I am me. But I go by the names Jen, Jennie and Jennifer depending on how you know me, and from which point in my life. I knew what I wanted "to be when I grew up" at the ripe age of 10. I wasn't someone who changed their mind every other week. I walked into a ballet class and then Decided. I wanted to be a dancer. And I did it. I spent every day from the time I took that first real ballet class, working hard and determined to make my dream a reality. It was hard, hard work. There were tears and bleeding feet and stress fractures and true, unexplainable joy. When I was dancing, everything was right in the world, and it didn't matter that I chose this career that would never really make me a ton of money. In some ways it felt like I didn't choose it, it chose me. I danced for love and for work for 24 years. Then my dreams started changing. I met my love Charles and got married, I was yearning to be a Mother, and the "business" of dance wasn't fun for me anymore. So, I took a chance on a secret dream, one that everyone who knew me said I was perfectly suited for: event design and coordination. I don't say wedding planning, because the truth is that if it is a party...any kind of party...I love it, I can visualize it and I can make it happen. Or at least I hoped so. I wrote a business plan, submitted it to a great organization called Career Transition for Dancers, and received a grant to start my own business, which I named la Soiree Chic. It was a combination of hard work and luck, but my business started profitting right away.
On May 7th, 2007 I became a Mother for the first time when my son Christian came into this world. There are no words to describe the love and adoration I have for my son Christian. Then I was blessed a second time and gave birth to my youngest son, Elijah on April 20, 2010. Elijah is the reason that I started this blog. On December 4th, 2009 I received results from an amnicentesis test that revealed that Elijah has Down syndrome. I was terrified by what that meant. ...I sometimes still get terrified of what that means...However, my experience with Elijah in this short time so far, is so refreshing and so enjoyable that I get to put my fears away and just go with the flow. My life has been an adventure. Even the parts that seemed like they were going to be so horrible, ended up taking me to places I never could have dreamed. So, who I am is an adventure too. I am me...with a lot of dreams, hopes, creativity, and hopefully, a good sense of humor!
