and that’s where i’m headed…Riviera Maya to be exact. 4 days of sand and sun and warmth. so the fact that it’s 20 degrees here in st louis can’t really get me down today because i’m soon headed south for a toasty holiday.

i leave early morning on Christmas eve.  i’m a little sad about missing the actual day of Christmas w/ my family, but we’ve rescheduled.  i’m not sure it will be the same.  i’ll be w/ my aunt,uncle and cousin emma.  (she just turned 18).  i created this photo of all of us on the beach to simulate what the experience would be like.  this is what we gave to emma on her birthday to break the news about Mexico:

it’s obviously a very realistic representation.

as far as the actual holiday goes, i have almost all of my shopping done…need to pick up a few odds and ends, but overall, i’ve done quite well this year.  ahead of schedule, even.  which is surprising considering i put nearly all of my own holiday needs aside to tackle Switch’s.  if your company every suggests you personally send out all of the holiday cards, i recommend you politely decline, if that is at all possible.  it’s a big task. (though, i must say, the site/card turned out really well, and i’m really happy about the results.)

ok.  time for some email blasting fun.  i’m launching our Q4 “switch hits” today.  if you’re interested in what Switch is up to, you can check it out here. the field day video is complete with cheesy music and all, AND if you watch closely, you’ll notice the magenta shirted indian on the human roulette wheel is me!  it’s worth viewing simply because of that fact, i think. :)

have a good week before Christmas week.

-jess

stella got fixed this week.

she also had to have some of her puppy teeth removed.

soon to follow i will tackle her and cut her talons.

she will probably hate me at the end of all this.  but i will still love her because she’s the best dog ever.

-jessica

do you like? (it’s currently in multiple pieces in a box behind my desk because i am homeless).

i move in in 2 days.  finally. FINALLY.

oh, and here’s a picture of my new roommate.

things i’m missing: couch, washer/dryer, tv, tv stand, rug, desk, dog bowls, mop, vacumn, pots/pans, glasses, utensils, shower curtain, all other bathroom accessories.

so yes, basically, i have a chair.

-jessica

but be bright,
bright,
bright as yellow,
warm as yellow.

the innocence mission ~ bright as yellow

i have failed you all.  i apologize for the 20 lapse in activity on rockjessie.com, i assure you i will not let that happen again.

assuming i am forgiven, i’m going to carry on with the regularly scheduled blogging.

what has changed:

• my little sister is a married lady.
• i have blonde hair
• my wisdom teeth are officially counting down their days
• the grand levee is no longer?
• st louis has gone from comfortably warm to unGodly humid and hot
• the days are longer (my favorite)
• i went fishing for the first time this year

 things that are the same:

• i still haven’t caught any fish 
• i still haven’t made it to the Ozarks 
• i still don’t have a tan
• i still haven’t seen The Hangover
• i still haven’t purchased a protective case for my blackberry

other than the fact that my little sister is now a Bradshaw, most of those things are pretty uneventful.

so what i’m saying is, my life has been pretty boring other than all this wedding planning.  being the maid of honor is a lot of work!  but totally worth it.  i didn’t get much sleep this last week.  friday night i found it impossible to sleep soundly for more than about 45 minutes as i was terrified of over sleeping and missing my hair appointment and then, in turn, missing the wedding.  but none of that happened.

i must say, though, many things did go wrong.  nothing terribly big, but i would be lying if i said the whole thing went exactly as planned.  to give you an idea of some of the things that attempted to break the confidence of the bride:  2 left shoes not realized until the rehearsal dinner, non-functional aisle runner, tornado warnings, broken down car, unresponsive honeymoon resort, crying flower girl, lost necklace, bridal bug bites, wrong piano keys, lost cake deposits and a nearly missed 6am flight.

but despite the fact that every small thing went wrong, the most important thing was unshaken.  and that is the fact that no matter what happened, abby and josh were still madly in love with each other and never once even questioned what they were doing.

no cold feet.  except maybe emma because she didn’t have shoes until a few hours before the wedding.

here are a few photos so that you can see how beautiful it was.  the party was awesome.  the dj was the best i’ve ever experienced (let me know if you want his info, i strongly recommend!) everyone had so much fun and the party was raging until the lights came on.  even my grandparents danced the night away. 

-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

 would love to go see them at sxsw, but unfortunately i will not be making it down to austin any time soon.  ahhhh what a cool place it appears to be.  i will need to check it out for myself.  (sooner than later, please!)

check them out.  i promise you will not be disappointed.

Blind Pilot Myspace

so tonight after work i drove to edwardsville to meet up with my sisters for a little kickboxing action.  first time.  stef bailed, but abby and i made it through.  it was intense.  my muscles feel like slugs and my body is revolting against such activity.

i usually tend to stick to low-impact cardio, but this was much more involved that my normal workout.  i’m glad i made it through, surprised i made it through, maybe, but perhaps when i can barely walk tomorrow i will feel differently.

so what i’m saying is…go to the ymca on esic in edwardsville and get your butt kicked by cardio kickboxing.  even though you’ll feel like a bag of jello afterwards , you’ll feel good.

about to pass out from exhaustion now.  good night.

-jess

The lights here are softer than you’d think
The dim lit peacocks in the trees,
They’re hiding their eyes and their beauty, like me
But if my eyes were on my back
I know what I’d be looking at
Through every shade of brown and green
I didn’t know, I didn’t know it was nothing new
I didn’t know, I didn’t know it was you

blind pilot ~oviedo

yes.  i said pubes…

i thought this would be an appropriate thing to talk about since st. patty’s day is approaching rather quickly.

i’m not irish, by the way.  but sometimes i wish i was.

So there is a place in fairview heights called the “dandy inn irish pub”.  I’ve only been there one time with my old roommate megan.  tasty! (the food, not megan.)

for some reason it always acted as a sort of landmark when i was growing up during our drives from fairview heights to o’fallon.  a halfway mark, maybe.  very irish, green shutters, four leaf clovers, the works.

it never occurred to me to refer to it as anything other than the dandy inn, but my grandmother offered a new point of view that i can’t seem to shake out of my head now and forever after when i pass the dandy inn.

my 60+ year old granny looks at the sign as we sit at a stop-light waiting for it to turn, and slowly reads the sign for my sisters and my mother “dandy inn…irish pube”  the word “pube” was long and drawn out followed by a period of realization by my grandmother.

then she cracked up.  and so did we.  because what else can you do but roll on the floor laughing when your grandma says “pube”.

after approximately 10 minutes of giggling in the car, we finally overcame the uncontrollable laughter only to be surprise attacked again by my grandma’s replay of the situation 15 minutes later.

it’s just a funny thing.  i hope that you can appreciate that.  i hope when i grow old i do not lose my sense of humor.

now i forever will think of irish pubes when i pass the dandy inn.  i’m really okay with that.

anyway– this year, i’m excited for green beer.  i’ve never actually partaken in the holiday aside from wearing a green shirt, or pretending like my undergarments are green/have green on them when i realized i had forgotten the day altogether.

this year i fully intend to participate.

are you in??

-jess

And if our always is all that we gave
And we someday take that away
I’ll be alright if it was just ’til St. Patrick’s Day 

john mayer ~ st patrick’s day

so it’s march

and it’s snowing

on sunday it was almost 80

and girls were wearing tank tops and at the mall (not me, though, because i found that to be a bit premature)

but nonetheless

girls were wearing little amounts of clothing.

and people were outside playing

and enjoying life.

then the next day

ice

and snow

and awfulness.

and now my car is a pile of ice and snow.

again

so now that i’m done complaining about the weather

google took away my page ranking

what once was 2

is now 1

i’m verysad

though i’m not really sure what the means.

my alexa score has stayed constant

so google should really rethink this decision, i think.

read this book:

Dale Carnegie’s Lifetime Plan for Success

perhaps the title sounds silly, but it’s actually quite wonderful.

my dad gave it to me.  highly recommended.

he’s a very smart man, with good opinions.

and a great beard.

-jessica

10am

we’re almost to colorado now, finishing up the final leg of kansas. Kansas is really long, and really boring, by the way. The weather has been a huge pain in the butt so far on this journey.

Last night upon leaving we could really only drive 35 mph at most. Very dangerous stuffs. After we got out of the stl area though, it slowed up and we could drive the speed limit. I actually haven’t driven at all yet, I was planning on taking part of Kansas but about halfway through we realized just how bad they had gotten it. Everything is just coated with a sheet of ice and most of the interstate is slippery. I don’t really want to drive in that and since I drive like an old woman in bad weather, i’m pretty sure no one else wants me to drive either.

 

So the other guy in the car, chad, he got a ticket this morning. Clocked at 91. probably going faster.. I must admit I feared for my life at multiple points in time, but so far we’re surviving.

The biggest issue so far was the lack of open gas stations when I felt I might explode. Finnnnnally, and oddly enough, at bunker hill, kansas, we found an open conoco. Thank goodness for trust stops.

 

I made friends with some girls in the bathroom. They are also on their way to colorado, but their drive is something like 6 hours total. They don’t even KNOW. 18 hours in the car—too much.

They are actually headed to Colorado Springs though. Our destination is Steamboat Springs. I have no idea where this is located on a map, and i’m really just taking the guys word for it that we’re going the right way.

 

I’m pretty sure this is why I bought a laptop by the way. Just so I could type and ride. AND listen to this greatness. I’m not carsick…..yet. But it’s been like an hour since I flipped this thing on and so far, I’m feeling alright. This is good news.

 

It’s pretty baron around here. Just some flat lands, farms, and lots of ice and snow. We attempted to stop at a gas station earlier (which was closed) and found some super sweet ice weeds. I think i’ll post a picture so you can see what I mean. But they were pretty nifty.

 

This morning I woke up after a short nap and it was just before sunrise over Kansas. It was very pretty. The skies are really clear and blue today. Thank goodness the storm is over. It was just really beautiful though, hills, and grass poking through snow dusted hills, the sun hitting everything from just behind the skyline. I liked it.

 

The rest of Kansas, though, very lame.

 

Last night we had a Hutson family gathering at Bunker Hill, IL. It’s always nice to see the family, get a few presents, and eat delicious food. Sadly, I was late. I got off work late yesterday and then couldn’t find any long underwear anywhere (it is apparently an essential item). Once I packed and my 35 minute drive turned into an hour and a half, I practically missed the whole thing.

However, my family loves me and they hid away some cheesy potatoes before they got eaten up. I’m not sure who makes those, but I think they should take a hint from the last 20 some years of celebrations where they disappear within 20 minutes and just make double portions :)

 

So it’s gonna be really great not to work next week. We have just been so busy as a result of conversion. It’s getting better though, and after a week away I should be superb.

We had an area christmas party on friday. That was a pretty good time. Free food and drinks and karaoke. I did a little dancing too, of course.

 

I really want to get there and take a shower. I feel pretty gross and I really want to lay down in a bed. This back seat, not all that comfortable.

Did I mention I only know one person on this entire trip?? Hopefully I’ll make friends quickly though….once I get some sleep I’ll be extroverted again and much less irritable.

 

9:30pm

 

we’ve been here since about 6pm. The drive was ohhh so long, 16 hours straight through. But the tail end of it was beaaautiful. We saw a sunset over mountains. So today, I saw a sunrise AND a sunset. And I only got about 2-3 hours of sleep. So at 930 I have every intention of putting myself to bed.

Tomorrow we’re on the slopes early, by 8 am I hear! Hopefully I won’t fall TOO much.

 

-jess

 

I roll the window down
And then begin to breathe in
The darkest country road
And the strong scent of evergreen

death cab ~ passenger seat