ABCs of JBS

So, I'm checking my blogs this morning, and I find that the illustrious Katy Upperman posted this Alphabet Survey.  I'm still in that "writing prompt" mode (since this is planning/packing week for BIG ASIA TRIP NEXT WEEK!) so I thought I'd oblige and fill this out as well.  And here we go!

A is for age
30.  Though I often feel older than old is old (especially hanging out with the younger contingent of the DC YA Mafia), I wasn't terrified to turn 30.  I've heard the best is yet to come, and so I wait.

B is for breakfast today
Granola bar and that new International Delight Iced Coffee.  So far, it's like sugary goodness tinged with a hint of coffee flavor.  Not perfect but I'll keep on drinkin' it.

C is for currently craving
Right now, nothing as it's early still.  Maybe a doughnut, but that's mostly because I'm always craving a doughnut.  It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Jessica BS in possession of a brain must be in want of a doughnut.

D is for dinner tonight
I am not the chef in our house, as I've been known to somehow burn and undercook the same dish, so that's up to The Hubs.  My guess is chicken.  Or pasta.

E is for favorite type of exercise
Don't tell, but I actually enjoy jogging on the treadmill while listening to cheesy dance music.  My second favorite is Zumba, even though I feel 50 shades of awkward while I'm in class.  I just channel my inner Liz Lemon and keep on dancing.

F is for an irrational fear
Just one?  Okay, let me pick my least crazy one.  Bees, wasps, and any other stinging insect.  I know they won't bother me unless I bother them, but when I see one, I can't do anything but stare and cower and fear my imminent death.

G is for gross food
Onions.  Ugh, and sweet pickles.  Yuck.  Sweet pickles are THE DEVIL'S FOOD.

H is for hometown
Richmond, VA.  More specifically, the east side.

I is for something important
My husband is important to me.  He's truly the only person who always, always gets me.  

J is for current favorite jam
A- Katy posted her favorite flavor jam before she posted her favorite kind of song.  That is awesome.
B- I still cannot stop listening to From Finner by Of Monsters and Men.

K is for kids
None yet.

L is for current location
In my "office" in Arlington.  I say "office" because I don't have a door or anything, and it's kind of an open area, but no one sits here with me.  I've got a pretty great view, though.

M is for the most recent way you spent money
I think it was for groceries on Sunday?  I'm trying to not buy anything unnecessary so I can buy more unnecessary things on vacation next week.

N is for something you need
I need to find the discipline to stop complaining about things that are within my power to change and actually change them.

O is for occupation
Keeper of Calendars and Wrangler of Wanderers.  My boss calls me the boss because he couldn't function without me.  It's a blessing and a curse.  

P is for pet peeve
I have tons because that's who I am.  Currently, it's people on the Metro who do not understand the concept of GETTING OUT OF THE WAY OF OTHER PASSENGERS.  I know I live in an elitist city where the majority of people believe that their destination is far more important than anything and everything else in the world, including every person standing near them or will stand near them until they reach their destination.  The sad fact is, it isn't.  And the polite thing to do when you're standing in front of an open Metro door when it's not your stop is to MOVE.  Ugh.

Q is for a quote
Frank: You're telling me that I've been putting shampoo on my sandwiches? Charlie: If you're using the mayonnaise, then yeah, probably.

R is for random fact about you
I am really, really, really excited for The Avengers.

S is for favorite healthy snack
What is this "healthy snack" of which you speak?  Uh, I guess an apple?  Or some edamame?

T is for favorite treat
Currently, I'd say Ben & Jerry's Milk & Cookies ice cream.  It's like cookies & cream and chocolate chip cookie dough got together and had a delicious ice cream baby.

U is for something that makes you unique
I think most things about me make me unique.  I'm fairly difficult to duplicate.  And, despite how angry and frustrated I might be with things lately, I usually do like being me.

V is for favorite vegetable
Broccoli or red peppers.

W is for today’s workout
My plan is to go to Zumba tonight.  It'll be my last class before VACATION.  Have I talked about that yet?  Yeah, I'm going on vacation next week.

X is for X-rays you’ve had
I've had teeth x-rays, a chest x-ray once... I think that's it.

Y is for yesterday’s highlight
I'd have to say when Hubs got home from work, and Mutt was like FLIPPING OUT over him walking through the door.  All butt shaking and prancing around and playful bowing.  That was pretty hilarious.

Z is for your time zone
Eastern!  Until Saturday.  When we go.  On vacation.

Well this was ridiculously fun.

[Fantastic Five Friday] Five Characters To Which I’ve Become Too Attached (TV edition)

In looking through my blog reader today, I saw a post that intrigued me about five tv/movie characters to which the author was too attached.  Then I found out it's a weekly blog meme started by The Weekly Enthusiast.  Then I remembered my blog and thought, "Didn't I used to write about TV shows and stuff back in the day?  I should do that again!"

AND SO, without further ado, here are "five" characters from television shows that I wish were real people so we could be super BFFs for all time.  I wanted to get all random and oddball on all of you (which I kind of do as far as show choice) but sadly, the majority of these are main characters instead of side characters.  DEAL WITH IT.

5.  The Piemaker aka Ned, Pushing Daisies

Print by Nan Lawson, which you can buy here!

There were 2 reasons I was dying to watch Pushing Daisies before it aired- Bryan Fuller and Lee Pace.  These two had worked together on a fun, quirky, supa random show I (of course) adored called Wonderfalls. I didn't like Lee's character that much at first, but he slowly grows on you, and I give all the credit to that to Lee's awesomely awesome acting talents.  The more research I did on him, the more he impressed me.  Pushing Daisies was no exception; it only made my love grow stronger.  If I'm awake, I'm missing this show.  It's always in my brain.  In fact, it's affected me so much that I unconsciously wrote one of the boys in a story to  look like Ned without realizing it and then I saw these and was like, "YEP. WHOOPS."  #sorrynotsorry

Favorite Ned quote:
"Everything we do is a choice. Oatmeal or cereal, highway or sidestreets, kiss her or keep her. We make choices, and we live with consequences. If someone gets hurt along the way, we ask for forgiveness, it's the best anyone can do."

4. Seth Cohen, The O.C.

gif found on tumblr, duh

I had such an addiction to this show when it first aired, like... serious.  It made my week.  I would tell people not to call me, bother me, make plans with me while this was on.  Because of Seth Mother-f-ing Cohen.  He was the nerdy dream boy for a whole generation of girls just like me.  Sweet and sensitive and did I mention SO NERDY?  Big ole swoons from me.  Then, the whole show went downhill too fast, and I broke up with it and it wasn't pleasant and I still haven't see the last 2 seasons.  I'm waiting for the Seth Cohen comeback because I know it's coming.

Favorite Seth/Ryan conversation:
Ryan: Sometimes I think you talk just to make sounds.
Seth: Well, sometimes, I do.

3. Cory & Topanga, Boy Meets World

LITTLE BABIES!!

I love Boy Meets World more than anyone should, really.  I know it's cheesy and predictable and very, VERY 90's.  But I don't even care.  I'd like more cheesy, predictable sitcoms if they were written with so much sweetness and honesty and inside jokes and if William Daniels was in them.  Life doesn't have to be all art films and emo things and THIS IS MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I'VE EVER SEEN.

Cory and Topanga are the OG OTP, IMO.  They were endgame back in the sandbox.  And they knew it, and they weren't afraid to show it.  I never doubted that their love was true, or that what they felt didn't feel supremely real to them.  It's the embodiment of first love, and more power to you if you can find something like that.  I also believe all bromances on TV today owe a lot to Cory and Shawn.

Be careful what you wish for, Cornelius Matthews.
"That's just what I want - to be Topanga's boyfriend. And then we can name our children Chewbacca and Plankton."

2. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

again, thanks tumblr

I already knew who I wanted in the #1 spot, but this one was tough.  I ended up benching Buffy (I KNOW!) for V. Mars, but I'm not going to apologize.  While I do adore Ms. Summers, I always felt an attachment to Veronica because she's just a normal girl trying to do right by her and her people.  She was a normal goody-two-shoes who managed to bag a bestie like Lilly Kane, score a date with Lilly's brother Duncan... and then her whole life fell apart slowly but surely due to nothing she did.  Instead of falling to Earth in pieces, she picked herself up, dusted herself off, and made sure that crap didn't happen to her again.

What I most love about Veronica is how vulnerable she really is, because she certainly presents herself as ten pounds of badass in a five pound bag, and how terrified she becomes when that vulnerability brings itself to the surface.  She'll let little glimmers of her true self shoot through that intense armor, and it's like magic.  Sadly, that's the reason she and Logan have SUCH A HARD TIME being together.  He wants to protect her; she's not going to stop doing what she does best.  Fight angst fight- them's the breaks when your love story is epic.

"Tragedy blows through your life like a tornado, uprooting everything. Creating chaos. You wait for the dust to settle and then you choose. You can live in the wreckage and pretend it's still the mansion you remember. Or you can crawl from the rubble and slowly rebuild."

1. Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls

Oy with the poodles, I have such a crush on Lorelai Gilmore (and also on Lauren Graham too).  Lorelai is completely and totally cah-razy, but she wears it so well.  More than any other character I've ever known, I wish Lorelai was real so I could be friends with her.  I think we'd really understand each other.  We could drink coffee and hide out indoors and watch/mock tons of movies and laugh at the same jokes and tease Luke while he fixes things.  I'm legitimately sad that can't be my reality.  OH, TELEVISION.  How you've ruined me.

Much like V.Mars, Lorelai uses her wit and her charm as her mask because she's so very, very vulnerable.  She's been so burned in the past by Christopher, by her parents, by nearly everyone, that she basically trusts no one but Rory.  When she is happy, I cheer with her.  When she is broken, my heart breaks too.  There are certain episodes of Gilmore Girls that are beyond difficult for me to get through because a- Lauren Graham constantly and consistently knocks performances out of the park and b- I identify with Lorelai very very much.  She makes mistakes.  She has flaws.  She knows it, and she knows when she's making a bad choice but she doesn't always stop herself.  She's so complex, I friggin' love it.  I started watching Parenthood because she'd be on it (and Peter Krause too!!), and I'm thankful for her casting all the time.

So... those are mine!

This is the SOUND of my SOUL.

So yesterday was spent in an excellent way.  I was able to start New Story Idea, which was totally awesome.  I locked myself down in the basement like Sloth (Baby Ruth??) and started typing typing typing.  I'm doing a 30 day trial of Scrivener to see how I feel about it, and so far... I kind of love it to bits.  I know it's definitely a love it/hate it piece between writers, but I'm falling on the Love It side.  I understand the Hate Its, though.

ANYWAY, after a while, Hubs wanted to go run on the nice afternoon, so I took a break to hang out with the Mutt and watch some TV.  While watching TV, this commercial for the Chevy Malibu came on (note: for fans of early seasons of Sex and the City, please see backseat for SKIPPER, YO.)


I love this song, and I also love to belt it out.

After a while, I decide to let Mutt outside for a little run around the backyard.  It should be noted that, since I had been writing all day prior to this, I was wearing my glasses, purple striped capri jammie pants, a Stars Hollow hooded sweatshirt, a Duran Duran t-shirt, and neon blue house slippers I got for a dollar at IKEA.  While unlocking the door, I start singing to the dog, something I often do.  Of course, I'm belting out the lyrics "Why do I find it hard to write the next line?/Oh, I want the truth to be saaaaaaaaid" when I whip the door open and shimmy out onto our porch...

Where I find our next door neighbor doing yard work and looking at me as though I'm wearing my jammies at 4 pm singing "True" by Spandau Ballet at the top of my lungs in broad daylight.

In general, I managed to be Liz Lemon, Lorelai Gilmore, and Jess Day all in one fell swoop.  Who's that girl?  Who's that girl?

It's me.