things and stuff

drove back from ventura today, and it was gorgeous. there were clear skies and a cool breeze the whole way, and a six hour drive was not so bad when you’re the one reading the trivia questions, not the one driving! (nerd alert…) had lunch in san luis obispo, toured around a little and saw this amazing thing on a bank building, i think, of all places

saw this, too. it is strange. a memorial, perhaps? to a nice woman who deserved having a huge wooden painting of her face on the side of a hill with a huge wooden painting of some flowers, also?

drove through Gilroy, too, which is the Garlic Capital of the World. they have a store with many, many garlic products. and many kinds of breath mints. in all, it was a great trip. to go back in time, we went to a very old pier in ventura, which was amazing. so much ocean! i’m still not used to the fact that i live right near the ocean…

oh, and wait, here’s a different kind of picture of blake and i…it’s not me holding the camera out at arm’s length with just a different background…

yeah. pretty close, though. but we both clean up pretty well, eh? let’s see, back in time, back in time…oh, it was foggy and awesome thursday night! this is looking down mission street:

hmm. back in time more. we went to the beach near our house, too. brought jackson to a beach in pacifica–i’m not sure jackson had ever really walked in sand before! it was pretty awesome.

um, so here is the painting that i made for blake for christmas. i wanted to get him a rad concert poster, but he decided that he wants nautically themed artwork now, so i decided to make him something! i think it came out pretty well, if i do say so myself!

wow, so this post is image heavy and covers a pretty broad spanse of time…and i realized that i kind of skipped christmas! i need to post more often! for now, i am letting the pictures do the work. so, here’s christmas.

i suppose that is it for now. perhaps i will post more frequently for a bit… in the meantime, i gots to go to bed!

stay still…too long and you’ll get behind!

my partment (really, it’s only part of an apartment…)

so, here it is! my whole 150 square feet! it’s actually pretty cozy, and the yard is great. somehow i need to cram a dresser in here…guess i’ll figure that one out later. i was always fond of tetris…

apartment slideshow!

*the pictures are a little out of order…i’ll try to fix them later!

more soon—neighborhood stuff, my crazy Real Genius closet, the yard….i’m workin’ on it!

stay still…enjoy the space you’re in for a moment.

i got an apartment!!!

so, after weeks of crashing at blake’s and searching for an apartment that takes dogs (of which there are 3) i have finally found an aparment! it’s tiny—like, really tiny! but it has indoor plumbing! and all bills included, and storage and a washer/dryer and the lady who lives in the house above me (this is an “in-law” unit) seems really cool! and, the best part–it has a front yard!!! so jackson has room to roam (and poop) and hang out so he’s not confined to the 350 square foot (i really think it’s about that size!) room that i’m renting! also, it’s in a pretty cool part of town. kind of like the east side in austin—lots of taquerias, and lots of cool hole-in-the-wall bars.

so, ikea, here i come! they can show me how to live in the tiniest place imaginable! ryan and renee, i’m remembering the time you guys sat in one of the fake apartments in ikea and invited people to come in, take a seat, make themselves at home! and thank god i sold all my furniture, cuz that shit ain’t fitting in here, folks!

i’ll take pictures once i’m in and make the place pretty! i get to move in just after October 1st…then i have to work some magic on the place! ooh, project!

here’s a picture of the facade from the street—the one i got is behind the wooden fence. it’s great, there’s a whole garden/yard area with these gorgeous blooming trees and a little patio set (i think i’ll call the patio my living room!) and the house is set back from the street.

woo hoo!

stay still…things will settle themselves in time.

bah! apartments schmapartments!

jeez. they weren’t kidding when they said it wasn’t easy to find a place here…jackson’s going to have to get a paper route or something! and i’ll have to disguise him as my short hairy boyfriend. the search is still on, which means i am still living out of a suitcase at blake’s house. at least he’s being sweet about it! secretly bitching about me behind my back, i’m sure! nah, i make the bed.

anyway, still getting into the swing of things, haven’t really been able to get settled yet due to the lack of place–but soon! i’ll keep you guys up to date!

stay still…or they’ll raise your rent!

chased by storms

it was a good drive, and i made it the whole way! there was a scourge of grasshoppers on the side of the road for miles through new mexico, storms chasing me from el paso to arizona, and tiny ghost towns with no public restrooms through central california. now, i’m taking up blake’s space, my stuff is in storage, i am searching for an apartment, taking the bart and the trolley to work, and wearing sweaters! whoa…

stay still…unless you’re driving across the country–then, keep going!

going away

things i’ve learned this past weekend:

uhaul is inept. well, at least that one douche that worked the weekend. after making and confirming a reservation for a trailer hitch and install (both key, as trailer hitches for civics apparently aren’t that high in demand! interesting… so they have to special order it) i go in to get my four cylinder hoss all geared up to tow a trailer (still funny). well, apparently the one guy who installs hitches leaves at 1pm on saturday. news to me! he said any time on saturday. but that really didn’t matter anyhow, as the part isn’t there. now, this is one of those people who answers your questions with one word and doesn’t say or do anything else until prompted. the jerkwad wouldn’t even double check that the part actually wasn’t there. i cursed at him. a lot. and i am glad! as i suspected, i returned on monday and the gentleman (the manager, actually) who helped me the week prior was there, and–lo and behold–of course they have the part! it’s right here! ugh. anyway, got the hitch. got the trailer. got a discount. it ended up stressing me out infinitely more than i think i needed to be, but it all worked out, and i was delayed by a day.

have as many going away parties as you can. this is coming from the girl who had her third, annual, going away party this weekend! two years ago i went to jackson for four months, last year to jackson for a month and a half. so neither was a true going away party, but who’s counting. this year, though, there was the big party–which was amazing! but then i managed to get my friends to come over to my house for the rest of the time i was there! excellent! there were dance parties abound. as evidenced by the video at the end of this post…

red bull is insane. when you’re going to be sitting in the car for 11 hours, where the only muscles you’re really moving are your right calf muscle and your forearms,red bull does strange things to a person. i became invincible to weariness, and extremely excited about everything. i felt like i could drive to san francisco the long way (i.e. the opposite way around the globe). and i only had two. whoa.

the mosquitos in las cruces, nm. are mutants. seriously. they’re huge. mosquitos are attracted to me like fat kids to cake, so i usually get bitten a lot anyhow. but most of the time i don’t notice the bites until they itch like crazy. these mosquitos? not so. you feel them when they land on you. they make, like, a tiny thud they’re so big! then, they say “yo! gimme some blood!” and bite away. i went to the car to put my suitcase in, and looked down and had five on me. i swear one of them gave another one of them a high five. now i have malaria. great.

i miss my friends and family. every song i’ve listened to reminds me of one of my friends, or some era of austin life, or some halloween costume (seriously, abba is happy music–but now i get all misty eyed when i hear take a chance on me). i miss you guys already. a lot.

stay still…or miranda will make you dance naked!

more about “going away“, posted with vodpod

books piling up

i wouldn’t normally label myself a voracious reader, but i’m beginning to think i might have to consider it. i have been hoarding books that i want to read, and although i can’t keep up with the stack next to my bed, i’ve been on quite a kick. i keep starting works by prolific writers with many books to choose from, and have been weaving together a strange pattern of novels…chuck palahniuk mixed with haruki murakami, some jonathan safron foer and cormac mccarthy, spotted with tom robbins, alice sebold and kurt vonnegut. maybe that’s why i’m having such strange dreams lately.

that and coffee. i realize, undoubtedly, that i have a distinct dependence on the stuff. i don’t know how i feel about that.

stay still…despite the coffee.

jessica in words

so i took the words from my profiles on assorted programs and put them into wordle.net (a randomizer that sizes the words according to their frequency) and this is what i got! me in a nutshell?