.

If you started school this week, good luck and have fun!

Song Sunday!

So, I am a day late with my Saturday song post but I have a good excuse.

Really.

I went to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time ever!

It was wonderful. I ate some delicious food, watched a few of my friends perform and ran into all sorts of people I haven't seen in a really long time.

On to our song - it is Distortion by Mike Lipset. He performed at the State Fair, but I know him best as the really chill guy who went on a community service road trip with me. Head on over to lipsetmusic.com to listen to it. It's worth it and has a catchy hook that you'll be singing all day!I'll leave you with this silly picture of him, his 'stache and I.

What now, Rory?

I came to an important life conclusion today. And that is that Gilmore Girls should have gone on for at least another season.

Groundbreaking, I know. I should work for CNN.

Let me explain.

Rory Gilmore has been a crucial part of my life since I first discovered the show, admittedly through reruns on ABC Family a few years after it had started. I would come home from school on days that I wasn't supposed to be at a practice for some form of sport and watch that glorious, fast-talking hour of television from 4:00-5:00pm. Sometimes a friend or two would join. Sometimes homework would be splayed out in front of us, math books and calculators and notebooks with scribbles all over them primarily discarded because the silly people who were chatting away on the screen were just so much more enjoyable to focus on.

Well, this is where my revelation came in. As most of you know, I'm working on finding a full-time position in the field I actually graduated in. I majored in journalism. Rory Gilmore graduated with a degree in journalism. The similarities do not stop there.

We both grew up in a small town with a lot of characters. We both have grandparents who live close by. We've both tried out numerous variations of our hair, from long to short, and specifically with and without bangs. We both love Jess Mariano. We both listen to the Arcade Fire. We both read a lot. We both dabble in nonprofit work and event planning, while hers admittedly is a bit more well-known as being a part of the DAR. We're both big fans of cardigans. And while I don't technically have a friend as outrageously dynamic as Paris Gellar, I do have a couple of people in my life who are right up there, just a bit calmer. They do give out just as good, if not better advice, which Paris doles out in small, intermittent, but always perfect-timing ways.

(Oh, don't even get me started on Lane Kim. I, thankfully, have a few Lane Kim's in my life. I need a Luke Danes, though. And I'd take a Jess Mariano any day.)Anyways, the point is that Gilmore Girls ends at season 7, directly after Rory graduates from college and, at the very last minute, gets an internship. And then it's over.THAT DOESN'T HELP ME RORY.

We have been through so much, for so long. How could you just leave it all hanging like that? Aren't we supposed to be going through life together? It's as if my imaginary best friend just left - POOF! - into thin air and now I'm supposed to make all sorts of decisions on my own without having a way to talk them out and see the repercussions played out on screen.

Oh wait, like everyone else in the world.

Now before you all think I've taken this metaphor too far (it's okay that most people probably stopped reading this after the first paragraph,) I'm not obsessed or thinking that I truly AM Rory Gilmore. It's just something I can relate to. Kind of like how some people get really into a sports team or a series of books (Twilight devotees, perhaps?) It's something I can reference when I'm low. It's what I watch when I'm sick. It's a comfort thing. And it's hard for me to watch something so comforting that doesn't explore the world I'm just starting to get into. The world post-college. It's something that was never explored through the show. And at a time when I'm grasping on to anything, ANYTHING that isn't changing, I'm realizing that everything is and even trying to delay my life by an hour to watch an episode of my comfort show won't actually delay the fact that I've moved, am not starting college again with my friends, and need to branch off into the wide world on my own now.

I leave you with one of my favorite clips from the show. If you watch, I think you'll see why.


Moral of the post: It's time to jump.