i’m going to Mexico for Christmas.

it will be very strange to be someplace warm for the holidays.  i’m pretty sure that has never happened to me before.

chicago tomorrow through thursday.  digital marketing mixer. 

can’t wait to get some field day photos up here.  it was an awesome awesome day for Switch.

-jessica

i’m gonna be honest.  most of the pictures from the bachelorette party are completely inappropriate for my blog.  assuming i don’t want an 18+ rating slapped on here.

so, no, you won’t get to see the hundreds (literally hundreds) of man-part photos. 

nooo not real ones, silly.  except for the playing cards (yipes!).  those are fun to pull out while you’re waiting for a pizza at 1am.  pizza which, by the way, wasn’t so good the next morning (though i tried it).  we went all out.  blow-up man with built in ring-toss (i’ll let you use your imagination on that one), 48 inch mr. willy, pin the macho on the man, phallic necklace, and more…good stuff, really.

our hotel room turned out to be entirely too small to accomodate us.  which was kind of a downer…but what’r you gonna do?  squeeze in and bear it.  the bathroom was massive.  pretty much the size of the room.  which is maybe why abby slept there on Saturday night.  or perhaps it was due to the close proximity to the toilet…but what happens in Chicago…!

we did a little shopping in downtown.  went to the biggest forever 21 i’ve ever seen. love that.  ran into a friend from college who just happened to also be visiting Chicago.  small world!

we praced about the town, danced on a piano, took a million cab rides, ending ultimately at the annoyance theater where Abby really got to let loose.  she got her long awaited lap-dance (well, sort of–nice guys, but definitely not professional dancers).  the show was called “skinprov”.  basically it went something like this:

{the place: museum} 

dude 1: (staring intently at imaginary photograph) I’m having trouble getting what the artist was really trying to say in this painting

dude 2: perhaps if you take off your shirt!

{shirts come off and fly across the room}

followed by 5 more similar shirt removals, then pants, then 3 layers of man-undies/boxers/etc.

the idea behind it was silly, but quite entertaining.

we didn’t get to see the beach, but i figured out, even though it’s about 80 degrees here, people in Chicago are still wearing trench coats & scarves.  because it’s friggin cold.  it’s just collllld there.  i don’t think i could live there.  i’m a creature that thrives under a warm sun. 

anyway, as promised, here are a few shots of the excitement.  i’ll keep them tame, but if you’re going to get all offended, you should go away now and come back in a few days.

now a few from the bridal shower.  theme = lovebirds.  everything was very nice, if i do say so myself.

-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

our plane landed in st louis just after 11pm last night

needless to say, i’m quite dead today, however, before i pass out for a nice long nap, i would like to share some of my trip with you.

not all of it, though, because as they say “what happens in vegas…” well, you know the rest.

going for work is quite different than going with friends, but regardless, it was still a lot of fun.

here are a few shots of our booth WHICH, btw, won the “Best New Exhibitor Booth”….sweet!

^our truck, breaking through the wall of traditional media (also see our pile of old tv’s to the left!)

^some of our banners

^switch liberate your brand!

^paintball aftermath..messy messy messy. (but fun!)

^liberate yourself from the confines of traditional media by shooting up this tv with a paintball gun :)

^yes.  we rock.  go switch!

^ate my first oyster..i also ate my first snail..and just some of the best food i’ve ever eaten in general

^it’s 5 degrees in the red square vodka freezer…so you have to wear a fur coat and hat with flaps

^so you can see how big he is.

^dancing, posing, i’m not sure, but we certainly had fun at rumjungle

^jeannie sported the switch dots to dinner at mon ami gabi (best salmon i’ve ever had, fyi)

so we never saw the sun, and we barely slept (basically we became vampires for 4 days), but we accomplished our mission, and had a lot of fun doing it…

yay switch!

-jess

during our time at the Exhibitor Show, we are required to wear black dickies button up shirts with our dots and logo, and black cargo pants.   (oh and let’s not forget the comfy, BLACK tennis shoes…i’m thinking of packing the chuck’s and seeing if they will make the cut for the show floor)

wait, wait…cargo pants?  i thought those went out of style 3 years ago.  oh yes.  they did, my friend.  which is why i found it to be such a difficult task.  making my mission even more difficult is the fact that i had no desire to invest more than $20 on the pants (which i will most likely never wear again…perhaps they can become my painting costume, though)

no, not cargo shorts, or cargo capris (which did exist in some stores due to the onset of spring), but cargo PANTS.  in black.

after scouring the oldnavy.com, target.com, and multitudes of other online stores, i trekked to the mall in search of the elusive black cargo pants.

after all, how can you really get a feel for a pair of pants without trying them on?

i visited nearly every store in the west county mall.

while shopping for black cargo pants, i also located a number of other key items that i felt i absolutely could not live without: a necklace with an orange feather, pink tennis shoes, a long sleeved purple t-shirt, and a jumbo box of junior mints.

i did not intend to purchase any of these things.  i also wanted to purchase a kayak, but it wouldn’t fit in the car.

finally, our journey led us to jcpenneys.  ahhhh jcpenneys, it’s been a long while since we’ve crossed paths. 

guess what they had hidden away in the back of the juniors’ secion??

oh yes…there they are…black cargo pants.  in my size.  no alterations necessary.  they even make the tush look nice.

 good job, jcpenneys.  i suppose i can always count on you in a bind.

-jessica

so i leave in 11 days and i must say i’m getting pretty pumped about the whole thing

 why am i going back to vegas, you ask?

 well, switch is headed to the 2009 exhibitor show.

ahhh, well, you have no idea what that is…no worries, i didn’t either until i started at switch.

 quick snippit!

“EXHIBITOR 2009 is the 21st annual educational conference and exhibition for exhibit and event marketers. Sponsored by EXHIBITOR magazine, this event is corporate America’s top choice for serious education, hands-on training, new product launches, career networking, and special access to industry experts and thought leaders.”

mayyyybe it sounds boring to you, but i assure you one thing that will NOT be boring is the switch booth.

 intrigued at all?  we’re covering our progress on the booth and explaining our liberation manifesto through our event focused blog “the liberation begins”

it’s pretty sweet, so check it out if you want to see what i’ve been up to at work lately!

 -jess

so i created this video of our trip to vegas back in novemeber and never put it up….

here it is!

-jess

I tried to do handstands but everytime I fell for you
I’m permanently black and blue, permanently blue for you

chairlift ~ bruises

so for the past couple weekends i have skipped town.  2 weeks ago my little sister and i set-out on a last minute drive down to memphis.

we checked out the memphis zoo, saw an armadillo, some pandas, and a few sweet cats, and spent the evening on beale street.

 it was a great getaway.  though i’m not sure i recommend coyote ugly.  in fact, i’m sure i don’t recommend it unless you are a lonely guy looking to stare at a few girls dancing on a bar with a few hundred other lonely guys and the occassional confused/very drunk lady.

there are so many better places one could go.

we did karaoke, met creepy guys, ate chicken strips, met a not-so-creepy & actually really friendly older gentleman (like 60) who kept us company while we watched a sweet blues band sing the evening away.

 aside from the lack of potato products at denny’s during our Sunday morning breakfast and a rude hotel receptionist who refused our $5 off parking coupon  (promised, but not delivered by travelocity & benchmark hotels), the weekend went quite smoothly.

i suppose i can upload some photos soon now that i know my laptop is not dying, or dead, but is actually alive and well after the help of a fantastic member of the geeksquad at best buy in Clayton, MO.

last weekend, however, we did run into a snag or two.  a few girls from college and i drove to Evansville, IN to visit our favorite Edward Jones financial planner, Melissa Khan.  Evansville was bigger than i imagined it would be. 

we arrived late on Friday, and headed out to visit some fine local establishments.  we parked in the free, lit, camera secured parking garages near the casino.  fantastic!  covered parking downtown for free!

or so i thought.  apparently the cost of parking in the garage is that your car might be raided.  i suppose this goes with basically any parking lot, but somehow i didn’t think someone would find my coat to be a hot item.  

i guess someone is warmer because of me, but a part of my heart went with it, i think.

i am still quite bummed.  (obviously)

the rest of the trip was rather uneventful.  just hanging out.  80s night at a place called hammerhead’s.  a terrible cover band & unappealing crowd at fast eddies.  tasty italian dinner.  drunken red-headed bachelor–good for a laugh.

 this weekend i’ll be happily relaxing in good ol’ st louis.  doing laundry, reading, working out and other boring things.  and i’m totally exited about it.

 i’m even thinking about checking out the weiner dog race

-jess

and i wanna change
change the way we always had
and to make different plans
and try not to make this sad
and i always choose another way

shout out louds ~ very loud

i hate fuzzy ambiguity.

well, to some extent it is necessary, but too much of it is a terrible thing.

i feel so very overwhelmed by my current housing situation. suddenly, and without much warning, i am forced to find a new option.

i find myself scouring facebook marketplace and craigslist trying to find a person or apartment that seems to fit me–but none does.

sure there are apartments that seem nice, and people that seem nice, but i’m having a lot of trouble finding a person whose goals and wants are closely aligned with my own. even more difficult is finding a person who has those things, and also wants to live in the same area that i do.

i don’t think that i’m being excessive or out of line, though. i’m just looking for something different that they are.

i suppose i want to live near downtown. i don’t need to live there. i don’t need to be able to walk to work, but i would like to be near it. i don’t want to drive 30 minutes to work each day.

i want to feel safe. i want to be able to walk to my car by myself at night.

i want a decent looking place. i want a slightly updated kitchen, because i know that if my kitchen is stuffed full of old dirty appliance, i’ll avoid it like the plague. and then i’ll find myself shoving ranch doritos and cheese sauce into my mouth on my bed while watching tbs re-runs. not good for anyone, really.

i want a decent sized bathroom. i like being able to turn around in there. i’m not sure why. i also would like my shower to be clean. i want to get clean in a clean space.

i’d like it to be in an area that is close to things. perhaps a grocery store. a restaurant. a local pub. whatever. i just don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere.

okay. that’s all that is really necessary. everything else is push and pull to get the right price/location/person.

is this too much?

is this too boring? yes. it is. here are some pictures from mexico to de-borify this post. enjoy.

our resort–the Royal Solaris

enjoying the pool

senor frogs

the beach!

 

okay, that will be all for now. g’day.

-jessica

 

Hold my hand
My fingers are cold.
Don’t say a word
Just hold me close.

schuyler fisk ~ be still

 

it is really starting to feel like summer now

i went to my first cardinals game of the year

shorts are now acceptable apparel without getting that weird look

we grilled some hotdogs tonight

it’s good stuff!

as far as the job is going, i feel much busier than I used to. it’s very different, but i really enjoy the environment, the people, the overall concept. it’s good stuff too.

so i don’t know if i told you, we’re going to mexico this summer. i’m super pumped. some of the details are still a little fuzzy, but we know the dates and place.

it’ll be so nice to just relax for a week–surely i’ll be in need of a vacation by august.

i’m also doing a short weekend trip to Chicago in july (i think) actually..for 4th of july. staying near navy pier, seeing the fireworks, shopping, very exciting!

things are good. they are busy, but good.

i’m sorry if you haven’t heard from me in awhile…hopefully i’ll soon become accustomed to this schedule that doesn’t allow for much sleep and even less free time.

i think i’m having a luau soon. i have lei’s, grass skirts, hawaiian music. yep. it’s gonna be a good time. when i finally get around to planning the silly thing, a facebook invitation will surely go out.

-jess

what if i stopped
just for a while
to see where the sun goes
still up the night
just for a while

the bird and the bee ~ spark