What would you do?

A Facebook friend recently posted "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" (Thanks Ash!) And it really got me thinking.

What WOULD I do if I knew anything was possible? So.so.many.things.

I would leave nursing, or at least cut down to supplemental, and pursue photography full time. I would invest in a good computer, a few more lenses, and a new body.

I'd pack up and move sooner rather than later. To a beach house. Where I could play on the beach with Avery every day.

Going back to school has always interested me, but not for nursing in particular. Maybe I would take some photography classes? Get a photography degree?

Avery and I would travel. A lot. We would see places in Europe, the Carribean, and South America.

We'd learn languages. And eat new foods. (Oh I'd take a cooking class...or twelve.)

I'd make cheeseburgers good for you and chocolate would be a necessary food group. ;)

I'd cure cancer and immunological diseases.


What about you? What would YOU do if anything was possible? If, no matter what, you knew you would succeed. I would love to hear your responses.

Happy Birthday!

Happy second Birthday to my nephew Nathaniel!



Let's all wish him a happy happy day!

Aunt Jenni loves you buddy.

See you soon...

5 days!





See you soon!! <3

I'm aaaalmost 5 days away from our trip to see the sister, brother-in-law, and new niece.

Today I got most of the bag packed, Avery's carry on packed, the things for my carry on gathered, and extras purchased. I printed our itinerary and said a little prayer that I will be able to keep Avery entertained on the multiple flights.

And two days ago, my nook took a crap while I was reading a book. Awesome. It was frozen on the page I was reading for over 24 hours. But, thanks to a quick google search it appears to be functioning perfectly again. Now can we all just cross our fingers and hope that Avery lets me enjoy a few pages over the 9 days we are gone.

Also? How in the hell am I going to fit all this stuff in one suitcase, at less than 50lbs? I think I'm going to make Avery just wear all the clothes she going to wear for the week onto the plane. She'd love that right?

I have a few posts I've been mulling over that I may just post while I'm gone or over the next few days. Things that have been on my mind for a little while.

I have a new favorite

Could we just take a show of hands here?



This pic? It slays you too right?


::looks around:: Good, we're all in agreement.

One year ago.

February 11, 2010



February 16, 2011



A welcome change.



Tell me you don't want to kiss that chubby little chalk smudged face!





Wow, the sun went down fast in these pics. And the last couple could be edited a bit.

And yesterday. At 11am.



Pardon the spider shit. They wreak havoc on my porch all fall/summer/spring.

Digging through the archives.

You guys?!

This?!



OH.MAH.ACHING.OVARIES.

Inspiration

I'm about to get a teeeny bit puppies and rainbows on y'all. Sorry, it won't last long.

I have this sitting next to my work space in my "office".



I love it. I love to look at it. It's been inspiring me a lot lately. Not only to snap more photos, but to keep calm. Just breatheeeeee. It helps me to remember that no matter what the outcome, everything is going to be ok. It always is.



I also love that next to it is a photo of my best friend and I from.....um.....4 years ago?

I got this on etsy from the KeepCalmShop. I also love the "Keep Calm and Drink Wine" as well as the "Keep Calm and Carry On". Actually, there are a number of them that I LOVE and could use. Go check them out. They are very reasonably priced and even has a buy 3 get 1 free deal.

And then? I found their other etsy shop! And oh.em.gee. I'm in love with this print! It makes me smile and would look great in my work space.

And next to that is my Nook, which I will be taking with me to Hawaii in a couple weeks on the off chance that my child lets me enjoys a sentence or two. But, I need some new books. That's where I turn to you, my darling readers.

I need some suggestions.

I like easy reads, things that I don't have to concentrate too hard on and I can put down and pick right back up. I recently read: Dear John, The Last Song, PS I Love You (again), Twilight (I know, I know) and a book by Jane Green. I enjoy reading but it has to be something I can just read for a few minutes a day and not get lost. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to reading at one time.

And....go!

Wednesday morning coloring

Presh, I know.



My little leftie was a coloring fool this morning.

It's sunny, 50s, and the babe is snoozing away. We're headed out for a nice walk as soon as she wakes up. Love, love, LOVE the sunshine!

When to keep quiet.

I'm horrible at keeping my mouth closed. At NOT saying things that shouldn't be said. But I'm the absolute worst at not responding when I shouldn't.

I'm working on it.

Avery's dad emailed me last week that he didn't have a phone so he would like to contact me via email to check on Avery. I didn't respond.

A number I didn't recognize has been calling me frequently lately, more so the last few days, and not leaving a message. I routinely don't answer the phone if I don't know the number. Today they left a message.

Her dad.

Another new number. More lies? I have no doubt.

It's times like this I have the hardest time keeping my mouth closed. Being silent.

I said my peace after Christmas and he didn't care enough at the time to even respond more than a "thanks". I AM NOT rehashing old lies with him. I also AM NOT giving in and giving him another chance. He doesn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve the chances he's already ruined.

So I'll just keep biting my tongue and being completely mute until he gives up and goes away again.

Pics of the babe.

I just love her crazy hair! And look how long it's getting!



Someone's face met the corner of the bathroom cabinet door this morning.









Pics like this I love my lightscoop, but as a general rule I CAN'T wait for my speedlite to come in the mail.

Aaaaaaand I'm off to bleach the grout in my shower. :/

I've reached my limit

The toddler is sick and OH.EM.GEE the whining! But surprisingly, or not if you've met my kid, she seems to have MORE energy today then she does on healthy days.

My day started off clocking out at work and rushing to pick up Avery to make it to an 0845 doctors appointment, we were late. She told me yesterday her "peepee" hurt and her once dry cough sounded pretty wet.

We get to the doctor at 0850 and leave at 1045 with a double ear infection, an upper respiratory infection, and what the doctor said was "the start of a UTI". Can we also mention that her throat is red, but we skipped culturing it for strep because the antibiotic she was going to give her for everything else would wipe out strep also if she had it.

I was a bit dumbfounded, especially since she never acted like anything else was bothering her.

"Avery does your head hurt?" "Nope"

"Does your mouth hurt?" "Noooooooo"

"Does your throat hurt?" (Touches throat) "No mommy, no hurt"

"Does your peepee hurt?" "YESSSSSS"

"Do your ears hurt?" "Ummmm nope"

And? She hasn't had a fever at all.

I bribed Avery into peeing in the cup for the urinalysis by telling her we could go get a salad at the apple (Applebees) if she peed in the cup. She said "Ummm ok" ::grunt:: and a little trickle dropped in. Hey, if it works right?

We stopped at home before we went to lunch because it was a bit early and I did everything in my power to keep busy so my eyes would stay open. Empty and refill the dishwasher.....CHECK! Throw the dirty laundry downstairs....CHECK! Pick up toddler toys and put pillows back on the couch.......CHECK! Then sweet tiny baby Jesus did that couch look comfy. So I sat on it. And then I leaned back into it....aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh. 8 seconds later I was starting a decent head bob. Of course that didn't last long because the little human with the bacterial infestation started throwing puzzle pieces at me. I was this.close to just making her a PB&J and putting her down for a nap and actually said I was going to go make her some lunch. But, she said "Mom? Big girl eat at the apple?"

Damn. Outfoxed by the small one.

We loaded into the car. (Can I just say I was STILL in my scrubs at this point and I'm fairly certain with the way I looked I shouldn't have been allowed out in public.) And when we got to the apple she was PUMPED! Only she has a really hard time with WAITING FOR THEM TO PREPARE THE FOOD.

No you can't eat pepper.

No put the sugar packets down. Oh, I guess go ahead you already licked them.

Get the crayon out of your mouth please.

Big girls don't hit.

Sure you can eat my lemon.

Sorry this is mommy's drink, she doesn't like backwash.

We FINALLY get home and I FINALLY get her in bed. Only she doesn't stay in bed because lately little miss has been all about testing every.single.one of her limits. She got out of bed 19 time yesterday? Better make it 20 today. After about 3 times I went in there with what I'm sure can only be described as a look of pure crazy and not so quietly told her if she got out of bed again there would be some spankings handed out. She stayed in bed.

And then the heavens parted and angels were singing. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm 97% positive I giggled when I got into my bed. A nap! A glorious nap!

I sent a text message and looked at the time 1505 (3:05 for those of you not down with the lingo) and that is the last thing I remember.

Until the whining woke me up. (Did I tell y'all I went ahead and baby gated her bedroom door? It's working better.) Which means she got up, went to the gate, threw her blankie over and now can't get it back. It's like I'm back in the crib days. Yay! ::eyeroll:: I grab the kid and take her to my bed. Surely some Nick Jr will keep her occupied while I grab a few more winks. I check the time: 1532. FIFTEEN THIRTY TWO! I slept for TWENTY SEVEN EM EFFING MINUTES! Thank you Jesus that something is on that she will watch and I cover up and attempt to add a couple more minutes.

"Mom, I want apple juice." "Hold on Avery."

"Mom I see your nose." "Yep"

"Mommy's hair is pretty." "Lies."

"Mommy sad?" "grumble"

Then I feel my eyelashes being ripped from their roots and my eyelid being peeled back from my eyeball.

"Oh, hi mommy" "AVERY WATCH DORA"

I was so exhausted/frustrated that I jumped in a hot shower and cried. And cried. And cried. I've had a lot building up it seems. Then Avery peeked in the shower so I made it a bit cooler, stripped her down, and she climbed in. At least bath time was done right? Got out of the shower, grabbed a diet coke, and already felt in a better mood.

I only ever got those 27 minutes. And I've been awake since 0830 Thursday morning. What do *I* do on a Friday night? Go to bed at 2130, that's what.

'Cuz I know how to party.

(If none of this makes sense. Screw it. I'm sleepy. And my bed > everything.)

Photo upload failure

I was trying to upload a photo of the ice we got here recently, but Blogger is being a biatch.

Instead I'll tell you that I've been in a funk lately. I guess you guys could probably tell, I've been lacking. My b.

I blame some of it on winter. We're closing in on the end of this em effing season and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm so sick of snow, cold, jackets, and the ice we got this week. But, it's JUST the winters fault.

My funk is so deep I'm not even taking pictures. Like, at all. I guess I'm just lacking motivation lately. I need some inspiration.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Can I also just mention....

That not only does Avery text people, call them FOUR TIMES at 4am when she SHOULD BE SLEEPING (Sorry Josh) she also sends DMs on twitter to my twitta lovah.

I'd be sorry except, it? was hilarious!

This kid? Has an electronics obsession.

Did you know...

that big girls that have no accidents in their big girl panties for TWO WHOLE days get pretty, big girl, finger and toe nails.



Yes, her thumb nails aren't painted. She's a thumb-sucker and I just didn't feel right having her sucking on nail polish. I told her big girls who don't put their thumbs in their mouths get pretties on their thumbs, but she didn't buy it.

All day, she kept looking at her fingers and saying "Avery has pink fingers". I would remind her about her toes and she would say "Oh yeah, Avery has pink toes too".

This kid? She amazes me.