When I Grow Up

Have you ever taken a minute to think about little old ladies?

Weird, I know. But, this was just running through my mind this morning. I walked into work, and there’s a little old lady front desk person who seriously is one of the cutest things ever. She’s really super nice, and has the biggest smile on her face all the time. I want to just let her pinch my cheeks, sit in her kitchen eating neon pink freezer jam spread on melba toast, and wear around my house the slippers she knitted for me.

I starting thinking—how come there are always two different types of old ladies—those who are cute as hell and those who you want to beat with their own cane? Seriously. I’ve never met a middle-of-the-road old lady. It’s either total bliss or total misery.

So, how do you end up on one side, and not the other?

When I worked at J.C. Penny’s Styling Salon (otherwise known as the little old blue-haired ladies’ beauty shop), I dealt with old ladies at the front desk on a daily basis for three years. Some I’d see every Sunday at the same time, and they’d never acknowledge me. It was a brisk little nod and they were off. One even got in my face one day, pointing her finger. Over what? I can’t remember. A lot complained about me. My shirt was too low, or I was rude. I think they just hated me cause I was young and reminded them of what they once was, and aren’t anymore. Who knows. I have no idea what it’s like to be 65. And honestly, I’m not looking forward to it.

But, then there’s was one who came in every week and LOVED me. Her name was Ernie. Every Sunday she’d tell me how beautiful I was, and ask about school, and keep saying, “You’re so pretty.” She wrote me birthday cards. I loved her. How could you not love someone who told you every day that you’re beautiful? I thought she was beautiful. So happy and content. She spread her happiness around to me, a receptionist at a desk that she saw once a week for five minutes. She made me feel good and some days, I’m telling you, I really needed to hear that someone thought I was pretty.

I want to grow up to be just like Ernie.

Currently Feeling: So, so super excited about this crazy idea I have in my head for a story to pitch. It’s going to be good!
Currently Anticipating: Happy hour.
Currently Reading: Lucky. Alice Sebold’s memoir. (Author of The Lovely Bones).

Um, Where’ve I been?

When did Steve Saunders get so hot?
Didn’t that guy have his big heartthrob moment back in 1994?
It’s not fair that he makes women want to sleep with him more than 10 years after the first offense!
Jerk.

P.S. Can you feel my Spring Fever? I’ve posted photos of hot men two days in a row. So unlike me…

P.P.S. I want to buy these for me and all my friends:

It’s a strange and random world in Jeannaland today.

Five, four, three, two….

Today marks the one-month-to-go post for Memorial Day weekend.
Not gonna lie, I’m sweating balls.
I’ve been super strict with my eating habits—no fast food, no white carbs, no sugar!
AND, I’ve been running three times a week. (Yes, you heard it here first, I’m still running. I haven’t given up. I’m bound and determined to make it! I’m in the midst of the fourth week of my nine-week training to run a 5K. Pebbles for some of you, but a boulder for me.)

All I can think about is the warm sun on my buns, coconut-scented sweat beaded between by breatestes and sand between my toes (and in my crack). Oh man.

SO, now that we’re one-month away, let me ask—do you feel bathing suit ready?!

(I just added that photo cause he’s mother-freakin hot!)

Currently Feeling: A little nervous to be writing for a site that gets ~2,000 hits a day. I’m SO shy about people reading my writing!
Currently Anticipating: Getting out of the house tonight for a drink with Amanda and out of the city tomorrow for a cabin-bound bachelorette party.
Currently Loving: Tanning. Must. Go. Again. Must. Get. Darker. Must. Feel. That. Glow.

Round Two: Ding, ding, ding!

Okay. So, I know I told all of you a couple months ago that I was going to attempt to write for a Seattle blog site. Well, I did. I posted a couple entries on HotelsbyCity.com, but was quite embarrassed by the level of writing I saw from other bloggers. People were spelling local Seattle hot-spots wrong, writing through the voice of their three-year-old grandson and not spell-checking their blog. I’m not perfect, but I do have a journalism/writing career to uphold, so I backed out of that little adventure.

But, I’m back. I just miss having my voice out in the city. So, I’ve decided to become a blogger for Metroblogging Seattle. It’s a city blog site that has some credibility. I’ve been reading it on a regular basis for the past couple months and waiting for an opportunity to sign on. I received that two weeks ago when they posted a call for writers. And, I’ve been accepted.

You can now read my ramblings on not one site, but TWO. All right! Exciting day for you. Keep an eye out for my posts, or just read about events and news in your local city here.

It’s Friday! Let’s Laugh!

I can’t stop laughing to myself about this video. I haven’t seen something this entertaining in a long time, and it’s made my whole day.

Not sure if you’ve seen Al Gore’s global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, or heard about the nut-job parent who had it banned from the Federal Way school district because he felt it was, “propaganda.” But, please watch this video. I promise with all my body parts that you’ll laugh…

Seek Justice!

I have to say a word about the recent school shooting at Virginia Tech—it’s been on my mind for two days now. I’ve read plays written by the shooter, looked through pictures of the victims, and seen videos that recount the nightmare. The media is going overboard about it, and I’m sure everyone is experiencing “sensational journalism overload” right now. But really, when are we going to stop the media frenzy, and actually work to do something about the school-shooting phenomenon that seems to crop up all over the United States and nowhere else?! It seems the issue at-hand is obvious—when an 18-year-old can walk into a store and buy two guns without any questions asked, here in lies the problem.

I’m so unbelievably sad for the 20+ students, all of whom had incredible dreams and aspirations, which run the gamet from dancing and folk music, to preventing global warming and helping kids in South America. In lieu of the silly burglar-at-my-door situation, I can’t even fathom the insatiable fear of trying to barricade a door or jump out a window to escape bullets. I don’t ever want to think, “my mom and dad…and my future…and I’ll never be able to have a family…I never told this person I loved them, and I’m sorry…” Can you imagine the thoughts that were running through these students’ heads at their final hour?

The world is full of incredible injustices, most of which never get easier for me to swallow. I’m so fortunate; sometimes it scares me. I could easily have been the child living in fear in Afghanistan, or forced to prostitution in India, or starving and homeless without parents in some other location worldwide…. But, here I am, generally healthy, well fed, living in a beautiful apartment with all the possessions I’ve wanted, and friends and family that always love and support me. The anger, hurt and suffering of the world often is hard to understand, but it makes me feel slightly better when there’s motivation for change, people working for a better co-existence, and the fortunate coming together to aid the unfortunate.

I need this injustice to have a better cause. I need our nation to start doing something to change. I need to feel that someday, when I have children and they leave my house in the morning for school, or travel across the nation to better their lives, I won’t have to live in fear of a phone call that says, “I’m sorry. They won’t be coming home today.”

I’ll end with a little personal mantra I often include in documents I write for work. I’ll leave you to guess where it comes from:

Learn to do right!
Seek justice,
Encourage the oppressed…

Currently Feeling: Still congested, stuffed-up and yicky.
Currently Anticipating: “Indie Rock Meets Indie Style” tonight at the Crocodile with Sarah.
Currently Loving: Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.

OMG. I MUST GO TO THIS IMMEDIATELY.

Seems like the best excuse I’ve ever seen to take a trip to Chicago…

Things that Go Bump in the Night

I experienced one of the single scariest moments of my life last night. I think my heart is still beating out of my chest…

I woke up last night around 12:30 to what sounded like someone trying to stick their key in our lock, then jiggling more keys around, then trying another key in the lock. I lay there listening, trying to make sense of it for a couple minutes. Possibilities kept running around in my head…Did Sarah go somewhere? Is Sam, our landlord, trying to get in our apartment at night?…Is it the neighbor? Our walls our really thin…

I couldn’t figure it out, so I sat listening, wondering what the hell I should do. It stopped for a minute, but I could still hear the person jingling through their keys and searching, perhaps for one that fit? It sounded like a damn janitor on the other side. So, I tiptoed to the front door, and peered out our peephole. I couldn’t see anyone in the hallway. I slowly clicked the deadbolt, and moved the eye hole around to see if I could see our neighbor’s door. (Her apartment is located in a corner by ours.) Nope, no one. I stood there for a minute, and suddenly a man started walking down the hallway, toward the peephole in our door, and started trying a key in the lock again. I seriously freaked the fuck out. What, exactly, is one supposed to do in a situation like this? The only thing between me and him was a slab of wood. In that split second, I wondered if he was going to get the door open while I was standing, peering at him, from the other side.

I quickly banged on the door and yelled, “Hey! What are you doing?!”

The man, who looked like he was in his mid-50s, with a ponytail, hat and backpack slung over his shoulder, backed up, looked at the door, and turned around and walked back down the hall.

I immediately flew in Sarah’s room, threw on her light, and said, “Sarah! Wake-up! Someone just tried to get into our apartment!”

The two of us couldn’t decide if it was someone in our building, who was drunk, and at the wrong door, or if it was actually someone who shouldn’t have been in our building. Our landlord strikes me as someone who wouldn’t have ever had the locks changed, and there was only one person it could be—the guy that lives directly below us. The other apartment below is empty, and the person on the bottom level wouldn’t accidentally take the elevator to our apartment. We decided to call the cops, just to be safe, but we opted for the non-emergency line. They came and checked things out, and both of us were eventually able to go back to sleep. However, we’re both feeling a little uneasy about the situation. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. It’s moments like these that I wouldn’t mind having a big buff man with tattoos around to protect me…

Currently Feeling: A little coffee overkill. I’m just so addicted to the sugar-free French vanilla coffee creamer that Larisa introduced me to!
Currently Anticipating: Figuring out if the intruder last night was a mistaken neighbor.
Currently Hating: That I’ve been waking up to sunshine, dressing accordingly, then going home to cold and rain. It’s damn confusing!

A Movie, A Smoke and A Pancake

Monday morning. Hello! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here are a few noteworthy pieces from mine:

• I saw Disturbia. It was okay. I’d give it a C+/B-. I definitely felt the suspense, but it was a little cookie cutter and wasn’t anything to shout about. I’m not sure if the movie was lackluster, or if I was just itching to get out of the uncomfortable theater and away from the screaming 13-year-old mongrels. However, I found myself fantasizing about the 18-year-old lead in the movie and realized that my spring fever has reached astronomical proportions, and it’s most definitely time to work on doing something about it.

• Patience and curiosity prevailed, and I finally ate breakfast at The Dish. I’ve heard wonderful reviews about the restaurant, and have numerously made a mental note to check it out. Located on Leary Avenue between Fremont and Ballard, the tiny breakfast joint always has chairs of people waiting outside, sipping the complimentary coffee and waiting for their names to be called from the list. I’m usually starving by the time I venture out for breakfast on the weekends, and normally just don’t have the patience for long waits at popular spots such as The Five Spot. However, Sarah and I finally went to The Dish Sunday morning to nurse our hangovers with coffee and grease. I’m always trying to expand my knowledge of Seattle-based breakfast joints, and certainly have more than a few favorites. The Dish, however, is probably not one I’ll be frequenting again. Sort of disappointing since I was expecting it to be spectacular. After all, it does hold a spot in Seattle’s Top 10 Breakfast Places for 2007, according to AOL City Guide. I did enjoy the low-carb black bean substitute they offered in place of breakfast potatoes. But, my eggs were a disgusting, watery consistency. Sarah ordered biscuits and gravy that were nothing special, and the two of us agreed that given the wait, it probably wouldn’t be somewhere we’d be dying to come back to again.

• I literally lived an episode of Sex and the City on Sunday. Seriously, that show is always spot-on to real life predicaments. I attended a friend’s wedding shower. And everyone at the shower, plus or minus two people, was married. It was, “my wedding dress,” this and, “on my honeymoon,” that. And I was the girl that everyone sort of pitied cause I was unmarried, single and living in “THE MOST HORRIBLE PLACE EVER”—Seattle. (They’re all from the eastside.)Marital status and location, combined with the fact that a whole group of them were talking about how they never drink much more than, “a glass or two of wine a week,” I fit right in. Let me tell you. I think I found all my long-lost sisters. And I couldn’t help but to feel like Miranda, trying to defend my singleness, or just joke about it. Cause I really didn’t know what else to do. I got a few, “Don’t worry it’ll happen when you least expect it.” Or, “If it’s any consolation, we waited five years.” And Jill looked at me and laughed and said, “Oh so don’t worry, you’ll be 31 by then or something.” OUCH. Because I felt like this was “that one episode…”, I made some crack about feeling like, “I didn’t have the marrying gene.” Wow. Let me tell you how good that one went over. They all just blankly looked at me, and I nervously was like, “You know. Have you seen the episode where Carrie, and then the wedding dress…and, uh, I’m just joking….” The whole affair made me realize that there’s more of a gap between Those Who Are Married and Those Who Are Single than I ever imagined. And I wish people would stop thinking it’s a tragedy to be on my side of the line. But, I did manage to enjoy a few cupcakes, and win the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress competition. So, take that. Us single girls do have a few tricks up our sleeves…

• I’ve been sick now for approximately two weeks, give or take three days. Me and Sarah’s apartment is like a freakin infirmary, or doctor’s office, or what-have-you. The two of us are hacking and coughing every two minutes. I can’t remember the last time I woke up without a sore throat or stuffy nose, and I’ve been eating cold medicine by the double digits. Really, we need to start burning our bedding or something cause I’m really tired of being sick…

Currently Feeling: Nauseous. I think the two Tylenol Daytime Cold pills, the swig of Diet Pepsi, the Cold-Eeze medicated cough drop, and the cup of coffee are a bad combination for the stomach.
Currently Anticipating: Picking Amanda up from the airport on Wednesday.
Currently Loving: The Craigslist personal ads. Seriously. If you’re having a bad day, read through those suckers. They’re hilarious!

Perplexed and Baffled

Can someone please tell me why anyone would still wear any of the following:

Long sweater coats
I loved the trend freshman year of college, but seriously, throw the damn things out. Now they just scream, “I shop at K-Mart.”

Black round-toe, chunky, square-heel boots
I literally witnessed a girl wearing these at Chopsticks a couple weekends ago and cringed.

Trucker hats or fedoras
Hasn’t Brittany ruined this trend enough for people?

Ugg boots
Really a fad is called a fad for a reason. I don’t care if they’re comfortable.

Skinny jeans
They’re sick. They’re gross. They don’t work for anyone over 120 pounds. AND, they’re officially on the way out according to the fashion sites I read. Celebrities are wearing the latest trend—wide leg jeans. Now that’s something I can wrap my bank account around.

Currently Feeling: Pissed that Hotmail isn’t working. Seriously. I have an important job email I’m waiting for.
Currently Anticipating: This weather to make up its mind and lean toward sunny.
Currently Hating: All things related to weddings.