Frozen peas blow

We interrupt this regular-scheduled programming to bring to you – in honor of one of the best drinking holidays out there, St. Patrick’s Day – all my favorite things that are GREEN.

• Broccoli! Hmm, mmm, mmm. I love me some broccoli! I think I eat it three times a week. My favorite is tossed with chopped walnuts, a splash of lemon juice and dashes of parmesan cheese. Try it!
• Money! I’m money-hungry bitches! Just jokin. But I do love to shop (just ask the receptionist who alerts me to my online packages being delivered, oh, about twice every week) – only made possible by those beautiful green backs.
• Turtles! My favorite animal! I love their little pin-prick noses!
• Mojitos! (Or the fresh mint in them). By far the best summertime drink ever. Although, if you’re a bartender, you probably hate them. My bartender friends always mean-mug me when I order them. I suppose it’s not fun to muddle.
• Post-It Notes! Those things are amazing, and all over my desk at work – er, they’re often green!
• Grass! Is there any better feeling than squishing your toes between soft green grass in the summertime?
• Frozen Peas! Just joking. Who am I kidding? Peas are disgusting. I just put that there to poke fun at my boyfriend because I think it’s weird that he eats frozen peas with his dinner.
• My Kelly-green pumps that I dropped into Lake Washington last summer! (This really is a story worth reading, I promise). I miss those bad boys every day. I think I now understand the meaning of “an affair with shoes.” Hello, lover.
• The rainforest! No not really; I’ve never been. But I think this blog post about the rainforest is hilarious and right on the money. Why, again, do we need to save the rainforest?
• Green peppers! I love anything spicy – green chilies, peppers, jalapenos – throw em in!
• Green tea! Since I’ve given up drinking coffee, this is my caffeine lifesaver!
• GREEN BEER! And drinking it! Whoop! Whoop!

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Currently Feeling: Hyperactive and excited for this work day to be over!
Currently Anticipating: Corned beef and cabbage, and Guinness with Mike, Adam, Kate and Amanda!
Currently Loving: Yoga pants. I wish I could wear them every day of my life.

In limbo

The past two weekends, I’ve been out and about in a couple different bars in Seattle that I used to call my stomping grounds, but not so much anymore. Without being able to pinpoint when the exact transition happened, I found myself feeling a bit older than the crowds, a bit less likely to puke in the bathroom or knock over someone’s drink while stumbling by, a bit more likely to head home early so I can get up and jam out a workout or list of errands without feeling like death. I felt out of place in the singles scene – something I thrived in just a short year ago. I felt out of place in the 20-something scene – despite belonging to the club for another three years. In each bar, I looked around the room and thought to myself: getting old sucks.

I used to be the 22-year-old out with her group of stylish friends who made guys’ heads turn. I used to know bartenders, door guys and cocktail waitresses. I used to be able to post up at bars where I knew everyone and had all my drinks discounted. I felt like I owned the city – I could go out at a number of different bars in a number of different neighborhoods and see people I knew. I was a networking, friend-making, drinking and bar-scene machine.

But, that’s all tapered off. The thought of getting up in the morning to make it to work by 8 a.m. makes me want to stab my eyeballs out. Throw booze into that equation, and I’d be burning through my sick days faster than I could accumulate them. Read: I’m a sucker for going to sleep early on “school nights.” And, I feel like more often than not, I’m opting for one stay-in night and one party night on the weekends. When I go big both Friday and Saturday nights, I’m left feeling like I need a weekend from my weekend.

“I feel like just another face in the crowd,” I said to my boyfriend, after explaining all of this awkward “I’m not that girl anymore” stuff to him on our walk home from one of these said bars Saturday night. “You’re still cute. You stand out to me,” he responded.

Cute or not, I’m feeling a bit awkward these days. People say moving into your upper 20s, and eventually your 30s, is great. We’re supposed to be more financially stable, more sure of ourselves. I’ve been wondering when the pay-off happens because at 27, I’m feeling too old for some bars; okay with staying in, but depressed with the lull of life; financially semi-stable-but-a-lot-of-times-rocky; and generally a little unfulfilled.

I’m trying to find something else that fulfills me other than feeling like the center of attention in a bar – something a bit more healthy and sane. But the transition, the next “phase” of life, which most people my age are going through, is just another awkward room where I feel like I don’t belong. Marriage in my 20s is just not for me. Sometimes, I think back about all the ridiculous shenanigans and stories from my 20-something days of being out six or seven nights a week, and I feel like I was laughing and loving a whole lot more back then. Or at least saying to myself, “I LOOOOVE my life” a whole lot more.

I need to fall in love with my life again – the one where I’m staying in more often than I’m going out – I just don’t know how to do it.

Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me

Quick Thirsty Thursday update for you…

The Mexico bathing suit debacle has been solved – thanks to all of you, my lovely readers. The vote was split 50/50 between bathing suit #2 (striped) and bathing suit #3 (hot pink dots). So I ordered both to decide on fit. The pink dot bathing suit’s bottoms were made for 3rd graders or anorexic honeys (read: no junk in trunk like me), so those puppies went back. I kept the striped suit, and here I am in all it’s glory. (I’ve been up in the gym, working on my fitness):

Thanks again for all your input! Cheers!

The Tale of Two Non-Virgins Who Can’t Perform at the Pool

Last night I took a trip to the public pool. Or la piscine (piss-seen), as one would say in French, which I think is much more fitting than “swimming pool.” After all, a public pool is probably very a la piscine from all the kids. Cause really, as a kid, we all know we were warned and reprimanded 100x about peeing in the pool, but we did it anyway, holding our breath to see if the water really would change another color from the “special chemical.” And it didn’t. This therefore just warranted a cycle of peeing in the pool very discreetly instead of getting out of the water, freezing cold, for a trip to the bathroom. (I might or might not have just admitted that I used to pee in the pool).

This is what I think about now that I’m an adult and swim in common areas with children, such as lakes, docks and pools.

But, it still didn’t stop me from brushing those thoughts aside for a Monday-night trip to the pool and community center in my neighborhood. A little pee never hurt anyone! (Gross. I can’t believe I just typed that).

Baby Daddy and I threw the good ole suits on and paid our $4 fee, entering our respective locker rooms. I haven’t been to a community pool since I believe I was in 5th grade. As a child who took swim lessons and attended a number of pool dates with the neighbor kids, it was all very familiar to me – the lockers with keys that you pin to your suit, inevitably leaving a hole in your swimsuit; the cold cement floors with clumps of other people’s hair; the freezing cold shower you’re supposed to take before jumping in the pool; the sting as the smell of chlorine hits your nostrils; the scratchy pool lining that snags the bottom of your suit; the echo of little kids shouting and run-walking down the sides of the pool to the diving board; and the dum, dum thump of the diving board as one swimmer jumps off before the next one walks to the end.

I was hoping for a hot tub, but no such luck. There was a sauna that we spent 15 minutes in before I felt like my face was going to melt off while I simultaneously hyperventilated. (Am I the only one who things these are bearable, at best, and totally uncomfortable to sit in with other people?) So then we jumped into the pool for a bit, and I grabbed a noodle to float on. I figured I’d do a little kicking, doggy paddling and seeing how long I could stand on my hands under water, and count it as my work out for the day. Except just as we got in, a very official pool man started putting up signs that dictated speeds and others began rolling out the plastic floating lines. Dammit – lap swim.

Baby Daddy and I got out and sat on the bleachers and watched the swimmers crowd their chosen lanes.

Me: Well, crap. Do you want to do lap swim?
Him: I don’t care. Whatever you want; I’d be just okay with leaving.
Me: But, we’ve only been here for 20 minutes. I’d be a little embarrassed to walk out passed the lady we paid $4 to at the front desk. We could just get in a kick around a little bit.
Him: Yeah.
Me: I mean, look at that dude, he’s got a kickboard. We couldn’t look any stupider than that.
Him: I wouldn’t use a kickboard. No way. Look at that guy, he’d probably go somewhere a lot quicker if he weren’t slapping the water with every stroke.
Me: He’s old. Cut ‘em some slack. Besides, we don’t know that we’d look too much better. That’s the problem – I have no idea what I look like when I swim.
Him: Me either.
Me: Everyone’s got a cap on. I don’t want to wear a cap.
Him: And goggles.
Me: Crap. We’re total public-pool amateurs.
Him: Yeah. And now it’s probably too late to get in. We’ve sat here too long, staring at everyone.
Me: I can’t believe we just paid $4 to sit in a sauna for 15 minutes and watch people swim for 20.
Him: I’d be down if it weren’t lap swim – there’s too much pressure to perform.
Me: Yeah, we’re pool shy.*

Ba boom, CCHHHINGG.**

*I was referring to definition #2.
** That’s supposed to be my drum and symbol sound they always make after jokes.

Currently Feeling: In need of some serious workouts this week – the last three-week push until Mexico!
Currently Anticipating: Home sweet home. This daylight savings time transition is rough.
Currently Loving: Chocolate protein shakes with milk, NOT water.

Sunday Funday at The Market

Sometimes, it’s kinda fun to be a tourist in your own city – to done a camera and take pictures of the colors and sites as if you haven’t seen them 100x before and can’t see them again tomorrow, to appreciate your surroundings and the place you call, “Home.”

There’s one tourist spot in Seattle that never gets old to me – Pike Place Market. I love everything about it – the local artists; the buskers just trying to make a buck; the free samples of flavored almonds, cheese, sourdough bread and dipping oils, spicy jellies, honey, smoked salmon and apples; Beecher’s Handmade Cheese factory; funky shops and trinkets; views of the waterfront; and eating my way through the food booths, from Peroshkis and mini cheesecakes at The Confectional to Mee Sum Pastry’s barbeque-pork-stuffed hombows (I never leave the market without one).

Usually once Winter has melted a little bit and the sun is out, I crave a trip to see the hustle, bustle and colors of Pike Place. So yesterday I drug Baby Daddy out of bed for breakfast and a walk downtown. I figured it’d be fun to take along my new (hot pink!) camera out to share some of my amateur photos of the sites and colors with you…

,

It might be snowing in Seattle right now, but Spring is on the way, bitches!

Currently Feeling: A little queasy and guilty for staying home from work.
Currently Anticipating: The snow disappearing for good (well, for this year at least).
Currently Needing: To hire someone to hang up all the clothes on my floor.

Stuffed

Last Thursday I concocted my own recipe for a girls’ dinner I hosted at my house. The challenge? One of the guests was a vegetarian and allergic to gluten. So, here’s my low-fat, super duper yummy veggie and gluten-free stuffed pepper creation since I occasionally like to share my recipes.

As they came out of the oven, one of my girl friends said, “They look like they’ve been sitting in the bathtub for a little too long.” SO, maybe if I were on a cooking show, I’d get chopped for my presentation, but I think I’d score in the taste department. One step at a time, for the cooking challenged, one step at a time.

(Remember, you can click on the recipe card to enlarge it and print).

All in all, super easy and quick for the working woman!

It looks kinda funny

That’s what she said…

…one of the oldest and easiest jokes – and a personal favorite of mine. Hopefully you’re not saying, “It looks kinda funny” about the new space. I’ve spent hours upon hours redesigning the Butterfly template from Delicious Design Studios to be my own vision – That’s What Je Said.

A little hot pink, a little leopard, a little wine, and you’ve got a bit of Je, or Jeanna (formerly 20-Something of Memoirs of a 20-Something). I’m pretty excited about my new blog brand – I feel it’s a little bit more original than the former, and a little bit more me. (Like DUH, I’m so much more a wine girl now than a martini girl).

What you see here took a lot of vector-image searching on iStock.com; (do you know they discriminate against curly haired people in the illustration world? bitches), a lot of tweaking and a lot of obsessing. You’ll see a lot of the old sidebar content, and a few new features – psst you can FOLLOW me now. Whoo! Whoo! Plus some more new features to come. Some of the site is still in transition, FYI. The link bar is not up and running yet, the feed still needs to be updated, and the new site address…

…is still in “Internet transition,” so they say. Apparently it takes a couple days for it all to populate. But, don’t you worry, my former address will redirect to the new one. If you can remember, however, it’d be lovely (and more safe) to update your links, and you’ll have to update the feed in your reader when you have the time. I’ll be here for awhile, so I promise you won’t have to do it again.

Thanks so much for your patience, and for reading. It’s humbling and fun to share my writing with the Worldwide Interwebs.

Love,
Je
(Wowza. I feel like I’m kinda coming out of the closest by not signing 20-Something).

Currently Feeling: Exhausted. Seriously, 1 a.m.? I’m crazy.
Currently Anticipating: Hanging out with Vaness and Amanda tomorrow.
Currently Loving: My stuffed pepper recipe!! I’m SO sharing it with you. Stay tuned.

Stay Tuned…

I believe I mentioned a bit ago about changing my blog title – and essentially my blog BRAND. (It’s all about brand when you live in the marketing world). Anyway, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and change the “20-Something” shtick well before I’m actually 30 and probably want to shoot myself cause I’ll be feeling OLD. I also thought the three year anniversary was a great time to give the girl a face lift. (In dog years, that’s 21, so she needs a sassy, adult design).
Some of you might have seen a sneak peek since it’s been up and down in order for me to edit. Hopefully it’ll be live by the weekend. In the meantime, writing will be on a short hiatus since this blog redesign stuff takes some serious effort and time. Cheers!

UPDATE: I will be taking the blog down/making it private off and on while I edit. You’ve been forewarned.

Currently Feeling: Excited with all the projects I have brewing in my head.
Currently Anticipating: Making a stuffed pepper recipe I concocted for girls’ night tonight. Perhaps I’ll share the recipe all here with you if it turns out.
Currently Loving: Zhena’s Gypsy Tea in coconut chai. SO amazing!!

Polish Sausage & Wen’s Birthday

Currently Feeling: A little buyer’s remorse. Meh.
Currently Anticipating: Receiving bathing suit #1 in the mail today (the pink one).
Currently Loving: The BCBG black peep-toe wedges with a buckle across the toe that I bought at Ross last night for $35!

Okay, it’s about time I created a ‘Dirty Hippies’ label

I’ve been patiently waiting to update everyone with a few pictures from my weekend, but they’re trapped on my best friend’s camera, so you’ll just have to read the text version for now. I’ll spare you long-winded details, but I had some fun events this past weekend, and some even greater photographs. Friday night I went to The Polish House for Polish dinner, Polish beer and hanging out with some Poles. Not, I’m not Polish, in case you were wondering. But you can become Polish and hang out in their private club for $1! Now that is a steal during these hard times of THE.RECESSION.

Saturday I went to crazy friend Wen’s birthday party (he who loves to have me as a back-up dancer in his videos)… as a hippie. What is it with hippies? I feel like I’m always talking about them. Maybe I’m a little bit more hippie than I like to admit. I was certainly a dirty hippie on Saturday. Why, oh why, you ask?

Saturday night I was SUPER rushed to get ready for the birthday party because my friend was picking me up at 7:30pm on the button. I arrived home, unshowered, with seven bags of groceries at 7pm. And, I didn’t know what to wear. A really awesome trifecta, if you ask me. After throwing on approximately five different outfits, I settled on a grey tie-died sweater, skinny jeans and tall, brown-suede boots. I gave myself a once-over in the mirror and realized that the sweater was a bit off-the-shoulder, so you could see my bra straps. Eww. That is one Carrie Bradshaw fashion statement I do not agree with (right next to the duck feathers on the butt) – bra straps are tacky. So I did the trick us girls learn in junior high while changing in the girls’ locker room for P.E. – a little slip and duck of the arms, and I threw my bra on top of storage drawers in my bathroom. “I’ll just throw a strapless on while I’m finishing my make-up” I thought to myself. I continued to run around like a chicken with my head cut-off, and barely threw my groceries in the fridge with enough time to slip out the door and into my friend’s car.

It wasn’t until I had arrived at the party, hung my jacket, said my hellos and took my place in line at the bar that I realized I.HAD.NO.BRA.ON. OMG. I panicked and quickly tried to call my friend who was arriving at the party later, but she didn’t have a bra in her car. Looks like the girls were standing alone on this one. Yep, I officially hung out at the bar all night, braless. And Bestie Amanda had a great time gently poking my braless boobs and snickering at me. Hussie.

Who has two thumbs and is officially a dirty hippie? Yep, this girl.

Stay tuned for my adventures in not shaving my armpits or legs!

Currently Feeling: In love with my recent lunchtime Maximum Sculpt classes. It feels so great to have my workout done so early in the day!
Currently Anticipating: Date night tonight with salmon teriyaki dinner.
Currently Wanting: Another slice of lemon cake that’s sitting in the break room.