Wednesday, August 26, 2009

It's Wednesday.

Mark's birthday was a success! We had been eating a lot of cake recently, so I made chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate/rice krispie bananas instead. They were a hit!

We went to Havana Harry's for dinner and the to Brickell Irish Pub for drinks after. Everyone mingled and met some new friends.

This is Mark's piece of cake from Havana Harry's -- sooooo good.

These are the chocolate covered strawberries I made!

Mark eating my chocolate bananas - don't worry, he's not naked. He has pants on. :)

And here are the bananas!

I made him a painting for his birthday. Here are a few pics of the painting. You can also see it on my art blog.




Hope everyone has a good Wednesday! I woke up early, worked out, ate, and now I'm going to write write write! Adios.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Mark! 23 is OLD!

Happy Birthday to my best friend and roommate Mark! (And boyfriend, too.) He is 23 today; so old!! Hehehe, just kidding ;) he likes to call me an old lady. The pic above is Mark at the airport Chili's drinking a margarita last August on the way to Napa Valley.

Mark and I at Key Biscayne, sometime last summer.

On the streets of San Francisco, an awesome city!

Very old drawing I did of Mark reading.

Mark trying out the shaker that Karen got us for a housewarming present, along with several really cool cocktail glasses -- thanks again, Karen! Mark really enjoys measuring his drinks ;)

This is Mark with our old neighbor Carlo. We used to hang out with him a lot when we lived in the house, and he'd feed us and drink wine with us. He's an older Cuban man, and sometimes the language barrier was difficult, but at that point we'd usually just all be laughing. :) I miss him.

I like Mark because he plays with me. Like painting nails and doing hair. :) He's silly.

Halloween 2008. I was a cat, and Mark was himself in a green shirt.

Playing guitar, several days ago.


Tonight we're going to eat at Havana Harry's and then probably go out after. A new Irish pub opened within walking distance of us (actually only about 2 blocks away), and we tried to go Friday for their opening, but it was too packed to get in! We might try again tonight. We've got a big group going, mostly women, since Mark's such a stud!

Happy Birthday!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Epcot on HelloOrlando.com :)

Hi guys,

I wrote an article about Epcot Theme Park that is now on HelloOrlando.com. You can view it here! A special thanks to my friend Becca who graciously let me use some of her photos for my article. Thanks again!

I would greatly appreciate a click or two :)

Today I'm just working away on HelloMiami, book reviews, and my other writing gig, which is basically shorter articles for a website called Demand Studios. When I get some posted, I will put the links here for easy viewing!

Also, check out my art blog if you're interested. It's really still an infant, but you can click it on the left side of this blog in my Supercool Links area.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Love,

J

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Smart Boyfriend

Yesterday I went to work with Mark. His internship this summer is on University of Miami's campus in the recording studio. We rode the Metrorail to his campus yesterday, and he worked and I worked. I also got some photos of his project! Hope you enjoy them.

This is the multi-touch table that Mark's group is working on. You can drag music tracks into the circle (on the picture below), hit a Play button, and then the song plays on the speakers located all around the table. The song can pan around to different speakers; it's quite impressive, and I'm proud of his brain! (Have I mentioned I love a good brain!?) :)


Mark checking out his programming skills. This is where he works everyday, and he recently found out he'll get to continue his work during the semester! Woooo!

That's it for now. I'm going to get busy writing some book reviews and some HelloMiami articles. Hope everyone's having a great day! Love, J.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Venetian Pool...

So I went yesterday to review/write about the Coral Gables Venetian Pool. I couldn't find it, and I drove around Coral Gables, which is a really nice neighborhood in Miami. The street signs are written on rocks on the ground in Coral Gables, for historical reasons apparently. But today I went back and found the Venetian Pool, and it's stunning! Here are a few pictures I took that will be in the HelloMiami article, soon to be published.

Enjoy!








Click-er-roos!

Hey guys. Here are some of my more recent articles for HelloMiami.

Taco Rico Tex Mex Cafe

Archie's Pizza

Champagne Fridays at the Ritz

You don't even have to read them if you don't want! But a click or two would be so great!

Soon I'll have my Epcot story up on HelloOrlando, so I'll let you guys know where to find it when it's published. It's with my editor now for review.

Today I'm hoping to post an article for Red Koi Thai & Sushi Lounge, which I visited yesterday for lunch, and also the Coral Gables Venetian Pool. That article is already written, I just need to take pics and add them :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! I'll be running around Miami taking photos!!

Love you guys.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Loopy


This is Loopy, our lucky bamboo plant. I just liked this picture of Mark, and I wanted to share it with you all.

I'm baking a cake now for my friend's birthday, and I think we are celebrating either tonight or tomorrow night, so look for pictures later!

Adios.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Happy 21 Chelsea!





Hey little sis. I'm sorry I'm not in town to celebrate your big day! I will make it up to you :)

I hope you have a fantastic birthday, complete with a margarita at your favorite restaurant! I wish I could be there, and we could take a birthday shot together!

I love you very much!

CHEERS TO ONE OF THE BEST SISTERS EVER!!!!!! hehehehe, LOVE!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Can I get a click-click?

Hey all,

My freelance gig (HelloMetro) has cut down our hours and is experiencing revenue "squeezes". I am still writing, and for now I am still contracting work, just not to the extent that I used to be able to write. If you guys could give me some click, just go to HelloMiami.com, and click on ANY one of my articles (and even scroll down to the Bars/Nightclubs, and give that a click or two), it would be very helpful! And I would be very grateful!

I did find a smaller writing gig, that pays per article, so I'll be getting into that soon. I'll let you know where to find the articles once they get up and running!

I hope those on vacation are having a wonderful time! I wish I could have been there. Maybe next year ;)

Love you guys,

Jess

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Cat Cay 2009!

Momma Byrd cooking fresh lobster, just caught from the sea, in the kitchen of the Abracadabra. The Abracadabra is the yacht they've been chartering for several years for their Bahamas trip. This year they took Mark and me along to Cat Cay, a three hour ride from Key Largo.

This is me in front of a place we stopped to snorkel and swim. Captain Ron says this is Riding Rock, and behind me are remnants of a lighthouse.

The beach by the house we had rented. The house was named Sandpiper.

Here's the hammock behind our house - very relaxing.

Riding Rock lighthouse, one more time.

Mark waves from the wild blue ocean.

These are my toes from the tuna tower on the Abracadabra, and below me is Ellen, Ally's younger sister.

Ally's toes and some of the lobsters that Dr. Byrd and first mate Rodney caught one day.

Dr. B with four lobsters on one spear! He's a diving machine! He can hold his breath for quite some time, and it's a little stressful watching him dive down and waiting for him to surface.

Mark reels in a yellow tail and Captain Ron takes him off the hook. Fried fish for dinner with fresh lobster tails - doesn't get much better than that!

The Brothers Freeman pose for a windy shot on the Abracadabra.

Clockwise, starting at top-left: Dr. B, Mark, Captain Ron, Rodney, and Scott. The men are waiting for the women to cook dinner, hahah!

A special thank-you to the Byrd family for inviting Mark and me along on your fabulous vacation! I hope you guys enjoy the pics!