2008 was not a terribly good year. 2009 started more or less the same. Without getting into too many details, eventually I realized enough is enough. By the summer, I was turning things around.

I turned 29 this past week.

I was presented with adorable cupcakes by coworkers. I was taken out for a lovely birthday dinner, rang in my birthday with my best friend, had a birthday lunch with my grandparents, parents, uncle and sister. I drank good beer. I drank good wine. I was in good company.

I celebrated Christmas with the neighbors I call family. Every muscle in my body hurt the next day from laughing so hard.

My mother, father, sister and I celebrated Christmas. We took our time and passed around the most thoughtful gifts. We cooked more food than is even necessary for four people. We ate an Italian feast. We sipped on really good red wine. We watched movies and played around with our gifts. We had a small, lovely Christmas for a family of four.

I spent the evening curled up in front of the fire with friends. The next morning I had brunch, got a manicure (deep purple nailpolish) with one of my best friends. We danced around the city.

I spent the remainder of my time off curled up with hot drinks, a blanket, and a dog. I watched more movies in a weekend than I have in the past year. I let my guard down. I shut my phone off. I drank good coffee, I snacked on imported chocolates, I sipped on champagne. I stayed up until 5 a.m. and told a million stories and listened to a million more. I slept easily for the first time in months.

I hate to brag, but – life is good. In that super annoying, omg-please-shut-up-you-big-ball-of-cheese kind of way. Yeah. It feels nice to just … this. This is good. Life is good.

About a month ago, I posted a tweet (and fed it in to Facebook) asking “If you were invited to my house and could pick one song to be added to the playlist, what would it be?”

I got some AWESOME requests and put in a bunch of my own – it was my birthday party after all :) But here’s some pictures of all my awesome friends and below that the playlist we all made together to celebrate the very momentous day of my birthday (a week early!)

Thanks guys. Lots and lots of love.

(Click the pic for the whole set of photos!)

You Belong to Me – Michael McDonald
Fidelity – Regina Spektor
How Deep is Your Love – The Bird & The Bee
Sour Sour Times – Portishead
Teardrop – Massive Attack
Alone – Heart
Somebody to Love – Queen
You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates
Don’t Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl mashup – Glee
Don’t Rain on My Parade – Glee
Rich Girl – Hall & Oates
Vision of Love – Mariah Carey
Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’ – Journey
Hotel Song – Regina Spektor
Sweet Freedom – Michael McDonald
Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z (feat. Alicia Keys)
How Will I Know – Whitney Houston
Jump (For My Love) – The Pointer Sisters
La Isla Bonita – Madonna
Damn Girl – Justin Timberlake
Wanna Be Startin’ Something – Michael Jackson
Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
F**K You – Lily Allen
Let Me Think About It – Ida Corr vs. Fedde Le Grand
Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
Party In The USA – Miley Cyrus
TiK ToK – Ke$ha
Million Dollar Bill – Whitney Houston
Evacuate the Dancefloor – Cascada
Teeth – Lady Gaga
Girlfriend (remix) – Avril Lavigne feat Lil’ Mama
Heartbreaker – Mariah Carey feat Jay-Z
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) – Beyonce
Birthday Sex – Jeremih
Circus – Britney Spears
Paparazzi – Lady Gaga
Band of Gold (remix) – Kimberley Locke
I Get So Emotional – Whitney Houston
My Life Would Suck Without You – Kelly Clarkson
Halo/Walking on Sunshine mashup – Glee
Awake – Letters to Cleo
River Deep, Mountain High – Celine Dion
Christmas Tree – Lady Gaga
Telephone – Lady Gaga & Beyonce
Meet Me Halfway – Black Eyed Peas
Roxanne – The Police
Boyz – MIA
Diva – Beyonce
Got Some Teeth – Obie Trice
Ladies Choice – Hairspray
Defying Gravity – Wicked
Bust Your Windows – Glee
Love You I Do – Jennifer Hudon
LoveGame – Lady Gaga
We Belong Together (remix) – Mariah Carey
Spotlight – Jennifer Hudson
Prove Yourself – Joan Armatrading
Beautiful, Dirty Rich – Lady Gaga
Jenny From the Stronger Block (mash up) – Jennifer Lopez vs. Britney Spears
Hot Dog! – The Detroit Cobras
Gay Boyfriend – The Hazzards
Overprotected – Britney Spears
Boys Boys Boys – Lady Gaga
All My Life – K-Ci and Jojo

Feel free to make fun or make your own :)

So Thursday’s event was a success (at least I think so). What I liked most about this event was the variety of people. There were people I’ve never met, or have wanted to meet, or never thought I’d get the chance to meet who showed up.

I had some of the best conversations about the business of blogging, blogging in Boston, expanding the community, future events to consider. It was social, it was business, it was networking, it was productive — it was really everything I could have wished to come out of an event.

Thanks to many of the attendees, I have a list of events that I’m working on in the future (with you, for you, etc). If you didn’t sign up for my email list for future events, leave a comment and I’ll get you added.

A huge thanks again to all of my sponsors:

Carl and the folks at 28 Degrees
Boston-based writer Angela Simonelli
Marc Beaupre of MB Graphics
Chris and all the wonderful folks over at Shoebuy.com
Kelly and all the lovely people at A Beautiful You
John Wall (The M Show) and Christopher Penn from Marketing Over Coffee.

A heartfelt thanks to you all. I really couldn’t have done this without you.

Regrettably I was so busy talking to all of you, I didn’t really take many photos. In fact, I think I got like 3 decent ones the whole night. Oops! Here’s what I got …

A few other recaps I found around the interwebs:

http://www.jqlounge.com/2009/10/boston-blogtoberfest-recap.html

http://ilookgood.blogspot.com/2009/10/blogtoberfest-recap.html

http://peteypumpkin.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/blogtoberfest/

http://fabulouslyoutthere.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/the-night-had-all-i-needed-for-a-perfect-night/

http://barwarrior.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/condensed-recap-of-1022/

http://www.thegeminiweb.com/babyboomer/?p=3351

I want to see what you have! Shoot me links, show me your best shots. It was a blast meeting all of you Blogtoberfest newbies and it was a pleasure to see the repeat customers. The conversations that happened have really inspired me. Thanks. Boston Bloggers are kind of the best :)

In addition to a lot of really great evenings of cooking dinners and drinking wine:

I spent a good portion of everyday blowing bubbles, five year old style. No. Seriously.

And then came the day for Bread and Puppet. What’s Bread and Puppet? I really don’t even think I can explain it.

THIS is Bread and Puppet:

And THIS:

And THIS:

THIS:

THIS:

AND THIS:

IS Bread & Puppet:

Something you can’t tell from these photos is the SCALE of Bread and Puppet. Enter Jean. Five foot six (ish?) Jean.

Yeah. Huge.

Bread and Puppet is a politically radical puppet theatre that dates back to the 1960s. This is one of those things that to truly appreciate the scale, the enormity, the (I have to say it) creepiness of this place, you have to visit.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of insightful information offering up very different points of view and some interesting artwork available at Bread and Puppet – it’s just …. we happened to show up just as a women with glassed-over eyes told us that we “Caught them at lunch.” She disappeared into a small dark room, full of children we could hear but could not see, on the lower level of the barn. We had the place to ourselves. Which I don’t know if it was better or worse for the creep factor.

Read more about them on their Wiki page or visit their site directly.

(I did take some video while I was there, but to be honest, I was so engrossed in the puppets, I kind of forgot to steady the camera. Basically it would make you vomit. So go visit and experience it for yourself.)

For more of my pics, go visit my Bread and Puppet set on Flickr.

Last Tuesday night, I told maybe a grand total of 5 people that I was going on vacation. That night.

I set up my out of office, I pulled the winner for my contest, told my work colleagues, friends and family that once I left they wouldn’t be able to reach me. At all. I would not be calling them (because I couldn’t*), I wouldn’t be updating twitter, flickr, my blog etc (because I couldn’t*).

*To be honest, that was one of the best parts and most appealing parts of this vacation. We got in the car, and once we passed NH, I powered down. For five days. The only electronic device we had (outside of my cameras – of course) was an iPod dock and 3 iPods. It took less than 5 seconds to get used to not reaching for my iPhone every few minutes, and that made me happy.

I took thousands of photos. My friends and I cooked some amazing meals. I swam every day. My ears popped from driving through the mountains. I fell out of a kayak. I drank coffee every morning on the deck and read. We played cards. We listened to music. I didn’t wear make up. My wardrobe for the week consisted of a bathing suit and a sweatshirt when I got cold. I played hide and seek with a horse. I visited a politically radical puppet theater. I rode the big girl rides as the county fair. I laughed harder and longer than I have in a very long time. I have a new and deep appreciation for my friends.

I’m a city girl who secretly loves the country.

I have far too many pictures and stories to ever show and tell. And I’m not sure I want to. What I do feel like sharing, I’ll post here.

I am sad to be back. If you had the week I had, you would be too.

Day One:

Last Thursday I threw a party. There was fashion, there were walk-offs, and there were prizes. If you make it to the end of this entry, you can enter to win a prize of your own.

Here’s how it started: several weeks ago I blogged about getting picked for a Brand Enthusiast program for the Gap. Part of being a Brand Enthusiast is reintroducing my friends back to the Gap, specifically the new 1969 denim line for men & for women.

Here’s how that was supposed to work: The Gap was going to send me a bunch of denim and some party supplies to have an in-home party where my guests could check out and try on the jeans.

You know me. I don’t do anything the easy way. And, as an event planner, I like to have events. In-home party? Easy, but not an event. So I called up a few people, told them what I was doing and threw out some ideas, and a couple of hours worth of calls, emails and meetings later, I secured a venue (Thanks 28 Degrees Boston!), got donated food (Thanks Carl!), and sponsored goodie bag items (Thanks Van Gogh Vodka!).

I had to design the guest list and design the event (create and print signage, sketch out the layout of the lounge and come up with activities). Done. Done. Annnnnd done.

Here’s how it all went down: First the set up. The lounge space that was donated was simply gorgeous and needed no help. I just had to set up the jeans.

Clearly after setting up the jeans we had to pose with the signage.

Before the party I had prepared a … presentation … that was to be projected on the large screen on the whole back wall of the lounge and loop for the duration of the party. It talked about the sponsors, and me and … well. How about you just watch?

Click the screenshot to run the presentation. It’s worth it. Bonus points if you “get” the pics …

My guests arrived and mingled. I explained to them the event: Come try on jeans! Enter to win a raffle! Tweet about the party! Sign up for …. THE AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL STYLE FASHION CHALLENGE (oh yeah, you just wait.)

After a couple of hours, everyone had found their fit. And if we’re in full disclosure mode, I feel as if I should disclose this: I have a lot of gay friends. A lot of gay friends who like, apparently, to wear women’s jeans. Honestly? I think more than 50% of the men invited took home women’s jeans. And I had three women take home men’s jeans.

WE BREAK ALL THE MOLDS OVER HERE IN ALL EYES ON JENNY LAND

Then it was time for my FASHION CHALLENGE. Now that everyone had found their pair of jeans, I got a group of runway divas to model them for us. But of course, there’s more to it than that.

I cleared the remaining party guests into a runway path, and sent the contestants up into the fitting room behind the curtain to get ready. I had pre-selected three bitchy but hot judges, and gave them numbers to score each contestant.

You that’s Sarah right there in the middle!

And, of course, I got to be Tyra.

I had purchased a WHOLE LOTTA accessories for this challenge, dumped the accessories on the floor in the middle of all the contestants and gave them their challenge: they had ONE MINUTE to grab whatever accessories they could get their hands on and accessorize the hell out of their new jeans. They would then walk the runway and get JUDGED.

Oh. Hells. Yeah.

In the end two contestants tied. And we had to have a walk off. They wished each other well and gave it their all.

My friend Mike won, and Sarah took the news like a champ and threw her wig on the floor and stormed off.

Mike won a digital camera and Sarah won a $50 gift certificate to the Gap. Good work kids ;)

All in all, the party was a BLAST. We all had SO much fun. And got some awesome new jeans to boot.

Thanks again to …

The venue: 28 Degrees
The goodie bag and prize sponsor: Van Gogh Vodka
and of course
The clothing sponsor: THE GAP!

Check out the whole set of photos here. (There is video to come, but I had over 2 hours worth and it took me a whole weekend just to get through the photographs!)

Congratulations. You made it to the end! You should be rewarded by entering to win my contest!

The Gap was kind enough to give me an extra $50 gift certificate to give out to a reader on my blog! Here’s how you enter to win:

1.) Comment on this blog post to be entered into the contest once!
2.) Twitter linking to this post and using the #GapBornToFit hashtag to be entered twice (don’t forget to get an ‘@alleyesonjenny‘ in there so I can keep track of you! May I suggest something like “Visit the blog of @alleyesonjenny and enter to win a $50 gift certificate to the GAP! http://tinyurl.com/o6dv9g #GapBornToFit“)

You have until 10 pm on Tuesday, August 18th to enter. The winner will be chosen at random and announced Wednesday morning!

Good luck!

A couple of weeks ago I sent out some twitters looking for tickets to the TMobile sponsored Lady Gaga/Kelly Clarkson show … for Sidekick owners only. Clearly I don’t have a Sidekick, but I wanted in to this concert. I wasn’t going to miss Gaga play Boston TWICE. After some failed attempts, I just gave up. Until some boy contacted me a couple days before the show and told me the woman he was going to give the tickets to was a no-show. Um, hello. Where should I be and when?

Needless to say I got the tickets. And celebrated with a muppet face.

The tickets said doors were at 8, show started at 9. I figured if Andrew and I got there about 6:30 we’d be fine. And then I checked Twitter/Facebook. And people were twittering at THREE O CLOCK PM that there was already a line outside the House of Blues.

RI-DIC-U-LOUS.

Blah blah …. Andrew and I hopped in line at 5:00

and stood for 3 hours until they let us in. The pic above shows the line behind us. It went all the way from House of Blues to beyond the Cask’n Flagon. YIKES. Good thing we were only about 50 people deep in line.

Which afforded us an AMAZING spot upon entering the venue. No really.

We were legit front and center. It was Gaga, a security guard, a couple of druuuuuunks baby gays and us. We did not have any beverages at the show and I can say there is nothing more annoying than being surrounded, we’re talking unable to move/packed in like sardines surrounded, by drunks. At one point one of the drunks tried to start a fight, started sweating and turned a shade of green that can only mean one thing. No worries though, the wonderful and amazing trannies standing next to us got that kid out of there before you could say “Cherry cherry boom boom”. I have never been happier to be friends with a 6’4″ man dressed head to toe like Lady Gaga.

Here’s my full set of photos from the show.

In addition I took a bunch of video, unfortunately being surrounded by a bunch of annoying drunks doesn’t make for particularly steady video, but here is it anyway.

The opening of the show:

A short clip of Beautiful Dirty Rich:

And my favorite (and the only full video), Lady Gaga in a bubble outfit, a piano and Poker Face. (And yes, that is Andrew at the beginning screaming “POKE MY FACE”. He’s a classy broad.)

Enjoy. I know I did.

Yeah he’ll kill me for that one.

So my Dad’s birthday was yesterday and a couple of weeks ago he said he wanted my sister and me to run a 10K with him. Like as his gift. I suspected he wanted us to run so he could beat both his 26 and 28 year old daughters and feel good about himself — and, I knew before yesterday but it was just further confirmed, but I can definitely say he is in better shape than I am.

When my Dad signed us all up for this race, the furthest I had ever run, like EVER, was 4 miles. Two days before the race, I had only gotten that mileage up to 5. A 10k is 6.2 miles. So yesterday I officially ran the furthest distance I’ve ever run.

It was pretty awesome and we all had an amazing time.

Just got down to Cohasset:

Waiting by the starting line:

3, 2, 1 ….

We’re off! (My sis is in front in the pink, Dad’s right there and I’m behind him making a muppet face and waving):

Finish line (I was just out of frame right in front of them):

We totally did it:

Big thanks to my mom the photographer ;)

Things about the race:

a.) I finished and did not walk once. I finished IN UNDER AN HOUR. My official time was 58:34. I came in 890 out of 1344. Not bad for my first road race ever.

b.) My dad totally kicked our asses and probably could have finished at least 5 minutes before my sister and I if he ran at his own pace.

c.) My sister is way better at running hills than me, my dad and about 3/4s of the people running that race.

d.) When we got to the top of the last hill my sister said to me “Thank god for Beyonce. She got me up that hill.” And I said “SINGLE LADIES?!?!” What are the chances that the same song came on our shuffles at the same time and got us up the WORST HILL I’ve ever run in my life? Weird.

e.) I ran ahead of my dad and sister at the end. I wanted to sprint to the finish. I looked to my left and realized I was next to one of my oldest friends in the whole world, Jeannie (who is training for a marathon! GO JEANNIE!). We got to finish together, but not without drama! We were 10 ft from the finish and some young girl and her golden retriever who were NOT part of the race decided to cross from one side of the street to the other and WIPED OUT on the finish line. Jeannie and I basically jumped over the both of them, finished and high-fived. I am not exaggerating in the least.

In conclusion, yesterday was awesome. I had a good time with my Dad (I hope he had a good birthday!) and am now even more pumped for the Falmouth Road Race in August. My goal is to finish that one in at least the same, if not a better time than I finished this one. Here’s hoping!

The last weekend of September I went to a wedding down in Newport, RI. It was one of those weddings where you feel like everyone you know is there. And, for that reason, it was really a great time. It has been nearly a decade since all of us were under one roof – in fact, I do believe while enjoying cocktails by the bar, Danielle remarked “What’s up 2001?”.

I actually didn’t bring a camera (shocking!) because everyone else I know did and it was nice for once to not live an event behind a lens. But it also meant having to wait until people uploaded their photos so that I could post some (now I know how everyone else feels!).

Here’s a few of my favorites (that I have clearly stolen and am not ashamed about).

My Braintrees and I always travel in packs. It’s true:

(One quick note: It had rained all weekend and the night of the wedding, despite the fact that every girl had done up their hair all lovely (in my case curls – what was I thinking!?) and got in our dresses, by the time we made it to the event location we all looked like we had taken a fraction of the time to get ready. Frustrating! The curly girls who had flat-ironed were all curly again, and the straight girls playing curly were flat. Not to mention all that tape we had used to secure our fancy dresses had no stick left to it. Luckily we’re cute enough that you can’t tell from the photos ;) And, besides, none of us really cared anyway!)

Our head to toe looks (after my curls had fallen out, but before the dress tape decided to fail):

And my super classy in between photos look:

This is my ex from a long time ago. He is looking good. California has done good things for this man:

We cover both coasts in this photo – Gary (MA), Matt (SF, CA) and Hollis (LA, CA):

And a picture where I’m not making an ass of myself (with Hollis, my LA guy and Hooker, my NC man):

I think one of my favorites though is after the wedding, after we had danced our faces off, after we went back to the hotel and after we popped a couple of bottles of champagne for Danielle’s birthday. We laughed for like 45 minutes straight and in that time this photo, which pretty much sums up the time that we had, was taken:

It’s nice to have everyone around for a while.

Full set.

Acroyoga: ridiculously fun and a little scary at first.

Cuddled with Beef: super cute and he loved me.

Pet and fed some crazy animals: so amazing.

If you’re ever in the Charlotte area, go to the Lazy 5 Ranch.