don't stop - fleetwood mac

this song is very near and dear to me. in fact it's my favorite song. i first heard it when i was in a roller-skating rink up in new york when i was much much younger (probably around the time clinton was running for president...). i went to my parents to try and figure out what it was, but i couldn't. for the longest time i thought it was Mary Chapin Carpenter's The Hard Way (which introduced me to mary chapin carpenter, which is not a bad outcome!). BUT i finally found it, i believe, when i saw this on TV:

i love it. can't get enough.

i'm especially fond of the end when the members of the band leave, one by one, leaving the monster percussion section and trumpets of the band. when i'm running to this song, i often find myself air-drumming along. i've listened to it so much, i've forgotten how the not-live version of the song sounds. and the lyrics are happy and uplifting...

so do you like it or do you love it

Cherry Blossoms

even through my iphone they're pretty fantastic

Really J. Crew?

normally i wouldn't complain much about j crew.. oh who am i kidding.. with their prices on the rise i seem to be doing it a lot (sorry i'm not sorry i refuse to ever pay $2500 for a long sequin skirt that rightly belongs in the party and novelty section of the skirt section) but these are just ridiculous:

Really? Denim Shortalls?

While I don't believe I'll be purchasing a pair in the near future, I guess they're not that bad. The issue I have is with the name "shortalls". Stop me if I'm wrong, but I thought "overalls" were called such because they went over all of your body (or over all your clothes). And one cannot forget about "coveralls" which have sleeves, thereby covering more of your body (or covering all of your clothes). But one thing is for certain - the name is a descriptor, saying that the garment in which you are currently clad is over/covering all. So why can't "shortalls" follow suit? Why do they gotta be different? Yes, "shortalls" is a combination of shorts and overalls, but wouldn't it make more sense to call them "oversomes" since they're only over some of your body, rather than all? And if they happened to be capri length - "overmosts"?

Really? Denim Jumpsuit?

need i say more?

Vegas! A Recap!

Why I Didn't Hate Vegas

• Lights!
• Someplace new
• Spent time working with my dad
• Took photoshoots on moving sidewalks with my mom
• Did you see the view from my room!??
• Bellagio fountain with Viva Las Vegas playing in the background
• Saw old friends, made new ones
• Learned how to play craps
• Only lost 7 dollars

Why I Didn't Love Vegas

• Lights!
• Had to fly there
• Paid an arm and a leg for everything
• Got hassled all day, everyday by those people handing out the cards for GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!
• Lost 7 dollars

Vegas! Day 1! Feel the excitement! Through my exclamation points!

After waking up at the crack of dawn, getting to my gate over 2 hours early, and narrowly surviving turbulence (so i exaggerate..), I made it to Las Vegas. Okay, flying really isn't that bad. It's the thought that gets me...and the lack of control over the plane...and the occasions when the pilot turns on the fasten seatbelt sign and has to make an announcement about it because it's gonna be baadd.. But flying over patterned farm landscapes and snow covered mountains and something that looks like the grand canyon is pretty fantastic. And now there's Las Vegas. A whole new world. I'm pretty excited about it all. It is such an abrupt change from DC. I was warned of the slot machines everywhere, but really- slot machines. everywhere. The whole place is pretty bizarre with Paris to my left and New York City just down the street. I can't tell if it's overwhelming or awesome. The view from my room (second picture) is stellar. I can see the Bellagio fountain and the sun setting over the mountains. I want to watch that fountain at night with Clair de Lune playing like in Ocean's Eleven. But now i'm feelin the jet lag, i'll let pictures do the rest of the talking..

Risotto with Toomeric

Today Maddy, from this adventure, came over to make dinner.

We made radioactive risotto.

Check it:

Owen, home for spring break, joined us.

He did not want to be photographed

but was okay with a stick-figure representation.

The fact that i did not draw him with clothes is not entirely inaccurate. His beard of doom is often used to rub against my ears (i shudder at the very thought). Regardless, camp friends time is always a good time. Especially when it keeps me from packing, because i hate packing and i think i pack better at the last minute.

Tomorrow:

Vegas!

Supermoon

My camera skills are subpar if anything. This was never more apparent than when I tried to take pictures of the supermoon tonight. First I didn't realize the timer was on. After all the beeping stopped and I finally looked at the camera, I got this:

(Find the moon in that picture. I'll give you a hint, it's not there)

Then the moon was still low, hidden by some trees,

and I have a shaky hand and no tripod (among other things):

After giving the moon a little time to rise,

I took the following picture..

Maybe it's the moon, maybe not.

You'll never know.

So I then hustled down to the Jefferson Memorial,

snagged a tripod,

and took this gem:

Psyche!

But isn't it beautiful?

i like spending the first warm, sunny days...

...meeting friends for lunch and sharing homemade desserts (that neither of us actually made)

...enjoying lunch outside (and sweating a little)



...watching people (like the day drinkers on St. Patrick's Day)

...sitting outside to watch march madness (and simultaneously watching my bracket fall to pieces)

it's the most wonderful time of the year

i woke up singing the title of this post to myself (happens often) but i really think today starts the most wonderful time of the year (i say that every time..). sure my birthday is a joyous occasion, and the start of college football season makes my heart skip a beat; but the sun is shining longer and warmer and it's definitely the start of march madness (none of that 4 game play-in nonsense). i have my brackets filled out and i'm entered in a few contests in hopes of winning money to a) buy me a puppy and b) refill my bank account after the hit it will surely take when i'm in vegas. plus, i'm a firm believer that betting makes life more interesting.

especially when wvu is somehow on the line [the above picture is from when i met former wvu basketball standouts patrick beilein and mike gansey at a wvu football game back in 2006..i altered the picture so you cannot see tears of joy streaming down my face]. i foolishly have them going to the elite 8 (beating ohio state??really jessie??). my love for them exceeds rationality. so here's to hoping for more beautiful weather and a march full of madness. i leave you with a memory of last year's "most wonderful time of the year". i guess not everyone felt the same way?

cheers, beers, and mountaineers!!

Sorry for the "paws" in posts..

I realize I haven't posted in a while...I have a lot of draft posts sitting, waiting to be posted, but they're not quite complete. They mostly center around puppies and how I want one. And how I didn't join a gym, and instead, put potential gym-membership money into a puppy fund. And how that puppy fund will eventually allow me to purchase an english bulldog and provide me with eternal happiness (or at least 8-10 years of happiness, with additional years added on for memories of said puppy). Just look how adorable this pile of them is.

There is also this article telling me to get a dog, not a treadmill (rather, a puppy, not a gym membership). It makes a whole lot of sense (even though the dog I want doesn't really require the most exercise..). Basically all signs point to puppy. But it hasn't been puppy-on-the-brain 24/7. I made some room for a nice 20-mile run. It's amazing how close everything actually is to capitol hill. I was able to run to RFK stadium, around Hains Point, over by Arlington Cemetery, by Roosevelt Island, and through Georgetown. Like a "DC's greatest hits" run or something. I got my hair chopped off. I would normally just say "cut" but my hairdresser was very angry with the state of my hair. She would hold up shorter pieces and exclaim "WHAT HAPPEN HEERE!?". Or let out a sigh every time she reminded me that my hair was damaged and it was a good thing I was finally getting it cut. I enjoyed the beautiful weather. There are signs of spring everywhere..daffodils (my favorite!!)..daylight savings time..basketball brackets.. Aaand I hung out with friends that I haven't seen in a while.

let it also be known that there is one week until my first trip to vegas (!!!!)

Blast from the past

I'm up too late watching WVU lose in the second round of the big east championship. But it's alright because my sleepy state has led to excessive facebooking, which led me to dig up this gem from when I was in girl scouts:

Find me? I'm the only one in the entire girl scout get-up. I was fortunate to be let in, considering how much I look like a little boy. [i remember one time when i was rocking this hairstyle, i was in victoria's secret with my mom, and someone commented on what a cute little boy my mom had]. But seriously, how cool do i look!? And how lame is everyone else around me!? Clearly they did not come prepared for this girl scout picture because they are not in full uniform. Suckers. If only I had my American Girl doll with me, too. We had matching outfits.

...but that might have been a little embarrassing because she had more badges than I did.

a case of the mondays

Today's lunch was supposed to be good. Peanut butter and banana on a plain bagel. Harmless, yet delicious. Right?

Monday said WRONG!

BUT HOW!? cried jessie

the bagel was perfectly toasted..

the banana was sweet and ripe..

the peanut butter was creamy and melty..

But see those brown specks?

Onion.

Gross.

Monday was also like: i'm going to give you a nightmare where something evil and knife-yielding crawls out of your bellybutton, turn off your alarm so you can't get up early to run, put a run in two pairs of your tights, and make it so windy, your skirt will blow up for all of capitol hill to see!! Take that!

Bagpipes

I went over to Alexandria tonight to meet up with friends for dinner. It started innocently enough..hopped off the metro, headed down King Street, and ran into THIS:

A bunch a hooligans playing bagpipes and snare drums. Normally I don't like bagpipes. But for some reason, tonight I didn't hate it.. Unknown to me, today was Alexandria's St. Patrick's Day parade so leftovers were strewn all over town. But more on that in a few. I went to meet Maddy at her place of work (Lavender Moon Cupcakes, seriously good. seriously. go and get the gluten-free chocolate..or the hummingbird).

After Eleanor met up with us, we ventured out for some Thai. Upon leaving the restaurant, we noticed a man standing, facing a tree.. a man standing a bit too close to a tree..oh! a man PEEING on a tree. Whoops. I couldn't not take a picture. He did not seem to mind. Consider him a leftover of the day's celebrations.

With the sound of bagpipes in the distance, we retreated to the waterfront to finish leftover cupcakes...

...but two stragglers (a bagpiper and a drummer) followed us! In an effort to appease them and hopefully get them to stop, we gave an offering of cupcakes. They didn't stop to eat them. So we ran left...

...and found peace and happiness in the taffy section of a candy shop. WHO KNEW there were so many different flavors of taffy. Choosing flavors and then determining which flavors we were about to eat was almost as stressful as being chased around old town by bagpipes and snare drums and drunks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Alexandria

March Fourth

First things first, it's March. When did this happen? Where did February go? Not only that, it's March Fourth. I'm not really sure where the first, second, and third went. And it's already the 3rd month of 2011? Didn't we just ring in the new year? No? okay, back to the topic at hand..

I vividly remember this day from 5th grade. Our teacher began the day by telling us that today was special. It was our task to figure out why. Like her "name that classical piece's composer and title" game, which was lost on us 10 and 11-year olds, no one could figure out why March 4th was special. She kept assuring us that today was not, in fact, arbor day. Nor would it be next year. Or the year after that. It wasn't her birthday- I'm fairly certain we had already celebrated that. Perhaps she read the month wrong because everyone knows May 4th is special (May the Fourth be with you!). We were stumped. Finally, at the end of the day we gathered round, excited, hoping that whatever today was brought candy with it.

"Did anyone figure it out?"

"......."

"No? Well March Fourth..is the day...we...Marched Forth!" Get it!?

...........

::cue the crickets::

Needless to say, I have never forgotten why this date is special..or not. To celebrate, I am going to hang out at my house after work, read a book, maybe watch some Netflix, and probably fall asleep at a reasonable hour.