Adios Oh Eight, Hello Oh Nine

Last year around this time I posted my resolutions for this year:

MAKE a scarf.
TRAVEL to England.
MOVE out of my parents house (maybe - I actually enjoy living there)
GET a pet hamster
GET published in another magazine
EAT healthier (this is with the exception of literally the past two weeks!)
DO more spontaneous random acts of kindness
VOLUNTEER for an organization I'm interested in.
CREATE a book from my European pictures
READ at least one book a month.

As you can see, I didn't do too well with keeping those resolutions. So this year I'm not making a resolution list. As you can see from above, I like crossing things off. In fact, I may put my 2009 To Do list on the side of this blog so I can cross them off as I accomplish them.

Without further ado, here's my 2009 To Do list

Visit England again (the plan is to go in September)
Make a Scarf (this one will continue to appear till I actually make one!)
Get published in another magazine
Start my own Web site
Lose 25 pounds (ideally I'd like to accomplish this by June 13.)
Meet someone from MIG
Run (and walk) a full marathon
Work out at least three days every week, but won't freak out if I miss a day
Dye my hair
Read at least 10 books
Bake more

Tonight should be exciting to say the least. In about two hours I'll be joining Kenny, Amanda, Chris, my grandma and my parents at The Cooperage for dinner, then two hours later Kenny and I will join his parents for dinner. No, that's not a miss-print; we're having two really yummy dinners tonight. Ah, the things we do to make each other happy.

After dinner we're scooting over to the west side for the annual New Year's Eve party. Kenny and I met at this party three years ago and got together at the party two years ago, so we're also celebrating our two-year anniversary today/tomorrow! With that said, I need to go get ready. I hope you all have a wonderful NYE and will continue to follow me and my typing into next year.

Have a save and very happy new years!

Merry Christmas 2008

To all my friends and family:

Here's hoping I get to do this sometime this winter:




Cute!!!:



Please?



And Happy Hanukkah!


Seriously. Need. A. Drink.



Merry Christmas :)

Lonely Eyes

It seems like just yesterday that I sent my laptop away to get fixed, but here I am waiting for it to come back again. This past weekend my screen was going black on me and wouldn't let me do anything, so I sent it off yesterday to get fixed.

I hope it comes back soon, because I miss it already. My evenings are lonely without it, which I guess goes to show you just how much of a homebody I really am.

Yesterday, besides sending my computer away, I went to the eye doctor to get new contacts. They feel SO much better than the old ones I had, but I think the prescription for the left eye is just a touch off, because it's not focusing as it should be. And after staring at a computer screen since before 9 this morning, my eyes are starting to get really tired and very dry. It's all I can do to keep them open for the next few minutes.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Not only am I going to Las Vegas (woohoo!), but friends I haven't seen for a very long time are coming into town, as is my boyfriend! So excited for next week :)

Sellin' on eBay!

Well, it's official: I'm an eBay seller!

Yup, my first auction ended tonight and the bag sold for...are you ready for this?...$81!!! Oh yeah, baby! Not only that but I was able to print out the shipping label from my home and the postal carrier is picking the package up tomorrow. Very, very cool.

Now that I'm on a selling "high" all I want to do is find more things to sell. I have three more things up for bid right now, but so far they don't have any bites. That's not stopping me from putting more up there, though. I have some books, VHS tapes (I'm sure there's someone out there looking for Notting Hill on VHS!) and some prom dresses I want to get out of the house.

I would LOVE to work on that tonight, but my computer kinda sorta crashed earlier tonight. I called Apple and it's something to do with the power cord...again. So right now it's running on it's little battery, and unfortunately for me (and my laptop) my battery sucks out energy very, very fast.

I guess this is the perfect time to turn the computer off and go scrounge up more things to sell!

*Shameless plug: See the eBay logo to the right of this post? Yeah, you should click it; it takes you to the things I'm selling. Who knows, maybe my junk will be your treasure!

StumbleUpon

I saw this while "stumbling" and all I can say is WOW:

Photos That Changed The World.

My eBay

I'm an official eBay seller as of yesterday evening! I finally got fed up with some of the stuff I had hanging around that I didn't exactly want to take to Goodwill, but they wouldn't take at Buffalo Exchange. Actually, since there haven't been any bids as of yet, I guess I'm a wannabe eBay seller.

As of right now I have three items up for bid on eBay. I took the photos, I used attractive-looking templates, and now I wait. And wait. And wait...

Up for grab I have:
*Harveys Black Original Seatbelt Bag Purse Satchel Tote

*Red "Emilie M" Leather-Like Purse Handbag

*"Last Kiss" Black White Red Blue Coat Jacket XL
*Note: the links above will not work once the items have sold, but I do have a Jesstagirl02 Store

I also have several prom/fancy dresses, shoes, and books I'd like to sell. It's kind of a fun venture and I'm excited to see if anything comes of it! (click the link; it's the items above plus whatever else I add) and I'm going to try to get the code for the scrolling gallery to put on this blog.

But I am le tired

I am very tired today because of the Best of the City Party the magazine hosted last night, so in honor of feeling completely useless today I'd like to post two videos that made my day. The first is an oldie, but goodie; the second one just made me laugh so hard that I started crying. I mentioned to a coworker that I wanted a bagel for lunch and she directed me to watch the second video shown here. Good times.

End of Ze World:

Foamy - Five More Minutes:

Now it's time for work.

An Eskimo Proverb:

"May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart!"

Happy first day of December.

My New Ride

My lovely silver Pontiac Grand Am has slowly been kicking the bucket for awhile. So much so, in fact, that when I went to see how much I could get for it they came back with just five words: "Seven hundred and fifty dollars." Wow. I had two broken windows (electrical problems) that needed to be fixed and that alone would cost me at least $700, not to mention the fact that it was due for some tuneups, an oil change, and just a lot of TLC.

My car was a '99 and had close to 115,000 miles on it and boy did it live a very fulfilled and happy life on the road. But it was time to move on to something a little more safe, stable, gas efficient, and something I could enjoy driving for at least another ten years. So when my parents decided to head to the Toyota dealership in town (they, too, were looking for a car) I decided to tag along.

My dad ended up trading in his '95 caravan:
For an '05 Toyota Highlander that looks a little something like this (*note* this is not the actual car, I just found a picture of a similar one online):
That mini van took us on a countless number of trips around the country and it will be missed.

So, while my parents were buying their new ride, I was out in the lot looking at this beauty:
It's a 2008 Scion tC and I can't wait to drive it again. I'm sure I already mentioned this, but had I built this car from the ground up, not only would it have cost me at least $3,000 more, but I would have tweaked it to look just like this one. It's a used car - it has about 20,000 miles on it - but it's exactly what I wanted...minus the two-door factor. I love the color, tinted windows, alloy wheels (won't have to worry about those babies falling off while driving!), two working windows, TWO (!) sun roofs, an awesome radio, cruise control, and on and on and on.

Here, take a peak into the newest addition of my family:

Ok, now I know this is REALLY geeky (again, we can blame Kenny for this), but on Battlestar Galactica (only the coolest sci-fi show ever) the "bad guys" are called "Cylons." Now everytime I mention to someone what kind of car I drive - a Scion - I have to concentrate and make every effort to not say that I drive a Cylon. What's even funnier is that Scion also makes a car that people call "toasters" because of their boxy frame. On Battlestar, a cylon's nickname is a toaster. Get it?! Ah, I think it's hilarious.

A "toaster"

So even though I had to say adios to my loyal Grand Am, I'm pretty excited to start a new chapter in my life with this new (used) car.

Happy Belated Turkey Day

Last night I promised I'd post about Thanksgiving and my week in Georgia, so while my geeky boyfriend watches Star Trek, I'll get my type on.

I'm seriously shocked by how fast the time has flown by. I know it's cliche and all, but seriously; I can't believe that it's already 12:01 (est) on Saturday. I technically leave tomorrow and that makes me ridiculously sad.

Kenny and I spent the beginning of my time here shopping around and finding home decor to fill his house and make it a home. I think it's safe to say that he now has a workable and enjoyable kitchen. On another day we took a trip to Lowe's and picked out two shades of paint, one for the guest bedroom and the other for the guest bathroom. The next day we opened the cans and started covering the white walls with colorful paint.

Thanksgiving went off even better than expected. We woke up early on Thursday to start brining our turkey with a recipe Kenny found while watching the Food Network. The Good Eats Roast Turkey had to brine for 6 hours and then cook for another three(ish). While the bird was soaking up flavor, we cleaned the house and got to work on the other dishes we were providing: Kenny's homemade rolls (so. freaking. delicious! but I forgot to take a picture - just trust me about how good they are), my grandma's yummy green bean casserole (this is before it went in the oven, so just imagine the french onions all brown and crispy!):salad (manderan oranges, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions): mashed potatoes, gravy (from a recipe out of a magazine), and Sandra Lee's Sweet Biscuit Wreath that I made...all...on my own (with Kenny rooting me on from the sidelines):
We invited the Harr's over for dinner (they brought an addicting pumpkin butter, stuffing, sweet potatoes, chocolate meringue pie - yummy, a sister, a father-in-law, and two ridiculously cute kids) and they arrived just as we were taking the last parts of the meal out of the oven. Truth be told, the turkey took about an hour to cook longer than we expected, but by the time that bird came out of the oven we knew it was worth it.

Not only was this one of the juiciest turkeys I've ever seen, but instead of the flavor overpowering the meat it added to the richness of the turkey. Unfortunately, I made some gravy that I didn't think was that great and I poured it all over my meat. But on the bright side, there is plenty of meat leftover.




The whole meal was fantastic; I loved the company, the food, and even the cooking process and cleaning up after.

As surreal as it sounds, Kenny and I haven't fought or even argued this entire trip. Going back home is going to be hard. He'll be coming home for Christmas, but it's not the same. I'm planning on visiting again in February and I already can't wait. Tomorrow he and I are going to Callaway Gardens' Fantasy of Lights for our 2nd annual Thanksgiving weekend tradition (ha - we can now say it's an annual tradition!) and I can't wait.

Next up I'll have to post pictures of my new car...but that will come on a different day. Oh, and I hope you all like the new look of this blog. It's not a huge difference, but it's enough for me to notice and enjoy.

Big Bird

I had great plans to write a fantastic recap of the Thanksgiving Day festivities....but all I can think about right now is how much my head wants to be on a pillow.

In a nut shell (ugh...even thinking about nuts makes me feel fuller): This was one great day!

More to come sometime tomorrow when I can fit into my jeans again...

Big Girl Moment

Well, on Tuesday afternoon I pulled up my big girl panties (that one was for you, Jenna!) and became a new (slightly used) car owner. Yup. I bought the Scion tC and I'm loving every time I put the peddle to the metal.

Actually, I'm trying hard not to hit the gas so I can save on fuel, but other than that I'm enjoying my new purchase.

Before I bought the car Kenny asked me one very serious and important question: does this one have working windows? Oh yes it sure does! Not only that, but it doesn't have hubcaps, it came with alloy wheels, which means I don't need to worry about my hubcaps falling off ever again! (This was an ongoing problem; in fact, when I traded in my car there were five hubcaps all together and three of them were different...hmmm!).

Oh! And my car has not one, but TWO sun roofs! Even though I'm still a tad bit bummed it's a two door vehicle with a smaller trunk, Kenny assures me that I'll get used to it soon.

I love it! (pictures to come soon.)

A Disappointing Dunkin’ Date

Since I’ve decided to take the plunge and buy a new (slightly used) car, I’m going to have to put a halt on my spending habits. I’ll start brewing my own coffee at home, bringing my own lunch to work, and staying away from anything that says, “drive thru.” I consider myself pretty money savvy, and have been pretty excited that the spiraling downward economy hasn’t pinched my wallet…until now. Sure I’m going to get 30 miles per gallon compared to the 19 I’m getting with my car now, but does that really matter at the moment since I have to fully insure my car and pay a car payment each month? At least gas has dipped below two bucks here!

I think I’ll be okay, because in the long run this is way worth it. Who knows, my insurance may not even be too much. My Grand Am was considered a four-door sport’s car and the Sicion has all the stars you can get when it comes to safety, it’s not considered a sport’s car, and it’s a coup.

With all that being said, I woke up this morning and could tell it was going to be a coffee day. Unfortunately, Dunkin’ Donuts was out of my regular French Vanilla brew (GAH!) so I had to go with their Cinnamon flavor (bleh). So much for enjoying the last cupa joe that I’m gonna buy! Oh! And to top it off, kitchen at work is being remodeled, so I can’t make it to the microwave to heat up the lunch that I brought, which means I’m gonna have to go to one of those fast food places I mentioned above. Sheesh. I guess I’ll start cutting the spending starting tomorrow.

New Hot Wheels?!

My parents bought a car yesterday. Actually, they bought a Toyota Highlander. They love it and I like it a lot. They basically ran their '95 mini-van to the ground and getting a new car was WAY overdue.

Which brings me to my (almost) new car! I currently own a '99 Pontiac Grand Am that I LOVE, but it's slowly falling apart. Example: two of my windows do not work. Not only do they not work, but they fall down when I drive. ACK. Kelly Blue Book has it listed for practically NOTHING and every time I have to fix something on it (like a week or two ago when I had to get my horn wroking again I spent $100) I cringe.

I've been considering getting a new car for several months and was leaning towards a Honda Civic, but yesterday when I was at the dealership the salesgal (who happens to be a family friend and who is giving me her family discount - heck yeah!) showed me a Scion TC....and I fell in love.

I was/am still a teeny bit hesitent because it's a two door and I always swore I would never own a two door (heh, I also swore I'd never do a LDR or date someone in the military!), but the back seat is incredibly roomy, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I don't have people in my backseat as often as I did in high school or college; in fact, I can't remember the last time I had a friend in the back seat.

So, I'm taking my car in tomorrow to see how much I can get for it and talk finances. This is a huge step for me; it'll be my first real car. I feel like I'm really growing up.

Ok, so this is what I'm looking at: It's a 2008 Scion TC (link is to the actual car I'm looking at - please don't go and buy it from underneath me!). If I were to build this car from the bottom up I would pick every single thing feature that it has. I love the color, I love the fabric, I LOVE the sunroofs, the way it looks, everything!

Junk Food Meltdown

Ugh, I feel ashamed for all that I’ve put in my body in the past day (sigh…and this morning. You see, yesterday I found out that I’ve lost five pounds all together since I really made losing weight a goal. Hoo-freaking-ray! And last night my mom and dad told me I looked thinner, and I didn’t even tell them about my milestone earlier that morning.

Heh, here’s where the guilt rides in: I met Laura at Starbucks for an afternoon pick-me-up and I practically chugged a tall caramel apple cider (mind you, I did get it with sugar free caramel!), then after lunch – a slice of delicious pizza – I had a mini cupcake. I know what you’re thinking, “it was just a mini! Give yourself a break!” Well, I still felt bad. Then for dinner I had three slices of Little Caesar’s Pizza and a salad. Whew.

…and then there’s today…

For breakfast I had another two slices of pizza (my plan is to eat it all so it won’t be in the house anymore tempting me!! Good plan, eh?!). Then I desperately needed coffee, so I stopped at my Dunkin’ Donuts and got my regular cup ‘o Joe. But as I was standing there I saw the donuts calling my name, and I NEVER get donuts, I don’t even really like them, except for today. So I got a donut with sprinkles and chocolate, and now the donut’s sitting here in my desk in front of me saying, “Eat me! Eat me!” So you know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna eat it.

I realize all of this really isn’t too bad in the whole healthy-eating scheme of things, but I’ve really been trying to do well. I guess I’ll jump back on track after the yummy donut. Um…and after lunch because I’m going to Garduno’s with the folks.