This Girl

Start with a pretty solid base. Throw in a hint of the giggles, a dash of cynicism, crumble some self-esteem and liberally add the broken bits to mixture. Pour in 2 teaspoons of hard-headedness, then pour in a mixture of 2 parts predictability to one part inconsistency. Mix well.

I’m Jennifer. Feel free to call me Jen or Jenny. I’m not particular. I’ve been living and breathing for a whopping 26 years. For the past 9 1/2 years, I’ve been doing my living and breathing in the state of Oregon. Before piling all of my belongings in the Plymouth Acclaim and moving down here, I spent the first three years of my life in southern California, and then I lived in the state of Washington. Back then, I was an always-single, labeled-as-shy, drama and choir geek. I spent far too many school years trying to find “the group” of friends that I would forever belong to. It didn’t happen. Instead, I wound up with the wonderful, ever-eclectic group of friends I have now. I’m a very fortunate girl.

For 2 1/2 years I’ve been married to a dark haired, dark eyed prince named Jon. We have been together over five years now. We met back when he was a senior in college and I was a junior in college. I was working as a receptionist, and eagerly trying to find another job because I was unhappy where I was. I kept striking out, and it’s a good thing I did because had I left, I wouldn’t have met Jon. He was hired to do a paid internship of sorts, upgrading our computer systems. Turns out things do sometimes happen for a reason!

My husband and I were blessed by the arrival of our little baby girl, Lily, on March 5, 2009. Lily wasn’t due until April 1st, but decided that she wanted to be out and about early! She is a lovely, cuddly, adorable little girl that we love dearly.

We share our home with two cats – Shadow, a Russian Blue, and Elly, an American Shorthair. Elly adopted my husband back when she was a six month old stray kitten. He has had her for four years now. We adopted Shadow shortly after returning from our honeymoon in 2005. They are the best of friends and have firmly positioned themselves in our family structure. I’ve always preferred dogs, but these two just tickle my fancy.

We also have four male bettas named Spock, Tuvok, Sarek, and Beckett. I named the fourth one Beckett after my favorite character on Stargate: Atlantis, Dr. Carson Beckett, played by the lovely blue eyed Paul McGillion. I also chose that name because I am a Star Trek fan and I couldn’t think of another male Vulcan to name him after. I have four bettas because I kept buying them to take to work then I found myself too attached to leave them alone overnight on my desk. After I realized that I had four, I figured that I just wasn’t going to have a betta at work and I stopped buying them!

We also have a tank full of tropical fish. The aquarium was a gift from my Dad about ten years ago. It’s nothing fancy or expensive, but I really enjoy having fish. The cats enjoy them too.

I graduated from college in 2004 with a Bachelors in Criminology and a Psychology minor. I worked as a reading teacher of sorts in a kindergarten class for the two years after that. In August of 2006 I was hired as a social worker for a very disliked agency. Every week is different then the next, but overall I absolutely love the work that I do. I work with a wonderful group of people and it’s them, combined with the children I see, that get me through each day. There are days that I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into, but overall I honestly can’t picture myself leaving anytime soon.

I have been writing and sketching for pretty much as long as I have been able to hold a pencil in my hand. I currently have four books that I have been working on off and on, and two sketchpads of drawings and sketches. I someday hope to find an agent and eventually get published. And I hope to get to where I feel comfortable offering my art for sale. I’d like to buy a new digital camera as well, so that I can improve my photography skills. I’m usually pretty quiet about these hobbies, because I have always had problems sharing my work with other people. It also takes me an eternity to finish something because I can’t just make myself sit down and write or draw. It happens when it happens, and sometimes it takes a year before I find myself cracking open one of my projects.

One of my more neurotic-isms – I am a skincare-a-holic. I love sampling new skincare products. I’m not too much into makeup – just the cleansers and moisturizers, etc. I love surfing through eBay, looking for people selling massive quantities of samples of products I’ve not tried yet by my favorite brands. My three must-have brands are Mary Kay, Burts Bees, and DHC.

I am really into scrapbooking, but I don’t do it very often, I’m afraid. It’s the same with knitting. For some reason, I feel like I have less time to do things than back when I was in college. How did that happen?

I’m not a very religious person – but I do consider myself spiritual. I don’t fit under one religious category. I am a mix of Paganism, Buddhism, with some elements of Christianity sprinkled in here and there. My one goal is just to be the best person I can be. I figure that as long as I try diligently to be a good person, I will be just fine no matter what religion is the “right one” (if any are).

I have quite a few little…”quirks”. I am terrified of the telephone (makes my job oh so much fun), I have what I call “Campground Anxiety” (thanks to “Friday the 13th”), I can’t stand being the only person in a store (I get convinced the sales staff is stalking me), and I hate public restrooms – I don’t like anyone hearing me doing my business. These are just a few of my quirks. Luckily, I have a very understanding family.