The year 2011 is a mere 11 hours away, so here are some RANDOM THOUGHTS… about 2010.

1- Being a freelance journalist ROCKS. This year I built up my business into something that can actually support me. And let me tell you – having the freedom that comes with being self-employed beats working in an office/cubicle 9-5 any day! It’s a scary thing to put yourself out there, hoping and praying that you say the right things and make the right business moves to keep yourself afloat. But I did it, bobbing along the surf in the bright sunshiny sun, and by next year I hope to be SURFING the waves!

2- It was the year of the baby. I thought that was two years ago when a few of my friends hopped on the baby train, but this year, many of those friends popped out number two’s (no, not poop – their second babies silly!) and even more friends became first-time mommies. And then Jackie, my last hope of having a friend who was baby-less, got prego. Auntie Jenn Jenn Jenn is riding solo!

3- It was mine and Mike’s first full year as a married couple. He brings me flowers (a happy life is a happy wife!) and we read each other excerpts of “Macbeth” and we walk hand-in-hand in Old Montreal… errrr no we don’t. Other than some added bling, we’re still Mike and Jenn *wink* Only we are stronger… this is our 13th New Years Eve together! And I still love that boy like crazy!

4- I turned 30. I got my first face-wrinkle. I saw all the “plans” I naively made as a teenager WHOOOOSH by me in a blur of laughter and fun. And yes, I may be a full-fledged “grown-up” now who wishes she could go back and slow things down, but I’m also an adult who can appreciate the great times and memories that filled my first thirty years on this crazy earth. And it can only go uphill from here, right?

5- I started a blog and people actually came to read it. Repeatedly. More than once – loads of times, in fact! And they left comments and shared their own thoughts, and when I missed a blog day I got emails asking where I was. As a writer there’s no greater compliment or blessing than knowing people want to read what you write. And for that, my fellow blog-readers, I am TRULY grateful!

HAPPY 2011!!! Thank you to all of you for your support and looking forward to seeing you in the New Year!! xxoo

Today my bestie turns 30. I say bestie because she really is the bestest friend a girl could ever wish for, one of the most thoughtful, loyal, unconditional friends there ever was. We met on Delmark Court in Oshawa when we were 4 years old and, even though we didn’t go to the same school, we rode bikes and played marbles in the cul-de-sac, we watched Sesame Street on weekend mornings and ate eggie cups, we played with Cabbage Patch Kids, we went ice skating on homemade rinks in our backyards – we were the truest of childhood friends.

When I moved to Florida when I was 6 we remained best friends by being the best pen pals, sending countless letters and postcards, and our families usually got together every year, either when they made the long driving trek down to the Sunshine State or we flew back home to Canada. Our friendship never skipped a beat, even into our college days, with her in Ottawa and me in Montreal. She came into town for my bachelorette party and was a bridesmaid in my wedding.

And we’re both Jenns.

My friend Jenn is the absolute dearest, sweetest friend a girl could hope for. A person would consider themselves lucky to have a friend like that at some point in their lives, but I’ve been infinitely blessed because I’ve had a friend like her for my first 30 years. And I know, without a doubt, that we’ll be old and gray in nursing homes, penning letters and making phone calls, just like when we were little, even 60 years from now!

Today is Jenn’s 30th birthday, and no one in the whole wide world deserves a better day than she does. So, my bestie, I wish you nothing but a year of delicious soft-boiled eggies and finger toast, garbage candy and Nerds, colorable jackets and brown boots, groovin’ tunes by Aerosmith, funny men in downtown pubs, and a whole lot of wonderfulness! I love you with my whole heart. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN!!! xxooxxooxxooxxoo

I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS,

I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS,

I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

A few of my favorite things about Christmas…

1- The tree on Christmas morning… it’s always beautiful and naked underneath when we go to bed on Christmas Eve, and every Christmas morning, we wake up to a magically-transformed oasis of presents. Santa still comes everrrrry year, even though I’ve hit my 30s!

2- Family milestones. My uncle Tippy’s birthday was Christmas day, so every time we spent the holidays in Canada (not in Florida where I grew up) we had a birthday cake at Christmas dinner. My brother and great-grandmother also shared a birthday on New Year’s Day. I remember when she turned 100 (she passed away three months after her 102nd birthday) – I was completely hungover and the LAST place I wanted to be was the old folk’s home, but I dragged myself out of my warm cozy bed and drove there in the cold and slush and snow. Well, I can tell you, the entire nursing home was gathered in the main room downstairs, and there was a hired musician and food, and all of the residents were dressed up (the ladies had on bright red lipstick), and they threw an enormous party for my great-grandmother… and it turned out to be one of the most wonderful afternoons of my entire life.

3- Little ones… FINALLY! How blessed our family was when Serenity came just days before Christmas… having a child to spoil on Christmas ups the “magical” “fun” factor of the holidays tenfold. And so many of our friends now have kids of their own, so my Toys R Us shopping list is always full of good boys and girls!

4- THE COOKIES!! One year I made a batch of sugar cookies intricately decorated with ornamental icing and Christmas sprinkles and gave them to co-workers… and then never stopped. It’s become a tradition to decorate cookies and I usually have to do several different batches – one is with my dear friend Jess (and now her son, Michael) not to mention it’s a favorite Serenity-Auntie-Jenn project. I also do a big batch for my mom to bring home to Ottawa with me.

Each year I find new ways of packing them up. For 2010: cookies were stacked between sheets of parchment paper, piled high in Santa and reindeer-themed baking bags.

5- The hats, of course! Elf hats, paper hats from Christmas crackers, silly hat-gifts… apparently my family loves them some hat-goodness!

Get paid to talk?!?! Why didn’t I pursue this sooner?!?!?!?!

I took radio in university. I had to – every Journalism major had to take at least one broadcast class. It took me two tries to pass radio. I got an incomplete the first time around because, well, I just wasn’t good at writing for radio (how can I only put ONE thought per sentence?!) and my teacher also said he was partly to blame (although I don’t think he was). The second time I passed with flying colours. It was also sucky that we probably had the oldest radio equipment still in circulation where editing actually required the CUTTING of sound reels and taping the two ends together so it created a seamless sound – haha YEA RIGHT!)

I just didn’t feel cut out for radio at the time. I pursued only writing classes from thereon and interned at newspapers, never broadcast news outlets.

But my incessant need to talk, my love of chitchat, my gift of the gab, is no surprise to anyone who has met me (even in an elevator – I’m never quiet!). All of my report cards (through elementary, middle and high school) would say things like “Great student – talks too much,” or, as one delicate teacher put it, “Never shuts up”! Jenn = talking, and I’m okay with that. Which got me to thinking: why didn’t I ever pursue broadcast journalism, especially radio? GET PAID TO TALK? DUH – it’s, like, THE perfect job for me! Maybe I’m missing out on a whole new avenue of media that I haven’t explored.

So where should I begin? Take classes? Intern somewhere? Hmm….

I would consider myself a pretty happy person. Two different co-workers at two different jobs separately gave me the nickname “sunshine” because of my bright demeanor. So how come, with my bushy-tailed optimism and all-around cheerfulness, the first wrinkle that I get on my face is a frown line?

There’s this indent above my nose between my eyes and it just looks miserable. I’ve apparently made that “annoyed” expression enough times that it has embedded itself into my face. I could deal with laugh lines or smile lines, but a frown line?! ICK!

I’ll admit – sometimes I have a crummy day and still put on a positive face at work because, well, that’s just what you’ve gotta do. But this frown marking begs to differ – maybe my aging face had decided to divulge my dirty little secret. What if, with each passing year, my once young, fresh visage starts showing all the signs of my inner self?

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Perhaps the next wrinkles to come will be the feathery hint of too much smiling and laughing around my eyes and mouth. Then maybe my skin will start to look tired, but that’s only because I’ve been so busy entertaining in my home like a Martha-rockstar and raising babies like a Susie-pro. And then actual wrinkles that don’t have any particular rhyme or reason will set in because I’ve had an abundance of wonderful years watching my children grow and seeing them have kids of their own.

It’s not the most pleasant thing to get wrinkles, let alone get the first in the form of a scowling frown. But I guess if it means that my face and body are starting to show the signs of the great life I’m living, then that’s okay. This sums it up (I carry this around in my wallet):

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out and proclaiming, ‘WOW, WHAT A RIDE!!!’”

Christmas is a little more than a week away – I share with you, my faithful readers, some thoughts on holiday prep…

1- I live in a bilingual province, meaning things are supposed to be available in BOTH languages, so WHY did I have to go to the States to find my English Christmas cards? It’s not fair. If I wished my friends in Florida a “Joyeux Noel,” well, they’d figure it out but I just shouldn’t hafta!

2- Every year, as I unpack the master Christmas box, I hold my breath and wait for the casualty. There’s always at least one. This year it was the red candle that somehow leaked red dye onto the white furry trim of my tree skirt… *tear*

3- Nothing is worse than a “smeary marker” – I’m always so sad when I write out a gift tag or greeting card and it smudges.

4- Isn’t it always inevitable that you’ll write out and send alllll the Christmas cards, and then one of the first ones you receive is from someone you didn’t send a card too… DARNIT!

5- Why are so many mall Santas creepy? It doesn’t seem to have gotten any better since I was a kid… I wonder how well they screen those dudes…

How crazy is THIS???

A guy entered a Florida school board meeting and opens fire – luckily no one got hurt (except the gunman, who turned the weapon on himself), however the woman who jumps in to hit him over the head with her purse in hopes of knocking the gun loose is CRAZY! And brave! And CRAZY!

What would you do? I can tell you what I would do – I woulda been one of the people diving behind the desk! Although I’d like to think that I’d heroically tackle the man, wrestle him to the ground, nab the gun away and have him neatly tied up by the time the cops arrived, I’m not that person. Given the choice of fight or flight, I’m booking my ticket.

People who are in extreme situations can sometimes experience super-human capabilities – mothers with children trapped beneath cars have been known to actually LIFT the vehicles up to save their kids. I often think about the men and women who were on Flight 93 on 9/11 and attempted to “overtake” the terrorists who were in control of their plane – the incredible bravery of this act will be forever ingrained in my mind. What clicks inside of us to make us so strong and invincible?

When we’re in “survival mode,” human capacity is limitless. We try to imagine and plan for what we would do in life-or-death or extreme situations, and yet when that moment arrives, we never quite react how we thought we would. Some of us find this sudden inner strength and fearlessness while others probably just buckle. But when our deepest instincts to survive kick in, human beings can be just plain astounding!

So imagine… if these seemingly unreal feats of courage are possible, what would happen if we could bring out those qualities and channel them more regularly?

I’ve blogged about Facebook before – sometimes I think it’s great. I have LOVED reconnecting with friends from high school and as well as great people that I foolishly didn’t take the time to get to know back then. I like sharing stuff about my life, posting pics, sharing info about work, etc. It makes it easy to stay in touch with long-distance family and friends (because, if we had to rely on writing letters, we’d all be broke given the inflated price of postage these days! But I digress…).

I’m sure we’ve all noticed the new Facebook statuses people have been adding “in support” of different causes – “repost this if you know someone who has died of cancer,” “change your profile pic to one of your fave childhood cartoon characters and show you’re against child abuse,” (I fell for that one)… but then, a few days ago, I saw that someone had as their status “stop putting these things in your status – it doesn’t do any good anyway.” People had commented angrily and said he was mean to say this, and I thought it was a tad bitter. But then I thought about it – while some organizations will legitimately use Facebook as a vehicle for social change, the little status updates we add really DO do nothing. He was right.

So why do we do it? Is it a way of feeling like we’re contributing somehow? I mean, really, who WOULDN’T be against child abuse – and if someone doesn’t make their profile pic a cartoon character, does that mean that they’re horrible human beings?

Is this the point of Facebook – to be heard? I guess that’s what I use it for – I want people to know when I’ve been published somewhere, I want to share my day-to-day adventures (because working from home can get kinda lonely), and I want to put my thoughts and feelings out there in the world. The first thing I wanted to do when I got engaged was change my relationship status, my regular status, and upload a pic of the ring. But I know a lot of people who don’t get very personal on their profiles, or who avoid Facebook when milestone moments happen because they want to share news with friends and family the “old-fashioned” way – by actually TELLING them.

What do you use Facebook for?

1- Why do they use tape to seal a roll of wrapping paper? And they seal it in like THREE spots?! Then I have to cut or rip it and it leaves a mark in the middle of the pattern… what a dumb way of packaging it!

2- Doesn’t “brb” look like “burp”? I giggle every time someone types that in chat…

3- Shovel off your car for heaven’s sake! I don’t want to drive in your squall or suffer a near heart attack when a sheet of snow billows off your uncleaned roof to smash into my windshield. It’s common winter etiquette people! It’s like standing on the right and walking on the left of the elevator – it’s the rules – FOLLOW EM DAMMIT!

4- I often refer to the people I interact with on Twitter as “followers” and on Facebook as “friends.” Does the “follower” thing not sound creepy? In any other context I would be TERRIFIED if I had 1000 followers.

And really, I call people “friend” on FB when I have some people on my list that I’ve never even met… all I know about them is that they “Like” Dunkin Donuts and Al Pacino and their favourite cartoon character is Scooby Doo.

5- Use hair conditioner when you shave your legs girls… it’s moisturizing, cheap, and you only need a pea-sized amount to cover your entire leg (and I have 12-foot long legs!) Just be careful – it’s very slippery!

I know I’m gonna piss a bunch of people off with this one but hear me out…

I think breastfeeding is great! I don’t know how I’ll feel about it when I have my own kids, but if you’re able to breastfeed, it’s an amazing opportunity to bond with your child and it’s supposed to be great for your little one. I have friends who breastfeed and friends who have breastfed their babies in front of me. I’m fiiiine with that.

But I was eating at a Mexican restaurant downtown the other day, a very open-concept place, and there was a woman sitting in the middle of the room with a toddler (maybe 18 months). As I placed my order I couldn’t help but look over as the baby started to fuss, and out of nowhere, her shirt was pulled up around her neck and there was a giant boobie looking back at me (actually, two boobies – she didn’t have a bra on and just let her shirt hang on top of her shoulders). Now I KNOW sometimes you don’t have a blanket, etc. and a baby is hungry and you’ve just gotta do the deed. But this woman was clearly very comfortable nursing out in the open, she didn’t look frantic, the baby wasn’t going ballistic – I really got the impression that she often breastfed whenever and wherever.

I don’t really have a problem with it, but I’m sure this woman would have been insulted if people stared. And quite frankly, I found it really difficult to avoid. Like I said, it was a really open restaurant, and I wasn’t the only one who had noticed and was awkwardly trying to look away. I’m sure if someone was gawking at the woman she would feel uncomfortable, so why not just use a blanket or something to make the whole act a tad more discreet?

Again, I’m not knocking breastfeeding, or the act of breastfeeding, but given I haven’t had children myself, I find the whole process quite intriguing and maybe I’m missing something on why this is unavoidable. I felt kinda uncomfortable trying to nonchalantly eat my lunch. It was like having a big  boobie elephant in the room – we all knew it was there, staring us straight in the face, but we were pretending we hadn’t noticed it.

So that’s my thoughts on breastfeeding in public.

Am I going to get a bunch of angry posts from moms now and lose mommy-followers on Twitter?