Happy New Years!

So far 2009 is panning out exactly as 2008. I always expect things to happen but apparently I have to actually do something for anything to occur? Well, who ever thought of that? I always make New Year's Resolutions and never follow through. So why not continue!

Here is 1 for first day of January.
I'm going to post every day for a whole month to try and get in the mode of posting more often.

I just reread the beginning of the post and I realized it is very sarcastic and a bit sad but that's how I'm feeling now so there ya go!

Stay tuned for: home made Christmas presents and what I've been up to for the past few months

I heart hearting

Okay boys who are reading this blog, stop sniggering at what the title sounds like...

I have an obsession with blogs. I couldn't even keep up with all the feeds I have if each person just wrote one per day... but many of them have multiple posts per day! One specific post I always look forward to and read thoroughly is "I heart" on Mondays on Bliss.

Every Monday, she posts things that she loves and writes underneath "I heart ___(item)". Every Monday, I click on several of those items and also fall in love. Hopefully she won't mind me borrowing her idea for my blog because I think it would really focus my interests and possibly keep me on track with writing. I'm going to work with a more specific theme though - this week is (though I may end up doing more than one per week):

I heart Etsy art



I heart this print (yeah first one is from Bliss - told you it inspired me!)

I heart this photograph.

I heart this print.


I heart this photograph. (By Bliss herself)


I heart this photograph.


I heart this art.


I heart this card.


I heart this photograph.


I heart this print.

I heart this photograph.


I heart this photograph.


I heart this photograph.


I heart this print.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm Tagged!

I was tagged by the wonderful Bethro. And I love these things (like Beth, I love talking about myself).

Rules

• Link to the person who tagged me
• Mention the rules
• Reveal six quirky yet boring, mundane, banal and pedestrian facts about yourself
• Tag six other bloggers by linking to them
• Go to each of their blogs and leave a message letting them know they’ve been tagged!

Here we go:

• In the last 3 years, I've lost both of my big toenails. Yuck.
• I have two very large pet peeves that are mundane things for other people: chewing and sneezing. You don't even have to chew with your mouth open for it to annoy me, if I can hear anything resembling chewing - most of the time, I'm annoyed irrationally.
  
• Nick and I sing songs and change the words to add our cat Sophie into the lyrics.
• I don't laugh aloud during movies - even if I come out of the movie and think it was very funny. The people with me always think I didn't like the movie because I don't have any actual reactions at the time.
• My favorite holiday is Christmas - partly for the traditions that I associate with it. I used to go into my parents room by hiding my eyes so I couldn't see the tree in our living room and they would lead me in with my eyes closed after my mom made hot chocolate for us all. Also, Christmas Eve is pasta with two sauces (calamari fra diavolo and shrimp/clam scampi), salad and garlic bread. Yum!
• If I can't do something right away, I usually stop doing it. Very bad habit for trying new things that are pretty hard. :)
  

Now, I tag:

Nick because Bethro stole everyone else. Anyone else who is looking at this- feel free to partake, even if you don't have a blog and just want to leave it in the comments.

101 Things Revisited

So all the way back in March a couple of friends of mine posted a sort of to do list for your life or next 5 years. One of my friends has revisited it today (though hers is specifically set up for 2008) and I thought I should do the same considering I had forgotten

Here is the beginning of my list (not in chronological order):

1. Get a kitty -- Check! Lovely Miss Sophie
   
2. Buy car with high gas mileage -- The economy has put a bit of a damper on this one, so not yet.
   
3. Have wedding (and try not to stress out in planning) -- July 25, 2009 this will be complete. Stress part - not so much.
   
4. Set up apartment with real style (not college dorm room style) -- According to my dad, still haven't done this. Once again, economy still putting a damper on this one.
   
5. Clean said apartment more often -- We have actually done this!
   
6. Keep in touch with friends from West Coast. -- Pretty much true!
   
7. Learn to speak Italian at least conversationally -- Classes here are apparently really expensive so still trying to figure this out.
   
8. Go to Italy with family - 2010 here we come!
   
9. Go to fabulous countries (Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy (if not above), Greece) -- We might end up in either Spain, Italy or Greece for our honeymoon... still deciding.
   
10. Get a job I truly enjoy and feel I’m good at -- I definitely like my job more than the last one!
    
11. Go skiing in the Poconos -- Still not winter but this should occur
    
12. Compromise more with Nick’s DVD selection -- Still a bad fiance - not so much.
    
13. Lose 20 pounds -- I joined the gym! That's a start!
    
14. Get to toned body for wedding -- Read above note.
    
15. Take martial arts -- Nope
    
16. Take a ballet class -- Nope, chicken
    
17. Eat more organic foods – produce and meat specifically -- Not a huge effort, we definitely eat more.
    
18. Sew a bag -- Nope
    
19. Go on a fabulous honeymoon and RELAX -- Coming soon after July 25, 2009 - Please help me decide where to go! Hawaii, Caribbean or Europe (there are lots of pros and cons to each, I'll post about it on my wedding website)
    
20. Move to Philadelphia -- CHECK
    
21. Visit West Coast -- economy again
    
22. Go to Los Angeles -- economy again
    
23. Go to Las Vegas again and stay up late -- economy again
24. Take more pictures -- still stink at this
    
25. Buy a photographer's digital camera (for artsy photos) -- economy again
26. Go to a Yankees game at old stadium -- CHECK
    
27. Go to a Yankees game at new stadium when it opens in 2009 -- hopefully
    
28. Make a scrapbook of Las Vegas trip -- economy again (scrapbooking materials are expensive!)
    
29. Make a San Francisco scrapbook --economy again
30. Read a book a month -- basically!
    
31. Learn HTML -- Nope
    
32. Volunteer somewhere -- Nope
33. Use less paper products -- A little bit
    
34. Knit a pair of socks -- Nope
35. Figure out what is wrong with my gastrointestinal tract -- Nope, in fact, it has gotten worse since I wrote this
    
36. Learn to do something to destress -- Nope

Not so terrible, definitely better than I thought I would have done considering I haven't looked at this since March. I should have put blog regularly on that list!

Dreaming

I'm dreaming of completing my 27 item long to-do list.
I'm dreaming of being focused.
I'm dreaming of being perfectly content.

That's why I said I'm dreaming :)

So now after saying weird, embarassing things - I'm going to embarass three more people.

Phil and Beth rocking a "couture" pose.

Benny Ninja - don't you just love us?

Love

Birthday Fun

I woke in the morning to breakfast in bed, specifically Toad-In-The-Hole (or as other people call them, Egg in a Basket) and some of my favorite candy - white chocolate and sour patch kids.

Then off to my surprise! My guess was that we were going to the mall and Nick was going to pay for me to go shopping which is a present to me a lot because I always need more clothes. He didn't know my guess. We drove past the highway and Nick said "oh I must be on autopilot, I drove right past the highway" and he pulled into a parking garage entrance. I said, "ok, turn around back up" and he is obviously looking at the sign. I was so confused! He really tricked me! Turns out we were going to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology! Every time we drove past it for the past 2 months, I've been saying, we need to go there, I want to go there! Nick planned it all out and we had a great time.
The exhibits are amazing and contain so much information. The museum didn't have that many visitors in the early morning and it was quiet and soothing. Then we headed to an Italian deli for lunch, having really missed good sandwiches in California. After, we visited two wedding places which you can check out on my other blog. We returned home and hung around until dinner time at a yummy Thai restaurant with Jill and Mike. Afterwards, we came back to our place and played Cranium. And there's the factual description of my birthday!

Some thoughts:
- Air guitar is really hard to guess when someone is using your hands to play and it is already air guitar!
- I really need to read some history type books about Egyptian culture and history. Love it!

I feel like I've been using this blog as a description place holder and I know that isn't what I want it to be. I want to be able to get my thoughts out, sure, but I don't think all in terms of what I did that day! Hopefully, little by little, I'll be able to express more creatively and emotionally!

Friends

Jimmy came on Saturday evening and we cooked my mom's famous meat sauce.
Famous with me and Nick at least.

Mike and Chrissy being their silly selves!

Jimmy, Emily and Jordan at the Eternal Flame, it was only 100 degrees out...

Terrible picture of me (what's going on with my bangs!) and as usual good picture of my photogenic boyScott being very proud of his Chemistry PhD

Me throughly enjoying my birthday presents from these friends! Thanks Fizzies!

Things Are Finally Coming Around

Hello friends. It has been a long, long time and I'm not going to apologize anymore. I'm just going to post more. How does that sound? Life has taken me pretty far since you last heard from me.

I managed to:
A) Get a job
B) Nick got a job
C) Heard back from the catering place and in the midst of visiting places for the reception
D) Heard back from the cat adoption place and in the midst of visiting kitties

I really don't know how everything I've been worrying about for months came together all at once. It would have been less stressful if it had been stretched out a bit... but I'm definitely not looking the gift horse in the mouth so to say.

Nick started his temporary (but money-supplying) job on Wednesday and I start on August 11th. Since my old job ends on July 31st, I've got a whole week to hopefully hang with our new kitty. We looked at one yesterday and looking at a couple more on Sunday.

This week/weekend has been one of the craziest in a very long time. Monday was the 2nd to last ultimate frisbee game, Tuesday was grocery shopping day, Wednesday was more grocery shopping and Nick's band had practice at our place, Thursday was a kitty visit and a surprise party for our friend's birthday last week, Friday is Nick and my 8 year anniversary!, Saturday is my birthday! and Nick is surprising me with something then we are visiting two wedding reception sites then my MOH and her boyfriend are going out to dinner with us and then I requested a game night because I love my games (whew, big day), Sunday is another kitty day, then Monday is our last frisbee game.

In San Francisco, I made a lot of friends at work and had people to hang out with. Nick's only friend was a friend of both of ours from high school (love you Scott!) Now that we are in Philadelphia, Nick has tons of guy friends and I have my very special MOH but that's it! It is quite a role reversal and we are still trying to get used to it. I have another good friend somewhat nearby but she is in the suburbs so I hope I get to see her more than I have so far!

This post ended up just being a vent/excited post which is very backwards but something I needed. It is just very weird for me to be celebrating my birthday with only one friend. Usually, I'm surrounded by a lot of people but I guess I'm in a bit of a different place in my life now. Our high school friends (for those of you who may not know, Nick and I are high school sweethearts) came down last weekend to all have a mini reunion (except Danny which was sad). I"ll post pictures in the next post. I was very surprised and pleased when my friends brought Black and White Cookies from a NY bakery. They were delicious! I missed the original a lot while in California.

This is a very long post but I figured I should throw in some yellow photos since a lot of my favorite bloggers are involved! I owed at least one picture of the apartment so here is a picture of the living room area. The wall on the left that the bookcase is blocking is yellow as well as the right after the bookcases. Behind the curtains is an outdoor area that we haven't used much yet.
Part of my Nancy Drew collection that I am going to pass onto my kids. And you better believe that if I have 2 boys, they'll be reading it along with all my Babysitters Club!

Picture Picture Everywhere

My new favorite meme:

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search
b. Using only the first page, pick an image
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? (Jess)
2. What is your favorite food? (pasta)
3. What high school did you go to? (John Jay)
4. What is your favorite color? (blue)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (don't really have one)
6. Favorite drink? (root beer)
7. Dream vacation? (Italy)
8. Favorite dessert? (ice cream)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? (content)
10. What do you love most in life? (my fiancee)
11. One Word to describe you? (whoooo)
12. Your flickr name? (havergirl161)

I'd love to see yours too!

1. jolene and henry, 2. London Pasta Week: Day 1, 3. Blue Jay in flight by John K. Cassady, 4. When I'm sleeping, I slow down my breathing...Living in dreams, dreams that come true...thinking of the color blue... ZZZzzzzzz..., 5. Ladybug, 6. Mandolin, 7. Massa Lubrense and Vesuvio, 8. homemade berry ice cream, 9. We are choosing hope over fear., 10. inflection point, 11. Whoooo Are You?, 12. Sunflowers