CHANGE OF ADDRESS AND NAME!

Hello!

I've changed the blog a bit and decided that it is time for a new name as well! 

Please visit me here: www.oddlyrendered.blogspot.com

And please please remember to follow that blog instead of this one! 

Thanks so much!

Jessie

Chief of Staff - Duty #1

"And I'm not gonna take it back

And I'm not gonna say I don't mean that

You're the target that I'm aiming at

Got to get that message home

My song is love

My song is love, unknown

But I'm on fire for you, clearly

You don't have to be alone

You don't have to be on your own"

- "A Message" by Coldplay

It was a bright, crisp day in late August when I moved into Meadows West #216, my first day of college. I had thought so much about who I'd be rooming with, and I felt like had no clues to go from.  

Kate Andrews

22 Pine Street

Manchester, MA

"Vanilla." I thought.

She picked the right side of the room because she got there first. I got over it (I feel the same about "left" as I do about odd numbers.) because she handed me a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.

Fast forward 10 years (TEN!)

She's my hetero-lifemate. (Made a mistake once while talking to a coworker of hers, trying to make a joke about being hetero-lifemates and said "life partners" instead. Shoulda seen that girl's face!)

We have been through an awful lot together, and it seems like even more not together. When I moved to Colorado in search of greener pastures, Kate was single like me, living in an apartment with roommates, like me (but not me, which sucked.) When I had been in Colorado for about 6 months, she started officially dating someone. I didn't believe he existed because they had known each other for 3 years and I had never met him. They would sneak off late at night to meet and they had actually written each other letters. 

"He actually wants to go on a real date. Like, he's going to take me out to dinner," it began. 

"He said he wants to do something next weekend, and he remembered this exhibit I want to see," it continued.

He admitted that he had been a fool, and that something he wanted was there, under his nose all along.

Then it turned real. It became a relationship, the first real one she'd been in. Then they were in love, and I was still in Colorado. Another 6 months later...she said he had talked about a ring. I said, "You tell him one thing. You tell him he cannot go any further here until I meet him. This is ridiculous." It was just as important for me to meet this guy and approve (although I knew I did) as it was for him to approach the Sarge and ask his permission.

I went for St. Patrick's Day, and he was everything I had hoped, and she was glowing and stood up straighter and cool as a cucumber about it all.

When I visited again over Easter weekend for Emilie's Bachelorette party, we ended up at Kate's late night and the sweetheart of a man brought us late night Dunkin' Donuts. It was just right.

The next morning, Easter morning, he came over with a sweet potted plant and an Easter basket filled with goodies for Kate. We were still babbling about last night's turn of events as he waited patiently for her to examine his gifts.

She took them into the bedroom, where he was fixing the bed up, and I went to the bathroom to give them a moment (no more, trust me) of privacy. Not something I'm used to giving to Kate.

When I came out, he was swinging her in the air and she was crying the happiest tears I've ever seen. 

And lucky me got to be there to witness it first hand, and be the first to know the news. It was very overwhelming.

Now, they are engaged, and Kate has appointed me the Maid of Honor...except she doesn't like that term, so it's Chief of Staff. I couldn't be prouder.

I'm also her personal graphic designer/wedding planning assistant.

Now I can share these images because they've been sent and seen and responded to!

After everything that we've been through and all of the fun we've had and the pillar she's become for me, it's still kind of hard for us to be nice to each other. We've gotten much better at it in the past couple of years...even to the point that I can write a sappy post about it and still get goosebumps when I think about being present on what will go down in her books as one of the happiest days of her (and my) life. 

xo

Continued list from The Good House

My little fall fairy, Kristen, over at The Good House made a list today of the things she'd like to do this fall. We did this in anticipation for summer too...although I don't think I ever revisited my list. 

She made it to #22...so I will continue from there.

23. (I hate starting on odd numbers) Drink Fall Brews like                Octoberfest

24. Have to reiterate #22 - wear lots of plaid

25. Bring my awesome boots out of storage!

26. Listen to live music from a beer garden

27. Start early on my Halloween costume so as to attract a lot of positive comments from impressed fellow party-goers

28. Make pie. Most likely with a bunch of people from my family who are having Thanksgiving in CO this year!

29. (I have to say this...Ben just gchatted me: "We should go apple picking this weekend"...then he mentioned a concert we should also see. no lie.) 

30. Leave the windows open when I'm sleeping and add an extra blanket.

31. See the aspen trees turn bright yellow in Rocky Mountain National Park.

32. Buy a vest with a hood and wear it.

33. Buy a chiminea for the porch and sit around it.

34. NOT dye my hair darker because I feel like it's what people do when it isn't summer anymore. I like summer hair. All year round.

35. Finally carve a kickass pumpkin without cutting all the way through.

36. Take pictures in the beautiful afternoon fall light.

37. Get a Caramel Apple Spice drink from Starbuck's.

38. Send my nephews and niece Halloween cards like I always mean to do.

39. Host a cornucopia dinner in our sadly unappreciated dining room using real plates and napkins.

40. Make a cool autumnal centerpiece with gourds and twigs. 

41. Use the word "autumnal" a lot.

42. Get Kate the best birthday present ever since she (yet again) won't be graced with my presence for a party.

43. Not even try to avoid the bowls of Halloween candy we already have placed throughout the house.

44. Buy a baby gift for my brother's best man, Dennis, who is expecting (well, Marissa is expecting) in October! A girl! Yay! Then probably one for Danny's little Evie too.

45. Do a brewery tour (already scheduled for Oct. 2, New Belgium Brewery, brewers of Fat Tire and my fave, Sunshine (preferably in a can.)

46. Boulder Fall Festival

47. Free museum day, Saturday, September 26 - including the Denver Botanic Gardens!

G e n i u s

"But in the meantime we've got it hard
Second floor living without a yard
It may be years until the day
My dreams will match up with my pay"

Mushaboom - Feist

I downloaded so much music the other day when I went home sick (damn cough won't quit.) I wanted to hear it all, all the time...it's like I'm ready to abandon all other music I've ever taken interest in until I am tired of these songs.

Thank you, iTunes, for making me a 50 song Genius mix.

I wish I could make Genius mixes for everything in my life. 

*Push a button on my closet door (like Cher in Clueless) and voila ! (wa la?) a genius outfit for every day made up of things I already own.

*Hungry for dinner? Don't know what to make? Genius mix of what ingredients are in the fridge. 

*Bored and lonely? Bam - genius mix of the best friends to have around in a snap.

Anyway, here are the albums from whence the genius came. You should listen to these too. It's based on "Kids" by MGMT.

Feist - The Reminder (and Let it Die, actually)

Kings of Leon - Only By the Night

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell

MGMT - Time to Pretend (and Oracular Spectacular)

Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

Bon Iver - For Emily, Forever Ago

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

Passion Pit - Chunk of Change

The Killers - Hot Fuss

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Like Bad News

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

"You'd Look Good In a Burlap Sack"

Sometimes, when I haven't made anything or done anything creative in a while, I feel like my brain is itchy. Most of the time, when I think about what to write, I browse my favorite sites and blogs and magazines for inspiration. The worst of times, I don't find anything. 

But!

Today, I thought of something! I thought of how someone told me about how his friend used to reupholster furniture with old sails that she had some magical way of obtaining because she worked in a sail factory or something. (What? Yeah, maybe that wasn't it...but she had some way of getting these sails...)Anyway, she was apparently in very high demand in her area. I can see why...because it is genius. The fabric is durable, interesting and unique. Also, it's not easy to find or sew with, so it makes it more rare, which makes it cool. 

I love the company Sea Bags, based in Portland, ME but they are expensive and uber preppy. After all, sailing is totally "something white people like" and it's definitely considered a privileged hobby.They are original, well made, nice looking and again, durable as hell, which makes for a good product. 

So, someone has already done these things. I need to decide what I can do with something like this that is unique and fresh. Here is the beginning of my brainstorm:

All above items found on eBay.

What should I make? Pillows? Chairs? Totes? Wall hangings? I feel like it's all been done.

P.S.
Another reason why Sea Bags is great: 

Rocky Mountain Highhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

"Now it's done

Watch it go

You've changed some

water runs from the snow

Am I so dear?

Do I run rare?

And you've changed some

Peach, plum, pear...

Peach, plum..."

-Joanna Newsome...via Luke Santy's unreal cover of T-Pain's "Just Can't Believe It"

This song will resonate in my head until I hear it again. Hearing it 50 times this weekend apparently wasn't enough. If I had a link to it, if it were online with some amazing video to go along with it, I'd post it. But I don't have a link. I only have his sister, who has a link on her computer, which she will send me. Then I hope to broadcast his music all over the place so that he can probably embarrass bands the likes of MGMT with his genius-ness.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the weekend. (Not just "the weekend" but more like "THE Weekend." It was that fun.)

Camping in Grand Lake...with this...grand...lake in front of our tent.



Then we drove over Trail Ridge Road out the other side of Rocky Mountain National Park...

 

(I didn't take pics, but had I taken any, they would have looked a little like this...)

 

Here we are on our bikes, headed to the summit.

 

 

No, no there weren't any bikes, but it did look kind of like this...if you replaced the bikes with seats in a Pathfinder and the helmets with PBRs.

 

We didn't wear PBRs on our heads though.

 

Obviously, I'm still recovering from the whole shindig and I'm having a tough time writing. More pictures to describe it:

 

This is a very accurate depiction of our hot dogs, since we forgot the ketchup. Ben's looked more like this though:

Because he's gross and wants to bathe in mayonnaise.

...and of course, Uma came along. (By the way, she used to also answer to Therm S. Marshall, but now she's more fond of Gary...since she's a thermos of the Coleman persuasion.)

 

Our fire didn't look anything like this:

 

Because it was actually contained in a big metal drum. It got really cold and the fire was no help at all. We bitched and moaned about it, then remembered that it's probably not a bad idea since Boulder is currently en fuego.

 

 

You can't really tell here, but this is where we had lunch in Boulder, where we could see a smoky haze in the sky by those mountains. Smoke was actually pouring out from behind them. It's the worst fire in CO history, I think.

 

Dan doesn't seem to look like he cares much about it though. That's likely because it took 1/2 an hour to get our drinks and the fries covered in cheese, guacamole, bacon and sour cream couldn't arrive fast enough. Also probably because he was wearing a bright purple jacket and listening to bad classic rock that the weird blonde busser put on thinking he was doing us a special favor.

 

Then we went to Jax for oyster shooters--which were, unbelievably served to us by a guy from Damariscotta, Maine. It was the first time in my life that I've said "I'm from Damariscotta," and someone replied, "Me too." Crazy.

 

I like their decor in there too - especially this:

 

Which kinda reminded me of my dad:

We came back to find Denver abuzz for the Great American Beer Fest as well as Oktoberfest in LoDo. It looked like this:

 

 

--Yeah, we were disappointed that it was Sam too...we're in Colorado.

Then, Sunday was kind of like this:

...there really was rooftop pool swimming, just before the pizza...but it wasn't really this badass.

Sad to see the weekend go, can't wait to go to bed tonight.

Stupid Secret #2

I like to listen to music when I'm falling asleep. I've been listening to the same playlist (called "Pretty Sleepy") every night for years, and I never tire of it, probably because I am sleeping when I hear it. 

Artists on this playlist include: 

Yann Tiersen (Amelie soundtrack)

Feist

Madeline Peyroux

Carla Bruni (more than just a first lady!)

Brett Dennen

Mason Jennings

Norah Jones (such a pretty website)

Interjection.

Remember that time when I posted about the cool botanical posters? I just looked over their site a bit...and this item made me make a weird little sound from the back of my throat, like "uht."

What would be the occasion for purchasing this?? It is only $10. Maybe I'll get it for Jeb for Christmas. I think he'd like it. 

As if this isn't freakin' weird enough...look what is listed as the last item under the category "Other Items."

Yeah, it's a Toad Purse. 

A real one, from Australia. 

I feel sick and almost embarrassed that I posted this on my pretty little blog. It had to happen though, didn't it? Isn't that why I write a blog?

I kind of can't believe it's only $24 though. I wonder if there is a pocket for your cell phone.

Botani-cooool!

Hello. You are perfect. Yet another thing I'd rather spend money on. 

Horse chestnuts make me happy because I have very vivid memories of lying in a hammock under a horse chestnut tree in my back yard when I was little. I think the little me might be surprised to know that the older me has happy memories of horse chestnuts because they have very spiky pods and were most often used as a weapon by my brother. 

These posters can be found here.

Stupid Secret #1

One time, when I had just started waitressing, I accidentally spilled half of a large bowl of hot Italian Seafood Stew all over someone's head.

Bum Deal.

In an effort to not turn this blog into a pity party for myself, I will keep this to the point.

Last winter, a crack formed on the edge of my windshield. It wasn't a big deal. Then, along came several 95 degree days in a row, and by the miracle of science or chemistry or physics or whatever else, the crack spread almost all the way across the glass. Now, the glass is all pitted and I can't get it clean enough to be clear and not supremely frustrating to look through. I have to buckle down and buy a new windshield.

Everyone I tell this to says, "Oh, your car insurance will cover that, no problem." Yeah, no. I must have missed some sort of important "How to Be an Adult" classes, because my insurance is worth little more than the paper the card is printed on. He's a cute little gecko, and those cavemen are funny, but thanks for nothing.

It's not Geico's fault. It's my fault for taking a job that I knew paid nothing, which actually is putting me back to the stage I was at when I got my first real-life job at EF in 2006.

Tomorrow, they will come to my office and replace the windshield for $200. All I can think about is how a)I'm putting it on a credit card because I don't have $200 and b) there are so many things I'd rather do with that money.

I need groceries, normal living supplies like toilet paper, (don't even get me started about the damn Toilet Paper Crisis of 2010) food and litter for the ginger baby jackass cat, lots of scary dental work, gas to get my death trap car to work, not to mention a host of other boring items. I don't want to spend $200 on that either.

Retail Therapy.

Always makes things seem better...if only for a fleeting 15 minutes.

Here are some things I would buy if someone handed me $200 to spend on anything but the above listed items:

Gocco Supplies

(Gocco is a handy little Japanese press machine that enables you to make about a hundred prints of the same image that I got years ago but never could keep up with the supplies needed to keep it going.)

Ten bulbs, 5 screens and 7 tubes of ink = $94.50

Chart MetalWorks Bracelet

I'm homesick lately, and I have wanted this bracelet for years - ever since I saw it on facebook because a guy I went to high school with works for them...

You supply Chart with your nautical location (mine would be 43 degrees 52' 33" N/ 69 degrees 29' 24" W, New Harbor, Maine) and they craft it into either a silver or bronze chain link bracelet with one map-holding charm. They also make earrings, pendants and kick-ass belt buckles to name a few.

Chart MetalWorks Silver Bracelet = $135

Angela Adams Print

This print is probably my utmost desired item, maybe ever.

I even opted to make it "large" so you can see it in all of its glory. This is a print, but this is also made in a rug. I can't even imagine stepping on it, so I'd probably sleep on it or hang it on the wall so no one else would disgrace it with the bottoms of their dirty feet. Angela is from Portland, ME, so it's another one of those comforting homey things I long for.

(I'm surprising myself here by still not even managing to spend the full $200 on things I have wanted for so long.)

18"x24" "Sea Fantasy" Print by Angela Adams = $150 

I have to stop now because my stomach is rumbling and this is making me kind of sad.