Archive for September 2009

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

13 September 2009

Weekend recap: food, crafts and friends

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Chicago, family, Food, Friends

Happy Sunday everyone! Wooo! A gorgeous even summer-like weekend in Chicago. Loving it. And I have a lot to share tonight so let’s get started!

Xoco and Rick Bayless

I love going out to eat in Chicago and and sometimes I can peer pressure friends into going out to eat with me.

That’s pretty much the magic I worked on Friday with TC, who I nearly dragged from work to go with me to Rick Bayless’ new casual restaurant Xoco in Chicago. Seriously, Rick Bayless is HOT right now in the city (you know from that whole Top Chef Masters thing). And this new restaurant = awesome.

TC and I solved world problems while waiting in line (yes it was long but not too bad) and yes we did eat like there was no tomorrow, sharing some dishes and having a lovely cup of homemade hot chocolate.

Bask in some of the food porn below. You can see more on my Flickr page too!

And while we were waiting in line, Twitter proved to be a lovely distraction during breaks in conversations. I totally, absolutely 100 percent geeked out when I said “hi” to Rick via Twitter and got a DM back from him saying “hi” back. Check it out. Yes, I did feel like hot sh*t and giggled like a schoolgirl.

Only thing, we weren’t able to get a picture with him :( Maybe next time.

Getting craft, Renegade-style

Saturday I met up with Jamie and hit the Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park. It’s literally Etsy, in person! And while I got some sun and enjoyed a delicious strawberry lemonade. I picked up this cute print too.

It’s SO me :)

The only drawback, a clown that was walking around and took a shine to Jamie and me. I don’t like clowns. They scare me. So when he didn’t get the hint to back off, I firmly told him to do so. *shudder*

Small Facebook world

Finally, on Friday morning I also got a huge shock, when a long-lost cousin I haven’t seen or heard from in probably 10 years found me on Facebook.

And I won’t lie, I nearly started to cry because I’ve been looking to reconnect with her too on/off for the last six months. My super online stalking skills found her but I didn’t have an e-mail to contact her so I’ve been regrouping before she found me.

It’s a funny thing when you finally reconnect with those people because…what do you say? I’m still working on that but for now, I’m just glad I found her and have a way to talk to her now and catch up on some lost time.

How was everyone else’s weekend?

Oh I promise the post about my epically awful date is coming tomorrow. Trust me, it is awful :/

Be Sociable, Share!
28 Comments

10 September 2009

Summer movie report card!

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Friends, Movies

I’ve mentioned before how much I love movies and going to them, especially in summer. And I’ve definitely done that in the little free time I had the last few months. TC has become my recent movie buddy, her with Coke and popcorn and me with smuggled-in candy and water. We’re quite a pair.

Anyhow, now that summer movies are coming to a close and we are looking ahead to fall (cough, New Moon, cough), I thought I’d take a look back at some of the summer movies I saw and recent DVDs I’ve rented and give them report card grades.

I’m sure some won’t be a surprise :)

Movies:

  • Julie & Julia: A+
  • Time Traveler’s Wife: B/B-
  • Extract: B-
  • 500 Days of Summer: B
  • The Hangover: A
  • Bruno: B
  • Transformers 2: B-/C+

Overall, I was happy with the movies I saw this summer. A few wowed and a few disappointed but overall, I left pretty happy (except for Time Traveler’s Wife which had me bawling like a baby)

Also, I know I’m missing some movies from here but these are the ones I could recall, which could be a sign too!

DVDs:

  • Adventureland: A
  • State of Play: A
  • Duplicity: B+
  • I Love You Man: A-
  • He’s Just Not That Into You: B

My top picks from both lists are: Julie & Julia and State of Play. Both are very different movies but are the ones that really stood out to me. Loved them both and highly recommend them!

As to the movies I’m looking forward to seeing next: The Informant! with Matt Damon is definitely on the list and Love Happens with Aaron Eckhart. He is VERY dreamy.

So tell me, what are the best movies and DVDs you’ve seen lately?

Review blog update: In prep for fall, I’m reviewing JCrew’s Bootcut cords. They’re bold and possibly fabulous.

Be Sociable, Share!
22 Comments

09 September 2009

Nightmarish childhood chore flashbacks

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: family, Wisconsin

Now that we’re getting into fall, my dad is salivating at the thought of me coming home to visit because he has plenty of yard work for me to help out with.

Yard work sucks and I suck at it. Trust me.

Actually, I look like a total sissy in the yard because I don’t like to get dirty (especially my cute outfits and shoes) and I gingerly hold tools, as if they are covered with a disease that could spread to my entire body.

I know, it’s quite a sight to see.
But, the one outside job I hate more than anything, more than raking leaves (and getting callouses) or shoveling snow (and hurting my back) is picking up sticks. I hate it so much!!!
When I was a kid, my parents had a good-size house and yard in Wisconsin and my dad figured out the best way to get me to do this awful job is simple: offer money in exchange for me straining my back.
And it worked.
I picked up sticks in our yard several times to feed my Disney plush toy habit. I just heard, “well, I will give you $5 toward your [insert plush toy name that I absolutely had to have at that moment] if you go pick the sticks up from the yard.”
I don’t believe I even had to think about it because I was immediately in the back yard picking up those f*cking sticks, hating every minute of it.
And when my dad saw me slacking off, he would threaten to decrease my wage, causing my whining and bitching to become a whisper while I picked up those sticks. And he sat on the porch and WATCHED me do it to make sure I earned my keep.
Over the summer while my parents were having some yard work done, I had to help pick up sticks again on their patio and the horrid memories of my childhood came rushing back.
But when I jokingly asked for $5 to help with all the work, dad didn’t think it was funny and offered me hug instead.
I know, I should have asked for $15 to cover inflation.
The recession has hit hard!
What was your least or more favorite childhood chore? I’m sure I wasn’t the only one subjected (still) to labor when they go home to visit!
Be Sociable, Share!
27 Comments

08 September 2009

Boy update and behaving badly

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Relationships

Match continues to provide me with great examples of guys behaving badly (or douchy) and reminding me why I prefer to stay single sometimes. “Tool Academy” on VH-1 also does that, but that’s a post for another day.

Update:

So let’s start with a general boy update. JohnBoy and I are still talking but things have been a little weird lately. We had a not-so-great date about two weeks ago thanks to both of us having awful days at work and since then, things are just different. I apologized about being one-half of the bad date and since then, he’s been acting very odd toward me. And not in a good way. I have a gut feeling he’s in the early stages of telling me he doesn’t want to see me anymore. By this time, I know those signs VERY well.

That is definitely disappointing but while I’m waiting for that to collapse, I did want to share a funny story about a past Match boy making a surprising reappearance.

Behaving Badly:

Back in June, when I initially met JohnBoy and Dayton, there was another guy I was chatting with, Sam, who wanted me to plan our entire first date and refused to weigh in with his thoughts on what we should do. Winner.

Needless to say, he dropped off the map shortly after that and I didn’t give him  second thought. Until he emailed me last week, saying “give me a call when you have a chance.”

Knock me over with a feather!

So I write him back saying “I haven’t heard from you in months, what’s up?” Seriously why would I just call him after hearing nothing from him in months? And it sounds like he again wants me to take the first big step.

Fortunately, he got back to me right away and said, “I got involved with someone. It’s been a few weeks and I’ve finally gotten over it. I didn’t think it was right talking to someone else while I was seeing her. Now it’s over and I think it’s important to move on. Call me”

I mean. Are you kidding me? He drops off the face of the earth for almost three months and then just wants me to call him because he’s ready to move on from someone he didn’t even tell me about to begin with?

So, after much thought I wrote him back, “Good to know. I like that you were committed to girl #1 but when I didn’t hear from you for about two months (for unknown reasons), I moved on too. I need someone who is a little more reliable. Just be honest next time and don’t just reappear out of the blue and say “give me a call when you have a chance.”

Childish response? Slightly. It’s clear he won’t learn anything from this but I felt compelled to tell him the truth, it sounds like he doesn’t hear it enough.

WTF is up with these guys???

So tell me, would you give a guy like Sam another chance?

Be Sociable, Share!
28 Comments

07 September 2009

Weekend recap: Project declutter

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: apartment, Random

I’m a total packrat.  I find myself unable to part with magazines, school notebooks, old tests, tickets and old jewelry because I am such a sentimental, nostalgic freak. Also, I think that if I throw any of these things out, tomorrow I might need it for something. Then what?

But this weekend, I decided to put on my comfy pants and start to declutter my life again. My thought was, since I’m not moving out my apartment, it’s time to start cleaning crap out of here that’s just accumulated over the last two years. Basically: clean as if I’m moving (even though I’m not.)

And holy sh*t it was intense.

I started opening drawers, digging through old paperwork and making piles for: trash and donation. Trust me, Goodwill is going to LOVE me yet again.

And along with digging through papers and files and old trinkets, I tackled my biggest project, going through old notebooks and files from my last year at the University of Minnesota. It was like a mini version of “this is your life” circa 2001-2003.

I hunkered down for this trip, going through old tests and research papers, feeling bittersweet about tossing the majority of them out. But I did keep a couple of things that made me laugh and some papers I’m still proud of :)

I also found a lot of other, smaller stuff that I completely forgot that I had, like my grandpa’s World War II Purple Heart and some bad 80s hair accessories. Oh, I also found lots of spare change too (yay!)

Here’s a picture of the final haul that was tossed out and recycled. Next step: going through the closet again. That will require a bottle of wine to help me get through.

What did I learn? I need to do this more often and I need to be better about letting some things go. Work in progress.

What about everyone else? Did you have a nice long weekend? Do anything fun?

Reader note: Also, thanks to everyone for the sweet words on my promotion. I really appreciate it, thanks for making the news all the sweeter :)

Review blog update: I posted tonight my review of Jersey Boys, which I got to see live in Chicago last week, pictures included!

(4vt26gnabk) – Ignore this, it is the stupid code I have to put in a blog post so Technorati will “recognize” my new blog URL – HASSLE!

Be Sociable, Share!
28 Comments
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »