Crocheting, Cat Show, and Voles...Oh My!

Whoa. Nelly. Let me tell you about my week folks, cause the life of Jenna got cray cray this week.

If you are expecting a "we took an unexpected trip to Vegas, then quit our jobs to travel around Europe and plan to live off the land in some undiscovered area!!!"....well, you're going to be dissapointed.

1) I learned to CROCHET!!! Yeah. CROCHET!! My wonderfully talented friend, Jessica, has taught me how to crochet my very first scarf. And guess what, folks? ...this gets good... it's an infinity scarf!! Yeah, I'm just that talented right off the bat :) Ok, ok...you all know me too well, as does Jess, who made me take a video of what to do so that when I got stuck I could watch it and re-teach myself. Which I have to admit I've watched numerous times. "Winning!"...puleeeeez, Charlie Sheen...more like "Learning!"

2) I went to a CAT SHOW!!! (right about now is when I bet most are sensing an 80 year old woman theme') Eric had planned this date for me only telling me "It's something that you'll really like" Naturally, I say "winery?!" when he said "no" my next guess was "cat show?!" (folks, my blog is called Coffee, Cats, and Wine and I'll be Fine...cat show should be a surprise to no one!) Oh man. It was SO much fun! As a crazy cat lady I can totally say this. Crazy cat people are strange. And I TOTALLY belonged! Deluxe cat carriers were lined up and down the rows and decorated with tinsel, colorful cloth, and plush cat beds. As if that wasn't enough, they judged cats (though all were winners in my book). Big ones, little ones, fluffy ones, bare ones, meek ones, ones with attitude...all were there! They even had a coffee cart there, so I had my coffee and my cats...if only I had my wine. I coulda died right then n' there a happy cat lady.

 

3) I saved a sweet little vole today! Not familiar with a vole?

There he is! Well, not actually the vole that I saved (p.s. I named him Victor), but a picture of one for your viewing pleasure. Except, I should note Victor was a little less plump and a tish smaller. I should get another patch on my Animal Lover sash for sure. Here's the story: As I am walking into work today, I see a furry little thing running in circles in the parking lot on the main drag. While others are walking away scared from it, I, of course, walk towards it to see what's going on and to help the fella out. As it is running around my feet, going in circles, clearly not able to see I started to become a little panicked not knowing what to do with him. He looks adorable, but I shouldn't pick him up...though it pains me not to (but don't worry, I didn't). The fella's going to get run over though if I don't so something! Then, I am approached by a coworker who tells me it's likely a blind little mole (though now I know it was a vole) who lost his way. Naturally, I start to tear up because it's just so cute and sad and I know I have to do something. So, I scurry inside and get a box (of course telling my coworker how much of an animal lover I am and my NEED to do something) and head back out. As I am trying to get the vole into the box I am instead seeming to scare him towards the dip in the sidewalk towards the building main doors. A nice fella who also works in our building (bless his heart) seemed to accept my explanation of being an animal lover (and wasn't too weirded out) and helped me scoot him to the side of the building where he at least got into the rocky area and (hopefully) found a nice grassy or snowy area to live happily ever after.

...God should not put sweet furry things that need help in my path. Or maybe that's why he does... I've saved a baby snapping turtle and many woolly bears in my work's parking lot before too.

I swear I'm the voted Queen of the Furry Animal Kingdom.

Ok, Well, that's about enough excitement for one week, folks. I'm spent.

So until next time,
Coffee, Cats, and Wine and I'll be Fine :)

New Year's Intentions

I don’t know about you all, but I am happy to see 2014 come to a close. It was just an off year for me. We all have them. I’m tacking it as that in the record books.

As usual, I’m blogging my New Year’s post from a local coffee shop – this time Caribou Coffee – enjoying a northern lite, dark chocolate mocha, no whip. Gotta love those holiday gift cards!

Instead of blogging about resolutions I’d prefer to call them intentions. The word “resolution” just feels too formal and “final” for me this year. Saying resolutions already makes me feel like I am going to mess up (which I’m trying to not beat myself up over if I do – see below). I instead have created some very simple intentions for me. Unlike my list from last year (which I look back on now and a.) feel went on a tish too long!, and b.) clearly had some high hopes…) I have created only two intentions for my 2015.

1. Be more kind to myself. I often have high expectations for myself – normally this is a good thing! – though I give myself a hard time in instances that really don’t warrant it. I need to cut myself some slack.
2. Be more present in my own life. “All I really gotta do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why” – well said Alabama! I plan to take more deep breathes and just enjoy the moment, even the stressful ones, because that is life – and life is beautiful!

2014 had its highs, and also its lows. Unfortunately, I feel like my sight tended to focus on the negatives and I put pressure on myself to feel certain ways which only got me down more. For example: October, November, and December are three of my favorite months. This year, these months lacked the sparkle they usually have for me and I started to wonder what was wrong with me – because certainly something was wrong with me to not feel the sparkle. Ugh, Jenna. So much to learn about life. Some days, months, years will be good, some may be not so good – but don’t beat yourself up over it, homie!

A large stressor of the past chunk of months has been Eric and my journey in trying to start a family. We’ve been trying for 17 months. Even just typing it out looks exhausting. I fully believe that there is a reason that this has not happened yet and that God has some plans that I am just not aware of, but the journey still feels long and unfair. I have faith in what plans the Lord has for us...I just wish I knew them. It’s been hard not having my Grandma Hjort around during this journey as well. She’s the only one who could give me the perfect Bible verse or say the words that I need to hear – which I know in my heart, but can’t seem to form into a sentence for my mind to make sense of. 

As I mentioned, the baby thing has weighed on me for a while. And I let it. I let it affect me month-after-month and become an excuse for another glass of wine (cause heck – why not drink while ya can!), another treat (cause dang that emotional eating feels good sometimes), or my reason to be short (with people, not in height) and moody. In my intention to be more kind to myself, I need to recognize where these feelings are coming from and find some healthier options – although we alllllllll know that wine has some really good health benefits! :)

 

…Yes, yes, Sue (my high school swimming coach and health ed teacher). I hear you! “Everything in moderation!” Gosh I miss swimming…

…I digress…

Another stressor that I have learned from this year is that I need to talk more about me. Now don’t freak out, ya’ll – I’m not going to go all crazy and talk non-stop about my life. What I mean is that I realized that I haven’t been honest with people that care about me in how I am doing. I’ve struggled this year, and tried to cover it up all along the way not being open about what I’ve been having a tough year and seizing the opportunity when someone asks, “how are you?” to talk about it (appropriately of course, I’m not going to drop bomb shells on anyone while in the line at Cub or through friendly girl conversation in the bathroom). And in all reality, I thankfully don’t have any bombshells to drop, anyway. Me not talking about me and my feelings is an annoyance of my trade, I feel. As a social worker I talk with others about how they are doing – you don’t talk about yourself and redirect conversation if questions are asked about you. Unfortunately, to some extent, I feel like I may have been putting that in my personal life too. 

Some things I would like to try this year to help me be more kind to myself and more present in my life are: taking deeper breathes, trying yoga, talking more about how I am doing and recognize that people care, trying meditation, stopping to look around, paying attention to feelings in the moment, and finding quotes that are meaningful and identify with me and the message I need (so you may see more of them in my social media outlets and this blog, heads up!)

Oh, 2015. I have an honest feeling that you will be better than the years past, and I am so glad for that!

I wish you all abundant love, joy and peace in this new year! 

Until next time,

Coffee, cats, and wine and I’ll be fine :)