The best day ever... /  by Jessica Peterson

Not really but this is what made me happy today.

I slept in (shouldn't have made me happy because it is one of my resolutions to not be such a lazy ass)... anyway, I slept in which felt nice because I was up late last night. I missed my church meetings (also no good). I went to a friends church that started later in the day. When this was all over and I was on my way home my tummy told me it was very hungry, I told tummy to not get too excited because I knew I had nothing of greatness at home to grace it with. So I get home and to my surprise I see 5 ice cold diet cokes sitting in the snow outside my house, strange I know (Max had pulled them out of the garage and all over yard last week to revolt against his house-banishment) So, I gathered the cokes like a hen gathers her chicks, took them in and gave them a quick bath before their consumption (gross maybe, but oh so worth it). I open the freezer with little expectation of finding something to go with my Diet Coke and then there they were, my soul lit up like Oliver's did on Christmas morning... A GIANT BOX OF TOASTER STRUDELS! A.) I am not sure when the last time I have had a Toaster Strudel was, I am guessing it has been at least 15 years and B.) I had no idea they even made Toaster Strudels these days. I ripped that box open, examined the lovely preserve laced pastries and the adorable frosting pouches all lined up so bravely. I placed them gently into the toaster and watched them slowly descend down into the black cavities of warmth and when they returned I drizzled that sugared frosting on them like there was no tomorrow and I ate them... I ate them real good.
It has been a good day.

Anyway.

This really hasn't been the best day ever, actually it is a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. I am just procrastinating doing my work.

The End

Healer/Idealist /  by Jessica Peterson

The other night a few of us sat around and took the Myers-Briggs test. I am an INFP.

Here is a little of the Healer/Idealist Profile I grabbed.

  • Warmly concerned and caring towards others
  • Sensitive and perceptive about what others are feeling
  • Loyal and committed - they want lifelong relationships
  • Deep capacity for love and caring
  • Driven to meet other's needs
  • Strive for "win-win" situations
  • Nurturing, supportive and encouraging
  • Likely to recognize and appreciate other's need for space
  • Able to express themselves well
  • Flexible and diverse
INFPs are highly intuitive about people. They rely heavily on their intuitions to guide them, and use their discoveries to constantly search for value in life. They are on a continuous mission to find the truth and meaning underlying things. Every encounter and every piece of knowledge gained gets sifted through the INFP's value system, and is evaluated to see if it has any potential to help the INFP define or refine their own path in life. The goal at the end of the path is always the same - the INFP is driven to help people and make the world a better place.
INFPs present a calm, pleasant face to the world. They appear to be tranquil and peaceful to others, with simple desires. In fact, the INFP internally feels his or her life intensely. In the relationship arena, this causes them to have a very deep capacity for love and caring which is not frequently found with such intensity in the other types. The INFP does not devote their intense feelings towards just anyone, and are relatively reserved about expressing their inner-most feelings. They reserve their deepest love and caring for a select few who are closest to them. INFPs are generally laid-back, supportive and nurturing in their close relationships. With Introverted Feeling dominating their personality, they're very sensitive and in-tune with people's feelings, and feel genuine concern and caring for others. Slow to trust others and cautious in the beginning of a relationship, an INFP will be fiercely loyal once they are committed. With their strong inner core of values, they are intense individuals who value depth and authenticity in their relationships, and hold those who understand and accept the INFP's perspectives in especially high regard. INFPs are usually adaptable and congenial, unless one of their ruling principles has been violated, in which case they stop adapting and become staunch defenders of their values. They will be uncharacteristically harsh and rigid in such a situation.
In general, INFPs are warmly affirming and loving partners who make the health of their relationships central in their lives. Although cautious in the beginning, they become firmly loyal to their committed relationships, which are likely to last a lifetime. They take their relationships very seriously, and will put forth a great deal of effort into making them work.
INFPs are "natural" parents. They accept and enjoy the parental role, seeing it as the natural extension of their value systems. They make use of the parental role for developing and defining their values further, and consider it their task to pass their values on to their children. They take their role quite seriously. Warm, affirming, and flexible, the INFP generally makes a gentle and easy-going parent in many respects.
INFPs are warm and caring individuals who highly value authenticity and depth in their personal relationships. They are usually quite perceptive about other people's feelings and motives, and are consequently able to get along with all sorts of different people. However, the INFP will keep their true selves reserved from others except for a select few, with whom they will form close and lasting friendships. With their high ideals, they are likely to be drawn to other iNtuitive Feelers for their closer friendships.

I don't really expect anyone to read all of that...

One of My best friends is also an INFP (holler Claire!), we have been kind or ridiculous about this whole things because now everything we talk about somehow turns into a personality dissection and why we are reacting to life the way we are... I guess INFP's only
make up 1% of the population so when we find each other we are able to bond well, and because we are very misunderstood it's nice to know someone with similar inner workings.

Anyway... it has been a lot of fun and more eye opening and helpful than I would have ever thought a generalized personality test could ever be.

You should try it.

/  by Jessica Peterson


Annie Leibovits
Sebastiao Salgado
Sally Mann
Alec Soth



I've been spending a lot of time in the library doing research and gathering photographs for for the class I am teaching this winter semester. It has been a huge blessing for me to sit down and ingest all of this amazing work, I feel inspired. Grateful to be able to have so much at my fingertips.

Sledding /  by Jessica Peterson

It's better than I remembered.


Gotta love T's pants...



Mom sleds for the first time in years.
Brave woman.

Chuck and his dudes




I love these of Oliver.

I love Abby's face in this one!
Snowman.


I can't even begin express my gratitude for my family.
I would take these moments over any by far.
I love you guys so much.

/  by Jessica Peterson


This is getting ridiculous. It is 3:30 am and I can't sleep, my fault though. I knew I had a few things to do tonight so I drank some caffeine at midnight thinking it will give me a little kick, but I am wired...

Everyone is asleep.

I keep looking up photo websites and listening to the same songs over and over again. Andrew Bird's Armchair and a Portishead song without a title recorded in my itunes. Getting nervous because I have to wake up in 4 hours, I shouldn't be too nervous though because this week I learned that I'm not really sleeping when I am asleep, true story maybe.

So, I guess I should at least try to get some sleep and stop taking nonsense photos with my iphone.

I like when my days are like the day I had today. /  by Jessica Peterson

I am not sure why but I adore days like today. It has been completely overcast, everything is white including the the snow charged air. It feels as if I am inside a snow globe which makes me feel bizarrely safe, soft.

I wish I could have taken better pictures tonight but this is all I got.




This is in front of my house. I like how empty it feels, even now I feel as if I am the only one awake on the planet.


Cataloging... again. /  by Jessica Peterson

The other day I was at the library looking at art and photo books and I ran across the cutest book called Dirty Wow Wow, it is a book with images of peoples childhood blankets and dolls along with a brief explanation of why that object was so important to the person or a specific adventure they had together. I was inspired to do the same and take a photo of my blanket, unfortunately it is MIA, I am thinking someone must have mistaken it for a cobweb and thrown away it away (I'm not joking, it's as frail and thin as a spiders web from me pulling all the fuzz off of it). But.... while looking for the blanket I found treasures that have been tucked away for safe keeping and then decided to do number two of The Things That Mean Things, a post I did a few months ago.

I am happy I did it.


My mom's camera, it's been broken for a while.


My Grandpa was a cowboy, this was once his. It used to sit on my mother's drawers, I remember staring at it all the time as a kid and imagining it was real and mine, I think I broke its leg off.


This was my Uncle Johnnie's



Grandmother's purse



Great Grandmother's clutch


Mine, not sure where it came from or who made it.



My mom's childhood mit.


This is too cute, my brother Jimmy wrote this for my Grandpa over 24 years ago.


with a picture of space.
I love space.

I really enjoyed doing this.
You should do it too. If you do, let me know, I would love to see them.

just writing. /  by Jessica Peterson


List time! off the top of my head..

favorite words:
-Butthead
-Cream
-Cigar box
-Rad

Favorite Foods:
-Pizza (the good kind, not the 5 dollar poop in a box)
-Bulgogi
this is a silly, I like food so much, I like it all

Moments I wouldn't mind reliving:
-Walking the city by myself at 5am while listening to Jose Gonzales and wrapping my sweater tightly around me to protect me from the rain
-Listening to Oliver make up stories before bedtime, I was a Ghost and he was a little monster and we would end up at parties and ride spaceships, so cool
-The time I got 3rd place after feeling like a complete failure
-Driving home from LA with Lou, we fantasized about being cowgirls who inhabited the small ghost towns we passed
-On my dads boats and at least 25 dolphins came to swim with the boat, they were incredible

Favorite songs at this moment:
-Cello song by The Books with Jose G
-Everything by Bon Iver and Beirut

What I wish didn't happen:
-I wouldn't wake up feeling tired every morning even though I get plenty of sleep
-Music being tainted and ruined by the association of good times gone bad (make sense?)
-The winkles in my face getting deeper
-The sun ditching out on me at 4:45 these days (no good)

Okay, I am done.