no rain no gain

It's easy on gray rainy days, such as this one, it's easy for me to become kinda Debbie Downer about it, especially since we've been getting spoiled with Summer sneak peak weather.  But since we are getting fewer and fewer rain cloud days, and we're getting closer to hot weather (so excited, totes already have about a dozen swim suits picked out already), I've found a cooler, rainier day tossed into the mix once in a while is kind of a nice change of scenery.  Although I do kind of feel like a cotton headed ninnymuggins for wearing rain boots with a summer dress yesterday when it was warm, and sandals today...  that's what happens when you get dressed before looking outside your bedroom window.  I could have asked Siri what the weather was looking like today, but Siri and I are taking some time apart.  Every time I ask her something, she basically tells me she's "busy," probably researching who most recently got knocked off of DWTS (or Dancing with the Stars for those of you who don't have time to watch TV because you're doing grown up stuff.  To which I stick my tongue out and give one of those mouth farty noises).  Anyways, here are my favorite joys of the rain cloud day.
- Love is a Four Letter Word, aka Jason Mraz's new album.  "Be Honest" one of my top favorites, but almost every single song on this album is sweet and delicious, it's pretty much an audio dessert.  Which, unlike the normal kind of dessert, does not make my thighs jiggle, but instead makes my bum sway.  #upgrade
- The color scheme of the gray sky with the bright green that has decided to blanket Boise recently.  I don't know why, but the green sky combined with rainy mist makes me giddy.  While taking above picture I said out loud to myself "Look at this leaf!  Just how green is this leaf?"  Some of the local furry yard dwellers were slightly judgmental.
- Gettin' my chi with some Chai Tea.  Need I say more?
- Jamie Cullum plays in my car, on my laptop, or on my pod basically nonstop.  If Jazz and Pop had a baby, that love child would be he who goes by Jamie Cullum, for reals.  I make mixes of my favorites, but Twentysomething is a great album.    
Find your favorite parts of the rain and let me know what they are.  Besides that, if you need me I will be driving in the rain, looking at the geen, listening to Jamie Cullum, drinking chai tea, and basically anything besides studying for my test that I keep rescheduling and not studying for!

P.S. Possible job interview that could lead to possible booty kicking job on the horizon.  I'll let you know more when I do! 

a promise and a list

I know that by looking at little bloggypants over here, you would probably not guess that I take pictures beyond those on my instagram (@daniiijackson) or on my iPhone... but I for reals do.  And the Bay area was perfect for breaking in our new and first semi nice camera.  Semi nice camera's are a new thing to me, most camera apparatus I have used in the past generally come with a setting in which you can put animated birthday hats on your head, or appear to be in France.  Which produces little picture gems such as this one:

But does not produce what a hipster would refer to as "photography."  And some of the pictures I took out turned out halfway passable as non-photography.  And I understand the title of "Vacation Post Part One" sort of necessitates following parts...  And just as soon as I find my camera cord, which

i pinky promise 

to do by the end of this weekend, I will share them.  And by the way, pinky promises are very sacred to me.

And now, a little list for your Wednesday:

Things from this Week that I Will Consider Doing Differently Next Time

- Getting out of the shower and shaking some thang in the bathroom mirror, only to turn and realize that the door, that leads to the bedroom, that has a window that is directly looking into my bathroom is open.  And there may or may not have been some singing and choreographed dancing to "Sexy and I Know It." No one will ever know.  Except the neighbors who live directly across from our window.  They know.

- Feeding a toddler 4 popsicles before 10 am.  No further explanation.

- Asking someone to hold my frozen yogurt popsicle while I take a shower.  Turns out that's an unreasonable request, at least according to my boyfriend who repeatedly asked "Did you seriously ask me to hold a frozen treat for you while you were in the shower?  Who asks someone to do that?"  But at least he put it in a zip loc in the freezer for me, so maybe that one actually goes down as a WIN in my book. #winning

- Forgetting that when I'm driving in my car, people can actually see inside.  Does anyone else get in that "I'm in my own personal car where I can sing, dance and pick my nose if I want to and no one will see meeeee" zones whilst driving?  It's a little thing I do, and it has led to some seriously awkward stop light sits.

  

banana bread: making tuesdays awesome since 9 am this morning

Nicklaus has a most wonderful little grandmama, who not only has an adorable scottish accent (still waiting for the perfect moment to ask her to say "They're ALWAYS after me lucky charms!"), but she also has this banana bread recipe that she has shared with us that produces little golden muffins of banana heaven. I've been eating a little bit healthier lately, following a diet I have personally designed and named the "Vegetarian Except for Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa Salads... Oh and Fish Too" diet.  I like these as a dessert.  They have a little too much sugar and butter for me to consider this a brag-worthy breakfast (meaning I WILL eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  But there will just be no bragging of it afterwards, and if anyone notices I will distract them.  Just kidding.  Just kidding about being just kidding.  Wait... huh?  Now you're so confused that you don't even know what I'm talking about.  And that ladies and gentlemen, is the art of distraction.) But they do make a pretty guilt-free dessert, and still have just enough sweetness to keep me from shoving handfuls of mint Newman-O's into my mouth. Which, by the way, if you don't know what Newman-O's are, well then you simply have not lived.  But I digress.  Fact: 'nanner bread is the only way I will eat bananas.  Fruit and I have very big issues with texture, but we're working on them and only time will tell if we are able to put that behind us and grow together in the same direction, putting our differences behind us.  We go to therapy twice weekly, fruit and I.  

Wow.

Without further ado, Grandma Aileen's Banana Bread, baby! 

Ingredients

3 mashed, ripened bananas

1 stick butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

A splash of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour (golden stars given if you use wheat flour)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Mix, pour into muffin tins or loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees until tops of muffins or loaf is golden.

Yahtzee. 

dani jackson, advice columnist?

*Clearly, anyone who makes a face like this, and takes a picture of it, not really someone you should be taking advice from...

Like I enjoy doing, I will start off this "advice" post by saying, I have pretty much no qualifications, or any reason really to think I should give advice.  I don't particularly know if I give good advice.  In fact, this advice column is really unique in the sense that no one has really asked for my advice... but I thought "Dani Jackson, girl who spouts out un-asked-for opinions" wouldn't quite draw the readers in...

So, no I do not have any Dr. Phil experience, but I am alive, and I do get annoyed/annoy other people from time to time.  In my opinion, this is enough to give advice.  Here are a few little nuggets for you to digest.

- Boys: If we are fighting, do not ask the question "Are you serious?" or anything of the like.  If we are arguing, I am absolutely serious about each and everything I say.  More than that, I am passionate about each thing I say as well.  Asking "Are you serious?"  not only wastes time and a lot of mouth energy on your part, but odds are it will make me want to be a girl who seriously slaps you.  Don't make me be that girl.  

- Girls: Don't talk *crap about your friends, ever.  Crap includes anything you would probably not say word for word to someones face.  I understand the need to "vent," but that's why we have Moms, boyfriends, sisters, and a lot of other people who really don't care.  You tell these people, because you know that's where the conversation is going to end.  But telling something about one girlfriend to another, you know that's going to spread.  

And don't facilitate the crap!  If Friend A starts talking to you about what Friend B was saying at your last get together, seriously walk away.  Nothing screams "I'MANAWFULFRIEND!" like when a friend starts trash talking another one of their friends to you, because guess who those two are talking about when you're not around.  It's a baaad sign.  Don't send it, and when you see it, well... don't say I didn't warn you.

-Boys: Posting endless song lyrics and quotes about how much you respect women and how every woman deserves to be treated like a princess is not attractive.  It doesn't make you look like a diamond in the rough.  Also don't post things about how "good guys always finish last, I'm always in the friend zone."  Yeah, now you are.  You just single handedly placed yourself into that file.  Girls don't like "arrogance," they like a guy who likes himself and thinks he's a good guy and is proud of it.  And if I were feeling really inspirational I might even through in a #YOLO, right about there.

-Girls: Don't be afraid to be smart, or funny, or weird, or goofy.  I feel like as a girl, the number one thing I should always be aiming to be is pretty or hot, and personally, I find that pretty boring.  I mean, if I woke up looking like ScarJo (which is just a little nickname I have for my close, personal friend Scarlett Johansson), I would probably not be a complainer (I would also probably give a few victorious fist pumps).  But let's aim to be more like Kristen Wiig, or Tina Fey, or Drew Barrymore.  Why are these women successful?  Because they aren't afraid to be ugly and goofy and offer something to the table.  

-Boys: Don't fart in front of us in public.  There is literally no way I can react that doesn't make me feel uncomfortable.  Do I ignore it?  Comment?  Nope, not finding anyway I can get out of this without being awkward.  And on top of that, now it stinks.  So overall, thanks.

-Girls: Why are we always hating on other girls?  Because last I checked, we all have quite a bit in common.  So why are we in constant competition?  I'm going to be the first to drop out of this secret war we never talk about (but don't we all know what I'm talking about here?), and say I'm not competing anymore.  The advice part?  Uhm, join me?

That's about all I got.  So if you're feeling me, let me know.  Oh, and if you have any actual situation you would like some complimentary advice* on, let me know!  Send it to this handy dandy Facebook page made for this blog!

*Advice given has not been proven or tested to work, and may, in reality, be a bad idea and the receiver of said advice should proceed with caution and not punch the advice giver in the face if advice does not yield desired results.  And although advice is complimentary, the giver of the advice will accept gifts if the advice, against all odds, seems to help.  You down?

my life lately according to instagram

So far, my spring is off to a pretty great start.  Weather is still on and off, but when it's on, it's super spot on.  Here's to bright colors, shorts and flip flops!  And I will probably be shaking my booty off in a celebratory victory dance once school is out.  Choreography for said dance will be in the works, and of course I'm taking suggestions.  I'm personally a big fan of the glorious pelvic thrust, but I'm willing to shake things up.

And if you have ever had a salad from Cafe Rio, you understand why it deserves a portrait taken of it.  Because it is quite simply a beautiful thing.  Cafe Rio just produces edible artwork masterpieces.  #mouthfiesta

And I got to watch my boyfriend Jack Nicklaus it up on the links.  I'm becoming so fluent in my shorthand colloquial golf lingo, it is to be envied.

Now excuse me, for a pantless toddler is beckoning me to help her wipe her "nose booders," so business is calling.

happy birthday, morgi poo!

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday to my sweetest friend Morgan!  

This lovely lady has known me since I was 12, and still loves me anyway, which explains why I consider her to be one of the most wonderful people times a thousand!

Insert embarrassing, random, furry hat picture here 

Gray Sweatshirts 4 LIFE

Happy Birthday Morgi Poo! 

if one thing can be said for mill valley it's that it is gorgeous... and has the best sandwich ever (vacation part one)

For our spring break/4 year anniversary we decided to stay with my Grandpa in a little town called Cotati, in the bay area.  We left at about 7 am (original plan 6 am, no matter what, every trip, time of departure always gets postponed an hour), and got in about 5:30 pm.  Cotati is right next to Sonoma so the scenery was uhh-mazing, living in Idaho I'm so used to the typical desert landscape so on this trip I had a hard time tearing my eyeballs away from things like the rolling green hills and seaside.  AND THE COWS!  They were everywhere just doing their cow thing, but for some reason seeing them scattered along the hillside was so beautiful.  To be able to go from rolling green cow-sprinkled hillsides to pool-side palm trees in less than 2 minutes gave my tummy little springtime butterflies.

But the real beauty of day one was my experience with, I kid you not, the best sandwich known to mankind I think (I'm still in the process of polling everyone).  In Mill Valley, which is a great town a little inland from San Francisco, there's this great french bistro that I make a habit of frequenting.  DO YOU SEE THOSE FRUIT TARTS?!  Nothing says I'm on vacation like fruit tarts.  But my favorite meal they offer is the oven roasted chicken and pesto sandwich on fresh baguette.  It was SO worth breaking the pescetarian diet we've been trying to stick to.  Nick had an avacadoey turkey some kind of wonderful sandwich and helped me finish mine.  Needless to say, the meal slightly blew our minds.  It put me in such a good mood that when a woman passing by on the street mistook me for someone else, got real close to the window by our table waving an smiling, I wasn't even uncomfortable.  In fact, it made the meal that much more enjoyable.  I waved back with a smile that said "HEY lady!  You're going to be a little embarrassed in a moment when you realize I'm not who you think I am, but for now I'm going to smile back and wave, and we can be friends anyway!"

Because that's what good food does to us.  Good food = good mood = less awkward moments.  And cows, cows lead to a good mood too!

Go eat some good food, and maybe wave at a stranger and happy Thursday!      

finding your inner marilyn

Holy camolie no blog posts in forever!  Well March was quite a blur of a month for me, which included trips to the only city I will ever be completely and totally infatuated with (I won't drop names yet, because Boise may get her feelings hurt), merry making with relatives, and work and school, but I've been going a little light on the school lately... Beware, I've been sitting on this blog post idear for a while, so it's a bit of a doozy...


BUT!  The one thing that I have been able to squeeze into my oh-so-busy-but-not-really schedule (somewhere between episodes of Desperate Housewives, which I sometimes call "Desperate," because I do this thing where I make fun of people that shorten down TV show titles, and do it for the sake of comedy, until I can't seperate comedy from reality and I start becoming the people I'm making fun of... and I'm also really good at putting long side notes into parenthesis... it's a real art form...)  is the TV show SMASH!  Is anyone else in love with this?  It's like glee on steroids (pretty sure I heard that on a commercial)...


If you haven't quite had the time to check out SMASH or you actually have one of those busy lives filled with meaning (boo!), then allow me to outline the basic premise.  It follows a group of overly talented people, some writers, some triple threat singer/dancer/actor (which I can TOTES relate to...), producers and so on.  A writing team comes up with the idea to base a musical off of THE Marilyn Monroe (ever heard of her?), and the trials and tribulations of trying to get that musical up and running.  That's the basic idea.


I've always admired Marilyn Monroe, and who doesn't adore pinning one of those inspirational pins about how Marilyn was curvy and told everyone to shove it on Pinterest?  But just what is it about her that's so captivating?  I have to say, it was her sense of entitlement.  Anyone who's never even heard of her (not sure if such a person exists, but you know, it could happen), just one look at a picture and I guarantee that person would say she seems confident.  Everyone says that the sexiest thing a person can wear is confidence, but excuse me, last time I checked, Gap was out of stock of confidence, so where can I buy mine? (Sorry, humor isn't exactly leaking out of my pores today....)


Now, believe it or not, Marilyn and I are not exactly personal friends, although I do like referring to her on a first name basis.  Kinda the way men like to refer to their favorite sports teams like they personally are on the team (i.e. "I'm nervous, we've got like no pitching this season!" Please let me know if mine is the only one who does this...).  But I'm thinking Marilyn did not ooze sex appeal 24 hours a day.  I'm thinking somewhere there are a few scars, a few blemishes, perhaps even, dare i say it, a little cellulite she may not have been happy about.


This is about to get real here.  Prepare for a Dani overshare:
I feel like I can't really remember the last time I didn't have some kind of self improvement plan in the back of my mind.  If I get this skirt, it will look so cute!  If I whiten my teeth, I'll look so much better.  Maybe if I buy that new mascara, my eyelashes will look as long as hers!  I know these things sound silly when I write them out here.  But don't we all do this?  Don't we all have some image in our head of how we want to look, how we could look with just this and that?


I don't think Marilyn Monroe was any different.  She once was little miss Norma Jeane Moretenson.  I'm sure Norma Jean had the same kind of insecurities everyone does.  But I think when she decided to change her name, it was her way of shedding her insecurities and all those ideas of who she could be.  And she became Marilyn Monroe.


So what I am suggesting, is we should all change our names!  I really think doing so will give each of us he confidence to just be who we want to be and we will all become icons!




Ok, not for reals.  But I think I want to start trying to shed my Norma Jean, and I want to shed those thoughts that I am never what I want to be.  I want to shed the desire to continuously picture who I could be if I were ten pounds lighter, or if my skin were clearer, or my teeth whiter, or my lady lumps more... lumpy... (Say shed one more time...)


So as of today I suggest we really start trying to break that habit.  The Norma Jean effect, if you will.  I'm not saying that there was anything wrong with Marilyn as Norma Jean, and I do understand that he life was never quite fulfilled, but I do admire her for taking things into her own hands and making no apologies for who she was.


So I am going to try to start finding ways to stop picturing who I could be, and start really loving what I am.  And when I find those ways, bet your bottom dollar I'll be relaying them back to you.


What are ways that you are going to find your inner Marilyn?