Keepin’ It Real February 2014

Good bye February! You were a blah sort of month. Being neither long enough to make any decent memories or short enough to skip through. March is a busy month for me. I cannot decide if I am excited about that or if I will indeed miss the carefree easiness of February. February is in no rush. It is the baby sibling of all of the other months. No responsibilities go to it. It is just a wee little thing.

Edited to add: . My husband (the sweet eternal optimist) was horrified at my less than stellar review of his birthday month.

Sorry Sweetie! I will add some happy memories to February.

The highlights:

My husband’s birthday

Discovering three wonderful new restaurants

Happy Belated Birthday Auntie M!

My sweet mom surprising me with chicken pot pie

My amazing friend Jessica painted my bathroom (sharing soon!)

A night out with girlfriends around a firepit

True Detective

My husband surprising me by coming home again after all ready having left for work to give me one last good bye kiss for the day

The Lego Movie

Many snuggling mornings

My nephew had his birthday and sweet birthday party

A three hour phone call with a good friend

I got to hold a beautiful baby girl

And she liked me more than my sister*

Wow! I guess February was a pretty good month, afterall!

Okay, enough of that. Let’s get real!:

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Look! The carpet at the Pantages Theater is Humboldt’s twin! Poor Humboldt. I can’t. I just can’t stop embarrasing it.

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Outfit outtakes.

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Tonight for dinner I made homemade biscuits with homemade macaroni and cheese with fruit salad.

But last night, the kids and I had Trader Joes frozen breaded chicken tenders, oven fries with the most amazing new sauce that I have recently whipped up after seeing it numerous times online. Oh, the guilt! But it was so good! If you cannot wait for me to ever get to that post (cause, I mean, my picture of it is so good. How could you wait for such a delicacy? I should totally be getting a call from Bon Appetite any day). And really, who knows when that will be? Here is the easiest dipping recipe.

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My daughter and son have both been working on giant paintings of our dogs in their art class. I will update when they are both finished, because I simply cannot wait. Of course, I probably will not get them framed until next November when the framing deals happen again.

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I’ve started a post that is going to take me a long time to complete. I will be reviewing and rating around twelve different mascaras. It might have to be broken down into two posts. We will see. Here is the first mascara I have started.

Why am I doing this? Well, I purchased a huge mascara sampler from Sephora and just now opened it. And I have always wanted to be a scientist. So. Mascara. Check. Experiment. Check. Scientist Jenni. ????

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Remember when I bought my husband that ice cream maker that I he always never wanted for Christmas? Well, I finally got around to ordering containers to start making my ice cream this week. For friends and family this is great news, because I cannot possibly eat all of the ice cream I will be experimenting with. I hope to perfect them now so I can share the recipes in the summer!

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And on Wednesday night I made two small batches of homemade ice cream. One vanilla and one cinnamon. Each one has a certain twist. Brynne, you can guess what that is! The only way I will make homemade ice cream…

Unfortunately (or fortunately for my diet), ice cream and my tummy do not mix. So I just get a small taste of the stuff before passing it along. Sigh.

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I also remember promising certain posts in January’s Keepin’ It Real that never made it up in February! I wrote my children a different letter instead and Stick In The Mud will go up in March. Also, My Husband’s Secret is being posted on Monday!

I really did this update so I could do a screen shot of a screen shot of my blog. I find this hilarious. I might have a problem.

I liked doing two outfit posts a week this month instead of one. What did you think? Less or more outfit posts?

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You know that feeling you get the night before Christmas? That is the feeling I am having about my year blog giveaway! It starts March 10th and I am so excited!

Did you have a good February? Are you excited about March? Any fun memories to share?

*This is unfortunately not true and was added just to razz my little sis. Which is the perfect way to end the little sibling month of February! ; ). I do love you, Mandi!

18 thoughts on “Keepin’ It Real February 2014

    • Thank you Mark. I appreciate that! This post is always such a random compilation. I appreciate the kind words!

      Have a marvelous weekend!

      Jenni

    • Thank you Jessica! I cannot wait to finish the experiment. Although, I just started it so it will be awhile! I loved your post about your daughter’s birthday party today. Wow! So awesome!

      Have a super Saturday!

      Jenni

  1. I look forward to your mascara review! I don’t wear mascara, because I have teeny tiny eyelashes and mascara doesn’t make a huge difference anyway. Maybe your review will change my mind.

    • Thank you Rachel! I think your eyelashes look great. I have sparse eyelashes. It is because I always pull my mascara off and with it my eyelashes. Not a good habit!

      I will try to finish it ASAP. My daughter has a kit too and she is happy to give her opinion. Fun times!

      Have a great weekend!

      Jenni

  2. Just got done reading you post today (it is such a little treat each day to do so), and had to comment that I have several brand new tubes of Mac mascara if you want them for your experiment. Also, two outfit posts a week are great, don’t cut it back:)) Super excited about the year anniversary!!! Still so proud of you and truly look forward each day to reading your posts!!

    • Thank you Amy! I would love one of those tubes of Mac. I was just lamenting that I had used my one and given the other to my daughter. They are all gone and I wanted to record the way they performed on my eyelashes. That would be so awesome.

      You are such a great friend. Thank you so much for commenting! Especially about the outfit posts, because I am never sure. I appreciate it!

      Have fun tomorrow! I just took a sleeping pill so hopefully I can get some sleep tonight! : )

      I appreciate our friendship so much! Have a great weekend!

      Jenni

    • Thank you Cynthia! I think they are pretty talented. ; )

      So far I have only opened two tubes of the mascara. It is interesting that the one I thought I loved at first turned into a horrid mess by the end of the day. My first rating was a ten and it dropped to a five!

      Have a lovely weekend!

      Jenni

  3. Your kid’s pictures of the dogs are progressing beautifully! I can’t wait to see them when they are done. I always enjoy all your posts. The scientist comment made me smile because it is interesting that sometimes the things that seem least like “us” are things we end up liking more or doing much better at than we thought.

    • Thank you! The picture of Ollie is done now. I will send you a picture tomorrow! Murphy’s should be finished next week.

      I am hoping I can do the experiment justice. I want to make sure I am fair and thorough. I do enjoy doing comparisons so much! Thanks for your kind insightful words!

      Have a splendid Saturday!

      Jenni

  4. I love the peek at your beautiful dog paintings! Now bring on March (my birthday month…it’s a good month). Oh, and always more outfit posts- love your style, girl!

    And I love dipping sauce recipes…especially for fries, my favourite! (while ordering books for my store, I go through these big catalogues of everything and I usually skip through the cookbooks. Except one day I came across a book of french fry and dip recipes and it looked so good I immediately went out to another bookstore and bought myself a copy!)

      • Thank you Sarah! I knew what you meant. : ). Woozy on cough syrup is the best way to be.

        I hate that I have to patiently wait to frame them and then yang them. Patience used to be my biggest struggle. Now I have to rely on it more and more as I get older. It is hard!

        Have a restful night!

        Jenni

    • Thank you so much Sarah! I appreciate the style comments and your input on weekly outfit posts!

      Oh my gosh! I must find that cookbook! It sounds so amazing! I would love that book. It is so different than all of the other books out there.

      Have a delightful weekend!

      Jenni

  5. Hardy har har! I think that pretty baby girl likes everyone. Gosh, she’s so precious! My fave Feb moments were Sea World, my lil guy’s bday party, having the kids over while you were in LA and them helping me play this escape the room game online (they’re both so brilliant!), and finally getting over that horrid cold/flu that was going around. Oh, and my brother-in-law’s b-day! I still owe him a present. Tell him next time I see him, he’ll be able to order more things on that magical place called Amazon. I love you too, and I suppose any of longer months of 31 days would be dedicated for the much, much, MUCH older siblings? Hmmmm? Lol! Xoxoxo

    • Thank you! Oh, I set myself up for that one, didn’t I?! There are so many darn older months. I will never look at them the same again.

      The kids had a great time, too. My son especially loved all of those snacks. Thank you! I am reading a great book right now. I will have to share it with you. It is funny, unlike the one you just read!

      I love you! Remind me about watching your son in the next two weekends!

      Jenni

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