finally back in la la land

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,

j

introducing: Chelsea Stardust

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!

my beautiful littlest sister

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.

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

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!

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