Earth Day 2009

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.

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!

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!

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!

¡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!

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!

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.