welcome to my fraction of the internet

hitched!

2011-07-09T17:52:00.000-04:00

Photo courtesy: JCE Photography. [She's AWESOME!]

Thanks to everyone who helped make our wedding exactly as we wished it to be! For now, we're home honeymooning with tequila and a cool Santa Monica breeze. Love you all!

Mr. and Mrs. Freeman

etsy shop!

2011-04-14T18:32:00.000-04:00

Hello family and friends!

I've recently started an Etsy shop! So far I have two items listed, but more are coming very soon!

I'm selling (so far) birth announcements and wedding invitations that are printable. For Ally, my future sister-in-law, I designed several birth announcements, and she's using two of them to send out!

This is one of the two she's using. It's TH (the baby I introduced in the previous post), but I changed all their personal information for the Etsy shop.

You can see my shop by clicking the link below! Any feedback you'd like to give is welcome. :) Hope you're all doing well! I miss you ALL VERY MUCH!

Aunt Becky, Aunt Sissy, I think you guys are crafty enough to do this! And Jamie, I made these in photoshop, so I KNOW you can do this! :)

j

new baby boy!

2011-03-30T22:21:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write a quick post to let you know that Ally and Scott had their baby boy today!

His name is Thomas Hamilton Freeman, and he is 7 pounds, 4 ounces. I think he will be called TH, but I'm not sure about that, since I haven't spoken to the happy family directly.

No pics yet, but soon! :)

Can't wait to meet you TH, T-Dawg, T-Ham, Tommy Boy.

Love,

Aunt Jess + Uncle Mark

Chicago!

2011-03-22T19:05:00.000-04:00

After Nashville, I hopped in the car with Emily, we picked up Kim in Louisville, and we headed up to Chicago. We stayed with Oregon in her lovely condo in Wicker Park in Chicago.

Here's the downtown Chicago skyline. It was pretty chilly there, and luckily Chelsea let me borrow her jacket for the trip!

This is me, Emily, and Oregon huddled up for a picture.

This is "The Bean" in downtown Chicago (the picture above), and the picture below is me taking a photo of myself reflected in The Bean.

Below are two pictures from the surprise Bachelorette party that they threw for me! We started out at the apartment, dancing around to music and opening lovely gifts. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and tacos. We were planning on going dancing afterward, but our conversation was so great we just sat and talked for 2+ hours!

After dinner/convo/buckets of margaritas, we walked to a bar that was virtually empty, but we managed to make two fun friends! Oregon and the girl (Katie, I believe) exchanged numbers since she was new to Chicago and looking for friends. Yay!

The bartender brought us free shots (yum!), which prompted Katie's man friend to buy us another round (yay!). Kim talked the DJ into playing Bob Dylan for us, so when Tangled Up In Blue came over the speakers Kim and I geeked out! Next came Bohemian Rhapsody, and Katie and I sang and danced to the entire song. So much fun!

On Saturday, we headed to Oregon's friend Heidi's apartment in Wrigleyville for a keg party which started at 9:30 a.m. The keg had green beer (which turns your teeth green, by the way). Heidi made everyone breakfast sandwiches with green eggs and ham (or bacon)!

This is Oregon (or Ellen, her real name) with her boyfriend Fluff (or Sean, his real name) in their St. Patty's Day green.

The lovely Emily Moore, teacher extraordinaire.

Kim and Emily, ready to dominate the beer pong table.

But wait, they have forgotten the rules! Quick recap...

After a brief and disappointing round of Quarters, we headed to the living room to play a chant game with a lot of ladies at the house. It was pretty hilarious, and I'm sad I got no video...

I had so much fun with my WKU ladies in Chicago! I can't wait to get together with them again. :)

After the keg party, my cousin Nikki picked me up and we went back to her apartment. Later we walked to grab a delicious sushi dinner. Her and Eric (her fiance) were fabulous hosts! I had lots of fun with them, too. And also Oliver, her dog, who slept on the air mattress with me that night. :)

Sunday morning, very early, Nikki drove me to Midway and I boarded a plane to LA. I slept almost the whole way there, and when Mark picked me up, he was very happy to have me home!

Nashville travels

2011-03-16T19:07:00.000-04:00

Introducing: Sookie! from jessica bates on Vimeo.

Cougar Arm Wrestling from jessica bates on Vimeo.

Arm Wresting: Mom vs. Maggie from jessica bates on Vimeo.

In Nashville, I thought I would have tons of time to see everyone, hang out with the family, and relax. It turns out, that was not the case! My days filled up quickly, and it feels like my Nashville stay was over before it even began. Over Christmas, Chelsea was working a lot, and I barely got to see her. This break it was the opposite: Chelsea and I had tons of sister-time, and Maggie and I barely saw each other!

I finally saw the wedding/reception venue (the Mill at Lebanon), and it's lovely.

Mom, Chelsea and I ate at Michael's Cafe, who will be catering the event. (YUM!)

We got some great decorating ideas. I got to invade a book club at Elizabeth's house, and I got to invade her classroom (even though I was late -- shocker!), and I got to see her in HER wedding dress!! Such a treat! I had a fitting for my dress, and as Elizabeth zipped me up, she said something like, "You better not gain another pound!" Yikes! Hahah, but it's true, it was snug. :) I have been doing some arm exercises because I want to look like a beautiful, buff bride (who doesn't?).

I got to attend my future sister-in-law's baby shower (Ally!), and her baby boy (my future nephew) will be here sometime in April! I got to attend my cousin Nikki's lingerie shower at Karen's, and some of the guests were nice enough to bring ME presents! So I had a mini-surprise-lingerie shower, too!

I left on Wednesday morning for Chicago. I rode with Emily (college roomie) and on the way we picked up Kim (other college roomie) and we stayed with Oregon (other college roomie!) in her condo in Wicker Park. More pics coming soon for the Chicago outing!

Now I'm back in Santa Monica, which Mark is really happy about. I am, too. Living out of a suitcase gets tiring! More soon. :)

happy birthday, Poppy.

2011-02-23T01:05:00.001-05:00

Today would have been Poppy's 90th birthday. Cheers! (I'm guzzling a glass of Night Train in your honor. Love you.)

engagement photos!

2011-02-02T14:59:00.000-05:00

Here are just a few of the engagement pictures from this past Saturday. They were taken at the Getty, and our friend Chelsea took them ALL on her iPhone. (Really, she's amazing with that thing!) Enjoy!

We had a lot of fun, and Mark really enjoyed posing! What a dapper man. :)

January wrap-up!

2011-01-26T17:41:00.001-05:00

I haven't been posting much lately, so I'm going to pack a lot of stuff into a little post.

First, Mark started a company! It's called Subtorious Sound (the link will take you to the website), and he will sell audio software that he's made. Here's the logo I made for the company:

Second, wedding plans continue. The date is set (JULY 2!), but the location is no longer Cheekwood. Now, it will be at The Mill at Lebanon in The Loft area. I'm working on our Save the Dates, which I don't want to share, yet, because I want you all to be surprised when you see them in the mailbox! Mom, Chelsea and Corey have been amazing -- searching for cool decorations to go with our colors and theme. Mom's been working on a winning table setting! (Love you guys!)

Third, I've been making some really great friends! Chelsea (whom I mentioned in an earlier post), is shooting our engagement pictures at the Getty museum this Saturday. Should be a good time! She's also invited me to a Zombie Prom, that I will be attending, but if any "undead" start biting each other, I'm out. (Chelsea works in the horror film industry; unlikely friend for me, right?!) These pics are from last weekend where we went to see a friend's band play in Hermosa Beach.

(I forgot to actually get in a photo myself...)

Fourth, I've been cooking some delicious things!

1 - zucchini fritters

2 - orange/cinnamon chicken + veggies

3 - healthy cookies (no sugar or butter, what?!):

and 4 - vegetable couscous + wine (I didn't make the wine.)

Fifth, we got a TV, and because of that, we finally got our living room set up and feeling cozy. I'll shoot/post a video later, mostly for Tenderheart to see. :)

Sixth, I got a new side gig where I write/schedule/post tweets for a number of companies. The jobs are just stacking up! (I also got a job at Subtorious Sound as Vice President of Operations. I am the graphic and marketing guru there!)

Seventh, I am a member of Goodreads, a social networking website that is centered around books. I have pledged to read 60 books in 2011, and so far I've read 5. Five a month will get me to my goal! The books I've read are Suzanne Collins's Mockingjay, Mario Vargas Llosa's The Feast of the Goat, David Nicholls's One Day, David Sedaris's Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. [Notice the widget at the top right of the blog; you can see my Goodreads profile by clicking there!]

Eighth, I love you and miss you all! I hope to be in town sometime soon.

Love from the west coast -

j

we're so high-tech.

2011-01-13T20:53:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas present from Michael and Melanie (Mark's parents) arrived today. Due to our lack of tables as well as wires that connect to the speakers, we are temporarily housing the TV on Mark's desk.

After three years of living together, this is our first TV. We still will not get cable; Netflix, Wii and internet streaming will be enough!

Love,

j

finally back in la la land

2011-01-10T21:47:00.001-05:00

Mark and I had a fun, busy two weeks of traveling. Here are a few highlights!

Nashville, TN
Christmas is Nashville is always a blast. Mom's house was decorated to the max, and I loved hanging out with my mom and sisters, although Chelsea had to work more than I wanted her to. Maggie was my driver, and we had a lot of fun talking, singing and laughing in her hot little five-speed. We also had many nights of sisterly chats, including ones that woke up the middle sister even though she had to work early. :)

My entourage went with me to shop for a wedding dress. (The lively group included Mom, Chelsea, Maggie, Emily, Corey Ann, Melanie, Ally, and Erin.) Thanks to all of you, we found a winner at Southern Belle Rose on White Bridge Road. I absolutely love it, AND it was on the clearance rack. Cha-ching!

Erie, PA
Erie was relaxing. I met my future nephew, Jack, fed him sweet potatoes and pumped him up to crawl. Jack is all Freeman -- dark hair, dark eyes, and beautiful.

We ate well, drank delicious wine, and had tons of good conversation. Carl and Stephanie will be leaving Erie soon when Carl serves in the Navy, so this trip will probably be my last to Erie! Such a nice town.

Cleveland, OH
On a pit stop through Cleveland on our way to St. Pete, we stayed with Michelle's family for a night. After visiting with our lovely Michelle, her family showed up, and hilarity ensued. Mark and John Primeau were guzzling his homemade brew, MaryAnne was schooling us in chicken foot and dominoes, and Michelle was feeding me detox tea. Of course Kat led an improv game that bested Mark and me, but the sisters were fantastic! The Primeaus are definitely a fun bunch, and their hospitality was endless!

St. Petersburg, FL
As Mark so eloquently said, we had a "novel experience" this New Years Eve. After waiting for about an hour to receive dinner at the club dining room, we headed down to the dance floor to cut a rug before KC and the Sunshine Band played. Mark and I rocked out to the DJ beforehand, and when KC came out we had secured a position at the front and center of the crowd. KC even came up to boogie right in front of me -- score! Melanie was stuck next to a couple that used a walker as a dance prop, and her foot was repeated rolled over while her sides were repeatedly jabbed with the walker's handles. Mark and I "dance/fought" for our place, and he had to get fierce to put a wild woman in a NYE hat in her place. We made it back to the hotel for the midnight fireworks show, and I made it to the toilet in time to throw up. Yay!

I got sick in St. Pete, and Mark followed. He caught a more serious strain of the bug, though, and ended up in the ER with a saline drip and anti-nausea medicine. We delayed our flight back to LA for a day and stayed with Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Steve to recover. Thanks, guys!

Here's a pic that Ally, my future sister-in-law, took of me and Mark on NYE! Thanks, Ally!

Ally and Scott are expecting a baby boy in April! So excited for them. :)

Miss you all!

Love,

introducing: Chelsea Stardust

2010-12-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

Mark and I have been getting out of the house some to hang out with friends! Yay for us! Here are a few pictures for proof...

This picture was taken by the lovely Chelsea P., alias Chelsea Stardust, who is one of my new friends! We were at Bergamot Station, a large art gallery complex in Santa Monica, and this is me in an old diner that was inside one of the galleries. Mark pointed out that I look eerily like my mother. :)

These pictures are from a party last Friday night, and Chelsea P is the lady in the photos with us! Chelsea B and Maggie might be interested to know that Chelsea P is a huge horror movie buff, and just got a job (woop!) with the production company that made Paranormal Activity. (She invited Mark and I to a screening of Insidious, a new horror film, but we humbly declined. Er, we're big babies.)

[If any of you brave kids want to look at her website, you can see it here: Chelsea Stardust. On it you will find an amazingly creepy photo shoot of serial killers and the like. Eeeek!]

soclose!

2010-12-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

my beautiful littlest sister

2010-12-03T19:58:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to the most fun, littlest sister I could imagine. Chelsea and I loved to play with you, whether we were zooming you around the house in (slightly) unsafe baby strollers or pretending you were a puppy. You were the most fun toy we could have. And wait, you're a PERSON, not a toy for Jessica and Chelsea! And wait, you're seventeen years old today! I'm infinitely proud to have such smart, lovely women as my sisters. So, seester, happy birthday. We shall celebrate in a few weeks when I am home. I miss you lots.

i like pie.

2010-11-26T03:05:00.000-05:00

For thanksgiving I made Mark's favorite pie - a chocolate/pecan/bourbon pie from Melanie's recipe. (Melanie is Mark's mom, my future mother-in-law!)

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! Love, J

giving thanks

2010-11-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

I have a lot to be thankful for this season. I'm engaged to my best friend, and I am excited to see what the future brings. I am freelancing and scraping by, and I'm thankful that my writing is paying the bills. I'm thankful for friends and family that love me and are part of my life even though I'm far away. I'm thankful for the ability to make friends here. I'm thankful that Mark and I have somewhere to go tomorrow to eat and drink and be merry.

Tomorrow we are going to Emily and Charlie's house for a Thanksgiving feast. We spent the 4th of July with them when they lived a mile away. Now they have moved to a different area of LA, so I'm excited to catch up with them, pet Walter (their unbearably cute pug), and enjoy a delicious meal. Pictures to come!

I am thinking of all of you during the holidays. I can't wait to see you all in December!

Love,
J

bling!

2010-11-16T22:41:00.000-05:00

So it's happened! Mark and I are engaged. We've been talking about getting engaged for a few weeks, talking about practical things like expectations, etc. (Mark had asked me one night, and I thought I ruined it with my talking.) So we let the talk simmer, and then last night he gave me a ring made out of yarn to put on my finger. Then he asked me if I wanted to pick out a ring soon. And OF COURSE I said I did, and I started "geeking out", if you will.

Mark was looking at rings online and didn't know my ring size, so we just decided to look at rings together today. After my finger was sized we looked around the shop, and I started piecing together a ring. We walked home to "think about it", and once I got in the apartment I knew what I wanted. So we walked back to the shop to order it.

So the ring in the left photo is the correct setting of the ring we ordered. The middle stone is also the same shape/size as the one I will have. The ring on the right has a violet amethyst in the center. My ring will have the same color/type stone in as the one in the picture on the right and the same setting/size as the one on the left. PHEW. (Sorry if that's confusing!)

Thank you everyone for your well-wishes. Not many (any?) plans have been made so far, we are just enjoying each other! We are very excited (and tired)! More details as they come; love to all! :)

J

new friends

2010-11-11T16:21:00.000-05:00

So I've finally been bored enough to want to get out there and meet new friends! Yay!

My friend Michelle (who lives in Miami) has a sister named Kat. Kat is an actress living and working in LA. Kat recently invited me to her book club meeting. We met on Sunday at another girl's apartment, which happens to be within walking distance of my place. (You guys know how much I love places within walking distance!) Chelsea then invited me to go art gallery-hopping with her tomorrow. She's an artist and is looking for places to show her work.

I also joined a Ladies Meetup group (from Meetup.com), and I went to a happy hour with them at a nearby bar on Tuesday. I could walk, the place was cute and the ladies are really nice and fun. I will definitely go back to the next meetup!

Another exciting tidbit of info: Mark bought a brand-spanking-new computer, which means that I've inherited his MacBook Pro. It has a 17 inch screen, it has PhotoShop (YEAH!), and it is so sleek and pretty. :)

More to come! Miss you all lots.

j

Michael and Melanie in Santa Monica

2010-11-03T15:46:00.001-04:00

Mark's parents came to visit us this past weekend. On Saturday we went to the Getty Museum, which has incredible views and a vast collection of art. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car, but next time I go I will take pictures. The architecture is equally as impressive as the art, and we all had a great time! Here's the Freemans at lunch at The Shack near our apartment.

On Sunday we went to Will Rogers Park, where we had taken Maggie and Emily on their visit. The experience was completely different. As you can see, Sunday was a clear, sunny day and we could see for miles and miles! When we took Maggie, it was foggy and misty, but still quite magical in its own way.

Thanks for visiting Michael and Melanie! We had lots of fun. Can't wait to dance on the pool this New Years Eve. Maybe Mark and I will start practicing our dance moves...

Mag & Em, part 2

2010-10-21T01:47:00.000-04:00

Here's Emily and Maggie in front of the Santa Monica Pier. They wanted to ride the roller coaster (called the West Coaster), but it was closed. :(

Down on the sand there was some sort of photo shoot happening. It looked like a bridal shoot at first, but there were actually two brides and many people with cameras, so maybe it was a photography class? Not sure, but it was cool to see ladies in wedding gowns laying in the sand!

Now, for your viewing pleasure:

Mag whacks the ducks from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Maggie and Emily DDR from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Maggie and Emily in CA, part 1

2010-10-17T15:55:00.000-04:00

Maggie and Emily arrived on Friday, and that day we didn't do very much. We picked them up from the airport, went to The Shack to eat burgers, came back to the apartment and hung out. We played cards and ordered Indian food for delivery, and the girls liked it!!

Yesterday, we went to Will Rogers State Park and hiked up into the hills. It was a little cloudy and misty, but it felt wonderful outside and we had a lot of fun.

After the park, we came back to the apartment and ate some lunch. For dinner, we headed to our favorite sushi restaurant, Kaido. Maggie and Emily loved the sushi there!!

After dinner at Kaido, we went to the theatre! We saw a play called The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler. It was pretty good. A great day in California!

Countdown to Maggie/Emily

2010-10-11T15:41:00.002-04:00

MAGGIE AND EMILY

2010-10-06T15:06:00.000-04:00

are coming to visit next Friday. I couldn't be more excited! I hope to have tons of pictures of their visit. This is the two crazy kids being silly on my computer, literally years ago. :)

Also, it's raining here. We haven't experienced real rain in LA until now, so it's nice to see all the plants getting water and the sky a beautiful gray.

party time!

2010-09-05T21:09:00.000-04:00

I've been pretty busy lately. For the past few weeks I've been a temp worker at Mark's company. I'm not sure how much longer it will last, but I really like the work and all the people. On Friday Betty (the CEO) invited all employees (and temp workers, cha-ching!) to a BBQ at her house. Here are some pictures from the party, taken by my favorite Apogee employee Mick. :)

Here's Mark in the center hanging out where the food is being prepared. Betty's house is beautiful. The party was outside where there's a pool (with a slide!), a hot tub, a bar, and a grassy area up some wooden stairs. It backs up into the Brentwood hills.

This is me and Sophie. She does PR for Apogee, and she's a writer, so we had A LOT to talk about. She's very fun and nice!

The guy on the right is Kevin, the head engineer. He's basically Mark's immediate boss. He did NOT want to take a picture with me. Hahah.

The stone circle is the hot tub, and the stairs on the right lead up to the water slide and to the grassy area.

It's a beautiful day!

There's me on the left and Betty on the right. :)

The next 3 pictures are from the teambuilding games. First there's me and my team for the story-writing contest, which, of course, we won. :) Or, we tied for first place. I'll take it as a win.

And now the real fun begins! Pool time!

Left to right, Lucas, me and Matt in the pool.

Here's Mark after going down the awesome slide.

Yay! Me and Mick! :)

And now, we're having a fun/relaxing weekend. More pics to come soon of the apartment. It's really starting to come together.

Love,
j

He gets fed.

2010-07-28T16:51:00.000-04:00

Just in case you were wondering, Mark gets enough food to eat for lunch. :) Who knew I would actually love packing lunches so much?

Jobby Job

2010-07-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I wanted to let you guys know that I found a part time job at Pier 1 right around the corner. It's nice because I can walk, and I will still have time to do all my writing jobs. :)

More to come later! Going to work tonight for a floor set. Fun fun, right Chels?

Mark's an Uncle!

2010-07-06T18:04:00.000-04:00

Today Carl and Stephanie, Mark's oldest brother and his wife, brought Jack into the world! Here are two pictures of Jack Rutledge Freeman, 7 lbs, 3 oz.

Welcome to the outside world, Jack!

video time!

2010-07-03T16:52:00.000-04:00

More like a Living Room from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Foot Travels

2010-06-29T14:27:00.000-04:00

I've been doing a lot of walking around Santa Monica, and I've found that it's orienting me as well as clearing my mind. Along the way, I've taken several pictures of my surroundings, so I thought I'd share them with you all. Enjoy!

There are lots of interesting plants here. I love stopping to look at them. Most of the pictures here are of plants that I like. This one is like a flower with waxy leaves as petals.

This is a flower from a tree, and it looks like a pine cone is growing from the top of it! It's beautiful.

I saw this on a walk, and of course I thought of my lovely sister, Chelsea. I love Chelsea, but it wasn't me that etched it into the sidewalk. So many lovable Chelseas, it seems.

My camera just doesn't do justice to the amazing color of these tiny sidewalk flowers.

The palm trees on the west coast are MUCH bigger than the ones in Florida. They make me want to stand up taller.

Mark and I met for lunch last week, and as he turned to go back to work, I stopped to snap a picture of this cool cactus plant. A lady was pushing her baby in a stroller, and I was almost on the ground I was down so low for the picture. She gave me a weird look. Just taking a picture, lady! Gimme a break!

Perks of the job: VIPs at Janelle Monae's private concert

2010-06-20T17:19:00.000-04:00

Last night Mark and I enjoyed some perks of his job. There was a concert at Apogee (the company where Mark works), and we were invited for free. This is the studio before the show started. We got VIP access complete with sparkly wristbands and an open bar with beer and wine.

Here's Mark with Devin, the other intern at Apogee. What a handsome team.

This is the control room at the Apogee studio. Notice the lovely color scheme going on here. All purples, reds and pinks.

Ready for the show! We got to Janelle Monae perform, and she was amazing. I hadn't heard of her before, but now Mark has bought two of her albums, and we're jamming out to her now!

Janelle had SO much energy. It was so fun seeing her perform. I asked her at the end if she needed another dancer for her team. She said she'd call me. And then I realized she didn't have my number. Dang! For those of you that know child-Jessica's aspiration to become a Fly Girl, you know how much I'd love to be dancing on stage. Maybe she'll find my number somewhere and call...

This is the after-concert interview. The concert was sponsored by KCRW radio, Santa Monica's local NPR station. I also asked this guy if he needed an assistant. He gave me his card. It's all about connections.

Here's another shot of Mark. I gave him a hair cut yesterday, which we're calling a "bob". It's hard to see because he has a hat on, but I think I did an okay job for my first hair cut.

And now, two videos! The first is much better and less shaky. The second video is the last song she did, the encore. They were throwing balloons around, too. It was a fun time! I was trying to tap a balloon back into the crowd, and I accidentally hit (very lightly hit) the lady in front of me. I immediately apologized, but she was not happy. I don't think she was really vibing with the show as much as the rest of the crowd, anyway. Geez, lighten up!

Janelle Monae Live 1 from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Janelle Monae Live 2 from hey jessica on Vimeo.

And we're cooking!

2010-06-18T14:27:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure you can imagine, Mark and I are thrilled to have our cookware with us. Mark cooked for me Wednesday night. Isn't he sweet? He cooked turkey kielbasa with bell pepper, onion, tomato and garlic. We also had a side of black beans. Here's the master at work in our homey kitchen.

We're cooking with fire here! Here's the finished meal, complete with a tasty Heineken Light. Now I'm off to meet Mark for lunch at La Petite Cafe.

Fried update: Last night Mark and I went to eat sushi at Kaido, our favorite spot a few blocks away. A familiar person entered with two friends, and we quickly realized she was a waitress from a cafe we've eaten at a few times. She was very friendly while serving us the other times, and we knew from chatting that she's an artist. We talked with her and her friends before leaving the restaurant last night and exchanged information. Her boyfriend lives here, too, and he's a recording engineer, so it sounds like he and Mark have similar interests. We're going to get together with them soon, if all goes well. Yay, friendships in the making! :)

Making Progress

2010-06-13T19:36:00.000-04:00

Here's Mark in our studio! We've got two desks, two chairs, artwork, an easel, instruments, computers and nice speakers. We've got it all! Watch the video below, for a sneak-peek at the studio.

Glimpse at the Studio from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Last, but certainly not least, I'm happy to say my books have a comfy home! This is my bookshelf from IKEA. It's twice the size of my old one, but basically the same model. I love it...

All settled in...sort of...

2010-06-08T19:04:00.000-04:00

Well, Mark and I successfully made the long drive across I-40 West without killing each other. Yay! We stopped in Oklahoma City the first night, Albuquerque the second night and Kingman (Arizona) the third night. We arrived to lovely Santa Monica on Thursday around 1 p.m. (Pacific time).

Sorry it took me so long to post pictures! I will post more once all my furniture is set up and everything's in order. Right now I'm sitting on the floor because I'm tired of the chairs and there's no couch. :)

Here's the apartment building from the outside. Basically what you see of the second floor (the top floor) is all ours. The window on the far right is from our dining room area (it's not a separate room, more like a breakfast nook), the window to the left of that one is from our kitchen, the next left window (covered up by the trees) is from the bathroom, and the far left window (also covered by trees) is the "office" or second bedroom. Our bedroom is actually around the corner on the left, behind the office.

If you walk down the walkway on the right in the first picture, you'll come around back. Those stairs take you to our place, which is the door that you can partially see in this picture.

This is the living room, and it's actually bigger than what you see. The front door is on the right, and as you can see we are still assembling/gathering furniture. That desk on the left is mine from IKEA, and it was $25 (and I had a coupon for $25 off, so it was basically free!). The lamp is from IKEA, too, and in the boxes are books and two dining room chairs that are awaiting assembly. :)

This picture is taken from the kitchen looking into the dining area. To the left (out of the picture) is the living room, which leads to the bedrooms and bathroom.

This is the kitchen! I haven't been able to cook yet because my pots and pans, etc., are all in boxes at a friend's house in Miami, but I will get them soon. I'm lucky to have such great friends to help me out. Thanks guys!

Here's the bathroom. The shower-head is detachable, which I like, and there's tons of storage here (in the bathroom and just in general). Our apartment in Miami only had ONE closet, the one in the bedroom for our clothes. This place has four closets and more cabinets and nooks and crannies in the bathroom for storage. I'm loving that!

And last but not least, here's our bedroom. We've actually moved stuff around since I took the picture, so as I said, I will take more soon and post the updates.

So far we have found a local Chinese place that has $5 DINNER take-out (what?!), an Indian restaurant that delivers to us (and is delicious!), a bar within walking distance that has a pool table and yummy fish tacos, and a Mexican restaurant with huge meals and great margaritas.

Mark started his job yesterday, and he's really liking it so far! First days are always hard because there's so much to learn, but I think his second day is going more smoothly and he's getting into his routine. I packed him lunch this morning and sent him off! :)

Love to all from the west coast.

j

Salsa!

2010-05-19T16:20:00.002-04:00

Mark and his mom, Melanie, salsa dancing in our apartment.

Salsa: Mark and Melanie from hey jessica on Vimeo.

The Graduate

2010-05-18T12:59:00.000-04:00

Mark has worked extremely hard in school the past few years. I can attest to his many late nights studying, perfecting projects and (sometimes obsessively) solving problems. I am so proud of how many cool projects he's been a part of, and I'm even more proud that he has a new opportunity in California working for a company that shares his passion for audio engineering.

From left to right: Melanie (Mark's mom), Michael (Mark's dad), Elaine (Mark's godmother), Corinne (Mark's grandmother), and Joe (Mark's best friend).

We are all seated waiting for the graduates to walk out.

Click on this picture to make it bigger if you want. This is the Bank United Center where the graduation took place; we are still waiting for the graduates.

Mark is on the big screen on the left. He just shook hands with the UM president as he walked across the stage. Isn't he so handsome?

The Freeman family after graduation.

The whole group! From left to right: Joe, Elaine, Mark, Joe (again, other best friend), Melanie, Steve (Mark's uncle), and Corinne.

Mark is showing us his picture on the electrical engineering graduates' board.

Me and the graduate in our apartment. Congratulations!

More pictures coming later. I took an overload of photos this past weekend, so I'm only putting them up in increments.

Also, Mark and I are leaving Miami on Saturday. We should make it to Nashville by Sunday! I would love to see all of you before we drive out west. We will most likely leave the following Saturday to start our cross-country trek. Very exciting! But miles to go before I sleep. (Thanks, Robert Frost!)

"until the sun comes up over Santa Moni-coco-of-life"

2010-05-09T19:00:00.001-04:00

Mark and I just got back from Santa Monica, California. We got there on Thursday and came back on the red-eye flight last night/this morning. We went to look for a place to live, since Mark just got a job in Santa Monica.

Once we got from the Los Angeles airport to Santa Monica, we drove through the hills and looked at all the wonderful, new sights! We stopped on this lovely hill to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

Here's Mark on the same hill talking to his mom.

Then we found this beach, it's a state park in Santa Monica, but now I've forgotten the name. Mark is there in the distance, and I am, of course, snapping pictures left and right.

On that same beach, Mark and I wandered upon this set. We asked some girls on the beach what was happening, and they told us that they were filming a Jonas Brothers music video there. That made this our second celebrity sighting that day. That morning, on our flight from Miami to Los Angeles, we were on the plane with Hulk Hogan's (ex?) wife and son. I didn't get a picture of them; sorry Chels! :(

Cool beach flowers.

Palm trees are much bigger in California!

Our delicious (and VERY affordable) lunch at Kaido in Santa Monica.

Sipping on some green tea before apartment hunting.

Orienting ourselves to the west coast.

The roller coaster and ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier. At the pier, there are games, artists, musicians, rides, food and tourist shops. At the end of the pier people fish, and it's very breezy. The water here is much colder than in Florida, which cools down the air a lot.

Mark in front of the Apogee building, his future place of employment. We went out to lunch with a few of the engineers on Friday, and everyone seems really nice and inviting. His office is pretty cool, also. We got a tour of the place, and they even have a recording studio in the back of the building. Mark wishes he could start working today!

Dinner Night!

2010-04-29T11:50:00.000-04:00

My friends and I try to have frequent dinner nights. I never bring my camera, but since I'm moving soon I decided to document one of our dinner nights! Last night Anna hosted, and below is her Thai chicken in the crock pot. YUMMMM.

Below is my green bean casserole on the left and Anna's coconut rice on the right.

In the kitchen there's Anna, Sierra and Candy getting things ready.

On the couches, from left to right, that's Chad, Travis, Michelle, Jessi and Mark in the living room.

After dinner shenanigans! This is (left to right) Michelle, Jessi, me and Anna, the lovely hostess.

Mark had to get a picture with his girls, too! I'm really going to miss these guys a lot. They're really great friends. Luckily Michelle's sister lives in LA, so we may get to see her more than we think!

picnik

2010-04-21T13:40:00.001-04:00

Hey guys! If you haven't used Picnik, it's a free online photo-editing website. It's pretty neat! If you've ever used Photoshop, it has similar features, but for free. You can upgrade and get more features for about $2 a month, but I suggest giving the free features a whirl. I edited the image below using only the freebies. Enjoy! More to come later. I miss you all! :)

Happy Birthday KK!

2010-04-10T11:32:00.000-04:00

Oh, KK. If only I had a still shot from one of our many music videos (Devil Went Down to Georgia or Did I Shave my Legs for This) to post for your birthday! I think if mom and/or Chelsea can find the tape, we should put it on YouTube. I remember it being pretty awesome! For now this picture will have to do. If mom ever looks at my blog she'll be mad I posted this picture, even though she looks beautiful! (I don't think she ever checks it, though!) Haha.

I love you cuz, and I hope you have a great birthday! You deserve it! :)

A lovely walk around Brickell Key, and a balcony pic

2010-04-07T12:21:00.003-04:00

Brickell Key is one of my favorite places to walk. It's really close to my apartment (maybe 4 blocks away), and there's a sidewalk around the entire key. Lots of people in Brickell (the area I live) come here to walk, job, walk dogs, or push their kids in strollers. It's beautiful! It's hard to see because of the camera setting I had (it was letting a lot of light in), but the land in the distance is South Beach.

I took this picture as I was walking on the ledge. Dangerous! Not really, it's pretty wide, and I'm good at balancing. I like to be up high and look and the rocks, which are hard to see if you're on the sidewalk like a normal person. :)

So many yachts on the water yesterday! And sailboats, too.

Here's a statue that I like on Brickell Key.

There are some benches behind the statue, and I like to come here during the day to read, write or just be by myself for a while.

This walkway is past the statue and curves around to the other side of the island. From here, if you look to the left, you can see the Port of Miami. They have huge cranes loading giant boats with cargo, but I didn't get a picture of that. Sorry!

Here's Mark from our balcony. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this balcony. And Mark. :)

Hope you all enjoyed the photos! I'm going to try and do better keeping up with the blog so you guys know what I'm up to. :) Love you all! -- J

Earth Hour 2010 is tomorrow!

2010-03-26T12:16:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Tomorrow, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. (local time) is EARTH HOUR! Mark and I rarely use our lights and we keep our apartment pretty warm so our AC doesn't have to work very much. The one thing that's really sucking energy is the refrigerator. So for EARTH HOUR 2010 we're going to turn off our breaker so everything can be completely off.

I hope everyone can participate! And if you can't during that hour, just pick another hour during the day to celebrate our earth and save energy.

Love to all!

New Gig

2010-03-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

Hello all! I am going to start working at an art gallery two blocks away from my apartment. I'm pretty excited about it, and I wanted to share some of the art I'll be selling.

You can view the gallery's website here: Artrageous Gallery
Here's some of the art!

Artist: Josh Kaplan
Title: Bob Marley

Artist: Josh Kaplan
Title: Sgt. Pepper's

Artist: Sasso
Title: Green House Effect

Artist: Sasso
Title: A Rose Is A Rose

Artist: Austin
Title: Nude Study

Ayesha's Kitchen - (Aunt Becky, you could do this!!)

2010-03-11T13:46:00.001-05:00

In January, Mark and I took an Indian cooking class. Ayesha runs a cooking class in her kitchen, and she teaches 6-8 recipes in a class. (I wrote a HelloMiami article about it. Read it HERE if you want. I love clicks.)

I read about Ayesha months ago, and I've been saving money to do this. (Also, I love Indian food these days, and I like to try and cook it, so this was fun!) The class we took was called Vegetarian Delights. So naturally, all the dishes were veggie dishes. I can't wait to cook some mean meals for Chels! :)

Here's the palak paneer cooking (literally, "spinach cheese"). In it there is ginger, onion, tomatoes and spinach (so far), all blended and cooking.

When we got there, Ayesha passed around an appetizer and a homemade dipping sauce (a chutney) and we devoured them (we all came hungry, I guess!). Then we sat in her kitchen and got copies of the recipes that we were going to make. She had pre-cut everything and had it in clear containers. That really sped up the 6 meal process!

We made a salad, two entrees, a rice dish, bread, and dessert. Ayesha had everything timed perfectly. At the end, we got to help roll out the dough for the Pooris (the type of bread we learned to make). Here's Mark frying his Pooris.

Here's me in the kitchen and Ayesha's behind me laughing. I was trying to make it look easy!!

Here's me cooking Pooris.

Before and after!

This is the dessert cooking. In it there were dates, figs, pistachios, cashews, sugar, and one other nut that I can't remember...

After it cooked, we rolled it into balls and it was very fudge-like, just without chocolate! It was really good.

Here's the rice pilaf and the chole (chickpeas).

At the end of the class, we had a sit down lunch in Ayesha's dining room. She usually has the lunches outside in her tiki hut, but it was unusually cold that day, so we all opted to stay indoors.

Here's Ayesha bringing in the food! She also made us warm chai tea to drink. It was lovely, and I can't wait to take another class! She has an All About Indian Breads class, and Mark wants that to be the next one we attend. :) The Bread Man.

Foodies

2010-03-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

Mark and I have been doing a lot of cooking. This looks a little weird, I know, but it was DELICIOUS. So first we cooked a thin steak in olive oil and garlic and sliced it. Then we boiled potatoes and blended some spinach and onion. This is what the mixture looked like:

Then Mark (aka, The Bread Man), made some dough. We stuffed the mixture into the dough, sort of like a homemade hot pocket. Also, it was healthier than a hot pocket. :) Here's the Bread Man in action.

Here's what our hot pockets looked like after we baked them. A little misshapen, but YUM!

And here's what the inside looked like. So colorful and fun!

Mom, can you believe I'm eating green things, on my own?! Mwuahahah, I've come a long way since spitting up fried okra in Aunt Becky's kitchen. :)

Next post will be about the Indian cooking class Mark and I took in January! Sorry, I'm all backed up on my posts. But I'm catching up! Love!

Key West + Balcony Picture

2010-03-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite time of day. As the sun is setting in the west, the buildings all turn pink from the sunset. I love curling up on my balcony with some tea and a good book!

This is me in Key West at the southernmost point of the US. Next stop is Cuba! Except I'm not going there. If I were to keep going south, Cuba would be there. :)

Here is the sunset in Key West from Mallory Square. Every evening at sunset they have a festival. There are artists, magicians, people swallowing swords, dogs in costumes doing tricks, and drinks and food! It is quite a party. Key West is BEAUTIFUL. I visited in January with my friend Jessi.

Key West is about 4 hours south of Miami. Jessi went down for a hearing (she's an attorney for the Coast Guard), and I got to crash in her hotel room, because she's so sweet! :) Thanks, Jessi!

Twenty Ten is here

2010-01-06T15:59:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I'm officially back on the blogging track! For a while I couldn't sign in for technical reasons, but it's all resolved. So Mark's friend (and also my friend) Joe came down for about a week to spend New Year's Eve in Miami with us. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

On January 1, Mark's professor had invited us over for a pig roast. He lives about 40 minutes south of downtown, and he has a farm, goats, chickens, etc. The place was beautiful and I took lots of pictures! This is the street by his house.

This is Mark eating some pig (or some of the other delicious food they had). I loved the country-style house that his professor has, and the amount of greenery in the yard was so beautiful. I think Mark was tired of me taking pictures of him...

This is a friendly horse outside of the professor's house that came up to say hello. Joe wasn't quite sure the proper way to greet him. He was wet, and we called him the Melted Trotting Horse.

Joe is a musician and plays with the country group Bomshel. He's a great bass player, and while he was here he and Mark made some music. This is them at work.

This picture is for Aunt Becky! It's my favorite lighthouse at Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne. I'm laying down on the edge of the wall to take this picture looking straight up.

So, you guys have probably guessed that panoramic shots are my new favorite. Here is a panoramic from the top of the lighthouse. It was pretty hard to match up since the earth is round! But I like it anyway.

Maggie climbed in this window while she was in Miami. So this shot is for her! :)

This is at the top of the lighthouse, looking up to where the light is.

Here are the rocks I love from the top of the lighthouse. If only we could dive down and swim without dying!!

Two-shot panoramic from the keeper's quarters. Couldn't stop taking those...

It was a little cold when we went, but the sky and the lighting were beautiful. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!

Shecky's Reporter!

2009-11-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

My friends and I have attended the Shecky's Girls Night Out even in Miami. They do it twice a year, and they bring vendors from all over that make their own jewelry, handbags, makeup, clothing, etc. and feature them in one location. There are also drinks, food, goodie bags, and some entertainment. It's a really fun time! This year the event is on Thursday, November 19, and the company picked ME to be their "trend reporter".

Here is a picture of me and my friends from last year's event. I'm excited to go, report, AND get paid for it! It will probably be a while before the report is published on their website, but as soon as it is, I'll let you know.

Love you guys.
jb

homemade household cleaners

2009-10-30T14:50:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I wanted to share my newest article for 1-800-Recycling, which I had a lot of fun doing. I made my own window cleaner from safe (and cheap!) ingredients. Read about it here: http://1800recycling.com/2009/10/simple-safe-household-cleaners/

Sadly, my HelloMiami job has ended. It was a great 11 months, but now I've got to find a new gig. They cannot pay their writers anymore. So PLEASE click on my new stuff at 1-800-RECYCLING so I can keep this gig, which I really really like!!!!!

Couch Cover/Rainbow

2009-10-26T18:06:00.001-04:00

Mom bought me this great couch cover and sent it down with Maggie. I just put it on today. It's pretty and comfy! I should have taken a before picture of the couch, but it's the material of the pillows. I bought it on Craigslist for $40, so yeah, it wasn't so pretty before.

The rainbow is from yesterday. It was pretty misty in the morning, and from our balcony it just looked like we were in a cloud. When it cleared, this beautiful rainbow was left! It's directly over Interstate 95 downtown. Awesome!

I'm working hard today on writing, laundry and cleaning. Soon I will be making chili, which I'm very excited about! Even though it isn't cold here, I'm still looking forward to some yummy chili.

If anyone wants to see my 1-800-Recycling articles, you can view them here:

http://1800recycling.com/author/jessica-bates/

That's my author page, and as I write new articles they will be edited and then put up there. They will also be featured on the homepage. I've written 5 so far, and as of now there are only 2 up. Look in a few days for more! I wrote a really fun piece on making my own household cleaner and trying it out.

Love!

Gator Park with Mag

2009-10-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

On last Sunday when Maggie was here, we drove west to the Everglades to go to Gator Park. We took an airboat ride through the swampland and got to see some gators pretty close to us! I was on the end of the airboat, and I was careful to keep my hands and feet inside the boat! But I did lean out when I wanted to take pics. If anyone ever comes to Miami to visit, I'll definitely be taking you to Gator Park! After the airboat ride, there was a crazy wildlife show, where the guy showed us how to wrestle a gator -- and he used a LARGE live gator to demonstrate! It was pretty exciting/terrifying.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I miss Maggie already :(

But we had a great time! Love, Jess

Maggie's photo shoot at Bill Baggs State Park!

2009-10-20T13:03:00.000-04:00

Blog Action Day

2009-10-15T12:15:00.000-04:00

Hey guys. Today is Blog Action Day (to raise awareness on climate change) and my new gig, 1800Recycling.com is participating. My very first published article for them appeared TODAY! Please check it out if you have a minute or two!! You can see it here:

Visit Miami Before it's Under Water - and it will also be featured on the 1800 Recycling homepage for a bit. Also, if you click on my name, there's a bio and picture! Yay, exciting!

In other news, Maggie is on a plane to Fort Lauderdale. She just texted me from Tampa (she had to stop there on her way), so I'll be heading to pick her up pretty soon! I will add some picks while she's here. She'll be here for whole week!

Love, J :)

It's workout time

2009-10-10T12:39:00.000-04:00

I've been feeling not-so-productive lately, so I decided to start working out. Seriously this time. Yesterday morning my friends and I met at 6 a.m. in the gym at our building to do a Px90 (P90X?) video, which are apparently all over the television right now. We did the agility workout, and it was pretty tough, but also fun. It reminded me of intense softball conditioning. The gym in our building has an attached room with mirrors and hardwood that we can use for yoga, dance, pilates, etc. It was great! I felt productive all day yesterday, and I went to bed pretty early.

This morning I met my friend Ginny at Bayfront Park to do free yoga. It was very relaxing, and quite a good workout. Tomorrow I'm going to Aventura Mall (about 15 minutes north of me) where they have free yoga on Sunday mornings before the mall opens. It's at a fitness store called Lululemon, and I just checked their website and they're opening one in Nashville soon. It looks like it will be on Hillsboro Pike, so maybe at Green Hills Mall. The one here has different classes each day, with some kickboxing, some yoga, pilates, cardio dance, etc. I can't wait!

Shel is looking like such a pretty baby! I love those brown eyes, can't wait to meet her.

I love you all! Going to get to work now. Adios.

1800Recycling.com

2009-10-02T13:30:00.000-04:00

Hello all,

I've been thinking a lot lately about Grad School, internships, career goals and paths, etc. It has been pretty taxing, and a pretty big downer... But admist the craziness, I just got another writing opportunity!

I'm sure you all know how much I love recycling, so it's pretty exciting to be a new member of 1800recycling.com.

It's a small group of writers around the U.S., and my editor is based in Pheonix. I will be writing weekly for their site, which goes live in about two weeks.

When I get my first article posted, I will be sure to send you all the link! Now I'm just having my former law firm people read over my contract before I sign, and then I'll be all set to start.

YAY! A freelancer's life for me...

Mom's visit!

2009-09-25T16:34:00.000-04:00

Well, I kept Mom pretty busy on her visit. Here's the rundown of what we did!

Saturday we walking around Mary Brickell Village, which is about a block away from my house. Mom loved the area, and so do I! There are lots of restaurants, shops, a few bars, and a Publix! Yay! That night we had dinner with a few of my friends at Balans, which is in Mary Brickell Village. We walked down for dinner and drinks and had a great time!

From left to right: Mark, me, Ginny, Justin and Sierra.

Sierra, Mom and me. Sierra lives in my building, and we met on the elevator.

Ginny and her husband Justin, my two friends from the US Coast Guard.

On Sunday, we went to my favorite beach, Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne. It's a short drive from my house, ten minutes or fewer. On the way there, the sky fell! The rain was so bad that we decided to stop at the Sir Pizza on Key Biscayne and have a Royal Feast while the rain poured. Once we finished our pizza, it was beautiful outside and we went on to the beach!

Sunday night I cooked a delicious chicken curry for the three of us, and we had a low-key night with good food and good company.

Monday Mark went to class and Mom and I headed over to Bayside Marketplace. We rode the Metromover, a free automated bus that goes around downtown above the city. Chelsea and William liked to ride that when they were here, too. And when Maggie comes in October we'll ride it to the museums and libraries, since she's the one that will hang with me there!

Having lunch and cold beer by the bay, watching the boats come in! Mom loved to talk to the tan, Cuban men and hear their accents. I think they enjoyed hers as well :)

These trees are all over Miami, and they're awesome! This is at Bayside Marketplace, too. After lunch, we shopped some and then headed back to my apartment.

Monday night we went to dinner on Miami Beach at a delicious Brazilian Steakhouse called Texas de Brazil.

At Brazilian Steakhouses, it's buffet style and one you pay one price. That's why our plates are so full and our tummies are bulging. But our mouths, they are so so happy!

This is the view from the window where our table was! Since it was on Miami Beach, we're looking at the city of Miami, the downtown area where I live, as the sun is setting. It was gorgeous!

We clean up nice!

The servers carry around large knives and delicious meat on skewers, and then they cut off pieces for you. There was so much -- lamb, prime rib, filet mignon, filet wrapped in bacon, chicken parmesean, chicken wrapped in bacon, sausage, beef ribs, barbecued ribs, pork tenderloin -- probably more, but that's all I can remember. Brazilian steakhouses are the best!!

Outside after dinner, stretching out our bellies. The restaurant overlooked the South Beach marina and downtown Miami.

So FULL!

After dinner we drove the Miami Ink and Mom took a pic in front. Unfortunately, her man Ami wasn't in the shop, but it was still fun!

Tuesday Mom and I went to South Beach and Mark worked on school work. We saw a few topless women and one pretty naked man. It was a fun time! It wasn't quite as busy as I've seen it other times, but I think Mom got the idea of the "South Beach scene".

Mom and me on South Beach!

After our beach day, we went back to Miami Ink and Mom bought a tank top from Ami's clothing line. I don't have the pic of her inside though, it's on her camera! Maybe she'll post it on here later...

Tuesday night Sierra cooked tacos for us in her apartment and I mixed some margaritas. We played with Sierra's new kitties - again, photos on Mom's camera, so I'm hoping she'll post them.

Wednesday we rode the Metrorail (the train) to University of Miami and had lunch by the lake on campus. We saw Mark's table he's working on and the recording studio, then we rode the train to Target (yay, shopping!) and then back home. Wednesday night Mark has classes late, so Mom and I met my friends at Perricone's for ladies night. You get three free drinks with the purchase of an entree. It's Italian, and it's very yummy!

Thursday before Mom left, we went down to the pool and hot tub, and Mom soaked up some sun.

She loved my balcony, and we left our zero-gravity chairs out for her to smoke in. I wouldn't let her smoke in my apartment. :) It was a great trip, and I hope she'll come back again, maybe with a friend so they can party together! :) Love you Mommy!

MOM - POST THE PICS YOU HAVE, OR HAVE CHELSEA DO IT :)

Gracias!

My Lighthouse

2009-09-14T23:08:00.001-04:00

Aunt Becky - everytime I go to my favorite beach, I think of you and your love for lighthouses. At Bill Baggs State Park, there's a historic lighthouse from the mid 1800s, and it's now the oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County. I just finished my article on it for HelloMiami.com, and you can see it here. Oh, the beach was also voted one of the top ten in the U.S. It's so nice and relaxing.

But here are a few pics of my favorite favorite beach and the beautiful lighthouse! I didn't get to climb to the top and take a picture the other day; it started storming soon after I got there. When Mom's here, I'll climb it with her and take some pics. :) You're right Aunt Becky, she probably will need a wine IV heheheh.

Historic Lighthouse from the 1800s.

Mark fighting the current.

Clouds are concentrating...storm will commence soon!

Rain, rain, go away.

Alright, I'm off to read! Love you all.

Book Club Website!

2009-09-13T12:03:00.004-04:00

My friends and I have a book club here in Miami. It was actually started by my friend Rebecca, and she just recently moved to Seattle for law school. She was one of the girls I went to Disney with. I wanted to share the blog I started for the book club girls, in case any of you wanted to see what we were reading and doing! We just recently decided to open up our group to other people, and I've had one woman respond to my Craigslist ad so far. (We are keeping the group Women Only.)

Here's the website: www.brickellbooklovers.wordpress.com

It's on WordPress, not Blogger, but I'm trying that, too. Since I am a writer, and blogging is very hot right now, I need to know both pretty well. I'm also starting a cooking blog about mid-twenty cooking, and I'll share that as soon as I add a little more.

Miss Shelby looks so so sweet! I just saw Aunt Becky's new pics on facebook (3 day pics), and she already looks older and sweeter! I can't wait to meet her :) I'm so proud of you KK.

Also, Mom is coming to visit me in less than a week! Everyone please keep her calm about the airplane :) heheheh. Love you all!

For fun, pics when the Bank of America tower was PURPLE! (It was SO AWESOME!!!) It's usually white, and sometimes for holidays they'll make it red/white/blue (like Labor Day), or sometimes it's different colors for sports teams winning various things. But I could not figure out why it was purple the other day! Still, purple is my favorite color!

Pool Daze

2009-09-06T18:58:00.004-04:00

So, without further ado, here are some pictures from my lazy pool days at the Axis in Brickell.

Hope everyone's having a great Labor Day long weekend! :) Mom's coming to visit me in less than two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Everyone has it -- WeDDinG FeVeR...

2009-09-04T14:23:00.005-04:00

Except me! Hahah, so Mark and I were in TN in July for his brother's wedding, and then I was recently at Zach's wedding (one of my very good friends from Hume Fogg). Here are some photos of the festivities!

This is Mark and me dancing at Ally and Scott's wedding in July. I ordered this one. :)

And this is us being silly before the ceremony! They took quite a few of us laughing.

On the way from our hotel to Zach's reception, Corey and I carried this cooler, our wedding gift to the couple. Everyone gave us very strange looks, but it was on their Target registry! Apparently everyone thought we had filled the cooler and were bringing it with us to the party...

Here is Dawn, Elizabeth, and me at the reception. Dawn is my friend Aaron's fiance (they are getting married in a few days, again, the FEVER), and Elizabeth is my bestest friend from Meigs/HFA!

Me and Liz, looking a tad sweaty from all the dancing...

Corey and I are showing off the cooler, Price-is-Right-style! Gotta love it! :)

It's Wednesday.

2009-08-26T12:29:00.007-04:00

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.

Happy Birthday Mark! 23 is OLD!

2009-08-24T08:54:00.007-04:00

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!

Epcot on HelloOrlando.com :)

2009-08-21T15:37:00.002-04:00

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

Smart Boyfriend

2009-08-20T13:26:00.003-04:00

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.

Venetian Pool...

2009-08-18T14:39:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-08-18T10:32:00.002-04:00

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.

Loopy

2009-08-14T15:01:00.004-04:00

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.

Happy 21 Chelsea!

2009-08-12T17:43:00.003-04:00

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!

Can I get a click-click?

2009-08-08T14:13:00.002-04:00

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

Cat Cay 2009!

2009-08-04T11:30:00.006-04:00

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!

Cat Cay, here we come!

2009-07-29T14:46:00.003-04:00

Here are some pics from last year (from Ally's camera). I'll try not to forget mine this year! Mark's feeling sick, so he's sleeping and I'm doing laundry, and then we are headed to Key Largo for the night and Cat Cay bright and early tomorrow morning. Look for more photos after the trip!

I had a great time visiting with everyone, and I can't wait til I can come back again. :) Love you guys.

new blog for art....

2009-07-14T19:27:00.003-04:00

So, I've decided to try and sell some art on Etsy.com, and I'm setting up an art-only blog to coincide with that. My Etsy username is heyjessica (but I have nothing for sale yet, I'm just working on it now), and the new blog for art-only is heyjessica-art.blogspot.com. I only have one post so far. My friend in TN, Corey Ann, commissioned a piece from me, and I have the painting that I made for her. So check it out if you're interested.

See you all SO soon! Going to pack for TN! :)

D I S N E Y W O R L D !

2009-07-14T11:34:00.007-04:00

The place where dreams come true! The road trip to Disney was very very fun, and I enjoyed my girl time. Enjoy the pictures! I tried to put them in the order that they occurred, but I'm not sure how accurately I did so. So this first pic is at Epcot, in Germany, and we're doing a wine tasting. Epcot didn't have too many rides, but they have different "countries" where everything from the architecture to the food to the workers are themed to represent the country. The workers wore name tags that showed where they were from, so it was cool to see and talk to people from all over the world! From left to right, my friends are Becca (Coast Guard girl, about to go to law school in Seattle in the fall), Jessi (an attorney for the Coast Guard), Michelle (3rd year intern in Psychiatry, working at Jackson Hospital in Miami), and yours truly! Michelle and I benefited from the Coast Guard gals and received an awesome discount for our Disney tickets! Go Coast Guard!!! :)

This is us in Morocco. Morocco's food was excellent, and their marketplace had really cool items! I actually didn't buy ONE souvenir, due to my financial situation, but the photos and memories are enough! It was fun to try things on and dance around (we did a LOT of dancing).
These are some columns we posed with in Morocco (or maybe China??). All the countries are now running together....
Here's Michelle and me dancing in Morocco. Princess Jasmine and Aladdin were there :)
Jessi, Michelle, and me with Princess Aurora. I can't remember what country she was in...maybe France? I told her she was my favorite, and she said "oh my!" -- I guess girls will always be princesses at heart! Here's me touching the top of the Eiffel Tower! Well, it's a little off....
Just a few ladies posing in a phone booth in the UK. If you've seen America's Next Top Model marathons, you may recognize this photograph :)
I finally made it to Magic Kingdom! We took the Monorail to Magic Kingdom after Epcot. Since we got the park hopper, we could go to more than one park in a day. And since we were only there two days, we wanted to maximize our Disney experience. We're very excited to be in Magic Kingdom!!!!

This is me, a little scared, in the line for Thunder Mountain!
But yay! It was fun, not scary!
Day Two: Animal Kingdom was first. This is me and Michelle at the Mount Everest ride before it started. We are happy!Here's the four of us, Becca, me, Michelle, and Jessi, as the ride is starting....

Here's me and Michelle - VERY SCARED - as the ride is STUCK IN MID-AIR!! We were stuck for about five minutes on a steep incline, during which time, Michelle and I were ready to bail on Disney and go to an outlet mall. The other girls talked us into staying, but when the ride started back, it was NOT fun, and our screams were real screams of terror! Needless to say, I will NOT be recommending this ride on HelloMiami. Heheh, but, alas, we lived to tell about it.Last park, Hollywood Studios. We were all pretty wiped out at this point, so we didn't do very much, but I got to see it in all its glory.
And now I've made it safely back, and my Disney dreams have been fulfilled!

I will see you all soon! Mark and I fly into Tennessee tomorrow. Sisters, I am very excited to see you! Love! :)

24 and excited for Disney!!!!

2009-07-09T11:08:00.002-04:00

Hi guys!! I've been pretty absent from updating my blog lately. I feel like I've had a lot going on. But nonetheless, here I am. Okay, new things.

1) I put in my two-weeks notice at the law firm, and tomorrow is my last day!!! I will feel much better and be able to focus on goals more once I'm not here.

2) I'm coming home!!! I'll be in Tennessee next Wednesday for a while. I'm staying July 15-27. Mark's brother is getting married on the 18th, so I have LOTS of wedding festivities to attend Wednesday-Saturday. I can't wait to see everyone, and meet the newest family member! Hi Makyna!! See you soon!

3) My friend Becca is moving to Seattle in about a month for law school, so she suggested that us girls take a trip to Orlando this weekend and go wild at Disney. I'M SO EXCITED! I've never been before, and I've been looking up park info all day! I think we're going to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Universal, but things could change. I'm just going with the flow (like always!) --

Look for Disney photos after the weekend! We're going Saturday morning and coming back Sunday night. So it'll be fast, but definitely worth it.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all. Even though I haven't been posting, I've been spying on your blogs, keeping up with the kiddos :)

Also, Aunt Becky and Aunt Sissy -- since you are the craftiest ladies I know, you should check out the website etsy.com, where people buy and sell handmade items. It's really a cool site, and pretty addictive, too! There's so much to see there - jewelry, art, clothing, pottery - anything! My friend in TN is going to give me a jewelry-making lesson, and here's the link to her stuff on etsy.

Okay, back to pretending to work ;)
Love,
J

Miami Sunsets

2009-06-16T20:32:00.004-04:00

I thought I would share some of my photos with you all. The top one is a panoramic shot that I took right after the sun set. Our apartment's balcony faces North, almost directly, so the sun sets there, East (on the left), where the sky is a beautiful purple.

Miami sunset. Since there isn't much else to say about the pics, I'll write about what's going on. Mark is cooking spaghetti, I am writing/uploading pics, Miles Davis' Nefertiti album is playing.

Tomorrow I'm having a girls night with some of my friends. We're going to Perricone's (a delicious restaurant) and Blue Martini (where it's ladies night). Both of these places are about 2 blocks away, so that's very convenient. I'm excited to hang out with the girls! (Not that I don't love hanging out with Mark, heheheh).

Another fat pink sun. So pretty. This spaghetti is really smellin' delicious. I feel very hungry...

On Friday I'm going to the Ritz-Carlton for a Champagne Hour and a fashion/trunk show with my friend Patty. Her dad just had a heart attack and open heart surgery, so I think she's ready to be away from a hospital. I'm looking forward to hanging out with her, too, since she isn't in my office anymore. It should be a snazzy time!

The picture above has a small streak across it. That's a plane. I left the shutter open for about 20 seconds (maybe 15) and the plane's lights made a streak. That's also why the photo is a little blurry. Not-so-steady hand.

Fun lights. I left the shutter open and tried to make waves. Silly.

And this is a storm. I was trying to catch lightning, but no luck. Maybe next time! We are in the rainy season, so I should have lots of opportunities. Please check out my site if you're bored (HelloMiami). The most recent things I've posted are Crazy Pianos (a cool dueling piano bar, scroll down and click the Bars/Nightclubs tab), Crandon Park (under attractions, a BEAUTIFUL park and beach that I just discovered), and Pieducks Pizza, a tasty restaurant right near my apartment.

I love you all, and I'll see you in a month!

j

South Beach/Chopsticks

2009-05-30T11:39:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday we took Chelsea and William to South Beach. It stormed on us after about an hour and a half, but before that it was beautiful! Also, Chelsea and William got to see a topless lady and several thonged beach-goers. Here's Chelsea and William in the water.

William was proud of his Speedo! So were we. Note the sandy left leg.

Chelsea and William enjoying the Florida sun! It was probably good that we left because the storm was BAD! Also, a few of us were already getting burned...

Chelsea wanted to take a picture of Miami Ink, from the TV show. Here it is!

Friday night Mark and I took Chels to our favorite sushi spot, Matsuri. It's in a little shopping center by our old house. This is Mark starting the lesson on Chopsticks.

Chelsea is listening very intently! That's probably why she picked it up so quickly. Mark said she was a much better student than I was at the art of Chopsticks.

Close-up shot of the Chopstick hands. Chelsea really enjoyed the sushi rolls with tuna and avacado, so remember that if anyone ever goes to sushi with her!

Sisters! Hermanas! I'll be sad to see her go! But I'm very proud that she got on the plane and came down to see me! Hopefully this is only the first trip of many. I bet she will be happy to get back to her animals. She brought a framed picture of Jules to keep her company :) Oh, my Chelsea Tender Heart.

Chels and William - Day 1

2009-05-26T13:12:00.003-04:00

Chelsea and William made it safely to Miami yesterday. This is a pic of them leaving the Fort Lauderdale airport. Chels looks happy to be on the ground!

After lunch and seeing the apartment, we decided to take the MetroMover to Bayfront Park. The MetroMover is a free shuttle that is above the city and has frequent stops so that it's easy to get around. Bayfront Park is on the bay (hence the name!) and there are lots of shops and restaurants to check out along the water. William MAY have bought a Speedo! Heheh. This is Mark and William waiting at the MetroMover station.

For dinner we went to a great Cuban place near our old house, Havana Harry's. William was satisfied with the giant portions. After that we came back to the apartment and chilled on the balcony.

Chelsea and William are at the Miami Metrozoo today. They took the MetroRail (the very fast train) and then switched to a bus to take them to the zoo. Hopefully they are having a fun little adventure! More updates to come.

Love!

My friend had a cocktail party, and...

2009-05-19T20:42:00.003-04:00

here are some pics! Me and Mark, looking fancy.

We were the most brightly colored couple there...

Ginny, Becca, Tracy, and me.

Tracy and me.

Cocktail party at the Yacht Club! I met Becca in my bookclub, and now I've gotten to know her some and hang out with her fun friends. Most of them are Coast Guard people. Becca is originally from Bowling Green, KY, so we had an instant connection. She went to college in Connecticut, works and lives in Miami now, and in the fall she's headed to Seattle for law school. She lives about 3 blocks away from my new place, so I can hop on over to see her anytime.

Also, Happy late Birthday to Derek, one of my favorites! :)

It stormed last night for the first time in our new place. It was pretty crazy! We were basically in the cloud. It wasn't a bad storm really, but Mark was really into the "lightning tracker" on his computer. The sky did look very strangely colored, but it was pretty cool.

CHELSEA and WILLIAM come to visit in 5 DAYS! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Mark just booked our flights to TN this summer. I'll be home July 15-July 27. A little over two weeks. So YAY! I'm excited to see you all! Love from 37 stories above the ground.

New Camera.

2009-05-17T18:44:00.004-04:00

I wanted to post some pics from my new camera. I upgraded myself today with a nicer, fancier camera, and I think it was a good buy. PLUS my topics for HelloMiami just expanded to business profiles, community profiles, and other "real news". I am also going to start posting photo albums of community events, so the local people can have a connection to the site. So here's a few pics! But I'm still learning, so I'm sure there will be more... Also, thanks for Mark for being such a pretty model! :)

(Check facebook for a few more.)

Love!

3724!

2009-05-11T18:19:00.005-04:00

We're so happy to be in our new place! So happy that we're doing tricks!

I was trying to show you guys how big the balcony is in this picture. I'm at one end (the side that goes off the living room) and looking East towards the water, and that's where you come out from the bedroom.

Sorry there are only two. I tried to post more but the internet is being funny. I do have an internet connection now at my apartment, but I'm at the law firm as we speak. So tonight I'll get to work work work, and post pictures for you all to see!

Chelsea and William are coming in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! They're coming May 25, and I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to see my little sister and hang out and show her my new hood!

I hope everyone is well. Sounds like Aunt Becky had a great week camping (wish I could be there camping!) and all the babies are looking beautiful and playful. I can't wait to see you all. I'll be home in July for a wedding, so maybe we can have a party for Pappy's birthday and I can see EVERYONE! :)

So our apartment is just getting better and better, and I know when Mom comes down to visit she'll have it decorated and even more cozy. More pictures to come, but for now, enjoy! I'm waiting on my food to be delivered. I ordered a sushi roll, spicy tuna, delicious.

My new address is:
1111 SW 1st Avenue
Unit #3724
Miami, Florida 33130

Love to all!
jess

One week 'til my new place, and yay for KK and the new baby, maybe Mitchy can have a lil' sis?!

2009-04-27T19:53:00.004-04:00

Sorry that title was so long; I couldn't help myself. This is me, at my desk, excited. Mark is in the background hitting the books.

One week from today I should be in my new apartment! I'm so excited, but there are many miles to go before I sleep, or relax on my balcony. Mark is really stressed about exams and the end of the semester. It's getting down to the wire and he's not having much time to think about moving. So I'm trying to be the big girl and get everything in order. With 60 hours of work a week, it's pretty hard! Plus trying to have a little time for myself, reading or drawing or whatever.

Oh, my drawing class that I took at Miami-Dade College has come to an end. I learned a lot! And maybe I'll bring some of my drawings home so you all can critique me ;) since we have such a crafty and creative family. I'm going to take the next level, but I want to get settled in and *hopefully* try and find a new gig, maybe even a part time thing so I can write for Hello Miami more and quit the law firm (where I make less money per hour and have to wake up early and dress up...)! So hopefully I can take Intermediate Drawing in the fall and have a fun, relaxing summer.

More Miami news -- Chelsea and William are coming for a visit!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, and Chelsea and I have already been brainstorming things to do. It should be an adventurous trip. They want to parasail, ride bikes in the everglades through Shark Valley, hit the beach of course, go to the Seaquarium...hmmm...I can't think of the other things, but I know there is more. I'm really pumped to have my little sissy come visit and I can't wait to show her around Miami and cook veggie meals for her! We'll have to take William to the Cuban spots with gigantic pieces of meat and yummy yummy rice and beans. She will get to stay almost a week, and William will get to stay several days (he has to go back earlier because of work, bummer!), so everyone wish Chelsea a safe and fantastic trip! Well, it's not now, but I can't help being overly excited. They are coming Monday, May 25 - Memorial Day! Wooooooooooo!

Alright, enough procrastinating, I'm going to get to work on HelloMiami now. Those that are still reading, gracias! It is much appreciated.

love,
j

Earth Day 2009

2009-04-22T12:04:00.003-04:00

Happy Earth Day everyone! Let's take small steps (or greater steps!) to lower our consumption and reduce waste.

THREE very simple Earth-Huggin' things you can do:

(1) This CFL [Compact Fluorescent Lighting] bulb uses 80% less energy and lasts up to 10,000 hours. Mark and I only use these light bulbs in the house, and since I've been living there, we haven't needed to replace one! Our bathroom now have 5 places for bulbs - for what?! Mark put one CFL bulb in the middle spot, and it brightens the entire bathroom easily. Plus I'm pretty sure it keeps our electricity bill a little lower as well.

(2) Plastic Bottles: Eight out of ten plastic bottles end up in the landfill. Yikes. Try and use a refillable plastic water bottle that does not release chemicals. Even if you recycle all the water bottles that are disposable, it will still take a great amount of oil in the process to break down the plastic to be recycled. The problem is not only that we're not recycling as much as we could, but we're PRODUCING more than we need. So recycle what you have, and do a little water-bottle research. This will also save you money. And if you like purified water, buy a Britta to keep in your refrigerator to refill your bottle.

(3) Earth Hour: Well Earth Hour happened in March, and a large portion of the world participated! OVER a billion people! If you didn't, or if you want more, there's still time! Turn the lights off, unplug everything, and sit on your porch for an hour. Play cards, read a book, paint a picture, but don't rely on energy for ONE WHOLE HOUR! Can you do it?! See results here from this past year.

Check out this BLOG - it's a really good source for greener, healthier living. Seventh Generation tries to live by this Iroquois quote from YEARS and YEARS ago: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”

Happy Earth-Lovin' Day!

jb

New Pad -- ooooh yeah.

2009-04-17T20:15:00.002-04:00

Hey guys. Good news on all fronts! Well, all housing fronts. Mark and I filled out an application and reserved our apartment at The Axis. If you'd like to GoogleEarth it, the address is 79 SW 12th Street, Miami Florida. Also, you can click here to see the site!

We're on the 37th floor! Wooooooooo! Our balcony has a really great view of the city, and I can't wait to see it at night when all the lights are on! AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Also, our attorney got the owner of the last place (that went wrong) to refund our security deposit. Well, we don't have it yet, but they've agreed to give it back.

Okay, that's all here. So in 2 1/2 weeks, I'm looking at the big city skyline from my 37th floor balcony. Pictures to come.

:) :) :)

Silly PiC time!

2009-04-13T22:35:00.003-04:00

Here's me at a Charity Event that Patty and I helped plan. It's at an art gallery, and it was to benefit the Miami-Dade Family Court, to provide services to families at a lower cost. It was a lot of fun! Here's me in front of some of the light installation art at the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery. Here's Patty and me at Cavas, the wine tasting room. It's a really nice place! You pay for a card, sort of like a debit card, and you swipe it to taste wine, get half a glass, or a full glass, and there are snacks and sometimes live music. It's really a cool place to chill after work, which is what I'm doing here!

Mark is teaching Patty some of what we learned in Napa. I think they are checking for color density, but really they're probably just being silly.

Silly Mark and Jessica. Check out that beard, huh!

Well there are some new developments on the place that we signed the lease for. MANY MANY fees were disclosed to us AFTER signing the lease, and after much headache and much consideration, we've decided to try and get out of this lease. We've found another place to live, and at this place tenants rent directly from the apartment instead of going through an owner. It seems much more legit, and definitely nicer and newer! We're going on Friday to check out their available units and reserve ours for May 1st! I think we're going to be on the 30-something floor, so I'm super-excited. I love being up high! The view of the city is really breathtaking. I'll take pictures as soon as I can to post them!

I enjoyed everyone's easter posts! Also Sissy's spring break posts were so cute. What lucky boys to have all those pretty ladies to hang out with :)

Please keep reading at HelloMiami.com! They've changed some of the layout, as you may have seen, but an email from my CEO today sounded hopeful that he'd hire writers fulltime in the future, and even set up a sort of newspaper online, so I could potentially extend beyond Attractions, Events, and Restaurants and cover some heavier subjects! Not that I don't love restaurants and events, because you all know that I do! :)

Thank you for all your support. I've learned so much from moving here, and it's proven to be a great experience thus far. I'm sad to be away from you all, but then it'll be even more exciting when I get to come home for a visit. I miss you guys.

Adios! Buenas noches.

Big News!

2009-04-02T21:33:00.004-04:00

Mark and I signed the lease today for our new place! The area is called Brickell, and it's basically like south Downtown Miami. If anyone wants to google earth the location, our new address is soon to be 1200 Brickell Bay Drive. The area is cool because it's really newly developed, and there are tons of restaurants, shops, bars, etc. to check out and plenty to do and see! You guys know I love to do and see.

These pics aren't from the exact unit we're renting, but they're close. My kitchen, hot tub/pool, and view will all look very similar to these pictures! Our view of the water is actually going to be better than this one. I will post real pics of the place as soon as we go again. I'm SO EXCITED to get out of the house and into our new pad!

I've been really busy lately and work and then doing my writing. Patty, the other legal assistant, is leaving me tomorrow :( for a better job. She just started an LSAT prep course and she's moving to a firm that practices family law, which is what she wants to do. So, congrats to Patty! But who will speak Spanish with me now?! Haha. No me digas!!! (You don't say!!) That's the phrase I'm best at remembering. Also "dos empanadas, pollo, por favor - gracias"! That one's food related. Also "guayaba y queso" - guava and cheese. Good for pasteries, cheesecake, choose any tasty bakery treat and you'll need to know "guayaba y queso". Delicioso.

I've also been taking a drawing class on Saturdays. It lasts about 3 1/2 hours each time, and it's at Miami Dade College, which used to be Miami Dade Community College, but within the past few years has become a university. My teacher is really good, and I'm thinking of taking her next class, advanced drawing, or drawing 2 or something. So I'm a student again! Sort of, but it's a community/adult education class, so it's not for credit, but I'm learning a lot and having lots of fun. I'll probably take a Spanish class next, or maybe watercolor. Hah, I LOVE affordable education!

I tried to go to South Beach last weekend (Sunday, my only day semi-free now that I'm taking a Saturday class), but as soon as Mark and I parked and got to the beach to unpack our towels, the rain came down. It didn't stop. We had to carry our wet-and-sandy selves back to the car and drive back home. Kind of a bummer, but it was a fun adventure anyway.

I miss you all and can't wait to see you all! Love from MIA -

jess <3

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2009-03-18T10:20:00.002-04:00

¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a Marty!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!

The greatest Mom deserves the greatest birthday! Tienes un bueno dia!

I love you very much and hope to see you soon!

Everyone wish Marty a happy birthday!!!!!!!

Yay for Mark!

2009-03-10T16:26:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to share my excitement for Mark. Yesterday he got offered TWO great opportunities. The first is doing research over the summer with one of his professors in the music school. He'll be working on developing different applications for the program Supercollider, a musical program on Apple computers. He's been playing with this program a lot lately and doing some programming of his own to create a DJ station, and he's really good at it. I'm not too biased to say that :)

His second opportunity is with a man that wants to develope goggles/glasses for the blind to perceive their surroundings. He'll be the one to literally develope these glasses, and the man is basically the funder/marketer, or the person dealing investors, and the investors want to see a prototype as soon as possible. He wants the goggles to shoot out ultra sonic waves (higher frequency than human hearing), receive the information back, and then process the information into something that the person wearing can understand. It sounds to me like a pretty intense and exciting project. Next week is his spring break, so he'll be working away!

So now between the two of us, we have four jobs! Recession, what!? Just kidding, it's not like I'm making much money at each job, but I'm grateful that I have a job at all.

Sorry I haven't been updating much, but I have been reading everyone's posts, and I miss you all very much. Hopefully I'll get to come home soon. Or, hey, come on down to SoBe and see me!

Love from the tropics.
J

Check it out!

2009-02-13T10:53:00.003-05:00

Since all of you have kids/grandkids, I thought this might give you an incentive (other than just me being here) for you all to come visit Miami! My new article is about the Miami Children's Museum. I went last weekend, and it was an amazing place. Check out HelloMiami.com, and it should be on the homepage at the top. If it isn't, click the box that says "Attractions - view all" and it should be there. Here's a picture of the two-story sandcastle slide to get you hyped about it!

Mark's brother Scott and his fiance Ally are coming to Miami this weekend for Valentine's Day. We're going on an art walk Saturday night where all the studios in the Wynwood Art District open their studios for free, and you can mingle and walk around to different ones, and (if I heard correctly) they have snacks and drinks for free as well. So that should be a fun time. On Sunday I'm going to review a botanical garden, and then Sunday night we'll go to dinner with Scott and Ally. So, no rest for the weary!! Really I love being busy. :)

Love you all, and hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day weekend! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Love. love.

HELLO!

2009-02-10T19:37:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone that is reading my articles and keeping up with me! -- (Aunt Becky, I love all your comments, and I loved your last blog posted about your weekend with the boys!)

I'm really busy and am working A LOT! Double jobs (well 40 hours at the law firm and 20 for hellomiami) and still trying to have a social life is difficult! But if I wanna live the dream I gotta have the steam, right? Okay, well look for a post soon about the Miami Childrens Museum, and if anyone comes to visit me I will take your kids or grankids! This place was amazing, so look for it soon.

More on my real life later, but for now, I've gotta go make dinner, do laundry, and study spanish! Adios, hasta luego. Buenos noches!

Jessica on the Flying Trapeze!

2009-01-26T21:29:00.003-05:00

My first article posted! YAY!

2009-01-22T11:28:00.003-05:00

My first article is posted on HelloMiami.com

GO there NOW! You'll see a box that says "Madness of Macbeth enchants Miami" -- click that, and it's ME! Well, my article.

GO THERE NOW! :D

love to all.

J

Beaches in January

2009-01-15T16:33:00.004-05:00

So this Sunday Mark and I went to our favorite beach - Key Biscayne! It was a beautiful day and it was even warm enough to get in the water some. We were semi-celebrating our 1 year of knowing each other! Time flies, and we're still having a great great time together.

Updates on my job soon to come! I'm writing and gathering information now, and posting on the website will happen very soon. Once my articles are up, everyone will have to visit HelloMiami.com to make sure they have lots of hits, and maybe I can make this dream side a job a full time job! YAY! This weekend I'm going to Macbeth in the park, so that will be my next review. Love to all.

New Years 2009!

2009-01-15T16:25:00.003-05:00

Hey all! I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to post some pictures. Corey got to come stay with me for New Years since Mark was out of the country, and we had a blast! The first 2 pictures are our trapeze trip (the one on the top right is me! Wow!), the middle(ish) one is me in front of my house! The bottom left is me at my desk at work, and Patty, the other assistant, is in the background. Last, Corey and I in Bayfront Park on New Years Eve for the firework show and free party in the park. We had a blast! We also went to the beach, ate a lot of food, and decorated shirts for trapeze. It was great to have some girl time! Next post coming in a second, pics of Mark and I at the beach this Sunday! Wooooo! Happy 2009 everyone!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

2008-12-22T14:46:00.002-05:00

YAY! I will be in TN tomorrow.

This weekend I finished up some Christmas shopping, and I got my car worked on. That stinks. But Mark went with me to drop it off on Saturday and then drove me to the beach! We ate at our favorite Lighthouse restaurant on Key Biscayne and had a beer, then we walked on the beach. It was a really pretty day, and although we didn't have swimsuits on, we still kicked around in the water a little bit.

So I saw that TN is ELEVEN degrees today, and feels like ONE degree. So, please bring me a jacket and gloves, whoever is lucky/nice enough to pick me up from the airport!

See you all soon.
J

Emily IS Nashville!

2008-12-19T10:34:00.003-05:00

Congrats Emily! We're going to be the doing the same job in different cities. Now we'll have code names, similar to Charlie's Angels. Now I can call her and say, "Hi Nashville, it's Miami."

So if anyone has restaurant suggestions for Emily, let me/her know!

1112 Whatup?!

:)

Oh we're going to be so fat and happy.

I AM Miami! :)

2008-12-17T18:29:00.002-05:00

So I got a job. And I'm so excited about it! Let me tell you the details...

I'll be writing for HelloMiami.com

I AM Miami. I will be the reviewer of restaurants and events for the website. It's sort of like a city guide on the web. So I'm getting paid for my time AT the restaurant, reimbursed for my meal, and then paid for the actual writing of the article! Also if I attend an event, that will also be paid for (the event and my time at the event). I'm even getting business cards, so yeah, big time.

So far I'm going to do around 15 hours per week, but later (hopefully) I'll be able to work for them full time!

I just wanted to share my good news with you all! I look forward to seeing EVERYONE at Christmas. I'll be in town on Tuesday, the 23rd.

Love,
Miami.

70 Degree Saturday! - Really.

2008-12-13T20:19:00.001-05:00

Wow, Miami is sure warm! (Since everyone was blogging about the snow, I thought I'd share my weather as well!)

Today my book club had a holiday party. We met at a member's house and each brought a dessert and a book (that we already owned, used) to swap. What a relief not to have to buy a new book! Then we played Dirty Santa with them. I ended up with a book of short stories by Alice Munro, which I very much wanted. Then we discussed the book Persepolis, which we had read for December. It was a graphic novel (comic book-ish) autobiography/memoir about a girl growing up in Iran in the 1980s. It was very good and I highly recommend it. Gopal (one of my housemates) is reading it now. Aunt Becky: I'm bringing you Bel Canto for Christmas, and I really think you're going to like it!

One of the girls I met through the book club is in the Coast Guard and she's from Bowling Green Kentucky. The dessert she brought (and made) was Chocolate Bourbon Balls. A true KY girl. They were very yummy. She brought a lot so she told me to take some home with me, and the boys at my house liked them very much.

Then I went to the library and to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. Sadly, I'm not too far along. I'm more excited about coming home than doing shopping! Can't wait to see you all.

Trapeze was a COMPLETE BLAST! I'm debating running away with the Circus, since I love sequins so much anyways. Patty has pics/video and as soon as she gives them to me from her camera I will share them with you all.

Trapeze Wednesday?!

2008-12-09T21:37:00.002-05:00

That's right. Tomorrow I'm going to take a trapeze lesson!

Patty, Tamara, Julie and I are all going to Miami Beach after work tomorrow to undergo a 2 hour trapeze lesson! If the decision to go wasn't so last minute, then I would have prepared a sequined outfit to wear. Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera, but if not, you all will get a full update about the experience, with or without pics!

What I'm reading now...
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

What I ate for dinner tonight...
Baked tomatoes, onions, zucchini and cheese with pepper and Italian dressing on spinach! A salad of sorts; fantastic!

What I'm listenting to...
People say she's crazy she's got diamonds on the soles of her shoes.
That's one way to lose these walkin' blues...

What I'm doing now...
Crashin'!

Shoutout...
to Nikki - hey cuz! Glad we got to catch up some tonight! Love!

Shoutout Two...
Sissy - Where ya at?!

:)

New Painting

2008-12-07T11:36:00.003-05:00

Hey all. This is a painting I did yesterday. Just wanted to share it with you all. I think I'm calling it "Flame".

Anyway, not much happened yesterday, I painted, bought a new book, and ate at a Brazilian Steakhouse. The food was AMAZING! My new book is called The Complete Persepolis, and it's an autobiography about a girl growing up in revolutionary Iran. Pretty interesting, plus she wrote it as a graphic novel, which means it reads sort of like a comic book. But it is really interesting because the pictures are beautiful and it's still a really serious book. I never thought I'd be into that sort of book, but my book club picked it, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Also Mark and I took a walk around the neighborhood yesterday and it was close to sunset time. (We had to take a walk because we were so incredibly and grossly full from the fantastic Brazilian Steakhouse.) There were lots of houses that had spun Christmas lights around the bases of palm trees! I love it!

That's pretty much all for now. I'm going to do some research at the library soon for my article for the green search engine. (If you're lost, see the post before this!)

Love to all. See you all in just a few weeks. Christmas is almost here!

Go Green Writing!

2008-12-04T21:25:00.004-05:00

This morning I had an interview at a place on Miami Beach. It was really awesome driving over the bridge and having all the water underneath me and tall tall buildings everywhere, and thinking, Man, I live here!

I believe I got the job, although it's a non-paid position. An internship. But it's something I'm really interested in, and there is a chance that I could get paid in time.

It's for a green/eco-friendly website that is just starting. It hasn't launched officially, and they are now working on generating more content and obtaining advertisements (to be able to PAY writers). So I'm submitting a few articles to them next week, and we'll see how it goes from there. I'm pretty excited, because if it works out, I could see this site go to a "hard launch" and would be able to see it grow and grow with it. If it doesn't result in a job of some sort (either writing/editing full time, part time, or freelance) then at least I will have some work under my belt.

About the pics: The first one is how I presented my resume and writing samples. I burned them onto a disc and painted the box that held it. On the front (the part you can see) I put my name, etc, and on the back I attached a rip piece of a crossword puzzle and in the empty squares I put my phone number. The second pic is Mark trying to force me into the picture.

So if anyone has any ideas about what kind of articles you'd like to see involving green living, alternative energy, eco-friendly technology, let me know! I've started brainstorming some things, and I even wrote a short article at work today.

So if anyone would like to check out the website, the address is....... www.greenplanetsearch.com
I think the photography is really top-of-the-line, and if you look at the website, it will be obvious as to why they need writers. There isn't a lot of content yet, but now that they have me, they're about to EXPLODE! Lol, okay, that's enough.

MAG-------> I can't wait to see your permit! Good job baby! I love you, and happy 1-5! (Next year you can sing, "I am sixteen going on seventeen..." and that'll be awesome.)

Curling up with a book and a blanket. See you all soon.
J

I heart weekends...

2008-11-15T12:15:00.005-05:00

These are our plants after just one week! They are really growing.

Last week at work was slightly crazy. We're getting ready for a huge trial in January, and Ray is traveling all over taking depositions and talking to experts getting ready for it. Also we're having a Thanksgiving potluck the day before Thanksgiving, and I'm going to make a casserole of some sort. I found a glass casserole dish at Ross for $6! So I'm thinking either broccoli/cheese casserole or hashbrown...or if anyone has a tastier one I should try, let me know!

Mark and I are going to eat these fantastic subs later from Mario's. It's this Italian place really close to our house, and everything they make is amazing! Monday nights their pizzas are cheaper, and the garlic/pepperoni is the best! Anyways, I've been thinking about that meatball sub since I woke up. Can't wait! Then we're going to see a movie at 3. Gotta take advantage of the matinee at the moment!

Miami's 25th Annual Book Fair is downtown this weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with a girl from my book club, have lunch, and browse the books! There are lots of authors going, both English and Spanish, so I'm hoping to find some good stuff. I also heard that a lot of artists set up booths of their work, too, so I'm excited.

That's really all for now! I'll be home on Thanksgiving day very early, so I'll definitely be at all the festivities. Can't wait for the fabulous food and treats! And, of course, to see all of you! Love!

It's been a while since the last post....

2008-11-09T14:11:00.000-05:00

This week at work, Patty and I planted flowers. She bought them at Target's Dollar Spot and by Friday they had already sprouted! Green thumbs, what! That's them on Day One in Ray's window.

Sorry that's it been so long! I've been a little busy. Here's what I've been up to.

Two weekends ago (on October 26th) I ran a 5K for domestic violence. Me and my friend Patty got up reeeeeeeeeeeally early (it was still dark out!) and drove to Sunrise, FL (almost to Fort Lauderdale) for the 5K. Two attorneys from our work met us there to run also, and they kicked our butts. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. They gave us a lot of food at the end and a free t-shirt. I love free t-shirts! Then I came home and took a nap.

Last Friday (Halloween) I dressed up as a cat for work. After work Mark and I went to eat sushi and then waited for trick-or-treaters. But only one group came to our house, and we actually missed them because we were getting in the car to go eat. We didn't do much that night because we were exhausted, and then I was lazy on Saturday. But on Sunday we went to an art festival on Sunset Drive (close to our house and UM). It was really cool! Artists had booths stretched really far down the street, and people were selling treats and drinks. We saw some really cool stuff, and now I'm re-inspired to paint/draw!

Then this weekend: Last night my book club met for a social event at Dolphin Mall. A new place opened up several months ago called CineBistro. Essentially it's a movie theater, and the seats are extra big and comfy and CLEAN - and there are two cupholders for each person and a tray table. You are seated 30 minutes before the movie begins and you order dinner/drinks. Then they bring all the food out during the previews, and you can eat, drink, AND watch a movie! It was a really neat experience. Tomorrow night some of us may be getting together for a Beginners Spanish conversational meet-up....should be fun!

Okay, I'll be home Thanksgiving morning! -- Birthday shoutout to William - it was yesterday. Also Mark and I watched Purple Rain the other night and it made us think of Chelsea and William. I miss you all and can't wait to see you!