This Summer....

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooo everyone!!!!!!

Happy September and Happy Pancake Saturday to you!

Can't you just see the pancake excitement in my eyes? Lol

Happy September because this is the very first post I've written this month (woooo!) and Happy Pancake Saturday because...well...it's Saturday! For those of you who are new to CCH let me break down what Pancake Saturday is. It's quite simple really. I eat/indulge/gorge myself on pancakes every single Saturday, and encourage my readers to do so as well. (You can find a few pancake recipes on my recipe page if you're interested!) Ergo - Pancake Saturday. I love pancakes so much that I could eat them every single day. I decided a while back that I would declare one day a week to be a "pancake day" so that the act of eating the fluffy goodness would be exponentially greater. And I was right! So once again - Happy Pancake Saturday to you!

May the pancake gods rain syrup all over you! Or not......

::WARNING::

This particular post is a MOUTHFUL. You better pop a bag of popcorn and take a seat, because I haven't blogged in weeks and I am in the mood to talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk about what? About myself DUH.......

::DOUBLE WARNING::

It is two thirty in the morning and I am running on steam. I have little desire to make this post look picture perfect with beautiful spacing, correct spelling, etc. I'm usually extremely picky about the way each post looks....but I'm too tired to care today. I'm sure none of you mind or will be able to even tell the difference.

I suggest you listen to this groovy toon whilst perusing through today's post.

Why? Because it's awesome and it makes me happen when I listen to it. DUH. Quit asking me questions you hypothetical question asker in my head. Sheesh....

Whenever a period of my life is over.........

I like to take time to reflect upon it. Sometimes I’ll reflect upon relationships, school, a job, etc. The period of my life in which I will be reflecting upon within today's post is this summer. In my mind this summer was the ending and beginning of something new. I’m not sure what exactly, but my mind feels withered and fresh all at once.

Sometimes I’ll reflect upon periods of my life by looking through pictures, other times I’ll reflect by talking to friends who went through it with me. How do I plan on reflecting on this summer? By writing two lists. The first list is of all the random things I did and things that happened throughout the season. The second list encompasses a great majority of the things I’ve learned about myself over the last few months, and improvements I need to make.

I quite like making lists. Lists keep my mind working in a way that I can’t describe. Perhaps you should make a list of your own! Even though summer isn’t technically over – it is September, which marks the end of summer for me. So here we go!

This summer …..

I moved back to Dayton Ohio after six months of living in Orlando Florida.

I quickly went from working at Walt Disney World to working at Olive, an Urban Dive .

I got kicked out of several bars for being underage -_- my bad lol.

My twelve-year-old dog Ginger died. Although this was almost two months ago I am still extremely disheartened by this. The blankets on my bed still smell like her....I really need to wash those before I have a fit.

I put Chronicles of a Curly Head on the back burner so I could focus more heavily on life beyond my computer.

I lost a significant amount of weight, and gained it all back plus (I’m ashamed to say) a great deal more.

I went out to eat A LOT....which would explain a majority of my weight gain lol.

My laptop broke. Which resulted in my paying a lot of money to fix it.

I made an "Old Hollywood" wall in my room.

I had one of the most amazing dining experiences at Rue Dumaine

I learned how to change a flat tire……a toothless, and perhaps homeless, man taught me how when my tire popped on the side of the road.

I spent an interesting two weeks partying non stop with my friends….which resulted in a handful of interesting photographs, stories, and my vomiting at work one Saturday morning brunch shift for about eight hours. I am not proud of this puke fest - and my coworkers still won't let me live it down -_- Lesson learned people lol.

I spent a great deal of money on an eye appointment and a new pair of glasses. Geeze….eye insurance would really be handy at a time like this lol.

I ate at Taqueria Mixteca more in the past two months than I have in the past two years combined.

I almost killed my fish Ned due to neglect, which I feel absolutely terrible about, and then brought him back to life with my wonderful motherly fishy skills.

I did A LOT of seek 'n' find aka Hidden Treasure puzzles

This summer I actually felt like a twenty-year-old girl. I always tend to feel like an old soul of sorts. This could be because I spend a majority of my time watching movies and listening to music from the 40s and 50s, but I could be wrong lol. I guess it’s no wonder why I’d rather be in a BINGO hall with people who are more my type than people in a bar. But for some odd reason this summer I actually felt my own age. It was quite refreshing. Running around and being all crazy like did me some good. I needed a little “you’re not an old lady so stop acting like one and stay up past your bed time every now and then" attitude thrown my way. Partying, bar hopping, and gallivanting about town is still not my cup of tea – I’d much rather sit at home in my pjs watching old movies - but it’s nice to know that I have it in me.

I said goodbye to a handful of friends – and made what I’m assuming will be lifelong friendships with several others......

I saved my favorite errrr perhaps not "favorite" memory but most memorable memory for last: When I went to the bar and was harassed by a group complete strangers who proceeded to call me a "curly headed fuck" which in turn made me laugh out loud uncontrollably and immediately tell all of my friends lol. Thanks to these strange girls and their love for picking on poor curly headed ladies such as myself, and thanks to my love for making fun of myself, each and every one of my friends either refer to me, or have referred to me as their "curly headed fuck" ever since. So hats off to you ladies - you gave my group of friends something to laugh about all summer long lol.

-END LIST-

What I’ve learned about my life and myself over this summer.....

- Alcohol is extremely poisonous to my body (yea no fuck Jenna) and I shouldn’t drink for a very very long time……even though my 21^st birthday is on Monday lol.

- I haven’t been a very good friend in the past – and as much as I pride myself on being an amazing friend now – there were times this summer when I wasn’t the best of friend. I’m working on that.

- I'm really starting to enjoy cooking....perhaps more than baking....::GASP::....did I seriously just admit that? Holy shit someone grab me a cup cake pan asap, I gotta fix this before it's permanent!

- I talk to myself aloud way too often. I’m starting to scare people lol.

- I'm starting to become bored/tired with social networking sites, which is ironic because I used social networking sites such as twitter, facebook, foodbuzz, tastespotting, and blogger to put my blog on the map. There is just something that irks me about the whole "i ate a pop tart today, but it wasn't hot. boooo" type statuses that I find myself reading every five minuets lol. I've tried to remove myself from technology as much as possible this last month. This removal was specifically put in motion so I could reboot, take a break, and actually tolerate blogging and talking about my life once again. Believe it or not it gets tiring lol.

- As much as I’d like to think I have - I’ve never had a healthy relationship with food. I abuse food by using it to fill voids in my life. I do this either by starving myself, counting calories and being obsessed with my health, or not giving a shit and overindulging in extremely unhealthy foods.

- I am extremely passionate about every single thing I do.

- Isn’t it funny? Funny how I talk a good talk on my blog about health, how all of my readers should take care of their bodies, respect themselves, refrain from abusing food, always exercise, and love their bodies just the way they are. And here I am doing the exact opposite. I suppose I'm merely trying to help all of you to refrain from making the same mistakes as I am. I suppose I should practice what I preach a little more often. Holy shit.... am I’m turning into a cliché? Lol.

-I didn't spend as much time working on my future this summer as I'd hoped to. And I didn't save as much money as I was hoping to either. I'll have to work on that.

- I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate when people chew with their mouth open. This hate has become extremely apparent within the last few weeks. I mean would it kill you to close your mouth? What's even worse than people that constantly chew with their mouth open is when I catch myself doing it. I want to punch myself in the face every time this happens -_- lol.

- I need to find a balance between social life and private life. Social life being the time I share with friends and family, private life being the time I spend alone. The two haven’t been balanced in a very long time. I spent a great deal of time this summer being surrounded by people NON STOP which made me get so antsy that I decided to become secluded. Then I spent a great deal of time alone which made me feel so entirely….well…alone lol. I really love being with people and I truly enjoy my Jenna time. Gotta find a balance in there somewhere.

- I am a lot harder worker and a lot better cook than I give myself credit for.

- I complain too much.

- I am a terrible driver. Most of my friends are thinking "uh no shit you're a terrible driver Jen - remember that time......" And by terrible I mean I have slow reflexes, and get distracted, and make hasty U-turns whilst screaming "this is for Orlando!!" (long story). I haven't fully come to terms with the fact that I'm not the best driver, until just now. Hello - my name is Jenna and I'm a terrible driver "HI JENNA!" Geeze - it's like an AA meeting in my head right now.

-Over the span of the last few months I’ve found myself obsessing over the most random of things. Example: A couple of weeks ago my sister got me hip to the book series “The Hunger Games” and I instantly became completely obsessed with the story line and literally didn’t put the books down until I was done with them. I read all three in three days. I still have dreams about those books lol. It’s not just the book series I become infatuated with food, movies, blogs, people, places, etc. I have a mildly obsessive/neurotic personality by nature….I’m working on it lol.

-Even if you go to culinary school, graduate, and get a certificate it does not automatically mean that you’re some sort of master chef. With that being said – I am no chef. I am far from being a chef. But I am well on my way!

I've saved my most important lesson for last: I really am a curly headed fuck.

-END LIST-

-One last note-

I hope none of you looked at this list above and though to yourself “Hu…a lot of this seems really negative Jenna. Don’t you have anything nice to say about yourself?!” Oh don’t even get me started on the things I like about myself – I could go on for days! Lol. But in all seriousness, I’d like to inspire all of you to give yourself a little constructive criticism at times. Be held accountable for your actions and the way you conduct your life. Be able to look at yourself and say “this needs to be fixed, I could work on that, oh I’m great in this department, etc”

Take it from me - I’ve spent many many years blaming my faults and actions and woes of life on other people, so this whole list making bit is a way for me to face myself. It’s a way for me to say “Ok Jen, this is what’s been bothering me lately. You’re better than this - I think you should really work on it the best you can – so let’s get to it!"

Well it’s time for me to bid you all farewell!

I know I haven’t posted very much in the past few weeks, but I’m alive and well I can assure you! And as always – I am doing my best to continue updating as much as possible under the circumstances. (The circumstances being that I’m a full time cook and blah blah blah blah excuses excuses lol). I hope each and every one of you are doing magnificent. And if by the off chance you aren’t – I hope this closing song makes you feel all happy inside!

Side note: Just try not to pay attention to the lyrics.....they're not entirely uplifting......just focus on the beat.....lol.

Double Side note: If by the off chance any of you readers out there do drugs.....not that I condone doing drugs....or that I think any of my readers would do drugs.....or that I think it's ok to do drugs.....but if you just so happen to do drugs......watch this video when you do. It'll blow your mind. Not that I would know or anything......ok....... this is awkward.......I'm done talking now.......kbye lol.

Peace out girl scouts!!!

Xoxoxoxoxo Jenna