let it snow

FIRST TIME IN REAL LIVE SNOW!

so, i don't remember if i blogged this, but two fridays ago, i was in denver and it snowed a little bit. i thought that was awesome. it only snowed like, maybe a quarter of an inch and it was all gone by noon. i did not know what awesome really was until yesterday. daniel and i got up, went to a breakfast place called snooze (uhhhhhhhmazing btdubs), drank oj/pomegranite mimosas while we waited 30 minutes for a table, and then ate a delicious breakfast. when we came out, the streets looked like this:



while we were finishing breakfast, my heart was POUNDING. i was so excited. it was like, when a boy you like is calling and you're letting it ring just a little getting the courage to answer it. i was infatuated by the snow! once i was in it, i was in love. it was soft, and powdery, and felt like sand when you walked on it (in boots..not barefoot. never barefoot!). and it wasn't as cold as i expected it to be. and it was just beautiful. daniel and i couldn't wait to make snowballs and throw them, but we didn't have gloves on, so we had to.

later that afternoon, we trekked out, rode the light rail downtown, and found a place to eat soup. it was perfect for the weather. just what we needed. then, we ran into the local tj maxx and bought some leather and cashmere gloves. after jumping off the light rail home, we made snowballs and threw them at street lights and signs. i was too scared to have daniel throw one at me. you have to pack them so tight just to get them to stay in a ball like shape, that i thought it might hurt! then, we realized the temperature was in the single digits, and walked home as if we were in antarctic. it was sorta painful. daniel even told me to wrap my scarf around my face and he would lead me home ♥. i wanted to tough it out though. our first snow experience was a great day. too bad his flight the today wasn't cancelled.

seriously

really though...what is it about traveling that makes one so freakin gassy?

what the what?

where have i been. i've been busy. OK. i've been cleaning my house daily. my little puppy got sick. twice. i've been packing. i've been selling things. i've been to handel's messiah. i've been to the nutcracker. my sister got engaged!!! and i've been in denver for the past 4 days.

so, my house is clean one day, and dirty the next. how does that freakin happen? how does a house get so messed up so quickly? i mean, i know how it happens...it's easier to mess up a house than clean it...but really, how does it happen? so, i've been cleaning non-stop lately. and, since i've have been gone for 5 days when i get back home, it'll probably be a mess again. ohhhh, so that's how the mess happens..............

poor poor oliver has been sickly lately. a few weeks ago, he was throwing up. a lot. so he needed meds (expensive ones) and a vet visit. that was rough. it's so hard to do anything around the house when there is a poor sick puppy that just wants to snuggle in your lap! then, last week, his eye and ear got hurted. there is an ulcer in his eye and an infection in his ear. so, until i figured that out, he slept all day in my lap again. if i tried to get up, he would follow me everywhere as normal, but slowly, and it looked painful. so i took it easy with him. and then he needed more meds (more expensive meds) and a visit. and let me tell ya, rubbing gel on your dog's eye is not only gross, but really really really hard to do. at least the ear meds are simple. and he's happy again :) omg, i love my doggy sooo much!

i saw handel's messiah with mary ellen. my besterest friend. she quit her job, so i treated her to some symphonic action :) i love handel's messiah. it puts me in the christmas spirit. unfortunately, it was performed in a church that had horrible acoustics. that aside, it was beautiful. and before and after, ma (that's mary ellen) and i drank yummy hot chocoloate with mccormicks. yum

daniel and i bought his mom tickets to the nutcracker for her birthday back in november. so, she cashed that in on december 11 and we got to see the beautiful ballet. it was magical. i haven't seen the nutcracker...or any ballet in FOREVER. it was one of the most beautiful things i've seen this year. makes me want to be a ballerina. bad. then, watching "black swan" made me want to not be a ballerina.

the night i was the nutcracker, my sister went on a date and it ended in engagement :) so, i grew up with a bunch of other filipino kids. most of who have significant others now. daniel and i have been together for almost 4 years. michelle and matt have been together for like 7 years. ilene and kenneth have been together for i don't even know how long...maybe 8 years? charlton and linda have been together for probably 5 years. and the rest of the kids don't have sig. others...except for my sis who has been dating colin for about 1.5 years. and here they are. engaged. my little sister. weird. i never woulda thought that my sister would even date someone. ya know? she's my baby sister! how can she DATE a boy? but, here they are. and he's a good guy. one of the best. i can't wait for the planning to start. i only wish i wasn't going to be in denver during this time. but, her and i are going dress shopping this week on 3 different occasions! now, i can put what i've learned from my obsession with the show "say yes to the dress" to use. yay for my sister and colin! i've always wanted a brother :)

so, here i am. sitting in a hotel room in denver. and i just realized, i don't think i've ever been in a hotel room alone. i've only ever been in a hotel room with my family, or daniel, or on a school trip and sharing a room with 3 other girls. this is the first night that i've gotten to sit. these past 4 hours that i've been sitting on the couch watching "toy story 2" and "sarah palin's alaska" (yeah..it was the only thing on for a while...) has been the longest amount of time that i've done nothing since thursday. my mom and i arrived on thursday morning and we've pretty much been driving or looking at an apartment since. i dropped my mom off at the airport this afternoon and drove back to the hotel and am RELAXING. i think i've finalized my choice as to where i'm going to live. it's not where i expected. i thought i would be living in a unique duplex or house or walk up in the highlands area of denver. it looks like i'm going to be living in downtown. better deals, ya know? so, it's not as unique, but it's nice all together. plus, i'm broke as a joke. so, i've got to get the absolute best deal on a place that makes me feel safe. i saw some holes for real cheap, but i would not feel safe at all there.

i really don't know what i'm saying now. i can't even read the last paragraph to edit it...i'm so exhausted. i can't wait to go home. goodbye.

family dinner

my "sisters" and i started doing family dinner every week in 2005.

let me start with why i put quotes around the word sisters. i have one little sister. kristin. she's beautiful and hilarious and way taller than me. she's 21 months younger than i am. she is very smart, already has her masters degree, and works very hard. (total opposite of me). she's basically better than me in every way.

i'm really not sure when this really happened, but when i was probably about 2 or 3, our family met a wonderful family who had 2 little girls just about our age. michelle is my age (grade wise...she's actually 10 months old than me) and danielle is my sister's age (1 month younger). so, when we were 4...5 michelle and i started going to montessori school together. then, the next year, we started at john paul II catholic school. and when nin (that's what i call my little sister...kristin...because when i was a youngin', i couldn't say kristin. i said ninin. thus, i call her nin) and danielle were about 4, they started pre-school at jp2. soooooo, we spent basically our lives together. we carpooled everyday. either my mom or their dad would take us to school. and, sometimes their way magnificent grandfather, tatay (pronounced: tah-tie). so seriously, favorite family in the world when we were growing up. and to be honest, on of our most favoritests today.

so, junior year, 2005-2006, michelle and i were roommates at an apartment on robbins place on west campus. danielle lived at kinsolving dorms and nin lived at prather dorms. both had horrible roommates, but, you live, you learn. anyway, since michelle and i lived in a place with an actual stove and oven, we would cook dinner for our incompetent little sisters once per week, pretty much every week. it was magnificent. we LOVED when our sisters would come to our tiny apartment for dinner. that was where my sister made up the "black eyed peas dance" (you'd really have to see this dance to a whistle...it's phenomenal). after that year, all four of use moved in together, so the dinners became less frequent since we saw each other every day and basically, took each other for granted. then michelle graduated. then i graduated (a year late). then danielle graduated. then nin graduated (a year late...but with a masters. ugh!). needless to say, dinners went bye bye long ago. but, michelle got into graduate school at UT in June of 2009 and the dinners slowly started up again. once a week was a bit too often for us, but we all made it every couple of months. and family dinner is the best time i every have. EVER. i love these girls more than anything! i think i speak for nin in saying that knowing michelle and danielle since our baby-hood is the best relationship outside of ours that we have ever made. seriously, bfflfeae. figure it out. we love them.


soul food from my last family dinner


colin, nin, ilene (our other sister ♥), danielle, michelle, and daniel enjoying soul food

now, daniel's sister has initiated simons' family dinner. mama cooked for us a couple of weeks ago (OMG! lasagna AND pot roast!!!) and holley cooked for us the week after (mmm, squash spaghetti! look it up. to die for!).

i love that the tradition lives on in all aspects of my life. i LOVE being cooked for and i LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking for others. it is a WONDERFUL feeling being a host. a bit stressful, but a lovely feeling all the same. i SERIOUSLY cannot wait for the next sister dinner and i also can't wait for the next simons family dinner. both will be a blast!

and blah blah blah, i'm semi drunk...but i meant everything i said!!!

winter

I guess time Warner wasn't happy with me being an unhappy customer who wrote about it online because now I don't have cable or Internet access at home. awesome. (I don't think they really found my blog and effed up our connection, but funny how things work, right?) so, I'm at mozart's cafe on lake austin. I forgot about Mozart's holiday decorations until I got here! I'm not getting the whole effect right now because it's daylight out, but i remember from years past how beautiful it is here at night :) and, I have decided. Christmas decor is coming out! Daniel said he would take the decor down, but the reality is that when I come back during my first break in march, it'll all still be up. and that's ok 'cause who doesn't love Christmas decorations (at anytime of the year)!

and the sun is going down now. the holiday lights are becoming brighter here and it is feeling more magical (and my hands are so cold now, I can barely feel them). yes, the decor at home is the right decision. I'm about to be ultimately sad, what with being away from everything I know and love. why not have some happiness to look at. maybe I'll even put some stuff up at my new place (wherever that will be). goodbye.

beauty

i just finished watching larry king with guest stevie wonder and the victoria's secret annual fashion show.

let's start with larry and stevie. first, larry king freakin old! but really, i wanna talk about stevie. he is just amazing. he was talking about what he thinks things look like, and i've never thought about it before, but what on earth would it be like to have to imagine what every single thing in the world looks like. stevie went blind not long after he was born because he was a premie. premies born have sensitive eyes, and the oxygen in his incubator was no help. they have since modified the technology, so not as many premies go blind, but blind since birth. having no idea what a piano looks like, but play it every day. make a living off of it. be married for years and not know what your wife looks like. have children and not know what they look like. i mean, you could feel it/them and decide for yourself what it looks like. and it would be one thing if you went blind after having the ability to see for a while. but having no preconception at all as to what anything in the world looks like. crazy. but, i guess you have no choice if that's what you have to live with. but, stevie is an inspiration. he found what he was good at. what he was awesome at and builds onto it everyday. i mean, he was sitting at larry king's interview desk with a keyboard in front of him and would just start playing random things at random time. to have the ability to do that, blind or not, is a amazing. to put your life experiences into songs (and very good songs at that) is quite the gift.

another gift: victoria's secret models' legs. dayum. you can't just get legs like those. those are gifts. ok, so i don't think victoria's secret models are very pretty. heidi. beautiful. alessandra. bombshell. miranda. hottie with a body. other than that...i don't think the others are very pretty. yeah, their bodies are slammin'. but that's easy. anyone could make their body look good (not tall...but good). what happened to hiring models that looked like heidi and tyra? they weren't stick thin. and they had one of a kind looks. these new girls, all i see are legs and blonde. who does victoria's secret think they're selling to? guys? no, you're selling to girls. so, putting a bra on a 5'10" stick isn't going to sell me. put it on a beautiful person like heidi klum, and i'm more likely to buy it. ohhh, something else you can do. lower your prices!

ughhhhh

dear time warner,

some thoughts and suggestions:

1. you're horrible.
2. when i'm on hold, waiting 20 minutes for someone to talk to me, don't have the automated voice say, "thank you for calling customer service. we are currently helping other customers. please hold for the next available representative" EVERY 30 seconds. and the music you play. c'mon. you don't need to play girl talk, but play some stevie wonder, or beatles. i heard the beatles once while on hold for a pharmacy, and it was the best wait.
3. don't charge me extra for shit you said you wouldn't charge me for.
4. don't trick me into signing a 2 year contract ever again. this is going to be a long 2 years. hopefully i won't live in this house for that long.


best,
jessa l.

getting in the christmas spirit

i'm torn. i LOVE christmas decorations. i even bought a whole bunch more stuff last year at the after christmas sales just to add to this year's decorations. BUT, i just don't know if i should put them up this year. i'm leaving for denver not long after christmas, and i won't have time to take everything down before leaving. and i know daniel probably will not take them down. and even if he does, he won't put things away properly (i'm pretty much a control freak when it comes to the organization of our house). with all that i have to take care of around the house before i leave, and all that i have to pack and organize, i just don't know if taking the time to decorate and un-decorate the house is going to be worth it. if i do put the decorations up, i'll have to take them down like on the 23rd or 24th. and that would just be sad. to have to take down chritsmas decorations before christmas is even here? that just sounds sad. but, to not have christmas decorations up at all? that sounds sad too! i don't know what to do. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

i feel home

daniel asked me today where i feel most at home...at our house or at my parents' house? he said that he felt most at home at our home. but, i told him that it was a tie for me, and i'm sure he heard the hesitation there. it's really more like 49% austin, 51% houston. i think he was a little surprised when i said it was a tie. but, i tried to put him in my shoes by asking, if his parents still lived at the house he grew up in, where he'd feel most at home? he answered, understandingly, his home in mount pleasant, tx. i feel at home at our house because i made it look the way it does. i decorated and made it feel like home. but it's not completely home to me because 1. we've only lived here about 2 years and 2. i know this is a temporary home. i know that in a few years, we're going to buy a new place and rent this one out. that was the whole reason for buying this place. it was an investment. but, my family moved into our houston house when i was 10 years old. i did most of my growing up there, and i know where everything is. when i'm home in houston, i'm a kid again because my mom and dad take care of everything and it's comfortable. so, both places are very much home to me. but, i think my parents' house will always be 51% home to me, even when i'm 50 years old, as long as my parents are there. wouldn't you feel that way? i certainly would want my kids to feel the same way years from now.

viernes negro

i have a love/hate relationship with black friday.

what i hate
:: crowds
:: fake deals. for instance, banana republic outlet discounted their entire store by 50% today. sounds like a great deal and it is. but, none of the tags are discounted as they normally are on non-black friday days. so, for some things, you pay more than what you would if you went there on a random weekend in the summer when they want of get rid of merchandise but there aren't very many shoppers. and i have definitely found magnificent deals on days like that.
:: the rude shoppers. and the occasional rude salesperson.
:: parking. the lot was cometely full and went out into the fields!
:: the mess. ie this scene in lacoste:



what i love
:: spending time with my family and everyone putting their two cents in on what's bought. i don't think there is any other day of the year that my whole family goes shopping together. who does that anymore (besides families with kids who can't drive)?
:: the real deals. i mean, i see better sales on other days (i'm a bargain shopper. i get it from my mama). but, you see some good deals on black friday. and to get the best deals you have to sit outside of a store in the cold for hours. not my style (check back with me when i have spoiled kids. or when the bf needs a new pc and I finally am making some money)
:: my mom buying me things like i'm 12 and we're back to school shopping :)

today i got me some sweet knitted glove/mittens in back and white (yay jcrew student discount available for use with other discounts on black friday!) and a beautiful ski jacket (that will be used as an everyday jacket, too). my mama got me some winter boots. i never thought i would like boots with da fur. but i love the way these boots feel. there isn't fur inside, it's a thermal material. but seriously, these boots are super super super coformtable. and they were only $60! i shoulda had my mom buy the jacket instead of the boots because now i'm broke. but that's ok. it was sweet of my mama to buy them ♥

daniel and i also picked up a couple of presents for people on our list! so that's a couple of checkmarks. i wish we were done with holiday shopping.

now i wish i had the mullah to get this coat that feels like a comforter. this is another type of coat that i never thought i would like. but, seriously. go to rei and try it on. it's sooo soft, super light, and just comfortable. and strangely, i think it looked pretty good on me. i also want these heavier duty gloves. and these leather/cashmere gloves. ohhhh so beautiful! and a macbook.