it's all good in the hood

hey everyone. thanks for listening to my pity party the past few days. i'm EXTREMELY happy to say that i'm in a far better place then i have been the last week. i feel good. i am determined to take all the negative feedback in regards to my writing and apply it to my actual writing. i want to write better. i want to tell my stories better. i want you to care about the characters. so i'm trying to learn from all of the crap. :)

anyway, enough of that. i'm sick of talking about it.

i went home and i don't think i ever posted any pics!!!! so without further adieu, here are some pics of my crazy brother and sister, my hot nephew and my soon to be hot son. :) is that weird? eh, so what.

the pier in santa monica... it was a gorgeous day!


blake walking...


i guess you're never too old to chase birds! :)


my brother, my sister and me!


LOL- this pic makes me laugh


this is awesome! i wish blake's face wasn't cut off


when my books become movies, i want him in them


playing on the lifeguard tower


cousins. or brothers as they like to tell people


sisters

so cal trip!

i went down to so cal last week... which some of you already know because you saw my post about MAKING DONUTS AT A DONUT SHOP AT MIDNIGHT! which seriously, was pretty much the coolest thing ever!!!!!!

and you read about my high school reunion. which again, was ridiculously fun!! a billion times more fun than i ever anticipated it would be! :)

but you didn't see all the other things and people i got to see while i was down there! it was by far the best trip i've taken in a long ass time. i saw SO many people (and not in a rushed way either).. far more than i ever normally see when i head home.

i visited my super fun gf who i have known since we were teenagers!!! we made a reverse oreo with our hot friend franklin.




he was such a good sport and let us dress him up with silly glasses and do stupid things. we <3 you ft!!!!




i left santa monica in my rearview (literally)


and headed over to my most favorite beach ever... (enter malibu, pt dume, surfrider, zuma, etc)


headed home for my reunion, but not before stopping by my sister's house for a quick photoshoot with the fam!






then i headed down to san diego and loved my drive along the coast.


where i spent the night with my high school bff ali and her family. :)






and then i visited my college bff's family and had the best time ever!






what an overwhelming, emotionally satisfying, incredible trip- filled with people i love, adore and cannot believe i'm so blessed to have in my life. :) xoxo

happy summer everyone!

why my high school reunion felt like a wedding

everyone keeps asking me how my 20 year high school reunion was. and the best way that i can explain it is..... that it was like a wedding!!!!

a million people are there.
you don't get to see or even talk to all of them.
the people you do see, you feel like all you got to say to them was "hi" cause you wanted to make the rounds and see everyone!
you end up seeing pictures from the night and you find yourself saying, "THEY WERE THERE?!?! I DIDN'T EVEN SEE THEM!!!!"
it's exhausting.
overwhelming.
and it goes by TOO fast.

see? total wedding day!!!!!

but it was a freaking blast! in all honesty, i wasn't even super excited at all to go to this thing. i mean, most of us haven't seen each other, or really talked to each other in the last 20 years and so while i wanted to go, i didn't REALLY think i cared if i went or not. with facebook, it sort of feels like that is enough, you know? you see what everyone looks like, you know what they're up to- WHY do you need to see them in real life?

BUT... seeing everyone in person, instead of just online, is SO.MUCH.BETTER!!!!

it was so much freaking fun, i didn't want it to end. from my perspective, it seemed like everyone was just so genuinely happy to see everyone else. no one asked what they did for work, or tried to brag about money, or anything superficial. it was just... total happiness at being with one another, hugging each other, and reconnecting.

seriously, it was the best freaking time ever!!!! and thankfully, someone planned a picnic the next day for everyone to bring their spouses and kids, etc. and that was awesome because i totally wanted to still see everyone and hang out with them! i wasn't ready to say goodbye and head back up north. i'm still not. it's hard being away. i wish i was closer to my home. i wish i was closer to everyone.

so for all of you whose reunions are coming up and you think that you don't really care about the people you went to high school with... or you don't miss them... trust me when i tell you that you probably do. at least i did. i'm so happy i went. i think my class was totally awesome, super hot, crazy fun, and maybe that's why it ruled so much. cause everyone was so freaking great!

i loved my reunion! i had the best time ever. a zillion billion times more fun than i could have ever anticipated! :) and yes, i did wear jeans to my reunion. suck it.

i have known this kid since elementary school! there's something more special about the people you went to elementary school, jr high AND high school with...


i love that my elementary school boyfriend is still comfortable enough to grab my ass for pictures. lol


mirror photo time!!!!!!! loved seeing all of these girls! cannot wait to see them again!


my new girl crush! i am totally in love with her!


fun and hot women!


PICNIC TIME!!!!!!


this picture makes me SO happy, i had to include it. i've known these 2 since like kindergarten. love them both SO much. (the fact that they are hot, fun and funny doesn't hurt) :)


old softball buds! (minus one, lol)




my girl crush again!


so what did we learn today? reunions are awesome! :)

thursday night, also known as THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!

so i'm with my friends sandi and mike right now. and after dinner, we decided that we wanted something sweet.

"like dessert, jenn?"

yes reader.. like dessert.

i wanted fro yo (per usual), but mike yelled out, "DONUTS!!!!!" sandi and i both looked at eachother and then were like, "OH HELL YES!!!!" and we all practically ran to the car.

all three of us wanted the same kind of donut. white cake with white frosting and rainbow sprinkles. yes, we're donut snobs. or we just know what we like. anyway, we get to the donut store and the guy doesn't have any.

i whine a little and ask him if he'll make us some. he does, cause he's awesome like that!


then i ask him if I CAN make us some?!?! and he says YES! because he is REALLY awesome like that!!!!! imagine my excitement when he opens the donut shop door for me to COME INSIDE and make my own donut!!!!!!! well you don't have to imagine, cause HERE is the proof!!!!


so i am really giddy, and jumping around a lot and trying to pose for pictures AND make delicious donuts at the same time. which is clearly much harder than it looks.


since i am IN LOVE with donut white glaze frosting stuff, i tried to double dip one of the donuts. you know, cover it entirely in frosting. but that stuff is thick. so um, i used the spoon.


and since the donut was freshly made... can you guess what happened?!


it crumbled into a billion pieces in the frosting! and i couldn't save it. this is what a donut fail looks like.


donut disaster 2011!!!!


but never fear! i'm no quitter! so i tried again!




look at all those sprinkles!!!! now that's how a sprinkled donut should look!!!


i told the guy that my donuts looked better than his and that if i was a customer, i'd want the donuts FULL of sprinkles, not just barely there.


so he redid all of his donuts to match mine! i'm SO influential in the world of donuts. look how happy i am that he is making the sprinkle-ful!


like a kid in a candy store!


thank you marteen! you were so freaking awesome for letting me come in and make my own donuts!


i think the only thing that could ever top this would be if taco bell let me make my own nacho bellgrande! you listening, bell!?!? :)