We Could See The World tonight

So much has happened in the last 34 hours!! I am going to try and condense it as much as possible...here goes...


After leaving Philly we b-lined it for DC. We got there just before 4 which was the perfect amount of time to walk from Art Garden to the Monument then say hi to Abe and back before dark. Vicky paid for parking at what she thought was a spot free after 4..more on this later. As the rays were the brightest we took in some great people watching at the monument, got emotional at the wall and read some truly inspirational words that surround Lincoln. After about 100 pictures we started the gorgeous walk back.

It was a really odd vibe while we walked around the city. The three of us were happy but almost totally quiet until something caught our attention enough to share with the others. I feel like touring DC is a pretty emotional experience when you think about the history of why all the monuments and walls and photos and museums....are there. Whether its art in the form of a sculpture or famous last words, architecture, science expirements or social expirements these things that people from around the world travel to see are here because that person had it in their heart to want to make change. The few moments between when the sun sets and the darkness takes over is my favorite time of day. We got to experience the city during this time and when its characters were out in full effect, and I loved every minute of it. I also love the fact that although the secret service think are very discreet at times-I still know that the dude by the pole with the black north face jacket is one of them...there was a couple-obviously of some importance-being followed through the new WWII memorial by 7 secret service. They then had 3 more scattered around wearing different styles of jackets trying to blend in or whatever. We all laughed at that. On the walk back we also saw some little band that was on tour riding around on scooters-kick push style. They were pretty hilarious to listen to while they walked right behind us.

Back to the parking-you probably all know by now that I was towed not once, not twice but three times in LA! Yes hold your comments because I have already heard them all. Well heres a fun fact you may enjoy...Washington DC does not impound cars that get towed, they simply move them to a legal parking spot within a 2 block radius of the parking violation! How do I know this you may be asking, because this just so happened yesterday! Vicky thought the sign meant it was free to park after 4 and did not realize it actually meant that in no way are you supposed to park there after 4pm! So after talking to a cop, splitting up and walking to the White House we found the car and directions to our next destination. Now you may think this was an awful experience but in fact it was amazing! I love the city at night, any city, and so watching the final colors fade and the lights come on was wonderful! Its always incredible to me just how much things change when the lights go down.

Short drive through a bit of traffic and some back country roads and we were at Jared-bubs cousin's house. We had picked up some dinner beforehand and cooked it up on arrival. Had a hilarious night with some true country boys. woke up and Jared took us up on the Skyline Drive to see the views of the Shenandoah Valley which were just absolutely gorgeous. Stayed until 1:30 then hit the road for Williamsburg. On the way my camera-which I bought 2 days before leaving home-decided it would stop working and accepting all memory cards...and if you know me you realize that this is just plain unacceptable...its like cutting off a limb or something. So multiple stops later and yours truly is pretty pissy but the new owner of a Nikon...that she had to pay for! Why, because I did not bring the receipt with me so they refused to swap out my camera. I bought the cheapest one I could-which is actually the camera I used last year and I enjoy a lot. I will use this until I get home and then return my other.

All right so its not even 10 but the past few days of staying up til 3 and getting up at 8 are catching up with all of us so Im gonna log off this William and Mary Law School computer that Allie so graciously let me use and head home to hopefully get some sleep and gear up for the 14 hour drive to Huntsville, AL tomorrow! I am excited to see Miss Tasha Rathbone-the newly Officer Rathbone if you please.

Until next time please dont forget to smile

SAAAAAAAAVAAAAAGE!

What a beautiful day! Troy, NY to Killadelphia...The drive to Royersford, PA was less than five hours and was worth the detour in every way!

Our dear friend Mark from the Conservation School back in Maine grew up just outside Philly and invited us over for Sunday dinner with his parents. None of us could have anticipated the amazingness of the evening! We arrived around 4:30 and were greeted with warm smiles, hugs and snacks. Kathy and Ty were two of the funniest and most hospitable people I have met in a long while. Kathy is truly wonderful in her quilting, she also started cross stitching recently and seems to be great at most any craft she touches. We chatted and shared stories for a while in the living room while munching on cheese and crackers. Got to see some great pictures of baby Mark and high school Mark when he was clean cut and wearing a suit!!!! Dinner time proved to be quite and event.

Kathy and Mark had prepared the food and Ty had made some great cookies for dessert. Dinner consisted of a great creamy chicken tortilla soup which had a nice kick to it, this was followed by open faced roast beef sandwiches and top ped off with chocolate chip cookies with milk(as promised!)

After we were not allowed to help clean we hung out some more, got directions to Abs place in North Philly, listened to more stories about Mark-including his epic performance of Van Halen at Air Band. Also heard about their epic family trips to a camp in Canada where Fidel Castro, Norman Rockwell and other elites used to chill. Kathy then played mom to Bubba and I...she packed us food to take and the coolest part of the evening-which felt like Christmas-was when she sewed our clothes! My plaid shirt had about 85 holes in it that she patched up amazingly, then she fixed my jeans and Bubs shirt. Mark gave me possibly the coolest/trashiest homemade screen printed back alley sold Paul McCartney concert Tshirt. Although we could have moved in and stayed forever we left shortly after 8 to meet up with Vicky's friend Alex Murphy whom she met in Thailand. We had a snack (although Im not sure how any of us fit anything else in our bodies after the huge Savage meal.) and paid for it via gift cards from the Savages. Alex is gearing up to go to Africa with Peacecorps.

After the most intense bloody nose I have ever had we said our goodbyes and were off to Philadelphia. Bub drove and got us their without missing the exit. After short introductions and a lovely back and forth with Cesar bubba and Vicky decided to sleep while Abs, Cesar and I went out to see Jae and South Street. Jae had been at the Eagles game earlier and introduced us to his roommate. Took some photos and were off to Lorenzo and Sons for pizza bigger than your head, where i got yelled at for taking photos-surprise, surprise. Got home and after some short pillow talk, crashed around 3.

Decided not to go to Midtown and pay for parking so we chilled at the aparment with Bruce the psycho kitty who tried to eat my compute and face patted Vicky all night.

Off to Washington, DC

Dont forget to smile

Hold on to what you've got...

Waking up yesterday and realizing that there was not a white curtain over the window and it was the sky was a bit of a let down. The day changed dramatically when we were driving through Mass. The sky was this amazing shade of blue with clouds just floating past each other.

During the 4 hour drive we listened mostly to The Beatles and 311. We could not however get Franti lyrics out of our heads.

This is going to be a short post since we have to leave fairly soon in order to get to Mark's in time for dinner and possibly stop at the Jersey Shore to visit Anne, Jermaine and the kids. I am so excited to see the Elliotts tonight in Philly!

So briefly, Troy NY is the home of Uncle Sam it is also the home of RPI where our host (and vickys best friend) Ellen is going to grad school. She made us a delicious dinner with real food and after catching up for an hour or so we were off to her friends apartment to celebrate the fact that he just finished his discertation! We met some great people, played intense games of fooseball, learned about an artist named Eltron 3030(?) and drank yummy wine. After a dance party and the 50th game we went to a martini bar to try a blue lagoon with swedish fish in it then over to Ryans Wake to listen to a band and ended the night at the Ruck which is open til 4am...we however made it home by 3. At which point jewelry was thrown and sleeping bags were stolen as well as beds...6 hours later Ellen made us all french toast which was delicious! She is considering joining us in VA to visit her friend Ali which would be awesome.

Fun facts-2 days before we left Bubba fell off a rail and busted his shin, the night before we left he kicked asphalt barefoot and busted his toe, yesterday he cut his finger on obsidion and today he messed up his hand breaking into his truck! What a guy :)

Off to shower then hitting the road.

Until next time...dont forget to smile
-J

The sound of sunshine

It's that time of year again...the weather is changing, the leaves have fallen, my feet are itchy and it is time to head West. This time however, I will not be making the journey alone. Daniel (from this point forward known as Bubba) and Vicky will be joining in on this adventure. The plan, which is apt to change at any moment, is to head down to NOLA then over to LA up to Washington down to Idaho for Thanksgiving and to drop Vicky off then either back to LA or wherever I fall in love with this time. Yes its true mama's little wanderer is on the move but this time my intentions are slightly different. Besides wanting to meet amazing people and make a difference in the world I am hoping to find a place to settle for awhile where I can go back to school and call home for a bit.

In getting ready for the adventure there was lots of loose ends to tie up, errands to run, packing, food to plan, packing, goodbyes, packing and more packing. In true Jenni Ricci travel style I of course did not pack any of my stuff until the day/night before...actually mostly the morning we left. To back track a bit the week leading up to departure was a crazy one. One last day of work, going to UNH for Halloween, visiting Bubs family and finally getting to meet Autautumns man, ridiculous amounts of errands, etc. etc. (Although I was not able to hook up with everyone hoped I still love you all.) The eve of departure was spent with friends and with the help of the amazing Lyns we were able to pack 9 boxes of food into 4! Bubba also managed to bust his toe open just minutes after making fun of me for wanting to bring a big supply of first aid materials! The last move west meant a lot of overpacking so this time I constrained myself to 4 bags-2 of clothes and shoes, 1 of art supplies and 1 of random necessities-ipod, journals, sketch pad, photo stuff, etc.

11-5-10
The day has finally come! Bubba and I woke at 6ish so I could pack and he could run up to Sunday River and do one last ski run before leaving-which is a pretty sweet note to leave on. By the time he got back at 10 Vicky and I had showered and had everything on the porch, threw it in the truck and found out that there was actually extra room in the truck which was a nice surprise. Ran downtown to say goodbye to mom and dad-which was super emotional as always but this time for many different reasons. Hopped back in the truck and away we went. Bubba drove to Kennebunk while I tried to hold the emotions back but the tears still flowed, then after a short stretch I drove to Prov.

Ryan Garrett I love you but you are not the best at directions. I figured it would be easier to just call Woody when we got close and get directions to his apartment since by now hes been living here for a few months...to my surprise and after a lovely little detour we realized there were not 'hills' as were described nor were there going to be '2 yellow lights and a red one where you are supposed to stop.' Ten minutes and a phone call later and we were checking out the new diggs and meeting Nick. Ran to the bus stop to get Ian then back to the apartment. Met a fellow named Mario at the corner store as I was picking up some libations for the evening. When I asked about a particular wine from Portugal he gave me a ten minute lesson on the craft of good wine and then told me I should mix it with triple sec!?! A walk around the block and 30 photos later I got back to find a debate about dinner going on-Ian and I really wanted Woody to cook Jambalaya or anything but ultimately we decided to go out.

Piled in the car we drove to midtown and found a street spot almost directly across from Lupo's which was sweet. Bought our tickets to see the one and only Michael Franti! We decided on a little Greek pizza place which was relatively inexpensive for the amount of food you got. After dinner we still had an hour to kill before the doors opened for the show and that was great because Vicky needed to run to CVS to replace one of her hearing aid batteries. We also found this great wine shop with specialty wines and liquors from all over the world Dropped everything off at the car and got to the club just as doors opened.

Here is where this day gets REALLY good...
Once inside we quickly looked at the merch and I realized the opener (whom none of us knew before hand was the opener) was Bobby Long. Now you may not be familiar with that name but I sure hope you familiarize yourself soon.



I know what some of you may be thinking 'oh my god more of that twilight stuff' but he is a tremendously talented musician. He sounds like Ray Lamontagne and I dont know maybe Randy Travis had a music love child. He also reminds me a lot of Ray when he plays because he looks like he is in pain and that the lyrics he wrote and sings still sting and burn as they are uttered.



I was in complete awe as I stood there watching and soaking him in. I was also terribly disappointed by most of the crowd who were so set on seeing Franti they talked over and completely missed the talent of this young lad.
After Bobby's set there was only a short set switch filled by the music of Outkast, Usher and others. This resulted in people getting down with their bad selves.

Franti took the stage and played for 2+ hours! Now when I say he played he brought sunshine and laughter and played his heart out for 2 of the best hours ever. The dude is like the energizer bunny bouncing around not getting tired and always really believing in the power of people and the power of love! I was taken to church again last night by this beautiful man.

His son Cappy was in the audience for this show standing right in front of us, and seemed like the happiest dude ever. Other highlights-a man proposed to his wife by asking his little firefly to light the way for the rest of their lives, Franti came into the crowd and sang next to Woody and Ian 3 times which just makes the show that much more intimate.

After the show we tried for an after party that we were invited to but it was 21+ so no dice. Stopped and grabbed some aqua then headed home where we crashed almost immediately. Woody, Ian, me and Bubba slept in the bed and Vicky was at the foot. After some goodnight Jonboys we were out.

Saturday morning was spent lounging with the bros-we all slept in til 11! Well the boys and I did, Vicky was up exercising at 9:30 which is a rare occurrence that she was up before all of us. Woody made blueberry pancakes for everyone while his roomie Nick made fun of him for burning just a few and using fake butter. Found out Nick is really into Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, which thanks to the Savage I now know quite well, and is himself quite the guitarist! After breakfast we all took turns playing DJ and introducing each other to new music. Some examples are Bloc Party, Evergreen Terrace, David Guetta, Michael Franti, La Roux, Collie Buddz and more. Right before leaving Woody played his guitar for us and possibly Nick will too.

Off to Troy NY to spend some time with one of Vickys friends...

Until then please dong forget to smile.

Sexy Can I...

Since Im on lockdown in the Hills for a few days, Ive watched quite a few music videos while editing photos and writing...

Last night I watched some of the sexiest videos of 2010 and would like to share them with everyone...

The first is Ciara reminding everyone not only of her tremendous athleticism and dance skills, but also that she knows how to put her back into it!



Next up is Robin Thicke who lets everyone know he likes it in the morning...


The following is a song I listened to Ari sing all fall but had never listened to the actual song or watched the video until last night....



The last video cracks me up. Sophi played the song for me back in January while we drove to Virginia and I actually had the chorus stuck in my head last week...



Until next time, dont forget to smile

-J

3.3.10 Bubski made me smile

I spent majority of today on Cosmo St. working as a background actor...an extra...for an upcoming feature. Ive done extra work before, but today was by far the best!

Generally when youre an extra there is all sorts of craziness going on around you. You get corralled like cattle or herded like sheep I suppose. Today was a shorter shoot, which was nice. The thing that stood out is how friendly and respectful all of the crew and actors were. They provided everyone with tons of food and drinks, made sure we were always kept up to date on changes, and just hung out. I noticed that the crew had really good chemistry and later found out its because they all knew each other and had moved here from Florida a while ago. Not all at once, but are all here now.

The shoot took place at an improv theater in Hollywood. The scenes we shot were repeatedly laughing at a stand up comic, (each shot had to be taken from 3 different angles with probably 4 or 5 takes from each) I played a girl waiting in line for autographs who was taking photos-it was a big stretch for me :) The director laughed and said I was a natural with a camera, which nearly made me die, but I smiled politely and simply said thanks, Ive had a little practice.

So as great as the crew, actors and most of the extras were I have to say I was really upset with some of the extras. I think being an extra is really fun, its easy and you make decent money for a few hours work-today we made $40 for not even 4 hours of work! Well, some extras who are 'actors' feel entitled or something. They come with this attitude like they're fucking Brad Pitt. And even if they were they have no right to demand things, or interupt others, make snide remarks or whatever. This is common courtesy 101 people! During one of the shots today, there was a couple sitting behind me. Craft services had put bowls of chex mix on the tables for the scene, for everyone to share. Well these two people were picking things out, biting half, putting it back, spilling shit, demanding the bowls be refilled and not sharing with all the people behind them. This wouldnt have been as much of an annoyance, I suppose, had they not already complained about having to pay for parking, showed up late, demanded to sit with each other, and made rude remarks about other extras. They acted like noone else was there but them, like noone could here them and like noone had feelings.

Argh, my point is that I do not ever think it is okay to treat others rudely in order to feel good yourself.

I did meet a super cool chick named J. She also moved here from West Palm, Florida about 5 months ago. Lives in a house with 7 others, most of which who are actors of some sort. Doesn't go out much-doesn't know many people, so we exchanged numbers and who knows maybe she'll be a new concert buddy or something.

After leaving I walked around while talking to Mr. Primitive himself, Bubba! (This name comes from a time the he, Ari, C and I went camping in NH following his advice, and after I said we could not camp next to a river outside of a bar, he had us camp on the top of a mountain in the middle of a field during a windstorm!!! My sleeping bag was soaked because something ahd leaked during the trip, so after already being cold, Ari and I spent the night fighting flying rocks only to wake up with the tent half collapsed. I can laugh about it now...actually we were laughing about it then too, as soon as I can feeling in my feet. Also, its because he teaches primitive skills, which made his choice in campsite even funnier.) He had called earlier, but I couldnt answer so I called back and we talked for over an hour! Which if you know me, you know this is rare and ridiculous, haha. Im not much of a chatter, but after living with the dude for a few months and not really talking (albeit a few texts) since leaving Maine, I was ecstatic to chat for as long as seemed fit. We filled each other in on current life, I told him about the puppy I saw on Sunset that was literally the size of my hand-and the owner didnt even use a leash(actually Isuppose its because they dont make them small enough?) He's trying to break ground on his house soon. Im moving into a house soon. Cooper's in Maine for the week, I cant imagine how that weeks gonna be (kinda jealous im not there:) He said there isnt much snow and he hasnt gone skiing as much as he had hoped, I said Big Bear had like 7 feet of snow. He's got a dog, Im surrounded by cats. We shared stories and jokes back and forth and finally after both of us had arrived 'home' and sat in the driveway for aobut 20 minutes, we decided to give final phone love and go on our way. He sounds good, and that made me smile today!

Artist of the day is Cary Brothers. Who will be performing at the Hotel Cafe soon in Hollywood.

Dont forget to smile,

J

Artist Spotlight: Meaghan Smith

Music has always been my salvation. I recently started doing an 'artist spotlight' on facebook, posting daily updates of new or different musicians to check out. I decided I would attempt to do a daily blog reviewing either an album a day or a musician a day.

Todays artist spotlight is on Meaghan Smith.

Born into a family of musicians, it seems natural that she and her other 3 sisters would pursue a career in music, but Meaghans route there was anything but natural. Realizing at a young age that she could not read music and suffered from stage fright she put her musical endeavors on hold until a college professor overheard her singing in a stairwell and pushed her to record a demo. After graduating from art school and moving to the other side of Canada to work as an illustrator she decided to give music another go round. Her goal when making albums is to create a feeling like youre leaving one world and entering another, and I believe she does this perfectly. Pulling inspiration from her childhood as well as old movies and musicals she is able to draw us back to maybe not a simpler time, but a classier time. Its easy at times to feel like you are actually listening to vinyl in your grandmothers living room, her voice is pure and simple-in the sense that she's not trying to oversing to make up for the fact that she cant, she sings because the music moves her. Fun note, Meaghan cannot actually read music and just plays from ear.

She will be in Los Angeles for two dates next week which is exciting-playing at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood where a lot of singer songwriters frequent, and then in Hermosa Beach.

Check out her site when you get a chance www.meaghansmith.com

Than stop into your local indie music shop and buy her 4 song EP 'The Cricket's Quartet' I guarantee it will bring an old fashioned, no strings attached, wrong because its right, smile to your face.

As she whispers sweet nothings, and empties her soul into your ears I hope you dont forget to smile at the beautiful music being made.

-J

Mission Midnight

What a joyous night I had. As most of you know one of my big reasons for coming to Los Angeles was to get involved with nonprofits to mentor, educate, advocate and inspire. I have done volunteer work since arriving but mostly with entertainment non-profits, tonight however, both worlds collided.

Tonight March 2, 2010 I volunteered at The Roxy for an event that teamed music, fashion and mission. Shirock is a band from Tennessee who wanted to organize an event that not only brought attention to the ever evolving homeless issue in LA, but also to do something about it. After some calls were made, tweets were retweeted and a few hundred facebookers were fans of a new project. Shirock had successfully booked the Roxy on the Sunset Strip to host their music showcase along with the Daylighters, through mutual friends got Michael Welch (of Twilight fame) to host and start the night with a fashion show by aviationnation (Im not sure why its called this it has nothing to do with aviation...or our nation really.)

So today I was in the midst of applying to more jobs and ran across an ad looking for photographers for a red carpet event happening tonight. This was immediately following an looking for a female escort to the same red carpet!?! It was for a showcase for a band I had never heard of and to benefit some mission I had never heard of. So naturally I did some research and found out the event was to benefit the Midnight Mission of LA.This would be done by collecting clothing and monetary donations at the door instead of selling tickets. The mission specializes in all that of a soup kitchen and homeless shelter but really for those transitioning back into 'the real world' (though I dont know how much realer it gets than living on the street.) Of course the next step for me was to see what I could do to get involved. After calling the publicicst I got Fallon's (the manager) email and sent a letter to see if there was any need for extra volunteers. Within an hour Fallon had responded and was super excited to have me help out.

I was under the impression I would be helping sort clothes upon donation, or doing security or loading trucks, but the event turned out to be a lot smaller than anticipated and they didnt have anyone run donations so I just hung out inside for soundcheck where I met Maya. I did help show people to the head, direct to point persons and answer questions about who was on the red carpet and why they were there (I thought this was funny because the only reason I knew was becaue I actually listened to them speak, I guess most people in Hollywood dont actually take the time to listen.) Maya is a 14 year old local who helped publicize and collect donations for the event. The last time she was at the Roxy she was onstage playing bass with her band. tonight she was there to remember a friend who was recently killed on her way to school due to being hit by a car. The band dedicated a song to Maya and her friend which brought some of the house to tears, it was amazing. The people I met from MM seem really great and Im looking forward to working with them soon.

Pretty much everyone, well most, of the people there tonight were VIP. This is because if you werent in the band, an actor or with the mission you were probably with a record label here to scout, family or friend of the band, actor or mission or maybe you were one of like 80 freaking photographers. And Im sorry to say that I saw how and what these people were taking photos of, I saw the finished product and all Im gonna say is I dont know how they got or are keeping their jobs!!!! Anyway I got a VIP band so I could go all over. Oh also, when I first arrived noone knew where Fallon was so they told me to just chill inside upstairs. It was pretty cool I gave myself a tour of the Roxy, and I have to say I do not know how drunk band boys navigate that hall upstairs because everything looks the same with the stickers. It kinda reminds me of the old state upstairs but with more stickers and less tagging and on acid! Back to the story, while in 'the VIP area' I realized I was standing right next to Mike Welch. We talked about the night, how he got involved and why. Turns out the band and he share some mutual friends who kinda roped him into it, but also his manager or someone is involved with the mission, so he decided to host when asked. He seems like a decent guy, doesnt ever really smile though and always seems uncomfortable no matter who he is around, and honestly he should stick to acting on film and steer away from hosting events. Hes not much of a pump people upper.

*Cool little link between my gigs...Last week I volunteered at a New Filmmakers LA screening on Wednesday night and also with the interviews Thursday. While there one of the founders was showing me a video of 'that twilight boy' and his portrayal of a suicidal moody teen. Well, that twilight boy was Michael Welch. Just thought that was kinda cool. For as big as LA is, its hella tiny and interconnected.

*Another fun connection...my boss's roommate is a celebrity hairstylist and one of his clients is Ashley Greene who stars in the twilight movies with Michael Welch.

Back to the night, photographed a ton on the red carpet (oh and for those of you at home, red carpets are so tiny I know most of you think of this long extravagant thing like you see for the Oscars, but most others for events, premieres, whatever are tiny,) fashion show was quick and nothing new-the bikinis were plain-cute but plain, the logos and clothes looked like something from an Aero or American Eagle catalog and the models acted high as hell, Shirock rocked! Im glad Im not epileptic though, seriously because the band used a lot of flash bulbs that really added to the performance. There is a great chemistry between Pap (keys) and the singer. Bought a Tshirt and CD, chatted with the guys, said goodbye to Fallon-she was sad I was leaving and that I didnt really get to work much, but surprised me when she said she was going to read over my resume and see if we couldnt work together more. Fallon introduced me to Brendan ??? who is from some label and also involved in the mission. Almost got hit crossing sunset, car sounds awful-its gonna be so beverly hillbillies this sunday when i move, stopped for a shamrock shake, arrived back to the burrow to find Ant and Sam watching TV.

Probably missed a ton of super important and fun details, but Im tired and have to get up in a few hours. Boils down to the night was great and I look forward to the future. Also, its really important for those of you who are able to give back to your community. Make time for change, do it with a friend, do it by yourself, just do it! I promise you will not only feel amazing yourself but you will inspire others to start making change. If we all just give a little, imagine the possibilities.

Im pretty sure Shirock is now or started out as a Christian band. They've got this Newsboys meets Maroon 5 feel to them. A lot of there songs are about being lifted up when we need it and even mention God a time or two. I should now mention they are a 5 piece band, with a chick ivory player.

Everything Burns Baby!

Dont forget to smile,

J

Please check out the mission if you are ever in town, they are forver in search of compassionate volunteer..http://www.midnightmission.org/

Zac Efron

So right now Sam and I are watching 17 Again. Its surprising because Sam doesnt really watch movies, especially teenie bopper types. I think its pretty hilarious that a 23 year old plays a 17 year old...i realize this is done often and that some of the vamps out there are as old as 29 playing teens!

Leslie Mann is one of my favorite actresses to watch.

Getting ready to head out to the Rob Bell show on his Drop Like Stars tour. He's the creator of the nooma video series.

Much of today was spent researching jobs. I did talk to the BH lady and think I will be moving there in about 2 weeks. Pretty nervous about it, because the kids seem pretty attached to the current provider, but I think it should be fun and work out well.

Valentine's Day 2010

I think this is the first Valentine's I haven't spent with at least one member of my family. Its weird, I mean Ive never had an actual Valentine, well not since Josh Doyle in elementary school (and yes I still remember you blowing kisses on the bus) but Ive always had mom or Rosa or woody or someone. Abs was the first to send love at midnight, which was super sweet. Im going to be completely honest I thought after church I might treat myself to ice cream or chocolate covered strawberries and be that girl who smiles on the outside but inside is totally bitter and jealous of all you cute and sweet couples. BUT I did not turn into that girl and ill tell you why.

I spent the morning with the youth group making cards to give to people who didnt have valentines, needed a pick me up or were new to the community. The kids were super cute with how they distributed them. I gave mine to Helga and Emily during our pancake breakfast. It was during that time we discussed plans for the day. I should now mention that it was 82 degrees today! Sam had mentioned going to Malibu to the beach, and I wanted to hit up Jetrag for their dollar Sunday sale, so asked if they would like in. Emily only had groveries on her list of STD so we hopped in the car and headed to La Brea.

After making an accidental detour to Goodwill, we got to the parking lot and were amazed at the site. What they do each and every Sunday is dump trucks of clothes in their parking lot and everything-jackets, dresses, pants, shirts, ties, vintage, new, EVERYTHING is a dollar. Em found two really cute skirts and I found a vintage childrens dress, crocheted housecoat-thing, golf pants for woody, dress and couple other random things. Inside I found where bridesmaids dresses and shoes go to die!! Two floors of pure goodness and chaos. I guess a lot of people come here just to hang out and hope to run into celebrities, which is crazy you should just come here because its so darn cool.

After purchasing our goodies we make a quick stop at Ems apartment then are off to the beach. We were going to do Malibu but traffic was crazy-obviously every couple in LA thought the beach was super romantic. So we decided to do Venice, but missed the turn because we were chatting and ended up at Santa Monica Poer. This turned out to be a great thing, we experienced so many good people, music and breakers!

After battling for a parking spot and paying the machine its to the end of the pier. First stop the trapeze act, and who is up first...a 6 year old! Super cute! If youve ever seen this on TV-Girls Next Door, or movies it is filmed on the pier! Next its time to pass about 1000 people with ice cream, and convince myself i dont need it. We pass a guy who makes marble looking sculptures of people, and has recieved a letter from the president (Clinton) for it. Pass the usual name on rice writers, painters, breakers (ill come back to them later,) and end with a beautiful sunset over the ocean. Its sad that to have a sunset so pretty means that the world is in danger. We meet this couple who asks us to take photos of them. A nice little photo turns into a laugh session, life story and hang out for about 30 minutes, ending with a Swedish exchange student coming down from the audience(we were near a performer and in front of bleachers) to take photos of us. After some more chatting and saying goodbye I take photos of people in the sunset, the crowd and we make our way to watch some break dancing.

If you know me you know that I am absolutely in love with surfing and breakin! B-girl Be! So I was super excited to experience a guy from LA and a visiting kid from Minnesota do some great moves. After finding out I was from Maine one of the guys asked if he could go home..literally to Maine with me. He got two little kids to panhandle the crowd for him, and taught a 10 year old how to strip-which his parents thought was hilarious and absolutely appropriate!?!

After witnessing some after dark volleyball, carnival midway and human pyramid Emily and I head back to the car. the day has turned out better than i anticipated and Im so happy to have gotten to know her better. Youll be happy to know she loves swing dancing, plays music, and listens to bluegrass!

Once home(as I will refer to ant and sams for just a little while longer) we are watching family guy. I start writing and the next thing I know G4 is on and Sasha Grey is reporting from the AEE convention...if you dont know what this is its probably better that way. Sam and Ant head to bed and Im too lazy to go across the room and change the channel so for the last 20 minutes I have learned more than my fair share of new and cutting edge stuff!

Oh and I got to chat with Boutros tonight! I just realized that I think we have chatted for most of the holidays and/or important days since my last birthday, totally unplanned. He's with family in Egypt right now, which he left for just days after I finally got to California!?! But I think hes having a great time and Im just happy hes able to get online. Chris if you read this I totally think you should grow your hair out again-the ladies will love it! Especially with the completion of the tat!

I hope all you beautiful people made some great memories today, and didnt forget to smile! I love you all, and am with you in spirit.

Muah,

J

I smiled a lot today

2.9.10 Tuesday

Today was a good day. Woke up in the morning (feeling like P.Diddy) sent out even more apps and resumes. Yesterday I got a call about being an extra in some upcoming shows and movies filming, so I went in today to read for a bit part.

I actually didnt know I would have to read, thought Id just kinda show up and stand where they told me, smile, clap, cry, and do whatever the puppetmasters commanded, but thats not the way it works. I guess for any part, extra or otherwise, you read a monologue so they can hear the tone of your voice, get a look at you and get whatever info they need. I should state now that my decision to even partake in this was totally monetary. It wasnt to be an actress, because we all know damn well that I am dramatic enough, that doesnt need to be proven. It wasnt to meet celebrities, I know enough of them to know that those poster boys you dream about are just big kids trapped in grown up bodies-they still laugh at farting, eat lots of candy, hardly ever workout and when they do its just their glamour muscles, they are just like everyone else their age. Anyway, Ive been in plays and read for parts before and today, I think mostly because I was surprised about having to read, all the nervousness I used to feel before tryouts of any kind or tests came flooding back. MY face flushed, my leg did not rest, my fingers tapped and I giggled to myself. Nonetheless, I read my part and was given a card with a director to call tomorrow morning for further instructions. (Later found out I did a good job and could handle 2-4 speaking lines, whatever that means.)

After leaving the audition I had some time before meeting up with E in Beverly Hills so I drove through Laurel Canyon and around Mulholland Drive. Oh how thankful I am to have done this because Heaven was shining on this drive! I felt alive! Something inside me was just radiating out, i couldnt help but close my eyes, smile and let go. It was so beautiful, the clouds were golden and looked like they were just sitting on the mountain and hilltops. If you are not familiar with Laurel Canyon, you should be. Chances are you actually know more about it than you may think. Back in the day LC inspired some of the greatest singer/songwriters to write amazing songs. Joni Mitchell lived here and the song 'Our House' was written about her house by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Houdini had a house fully equipped with underground chambers, Zach Braff lives here currently.Go wikipedia or google this place, you wont regret it, and if youre ever in LA do your soul some good and spend time here. OH and you have to check out The Country Store! In the midst of these huge fancy homes, Bentlys and plastic people there is this old run down country store on Laurel Canyon Blvd. thats run by this old hippie who is just so cool. They sell organic food, imported sweets and most importantly Martinelli's Apple Juice!!! Martinelli's is my fa-fa-favorite apple juice, so needless to say it brought another smile to this face today. I splurged and bought a big bottle. Chatted with the cashier for a bit, he loved dads old flannel i was wearing, and that I still listened to vinyl, 'because thats where its at.' We said adieu and I left my little LA oasis to enter Beverly Hills.

Los Angeles is made up dozens of tiny communities-most commonly known are Hollywood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and downtown. In Beverly Hills alone there are little sub communities-there are parts of the canyon which each have different canyon names. Also, where in Beverly hills you live is based on the street name. For example, Benedict Canon is a street that runs through BH, but Benedict Canyon represents that street and others around it. *Benedict Canyon is known as the site of the Helter Skelter, Tate murders, Manson murders-whatever you want to call them , this is where they happened...this is also where I was offered a place to live! We're still working out the details of such, which is why I was in BH. After I had the most difficult time dealing with one of the 3 security gates they have, I decided to park on the street and just walk up...you can take the girl out the county...blah. E gave me a tour of the house, which was huge and amazing, met the kids who are 16, 14 and 9, hubby and live in chef!! We chatted about the details, hung out and then I was merrily on my way. Wont know for about a week what the situation is going to be like.

Was going to go rock out at Molly Malone's to Tyler and Toby's bands, but decided sleep may be in order.The last time I passed up hanging out with them, my car was towed! It was not this time though, which made me smile.

Restaurant I think I might like to try for future date nights:

http://peaceinthecanyon.com/story.html

Dont forget to smile

J

Two Words: ANIS MOJGANI

If you care.

If you love.

If you breathe.

If you strive to speak the truth.

If you listen.

If you believe in the power of words, then dear god you should listen to this man...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qDtHdloK44

This is from his performance at this years Heavy and Light in Orlando.

Other People to check out are:

Sage Francis (Broken Wings is killer)

Jared Paul (Prayers for Atheists is the band)

Prolyphic

B. Dolan

...Just to name a few.

Take the time to listen to the song thrice, once to get feel the rhythm, once to hear the truth and once to put it together.

My hope for today, my hope for right now is that people take the time to do more than listen-to feel. Beyond that to put what they feel into action. If youre sad, be sad, but be sad in a way that lets you grow from it, figure out the real reason. If youre happy share it with the world, or start by sharing it with the homeless dude you pretend not to see everyday on your walk home. take him out to lunch, or let him take you out and show you your city that he knows. If youre scared, by all means be scared, but dont do it alone.

Share your feelings with those around you in a way that inspires love.

Dont forget to smile,

J

Blue Like Jazz

I havent done as much reading on this journey as I originally thought, but Im happy to say Im starting to. Just picked up 'Blue Like Jazz' by Donald Miller at The Goodwill on Vine, for .99!

Jamie Tworkowski (founder of TWLOHA) suggested I read this years ago, right after we first met. Its one of his favorite books, and really impacted his life. I agreed and made note to get around it to it, but as always life happened and it wasnt until I stumbled upon it in downtown Hollywood that I would live up to my end of the bargain.

I am only 20 pages into the book and already have so much to say about it, I mean just listen to author's note which kicks everything off...

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.
After that I liked jazz music.
Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.
I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."

I am now going to list and possibly give thoughts on some excerpts from the book...

"I once listened to an Indian on TV say that God was in the wind and the water, and I wondered at how beautiful that was because it meant you could swim in Him or have Him brush your face in the breeze."

"Why would God want to call himself father, when so many fathers abandon their children?"

"Perhaps it was because my Sunday school classes did much to help us memorize commandments and little to teach us who God was and how to relate to Him..." This reminds me much of teachers who focus on having students memorize for constant tests and dont feel the need to apply the concepts to daily life. Which in turn stems the phrase 'what good is this information, Im never going to use it."

"I started to sin about the time I was ten...ten is about the age boys start to sin...girls begin to sin when they are 23 or something..." Donald then went into teaching what you need to know about sinning in three steps...

Step 1: Always be self-depracating

Step2:Always be grateful

Step3:Always be dramatic

"cusswords are pure ecstasy when you are twelve" This is so true because youth by this point DO know what they have been taught as wrong, and using foul or dirty language is wrong, and holds much power in the words. Therefore making it exciting and glamorous to start using them within your young circle of friends, it makes youth feel in control of usually very out of control situations.

Donald goes onto talk about the summer of his 12th year when he and friends experienced their first brush with the female form, in the way of a smut magazine. He describes it as being a portal to a grand adventure, one that he must keep secret from everyone else. His 12th year was also the year he really felt guilt for the first time. SO, Porn=excitement=ecstasy=reason to live=guilt!

Back in college I took many classes that dealt with the development of the young child. We often talked about nature vs. nurture, how much environments and praise really effect a child's outcome, and whether people are born inherently good, evil or tabula rasa-as a blank slate. Mr. Miller dives into these thoughts as he remembers a conversation had with a friend. Taking place after hearing news of genocide in the Congo, he is asked if he could rape and/or kill. NO! is the easy response, but when asked what makes us different from them, we are after all still human, how can they and not you, the answer does not come so easily. I often wonder when I see people on the street or work with some of my students, at what point in your life do you choose one path over the other and why? Look at serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, stalkers, suicides, murders, 95% of these people who have siblings who were raised in the same household, by the same values or rules, but did not suffer from depression, did not have thoughts of killing, raping, being on a power trip-OR maybe they did, and its just that they learned how to control the feelings and not act on it. I know this is a very debatable, controversial and opinionated topic, and although I could go on forever, put in statistics, stories and whatnot, I am going to stop here and leave whoever reads this to really think about this.

When we are born, do we come out with evil intentions, do we come out inherently good or are we born nothing and only become what we know and experience?

Lets say a mother gives birth to triplets. One child is put into a home where he is loved on, taught right from wrong and given opportunity will he turn out better than his brother who was in a home where there are no values only wrong, and he was not shown love and will either compare to the child who had no emotion shown either way? Would it make a difference?

Dont forget to smile

J

Temple Grandin welcomes week #3 and lots of emotions

monday feb 8

2nd week here

After meeting some wonderful people at HOPE yesterday, I woke to an email from one of them regarding US Census job positions. In Hollywood alone they are looking to hire 1500...yes thats right 1500 people and you make $17 an hour! So, I called and made an appointment to take the placement test. I arrived at the testing facility on Melrose, which happened to be the back room of a driving range (a really cool range on Melrose that is 2 or 3 tiers tall.) There were 7 of us who took the test, which started after the hilarious host had to read, verbatim, from a 5 page sheet telling us to take our time, answer as many questions as possible and fill in all circles completely with a #2 pencil. during this whole process I felt like I was back in high school preparing to take the SATs or some other big exam. Tidbits about the experience; I was the only white person in the room, the only one who didnt have to retest ( I got a 27/28 and the one I missed is because it was worded stupidly) only one who doesnt speak spanish fluently. You are able to retest as many times as it takes you to pass, which to be honest makes me a little concerned about the accuracy of this census' outcome! Nonetheless I find out in 2-3 weeks whether I will be pounding pavement gathering information in order to accurately spreak the $400 billion.

After leaving the testing center I walked around that neighborhood a bit. LA city College was right around the corner from where I parked and I found the Los Angeles Bowlers Association, which had been converted (somewhat) into a fruit stand. As I drove home during rush hour, I passed the hidden taco joint i love so much, subway entrance *sidenote-i love riding subways in New York, boston, pretty much wherever there are not earth quakes, i dont think i will be buying tokens anytime soon for that fun ride* I realized that traffic in Hollywood during rush hour is really never that bad.

Once back at Sam and Ants I find that they have gone out for the night. So, after doing the dishes and making some dinner I decide to put on some TV as background buffer while I do some blogging. Well that idea was quickly changed when i put on the Temple Grandin story on HBO. Before i get into the story and emotion it brought to me, I want to give a little backstory.

As most of you in my life know and remember, I was the mother of an amazing and beautiful little girl named Rosa. If you dont know the story, I cannot get into it but I will be at a point in my life hopefully soon where I can share it with you. *Im in the process of writing a book about it ALL!!!* Regardless of where she is, however far apart we may be, I will never stop loving, caring and hoping for my baby. Rosa was many things-she was a dancer, dreamer, she was silly and she was mildly autistic, she was different but not less! It took some time, patience galore and lots of creativity but we figured out some new and creative strategies to deal with what was a struggle at times. In all the books Ive read on autism, people Ive talked to, shows and movies Ive seen I have never felt so connected to one as I was to Temples story. There are some very drastic differences from her form of autism and that which Rosa had, Temple could not stand the human touch, therefore she could never hug her mother and her mother never her. Luckily Rosa was able to show love and affection through hugs most of the time. There were also many similarities between the two. So many memories and emotions cam flooding back to me. Just when I thought the wounds had almost healed, the stitches were torn out of me tonight.

When I first arrived in LA, and for every day since, i have not been able to drive or walk anywhere without seeing signs and ads for this movie starring Claire Danes. I didnt give it the time of day, the ads looked corny and I thought they were just pumping Claires career reboost. I also had a hard time because often times people try to explain autism or glorify it or stupify it or just flat out make it something it isnt. I cannot stand cheesy or half assed representations of autism, and i thought thats what this would be. I was so far from right in my judgements. I highly suggest that everyone watch this movie. The movie had just started and from the first minute i could do nothing else but watch it. I started at a scene where temple is stating she will rather stay at her aunts camp than go to college. You may not think this to be unusual, most youth who have an extraordinary summer would opt to stay and have fun instead of going somewhere new and different, but the faces she made and her body language brought me back to a time in life i had thought i had put behind me. Temple saw the world in pictures, she has a photographic memory and relates phrases to pictures to experiences and so on. Like I said before she did not hug people but while in college she built a machine similar to what she had seen used on cows for branding, that when inside had the same calming effect as a hug. There was a lever that when pulled brought the sides to squeeze and release, simulating hugging. Many autistic children have moments where something happens, a loud noise, someone being mean, a touch or feeling that sends their emotions into overdrive and they almost have have an out of body experience. When Rosa had her moments where something would set her emotions haywire and all she could do was hit or scream we would wrap her in our arms and just squeeze, repeating over and over to breathe and reminding her we loved her. This would calm her to the point she was able to hug back, get back into herself and talk about what just happened and why. For people that have never had experience with autistic children they think they are just bad and unruly children who need more order. But I will tell you although you do not grow out of autism you can grow into routines, understanding and knowledge. These children are not any less smart, they just learn differently in most cases. DIFFERENT BUT NOT LESS! Moving on, Temple currently teaches at Colorado University, had made dramatic changes to the humane treatment of cattle in slaugherhouses, and is an advocate, educator and inspiration for autism.

The tone of the evening quickly changed when literally as the movie ended and I was bawling, Sam and Ant walk in and start watching WWE wrestling which I find super ridiculous and cant help but laugh. We then watched diners driveins, and dives which featured a restaurant from LA! The Nickel Diner is this crazy little joint on Main and 5th in downtown which serves...Ryan get ready for this....Bacon donuts!

If you are not familiar with autism please educate yourself

www.autismspeaks.org

And please take the time to watch this new movie or read her story, and when Im finished with ours, you should read that too:)

Fun fact:

On this day 50 years ago construction began on the Hollywood walk of fame. Today Ringo Starr got his star next to George and John's. Paul is the only Beatle without a star, and plans are in the works to change that.

Okay its nearly midnight and I have to get up early

Dont forget to smile (especially all my friends in the Who Dat Nation)

-J

Hollywood Swinging

First night in Hollywood involved a trip to Ralphs, Trader Joes and LA Ink.

After hanging out at the apartment for a while Sam, Anthony and I decided we were getting a bit hungry so we headed off to Ralphs for some dinner fixins. Ralphs is the local grocery chain (well there is also Albertsons, Vons and Safe-Way) in Hollywood. Heres a fun little tidbit for all you LA Ink and/or Kat Von D fans out there, our local Ralphs is right next to Kat's tattoo parlor...thats not something they show on TV now is it. We arrived as the sun was setting, which was perfect because here they build the parking lots up instead of out, obviously due to space constraints. This allowed us to view the sunset from the top of the parking garage as it set over downtown. We soaked it in for a few minutes, then attempted to check out the LA Ink mural but there are high walls and security, so a plan will have to be hatched for some photo taking. We then took the moving walkway down to the store, which was cool but even cooler when we finished and Anthony pushed the cart up the walkway to the car. We decided to make burritos, I found some mussels on sale for tomorrow lunch or dinner, Sam and I were excited that an LA supermarket had whoopies-though we didnt buy them, splurged and got donuts for breakfast.

Brought the food back, ate a snack, then headed out to Trader Joe's. Which if you havent been there its like Whole Foods and BJ's had a baby and that baby grew up and decided to actually have good deals on food and not shank people as they walked in. Unlike Whole Foods you dont have to sell your platelets to pay for your dinner. Fun finds of the night: Dried mango drenched with chili powder 1.89, Edamame covered with dark chocolate 2.19 and Charles Shaw wine for 1.99. Sam and Anthony found some neat foods as well.

A quick trip up to CVS and it was back home again. While Anthony made dinner, Sam and I unloaded some stuff from my car. Basically stuff that I couldnt or wouldnt want to replace if it got jacked. Came inside just as dinner was ready. Delicious burritos anthony! Played a lil wii, getting ready to watch the news, and hanging out.

Tomorrow I will be pounding pavement during the day and we are heading to Molly Malone's to see my friend Tylers band, White Lights, play. Wednesday I am meeting up with the lovely brandi Ellis for lunch, which I am super excited about. Oh and I think Anthony is going to set me up with a guitar book so I can start playing again!

Dont forget to smile

Welcome to the Hotel California

As I cross into California and prepare to go through another border patrol security check I am greeted by the sounds of The Eagles saying 'you may check out any time you like, but you may never leave.' It may be one thing if this were the only time on day one in California I heard this, however it was the first of three...thats right 3! Im wondering what kind of a tone that sets for my life here in SoCal? I could take the time to get all deep here and tell you where my mind wandered to while listening to this song...but Im going to challenge you to play it, on vinyl if possible, or while driving in a car with the windows down and make a journal entry of where this song takes your mind.

The landscape is beautiful, as you start to leave the desert the mountains change all sorts of crazy shapes and then fade into green rolling hills that look as though they have been painted on canvas and hung to dry. A quick trip to Oceanside to meet up for lunch with C turns into dinner at Chilis with he and two other marines, which rolls into shopping at a local bookstore for greek mythology and art books, onto the cinema to see LEGION-which was crazy! go watch the trailer and ended in me staying on base at Camp Pendleton for the night. ( I hadnt been able to get ahold of Sam til after C and I met up, so I didnt want to chance sleeping in my car for no reason.) I had no problem with this until this morning when I go to leave and like ten uniformed guys are standing on the balcony watching me leave...Im sure assuming the worst, but sorry to disappoint boys-nothing happened except two old friends, and two new ones, hanging out! Or maybe they were watching because its against the rules to have guests stay the night in the barracks, and were upset they hadnt found a way around this sooner, whatever. This was my first time being on a base in years and since it was after midnight when we all got back last night, you couldnt really take anything in, so on the ride out I made sure to take in all the sights and sounds. Its so weird, it is its own little community with restaurants, stores, movies, schools, and more. Im curious what it would be like to call a place like this home. Reminds me of Celebration, FL but with guns and tanks and stuff.

Drove up I-5 to LA. Checked out Sams digs, walked around Hollywood, which is where they live and have been taking up location at a Starbucks (thanks in large part to Alison, Oliver, Charlotte and Chloes farewell gift :) To my left, outside on the patio, there are two chess games going on. One between a 12 year old boy and and 85 year old man, who is no association the child. the other between two 30 something friends who are discussing and debating each and every move. To my right a late 20s guy, in a gray muscle shirt, tight jeans and old skool aasics, has taken seat right next to me and is nose deep in "youll see it when you believe it...the way to your personal transformation." Based on his grunts and laughter some parts are very funny, some enlightening, and some deeply sad. Hes now talking to his mama about upcoming auditions and getting some good support, which is nice. I wish him the best in transforming his life. Directly in front of me a young girl is losing herself in a Nora Roberts book, and Im thinking she may want to continue reading behind closed doors...if you get my drift. A Strapping young lad is now reciting the paly 'Snakebit' to himself, Im asuming in an attempt to land a part soon? His lips are moving passionately as he tries to keep from flailing his arms while acting out the part. Its actually really fun to watch him step in and out of character, at times completely forgetting there are other people in the room.

In a city that is filled with people moving too fast to look around, it is nice to see a mix of young and old taking time to play games, read, relax, be with friends and push the pause button, even if only for a moment. Just two blocks from the Sunset-Grower Studios you are nearing Hollywood and Vine, an area filled with tourists and people en route to somewhere else. But here the locals and transplants alike are mingling and chillin.

And oh my goodness I think I just officially saw the most beautiful white man of my life...if you took Portlands Johnny V( i think thats the one-plays bass, was CYY) and Justin Timberlake (circa the blonde curly nsync days) mixed them together, stretched him to about 5'11" medium build, aged him to about 35, gave him a soul patch-beard thing, vintage leather jacket, cowboy boots, tight but not too tight jeans, and topped it off with a smile with just the slightest scar above his top lip (after all, you all know how I like myself a little physical imperfection-usually hockey nose or Dermott Mulroney style lips) which when he flashes it, weakens the knees, melts minds and breaks hearts, that would be this man-god I was just had the pleasure of meeting.

Extremely random blog about nothingness in California after days of not blogging is a good start, right? Im off to hook up with Sam and Anthony and cant wait to see what the first night in the Hollywood Hills brings. I think it may bring rain...and who knows maybe even a lil thunder and lightning *insert picture of me flexing here* :)

Oh and lastly a quote from last nights movie, Legion:

"If you were to not wake up in the morning, if today were your last day on earth, would you be proud of what you had done and the person you were? If the answer is no you better start living right..." Or something like that.

Don't forget to smile

J

More cowbell

Or how about more water towers. You know when you are in the south because each town fights to have the biggest most impressive and well decorated water tower.

Arrived in Wilmington, technically Monkey Junction, around 730 last night and was greeted by a fabulous hug from Cath-a-leen-ie. It poured the entire way to her place but then miraculously was gorgeous as I closed in on Carolina Beach. I got to check out the Lion Head Zoo, which as its name states, is a zoo in which you must walk through a giant lions head to enter the double wide building that hosts the zoo...only in the south. A wrong turn and some back tracking and I arrive at the massive complex Cat calls home. As I walk into the apartment I am greeted by friendly faces on the wall...some of which are me...doing ridiculous things. This sparks great stories and a long trip memory lane. No time is wasted though I change in the parking lot...from the soaked flannel to a lovely TWLOHA Tshirt...thought id dress up a bit. I realized I hadnt eaten much since the yummy oats and nectar at Sophs, but I did have some mushrooms and dried apricots as i crossed the state line, and thats it. So my belly had a few choice words for me, prompting me to eat an apple and a Fresca.

We drove to Front Street. Which has a similar feel to parts of the Old Port, but with less drinking establishments and more trendy hangout spots. One of my faves is the Soapbox, but sadly there was no live music on this night. We opted to check out a cave underground that moonlights as a storage facility for old games...which you must be 21 to play. I got really excited when the sign outside was advertising Jenga and CORNHOLE! Cathleen had never played and I hadnt played since Opa Fest (during the Greek Fest) this summer in Portland. Although the entrance made you feel like you were walking into a werewolves lair, once inside the vibe was so chill. Amazing art by many artists hung on the wall, there was a secrets and lies wall-similar to the post secret idea, Jenga, checkers, operation, cornhole and more. Sadly there was no Guess Who!

Cat and I had an audience as we flung bags of corn around and were eventually challenged to a game by some homeboys newly based at the Air Force base in Greensboro(?) After much trash-talking from both sides, the end result was a tie...which of course couldnt happen so it was a sudden death shoot out. the dude who had yet to score a point, got 2 in the hole! Not impressed, well I mean really I was, but I dont like losing. We shook hands gracefully, posted some secrets on the wall, said goodbye to the random penguin, took some pics and went to get some sweet potato fries at Hells Kitchen. My oh my what an ordeal it was just to get fries. All we wanted were fries!! Met a college basketball coach who had some big money on the game, dude who vacations in Denmark, ME- and was wearing the shirt to prove it, and a zoologist who was convinced Cathleen and I had to save the local watershed...I think he had too much jungle juice at dinner.

After arriving back at the digs I unrolled the faithful chair bed, or FnF if you will, that has hosted many a guest. and on Alex Roys great advice I slept with my head on the soft part...thanks Alex! If I were you Id race the boys up to get to the fnf first too. Slept 4 hours and am now getting ready to drive 6 to catch up with Tasha, and am so excited to meet baby boy Owen...whos now 5!

Pics still to come.
thanks for reading this installment of the great adventure of 2010!
Have a lovely day

Splendora!

What a whirlwind of a trip its already been. After leaving Philly Sophi and I met up with a friend in the cute little downtown of Warrenton, VA to have $1 tacos at the Main Street grill. After our severe pizza throwdown last night we couldnt eat much but grapes and bread for breakfast but then I realized how much of a champ S is when she ate an entire quesadilla and fries when i struggled with chicken tacos. Walked around downtown, found an old kitchen thats now exposed to the outside world with angel and gargoyle statues guarding it, took some pics, said goodbye to M then trucked on to Charlottesville.

We arrived to find that S's car was still in tact, even though a very rough dream had warned the only things to remain may be her tires, axle and Obama sticker. Inside we found most of the House of Dimes was home. Let me take a minute to describe this HOD. From the outside it looks like just another white house attached to a new apartment building...?! But once you step inside (on any other occasion but today due to some recent remodeling) you are pleasantly surprised. Walk into the kitchen which doubles as a hall to the first of 10 housemates room, B, is an extremely creative and fashion forward designer who makes most of his own clothes. Back through the kitchen, turn left to find some amazing paintings and other artwork done by the residents here...they were each given one week and specific colors to create and sort of design and although each cheated just slightly by adding one maybe two colors, the end result is a wonderful wall collage that is the spark to many conversations. Sophi has this wonderful ability of painting flowers so realistic they look like they were dried and glued on, Mikes scene of a Sahara sunset looks like something straight out of Africa, Stephanies face is gorgeous and Brendens windblown silhouette is beautiful. St comes out just as we are looking at these paintings, a fellow architect, she has this cool laid back, feel about her...a few hours from now she will be making buffalo wings for A in a cute little nighty...and really what better homecoming for her beau.... Pass a few more bedrooms and you enter the back entry fully equipped with antique craigslist find bar, mirrored walls, bright lights, old maps of the city and crazy cool drop lighting that leads you upstairs to yet more rooms and more housemates to meet. B and W looked especially handsome as they pregame for the UVA bball game, S room is a sanctuary, a place to calm and relax with more tranquility than most spaces allow. I do especially love the fairy wings in relation to Trex figurines. Another A is in the kitchen evaluating the amount of time and energy to redo the redo. I should note that this reconstruction I am soon to mention was brought on by the owners of the property and not the tenants, as Im sure it would have gone much differently if so. There was an attempt at some pretty severe redecorating during vaca...an attempt that seems pretty badly planned and unfinished. If we lived in cartoon world, Taz would have been the previous houseguest. Both kitchens were changed a bit...downstairs they added a washer/dryer which is so great, but now there is no storage. Upstairs they ripped apart the kitchen to add cabinets and counter space, but was so awkwardly done that there are now only 2 1' counters and 2 high liquor cabinets that dont utilize the space of the wall. S spent some time reorganizing, and did a great job reconfiguring the table, storage and misc. items. I think once some open shelves are put in and possibly the fridge door is switched itll be much more workable. Another fun thing we discovered is that the ceiling caved in on one of the downstairs bathrooms. Each floor has one large and one small bathroom, the large bathroom upstairs had a burst pipe that was unknown and finally showed itself by demolishing the ceiling of the bathroom below, leaving a nice sludge for K to clean up.

After settling in and greeting everyone with lots of hugs and OMG's, S, St and I decided to walk through UVA to downtown for some Splendora and possibly a lil Hookah. It was fairly warm so the walk was lovely but we soon realized a restroom was needed which had us wandering the halls and grounds of locked buildings for about 20 minutes. Once we powdered our noses it was off to the trolley stop, which turned out to be the 7 bus to downtown. SPLENDORA is this cute little gelatto shop with about 25 different flavors for your sampling. you can take a 2 minute tour of out back if you so choose...we opted to just dish it out. Pistachio, Mango and Pumpkin were mine, S got Salted Caramel, Mexican Coffee and Maple, St got pear, pumpkin and another. St peaced out to get groceries for her late night buffalo party...S and I went to the top of a parking garage to take photos and talk about the history of Cville, which is really interesting. Oh and the story of how UVA came to be...so cool, thanks Soph. Checked out the ampitheater where Alanis played, stopped by the hookah bar but there was a big cover, due to live music, and only about an hour left so we stopped by the Jefferson and another music venue before returing to the HOD. Trolley dropped us at the fallic lighthouse and we hoofed it up to the house. Soph organized I read and facebooked for a minute. OH and I have to mention that S is going to live on a boat with Travis in Puerto Rico soon....and we may start a hotel with Richie and Abi, so she is getting rid of most material possessions which means Steph and I were gifted with a ton of S stuff. I am crazy happy and so thankful that S gave me an entire new record collection with...wait for it...Bob Marley, Sage Francis, Modest Mouse, Apathy, Beatles, Joni Mitchell and so much more. SO AMAZING! I had left all my records at home for the trip, but brought my portable record player, so this is so cool. I also received a new pair of cowboy boots and the fairy wings that adorned the wall. Its like Christmas x10.

After a sharing of dreams we had breakfast of oatmeal and nectarines...Ive never had syrup on my oats and have to say its quite yummy. Hung out in the cute little breakfast nook upstairs, which is two walls of windows that overlook the street. Now S is reading 'Families we choose' which talks about the legal rights of gay parents, and im blogging. St got more groceries to make homemade mac and cheese for her outing with A's mom. I wanted to leave at noon, its now past 1 and I need to get myself in gear.

Hopefully pics will be on here soon. Off to stop #3

Motownphilly back again...

First day of road trip/epic cross country move went different than expected but was spent with great company. On a day when the plan was to leave at 9am Sophi and I ended up leaving Maine at 230pm. I suppose that is what I get for packing the night before and morning I plan to move cros country. Mom and Dad all but pushed me out the door, and I dont even live there, I think they are viewing this as some trip and ill be back in a week or two because all Big Momma kept saying was 'have fun on your trip sweetie.' No 'Good luck, youll do great, blah blah blah.' I know they love me, but it was the strangest goodbye to date. Stopped in Providence to give Woody a lil sisterly love and take back my guitar he decided to steal on his last trip home. Happily surprised that he decided to restring it for me. Met his boss and some of the lil kiddos he plays basketball with. Another stop at the Vince Lombardi truck stop for a soft pretzel, which their was only one of...and we were off to Killadelphia. Arrived around 1130 to Richies house, danced in the street with Abs for a min then straight to Jae's. I love Jae, truly, but the dude put Sophi and I in his roomies room for the night, stating it was available because the dude had moved out, oh but wait we definitely woke up to some dude wanting to sleep in his bed, and it was taken. So we packed up, I made breakfast for the gang...banana bread, grapes, orange juice with mangoes and chocolate milk and Soph and I are both online on Jaes comfy bed. Shes gathering directions for the next leg of the trip and Im attempting to blog. We are also practicing spanish with Cesar, and planning to move to Puerto Rico and open a resort. Sophi is going to lead horse trips, Trav will lead scuba trips, Abs will manage the hotel, Cesars doing the web design and PR, Ill do interior decorating, photography and childcare. Off to eat the food, I think we may stop in DC to hang out with Obama for lunch then spending the night rocking out to Lady Gaga at the House of Dimes.

Attempt #4 at blog #1

Okay so I have messed up two blogs now and am reposting from another...I may be the worst blogger to date...

Twenty-twenty-twenty-four hours to go

I wanna be sedated!

It is just before noon the day before departure, and I have a ridiculous amount of stuff to do. Getting the golden nugget worked on in a few hours- new wipers, alignment, oil change and god only knows what else. After that is taken care of it is home to the rents to unload the car of all camp stuff and repack with traveling gear and California bound items. Oh and did I mention I have to leave room for Soph and her stuff, bah. Itll all work out for sure, and I have always performed best under pressure.

I am so excited to travel for a bit with Soph, spend time with Abs and Cesar in Philly, and really just to see what the road has in store for me.

As I write this, I am listening to a song being written...about compost. I am going to miss this place more than I realized. It has been a wonderful experience and I feel blessed to have met, worked, laughed and lived with all the amazing folks this fall.

Okay time to officially give up my room in the Stone House.

More to come soon...