MY ALL-TIME FLICKR FAVORITES!!!!

Images that I return to again and again:
1. Untitled, 2. Nopal, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Black Tongue, 7. holga. venice beach, ca. 2005., 8. Narcissist, 9. RidgeDeer, 10. usattheparker, 11. clockwork fish, 12. Donky_Desert, 13. an english pool, 14. monument_bus_2l.jpg, 15. sandiego_12, 16. poison apples, 17. Untitled, 18. Florida Pool, 19. Airstream, 20. Untitled, 21. My Office, 22. it's showtime, 23. Fire Island surf #1, 24. view from our hotel room, 25. Primo Amore, 26. Double-Fisted Double-Dipper, 27. Untitled, 28. No Matter What, 29. superslide polaroid, 30. trailer

photographers include: lou o'bedlam, stoopidgerl, redbuttons, hal bergman, won7ders, fotones, zenbombed, ilisu, charlynw, eyetwist, juliagaldo, daniel minnick, evenstar0586, jen gotch, tinkernoonoo, bluecitrusart, iso-50, iilii-n, aquaticdream, 7-how-7, prettypertelote, buradori, melaniecoles, davebias, dipanna, casoulbyrd, ed bopp.

DELICIOUS FRENCH PASTRY PRINTS!!

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Available at: jenaardell.etsy.com


NOW TIL FEBRUARY 14th: BUY TWO 8x10 FINE ART PASTRY PRINTS AND RECEIVE A THIRD PRINT FREE!! You can view the entire French Pastry Collection here.

About the collection: ALL of the pastries were obtained from an ORIGINAL lithograph printed in the EARLY 1900s in France that I purchased and then scanned at a very high resolution. The purpose of the lithograph was to catalogue some of the delicious types of pastries that were for sale at the time. Bakers would use these images as a guide. Each is EXACTLY as they originally appear, with the exception of the decorative border I added.

Loaded with tiny details, these prints are truly a work of art... and history!!

All prints measure: 8x10 inches

How to use coupon: Do not include your free print in your order, instead just put the name of the print you'd like into the message to seller box during checkout!!
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My New Years Resolutions

1. Give five strangers one sincere compliment per day.
Preferable in person but if I don't come across five unique individuals in a given day who are deserving of a sincere compliment, I can either give an insincere compliment or find someone online to be the recipient of a sincere compliment.

2. Be more social.
Sometimes, OK -- most of the time, I tend to be a bit reclusive. It's much easier to spend the evening in your PJs watching a movie than it is to go out somewhere... but you don't new people that way.

3. Celebrate every holiday.
Last year I worked on Thanksgiving; skipped out on Easter; didn't do much for Valentine's Day and didn't dress up for Halloween. This year I am going ALL OUT. Decorating, baking, carving vegetables, even celebrating the weird Holidays, you name it. I want to be borderline sickeningly festive.

4. Je voudrais améliorer mon français.
Translation: Improve my French. I have an Associate's degree in French but you'd never know it because I refuse to speak the language aloud. I want to change that. I also want to build my French vocabulary.

5. Plan/have one photo shoot per week.
I need to start pumping out stellar photographs on a frequent basis (especially now that I own some lighting equipment)!! I want to get paid for taking photographs (other than my etsy shop) and I want to arrange photo shoots with people outside of my comfort zone.

6. Make one good female friend who lives within 5 miles of me.
HA!! This one may be the hardest of all. I have been living in southern California for two years now and I have yet to make a good female friend in LA. I want to find someone I can just randomly call and invite over to have a craft night or watch a movie or go to the beach!!

7. Switch to all natural products.
I've already started to use natural toothpaste (Tom's) and the most delicious-smelling natural shampoo and conditioner (Hugo's Naturals) and the best natural face wash (Aubrey) on the planet. Now I want to use handmade natural soaps and try to find decent natural make up!!

I'M BACK!!!!! (on Blogger)

I spoke to an old friend today who I haven't seen to in SEVEN years!! The last time I saw him was during the summer after high school graduation. After a few Instant Messenger conversations (He wanted to date me, told me he was better than my ex but I got back together with my ex), we stopped talking completely. No hard feelings. Just went separate ways and took separate paths that never crossed until recently. As we chatted on the phone today, we summed up the past seven years of our lives in a mere 15 minutes. How we met our significant others, his new house, our job histories... in a matter of sentences. It just amazed me how we whittled 2,555 days into a small bullet points. Have our lives been that uneventful or was there just too much to tell??? I'm hoping for the latter.

And so, my message to you is this: Get up, get out. Do all the things delayed by procrastination!! Do something worthwhile, significant. Learn something new. Travel. Make a difference. Use the 24 hours given to you each day wisely. Live life to its fullest, not solely for an interesting story to tell but for an interesting path to unfold.

As for me and blogger, I've been M.I.A since November. My last real post hasn't been since September!! Since then I: was able to spend my birthday at home with friends and family; attended my cousin Vincent's wedding (the first big wedding in my immediate family!!) and was one of the bridesmaids; voted in this year's election and was ecstatic with the results; launched my professional website (jenaardell.com); met Melissa Galt who has truly been an inspirational and motivational force; got a twitter account (I'm addicted); took a dip into the craft fair vending scene; attended Tony Hawk's charity event where I met Bam Margera; was a semi-full-time nanny for four weeks; worked a 12 hour shift on Thanksgiving at the L.A. auto show where I finally got to sit in a Smart Car; bought far too many things for myself on ebay; got over my annual winter cold; and was able to see one of my all-time favorite movies "Sunset Blvd" in theatres (58 years after its release) as introduced by Nancy Olson, one of the few remaining cast members!! And in less than one week, I will be heading home to spend the holidays with my family and friends. :)

And now we're up-to-date...

JENAARDELL.COM LAUNCHED!!

My website finally been launched!! Please check it out. :) jenaardell.com

Etsy Shop Update!!

Keep summer alive all year round!!

Check out the latest additions to my etsy shop:

http://jenaardell.etsy.com

KKP weekend in review!!

andrea and i spent the weekend visiting my friend kyle at slippery rock, PA this weekend... here's how it went:

7:27 PM - met andrea en route
11:00 PM - arrived at penn state/left andrea's car near her friend's apartment

11:30 PM - kyle picked us and we embarked on our trip to slippery rock

3:01 AM - arrived at kyle's apt.

after we toured kyle's apartment, andrea passed out on the couch and i made kyle give me a back massage. we probably went to bed around 4 am.

the next morning we walked through town and kyle gave us a tour of slippery rock university's campus where he is finishing up his master's degree. i shot a lot of photos of andrea (who is always a willing model) and kyle (who is uhhh, not so much but he was moderately patient with us). it was pretty hot outside -- which i wasn't expecting. we walked back to kyle's apartment; shot a few more photos; and andrea found kyle's "missing" keys. ugh, boys. after we browsed (and made fun of) party city's halloween costume inventory, we headed to Pittsburgh where we ate some REALLLLLY good thai food. our waitress was extremely pleasant, she even hooked us up with 6 MORE fortune cookies after we gushed about how good they were. Mmmm!! after dinner, we parked near a cluster of bars and clubs and walked around the docks. then we headed up the hill so i could take some night shots of the city. the skyline was pretty impressive and overall, Pittsburgh was much more appealing than i imagined. andrea and i ducked in a grumpy ice cream shop near closing time and managed to get ice cream cones. "do you have sprinkles?" andrea was almost afraid to ask. "ugh, yeah," the owner sighed. "as long as you don't get them on my floor." we were all pretty tired on our way back to kyle's but after a mini back massage session, we got our second winds and filmed some hilarious videos of awkward relationship moments (based solely on real-life events). after laughing hysterically at the finished products, we watched "Juno" and went to bed around 4:30 or 5:00 am. we slept in til 11 am; packed up our belongings; took some g'bye photos and were on our way. stooping to an all-new desperation, we managed to give each other massages during the car ride. at one point kyle was massaging andrea's knee while she was massaging my hand because it was ailing after i massaged kyle's back. we're obsessed!!

1:03 PM - left slippery rock

3:30 PM - arrived at penn state/i drove andrea's car to new jersey

7:00 PM - arrived in new jersey. ate chinese food with my mom and her beau.

andrea still had two more hours of driving ahead of herself.

total time i spent in a vehicle during the entire weekend: approx. 13.5 hours

andrea's total time spent in a vehicle during the entire weekend: approx. 18 hours

...but it was worth it!!

Where you can find me...

My etsy shop along with a brief interview will be featured in Martha's Blog "The Dancing Monkey Jewelry Chronicles" TODAY. :)

You can also find me on TheOnesWeLove.org

My "Pool Triptych" print is featured in Casa Sugar's Summer Style: Pool Photography blog.

I contributed to The Star Ledger's Great Destinations book this summer. You can find out more info about the project here.

My self portrait "Eve" was featured on Catherine Buca's Sunday Flickr Favorites (for July 27th) as well as my photo "Chinako on the Polaroid floor" (for June 29th).

And here is a link to my profile on JPG Magazine.