This past weekend I went to my ten year high school reunion.  Some days I wonder how it’s already been ten years and where did all the time go?  Other days I think about everything that has taken place in my life for the past ten years and am honestly shocked it has only been that amount of time.  As you all know I grew up must faster than the average person.  Becoming a mother at a young teen age, raising children as a single mom and taking care of a child with special needs really aged me fast.

My ten year high school reunion was broken up into three events. Thanks to my good friends at GM Texas I was given the chance to ride in style driving a Metallic Orange Camaro with racing strips.   Getting dressed up for the various events and driving this car just made me feel young and sexy.  It also felt much more powerful than my small SUV that I normally drive.  Which although I loved the feeling, I had to be careful to watch my speed.  The new leather smell was intoxicating and the Camaro handled turns without feeling like the car is going to flip over like in my SUV.  It was a very smooth ride for a sports car which surprised me.  GM had to practically pry the keys out of my hand when they came to pick it up and I do believe I had some tears as they drove off down the road.

Friday Night: Fort Worth Club and Hyena’s

Friday night was the first event which was held at the Fort Worth Club in Downtown.  It was nice to see some people that I hadn’t seen in over ten years.  The location was kind of warm inside and they did not have valet parking which was surprising to me so it took us a little while to drive around and figure out which street the parking garage was off of.  The reunion was held on the 12th floor and once security realized we were wondering around lost they announced to us over the intercom which was nice.  We all took photos and enjoyed conversations reconnecting with our old peers.

After the reunion was over at the Fort Worth Club we all decided to walk over to Hyena’s which is a comedy club in Downtown Fort Worth.  Although the show had already begun there is an area that is strictly a night club with pool tables, a bar and seating.  One of the guys that went to school with us manages the place so he invited us all out with free cover and low cost drinks.  Which was nice.  We had a great time at the after party.  Several more people showed up that weren’t able to make it to the Fort Worth Club.  I played a couple of games of pool and lost but it was entertaining.

Saturday: Family Park Day and Rebellion Party at Aardvark
Saturday morning the second event was kicked off at a park near our old high school.  It was considered the family day so everyone could bring out their families to mingle.  The main attraction was suppose to be Hot Air Balloon Lifts which Hot Air Balloon Rides are on my Life List so T and I had to attend for that.  We were so excited but unfortunately a Hot Air Balloon Festival had come into town and the company wasn’t able to make it to our event.  It was only a free offer if they were available so we couldn’t complain, too much.

Noah was with his grandparents for the weekend and Gabby wasn’t able to be talked into going with us to the park.  So it was just T and I.  When we first arrived she looked at me and said ‘mom I’m one of the only big kids here‘.  I just looked at her and said ‘yes, T, your mom was a little too young to be having children when you were born.’  Just a nice reminder of being a teenage mom.  I’m so glad I’m able to discuss openly with her about life.  The weather was brutal hot.  We watched the little kids jump in a bounce house and talked to old friends for hours.  When we left the park a few of us took our kids to a local ice cream shop which was very nice and again, chatted for a couple of hours.

Saturday night was the Rebellion Party at Aardvark.  The group of us that rode together had never been here before.  It is a local bar that allows bands to play live music.  We got to hear three different rock bands play.  I played some more pool and almost won this time, if it wasn’t for me scratching on the 8 ball.  But hey, I’m learning! There were people who came Saturday night that we didn’t see on Friday.  Each event brought out a different crowd which was nice to see more new faces.  I enjoyed hanging out with people I grew up with, some that are still great friends and some that I hadn’t seen in years.

After we left Aardvark we went to IHOP at 2 AM.  Of course we were all sober which made it even more fun.  Have you ever been at IHOP after a night club and/or bar closes?  All the drunks were there.  You know the kind… The ones who were spilling their secrets from the night to one another believing they were quiet when in reality they were announcing everything very loudly.  I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.  Plus eating pancakes at 3 AM was a nice treat I hadn’t done in a while.

The whole weekend was great and I’m very glad I attended all the events.  It was nice getting back in touch with everyone.  I’m still in awe that it’s been ten years since graduation.  There were more photos from the night you can view in my Flickr Set.

Photo courtesy of http://valentinmaya.com

Today I am flying out to the Riviera Maya for five nights.  I am so excited and am looking forward to this much needed relaxing trip.  Doesn’t the above photo look amazing? I know there will be plenty of things to do but I hope to spend majority of my time laying with my feet up relaxing.  I love to travel and I love seeing new sights and exploring but I am going to fight against myself to make sure I take some time off on this trip instead of keeping my days busy the whole time.  It’s been quite a while since I went on a true vacation with no conference schedule, no children and no work.

Photo courtesy of http://valentinmaya.com

My friend Alan, heck he’s practically family, invited me to go somewhere with him this summer and our original plan was Jamaica but I’m sure you have all heard of the mess going on over there so we felt like it might not be the safest place to go right now.  Although we had to change plans, I can’t say these photos look all that bad, can you?  Jamaica, Mexico, either way it looks beautiful and I’m thrilled to be going!

My one request for our all inclusive resort was no children.  I love children but at this time I need the break with some peace and quiet.

These photos were pulled from the resort’s website where we will be staying.  I can’t wait to visit Valentin Maya and tell you all about it.  I plan to take videos and photos during our trip.

Lately T and I have had some much needed time together without her siblings.  We have been able to squeeze in some movies and outings just the two of us.  I’ve been wanting to share with everyone that she has moved her blog from Blogger over to self-hosted WordPress.  Big time now, right?! She is so excited.  She also wrote her very first review that I’d love for you to check out.  I am so proud of her and she loves sharing with others.  Her blog is still called ‘They Call Me T‘ and now she even owns the dotcom.  WooHoo!

Her final report card came in the mail this week and she finished 6th grade with AB honor roll for the whole year!

T is turning 13 on July 24th.  I still can’t believe it.  I am planning her a birthday bash with friends and family.  She also has a pretty big surprise in store for her gift but since she blogs now and I never know when she is heading over to read mine, I’ll keep that hush hush for the time being.

Today T and I had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and it was delicious.  We sampled several of their food items because they are going to be catering her birthday party.  We are both very excited about this too.  I’m also going to be giving away to one lucky reader their own round of catering from Sweet Tomatoes with a value of $250 worth of free food!  More details on that coming soon.  As I tweet about T’s party plans and building up to her big day I’m going to use hashtag #Tturns13 on twitter and I’ll also share along on my blog as well.  We even took some photos and videos today at lunch, can’t wait to share those!

Full Disclosure: Sweet Tomatoes provided us with complementary meal vouchers for lunch so we could taste their food and prepare to order our catering for T’s 13th birthday party.

Image via Wikipedia

This weekend I rented the movie: Love Happens with Jennifer Aniston and loved it!  There was one part in the movie that inspired an idea for me.

Without getting into the whole premise of the movie, I’ll try to sum it up.  Jennifer Aniston plays a single woman who owns a flower shop in the city.  After going on a date she invites the man back to her flower shop while she finishes up some last minute arrangements.  During her dates visit he picks up one of the greeting cards attached to some flowers and reads it out loud.  This is followed by her showing him a small box she has cards stored in with messages from strangers written on them.  They begin to read the cards out loud to one another; some sweet, some funny and some sad.  Jennifer states that she kept these specific cards because she found them compelling.  My favorite part in this scene is when she said ‘it’s life on a 3×5′.

My oldest daughter is turning 13 in July.  I am still in shock that I’ll have a teenager so soon.  Even though we are already beginning to plan her party and I pretty much know what she wants as a gift, I want to do something special.  Becoming a teenager is a big deal, it’s one of those milestones that you remember forever.  For both her and me…

I thought something very fun and unique to do would be to create her some life on a 3×5.  I plan to write 365 things on 3×5 note cards.  Who knows, maybe I’ll have it printed up nicely or laminated or maybe it will just be written up in my own sloppy writing for her to treasure.  I plan to include life tips, famous quotes, random tid-bites or just about anything that I think is worthy for her to read once a day during her first year as a teenager.  I know they have those desktop calendars out there where you pull a page and read a new quote, but this is going to be from me, her mother.

Have any suggestions? 365 phrases is a lot.  I’m already feeling overwhelmed.  Her birthday is July 24th and it has to be complete before then.  I plan to search for famous phrases and quotes, any tips that are worthy to share or even a short funny joke that’s relevant.  I’d love some ideas, share them in the comments if you’d like!

Table of contents for My Happiness Project

1. My Happiness Project – Life List Update
2. My Happiness Project – Week 2
3. What Makes Me Happy? – Week 3
4. Relaxing with Toes in Sand – Happiness Project

In February while attending the Mom 2.0 Summit conference I bought the book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and she even autographed it.

In March I read some of The Happiness Project.

In April I published my Life List with item number 54 being to complete my own Happiness Project.

Last week I took action to download Gretchen’s eBook on how to run a group with your Happiness Project.  I have read through her discussion tips and have decided to put some into action immediately.

1. I started an one sentence journal.  This is working great and although it’s sometimes two sentences a day, which is totally fine, I always find something positive from the day to write down.  Right after climbing into my bed for the night, I grab this journal off my night stand and write a quick note.  Great way to reflect on something positive and keep track.
2. I decided I will start blogging my progress with reading the book, actions I take and how I plan to make this reality of completing my own Happiness Project.  Not sure if you can actually complete the Happiness Project, it’s more of a work in progress… but you get the idea.
3. Create and run a group.  This is the tricky part.  I would love to have a group or weekly discussion with someone else who wants to take part in The Happiness Project with me.  I would love to reach out to some other bloggers who might want to blog once a week about our progress and maybe hold one another accountable.  Work on small steps together, even if it is as simple as keeping an one sentence journal.  I’d be happy to host a weekly Mr. Linky here so we could read each others posts and maybe we could follow along with Gretchen’s eBook layout for tips and suggestions.

So who’s with me?  If you are interested, leave me a comment or email me at djane (at) mommadjane (dot) com.  We could maybe even have a Skype discussion if you wanted.

I was so proud when I saw this video. I already told everyone about my great Mother’s Day thanks to Chevy. This video was just released and I’m so proud to share. The kids at the Texas Rangers Event were given a chance to do an interview on video for their Mothers. Watch below to what T had to say about me. Yes, I did get teary eyed when watching. I think my cousin, Brooke, said it well when she commented on Facebook “it’s selfless, nothing mentioned about what you did for her, it’s about her sister and what you do for them as a mom“!

In the past I tried using the Macro setting on my camera but never could get it to work just right. The other day I was discussing this with my friend Erica and she told me what I was doing wrong. I was using my zoom while using the Macro setting and therefore it wasn’t focusing correctly. This past weekend I tested it out and had a great time playing and believe my photos turned out quite nicely for a beginner if I must say so myself.

During the weekend we spent at Camp John Marc the adults were given a chance to gather in group settings to interact. During one of the groups we did a craft. We were handed a plain white mask and sat at tables that had scrapbook stickers, magazines, other craft supplies such as fabric, feathers and glue. The only instructions were to cover the front of the mask with items or pictures that resemble who we are on the outside. The next step was to cover the inside of the mask with photos of who we are on the inside. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to the inside of my mask during the hour we were given, probably spent too much time chatting with the other parents. However I loved this craft. I think it is a great idea to do in group settings and a great way to really think about yourself and find a way to express yourself. It gave us all some time to evaluate who we are and if we believe we are the same on the outside as we are on the inside.

I love tulips so the flower photo worked out perfectly.  I loved adding the blue button, thought that was a cute idea since I have blue eyes.  The word reach reminds me of how I’m trying to reach for my goals and dreams.  Honestly I feel like I’m always reaching for something and try to remind myself that we should all continue to reach no matter what we accomplish we should keep looking up.  The words travel and parent obviously describe me exactly.  I love to travel and hopefully one day I’ll travel even more than what I do now.

I added the word believe and honestly feel like it goes very well with the word reach. Because you should always believe in something but mostly believe in yourself. I believe in miracles, especially since I have a child living with half a brain. I believe anything is possible and have living proof of that.  I covered the left side of the face with a butterfly and the word miracle over it.  I love butterflies.

When I found the scrapbook sticker of a saw with the word remodeling on it I just had to add it to my mask.  I am always trying to improve myself but lately I have written my life list and been trying to focus on some changes.  The top word is cherish which is a life slogan of mine, ‘cherish today for you never know what tomorrow brings’ I try to remind myself to live by that.  Balancing Act reminds me of myself a lot as well.  I am constantly trying to juggle kids, work, blog, life and all of Gabby’s appointments.  Sometimes I wonder how I seem to manage all the balancing in my life.  The words possibilities and dream both go well with reach and believe.  I think they all go hand in hand.  I am always seeking a new adventure.

I highly recommend this craft to anyone.  It was fun and a great conversation piece for our group!

Our Disney Cruise is coming up soon.  I am so excited yet a little overwhelmed at all the things that need to be done in order to prepare for leaving.  The kids are ecstatic though and I believe Gabby and Noah are ready, with mostly all clothing prepared to pack and everything.  They might lack a few last minute items.  However I always take care of myself last, don’t all mothers? Yesterday I started trying on my summer clothes from last year and well… let’s just say they didn’t fit.  After trying them on I realized I would need to do some shopping, of course after realizing how much weight I have gained in the past year I should be shopping for exercise clothes but the cruise is only a week away so no time for diet yet.

T has grown over the past year and knew she would need some last minute clothing as well so we decided to take an evening outing to see what we could find.  T has the tendency to always wear loungewear because it is more comfortable to her.  She is very sporty and making her be a little girlie isn’t easy.  However I was able to manage to get her some new denim capris that look very cute with some tops she previously owned and then I gave in and bought her another pair of lounge capris that she really liked.

I created a Whrrl story with the photos of our new choices that we got at Plato’s Closet in the women’s clothing section.  I really like this store, just started visiting there over the past few months and although the items are slightly used everything is in perfect condition and just a fraction of the price.  We still have a little more shopping to do over the next week, including swim suit shopping.  Yuck.

Check out our story and let me know what you think.  Which are your favorites?

I finally decided to post my life list here for all to read.  I have always had ideas in my head or dreams you could call them.  Just a mental list of things I knew I wanted to accomplish in my life time.  Some are rather small and some are larger tasks.  I believe finally putting them down in ink (or virtual in this case) to track and work towards will help make sure they are done.  I think we all get so busy caught up in life that we forget to stop and think about what it truly is that we wanted to accomplish.  Even the small things that we believe we’ll get to one day, we have a tendency to push off until maybe it’s too late.  My goal is to work on these items and blog my progress.  Share my life experiences with you and how easy or hard some of the things may be to accomplish.  Some of these items are on my Vision Board that I wrote about in the past and some are items that are long term goals or dreams.

I have been working on putting this list in print for months now and was hoping to have a full list of 100 things to do in my lifetime.  However I ran out of ideas or at least I’ve forgotten some of my previous ideas.  I thought instead of continuing to wait I would go ahead and publish the list and add to it later on.  My goal is to accomplish at least 30 things on the list by the time I’m 30 years old.  I turned 28 this past February so that gives me a little less than two years.  Once I’m 30 I figured I would re-evaluate the list and try to knock out 40 more items by the time I’m 40.  Of course that is if the list is longer by then.

1. Interact with White Tigers
2. Own a monkey
3. Sponsor a child’s wish through the Make-a-Wish Foundation
4. Mother/Daughter trip to Paris
5. Take a photography class/workshop
6. Visit The Ellen Show
7. Publish my memoir
8. Have Oprah read, mention or even think about my memoir
9. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
10. Take ballroom dancing with partner
11. Take hip-hop dance class
12. Learn some form of martial arts
13. Learn to meditate
14. Visit all 50 states
15. Learn French
16. Foster a child
17. Sit on the beach in Hawaii and watch the sun set and rise
18. Speak to a gymnasium full of high school students
19. Complete a 5K at a continuous steady jog
20. Row a boat
21. See wild dolphins in the ocean from a boat
22. Go skiing
23. Hike up a mountain, stop to camp and hike back down
24. Once #15 is complete, write a full blog post in French
25. Once #15 is complete, share a conversation speaking French, in France
26. Take a helicopter tour
27. Host a themed costume party
28. Stomp grapes to make wine at a festival
29. Attend and bet on the horse races – (completed 4/30/2010)
30. Photograph exotic animals & insects in a rain forest
31. Ring in the New Year in Times Square
32. Celebrate my B-day at Mardi Gras in New Orleans
33. Zip line with Gabby at her yearly camp – (completed 4/10/2010)
34. Host an adult only black-tie affair ~ Blast from the past prom event
35. Complete a full body cleanse and eat better
36. Go on vacation with Brandy and our kids for the first time
37. Host a charity fundraiser & raise funds by allowing participants to beat a car
38. Inspire my children to write a life list
39. Be part of an inspirational photo shoot
40. Experience/provide at least one life list wish on each of my children’s lists
41. Own a house with my own private office/study
42. Spend the Summer living in another country
43. Spend one year traveling to other countries to work and live in order to experience different culture
44. Complete my own Happiness Project
45. Complete my college degree
46. Attend the Kentucky Derby
47. Zip Line through a rainforest
48. Stand on a glacier in Alaska
49. Climb a water fall in Jamaica and then relax on the beach
50. Go dog sledding

Do you have a life list?  I would love to read it so feel free to share the link in the comments below.  Want to help me grow my list to 100 things?  Have a fabulous idea that you think I’d enjoy in my lifetime?  I am open for any suggestions.