It's account executive to you, foo.

My promotion was announced. I wanted to tell you all sooner, but I couldn't. Top secret information. But now that it's out in the open I can squeal with deeeelliggghhhtt *EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

I'd like to say this means more responsibility, and maybe it will. I fortunately/unfortunately was given a lot to begin with, so I guess my title is just catching up with me in a way. Anyway, it's still neat-o.

You can send my congratulatory presents (I really like Jimmy Choo shoes, Miu Miu will work fine, too) to:


Jessica THE Account Executive
123 The House of Awesome
Seattle, WA


I look forward to your gifts. I'll also take Harry Winston diamonds, if you're offering. I prefer them in the 6 karat persuasion or higher.

Alright. Time to go to bed. I have to take my cousin (he's leaving, it's been a freaking month already) to the airport at 4 a.m. and then I have a conference call for work at 6:30 a.m. Niggggggggggght.

I burnt my tongue on coffee...

Many of you know Seattle for it's magnitude of coffee and being headquarters to the largest coffee chain in the world - Starbucks. While I'm not a Starbucks advocate, before I moved here I was what we'd call "anti" Starbucks. And while I'd like to say that I still am, living in such a close proximity to something you're against kinda breaks you down. There are literally Starbucks every three blocks, how can you avoid it? Plus their chai is del-ish.

So in Birmingham there is a small independent coffee shop called Lucy's. While I admit to never visiting Lucy's, it appears to have it's charm for locals and regulars, what you'd expect from a mom and pop coffee shop. When Starbucks moved into Birmingham in 2001, they set up their first shop on the corner of 11th and 20th, the heart of 5 points. Later, they set up a shop on 4th and 20th in the hospital district. Lucy's resides on University(or 8th if you'd prefer) and 20th, in the middle of it all. About a two years ago a Starbucks moved in next to Lucy's causing concern amongst its patrons. I, being a fair weather follower of the "crunchy granola" lifestyle, was angry that this corporation could destroy such a quaint business without a concern.

It wasn't until I moved to Seattle that I had my first cup of Starbucks after that. Hovering over my warm cup of chai on a rainy, cold Seattle February, I walked down University Way looking at the store fronts and getting acquainted with what this city had to offer. It was at that moment, sipping my grande non-fat chai, clinging to its warm, I knew I made the right choice. Not by breaking down my moral convictions to drink Starbucks, but for moving to the place where it all began. Moving to Seattle. At that moment, I knew I made the right choice.

The great northwest outdoors..

I'd be lying to you if I told you I was ever enthusiastic about spending a weekend without showering, roughing it in the great outdoors. Living in the northwest for the past year and a half has given me a slight change of heart. I enjoy the river, the rolling hills, untamed peaks and the evergreen this state has to offer. The air really is cleaner here.

This weekend I had the pleasure of spending my time camping with some of my friends in Eastern Washington near Ellensburg. My friend, CP, is moving away to Chicago for law school and we went to celebrate his departure. CP was my first friend when I moved here and he introduced me to all of my friends here. He truly made my life here a pleasure.

CP is a rare breed. He's always upbeat, always in a good mood. He does ridiculous things and wants everything to be alright. He brings out the best in everyone. He's a good heart and a great friend.

I have had some of the best times with CP. Last year we had a weekend celebration on a island in Portland called "Skull Island", we have had several trips to Spokane and good times in Seattle. CP helped me to want to be nicest to people, to be kinder, to see the good. All of my laughter here, all of the good is either a direct or indirect result of him, and I can't thank him enough for all that he's given me. He will truly be missed.

So, when he asked our group of friends to spend a few days without showers in the outdoors, I obviously couldn't say no. C and I gathered up our tent and sleeping bags, packed food and headed off over Snoqualmie Pass into the rolling hills of Eastern Washington. We spent Friday night hanging out by the fire and talking, reminiscing of the days of yesteryear. Saturday we floated the river for awhile and chatted again, played some boggle, walked around. Sunday floated again, chatted some more and said our goodbyes.

Without CP I wouldn't have made the move to Seattle. Without CP, I wouldn't have had one of the best years of my life. Without CP I would have never fallen in love with the great northwest outdoors.

Thanks CP for all that you've done in my life. You will kick ass in school and be around to defend me when I start living life on the edge in three years.

I want to be on Rachael Ray...soo much.

I filled out something to be on the Rachael Ray show. The producer called me and requested more pictures. They said they'd call again if they want me.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Tired of this thing called life

It's amazing how you can just get exhausted with life, isn't it? I don't know how I got to be so tired with it, but I am.

I don't feel depressed, I don't feel hopeless, I don't have any of those kinds of feelings. I'm just tired. Tired, tired, tired.

A weekend full of random things to do doesn't seem like it's the cure to make it any better, either. But, I have a packed weekend. Bite of Seattle tonight, Mariners' game tomorrow, C's dad's on Sunday.

I'll talk later, I'm too tired to write.

My Mom Rocks Socks

I own a pair of socks that say in bold pink lettering "My Mom Rocks." When I get home I'm going to put them on. Because, afterall, that is in fact the truth.

A cat named Susan...

I love the way my cat shows her sweet crazy affection, how she cuddles close to you but it's always very much on her terms. Susan is named after my best friend, and it always astounds me how much they're alike. Even though they've never met, and are approximately 1,505 miles apart, the two Susans comfort me with their standoffish affection that I've always found endearing.

Having cat Susan has been a tremendous comfort and I see so much of my best friend in her.

How I lucked out with such good friends, I'll never know, but I most certainly did.

My best friend "Susan" lives in Phoenix, but I grew up across the street from her. She was two years older than me, and I absolutely adored her. She was many things that I wasn't -- creative, hardworking and smart.

While we were growing up, she was always coming up with new money making schemes -- we made bookmarks once, beaded flag pins, lemonade stands, kool-aid stands -- she was a entrepreneur from the start.

I have 1,000s of favorite memories of her, but one of my favorites is every summer in our backyards looking for hours for four leaf clovers. "Susan" is/was a competitor and the second I found a four leaf clover, she found a five, I'd find a six, she'd find a seven, I'd find an eight, she'd find a 10. We pressed all of our four leaf clovers into the encyclopedias in her parents room, there must be hundreds of them still there to this day.

When she moved away to New Orleans for college, I was devastated. I felt like my limbs were ripped off my body and for the next year I felt completely lost. She stayed with me the summer I moved to Boston, and I felt renewed for a time, then she moved back to school and we were further apart then ever. I went to school in Alabama, and she finished up and moved away to Phoenix. She got married over a year a half ago.

When I graduated from college a month after her wedding, she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to come due to the expense of her wedding, and she cried to me over the phone one night, "I'd come if I could, you know I would."

"Of course I know that, don't worry, it's not a big deal," I told her.

She dropped it and a couple days later she called again crying. "I can't believe I won't be there for you, I should be, I would if I could."

On my graduation day, during the procession, my phone rang and it was my mom. She told me to turn around and wave so that she could find me in the sea of black caps and gowns. When I turned around I squinted to the other side of the arena, and found the blob of my family in the crowd and then honed in on a familiar face next to my mom. It was my best friend, who flew cross country just to see me walk across a stage.

It breaks my heart to say I haven't seen her since December 18, 2006. We speak frequently and the phone calls make up some of the distance. Even when we go awhile without talking we pick up the phone again like we left off no time at all.

About a year ago she got a dog and named it after me. She said it was sweet and wanted to please everyone, so she couldn't think of a better name than "Rose."

Shortly after, I started feeling a void in my life, needing comfort that only my best friend can give, C and I went to the Seattle Animal Shelter and found Susan. Her crazy glares, her stand offish behavior, her comfort on her terms, every interaction comforts me to know that I found some of my best friend in a cat named Susan.

Word a day

So I am working with my cousin to do a word a day while he's here. It's amazing to me that 1. He doesn't know how to spell words like "jealous" or "choice" and 2. That he doesn't know what the word "optimistic" means. I mean seriously, what kind of education are kids getting these days?

I had a voluminous vocabulary by the time I was in third grade for cripes' sake.

Word for today:

misoneism
PRONUNCIATION:
(mis-uh-NEE-izm)

MEANING:
noun: A hatred or fear of change or innovation.


Thank you word-a-day web site. You are my hero.

Time keeps passing by..

Sorry my entries seem to be getting less frequent, even though I think about writing often. I've come up with funny little posts that I imagine writing about. Here are some of the things I meant to write this week, but didn't:

* Bergdorf Goodman, give me all your shoes
* Daily Candy how I love thee
* Happy Independence Day, don't blow yourself up
* Seattle is only sunny when I'm inside...at work
* I don't know how anyone manages one teenager, let alone multiple
* I fainted
* TacoBell, I love thee and you used to make me run to the boarder of Ballard, now I don't have to run I can just hobble with my gooey cheesy gordita legs down to the boarder of my street (they're moving in one block away from work and one block away from home...I'm going to try not to get fat by walking on the other side of the street)

Well, that's about the excitement in my life. My cousin has been staying with us for exactly one week and he is probably one of the sweetest teenagers, ever, but Jesus are they sarcastic. I thought I was sarcastic, but man, you teenagers have this *ish* figured OUT. On top of that they *NEED* things. Need to be fed, need their clothes washed, need showers, need sleep, need attention. Who knew. I certainly didn't. Such a good kid, I'm lucky he's so good.

There are more things to come on the horizon, soon, I just am not at liberty to discuss at present. Good things.

In other good news that I can discuss, my best friend D, is getting married. I'm going back to Bama for her engagement party and to hang out with the fam Aug 14 - 24. Make your reservations for my time now. Time slots are filling up quickly.

Alright. Well, I'm off to my friend C's to have mojitos and chili.

Italian Family Reunion

So C and I make the trek across the country for my family reunion which was exactly what I needed to unwind from the work grind. We took an overnight flight last Wednesday, arriving into Boston's Logan International Airport at 7:30 am.

My cousin, N, picked us up from the airport. Due my demanding nature and extreme withdrawels of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, we headed straight for Dunks to pick up a medium iced hazelnut coffee. A-mazing. I drank the entire thing in basically three minutes flat and started to sip on N's Iced Mocha Latte. Now, I'm loyal to my hazelnut coffee, but that mocha latte was WW's worst nightmare. That 16 oz beverage claims 270 calories and 5 grams of fat - 1 gram of fiber. 6 points for pure delight. Way to go DD. America runs on you.

We headed back to my grandparents house and immediately dug into breakfast and I didn't remove the fork from my hand until I left on Sunday evening. While I was there I induldged in the following items:
* French Toast
* Italian Wedding Cookies
* DD coffee
* Thumb print cookies
* Eggplant parmesan
* Manicotti
* DD coffee
* Sandwiches of all flavors and persuasions
* Fish cakes
* DD coffee
* Funnel Cake
* Shrimp casserole
* Fritatta
* DD coffee
* Fried eggplant with tuna fish inside (do NOT ask)
* Cheese, cheese and cheese
* Caesar salad
* Slush
* Caramel apples
* Peach Salsa

Amazingly enough I stepped on the scale and lost 1/2 a lb while I was there. I think my body is in a temporary coma and it will hit the scale full force tomorrow at weigh in.

I honestly had a really great time. My family is truly extraordinary. I got to spend a good deal of time with my cousin, N. We dressed alike the whole time and I have to admit, I really liked it. It was kinda cheesy, fun, cute. She's moving to Florida at the end of this week to live with a boyfriend in Sarasota. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried, but I think it will be good for her to get outside of Gloucester for awhile.

I saw my dad and my brothers. How in Christ's sake did I end up with such good brothers? I don't even begin to know, but thank goodness I did. It's amazing to have two siblings (J and My Master *S*)that love me as much as they do. I didn't get to talk to J as much as I would have liked since his friends were in town, but he and C went on a bike ride and got to spend some time together so that's good. S and I talked some, he really is a great bro, even though you left a f'ing bruise on my arm.

My aunts and uncles are great as well. All of them are exceptionally unique and are extraordinarily giving in each of their own ways. I've always hated that I don't talk to them as much as I'd like, and I am really going to try to make a conscious effort to get better about it. I want to be a part of their lives and my cousin's lives...I want them to be a part of mine. I've missed out on a lot of that.

And my grandparents. Truly amazing people. My grandmother stressed for days about what to feed me and then waited until two hours before I left to let me know that I had veggie burgers in the freezer. Hahaha, that woman CRACKS me up.

While I was there I also got to see my best friend who is now living in Providence. It was just so nice to be near her. She will always be the closest thing to a sister and admittedly I feel like a huge part of me is missing without her around.

Anyway, good trip.

Now, my 15 year old cousin, M from the other side of the family is staying with me for the month of July. It's going to be a busy, busy summer.


Enjoy the pics...


Me and N


Me and C


Me, My bro (My Master S), N


My bro S, J, and Me


Me and Dad



Me, Dad and J


N, my amazing Nonna and Me -- Can you believe that N wouldn't let us dress alike to go out to a dance club with her friends? I mean, seriously. I could have gotten us two of those sparkley shirts and we would have been all set.


N, my cousin B and Me


N and Me

Okay, good day and good night. I'm off to hang out with the boys at a skateboarding shop. Wooo.