the best way to spread christmas cheer.

I've been a little grinch-y this holiday season, but have managed to squeeze in a little Christmas time fun! It started with a Lonett sib Christmas card photo sesh requested by Pegs.

The bro and I grabbed hot chocolate from The Artful Dodger then hit up Court Square to take these adorable photos. I've been weirdly into hot chocolate this year. His roomie, Stephen, snapped a few gems and that was that.

Other than that, watching Elf and a failed attempt at Christmas cookies, I hadn't really felt like doing anything Christmas-y. Until my friend posted this on my FB wall:

She recorded this catchy Christmas song with a friend and it got me in such a jolly mood! (click on the player to listen for yourself!) Then I went on a Christmas music downloading spree and decorated my little mini tree that had been sitting in my room naked (GASP!) since after Thanksgiving. She's really cute, and I just decided it's a girl right now, named Angelica. Yep here she is:

Now to get you through the next 4 days until Santa comes...OMG SANTA I KNOW HIM! I will leave you with my top five holiday jams this year.

Mariah Carey - Oh Santa! - girl knows a good Christmas song

Sara Bareillis & Ingrid Michaelson - Winter Song - so pretty! thanks Emza for introducing this to me!

Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick - how can you not love the Beach Boys?!

Pomplamoose - Deck the Halls - LOVE them.

Hanson - What Christmas Means to Me - the entire Snowed In album from 1997 is the best Christmas album ever. Shh don't tell *NSYNC.

Cheesey sweater photo and I'm out! Happy Holidays!

24 things to do while i'm 24.

I found this idea from a blog I read and you can check it out here. The girl who writes the blog, Elise, makes a list of things to do for the year on her birthday. The number of things on the list is however old you are.

I’ve been twenty-four for almost 3 months now and have had this list written on some scrap paper for awhile and am finally getting around to sharing it! Here it is, in no particular order.

1. Watch the sun rise at Reddish Knob.
2. Send Christmas Cards.
3. Try out for the roller derby.
4. Go on a trip somewhere I've never been.
5. Get a new tattoo.
6. Decorate the top of my desk.
7. Organize my OPA box.
8. Eat less fast food.
9. Have a Miss America party.
10. Open an Etsy account.
11. Experiment with video.
12. Get a haircut I like a lot.
13. Go to the National Zoo.
14. Get on a regular work out schedule.
15. Go to a Drive-In.
16. Find a favorite flower.
17. Get better at walking in heels.
18. Buy something from the farmers market.
19. Create a focus for my website.
20. See Katy Perry perform live.
21. Sew something from a pattern.
22. Find a place to volunteer.
23. Put yummy smelling candles in my room (and avoid starting a fire).
24. Do something nice for my parents not on a holiday, just because.

I'll keep you updated on my list when I complete them!

Yesterday I took care of #12:

third wheel saturday.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a third wheel to my brother and Taylor.

They're bromosexual life partners and I loved every second of our adventures. First stop was Taco Bell, only the classiest for this date of course. After we were done eating outside of the box we headed over to Goodwill for some treasure hunting. I purchased some old picture frames and mirrors to spruce up my grown up apartment. I got some mason jars I'm going to use for crafting some Christmas gifts. More treasures I found were some old sewing patterns that are pretty groovy. I'm going to use some of the packaging to start my inspiration wall and I'm going to try to sew one of the patterns which is something I haven't done since my high school sewing classes senior year.

Next stop was the Pawn Shop. It's right down the street from me and I'd never been. I'm so glad Taylor suggested it because I found quite the gems, as you can clearly see:

Ordered from least to most embarrassing I purchased My Girl, My Girl 2, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Save the Last Dance (Special Collectors Edition!!), and High School Musical 3. Not pictured is Elf which I'm really excited about for this holiday season! If people judged me based entirely on my taste in movies I don't know that I'd have many friends. It's fine.

We finished up the third wheel date at Kline's, the best dates always involve ice cream. I'd say it was a successful Saturday afternoon of adventures!

my sunday adventure.

One of my friends is in a class that requires them to make a short film. Today they shot a dance sequence for it. This wasn't just any dance sequence, but an awkward home school formal dance sequence. The only instructions before showing up were to wear black and white and to be ready to be awkward. Andrew and I went in our adorable formal wear, I should've taken pictures, and he really excelled at being awkward. I was just an accessory to his awkwardness. There are some great shots of us prom posing it up.

Anyway we learned the dance sequence and I wish real life had choreographed dances through out it. That would make me smile a lot. This is one of my favorites of all time. It might just be because I love this movie pretty hard, or that it's so unexpected in this movie. For future reference if you ever need anyone to be in a cheesy choreographed dance number give me a call.

Day 10: One person you can trust

i've got a lot of people i can trust and i am so thankful for that. i'm gonna name drop the little bro though because he is wonderful.

Day 9: Two things you wish you could do.

one. i wish that i could play the drums real bad. i'd be the cutest girl drummer ever! i'd also be really badass.

two. i wish i could go on a really rad trip across the country and visit all the people that i miss right now.

Day 8: Three words you can’t go a day without using.

iloveyou.

Day 7: Four memories you won’t forget.

i'm kind of a memories whore, and by kind of i mean a lot. i'll try to pick some really rad ones out of all mine.

one. valentine's day in third grade. my 2 bffs and i made our crushes valentines full of glitter and girly things and our teacher made all the boys in our class leave the room so we could sneak them in their book bags.
two. the summer of 2k9, i can't narrow it down more than that.
three. professing my like-like to this one boy.
four. one time while i was working at walt disney world a little girl asked me to sign her autograph book and it was wonderful.

Day 6: Five things you can’t live without.

one. my phone.
two. peanut m&ms
three. my bed
four. snuggles
five. one or two really rad people i know.

Day 5: Six songs that you’re addicted to.

one. katy perry-teenage dream
two. freelance whales - hannah
three. big bang tv - scavenger hunt
four. edward sharpe & the zeros - home
five. fun. - walking the dog
six. the morning benders - cold war

Day 4: Seven fears/phobias.

this one is really hard because i don't think i'm really scared of much.

one. bees.
two. being old.
three. when i was little i was scared of dying in quicksand.
four. a little smidgen scared of heights.
five. i don't really ever want to be fat but i don't know if that qualifies as a fear.
six. ghosts kind of freak me out.
seven. bugs in general.

Day 3: Eight things that annoy you

one. clapping along at concerts and to music in general.

two. wet paint legs, thank god for skinny jeans that don't touch the ground when it's raining.

three. when my brother farts in the car with no warning. love you bro bro

four. people who change the size of a photo or graphic on the computer and they don't keep it in scale. especially smad majors who do it - you should know better.

five. parking on about or around JMU and the surrounding apartment complexes.

six. speeding tickets.

seven. facebook ads involving having babies. i x-them out and mark as offensive. suck it facebook.

eight. when my nail polish chips or smudges the day i paint my nails.

Day 2: Nine things you do every day.

one. brush my teeth

two. wear clothes

three. drink water

four. text

five. sleep

six. listen to music

seven. wish i could sleep more

eight. eat food

nine. i'm adorable all day.

i stole this from emza joy because i love her.

Day 1: Ten random facts about yourself.
Day 2: Nine things you do every day.
Day 3: Eight things that annoy you.
Day 4: Seven fears/phobias.
Day 5: Six songs that you’re addicted to.
Day 6: Five things you can’t live without.
Day 7: Four memories you won’t forget.
Day 8: Three words you can’t go a day without using.
Day 9: Two things you wish you could do.
Day 10: One person you can trust.

here's my ten facts:

one. my favorite color is green and has been since i was seven.

two. my shoes are size eight.

three. i have an innie belly button.

four. cashews are my favorite type of nut.

five. i hate horses. this explains it perfectly.

six. if i had to collect anything it would be salt and pepper shakers.

seven. when i was in fifth grade i wanted to be a clown with blue curly hair and i was going to ride a bicycle built for three with my two dogs, a toy poodle & dachshund.

eight. new york city is one place i never want to live.

nine. i don't own any white bras.

ten. i feel more confident with freshly painted nails.

tootles until tomorrow!

gershwin, ezekiel, and a cupcake.

I painted pumpkins yesterday evening! I don't like carving them, that's just icky. Last year was a little tragic in the painting department. I didn't have a clear vision and my pumpkin sucked and everyone else had totally awesome ones. There was Harry Potter, Lady Gaga and a panda. Mine was just a pumpkin with pink hair and what appeared to be olives for eyes:

I was devastated with my poor performance, so this put a lot of pressure to do better than last year, but also didn't set the bar too high, because anything would be an improvement.

Andrew was super jazzed to be painting pumpkins!!!! He painted Gerswhin, the monkey, who comes with a banana in his favorite ear! I love my peacock pumpkin! It turned out so goooood. If you disagree with this I don't want to hear about it because I'm proud of myself and that's all that matters. His name is Ezekiel, Zeke if you're his friend. We listened to Pandora's "Halloween Party Mix" while painting them. They had some rad 1950's halloween jamz for inspiration. I'm off to work on my Katy Perry halloween costume!

Tootles!

neon watches!

From my last post about 4 Simple Goals they have proven to be not so simple. I haven't blogged at all yet since becoming a sassy working profesh! I'm trying to figure out being a working girl and fun things too. I'm thinking of what I want to do with my blog, website, and a million other things.

From my 4 Simple Goals I've met one of them so far:

I got a watch! A really rad neon pink one just like I wanted. Andrew got a neon green one too because we're totally adorable and make people want to barf.

Other fun things I've been up to involve going to my first roller derby bout, organizing my room a ton, and I made guacamole which is part of one of my goals of making new foods! I found that 5 new things a month was a pretty ambitious goal for someone who makes nothing. I also got a pet cactus for my birthday! He just survived a transplant into his new pot and he is doing much better. His name is Charlie and I love him.

Hopefully soon I'll get the hang of being a grown up and will have more exciting, more frequent updates for you. Later tonight I'm painting pumpkins. Hopefully it doesn't turn out as tragically as last year. Well it's almost the end of my lunch break!

Tootles!

four simple goals...

This entry is inspired from this blog I enjoy, A Beautiful Mess <-- Click that link right there to check it out. The general gist if you don't want to read the original post is to create four simple goals you want to accomplish before 2011. First of all when did it get so close to 2011, it just became 2010?! Second of all this is really rad and I'm totally inspired by the challenge. It's perfect timing with my "grown up" life starting in Harrisonburg. Here are my goals in no particular order of importance:

1) Start an inspiration wall. I've wanted one of these bad boys for awhile and moving into a new place is such a fantastic time to start one. Since my apartment is completely empty right now, minus an air mattress and Marcela (my mac) and Regg, I have all of the walls to choose from!

2) Try out 5 new recipes a month. This one is probably going to be the hardest one, but since the extent of my current cooking involves mainly breakfast foods (cereal, pancakes, eggs) and pasta the options for new recipes are pretty wide, but putting the effort in is going to be tough. So if you want to join me for dinner sometime to make this one more fun let me know, oh or if you have any suggestions of stuff I should attempt too!

3) Go on a picnic at that newish playground in Harrisonburg. I've wanted to go there forever and just haven't and who doesn't love picnics! Maybe even a night time picnic! Ohhh and I could take some of my new recipes with me on this adventure. Or I could have little kid foods since it's a playground. Anyway this is just for funzies and I'm still a little girl even though I have a grown up job now.

4) Buy a watch. I really want a neon watch or a white watch that has links & isn't rubbery. Weird I know, but I think they're cool. Maybe one like this! I just have to get around to committing to the search.

These are my four simple goals to have complete by the end of 2010! I'll keep you posted on the progress. I also found this blog because she was inspired by the four simple things too. She makes a list of things to do for the year on her birthday according to her age, so a list of 24 things to do when I'm 24 is soon going to be added to this blog in September! I guess I'm just really into goal setting right now? It's a cool way to think about what you're doing with your life! So if you want to join in the fun let me know.

Tootles,

Jess

katy perry + jess = BFF

Lately I've become a little (a lot) obsessed with Katy Perry. I think that Katy Perry and I would most definitely be BFFs. I know that this is very much stereotypical of my teeny bopper tendencies, but out of all the celebs (Miley, T. Swift, Selena Gomez, etc etc) Katy Perry would totally be my friend in real life. I'm also aware that if you don't know me this probably makes me seem a little delusional, ehhh you'll have that. I'm ok with the judgement.

It was not love at first sight, or first listen for me. I remember hearing "I Kissed a Girl" for the first time on the radio and thinking something along the lines of "ugh, this is awful and gimmicky ". Then I heard it a few more times that summer and slowly started to become a major fan and enjoyed the fact that she didn't take herself too seriously and it was just a fun summer song.

Later that summer I went to Warped Tour for the first time ever. Katy Perry was performing and I was excited to see her live. My little bro was too cool to see Katy Perry and was off at one of the other stages, so I rocked out alone. She was wearing a really cute outfit and this just further ignited my love of her. I took a really snazzy photo at her merch booth:

Let's fast forward to my current love for Katy Perry. My roommate once said, "You are the Katy Perry in my life", I don't know if I have ever received a better compliment. I love "California Gurls" and it's a perfect summer song, but the real obsession started to grow with the release of the single "Teenage Dream". I started watching a lot of interviews on YouTube of Katy Perry and this is where I've come to the conclusion that we would totally be friends in real life.

Katy Perry is super quirky, girlie, and chill and that's why I'm pretty sure we'd be friends. We could go on really random adventures and we'd obviously be really adorable. Her style is cute and unique without being GaGa crazy. She got a cute strawberry tattoo and gave it a name, which is something I would totally do too. She's been compared to Punky Brewster, and oh wait who was my doppleganger on Facebook, oh that's right Punky Brewster. These are just a few similarities and reasons why Katy Perry and I would be BFFs. So Katy Perry if you google yourself and some how discover this and want to be BFFs I'm game.

As for now I'm waiting for August 24th when her album comes out(it's going to smell like cotton candy!!!) and I'll just have to continue embarrassing myself by singing "Teenage Dream" at red lights and getting too into it and having really cool friends like Caitlin Heinlen see me and call me out for it.

the rest is still unwritten...

Ok, so the last episode of The Hills aired on Tuesday and I watched. I wouldn't call myself a die-hard Hills fan at all. I have some fond memories of watching it with my roommates junior year, but I've never really stayed up to date since then. So a few seasons have passed and I've caught an occasional episode here and there while I've been bumming around on weekends and ended up catching the marathon on the Tuesday of the series finale.

Watching the series finale was a little emotional. I didn't cry like a baby or anything, I mean it's The Hills not Toy Story 3 here. Why did I feel such an attachment to these characters and their dramatic lives? Yeah I love that Kristin's a bitch and I have a soft spot for Audrina and Justin Bobby, but there's more to it than that.

I think it's because I've grown up with these girls. Not in the sense that we live down the street from each other and went to the same elementary school type of growing up together, but more like we were going through the same stages of life at the same time. I was in high school when Laguna Beach was first on-air and now they're in their early 20s about to embark on this new more grown up stage of their lives and so am I. They were all experiencing an element of unknown. What's going to happen to them after the show? What's going to happen to me after college? We'll see.

I also loved the ending. If you haven't seen it you can check out the whole last episode at mtv.com. I loved the mystery behind it. I think this is a sign that I'm growing up a little too. A few years ago the unknown would have driven me crazy, but now I'm kind of digging it. It was nice knowing you. I don't know how I am going to fill this guilty pleasure void in my life.

people at jmu make me smile.

5- We Are JMU from Jon Combs on Vimeo.

The other day a friend had this video posted as her facebook status. I love it and wanted to do my own so here they are:

What would yours be? If you don't go to JMU use something else that has a special place in your heart ;-) Leave me a comment and let me know!!

a few favorites

As I sit here in Harrison lab, exactly one week away from graduation, I'd like to take a few minutes to share my favorite places at JMU and in the Harrisonburg area. I've developed quite a fond attachment to them between move-in day in 2005, pictured to your right, and now.

Hanson Field: I lived in Hanson Hall freshman year and had a lot of fantastic times in Hanson Field. A lot of these involved sports. Snow football, where I intercepted the ball and returned it for a touch down. Practicing soccer for another Champs intramural victory. Dominating sand volleyball until 2 am causing my feet to freeze and homework to be neglected.

Hillside Lab: All I can say about this is that it was basically my second home my last two years at JMU. 90% of my homework was completed here as well as a ton of facebook stalking.

Old Dominion Coffee: I know this doesn’t exist anymore, sadly, but it’s still one of my favorite spots in Harrisonburg. It had such a homey vibe and was great for studying or having conversations with a friend over a cup of coffee.

TDU: When I toured JMU as a potential student I thought TDU was a groovy place. My tour guide said people take naps here and leave notes on themselves saying “Wake me up for class at 3”. I never saw this, but I might have taken a nap here once or twice. It was also a great place to hang out with friends, do homework, and play a little tambourine here and there.

DHall: Let’s be real, I ate here at least once a day freshman year. When peanut butter pie or peanut butter passion are on the menu my day is instantly fantastic. I think I might end up starving after I graduate without dhall there to feed me my favorite comfort foods with a swipe of my JAC card at the door.

Mr. J’s: This has become a nearly every weekend tradition. I’ve had many recaps of the crazy weekend events here. Bagels are also one of my favorite foods & Mr. J’s has a mean everything bagel. Great people, conversation, and food are a killer combination.

The Nile: One week I think I spent 4 straight nights at the Nile. It’s one of those places that some of my friends just associate with me and I don’t hate it. Enjoying live music with friends and a PBR in hand is definitely one of the best ways to spend any day of the week.

MGL: McGraw-Long Hall, for those of you who have no clue what MGL stands for, has a pretty special place in my heart. This is the dorm where I was a FrOG for 2k8. I met some of the greatest people through this experience and owe a large part of who I am today to them. MGL was my go-to place if I had time to kill and I was on campus.

Wilson Steps: The Wilson steps are always going to be the place I think of when I think of JMU. I’ve spent a lot of time in between classes, skipping classes, and hanging out with friends here. I don’t really have the words to describe the significance the Wilson steps have to me, just know it’s a lot.

There it is, my list of favorite places at JMU and the Harrisonburg area. As you can see most of these places involve people. The thing that makes something one of my favorite places is that it has brought me together with the people I’ve met. These people are the things I’m going to remember most about JMU, the places I shared with them are just a random detail.

is it facebook official?

I was inspired by a few conversations last night with some lovely people. If you've never said or heard the phrase, "is it facebook official?" then you may or may not know what the rest of this blog entry is going to be about, but feel free to continue to read anyway.



This morning I woke up and decided that I wanted to write a little bit on the super important facebook relationship status. After I had decided this and I checked facebook for the first time today this was, true story, at the top of my newsfeed:


Eleanor* is now in a relationship <3
5 people like this.


Jack Sparrow*
Sheesh, it's about time its Facebook official.

Justine Timberlake*
Am I gonna approve?


Dominique Moceanu*
more importantly, will coach approve??



Ben Afleck*
No relationship is official until its on facebook....now its on :)



Gretchen Weiners*
OH HONESTLY. on facebook. B, you are SO above that. I guess its fine.



*names may or may not have been changed to protect the individuals involved.



Let me share with you the changes in my facebook relationship timeline. Single-> Nothing Listed ->Single -> Nothing Listed -> It's Complicated with Joe Rishell -> Nothing Listed



The first time when I had nothing listed I was dating someone, but we weren't officially a couple, let alone ready to be "facebook official". The second time I chose to list no relationship status I wasn't dating anyone. I decided I didn't want to have it listed anymore, ever. When I did this facebook's news feed stated "Jessica is no longer listed as single <3">



As you can see I did, however, become listed as complicated. While working together this summer, Joe and I decided to form this fake facebook relationship. At first I was kind of hesitent because I didn't want other guys to think I was actually in a relationship. They needed to know I was available, obvi! Then I thought about it for approximately 1 more second and realized that was crazy and if anyone that I would want to date didn't get to know me well enough to know I was single because he judged me by my facebook page then he definitely isn't someone that I'd want to be with anyway. This complicated relationship lasted for about 8 months until Joe went and broke up with me from our fake relationship with out even telling me! So what, he got a real girlfriend and wanted to be listed as in a relationship with her. I could have at least been notified. I'm still a little bitter. jk ;) Then I went back to my status-less relationship status. (which btw took me a while to figure out how to do and made me even more angry at Joe.)


I have some stories from over the years involving facebook relationship status changes that I'd like to share with you. Junior year of college I found out my roommate got back together with her boyfriend via facebook. I was not too happy about this. I lived down the hall. All she had to do was yell as she was accepting the relationship request and tell me they were back together. I called her out on this too, I was kind of joking, kind of serious, but either way I was offended because I found out about their relationship on facebook and not from her.



I've found out about other really good friends relationships becoming "official" from facebook over the years too. Most of them go to other schools/are grown ups now so I've learned to not get offended. I've had discussions with several friends about whether or not they should become "facebook official" with their new bf/gf. Complicated decisions, right?


My favorite: I was facebook creeping on some wedding pics of this kid from my high school. There were pics the mother of the bride put on facebook. A few were tagged pictures of the bride and groom still in their dress and tux right after the ceremony on a laptop with the captions, "Girl'snamehere is updating her status on Facebook" next picture, "Boysnamehere's turn!" That's all I'm going to say about that.


Getting out of the online world and talking about relationships in real life with people some how end up being referenced to the online world anyway. Some examples: "so and so are dating." "is it facebook official?"


My question is, how does being "facebook official" make it anymore official than just saying someone is dating? Maybe we just have a whole new level of a relationship because we have facebook? Maybe the "facebook official" is the 2000s version of the 1950s class ring and letterman jacket? I really have no idea. I just know that it is a phenominon that exists, this mystic "facebook official" level of a relationship.


It's spring break and I'm in Harrisonburg, VA. I facebook stalked every single one of my facebook friends today. I wanted to do some research on this "facebook official" thing as well as general relationship status stuff. My stats professor from 3 years ago would probably be proud. Here are some of the fun stats I discovered through my facebook stalking:

• There are 1003 people total
• 455 are guys and 548 are girls
• 156 guys don't have a status listed
• 216 girls don't have a status listed
• 23% of guys and of the girls were listed as in a relationship connected with the significant other's name connected
• 3.5% of the guys with a status are listed as in a relationship with no name connected
• 4.9% of the girls with a status are listed as in a relationship with no name connected
• Out of the guys who listed a status, 43.5% of them were listed as single
• Out of the girls who listed a status, 25% of them were listed as single
• There are aproximately 3 times as many fake relationships listed by girls than by guys
• Miss America 2k8 does not have her status listed
• 4/5 members of the Click Five do not have a stutus listed, 1/5 is listed as complicated not linked with anyone

*the relationship status was judged if it was found in the information box under the persons picture, if it is only listed in the info tab it didn't count.

This is my ridiculous post on being "facebook official". I think what I'd like from this is for you to take a second and think about this whole crazy thing. Do you really want to define someone's relationship or your own by if a name is hyperlinked to the other person's name on facebook?

valentine's day might just be my favorite holiday.

As I'm sure you are well aware it is almost Valentine's Day. I don't know if there is another holiday that has as much hate and negative feelings associated with it as Valentine's Day. Funny, since this holiday is all about love, or chocolate, or both? Over the years Valentine's Day has become one of my favorite holidays and I would like to share that with you right now.

The beginning of my love for good old V-Day actually starts with some bitter feelings way back in 2005. My dear friend Shan and I were seniors in high school and bitter about being single. Prom was all anyone talked about, we didn't have dates yet and V-Day was just another day to throw that in our faces. At the time we were both employees at a lovely establishment, Vocelli Pizza. We worked with some dudes who were older, single, and way more bitter about love than we were, so we decided to try to make their V-Day better. We crafted some really sweet Valentine's and made a burned CD entitled "It Sucks to be Single". There were really great songs on there like Love Stinks and Shot Through the Heart. We delivered these treasures to the guys that V-Day 2005. Check out our photo op in the greatness that is Vocelli Pizza Cranberry.

V-Day 2005 is where the magic first began. Since the first volume of "It Sucks to be Single", Shan and I have created a new mix each valentine's day. The next year it became "It Still Sucks to be Single" the CD title grows by one word each year and is getting pretty ridiculous at this point. V-Day 2010 will be our 6th edition and I can not wait.

Along the way I've added another Valentine's Day tradition: chocolate chip pancakes. Sophomore year of college while I was working at Walt Disney World I decided it would be fun if all my roommates and I went to IHOP for chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate the day. Part of the reason for IHOP being the selected destination was because it was walking distance from our apartment complex, Vista Way, and none of us had a car. The other part was because I love chocolate chip pancakes. This was a great way to start off Valentine's day and ended up being one of the few things all of the roomies did together during our program.

Junior year of college to celebrate good old Valentine's day my roomies at P-run and I hosted a Love/Love to Hate Valentine's day party. Our version of jungle juice was creatively named Love Potion #9. We put a Tunnel of Love sign on the bathroom. There were conversation hearts crafted out of paper and hung on the walls. Some were the normal Be Mine, QT, and Hottstuff, but others were broken hearts with phrases like Fugly Slut. The playlist alternated with love songs and break-up/anti-love songs. It was a great way to make everyone happy no matter how they felt about Vday.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I said that my love for Valentine's Day started in 2005, but I forgot a major Valentine's Day moment. That major moment would be Valentine's Day 1996, third grade, Mrs. Lintelmen's class. My two BFFs at the time, Jacquelyn and Rachel, and I had crushes on these boys in our class. Their names aren't important, but for kicks let's just call them Brian, Justin, and Jake matching up in order with Jacquelyn, Rachel and I. We spent hours crafting them these paper heart pouches filled with candy and glitter. Obviously they were decorated with hearts, kisses and all the other girlie V-Day faves. In school the day of our Valentine's party everyone had their home made boxes ready to be filled with the standard cards from everyone in the class. Jacquelyn, Rachel, and I had drawn hearts with our crushes names on the inside of the lids. A picture of us holding these with the entire class looking/laughing/shocked at them might have made it into the yearbook that year, no big deal. In addition to this public profession of our love for these boys we also teamed up with Mrs. L to sneakily give the guys their V-Day surprises. At the end of the party Mrs. L had all the boys leave our classroom so that the three of us could slip the Valentines into their back packs. Smooth right? Well Brian found his before he got home, Jacquelyn was mortified, and I still love everything about that V-Day in 1996.

There you have it, the story of how Valentine's Day just might be my favorite holiday. Happy Valentine's Day!

top 13 best "belt it out in the car" songs...

Singing in the car is one of my favorite pastimes. One of my favorites that it has even made it onto my facebook interests, and you know if it's on facebook then it must be true. Anyway, I've compiled a list of my top 13 best "belt it out in the car" songs. The location really doesn't have anything to do with why they're the best to belt out. I just do most of my singing there because my singing isn't suitable for most public settings and Sinclair doesn't judge me. There also isn't a reason for choosing 13 except for these are my favorite and I don't think there is a need to make it a top 10 list if I have 13 favorites.

#13 Miley Cyrus- "The Climb": No matter what is going on that day, when I hear The Climb, I just want to take on the world and do something great. Even if that something great is just smiling on the way to class because this song was just on the radio.

#12 Kelly Clarkson- "Since You Been Gone": When Kelly breaks out to the chorus for the first time I can't help getting into this song. It's a girl power, I'm over you anthem that really thrives in the singing in the car atmosphere.

#11 Mr. Big- "To Be With You": This is just a great 80s jam and a personal fav. If you can blast this song and not feel the urge to sing along more power to you.

#10 Avril Lavigne- "Sk8er Boi": I don't know who hasn't wanted to be with a sk8er boi at one time or another. I feel the rush of teenage angst every time I sing along with this one. I mean Avril is so hardcore, no wonder she ends up with the sk8er boi backstage after the show.

#9 Lady Gaga- "Bad Romance": I only have a few words on this one... ga ga ohh la la.

#8 Whitney Houston- "I Wanna Dance with Somebody": This song not only makes me want to sing a long but I really wanna dance with somebody too. In most situations I've been and this song comes on the dance floor is packed with groups of girls singing at the top of their lungs. I really wouldn't want it any other way, I don't think Whitney would either.

#7 Gloria Gaynor- "I Will Survive": I know from a recent Sing Star experience that this song is perfect for any Karaoke scenario that could come up in your life.

#6 Spice Girls- "Wannabe": This might just be the ultimate girly song to sing. I think it just brings back all those sleepover party memories and makes you want to bust out a hair brush and sing into it while you picture yourself as Scary Spice.

#5 Alicia Keys- "If I Ain't Got You": Some people want it all, and some people just want to pretend like they can sing 1/16th as good as Alicia Keys. I might also enjoy serenading people I just meet with this song with my friends. Alicia Keys makes all of these things possible.

#4 Taylor Swift- "Love Story": This song just really made me love Taylor Swift. I can't even count the number of times I have driven past my destination just so I could continue to sing along with the radio when this song is on. I still get giddy each and every time T.Swift gets tired of waiting and then Romeo shows up on the outskirts of town.

#3 Celine Dion- "It's All Coming Back to Me Now": This is Celine at her finest. The beauty of this song: the wind, the orchestra, the slamming of the door. I can hardly handle it. (also if there's only one video you watch I recommend this one.)

#2 Elton John- "Tiny Dancer": The anticipation for the chorus of this one is what makes it so great to sing to. You're just waiting and waiting and waiting. Then BAM! it's here! This scene from Almost Famous captures the reason why this song is such a fantastic song to belt out in the car.

#1 Mariah Carey- "You'll Always Be My Baby": Good old Mariah is holding down the top spot in my heart. This song just reminds me of windows down and summer time. I really don't have the words to express my love for it or why it's such a great song to belt out. You should probably just believe me when I say that it is by far the greatest song to sing in the car.

Let me know if you have a favorite song to sing in the car/shower/walking to class/before you go to bed/wherever. Maybe I'll give it a try next time I go on a roadtrip.

punky bruiser... coming soon.

So, basically, if you've hung out with me in the last two weeks you probably know what I'm going to share right now. For those of you who haven't get excited for this update.

As a super senior going into my last semester I have a lot to figure out for my life after JMU. Most people think about jobs and other things of that responsible nature. One of the only things that I have planned for post graduation is joining a roller derby team.

This may seem very random, and that's kind of cause it is. Is anything about me not random though? Within the last two weeks I've become kind of obsessed with the idea of roller derby. It all started while I was at home in the berry with Steve and Shan at Starbucks. As the three of us were chatting I blurted out "Do you guys think I'd be good at roller derby?" Where this question came from I have no idea, but the answers I got from the two of them were very encouraging. I then proceeded to text several people in my phone to get more feedback on my roller derby potential. Surprisingly most of the responses were positive, and by positive I mean things like "possibly, but don't do it" or "maybe."

After I got home from Starbucks I enlightened my family with my new life plans. The little bro had no faith in my roller derby skills and Pegs told me I would be like a China doll on skates. Even with these responses from the fam I'm still pretty excited for the possibility of roller derby in my future.

Conveniently once I was back at JMU Whip It was playing at Grafton. This only fueled my urge to become a roller derby girl. I did some research and things that roller derby girls enjoy which include live music and PBR. A lot of them have tattoos and crazy colored hair. All of these things which I also enjoy and have. One of the other things that go along with roller derby are really awesome nick names. Some from the movie were "Babe Ruthless", "Maggie Mayhem", and "Smashlee Simpson". After the movie while I was showering the perfect roller derby name came to me: Punky Bruiser. I basically am Punky Brewster. If you don't believe me check out this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HEXW96__6c&feature=related

My dad even called me the other day to tell me there are going to be roller derby girls at a car show in Pittsburgh this weekend. At least he is supportive of my post graduation plans. Part of me just wants to do it to prove people wrong, but most of me wants to do it cause it'd be really kickass and they wear sweet outfits. If you have any opinions on my roller derby potential let me know I'd love to hear them. Maybe someday in the near future I'll figure out some more stable plans for life after graduation, but for now I'm picking out my roller skates.

my first blog.

Hey heyyy! So it’s January 3, 2010 and this is my first blog of the new year… and ever! It’s one of my New Years Resolutions, but I’ll get to that a little later. First, I’d like to take a little time to talk about 2009.

I’ve had some pretty ridiculous times in the past year. I co-hosted a Miss America party. I later met Miss America 2008 and she has the same favorite Disney princess as me, Jasmine. She also liked my boots and we high fived. No big deal. The Pittsburgh Steelers won their 6th Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh Penguins won their 3rd Stanley Cup. I went tubing down the Shenandoah River. I traveled to NYC for CMJ with WXJM.
My apartment had to be fumigated for bed bugs causing me to pack up all my belongings and put them into storage for the 4 hour treatment.

I experienced a lot of firsts in 2009. I went to Washington DC for the first time. I was in my first wedding. I celebrated St. Patty’s day in Pittsburgh for the first time and drank green beer for my first time all in one day. I went on my first alternative break to Winterpark, Florida. I cried at an animated movie for the first time, Up in 3D. I cried at an animated movie for the second time as well, The Princess and the Frog, thanks a lot Disney. I stuck gum under a table for the first time. I ate at WaWa for the first time and I had my first birthday party at JMU. There are probably other firsts too that I just can’t remember. 2009 was a pretty big year.

All these experiences and things I’ve done over the past year would mean nothing without all the incredible people that are in my life. I feel like I’ve become so much closer to a lot of the people I already knew over the last year. In addition to the people I already knew I also met an amazing group of people that have a huge piece of my heart. 2k9 became tooka9 and my life changed. I am so honored to have been able to meet such inspiring people. A year ago I had no idea what was in store for me. I knew I was chosen to be an Orientation Peer Advisor and thought I knew what that meant, but I really had no idea. I’d just like to thank you all for everything you’ve done for my year and can’t wait to see what we get ourselves into for twentyten. I am thankful for finding some of my life long best friends in this year.

Ok, so enough with my mushiness, moving on to the reason for this blog. Like I mentioned at the beginning it’s one of my New Years Resolutions to start a blog so here it is! I don’t really have a reason for why this was one of my resolutions it just is and I guess we’ll see how successful I am at this one.

Some of my other resolutions include, but are not limited to:

• Run a 5-k before I graduate. This may not seem like a big task for most people, but I hate running a lot. The first time I even ran a mile was sophomore year of college. I always walked at least some of it in high school. This is another one of those resolutions that I don’t really know why I want to do it I just do.
• Eat breakfast. This is basically to prevent me from being crazy. I don’t have big gaps in my schedule for lunch this semester, so if I don’t eat breakfast I’m probably going to be really moody and no one will want to be my friend.
• Keep my room clean(er) than last semester. I don’t really know what qualifies as “clean” but to me I know what “cleaner” is. I’m going to be a grown up soon and I think keeping my room clean is going to help me be a better grown up.
• See ya later snooze button. I’ve gotten into a really bad habit of hitting the snooze button basically a million times. It just needs to stop.

That’s it for my first blog. I don’t expect the others will be this long but I had a lot to say about the end of one year and the start of a next! I also have no idea what I’m going to blog about in the future so stick around to see what random thoughts I come up with!

Tootles!