Rainy Saturday

So here are the pictures of Mark's final finished amplifier (and my paint job.) If you're wondering what it's laying on, it's actually on my desk. My desk is covered with a puzzle that Mark and I did last weekend (wow, what dorks, right?) and I'm going to glue it together and put it on the wall. If I can figure out how to do that. To all the crafty ladies in my family: any ideas??

This morning I slept in (my favorite thing!) and Mark cooked me bacon (my other favorite thing!) and eggs. Now it's raining, but I really just wanted to curl up and read a book all day anyway. My new book club book is Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides. It's gotten a lot of praise, so who knows. I'm excited to try it anyway.

Last night we went to our favorite restaurant (one that if anyone comes to VISIT ME, I'll be sure to take you to). It's called Havana Harry's and it has superb Cuban food and the finest Margaritas on the planet. Mojitos as well.

Tomorrow is my 5K run/walk, and sadly I did no preparing for this during the week. Not that it matters, but I'm sure I'll be fine. It's really early though; I have to leave my house at 6:15am! Yikes, I don't like that one bit. That's about all that's going on. I'll let you know how the run was tomorrow! Love.

Gotta love Saturdays.

Hello to all. Most of you that read this are camping right now. I wish I could be there to join you (well, that is, I wish I could be there AND that is was warm)! Hope you guys aren't too cold in the tents. I can't wait to see pictures!

I'm hanging out at my house today (you know, laundry, dishes - woohoo!) And Mark is building an amplifier in the kitchen. He bought an old jewelry box at Goodwill (his new favorite store) and cut out the middle. Then he has small speakers inside and he's made an amplifier out of it. For those of you that have no idea what I mean (and I wouldn't if it weren't for Mark always talking about this stuff) - he basically has an old jewelry box, and he's wired a bunch of things under it (don't ask me what, it looks like a little computer) and he can plug his iPod into it and it plays! The sound was best when the top of the jewelry box was tilted, so I curved a paperclip and we carved a little hole in the top. Now the top can prop open just like a piano - and that way the sound is best. I'm the creative director. It's working, but now he's taking it back out and fixing something so it doesn't short. I started painting the inside; that's why it's white. I'm not sure what kind of design I'm going to paint yet, but when I finish, I'll take a picture and post it. Mark's also going to put a small red light in it that will flash to the beat of the music. He's already tried it and it looks awesome! More to come when we're done. (P.S. - Mark is NOT as creepy as he looks in the first picture...)

My book club meeting Wednesday night was really fun. Me and two other people are starting a Beginners Spanish group, so that should be a lot of fun. I bought a practice book off Amazon, and soon (as in later today) I'll be studying some beginners vocabulary! I'm really excited to start working on this and also to meet more people here. One of the girls that's starting this with me is a social worker. (Yay, Chelsea!) The other woman is a research doctor at Miami Children's Hospital. So it's the three of us right now, but more people and more learning are right around the corner!

Next week some people from my office are doing a 5k for Domestic Violence. Mark said "You haven't even been running!" But hey, it's only a 5k, and I can walk if I get tired! It is very early next Sunday morning, but it should be a good time. That's all for now, back to laundry/Spanish/helping Mark! Adios!

High Heel Hike! For the Breasts!

On Saturday, October 11, I met up with some co-workers to participate in a High Heel Hike in Fort Lauderdale to raise money for breast cancer. I didn't think there were going to be as many high-heeled women as there were. The Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders were there, and there was also a group of drag queens from a local bar with T-shirts that said "Save the Ta-Tas."

We signed in, and then proceeded to be given SWAG – "Stuff We All Get." I got a t-shirt, a fan (it was really hot outside!), fingernail files, key chains, bagels from Panera, and pink champagne. Yes, you heard me correctly. This was really my kind of walk! The walk took place on a street called Las Olas, Spanish for I-don't-know-what. Chelsea should be able to tell you; ask her. Las Olas leads all the way to the beach in Fort Lauderdale, and there are restaurants, bars and boutiques stretching all the way down. The walk was the shortest distance I've ever done; it was a 1K. But it actually took longer than you might think. First, we were all in high heels, and second, most of the restaurants had workers by the street with trays of hors d'oeuvres for the participants. There were men on the street with Evian misting bottles cooling us down, and the bars even set up little tables by the streets and were serving us free drinks. You couldn't go twenty feet without something catching your eye, either food or drink, and then off you'd go! The Sushi restaurant gave out Hot Pink sake. One bar served pineapple mixed drinks. Basically I think everyone had fun, from the tiny little girls walking in their tiny high heels and bright pink tu-tus, to the adults that were basically dressed to match! I wore yellow high heels. I wanted gold in honor of grandma, but I had no gold, so yellow had to suffice. I'm sure she would have LOVED this walk! I guess I am my grandmother's granddaughter…I'm not sure if that's applicable, but oh well. Who got grandma's boobs anyway?

Other than that, not much else is going on. I'm writing some and researching freelance writing jobs, so if anyone has a hookup, let me know!

My next book club meeting is Wednesday night. We're discussing Ann Patchet's Bel Canto, which I enjoyed. Plus (I think I mentioned in an earlier post) she's a Nashvillian. Go Tennessee!

That's all for now! More later on....

Three days away, three pics today!

Three days away, three pics today!

In three days, I'll be in good Ole Tennessee! WOooooooOOooo! (Hence the "three.") In the first pic, we're toasting to Captain Ron - the awesomely cool Captain that led our Bahamas trip in August. He gave us these cups, with "Abracadabra" on them - that's the name of the yacht that we were on. [Right after taking this picture, Mark said my hair smells like poop! "Seriously." Lol. That's mean...but it may not smell too good.] And in the last shot, I'm taking a biiiiiiig sip of my MarGariTa for everyone! [especially Momsy.] Actually I'm drinking what Mark and I have coined "the Kentucky Margarita" --> it goes like this: Jose, Jim Beam [so, Kentucky, obviously], and margarita mix. Quite tasty. But don't take my word for it; MaKe yOuR oWn!

Okay. If you look closely at the last two pictures, you can see Mark "working hard" on his homework while I'm playing! Haha. No, but seriously, I wish I had homework to do. I'm jealous.

Anyways, I just wanted to give a hello to everyone and tell you to get pumped, because this weekend will be here before you know it! YaYYYYY!

Tonight Mark and I made stuffed bell peppers. We used green peppers, and stuffed them with hamburger meat, rice, chopped tomatoes, garlic, cheese, onions, and spices. It was yummy/yum delicious. [See, I can be domestic, when I choose to be.]

See you all soon. Love and salted rims.

J

Es el Martes, y te quiero!

Thought you guys might like this picture of Mark and me. We were being silly. He's traded in his mohawk for a mustache. Lol.

Hey all. So everyone in my office plays the lottery every week, and yesterday we won! Haha, but it was only 4 of 6 numbers, so we won $80. So after we split it, I got like $11. But it was still a little exciting...

So last night I got a rejection letter from one of the poetry journals I submitted to. I was slightly bummed, but then Mark ripped it into pieces and ate it and it made me roll on the floor laughing. So it was worth it. I think he spit it out and didn't swallow the paper, but I'm not sure. So now I will include a poem that was rejected...since I never put poems on here, I thought I'd try it out. Here goes....

Groceries

I had forgotten all about her
until I ran into her today
or walked in proximity to her today
I should say, since she didn’t see me

and when I noticed her I dodged
into an aisle with nothing I needed,
spices and extracts, or something.

I hid because I had nothing to say.
What can anyone say
about such a tiny wooden box,

about tucking a newborn
into bed beside you and
waking to the sound of death

about a mother’s hand trembling
in front of a small small
open mouth, feeling nothing?



That's all for now! Hopefully I'll get to see everyone next weekend. I'm excited to see Drew talking! (And KK I hope to see Mitchy, and Karen, I miss Lando! And I need to get to know Grant!)

Now I'm going to snuggle up with a book and a beer, yummy yummy yum yum. Night.

In two weeks, I'll be in Nashville

Written yesterday at work, but I didn't have time to post it because I got busy....so here ya go!!! ----------------->


I finally booked a flight home for the first weekend in October! I don't know if you all heard from my mom, but I'll be arriving in Nashville Friday, Oct. 3 at 9:30 pm. Saturday morning I'm going to Kentucky (right across the border, not even all the way to Bowling Green) to get my "hair did", etc. for my friend Melissa's wedding. I'm a beautiful bridesmaid! – The wedding starts at 2pm and the reception is scheduled to start at 3pm, so it shouldn't last too long. That evening I'll be home, and I think mom is going to get everyone to come to her house and hang out! So pencil me in. You can write something fun like, "Best Day of the Year: Jessica graces us for one FABulous weekend, Let's Party!" I realize that's a lot to write in one little box of your calendar, so feel free to edit it to something shorter, like "Jessica – YAY!" That will do.

I'll be in town until Sunday, October 5. My flight leaves Nashville at 6:55pm. I realize that isn't too long, but I didn't want to ask off work now. I'd rather have several days off at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so sorry for the short notice and brevity of the trip. You'll just have to come to mom's house, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4th! I want to see everyone! Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Okay, enough about my trip – here's what's going on with me at the moment…

Well, not much. I've been doing some drawing and painting lately, and I'm still writing. I'm not too good, but I hear practice makes perfect.

I'm at work right now, and it's been a pretty good day. Fridays are always better than any other day. I've actually had some work to do, and I organized a lot of stuff for my boss. He was like, "Wow, I've never thought about doing this before!" But all I did was make an Excel document showing Deposition dates, times, locations, and the witness's specialty so he could see them all at once. So now I think he's getting some crazy ideas about organization, and his office is a wreck! He'll call me in to find things that are right on top of his desk. It's sort of entertaining. And he'll put files from one case into an incorrect folder, and then two days later he runs around like a crazy man wondering where the contingency agreement is for the $500,000 case he just settled went….ahhhh men. Can't do anything by themselves. I don't let him touch his own files anymore; everything has to go through me. Okay, enough about work.

Tonight I'm going to a party where one of the guys I lives with is playing. He's in a band, and he plays drums, guitar, and bass, but in this band he's playing guitar. I'm excited about it.

My book club meeting was Wednesday. I met some really nice people, and we're doing social things as well, so I think it should be fun. Also, the book for next month is Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, and she lives in Nashville, TN. The book looks really interesting. It's set in South America at a hostage situation during a political dinner party. So far it's pretty good. She's a good writer.

Anyways, I have some work to do now so I better jet! Laaaaaaaater!

Per Aunt Sissy's Request...

I neglected to put a picture of the Redwoods at Muir Woods! Thanks to Aunt Sissy for alerting me to that....so here they are! The weather was really great that day; a little more brisk than we were used to, but really beautiful. Definitely the best part of California. Love.