Inclement Weather

I love the potential for inclement weather.

I love looking at my weather.com app and seeing the notification above the "severe" tab indicating that there is, in fact, inclement weather headed my way. I love even more when the app follows through and there's a thunderstorm in February (and luckily no tornado).. and sitting in a starbucks during said thunderstorm, doing a new york times crossword..

Of course, all this love goes right out the window when I have to walk home in the pouring rain. And who likes when a bus drives by and splashes you like in the movies?? Not me.

And the oscar goes to...

Award season is wrapping up and we at 228 are going out with a bang. It all started with a bike ride to the grocery store because the weather was B-E-A-utiful...

...and then some streamers and pictures..

Look! It's 127 hour-d'oeuvres!

(see the boulders pinning down the arms!?? yes you do.)

and our Black Swan cake
(vanilla cake, strawberry icing...and a mirror shard)

Newseum

Went to the Newseum today.

It was awesome. and emotional.

Like this wall of front pages from 9/12/01.

awesome AND emotional

There's the Charleston Gazette!

Another Charleston Gazette from Katrina times

Even the bathroom was full of news

But what was more awesome was this

dapper gentleman on the metro dressed in a tuxedo

with a trophy. a TROPHY! he must have been a big deal.

i mean look at the size of that trophy.

that's news in the making right there.

but i'm le tiired

as i write this, i'm lying in bed (yes! 8 pm!) hopped up (or down?) on Advil PM, hoping i fall asleep soon and am able to sleep for many consecutive hours. a feat i have not been able to do in a while. i think i can feel my muscles relaxing as i type.. and it has clearly given me license to disregard capitalization. also, i just discovered that Backspace serves the same function as hitting the "Back" button. sometimes it comes handy!

Since this wasn't a very substantial post..more of a rambling.. i will provide a picture.

dun dun duunn!!!

brought to you by my mother.

And the winner of the best weekend goes to..

My housemate Josh proposed to his girlfriend this past weekend. Let's just say she's no longer his girlfriend.. (she's his fiance! har..) And when he returned to the house today, we greeted him with balloons, champagne, and a party hat. Congrats Josh! Can't wait to crash the wedding!

My new wheels

What do you do when you find a cart, perhaps stolen from a homeless man, in your house?

Birth of the cyclone

Yesterday, amidst the crazy winds and the National Christmas Tree toppling, was Kelsey's 23rd birthday. Kelsey, of Kelsey and Chelsea, went to Denison with me, is in my sorority, is infamous for breakin out the cyclone, and (lucky for me) currently lives and works in DC. Of course, a birthday celebration is not complete without a cake (see birthday cake for my housemate Sydney; it's on the baking blog that i share with Kayla). So i made a Margarita birthday cake, because no other cake could match up to the cyclone that is Kelsey. Chocolate cake? Nah. Plain white on white? Booring. Let's break out of the box and turn a crazy cocktail into a cake. And of course, no margarita cake would be complete without this ingredient found in both the cake and icing:

Personally, I'm not a fan. But in a cake? Why not.

ahh..the fruits of my labor. (haha get it!?)

A word about the cake: I adapted it from a cupcake recipe. I doubled the recipe to make a 2-layer cake, failing to take into account how not-substantial the icing was and how much it was meant for a cupcake-form. I worried about the cake's stability. I tried to give it a little encouragement by adding sprinkles. They were festive and gave it that little extra push it needed to stay together...i think. But cake and I braved the 30mph+ winds to Kelsey's birthday shindig. I never got a decent picture of the final product but I was able to snag this one of the birthday girl herself digging in:

While i'm not a huge fan of tequila, or maragaritas for that matter, the cake was very tasty...i think the crowd of intoxicated party-goers agreed.. Perfectly sweet and you could taste every flavor ..lime..tequila.. Cupcake form would be exceptional if I do say so myself. Also exceptional was seeing Kelsey, Chelsea, and Alison, and catching up and meeting new people.

Happy Birthday Kels!

Winter takes my freckles away

Recognize these?? :

I don't either. Apparently they're my vitamin D deprived stumps, also known as legs. And they are ghostly pale. Translucent even. All of my summer freckles that made them appear "tan" have faded. I took them for a run since the weather has been downright awesome and they just loved it. They were like "Jessie! It's beautiful outside, let's keep running!" And I was like "No! Gotta stick to the schedule!" And they were like "But how many days will be like this in february!?" and I was like "Noo, it'll be warm soon enough!" and they were like "C'monnn" and I was like "No". So then we went home. Couldn't strain my legs before a big run tomorrow.. Speaking of which, I made the Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce that I found on Smitten Kitchen for my pre-long-run pasta.

I had high expectations for this sauce. Smitten Kitchen raved about it. And so did several others. And every word of their raves was the truth. I highly recommend it. There was so much flavor for only three ingredients. It was so good. And easy. Hopefully my long run will be the same.

Couldn't Contain Myself

In preparation for a long weekend o' fun, Lauren and I went to one of my favorite stores, ever. The Container Store. I love that place. There is so much stuff that I never knew I needed. And it's all so.. colorful. And happy and shiny.

Look at all of those hangers!

Look at all of those colors!

And of course there's that shelf near the checkout aisle filled with even more things that you never knew you needed but have to have the moment you see them. Which led us to buy these drinking glasses. Did we need them? Probably not. Do I love them with every sip from my nalgene that swirls past my eyes?

YES

What I Love - edition 2.14

***for some reason this did not post last night. so every time i say "today", i mean 2/14. whoops! but I don't need a hallmark holiday to express my true feelings.

In honor of Valentine's Day, this post will be about love. More specifically: things I love.

So, drumroll please, Top 5 Things I Love Today:

1. My new running shoes. I just switched out of my Nike Frees and back into a shoe that provides the stability that my over-pronating, high arched feet need.

2. The Mumford & Sons CD - Sigh No More

3. The sunny, mid 50's (though occasionally overly windy) weather that has afforded me walks around the neighborhood. And given me the opportunity to try and play with other people's dogs.

4. Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter vs. Watson (the world's first computerized Jeopardy contestant). At first it appeared Watson was going to blow the other two out of the water, but the others caught up and Watson ended up tied with Rutter with two more rounds tonight and tomorrow. I loved seeing Trebek talk to Watson like he (she? it?) was human. For example: When Ken wrongly answered a question, and Watson followed up with the same wrong answer, Trebek replied "No, that's what Ken said." After he spent a good deal of time telling us that the robot cannot hear or see. I'm sure Watson wrote that one down and will remember it for the next time..

5. This:

sorry i'm not sorry

Punkin - 2...

...things that come into contact with my car that shouldn't - 0 !

It's usually never a good thing when you get a phone call that start's out "so uh..."

I got one of those yesterday.

Turns out a drunk driver hit Eric's parked car, which was parked in front of my car...and his car subsequently backed into mine. His car apparently had been moved there just 20 minutes beforehand, and if it hadn't been there, Punkin would have been blown to smithereens. Fortunately, his car is probably a little more substantial than mine and was not blown to smithereens. And of course, it's very fortunate that no one was injured by the drunk driver. Unfortunately, his car is not currently drive-able. Mine, on the other hand, came away with nary a scratch. Just like the time I hit a deer (rather, the deer hit..me..) and Punkin ended up with just a small dent. She's pretty resilient. It was all just a giant pain to deal with on a Saturday night.

hey punkin. lookin good

but there's nothing like a beautiful sunset to make everything better.

I love sunsets.

Summer, please.

Even though it's been cold these past couple days, the sun has been shining and the skies have been bright blue. And it makes me desperately want warm weather. It doesn't help that my room on the third floor is so hot, it's stifling, so I lie around in shorts and a t-shirt while it's 23 degrees outside.

It also doesn't help that i'm currently planning my summer that i will be spending at the cove. And as awesome as I feel running in my spandex tights (because in my body, where the shame gland should be, there is a second awesome gland. True story), I'd rather be running in shorts. But alas, it's early february and there is still a ways to go. I am at least comforted by knowing that I am not in Ohio anymore where winter overstays its welcome.

Happy Friday! (and three cheers for Egypt!)

Read this, you will

I could write about how I'm attending the Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference here in DC, which is very exciting, and in the hotel there are chocolate replicas of famous DC places and I want to eat them..except I'm having a slight aversion to sweets..

I could write about how today on the metro, the automated voice kept repeating "doors are closing, please stand clear" over and over and over so i finally yelled "prove it!!" only to get disapproving looks from other metro riders.

I could write about how happy I am that the steelers didn't win the super bowl.

Instead, i want to write about this:

I think it was my favorite commercial. I admit i didn't pay attention to many of them, but this one caught my attention. Not only was it cute, but it had star wars. And i love star wars. In fact I recently got these in the mail:

These were a late hanukkah gift from sara (thank yooou!!). Every winter break during college we would get together and watch all 6 star wars episodes..maybe cook a little from my Star Wars cookbook. We once made shirts with Yoda sprayed painted on them and Yoda quotes on the back. I guess we like Star Wars a little..

Never again.

A day later, I'm glad I did it. It makes for a good story. But the Krispy Kreme Challenge is definitely a once in a lifetime thing, as in, i'm only doing it once in my lifetime (probably something my mom will be glad to hear).

The morning was filled with denial and caffeine.

And it was far too rainy and chilly.

We took shelter under a restaurant's awning..

..tried to keep warm and dry

There were all types of people at the challenge

dressed in all types of clothing.

I got to run by these characters.

On the left: barefoot with a giant donut on his head

On the right: not enough clothing

I was greeted at the Krispy Kreme 2 miles down the road

with MY VERY OWN BOX OF A DOZEN DONUTS!!!

my enthusiasm was short lived.

We saw this guy at the start. He was reaall amped up.

He compressed his donuts onto the sword he was carrying.

I think the kid on the left was his sidekick/coach.

By the time I got to my donuts, I was separated from my brother and Taylor, but as I was finishing up, i found Taylor. Don't let his smile fool you - it's masking tears (just kidding...but not really). Note the glaze on my cheeks and hands..i wanted a snack for the road. I went for the eat-3-compressed-at-a-time method and it was quite effective. Jessie 12. Donuts 0.

But we all finished in under an hour.

If hotel check out time wasn't a factor,

Taylor probably would have stayed like this for

the remainder of the day.

And of course, you do it for the shirt.

Challenge Accepted!

Krispy Kreme Challenge. Check!
it was more or less a success.
no more donuts..ever.
more pictures/update later when i can function

Donuts/Days = 6 ***

Tomorrow is friday. Which means the next day is saturday. Which means KRISPY KREME CHALLENGE!!! Tomorrow i go on my donut diet. I wish that meant i was eating donuts all day. Rather, i'm drinking lots of water and tea and eating lots of lettuce in order to expand my stomach.

I got some delicious, leafy romaine for my meals and a nice, crisp head of iceberg lettuce for dessert. I have no idea if this is going to work.

But since it's still Thursday, and Thursdays are baking days with Josh, we made brownies. Exponentially more delicious than lettuce.

we're lucky if any batter actually makes it into the pan...

***unscrupulously stolen from taylor.

dinner with dad, date with denison

My dad was in town at the office for work today (which happens to be the office i'm interning in). This gave him the opportunity crack jokes and embarrass me, his favorite daughter, with the likes of "i hear this office stops functioning when you leave" and "does everyone know you're the hardest worker in the office?" when we were around other people in the office. Thaanks dad. But it gave me the opportunity to spend time with him and go out for dinner.

After dinner with my dad, I headed over to a denison alumni (WHat! me!? alumni! when did this happen!?) event at The Laughing Man Tavern. It was nice to see everyone that i have been unsuccessfully trying to meet up with, especially all at one time. It made me realize what makes me anxious about blogging- I want to take pictures for my blog, i want to take pictures in general. But i'm timid about breaking out my large camera in large groups of people, forcing people to pose for pictures. I guess i'll have to get over that. So if you're my friend, and you're reading this, be prepared - i will probably take your picture if we hang out.

Anyhoo- chels and kels and I weren't really enjoying the crowded group of older alumni we didn't know. And the food, while free, wasn't quite up to par. So we left and brought the real party to FroZenYo. Not captured: the three of us running up the down escalator to the metro when we realized we wanted frozen yogurt. Captured instead: a casual walk through downtown dc.

And if i didn't have enough Denison for one night:

I got to skype with my mah bestie yohn.

Freshman year i bribed her into being my roommate.

And we haven't looked back since!!