BUSY BEE

a look back on my busy, busy week...

monday: retouched photos for my favorite boss dave. :) i love working with dave because he's so easy going; a great person to talk to; and sometimes we even accomplish A LOT.
tuesday: modeled for james. i secretly love getting my hair and makeup done. the photos came out great.
wed and thurs: retouched photos for my favorite boss dave. and i even passed on getting pinkberry. wow.
friday: dealt with my car. retouched for a few hours and babysat from 6 pm to 12 am.
sat and sun: worked a two-day promotion.
monday: finished retouching photos for my favorite boss dave. ate thai food with rick and james. packed.

i have been incredibly busy lately... which is GREAT!! especially because i am taking a looong vacation and heading back to NJ til october. yes, i'm probably crazy for staying that long but i think it's a wise decision. my cousin is getting married in october so instead of flying back and forth, i decided to extend my stay in order to spend more time with family and friends. my grandmother recently broke her femur bone so i am glad i will be able to keep her company while she is living in a rehabilitation home. my birthday is in september, so i will be able to spend the day being showered with gifts from loved ones. ;) hahaha. as much as i enjoy living in california and am SO grateful for the opportunities i have been given, sometimes i feel like i'm missing out on the simple things in life... like being able to hang out with your best friends or spending the weekend with my mother. luckily nobody has a problem with visiting me in california (hehe), but being able to go back to the comfort of your childhood home is priceless.

sunday is funday

i went biking with my friend hal this weekend and we shot a lot of great photos in venice beach. you can see some of them here. we also grabbed "breakfast" at 2 pm and swung on some swings. (i'm a BIG fan of swingsets). the highlight of day occurred around 9 pm when hal and i were riding bikes to his office to pick up a few things. as much as drivers in Santa Monica seem conscientious of bikers, i was hesitant to ride to hal's office because our bikes didn't have lights and it was dark outside... but hal assured me we would be safe.

moments later...

*while laying on the horn* an angry driver yells to hal: GET OUTTA THE ROOOAD!!!!!
the angry driver goes through the intersection and meets up with hal again, driving closely next to him yelling "YOU'RE IN THE ROAD!!!!"
hal's retort??? "YOU'RE DRIVING A CAR!!!!

HAHAHA, it may have been one of those you-had-to-be-there moments, but it was hysterical!! the driver would have retaliated but hal's un-insulting insult sort of befuddled him. the irony was that hal was riding IN A BIKE LANE!! this person was just crazy.

p.s. i tried Red Mango for lunch because i was eager to taste their frozen yogurt since they were established before pinkberry and are more natural and... yeee-uck. the pineapples were canned, not fresh, and the raspberries were mushy. i tried a sample of the green tea flavor but opted with original and boy was i was disappointed. from now on, i'm sticking to pinkberry when i want of overload of sugary artificial frozen yogurt that appears healthy. are you a "crackberry" baby too??? check out the comic i made based on my experience at the pinkberry in beverly hills...

TWO NEW PENDANT NECKLACES!! :)

i've added two NEW acrylic pendant necklaces to my etsy shop!!

Lucky Ladybug - Acrylic Pendant Necklace
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Scissor Happy - Acrylic Pendant Necklace
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

and they're FIVE DOLLARS OFF... check them out!!

PLEASE READ

i've added new entries to my environmental blog: End Second Hand Smoke.


Please check them out!!

Thanks,
Jena

Scissor Envy

I haven't cut my hair in 1 1/2 years but now more than ever, I have an urge to chop it into a bob (angled so that it's a little longer in the front than it is in the back).

My hair is the longest its been since pre-kindergarten. I'm not sure why I keep growing out my hair. It wraps itself around my arms when I swim. It tangles itself in knots when I leave my car windows rolled down. It clings to my back when it's humid outside and I'm wearing a tank top. If you run your fingers through the carpet in my apartment, it will look like you've just dissembled a tumbleweed. Before I can vacuum, we (and by "we" I mean Rick) have to CUT through a wad of my hair that is continuously wrapped around the rollers of the vacuum cleaner.

But when hair gets this long it becomes an entity - a body part you're reluctant to amputate. I want the happy-go-lucky feeling dogs get when you shave off their fur for the summer, but I'm worried I may regret going scissor-happy. Every time I ask someone's opinion on cutting my hair their first reaction is always "NO!!" followed by the obligatory "but it's your hair so, do whatever you want." Yes, I can trim off three or four inches but I hate the in-between length - so it's all of nothing!!

I'll cut my hair when it gets in the way of every day life like using the toilet, for example. Once my hair is long enough to dangle in the toilet bowl, it's getting cut. In the meantime, I'll keep reminding myself how badly I wished I looked like a long-haired Roxy model back in the day (hello 9th and 10th grade!!) and just deal with this hair.

what to bring to your first appointment with your plastic surgeon...

there is a promotional dr. 90210 game you can play at E! online where you can psychotically build your ideal face using celebrity body parts. i had no idea it existed either, but i built a face. try to guess whose parts i used!! (the answers are in my tags... but don't cheat!!)

face one:

(maria bello... is that you???)

face two:

(freakishly resembles oliver martinez!!)

OMG.

my boyfriend just met dave grohl!!!! rick stepped out of work and saw the peter pan of rock n' roll eating lunch and called me and asked "should i get my picture taken with dave grohl???" my reponse was "WHAT?! OHMYGOD, YES!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DID YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK?!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" hahaha. when i got the photo via my cell phone, i started jumping up and down. i'm probably more excited than rick is about it. hell, i feel like i was the one who met him. hahaha. but i didn't. :(

lucky rick!! (and lucky dave grohl too, hehe).

NEW!! Handmade Acrylic Pendant Necklaces

rick and i finally made necklaces... and they came out GREAT!!!! check them out:

YELLOW 80s Guitar - Acrylic Pendant Necklace
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Cotton Candy by the Sea
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

Elvis in Palm Springs
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

RED 80s Guitar - Acrylic Pendant Necklace
Originally uploaded by jena ardell.

ABOUT MY ACRYLIC NECKLACES:
each necklace is one-of-a-kind and takes 1 hour to create!!

each pendant is "cooked" in a high-pressure HOTTTT pot. they come out rough, until they are ground and polished to perfection.

why acrylic?
because it's LIGHTER and more DURABLE than resin. also, very rarely are there air bubbles embedded in the pendant. these pendants are virtually indestructible and will last a lifetime!!

available in my etsy shop: jenaardell.etsy.com!!