this is a great song, and an even better video.  i think you will like it.  so check it out, please :)

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

-jess

so guess what today is….

yep! it’s my one year anniversary at

i cannot believe how quickly it has flown by.well, good year, good place, good times.i realized today that i never showed you what was inside that egg.  since you are probably dying of curiousity, here are the final photos:

(nevermind i don’t have time now, soon, though)

-jess

So something happened the other day that made me lose faith in people a little bit…just, in general. And I know that it’s not a good response to have, I mean, why should the actions of one man affect how I feel about many people, but for some reason, it did, and I’m having a bit of difficult forgetting it.

It basically goes like this…

I’ve just left my apartment on a warm sunny day…the kind that seems to make people happy. And I am happy. I am off to buy supplies to make my sister’s bridal shower invitations (which turned out quite nicely, by the way).

I am still just steps away from my apartment when I pull up to the corner. It’s a quiet little corner with stop signs all 4 ways. Not much traffic here. I see a man walking diagonally across the road. He’s already halfway there, so I figure, I’ll wait.

It’s not as if I almost hit him. I did not speed to the sign then slam on my breaks disdainfully…I was in a melancholy mood and was driving the same. I never lurched forward from my stop. I gave him the “walk on across” nod. I honestly didn’t mind that he was crossing at that point in time…pedestrians have the right of way….right?

I wait for approximately 3 seconds and the man, a tall, skinny, bald, sweaty man, stops dead in the middle of the road just a foot or so from my car.

At this point, with a snarling face, he yells “gaw’ on, gaw’ head across, ya f*cking ugly f*cking woman”.

This really bothered me. My jaw actually dropped. I did not know how to respond. What have I done to deserve such harsh words and insult? The worst part was simply the look on his face…it was one of absolute hatred and disgust. The scary kind. I mean, I was actually terrified of this man that I had never seen before. And the intensity and anger in his voice…yelling as loud as his lungs would permit. Nearly growling at me as the words left his mouth.

I felt scared. The most scared I have felt living in Maplewood so far.

And then I felt confused. Because it doesn’t seem right that someone could exert that much anger onto another person that they have never encountered before.

I called my dad for some words of wisdom (he typically offers those quite well). He reminded me that this is why we have wars. That this is why people kill other people that they don’t even know. We can make excuses for the man…perhaps he was having a bad day, perhaps he was overheated from the sun, perhaps he was tired, etc. But does that make it okay for him to unleash what were probably the most hurtful words he could think of in the moment, at me? Well, I really don’t think so.

I struggled with it, though. I have only lived in this city for a few months, and this is really the first time I have experienced such unbridled and unjustified anger in person.

Perhaps I am overreacting…but I can’t help it. That’s just how it made me feel.

Why are people so angry?

-jess

i love working with such creative people.  check out our awesome bowling trophy.  (i stole this from the switch blog, btw)

 

you like?

 

-jess

 

i love to eat an apple.  LOVE them.   i love their delicious juicyness and the chompy noise they make when you bite into them.  i love them in caramel, peanut butter or even just plain.  i just love them.

however, eating an apple can be difficult because i inevitably get apple all over my face.  gosh, there must be some easier way to eat apples.

of course!  an apply wedger!  i always knew these magnificant devices existed, but i never actually owned one.  who knew it would make my life that much simpler. 

my little sister was sweet enough to give me her extra apple wedger. it was the nice kind…from pampered chef. 

i purchased some apples late last week with the specific intention of slicing each into 10 equal, tasty parts. 

apple one:  success!  the perfect apples slices.  i was so excited, i couldn’t wait to dunk my apples into the caramel dip i had purchased just for this purpose.  i think, i better clean off my new tool so it will be ready for the next apple i choose to eat. 

as i washed the new, wonderful addition to my kitchen team, i couldn’t help but smile and marvel at the fact that such a small detail can make such a huge difference in my apple eating experience. 

it’s difficult to clean though.  as i am just finishing up, still ecstatic, i flip the wedger over to give it a quick rinse. perfect.  good to go for next time.

somewhere between the wedger’s bath and it’s arrival back to it’s protective plastic sleeve, something went wrong.

our happy relationship took a turn for the worst.  i’m not sure if my new friend was upset that i wasn’t choosing to eat a 2nd apple just then, of if perhaps it had an extreme distaste for the confines of it’s plastic prison, but either way, i was biten.

my finger was sliced.  and rather deeply.  it was so incredibly razor sharp that i barely realized it had happened until the blood began to flow.  i tossed the offending utensil across the counter.  and ran to find my neon band-aids.  now it hurts when i play guitar.

how dare you, apple wedger.

i thought this was going to be a beautiful relationship, but now i realize i must be more careful for you are not here for my pleasure.  you are out to destroy me.  one slice at a time.

-jessica

eyeball sighting.

 

-jess

future newest member of my family:

 

guess what’s inside….

-jess

okay, i think this is a bit excessive, yet still pretty cool.

so i’ve been buying skittles from vending machines basically my entire life.  there was a laundry mat (or is it, laundromat??) across the street from the house I grew up in, and we considered it QUITE a luxury to have access to multiple different kinds of candy whenever we so pleased.

i dug that.  it was kind of our thing to walk across the street, get some candy (i can still remember the way it smelled in there….ahhh warm laundry and dirty feet), and then hang out on the front porch.  it’s funny to me, when i look back, because it was never a place to do laundry for my sisters and i, but simply a place to acquire some delicious candy.

anyway…back to the present…so in the past few years, i’ve noticed vending machines are getting even cooler.  not only do they serve full meals, make your coffee just how you like it, and dispense a cold, unshaken soda, but they sell ipods, headphones, garmins, and other sweet electronic stuff.

i thought it was pretty awesome the first time i saw one of these machines at macy’s, but this new “luxury” machine has totally blown me away.

at the Mondrian South Beach hotel in Florida, one can buy practically anything out of their luxury vending machine.

here is an excerpt from the Seattle Times:

“In a postmodern echo of the early 20th century’s Automats, where office workers could buy coffee and comfort food without talking to a soul, the Semi-Automatic peddles a jumble of more than 60 items priced between $10 and $1.2 million in a large, sleek rectangular display….

…Never mind the Jean Paul Gaultier dress, the 1965 Corvette convertible or the 24-karat gold hand cuffs. Visitors who really enjoy themselves can spring for a penthouse condo on the property….

…The giant white-framed and purple-accented display holds row upon row of white, high-gloss boxes, identical but for terse descriptions: “Sunset Dinner Yacht Cruise for 2,” “Sony PSP-2000, Black,” “2000 Bentley Azure Convertible,” “Gunpowder Tea Candle.”

Customers can view product images and details on either of two small screens. To make a purchase, they simply swipe a credit card, tap on the product and watch as a motorized arm scoots behind and retrieves it. Products too large for one of the machine’s glossy shopping bags are assigned cards that can be exchanged at the front desk for the purchase.” (i guess the motorized arm doesn’t drag the Bentley around…)

They call it a semi-automatic vending machine, and it all sounds pretty awesome to me.  I guess it takes something completely different to draw attention to yourself in an economy like this one…kudos Mondrian hotel!

-jess

this is where i’m going tomorrow:

it’s on the panhandle…santa rosa beach…close by seaside where the truman show was filmed (i’ll definitely be stopping by!)

it’s quaint.  bicycling, kayaking, walking on the beach.  no parties.  just relaxing.  there is a hot tub, too.  yay!

i absolutely cannot wait to get there.  i can’t tell you how much i need a little relaxation!

be back on Monday night!

-jess