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back to you, monday

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It was a super laid-back weekend. We always have a flux of visitors at our house so things stay interesting. 
New developments in life that I may have to introduce soon…until then, I am happy and productive and things are smooth and calm…
Time is a wonderful healer and seasons have a way of revival.

 xo
j

of labor-day’s weekend

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This past weekend I decided last-minute to make the journey back to my parents’ house in Minot for a few days. I hitched a ride with my good pal Paul, and we took the scenic route through small town, ND. Usually when I go to Minot, I’ll head north then west, or west then north — but we took the backroads, clear-cut diagonal route.
From our stop in Harvey, ND — payphones, roast beef sandwiches, and the most delicious and gigantic ice cream cone of the decade — for just $1.50!
 Me & my delectable treat. Drooling thinking about it.

A farm in Harvey, ND


• • • • •


I was invited to attend the Black Eyed Peas concert with family and we had a blast. Good music and great company for such a worthy cause — Minot flood relief. Josh Duhamel made an appearance and some heartfelt opening remarks, then Fergie and her crew rocked the stage. It was unforgettable!
 My sister & I before the Black Eyed Peas concert

Waiting for the concert to begin…with thousands of other people! The turnout was unbelievable.

BEP lit up the sky with lasers and confetti! **WOW**

 Aunt Kelly, me, cousin Lindsey and Uncle David after the concert!  
• • • • •

There was plenty of family time and relaxing — grilling, games, and good company! I was never bored, hungry, or tired. Just right.

Mom & Grandma ponder garden things. Wish I could have gotten a soundbyte from this conversation.

After dinner, a ginormous and somewhat competitive game of croquet occurred. No one was hurt.



Croquet champs, “Team Alice” 

Olive: still cute, still doing Olive things
• • • • •
I am back in the studio — which isn’t too far, since I just converted the garage at my house into my studio space! (!!!!!) I am so excited about this. I literally walk 25 feet from my studio and I’m at my house. Can I get an AMEN to NO MORE DRIVING HOME FROM SCHOOL AT 3am?!? 
I hope you enjoyed Labor Day Weekend as much as I did. I am so happy to be in a new place (finally settled) and loving the season. This. Is. My. Favorite. Time of year! Fall, fall, fall, fall, fall.
best,
jc

ready, set, go

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I am in a new place — it’s uncomfortable as new can be. It’s exciting. It’s…new, to me.

Just looking for patience and kindness and determination and rest. I’m exhausted.

The only thing today — and moving — has made me long to do is give away everything I own and travel anywhere. Sometime.

Here are a few snaps from this weekend…

Be well, friends!
j

worth mentioning: my parents

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I completely failed to address a momentous occasion that occurred this past week. My parents celebrated 30 years of marriage on 14 August. That’s 30 years of hanging out with each other all the time, raising kids, dogs, (and at one point, a duck), kids that acted like dogs, and picking up after kids and dogs.

All joking aside, I am extremely privileged to have such wonderful parents. I recall days when Dad had more hair and Mom had three toddlers in tow at any given time, two of them crying (on behalf of all the times it was me crying, I’m sorry Mom). Oh, the things they’ve been through…

• Orchestrating a family of seven for church every Sunday, and getting there on time (or seven minutes late)

• Single-handedly raising five children through:
      * Diapers
      * Surly childhood days
      * Sugar highs
      * Cooking lessons (24/7 supervision of the stove)
      * Surly Pre-teen years
      * Surly Post-teen years
      * Etc.

• About 23948719234 birthday parties

• Talking their girls out of wearing boys’ clothes, talking their boys out of wearing girls’ clothes

• Driving lessons

• Plenty of car accidents (I will take the blunt of the blame on this one)

• Buying a lake cabin, knocking said lake cabin down, building a new lake cabin

• Moving kids around (or in some cases, kids moving back in 🙂 )

• Florida, New York, and Oregon family vacations (In Dad’s words, “We were there!”)

• One child’s wedding

• Two minivans 

• Three dogs, 90 billion turtles

• Four other childrens’ breakups (not mentioning any names here)

• Proms x 1001349

• Five high school graduations

• Zero children joining the circus

• Coordinating 2349587 dentist, doctor, chiropractor, and orthodontist appointments as well as emergency room visits

• There isn’t even a number that exists to explain how many times the toilet overflowed

• Etc.

I haven’t been around all 30 years to witness the extent of their marriage, but from what I have seen I am completely enamored. I could only hope to be as lucky to someday experience their kind of love and happiness.

Without them…there would be no me!

+

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xo
j

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TODAY COULD POSSIBLY BE THE LAST TRUE FREE DAY OF MY LIFE. I mean it…kind of…okay, it’s an exaggeration. But right now all I can consider is life is about shift gears from Fun in the Summer.

See, today is the second to last day of summer before I begin my BFA year on Monday. That means:

01) Tomorrow I’ll be sweating like a mad woman trying to gather my things for the first day of class, so it can look like I was very productive (design-wise) over the summer (which in some ways, I truly was)

II) Monday – Thursday I will have class, and am expected to work 8-hour days on my project until November

C) Fridays I am expected to work 8 hour days on my project

4) Saturdays and Sundays will be catchup days (except for every other Saturday and Sunday, when I’ll be working a 24 hr shift at my job)

V) Come November when my project is said and done, I will hopefully have/be knees deep in finding an internship ANYWHERE for the spring semester (I would really love to go anywhere but this area…to be somewhere new and fun!) Which means getting my portfolio to the gym for a workout to GET IN SHAPE.

F) Come said internship time (January-ish) I will be, well, interning! Until approximately whenever. Forever?

Seven) In May, I get a shiny diploma/walk across a stage in my younger sister’s college graduation garb (yes, I said younger sister).

VIII) Then it’s Look-for-Big-Person-Job Time!

So you can see exactly why I’m sitting at Starbucks right now drinking tea and waving off flies that are attacking me, because they probably know that I’m hanging by an emotional thread and want to crawl in bed and wake up next June!

• • • • •

Enjoy today — I know I am especially. I’ve been making trips back and forth to the thrift store, dropping off donations from apartment cleaning/moving prep.

xo
j