Dear Heidi Klum,

I don't usually watch Project Runway, but I did catch the finale last night. My question to you, Heidi, is this- What the heck were you wearing?? Let me show you what I saw:

Yikes!! Who told you that looked good? They lied to you girlfriend. That reminds me of my mom going to work in the 80's. I will say that it does look better in the piture than it did on TV, but still shouldn't be happening. Aren't you like one of the leading fashion experts in the world? If this is what is in I must be way behind. I'm ok with that though. I don't want to think that is cute.

Oh well...better luck next year I guess.

Sincerley,

Jen "I just recently became ok with skinny jeans" Fogleman

Dear iTunes,

You are really going to make me pay 30 cents more to download certain music? I am writing just to ask why. I mean, are you hurting financially? Are the artists? I don't want to assume here, but I think you and all of your musicians are doing just fine. For example...I really enjoy Lady Gaga's new song "Paparazzi," but all of a sudden it costs me $1.29 to download and enjoy it? Does she really need that extra 30 cents from me? Do you? Really??

Oh my dear iTunes. I think you are scamming me. I think you know I like that song and assume I will pay anything for it. Well, you are wrong my friend. You are wrong. I pride myself in being someone who respects the work and talents of others and downloads music legally. You may now be driving me to do otherwise. We can't be friends if you are going to take advantage of me. I'm sorry. I just can't accept that.

Sincerely,

Jen "I just want to hear my jam" Fogleman

Aunt Jenny!!

My new baby niece, Kamryn Josephine is here! She is beautiful and precious and I already love her so much!

Just wanted everyone to meet her. :)

The Gorilla Pizza Challenge

If you walk into the Wheat State Pizza in Lawrence, Kansas you will see a 24 inch cardboard circle on the wall advertising their "Gorilla Pizza.'' If you let your eyes wander a little bit more you will see the sign that says, "Take the Gorilla Pizza Challenge!" Translation: Eat one by yourself in one hour and you will get $275.

Of course when my husband's dear friends saw this challenge last week, they were convinced that if anyone could do it, Alan could. On September 12, 2009 Alan walked into Wheat State Pizza and took that challenge. This is his story.

A preview of what is to come.

Buying the pizza.

The gorilla approaches!!

Bite #1

About halfway through plus some crusts...it's all strategy.

Alan's proud supporters (and sponsors for this event)- relaxing and eating pizza...leisurely.

"I'm going to eat your pizza!"

We knew we were losing him when he got into the 'resting on the table' position.

One of the final bites...

We kindly prevented Wheat State from having to clean the floor.

He did give that pizza hell though.

So, my friends, next time you see Alan Fogleman walking down the street be sure to pat him on the back and congratulate him on this incredible feat. No, he did not finish that gorilla pizza or walk away with any money, but I'll tell you what he did do. He took a challenge and he did not quit until his own body forced his hand. He filled himself with more pizza than any human should ever be filled with and he did it with dedication and integrity. His motto throughout this event is one that we should all be applying to our daily lives: "I won't quit. I will win or I will throw up."

It's Time to Say Goodbye to the Summer

This summer went faster than any summer I have ever experienced. Seriously, it feels like it didn't even happen. All of a sudden 9 weeks of camp went by and we only have one week left! Then I start school at KU and go back to work at Rosehill. Let's not rush though...we still have this week! I just wanted to share some of my favorite summer moments with you all. It was a good one!

I got to spend my whole summer with my best friend!! I also enjoyed making K-State people mad about how sweet KU is.




I also got to hang out with the best kids ever. This is us observing Camo Short Tuesday.





Who doesn't love painting faces at the Renaissance Festival?





Saturday staff lunches!






Being a pacman ghost. Ok, I am lying...I didn't enjoy being a pacman ghost. Everyone runs from you and it is freakin' hot under there!






Shaving cream wars!





Nightstrike with Elvis.




My other best friend came to camp!





Being a Spartan with Will Farrell.





Arguing with Andy daily. :)





4th of July with the fam.





Royals games!





Seeing the Fray!



There is a little taste of summer for you all. It was so fast, but so good. I think I will be ready to transition back into real life when it comes next weekend. Ten weeks of camp food is really doing a number on me.

Happy Trails

My parents do not like the outdoors. My dad is an adventurous man- he will hike, run, bike, kayak, canoe, or surf with the best of them, but he then likes to have a nice hotel room to return to with a bed. Don't bother asking mom...if it is even somewhat rustic she will think it is gross and awful. The closest we ever got to camping when I was younger was building a fort in the living room to sleep under. They wouldn't even spend a night with me at church camp...I had to be an adopted child of one of my friend's parents.

I do enjoy the outdoors and managed to experience camping with the help of those families that would graciously take me to camp and through those wonderful high school youth group canoe trips. Two weekends ago I took my first "no adults present" camping trip. Well, I suppose all of us that went were adults, but it doesn't seem that way. I still feel like a high school kid and actually get mistaken for one quite often. Alan and I went with 4 of our friends to Ponca, Arkansas to spend the weekend hiking, sleeping in a tent, sitting by the fire, the whole bit. It was fun, but I had no idea what I was getting into.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to a place that one of my friends had hiked many times before. Right when we started I asked him about the severity of this trail and all I remember about his response is that he said there may be some climbing. I immediately demanded his definition of "climbing." That could mean stepping over a tree on the path or it could mean we should have harnesses and helmets. He never really answered me.

For the next three hours we followed a creek (a very full creek) to a small canyon. There wasn't really a trail most of the time and we had to climb over huge rocks and trees and were crossing over the creek all the time. (I think I will actually call it a river from now on, I mean it was really full!) We tried to stay pretty dry by walking on stones in the river, but as you will later find out that was a waste of time.

When we reached the canyon we got to this rock face that was totally vertical and had a tree at the top of it with a rope hanging down. Ah, this was where the "climbing" came in. We had to hold the rope and climb up a vertical rock surface. Who put the rope there? Was this a joke that we were all actually trusting this rope and putting all of our weight on it to pull ourselves up??? I was a little terrified. Once we got past that we had to crawl up another practically vertical incline to get to our lunch spot. A few times we were hanging onto ledges while walking along a very thin one under our feet. When we were sitting up in this weird cave/canyon overlooking the trees below all I did was freak out about how we were all probably going to die on the way back. This was some extreme hiking!! I think I hid my fear well.

Once we'd finished lunch we tried to find out if there was a better way back. Mostly I just wanted to avoid that ridiculous rope. We saw a flat trail off to our right and hoped that would lead us down a better way. Turns out the rope would have been a way better idea! We followed the trail for awhile and just kept getting further and further into the brush. There was no more trail. We knew that we had to get down at some point- back to the river. So, when we saw an opportunity- a decline that didn't look as steep as the rest of the mountain we headed down. It was hilarious and ridiculous. We bushwhacked out way down a muddy hill covered with trees and poison ivy. People were sliding and falling and twice I was hanging from a rock ledge with my feet not touching the ground. We would slide into a tree to hold onto and then we would find the next closest one, slide again, and hope that we were grabbing for a tree that was rooted well. It was intense. (I wish I could paint a better picture of what this was really like. Whatever you are picturing as I describe this, multiply it times four. Put more trees and rocks in there. Maybe a steeper hill. Lots of water and wetness.) We were almost to the bottom and my dear husband slid and grabbed for one of those not-rooted-so-well trees. He went rolling through the mud down the rest of the hill and right into the stream/river. Amazing dismount off the mountain! The rest of the way back you could see how no one cared about being wet anymore. We just went straight through the river most of the time.

After six hours in the woods we made it back to the car- covered in mud and each of us having some sort of battle wound acquired from the hike. I want use a better word than "hike." It wasn't a nice little "hike." It was extreme trail blazing. Professionals would question our sanity. I was thanking the Lord that we all were safe at the end of that day. Perhaps you will think I am being dramatic, but we could have died multiple times that day. A good roll down one of them hills or a ledge cracking beneath you and its all over. What a day.

We were supposed to stay one more night, but we'd pretty much had our fill of camping at that point. We packed up camp, stopped at Quiznos, and headed home to tell of our adventure in the woods of Ponca, Arkansas.

I'm Sure it's Nothing

I have an anxiety about car problems. I fear my tire blowing out or the car breaking down leaving me stranded and alone on the side of the road, completely vulnerable to anyone who is driving down the road looking for a poor innocent girl to murder. I think about what I could do if this was to happen too. I have some escape plans in my head. I think about these things daily when I make the 30 minute drive to work everyday. All the way just hoping that I will make it!!! I have a problem, I know.

Well, today was almost the day that all my worst fears became a reality. Right as I was turning onto the highway that takes me out of Lawrence I heard a loud sputtering or rumbling sound. I turned down the music to listen and could hear it toward the back of the car. My first reaction is always to make up excuses....I thought it was the car behind me and then I thought maybe it was a helicopter flying overhead. Unfortunately, the sound followed me. So either I was being chased by a helicopter (which I might rather have happen) or there was something wrong with my car. I could tell it was coming from the back so I thought it was the tire. It couldn't be because the car was steering fine and it wasn't shaking at all. Since the car was moving fine and didn't smell funny I did what I do best and ignored it. I turned the music up and pretended like nothing was wrong. That always makes it go away.

I got to work on time and heard it again when I got into the parking lot. I pulled into a spot and got out of the car. I couldn't hear it. I stuck my head in the car and I could hear it. I turned the car off and the noise didn't stop. I was baffled. Now my thought was, "Perhaps I should move because I think it is going to blow up!" Out of the car I couldn't hear it at all. In the car I could. I opened the trunk and it was louder. I noticed that my little Rubbermaid box of instruments was moving! I was still baffled. (Not real quick on the up-take this morning.) I thought that whatever was making the noise in my car was making my box vibrate. I opened it up and found my car problem. It was the vibrating pen that I use as a drum mallet with some of my autistic kids in music therapy. It was just bouncing around the box. I felt kinda dumb, but mostly I was just extremely relieved. I am not getting murdered on K-10 today! Well, I do still have to drive home...

Just Catching Up

Man, this blogger world can get intense. I have people who follow my blog (who happen to be very close friends) threatening to take me off their blog rolls. Someone even threw a brick through my window with this note tied to it, "Post now or die." It is crazy.

In my defense, I would like to point out that my internet access is quite limited. My husband and I make so little money that we are actually labeled as living below the poverty line and had to give up certain luxuries such as the world wide web and all it has to offer. My apologies. This weekend however, I am dog sitting and living large! Internet AND cable! Woohoo!

So here is a quick run down of life since Christmas:

I was a bit busy getting married for awhile there. That was fun and it still is every day.

Then I had to go on this cruise for 7 days. It was just awful. So warm and sunny.

I moved back to Lawrence, the home of the Jayhawks! Alan and I are enjoying our little town home and Jayhawk basketball very much.

I've been commuting to work in Lenexa at Rosehill Elementary and doing music therapy around KC.

I applied for grad school at KU. (I don't know those people. They do look happy though!)

I've been keeping up on this season of 24. It is sooo good. I heart Jack Bauer no matter what anybody says.

I've also kept up on this season of The Bachelor. Mistake.

I decided to work at camp again this summer as this guy's assistant. (Although, I am having some doubts now because he was one who threatened me!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention any names though, of course.) Just kidding, Andy...I understand why you did it.

There we go. All caught up. I know it wasn't much, but I hope I have redeemed myself and mended the wounds that I created in my absence. It may take time to heal, but we will do it together. I won't ever leave you again.

Ok now lets get excited about March Madness!!!!! My favorite time of year! Go KU!