jamaica

yes, it's true. i disappeared from twitter, facebook and my blog to go on a "honeymoon-esque" vacation with my friend sarah to JAMAICA!!

not only did we indulge ourselves in true vacation activities like coral reef scuba diving,


we hung with the locals,


ate like real jamaicans,


rode with leopold the taxi driver to see


real life alligators (this is not fake),


and watched amazing sunsets



after some long, hard days!


the best part though was spending time with my friend that i love


and making some new ones in the process!


love,
janelle

simple pleasures

it's the simple pleasures that make me happy to be alive. lately some of those things have been....

sitting in my office with the curtains pulled half down. it's dark & cozy & lovely. today i even lit a candle. shh.. don't tell.

taking guitar lessons at mc cabes guitar shop in santa monica. i need to bring my flip camera in and share a video. our A-MAZING and patient teacher encourages us to sing along to the songs as we play them. i can't sing. nor can half the people in the class. it would be classic youtube footage.

coffee. HELLO PEOPLE! who knew it could become such a comforting addiction?

early mornings. i went running at 6:15am today... mostly because i wanted to have time to drink coffee. who have i turned into?!?

and fun websites. some of my favorites of the moment include:

My Parents Were Awesome
can i PLEASE have all of their old clothes?

Expense A Steak
a website for the dishonest few that allows you to enter the total cost of your expensive meal and they'll give you a page of fake (but convincingly crumpled) receipts for work-related expenses. don't worry work people who are reading my blog. i wouldn't use this in a million years! :)

not-at-all meaningful restlessness

today i am feeling a little restless. not the kind that's important. just not-at-all meanfingful restlessness. i'm not sure why i'm feeling this way because i am most likely one of the last people in this entire world that should complain about having to stay in one place for any extended amount of time. in my mind i said to myself earlier "i think it's time for another trip" and then REMEMBERED that oh yes, i was in new york less than a week ago and will be in nashville & jamaica (you read that correctly) about seven short days from now.

i think that my feelings of restlessness come from two things.

first, the weather. how boring is that? but it's true. i got a small taste of a real fall last week when i was in nyc and it reminded me, yet again, that LA has never and will NEVER change seasons. this makes me sad. EVERY SINGLE YEAR. i eventually end of being thankful for it, but for now, i'm just going to complain :)

second, i start to over-analyze my future. am i going to turn around one day and have to quit living without quite as much adventure? i really hope not. i hope that somehow, through some amazing circumstances, i will be able to have kids, keep my job, and still run around the world as i please. wishful thinking. but i plan on making it happen.

i'm sure i'll look back on this blog one day and laugh at myself. oh well.

today's cure for restlessness? a little shopping trip. i made a lunch time trip to free people and bought these jeans. it was a little splurge but also very fun!





i also spent most of my day listening to the where the wild things are soundtrack which you can stream for free HERE. the soundtrack features karen o from the yeah yeah yeah's. take a listen and let me know what you think!

one more thing. i added the following books to my reading list today. i am most likely going to be reading most of these in jamaica... if you have any thoughts on the following, please share!

Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light
amber recommended this book as she transitions out of living in NYC to Washington DC for a new job (CONGRATS!) this week. her favorite quote... "though there has been plenty of suffering and tears, there has not been one moment of regret. i am happy to do god's will." such an important thing to remember as we travel through the ups and downs of life.

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
i went to my old church rock harbor this week and was reminded of the brilliance of john piper. it's the simple things that matter and this book focuses on living with a single passion... displaying god's supreme excellence in all spheres of life. ps you can download a pdf of the book for free by clicking on the link above.

loving public transportation. again.

I LOVE public transportation. There’s something that is just so adventurous about it.

Right now I am sitting on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner cruising away from Downtown Los Angeles, heading to San Diego. I’ve only done this one other time- a few years back for work- and I remember being so obsessed with this specific train ride along the coast. That time, I rode early in the morning, around 8am. I became intrigued by the runners on the beach, the different environments that you go through as you cruise along (downtown LA, suburban Fullerton, beachy San Clemente and then fabulous San Diego) and found myself making up stories about the different places I passed through in my head.

This specific trip to San Diego has been planned for awhile. My college friend & San Diego native, Ruth is a HUGE Padres fan and is always planning SD adventures. Since I’m not always home, I’ve missed quite a few of the opps…..But after I decided that getting on yet another plane to trek out to Austin City Limits was probably not the BEST idea (although I’d DIE to be there right now), I knew that this would be the perfect chance to make it down for the Padres game and hang sess.

Because sitting in traffic on a Saturday is NOT my idea of a good time, the train became the perfect solution for this little excursion. So here I am, being a complete nerd… listening to my train ride playlist, making up stories about every group of people that we pass by and enjoying my time on the train.

If only the lady sitting across from me would quit sneezing. Swing flu! Ahh! She’s freaking me out just a bit.

Ah, public transportation.

A sampling of my TRP (Train Ride Playlist, of course):

Fleet Foxes- White Winter Hymnal
Feist- I Feel It All
Deathcab for Cutie- Your New Twin Size Bed
Arcade Fire- Rebellion (Lies)

Download it HERE!

marissa

i have a sister who happens to be one of my favorite people on the planet. my little sis knows everything there is to know about me, can finish my sentences and is easily picked out of a crowd by my co-workers that have NEVER met her as "oh yeah, no doubt, that's definitely janelle's sister."

MOST importantly, my sister is one of the most selfless, caring, sensitive, patient, kind-hearted, loving.... (am i making you sick yet?) people i know. she'll stop anything she's doing to listen to a story, have adult conversations like a pro, laugh and/or cry on cue, look after kids like no one's business and deeply cares about her friendships exactly the way they should be.

she's my best friend, my bitch (don't ask), and the glue that holds our family together. shout out to the sista.. i love you!

#wonderwomanwednesday

i am still trying to catch onto the whole twitter world. what exactly does RT mean and when do you use it? if i wanted to be a part of #newmusicmonday do i just type that and put in band names? and how the heck does everyone learn all these codes? it reminds me of the secrets that you needed to know for super mario brothers back in the day. and if you were half as nerdy as i was (okay, and still am!), you somehow knew all those secrets without the help of the internet... my how things have changed!

anyhow, it's not monday.. or even tuesday... so i've decided to make wonder woman wednesday. and for my own intents and purposes, i'm going to call it #wonderwomanwednesday.

#wonderwomanwednesday is going to feature some of my new favorite songs, sung by some of my favorite female singer/songwriters.

here's some of my favorite leading ladies of this week, along with their twitter names, just in case you're interested. :)

@joywilliams
her ep's "songs from this" and "songs from that" were #54 and #58 on the itunes pop chart today! nice work guys! you can purchase this here & that here. they're only $4.95 each and definitely worth every penny.

@ingridmusic
ingrid has been one of my favorite's for a long time. let's face it, i love her overly female lyrics.

"Never thought I could love anyone but myself.
Now I know I can't love anyone but you.
You make me think that maybe I won't die alone.
Maybe I won't die alone."

oh, ingrid.

she just released a new album & it's been on my itunes rotation this week. sample a song here and then BUY THE ALBUM here!

and last but not least, my other favorite songstress of this week:

@afinefrenzy
i was addicted to one of alison (a fine frenzy's) songs called come on, come out on her last album "one cell in the sea." i was influenced to buy her new album "bomb in a birdcage" because it was only $3.99 on amazon.com. i mean, what's the worst that could happen? that's only like 1.5 yogurtlands. i was definitely pleasantly surprised by her new album. unfortunately it's not $3.99 anymore (sorry, i should have blogged yesterday) but you can get it for $8.99 here and enjoy more chick songs than you ever dreamed you could experience!

on relationships, blah, blah, blah.

it amazes me how much time i spend talking about relationships. my dear friends (you know who you are) put up with me venting about this situation, and that guy... the ones that i love.. and the ones that i hate. i always go back and forth- am i the lucky 27 year-old who has had the chance the travel the world, live my dreams and experience huge freedom at such a young age? i'd say the answer is yes. i run around like a mad-woman, jumping from this city to the next, visiting friends living in all corners of the world, mostly just because i can. and that's a blessing.

but in certain moments the loneliness sets in. and it's in those moments that i make feeble attempts to turn to god for patience, self-control and foresight. a good friend questioned me on this the other night... how can a faithful person like myself not have the ability to turn over this one part of my life? good question that definitely has me thinking. i'd like to try and work on that, challenge myself to trust in a real way. it's a healthy challenge that i'm willing to undertake. we'll see how it goes.

but for now, i'll count my blessings. the next couple months have so much adventure planned: visiting new york in the fall (my FAVORITE time of year), another nashville excursion, and a spontaneous trip to JAMAICA with sarah. yes, life is good.