My Quarter Century Celebration(s)

Well, my 25th birthday has come and gone already, but the party is just beginning.

This past weekend I was up in SLO for the Upsilon Class crossover (we welcomed four new sisters into the familia), and I did a little pre-partying with Mona and Jennifer. Can I tell you how much I adore Mona and Jenn? They are seriously my “roll-dawgs 4 life.” They are always down to party and get crazy. On Friday night, I met up with Mona and we kept it chill. We went to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop in Arroyo Grande and then spent the rest of the night watching TV at her house in Guadalupe. The next morning, Mona cooked me breakfast and then we ventured into Santa Maria to go shopping at our favorite spot, Fashion Max. It’s a Santa Maria staple where you can find inexpensive clothes for going out. Kinda like Forever 21, except more ghetto. I can always find something there and for not a lot of money. After the mall, we decided we needed to get our nails done, so we went to this nail place across the street. Mona got acrylic nails, but I opted for the simpler manicure. For only $11, you can’t say no. A little, old Asian man gave me my manicure. The arm/hand massage they give as part of the manicure is worth the $11 already, but the rest of the manicure was just as nice. I went with a red color that actually ended up matching my Blackberry almost exactly.

After we got out nails done, we stopped at Rite-Aid to grab some champagne to gift to Jennifer. Jennifer was in the process of moving out of her apartment and moving in with her boyfriend, Eric, on Saturday, and we felt bad that we weren’t helping her move. Champagne makes up for it, I think. So we made the drive up to SLO and met Jenn at her apartment in time to help her with the last stage of moving (packing up her car and putting stuff in her storage unit). Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Mondeo’s (one of my favorite restaurants in SLO), and then starting getting ready for our night out. I wore the new shirt I picked up at Fashion Max earlier in the day. We met up at Eric’s apartment and cracked open the bottle of champagne. Seeing as Jenn was in the process of moving in to an apartment filled with boys, all we had to drink out of were Slurpee Cups. That’s right, we drank Korbel out of Slurpee cups. So classy. Just like Mona, Jenn, and myself. Then it was off to downtown. Our first stop was Downtown Brew (DTB), where Mona bought me a Tokyo Tea. It wasn’t too good, so I only drank about half of it. I think we were there for about half an hour dancing before we got a text message from Jenn’s friend, Q, to meet him at The Library (a bar). No matter how many times I go to “the bars” in SLO, we always end up at The Library. Jennifer bought me a beer at The Library for my birthday because I was already feeling the drink I had at DTB. I guess the pre-drinking of champagne caught up with me. Either way, by the end of the night, I was ready to go.

My Roll-Dawgs

My growing family

We stopped at Eric’s house to rest a bit before heading to Pismo Beach for the crossover. The ceremony went smoothly and it was cool to meet the newest generation of sisters. My family grew once again. One of Evelyn’s other little sisters gained a new little sister. It was cool to take pictures of the whole family—it’s rare that we all get together (because we’re so big!). The party afterward was pretty mild. The next morning, a bunch of us got together in SLO for breakfast at Margie’s Diner. Tasty food. Evelyn, myself, and Maria finally got on the road around 12:30pm to head back to So Cal. I was pretty tired from the trip back. I was relieved to get home. I took a hot shower, threw on my PJs, and spent the rest of the day on the couch with Fernando watching the Superbowl and the new episode of The Office afterwards. When The Office was over, I said goodnight to Fernando and I’m pretty sure I was asleep before 9pm!

This week has been okay. Things are still really slow at work, which makes doing the work of two people not that challenging. I’m trying not to stress out too much about the future of my company. I know the owner would be really devastated if we had to shut things down. The business is his brain child. Still—if they have to let another person go, I’m pretty sure I’ll be the next to go. Even though I’ve been here longer than our bookkeeper, no one can do what our bookkeeper does. My boss knows how to do all the things I do—and even though I know she’d be beyond busy doing my job, the administrative jobs, and her job, she’d be able to do it. Even though I hate my job—I need it for the health benefits, so please send good thoughts/vibes/prayers my way (or my company’s way).

So my birthday was yesterday and my Blackberry was blowing up with calls, texts, Myspace Comments, and Facebook comments. Thanks to any and all of you who wished me a happy birthday. I didn’t pressure myself into thinking I had to have fun on my birthday, so I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of fun. I worked, Fernando went to school, I tutored, I did a little shopping, and I watched LOST and Top Chef. Fernando came home with a tiny little container of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream with a candle in it, as well as a card, and my gift. All three seasons of Three Sheets on DVD. I’m so psyched about my gift. It was exactly what I wanted.

So now I’m just focusing on closing out the week. Neda is supposed to stop by for a visit on Friday to check out our new house. On Saturday, I will sleep in, then do a little bit of shopping (I have some birthday coupons to use), and then prepare for dinner with the family at Buca di Beppo. Sunday morning, Fernando and I will be waking up super early to pack and leave for San Francisco. Our flight leaves LAX around 9am, so we need to get to Van Nuys flyaway early enough to park, catch the tram, and check-in for our flight.

I’m so stoked for my birthday trip. Kenia has helped me plan a weekend full of fun activities. I can’t wait!!

~LOVE~

25 Random Things About Random Me

I posted this on Facebook, but here it is again:

1. I have been writing in journals/diaries since I was in 4th grade. I started "online journaling" back in high school. I have journals and blogs sprinkled all over the internet. Try to find them!

2. I graduated from Cal Poly, SLO with a bachelor's degree in English with Honors. I looooooooved being an English major, but my degree is pretty much useless since I don't want to be a teacher.

3. I'm in the process of applying to grad school at Cal State Long Beach. The program I'm trying to get into is master's in counseling. The name of my concentration is "Student Development in Higher Education." My dream job would be to be the Greek Advisor to an entire university.

4. I'm a sister of Sigma Omega Nu--I'm about to celebrate my 6 year anniversary as a sister. I've met my friends for life through the organization. I have an amazing big sister, two wonderful little sisters, four of the most incredible line sisters (You shouldda been a LAMBDA!), two pledge classes full of bad-ass pledge-babies (FXis and HFMS), and tons more amazing sister-friends.

5. I've already met my soul-mate. I got lucky because I met him back when I was just 18. We got married on October 21st, 2006 and life has been so great since then. I laugh everyday because of him.

6. I think some of the greatest inventions of all time are DVRs and Blackberrys.

7. When I get bored, I tend to online shop. It's a bad habit.

8. I'm a self-taught wine expert.

9. I would LOVE to go to bartending school.

10. If I won the lotto, the first thing I would buy is an RV.

11. I love animals, especially cats. The only reason I'm not a crazy cat lady already is because my husband is allergic to cats. That's okay. We have a chinchilla named Chipotle. She's a total bitch, but I love her anyways.

12. I currently have no desire to have children. I mean, yeah, I want children, but not NOW. Get back to me in 3 years.

13. I just bought a house--it's pretty dope. I hope to host all my friends and family there at some point. We have two guest bedrooms and I'm decorating them so our guests feel like they are on vacation when they visit. Like at a B&B or hotel.

14. Most people don't know that I love rap and hip-hop music, but I do. It's all I have on my iPod. I especially love older rap/hip-hop. I love me some Dr. Dre, Warren G, Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg, etc . . .

15. I have always secretly wanted to be a barista at Starbucks.

16. I worked at Magic Mountain for about five years off and on while in high school and college. I hated my job, but loved my co-workers at Six Flags Photo Service. I have such fond memories of working there and all the friends I made. Saturday night pizza parties, goofing off in second booth, Lava Monster, etc . . . fun times. Photos ARE better than funnel cake.

17. I'm not a very good cook, but I make awesome spaghetti.

18. I grew up in a "low fat/low cal" household. So I prefer non-fat Ranch dressing to the full-fat kind (the full-fat kind basically makes me want to barf). I also prefer margarine to butter. I can feel the fat coating my tongue. Oh, the same goes for whole and skim milk. Whole milk can suck it.

19. I eat a Lean Cusine for lunch pretty much everyday--not because I'm on a diet or anything--just because I have a really short lunch break, and they are easy to cook and tasty to eat and MUCH cheaper than eating out.

20. I tutor privately during the week. I have two really great clients. I love my "night job."

21. I've been an extra in three movies--Boys and Girls, Little Nicky, and Rat Race. When I got Freddie Prinze Jr's autograph, I gave it away to my best friend, Neda. When I got Seth Green's autograph, I gave it away to my friend Ann. But when I got Adam Sandler's autograph, I kept it for myself. Actually, he signed two things for me--his comedy CD, "What The Hell Happened to Me?" and my VHS copy of "SNL: The Best of Adam Sandler."

22. I LOVE stand-up comedy. Most of my celebrity crushes and favorite comedians got their start in stand-up.

23. I know a lot of useless trivia. It's kinda my trademark. So much so that I have to "maintain" my body of knowledge by DVRing Jeopardy everyday, as well as The Cash Cab.

24. I cut coupons regularly and I join internet mailing lists all the time so I get lots of coupons and special offers. I very rarely buy things without a coupon.

25. My guilty pleasure is reading wedding-related blogs. I probably look at more wedding blogs these days than when I was planning my own wedding. I think about starting my own event planning business occassionally (J. Star Productions), but mostly satisfy my desire by planning my own parties or parties for my friends.

~LOVE~

When Does This End?

My officemate got laid off today. She was our administrative assistant. Essentially, she took on all my old duties after I got promoted. While I did find her annoying on a personal level, I'm really sad for her. She really needed this job. She was still living at home (she graduated high school the same year as me) and was getting back into classes at COC.

Since business has slowed way down, I think that I will be able to manage both my old administrative duties, as well as my newer "Operations" duties, but I still feel down about her loss.

Her getting laid off followed an announcement a couple weeks ago that we all had to take temporary 10% pay-cuts. I have not been given word as to whether I will get that 10% back now that I'm gonna do the work of two people. Hopefully, I do.

We make our first house payment on February 1st!

~LOVE~

Stainless

I think I already mentioned that Fernando and I went ahead and bought a new, Frigidaire stove for our kitchen in stainless steel. We got it through his job at Pacific Sales and we're getting a nice little discount on it.

Our stove

Well, we also needed a new dishwasher, so we were thinking about getting this one Bosch dishwasher that was on sale at Fernando's work, but I balked at the handle because it didn't match the handle on the stove we just bought. So Fernando worked it out for us to get the matching Frigidaire dishwasher. Still a good price through his work.

Our dishwasher--so sleek

Notice the matching handle

So, I was content. The dishwasher and stove were stainless and they matched. All was right with the world. Well--almost. Our old refrigerator was white, but I was happy with just "making it work" until we had more money saved up. Our "old" fridge is actually only as old as our marriage (just over two years), so it works great and looks fine. Then Fernando sent me a text message yesterday telling me that he could get a great deal on the matching Frigidaire refrigerator if we bought all three pieces together. For about $2000, we're getting the fridge, the stove, and the dishwasher--all matching. The price includes extended warranties and delivery. Also, through Fernando's work, we're financing them interest free for 18 months, which means if we pay just $120 a month for the next 18 months, we'll pay them off with no interest. Also, we're getting a $200 rebate from Frigidaire, and the electric company will also give us a credit since the fridge is an EnergyStar appliance. Not bad at all. I told Fernando, "How can we say no?" and the deal was done.

The coup de grace-our new fridge

Our stove was already delivered last week and we're getting the dishwasher and refrigerator delivered on Saturday! I believe we will be handing the old fridge down to Fernando's mom, who probably couldn't afford a new fridge on her own. At least we know a person who really needs it is getting it.

With those deliveries, our kitchen will pretty much be complete. We finished lining the cabinets and unpacking all our dishes last night. Since we've upgraded to a bigger kitchen, there are actually a lot of cabinets that are empty, but I suppose that's what upgrading and home ownership is all about--finding a bigger place for all the new crap you will accumulate in life. Fun.
~LOVE~

Our Kitchen

We probably did the most work in our kitchen--we demo'd pretty much every wall and hung new drywall, we bought a new, stainless steel oven/range and a new, stainless steel dishwasher, we sanded, primed, and painted the cabinets Behr's "Olivine," as well as added all new brushed nickel and chrome hardware, we laid tile, we installed a new window, and we have plans for a new light fixture. In the distant future, we'd like to redo the counters with granite, and put up a new backsplash in either mosaic glass tile or subway tile. That's in the DISTANT future though. In true Jessica fashion, I had to create a mood board for the kitchen as well (no room will go unplanned!). Check it out:

The design scheme for this room was inspired by the olive green color I chose for the cabinets and the stainless steel we chose for the hardware on the cabinets and the appliances. I call it "Contemporary European Bistro." The modern elements are the stainless steel appliances, hardware, and accessories and the idea to do pendant lights. The European infleuneces will come in with the artwork and type of activities we will use the kitchen for. I love to entertain--I love wine, dirty martinis, sitting around and sipping coffee with friends, and I love the idea of Spanish tapas or appetizers and drinks. I want to display my wine bottles and assorted glassware. I've been collecting corks from wine bottle since I got married, and I do eventually plan to craft my own wreath out of corks. Finally, I'm pretty sure I'd like to go with a smaller, counter height table in a dark wood color. Fernando and I rarely eat at the table (we generally set out the TV trays and watch Jeopardy together for dinner), so this would be more for looks and occassionally entertaining freinds. The added height from a counter height table will allow guests to see the TV in our living room while they are seated and enjoying food and drinks. Oh, and a lazy susan in the middle of the table will make it easier for sharing all those tasty tapas!

~LOVE~

Two More

Living Room

This is the mood board for our large living room. Since our house doesn't have a fireplace, we have a lot of room to work with. The main inspiration for this room is "Cupidon" by Bougereau. I became transfixed by his painting--isn't it gorgeous? The couch you see in the upper-lefthand corner is the couch we ordered from Overstock.com. It's tan chenille (super soft). The walls are painted a soft, sky blue color. To set off the tan couch and blue walls, I want to go with a soft green for extra chairs in the main sitting area. I'm feeling more of a tug towards a chocolate brown rug (since the tile in the living room is light). I think the darker rug will really outline the sitting area and make it more cozy. If I go with a dark rug, I want a light colored "cocktail ottoman." The couch we ordered doesn't have recliners, so we need a place to put our feet up. To tie all the soft colors together, I want modern silver lamps and lots of candles and glass candle holders. Finally, at some point in the future, I want to replace the sliding glass doors with French doors, and will cover them up with sheer curtains to allow all the natural sunlight to float through. We don't really need privacy curtains since our backyard faces a hill.

Home Office

This is the mood board for our home office, which is the first room you really seen when you enter our house. I have always loved the combination of yellow and gray, so I went with it. Since this is space that Fernando and I will share, it can't be too feminine, so I'm sticking with a fairly heavy-handed contemporary feel. I'm pretty sure I'll be buying that L-shaped desk from IKEA--it's perfect. Modern and spacious. Enough room for our computer, as well as writing desk space. I want two different chairs. A black leather one for Fernando, and a softer one for me in white or yellow. We want to do a reading nook as well--a comfy chair with an ottoman. I want one entire wall to be taken up with bookcases for that "built-in" look. The art on the walls will be sitting on "floating" shelves. I want to have one of my architect friends draw a pencil sketch of our house from the outside, so we can frame it and mount it in there. And as a bonus, it becomes a lovely family heirloom. We can always remember our first home, no matter where we may roam.

~LOVE~

Inspiration

Ah, heck--I'm bored at work. So I feel like posting my "mood boards" for the three bedrooms in our house. Since we're not ballers, we have to buy little pieces of each room at a time. To keep myself on target with my ultimate goal for each rooms' decor, I created these mood boards. And without further ado . . .

Master Bedroom

For our master bedroom, we painted the walls Behr's "Classic Taupe." Our carpet will be white, and we have bright white baseboards. In the future, I want to finish off the look of the room with classic white crown moulding. Nothing classier in my opinion. For the color scheme, I see a mix of chocolate browns, creams, golds, sage and olive greens, and light browns. Some of the elements in this board that I am "stuck on" are mounting a flat screen TV on the wall, a tall chest of drawers, a photo collage, a sleigh bed, indoor plants/flowers, and ceiling-to-floor curtains.

Guest bedroom #1: The Sunshine Room

In the smaller guest bedroom, I painted the walls Behr's "Sweet Apricot" color. The choice of hue was inspired by the inside of a conch shell. I want the entire room to convey a feeling of a sunny day on the shore of one of the Florida keys. Colors include lime green, lemon yellow, orange, coral, white, and touches of tan. For artwork, I want to frame vintage travel posters, and mount conch shells in white shadow boxes. All fabrics need to be crisp--linen and seersucker. And how awesome would it be to have a surfboard leaning casually in one of the corners?

Guest Bedroom #2: The Ocean Room

In the larger guest bedroom, we painted the walls Behr's "Winter Surf" which is a dark teal color. While the Sunshine Room is supposed to be all about the shore, the Ocean Room is all about what happens beneath the water's surface. I originally wanted to go with just black, white, and teal, but I decided to add graphic pops of red after seeing these awesome pictures of red coral and red starfishes. This room will have a distinctly modern feel to it. I imagine black laquer furniture that is softened by a stark white, goose-down comforter and tons of black, white, teal, and red pillows. For the art on the walls, I see black and white photos of the ocean, and black and white ink and paper sketches of items found underwater like sea horses, coral, sand dollars, and the lion fish. Finally, I want my grandma to make me some custom curtains out of black and white damask with a border of that red and white polka dot print.

~LOVE~

Welcome, 2009!

I never update this thing, but you should know, Fernando and I bought a house (with the help of my parents, of course). We haven't moved in yet because we're in the middle of renovations, but we should finally be living there in a few more weeks.

Vasquez Manor

~LOVE~

Feeling Great

So, I suppose it's time for a proper update. I've been feeling really good lately. It might have something to do with the new routine I've fallen into now that my tutoring has taken a dip in hours. I have more time in the afternoon to focus on myself--eating right, working out, reading, not watching as much television, etc. Fernando is currently taking a summer course and he doesn't get home until after 10pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. He's already in the third week of the course and it's only six weeks long, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Without Fernando at home, I am not tempted as much to just sit on the couch and veg out, drink beer, and mindlessly snack. With the arrival of my Wii Fit two weeks ago, I have a renewed interest in doing exercise and actually losing some of the weight I've put on since graduation from Cal Poly. I have a goal of thirty pounds and I've already lost five. I haven't exactly seen results in the areas I'd like (upper arms, inner thighs), but my waist has definitly shrunken. Also, without Fernando at home, I have no one to cook me dinner, so my dinners are simple, healthy things like turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread or salads with a little tuna in them.

With the drop in tutoring hours, I've also been reading a lot more. I finished The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday after a marathon four and half hour reading session. Now, I'm already thirteen chapters into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once done with that, I have A Thousand Splendid Suns waiting in the wings. And after that . . . I suppose a trip to the bookstore is in order (unless somebody out there wants to let me borrow a good book they've recently read).

I've been watching a lot less television because most of my regular TV shows are on summer hiatus. The Top Chef finale is tonight, and after that, I don't have anything to watch until the next season of Project Runway starts in July.

Another reason I've been feeling good lately is because I have an honest-to-goodness job interview this Friday! The company is here in Santa Clarita and it is a non-public company that provides behavioral therapy to children and adults with Autism and other developmental disabilities along the Autism spectrum. The position I am applying for is Behavioral Therapist Level 1. It's an entry level job and it usually is reserved for people with Bachelor's degree in Psychology or a related field, but the woman I spoke to on the phone said that having experience working with children can compensate for the fact that my degree is in English. If hired, the company provides extensive paid training and I would be working under direct supervision for my first year. After a year of working for the company, they can promote you to Level 2, after two years, you can become a supervisor. The opportunity for growth and possibility of adding "work with persons with deveolpmental disabilities" to my skills set is definitely intriguing. The work would be traveling to different home or school sites and working directly with students. Milage and time between jobs is paid, and the company has health, dental, life, 401(k), and partial TUITION REIMBURSEMENT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION. This is possibly the most important incentive they could offer me since I do plan on pursuing a Master's degree.

My interview is on Friday at 11am. I have to fake a doctor's appointment to get some time off work to attend. Please send some positive thoughts/prayers/vibes my way on Friday. I'm going to be very nervous for this interview--I haven't gone to a job interview for almost two years! If hired, this will have some interesting reverberations in my current work life. I'll obviously need to put in my two weeks' notice here at ATM, but I will also have to quit tutoring for Xamaze. Both of the clients that I have lined up for summer school tutoring this summer are very clingy to me as their tutor. When they talk to me about tutoring, they talk as if I'm going to be a part of their children's lives until they graduate high school. I've spoken to these families many times about my limitations as a tutor (for example, I don't tutor math past Geometry), but they still seem to have a hard time imagining having another tutor other than me. I know if I cancel with them for the summer that they will indeed survive, but I still can't help but feel a little guilty for "leaving" them. Hopefully they'll want to keep me in their back pocket as their "emergency" tutors on weekends and such. I can make a lot more money per hour getting paid directly by my tutoring clients under the table.

All in all, there is a lot of promise for good things coming in the next couple of months. I'm looking forward to this weekend--my cousin (on my dad's side), Michael, is turning 40 and his wife is throwing him a Las Vegas themed party that we will be attending. I bought a new dress and shoes and earrings for the event. It should be a lot of fun. Oh, I almost forgot to mention--my mom and dad are flying up to Portland today to visit my mom's friend, Connie for a few days. We'll be house sitting from tonight until Friday when my parent's get back.

~LOVE~

Birthday

***Originally written on 2/4/08****

It's my birthday. Yup, yup. So . . . 24 feels like . . . sitting at work--bored--sipping the coffee. All in all, a lot like 23.

Birthday plans are as follows: Monday, February 4th: My co-workers are throwing me a little lunch today. I got to pick the restaurant, so we're ordering in from Chili's. Mmmm . . . I love the black bean burger. So tasty. And after I'm done with tutoring this evening, Fernando and I are going out to dinner at South Point Grill. Their steaks are awesome. Fernando is also busy doing the laundry for me today. Usually I go to my parents' place on Sundays to do the laundry, but I was driving back from SLO this Sunday and didn't get home until the fourth quarter of the Superbowl. By that time, I wasn't willing to leave the house because the game was so good. Amazing even.

Friday, February 8th: My dinner with friends at Mojito. It should be a smaller crowd, maybe ten friends getting together for dinner. I'm really excited for this. Mojito serves Carribbean food and makes amazing cocktails. And on Friday and Saturday nights after 10pm they have live music for dancing. The food is a bit on the pricy side for dinner, but it's gourmet quality. I'm going to make sure we order plenty of appetizers for my friends. I'm thinking of ordering the paella. I've never eaten mussells before and I feel like trying something new on my birthday.

Saturday, February 9th: I'm going to make an appointment at a local salon to have my hair cut. I've been growing it since October of 2006 so that I can donate 10+ inches to Locks of Love. I picked my birthday as a good milestone time to make this big change. I haven't had really short hair since my senior year of high school. The past couple of months have been hard--I feel like ripping my hair out about once a day because it is so long, but now I finally get to get rid of it and pick a totally new style.

Sunday, February 10th: Dinner with my family--I picked BJ's as the place. We were originally supposed to go out tonight, but my dad is having surgery today to fix a hernia, so we just pushed it to this coming weekend. Since my aunt Yolanda's birthday is also getting close, I'm wondering if it would be better to combine our birthday celebrations together. We'll see. This weekend seems pretty far away at this point. Alrighty then, guess it's time to go back to work.

~LOVE~