A/C vs. open windows

Before I forget I wanted to say how much I Love, with a capitol L, my windows in my apartment.  I Love them.  The amount of windows in each room was not something that I was really worried about when I was looking for an apartment.  But I realize how important it is.  I am dog sitting and last night it was cool enough to sleep with the windows open.  Alas, I could not since my cousin has A/C in the window in their bedroom and the other window is all closed up and covered to keep in the cool air.  If I had the choice of windows open or A/C I would always pick open windows.  I don't things being super cold, I just like the air to be comfy.  My apartment is not very big.  It has a great size kitchen and bedroom and the living room is decent.  My A/C can cool down the living room and bed room with no problem and my father seems to think it can cool down the kitchen too.  I don't really care if the kitchen is all that cool so I put up a sheet (yes a sheet) in the doorway between the kitchen and living room to keep the cool air in.  And it actually looks nice; it's black and matches the curtains in my living room.  And it does an awesome job.  All the hot air from the kitchen stays put, so I can cook and not have to worry about heating up my whole house.  High five to me!  With all that being said, I still have plenty of windows to open up when it's not a billion kajillion degrees out.  I have 3 in the living room, 2 in the kitchen and 1 in the bedroom.  So there is plenty of air flow. 

 Once again I Love my windows.

unplugged

Ya know, sometimes in this world of never ended availability, I really like not being connected.  I like turning off my phone and computer and just being alone.  I usually have to make sure I call my mother before I do this.  I don't want to say that she is overbearing, because she is not.  However, she does like hearing from me and I know it upsets her when A) she hasn't heard from me in a while and B) my phone is off.  I especially need to do this when she knows I've been out drinking the night before.   I don't know what she thinks I do when I go out, but she likes to hear from me the next day.  And it does not matter that I've explained to her over and over again that if something (God forbid) should happen to me, she would have been notified. 

So anyhoo, I think this weekend is going to be one of my pathetically awesome TV watching weekends.  Unless of course it is nice out; my friend Bran has a pool, so I'll probably be over there.  And it's kinda rude to be "unplugged" and anti social when you are using some one's pool. 

the adventures continue

 So I couldn't talk about this before because with my luck JG would read this blog and find out.  JG is turning 30, so her husband threw her a surprise party with the help of me and another friend.  And I think for three people that live in different cities, we threw a pretty damn good party.  The only problem on my end was that I was driving back from DC on Friday.  So when I got back I needed to make 48 cupcakes and a bunch of Jell-o shots.  Not a big deal you might be thinking...but don't forgot about Mother Nature.   She was there messing up my plans, as usual.  It was about 100 degrees on Friday and I was at my parents', who do not have central air.  My mother refused to let me turn on the oven until it got dark.  And because I get overly ambitious when it comes to being creative, I thought it was going to be a good idea to make zebra stripe cupcakes.  So not only do I now need to bake in 100 degree weather in my parent's non-air conditioned kitchen, but now I decided to layer the cup cakes.  What is wrong with me??  



how stinkin' cute



Part of my job was to get her out of the house for the day so her husband could get everything ready.  So we went shopping.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to *not* talk about a party that you are going to that night with someone else that is going but just doesn't know it???  Ummm really hard!

In the end it all worked out and everyone had fun despite Mother Nature crashing the party. 

that's so us

We went to the movies today since it was so ridiculously hot out.  And it figures that when we got there there was a sign that said roughly "we are having problems with our A/C...the theaters will be hot."  Seriously??  But we stayed cuz that's how we roll.  And it wasn't so much hot as it was stuffy and uncomfortable. 

We saw Bad Teacher and gave it a 6.  We both liked it but most of the funny stuff was in the previews.

 

  But I heart Jason Segel so it was worth the 10 bucks.

the many adventures of Jess part deux

So apparently I am a whiz at picking horrible times to visit people.  Not only did I pick a time of year that is notorious for being super duper hot in VA, but there is a massive heat wave across the entire country.  Way to go Jsss!  And I know that it is below the Mason-Dixon line, but I have a hard time calling this "the South" (notice the capitol S) since I lived in Atlanta for 3ish years.  I knew it was going to be hot here.  But honestly I figured if I could handle the real South all summer, I could most certainly handle VA in July.  Oh wait, here comes Mother Nature and she's up to her ol' tricks.  There is a massively massive heat wave across the entire country.  So yesterday we thought it was a great idea to go into the Capitol and find something to do.  I love DC.  I am such a nerd at heart and this is like my mecca (besides that one time in NYC that I saw a Dunkin' Donuts, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut all under the same roof).  Here there are *tons* of museums and they are all free.  Well apparently not all of them since we paid to go to one yesterday.  But most of them are free.  Since it was so hot I had a really hard time picking out what to wear.  I like dresses and skirts and I don't really wear shorts.  But I wasn't feeling any of my dresses so I finally picked out an outfit that consisted of capris and a tank, and we were off.  One block after we got off the metro (literally) I made us stop at H&M so I could buy a pair of shorts.  And since I'm not much of a short person, I figured this was going to be impossible.  However, good ol' H&M came to my resuce with a pair of jean boyfriend shorts that I now love love love. 

We ended up going to the International Spy Museum.  It was really cool but *way* bigger than we originally thought and about halfway thru we stopped reading all the blurbs.  A few highlights: a lipstick pistol (that Bri decides she needs so she can give the"ulimate kiss of death"), a dog poop transmitter, and a rectal cyanide case (that's right, a case that holds a cyanide tablet that you put up your butt...ewww).

Today it's going to be 100 degrees so we need to find something to do inside.  I'm thinking a movie. 

How awesome is this!?

my vacation (the adventures of Jess) part 1

I'm not much of a traveler.  I mean don't get me wrong, I like to travel and I wish I could do it more.  I either haven't had the time, money or company to do it.  And when I lived in Atlanta all my vacation time was spent coming home to see family.  I'm going back to get my masters in the fall and before I go, I'm trying to do as much fun stuff as possible before I have two years of no life. So for my vacation this July I decided to go visit my cousin Bri in Arlington, VA.  I love that she is like 15 away from DC, so we can just hop on the metro and we are there.  I also like that I have been to DC several times and I have seen everything so there is no pressure to *have* to go out and see it all.  We can be as lazy or as active as we want to be. I think last time I was here we laid around as much as we rammed around the Capitol. 

Here's some random stories about me and Bri:

*She is like 4 years younger than me.  And by strange coincidence we look very similar sometimes.  So as any responsible older cousin would do, I gave her my ID when she turned 18 and went to college.  And she just informed me that she still has the card somewhere and that I wrote some sagely wisdom in there about always having your drink in your sight and never drinking and driving.  See how responsible I am!!

* A couple of Christmases ago when the family got to be too much to handle for us.  We decided that we needed to go get some Pepsi so we could drink Capt & Cokes (and yes I realize that it really isn't Capt & Coke if we are using Pepsi).  We went to Bri's parent's house, they are country neighbors to my grandfather.  So we went over there and made some drinks and then listened to the new at the time Taylor Swift CD.  Which I should add I gave to her and I quality controlled it for her before wrapping it and I ended up breaking the case. Anyhoo...we hung out at her parent's for awhile and it got to the point that our family's called us to see where we were.  We then made up a fantastical story about how we had to go to Walmart to get some Pepsi and we saw a baby deer in the middle road and it was just laying there almost dead so we resuscitated it and it jumped up and scampered off.  We named him Derek and it was a holiday miracle.  Of course, no one believed us (no that we thought they would).

ahhhh

Ok, so I want to say again....I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation -  you should read that in a lovely sing-song voice, go ahead and read it again; I'll wait.  And I had a bunch of stuff to do around the house (pack & clean mostly).  I'll I wanted to do is be on my couch.  I LOVE my couch.  I LOVE my DVR.  Now that it is summer and it's nice, and if you are from Upstate New York you know that summer is only here for maybe 3 months-ish, I am super busy.  In the winter or when it's rainy, I love days where my goal it to make it to my couch, possibly into the shower.  I have a really hard time even considering sitting on the couch when the sun is out.

Anyhoo...I've been busy and haven't really done anything to get ready for my vacation so I had to do it tonight when all I wanted to do was be lazy.  Everything that is going to get done tonight is done. . .woot woot!!  I was gonna paint my nails but it looks like I'm writing to you instead. 

Double anyhoo....I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance.  I have a super-duper big girl crush on Cat Deely (the host)

I mean seriously, look at her.  A) She's pretty hot (and I'm secure enough to say that) B) she dresses awesome C) she's British and D) she's British.  Well she was nominated for an Emmy this morning.  Yay Cat!

I wanna be lazy

As of 5:00 this afternoon, I am on vacation for the next 11 days!  woot woot!  As happy as I am to type that, I am not happy about my evening plans.  Since I am actually going somewhere (and there will be more about that in a later post) I have to clean my apartment.  And you are probably saying, "Jessica, if you are leaving, what's the point of cleaning your apartment?"  If there is one thing that my mother taught me, and honestly she has taught me more than I care to admit, it's that you don't want to have to come back from vacation to a dirty apartment.  And ya, know what?  She's totally right.  So here I am on a Friday evening, wishing I could just sit my lazy ass on the couch and watch some movies that I DVRed.  Alas, that is not going to happen. 

Poor Jessica.  Poor, poor Jessica.

blissfully ignorant

Two things you should know

A) I don't really follow sports.  I have a very, very rough idea of what important things are happening.  I do know that Jeter just had his 3000th hit.  AND I know why it's important in baseball, as well as the sporting world. 

B)  I also have no clue what's happening in the world.  I know that, as a educated American who has access to the internet and DVR, there is absolutely no reason I should not be informed.  But I honestly don't want to know sometimes.  I don't want to have to be angry about what's going on.  I know shitty things are happening all over the world.  I know that sometimes we are the cause of the shitty things.  Sometimes we are just reacting.  Sometimes we react because if we didn't someone else would be mad.  However, I don't want to know all these things.

With that being said, I can't believe that the guy who caught Jeter's ball and then gave it back, might be taxed on all the stuff the Yankees gave him.  I understand the concept of why, but not that they couldn't just consider it all "gifts" and not "income."  And in case you are like me and you don't follow sports or news, Derek Jeter hit his 3000th career.  This is a major feat in sports.  Only 28 other people (I think) have ever done it, ever.  And he is he first Yankee to do it, ever. And it was a home run.  The guy who caught it gave it back to either the Yankees or to Jetter himself, I don't know which.  So in return, the Yanks gave him a box and tickets to the rest of the games, including post season.  They also gave him a bunch of signed memorabilia.  There has been some talk about how he might be taxed for it all.  I understand that taxes are there to help out the government and all, but come one.  In the grand scheme of things, is this guys money really gonna make a difference. 

This guy did something amazingly awesome, in my humble opinion (hey that coulda been a good name for my blog).  He could have kept it and auctioned it off  for $250,000.  It's not like he couldn't have used the money.   I read online somewhere that he has like $100,000 in student loans.  And when they quoted him, he said that if he got taxed he understood, that he realizes the IRS are just doing their job. 

So basically I'm just annoyed that this is an issue.  Hopefully, the IRS won't consider everything as income.  But if they do tax him, I hope the Yanks will pick it up. 

rut roh shaggy

Much to my dismay, I turned 30 in April.  But I honestly can say it didn't bother me all that much.  I think my 30s are going to be great.  My 20s were a blast but most of it really blurs together into one (probably drunk) good time.  There were lots of bars.  Lots of shots. Lots of beer.  Lots of dancing on things that my father would shake his had at.  And a lot of laughs with a lot people that aren't in my life anymore (for whatever reason).  Some of my friends are having a really difficult time turning 30.  My college roommate Michelle is dreading it.  She turns 30 later this month and has started a blog to help her cope.  My best friend JG, who will also be 30 later this month, can't believe we are this old.  And she will tell me every chance she gets that I am already 30 and she is still in her 20s. 

And I know I don't look my age, nor do I dress or act it.  And I also realize that I am nine (yes, that's a 9er) years older than the legal drinking age.  I usually get IDed at the grocery store, but probably only because they have to type my birthday before I can buy the beer.  I sometimes get IDed at bars.  It really depends on where I'm going.  Up until this year I have always, ALWAYS, been IDed at a liquor store.  I was not IDed last weekend nor was I IDed tonight.  And I know what you are thinking:

You: Umm Jessica why did you go to the liquor store last weekend AND tonight...you just said you were thirty, so clearly you aren't still in college when multi trips to the store are necessary...do you have a drinking problem??

Me:  no silly, I left me sweet tea vodka at my aunt's house last weekend and I'm having girls night tomorrow and I am making a super yummy drink

And I've noticed that I very rarely get IDed when I buy liquor.  And I don't even go to the same store every time, so several people think I look old to not need ID.

It's a sad day in my world

** I'm listening to my iTunes while I write and I just listened to a song from the move Hercules and I didn't even notice 'til the end

** the yummy drink I'm making is, what my cousin Breezy Lou and I, call Starburst.  It's pink lemonade, cherry vodka and regular vodka.  yum.  I don't actually know the "recipe" since I always make it to taste.  And that is never a good thing.  I have a hard time distinguishing the line between "just enough" and "WAY too much" vodka when I make drinks.

master of karate and friendship…for everyone

So, according to Netflix's "suggestions for me", because I enjoy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I would also really enjoy Ghostwriter.

 Hmmm interesting 





I heart nap!

Today is one of the rare days when I got all three kids to nap at the same time. woot woot!! Now that I just said that I'm sure I've totally just jinxed myself.  But so far so good, no noises from the monitor.  AND I got all of my "work" done earlier so now I can fully enjoy watching last night's Pretty Little Liars.  I have been mildly obsessed with the book series and TV show.  If you are reading these early posts then there is a god chance that you know me and you know how my obsessions work.  Once I found out it was a book series and a TV show I was determined to read all the books and catch up on the show so I could be ready for season 2, which started in June.  And, friends, I'm proud to announce that my pathetically awesome goal was reached!! 

Welcome to my world

Well I've been doing a "nanny blog" for about 4ish months and sometimes I have things I want to write about that don't have anything to do with the funny and cute things that "my kids" say.  I know that nobody would really care if I had a random post here or there about something non-nannyish, but it didn't feel right.  And as I just wrote that I said to myself , "Self, you sound stupid" but whatever.  So this whole "need for a new blog" really came about because of the Casey Anthony trial.

I honestly hate people who feel the need to over share on FB.  And trust me when I say this, I LOVE me some FB!!  I love that I can keep in touch with friends and family who live in other states; hell, even with the friends and family that live in the same town as me.  As I get older life seems to get busier and busier and I've realize how important it is to at least try to maintain those friendships that helped me become the fabulous person that I am.  Yes, I realize that some people do view FB as a lazy way to maintain friendships, but I am not one of them.  With all that being said, I do NOT need to know some of the things that people feel the need to share with the world.  Things about your children, your wedding, your dog, your sex life...no thanks.  If we are close enough friends that you feel the need to tell when we are together then I am all ears!!!!  I just find it annoying to read it on a FB page, because you know what?  some people just don't care.  And I know you could argue that you don't care about those people either...whatever.  I find it very attention whore-ish.  And most of it may be benign attention whoring but once again, whatever.  Maybe I am exceptionally private, but I don't think I would post on FB that a loved one passed away.  The people that I want to know and the people that I want to be with me while I grieve, are the people that I will call up and tell.

But I digress, sorry.  I wanted to make a comment about the Casey Anthony trial and I just didn't want to do it on FB.  I didn't want to hear read all the comments from those random FB friends that comment on everyone's pages.  And I know ya'll have those FB friends too.  Ya know the ones that will leave comments on random things and then you'll notice that they have left random comments on like 12 different people that day.  I wonder, do you think they have a daily quota to meet? And to be quite honest, most times I won't "friend" these people.   I am a self proclaimed FB snob. I graduated in a class of 88, so if we weren't friends then, there's a good chance I don't want to start now.  If I honestly don't care what you are up to then I'm not gonna let you creep all up on my page.

So anyhoo....I wanted to write something about how I felt about the verdict but didn't want to do it on FB.  I did end up writing a post on my other blog but it got me thinking about writing another one. 

So welcome to my first random post.  Are you excited??