"Spring Break: it's my favorite holiday."

P.S. That's a quote from the first season of Arrested Development. How excited are we for a Netflix season of Arrested Development?

Okay, onto the meat of the post. Two weeks ago I had my Spring Break/Summer in between my spring and summer semesters. I drove up to Livermore to spend some well deserved time in NorCal. I did a lot of driving around, both up to the bay and around the bay so I was able to listen to the first two Hunger Game audiobooks. Good stuff, but a book that gives me nightmares shouldn't also make me want to wake up with a boy to cuddle with and make the nightmares go away. Where is my Peeta?

Sunday I cut my bucket list in half by spending a Giants game on the bay in McCovey Cove on a kayak. Lauren (my sister), Jeff (my brother-in-law), Hope (my best friend), and I enjoyed beers and sandwiches while listening to the Giants on Hope's awesome radio. The Giants lost but we had an amazing time on the bay enjoying the glorious weather and meeting hilarious people who joined our kayak island tied to a buoy. After the game, we got some Philz coffee and said goodbye to the beautiful city.

Monday was a relaxing day of shopping, errands, and lunch with the seester at Tender Greens in Walnut Creek. Tuesday was similar, Mom and I got lunch at our favorite Chinese Restaurant where the waitress is always excited to see me.

Wednesday Mom and I got Japanese food and then I went to San Carlos to see another one of my best friends, Patrick! We met at his new apartment and walked downtown for dinner then we went to trivia at a bar in San Mateo. This was my first time doing a bar trivia night and I have been wanting to so it for a while so I was stoked. Our team was Patrick and I and a group of guys from Patrick's work that go every week. We got 8th out of about 15 teams, so we didn't do too well, but it was lots of fun. We did have a perfect round, the questions were about television, so I really didn't expect anything less from the two of us.

Thursday I met my roommate from last year, Lisa, in San Jose for dinner, a drink, and some much needed catch up. It was great to talk with her and her husband, Daren, joined us for dessert, too. I think they are one of my favorite couples. I love them both so much. After that I met another one of my favorite couples, Lauren and Jeff, for a drink at Handles in Pleasanton. They had Lagunitas' Cappacino Stout on tap!

Friday my mom, dad, and I got dinner at  Johhny Garlic's and to my surprise, they didn't mention Guy Fieri even once. However, his name is on more things than the name of the restaurant. Then Brendan and I drove to Davis for PICNIC DAY! It was 94 degree in Davis for their annual picnic day, basically an excuse for college students and recent grads to drink all day. I spent the day jumping around between different groups and trying not to be too hot. Somehow I lasted the whole spring break without getting a sunburn.

So there's that.
Jessie
(this is the winning sign off from a few posts back!)

Hello and Goodbye March

Wow. Where did that month go? Here's how I spent it:

To celebrate my quarter of a century anniversary, I had a party!

Friends and streamers

Drinks and an awesome cake my roommates made

Right: this is your gummy bear; Left: this is your gummy bear on vodka for 22 hours

The next weekend I home to NorCal. I went to camp for the Alumni Reunion Retreat, Christina's last Sunday at church, and had birthday dinner with the fam.

The young kids

After our hike to the cross

That Wednesday, I went to Malibu to visit CNCS at the Companions on the Inner Way.

Me and college roommate, Sarah

The last weekend of March, some friends from NorCal came down and we went to Disneyland. Why does it always rain when I spend the day at Disneyland?

Miles's bodyguards

Super happy fun times!

And now it's April. And next week is finals. Think happy thoughts for me!

Sign Off

It's already March 20th?!?!?! I knew March was going to fly by, but wow! I've been keeping busy this month so look forward to a fun blog post about that. But until then, I need some help.

I want an awesome sign off for my blog, my own version of the Ron Burgundy "You stay classy, San Diego." So where you come in is giving me ideas. What do you want to see at the end of every post? If I get enough good ideas, I might even let you all vote on them. You could change the course of history (at least for my blog). Just make sure it's not as bad as when Robin on How I Met Your Mother was auditioning for an anchor position:

"From all of us here at News Ten, have a good evening... So, good night, New York. And may the road ahead be lit with dreams and tomorrows, which are lit with dreams, also... Stand tall, New York. Trustworthy. Recycling. Wear a condom."

Leave a comment with what you want to see as my sign off!!!

Real Life is for March

How awesome was the leap day episode of 30 Rock? But I have to say, much like Liz Lemon (a character with whom I have too much in common), I do not remember leap day ever being a big deal. But as an ESFJ, I love an excuse for tradition and celebration. What did I do for my extra day where nothing counts? I dawned my yellow and blue and went to One More Disney Day!

Disneyland was open for 24 hours to celebrate Leap Day. I thought it would be awesome to check out Disneyland in the wee hours of the morning, if nothing else, to say that I did. They had a 1am showing of Fantasmic! so I left at midnight, giving myself plenty of time to get to the park (I live 13 minutes away). Well, it turns out everyone had the same thought. The only parking open was the garage so the traffic was terrible. It took me 45 minutes from the freeway to parking. And I talked to someone who said it took them an hour and a half (they obviously are not as skilled at Disneyland as I am). Here's a picture my friend Darren took of the garage entrance as he was leaving and I was arriving.

As I drove in, the cars around me were full of drunk people and there was a sign that said Disneyland was full. The man taking money assured me that the sign had not been updated and people were allowed to enter but then when I finally got on the tram, the conductor said that only people with hand stamps were getting in. Everyone still seemed determined to get in. The line to get your bag checked to get into the space between the two lands was more of a mob of people. This is where I was really able to recognize that everyone there was a twenty-something reliving their grad night. A nice couple even offered me some vodka. Don't worry mom's out there, I politely declined. 

Turned out I could get in since I have an annual pass and once all was said and done, I entered into Disneyland at 2am. The place was totally crowded. The wait for Indiana Jones was 110 minutes and 115 for Space Mountain. I didn't think it was worth it so I just walked around and got a feel for Disneyland at 2am. Here's some instagram fun.

 

 

I then started my accidental night of rides where you sit in a boat and go around on a track. 

"The funniest cruise that ever sailed round the Nile."

"The happiest cruise that ever sailed round the world."

"The pirateyest cruise that ever sailed round the Caribbean."

Things started slowing down around 3:30am but I didn't leave until 5am. After all, "real life is for March...nothing on leap day counts." 

I liked them before they were cool...

Last week I saw the band Fun. at their album release show in Long Beach! If you think you haven't heard Fun. then you are wrong. You know that awesome song you always hear on the radio or in that Chevrolet commercial or at the end of that one Glee episode? You know the song that makes you want to rule the world? We Are Young by Fun. ft Janelle Monae - seriously, who doesn't like this song?

Yes, it is true. I liked Fun. before they were cool. But unlike real hipsters, I am so happy for this band and that they are finding success. If you listened to The Format, you will recognize the beautiful voice of Nate Ruess and a similar upbeat, complex style. I got to see them play a live show at Fingerprints record store the day the new record Some Nights was released. Side note, Some Nights has already reached 3rd in US record sales. This album is awesome. I can't get enough of it! I love their music style and think they pushed to make it even more "Fun."

They also represent live! They had the perfect amount of banter and showed that they aren't above laughing at themselves. This video is of the show I was at but taken by someone much closer than me. Please disregard the "woo girls" at the beginning. Check out the video check out the new album "Some Nights."

It's Jess!

So I had been thinking about Zooey Deschanel bangs for a while, going back and forth about whether I wanted them or not. I had short hair for all of college and grew it out when my sister got engaged and really liked it. But I hadn't done anything new with my hair for well over a year. I enjoyed my "sexy hair" so knew I wanted to keep it long and the Zooey bang seemed like the perfect thing to do.

Here's the before sexy hair.

So I did some research and against ever thing I read online, I did cut my bangs myself. I checked out a few youtube videos and combined them into something that would work for me.

I used this for the parting and first cut:

And I used this for the detail cutting:

And here's what I got...IT'S JESS!

Things I Currently Miss

Right now there are two things I am really misses and wish they were back right now. Here are a couple of fun things about them that are helping me cope.

1. Community

NBC thinks that their audience likes Chelsea Handler and Whitney Cummings more than Community. They are wrong. Since this ingenious show did not come back in January, I was having withdrawals and had to resort to watching the commentaries on the Season 2 DVDs.

Did you know there is an episode that has an entire Abed story line that happens completely behind the action. He even delivers a baby! I totally did not notice this until they talked about it on the DVD. The episode is the third episode of season 2 titled The Psychology of Letting Go (it’s the one where Pierce’s mom dies and we get a glimpse of Jeff’s life as a lawyer). The story goes that a very pregnant women approaches Abed claiming the baby is hers, later he gets in a fight with the woman’s boyfriend, and then they end up delivery the baby in the back of truck.

Shirley: I barely saw you this week, Abed. What have you been up to?

Abed: Not much.

Brilliant, once again.

2. The San Francisco Giants

Is it baseball season yet? Pitchers report in 2 days!!!

And to get you excited about the 2012 season, check out this May 20^th giveaway:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150462820966828&set=a.95759191827.100284.43225541827&type=1

Yes. That is a Brian Wilson Gnome. My God, I wish I could go…