Locks of Love

So yes. Yesterday was the day I finally got to chop off my hair. I am always changing my hair color due to boredom, but haircutting is not one thing I'm usually enthused about. The last time I got 5 inches chopped off, I cried. Pathetic I know. This time felt different though... new city, new job, new do! I was happy to donate to Locks of Love because 1) hair grows back 2) good cause and 3) I was getting tired of my limp straight hair

So without further delay....

Before

Bravo! Corporate women watch out!

Gone!

P.S. Although this photo looks brutal, I got to keep my head.

Underwear Man

Found this little guy in Georgetown. Love it.

I'm a Material Girl

Who ever said "I don't need material things to make me happy," was lying.

You don't realize how much you  miss your "things" until they're gone. Since I flew to Washington DC with 2 suitcases and a purse stuffed as full as I could get them without busting at the seams, I sadly left behind all the little pieces of who I am in Ohio. Okay.. possibly a little dramatic, but I really missed my things.

Growing up, I filled bins and boxes with every passed note, birthday card, ticket stub, brochure, and letter I had ever received. My mom was constantly battling with me to consolidate these boxes to a much smaller, and more practical shoe box. I would sit down on the floor and spread out my boxes meticulously going through every brochure and reading every note.. as the memories rushed back, I would carefully place the note in the "keep" pile. By the time I got to the bottom of the box, I realized, I was putting everything in the "keep" pile with the exception of a candy wrapper that must have snuck it's way into my memories box. This would not make my mom happy. Rather than sacrifice my memories to the trash, I decided that I would stand by my memories one by one and explain what each one meant to me.

How about this?... Can you throw this away? No! That's my aquarium brochure mom! We went to the aquarium for our 4th grade field trip! My kids will want to see this some day!... This conversation would go on for hours until my mom would just give up and let me neatly place everything back into my box.

I even convinced her to let me keep a piece of paper that contained a MASH game... remember those? My husband was Jonathan Taylor Thomas, my car was a shopping cart, and I lived in a shack.

I don't necessarily know where this attachment came from. As a kid my dad was always the one with the huge tourist maps and brochures no matter where we went. The man is full of useless information. We visited the Air Force Museum, Art Museum, and the Museum of Natural History at least once a month, and although I'm sure the brochure hadn't changed from the month before, he would make sure to get a new crisp copy.

My mom on the other hand, rarely has many trinkets from her childhood. When I got to the age of curiosity about my mother's childhood and what she was like as a teenager, the only thing I had to satisfy my curiosity were a couple of dusty year books.

My mug that I purchased from Dayton Visual Arts Center

 

I would guess that my obsession with keepsake items is a mixture between habit and the longing to leave behind a trail of memories for my children to sift through.

Yesterday, I rushed home because my mom had sent me 6 big boxes full of the things I left behind in Ohio. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! My new place didn't quite feel like a home because it was lacking my personal touches; my paint brushes, my favorite coffee mug that fits my fingers just right, my grandmother's old silver necklace, my jewelry dish, my moccasins... it all just fits. Everything has its own story. It's me.

Kickball

This is my Kickball Field... Amazing huh?!

Vegetarian "Experiment"

If you don't particularly care what Jessica eats on any given day then I apologize for this post, however some people actually want updates on the recipes I'm trying, so this my friends is for you:

Day 1: was a lazy Sunday so I just snacked all day on cheese and veggies and bagels :)

Day 2:

• B: Oatmeal
• L: Spicy mixed vegetable fried rice with tofu from Bangkok Joe's in Georgetown
• D: Homemade spinach and ricotta cheese stuffed manicotti

Day 3:

• B: Oatmeal
• L: Leftovers
• D: Southwestern black bean and cheese quesadilla (cooked and broke up a black bean veggie burger and put it into my cheesy quesadilla)

Day 4: 

• B: Oatmeal
• L: Red pepper Hummus and cucumber sandwich on wheat with Veggie chips (my new obsession)
• D: mozzarella sticks and any vegetarian friendly finger foods I could get my hands on at the bar 

Day 5:

• B: A quick Special K Breakfast Bar on the Metro Bus
• L: Black bean and Mexican rice wrap
• D: Homemade mac & cheese YUM

Day 6:

• B: Oatmeal <--I obviously don't switch up breakfast too much
• L: Slice of cheese pizza
• D: Black Bean burger from Spider Kelly's in DC (topped with yummy Guac)

Octopus!!

©Jessica Armstrong

Weekend Update

This weekend was surprisingly exciting :) 

Friday night I went on a wine cruise on the Potomac River, which runs by a lot of the monuments so it was a wonderful view. The wine cruise we went on gave us 10 "samples" of wine which turned out to be 10 "shots" of wine. Good thing we improvised by filling a Nalgene bottle with white wine and filling our pockets with mini bar shooters. After the wine cruise we continued to Spider Kelly's which was full of amazingly beautiful men and more shots... By the end of the night I was good and liquored up!

Saturday, my friend and I decided to be touristy and hit the Smithsonian museum area. We went to the Washington Monument which, FUN FACT: is two colors of stone because due to poor planning, they ran out of money during the build and had to get the rest of the rock years later from another quarry (thanks Matt). We also went to the National Aquarium which I don't recommend. It is not worth $9 because it is basically a large fish tank, and the "shark feedings" they speak of... did not meet expectations... although the eels were pretty amusing.

Amazing Awesomeness

Next, we stopped by the American History Museum to see Dorothy's slippers! Then, we went to the art museum which helped get my creative juices flowing since I've had a bit of a creative block lately. We also walked through the sculpture garden which was amazing. We didn't spend too much time there because we were both pretty hot, tired, and hungry at this point, but I definitely plan on going back. This tree sculpture was by far my favorite! (as you can tell by my art, I love trees, and my school notebooks were always littered with drawings of them).

Next, my roomie Steff gave Matt and I a tour of the Pentagon! I wish I had pictures to show off but for obvious reasons, I wasn't allowed to take photos. The Pentagon is an overwhelmingly huge building to begin with, and the high level of security made it seem even more bad ass (yes, the first thing I think of to describe the Pentagon is bad ass. As I sit here writing this entry, I keep trying to think of a better word to describe the feeling you get when you are about to walk in the entrance to the Pentagon, but I think bad ass is about the only thing that can accurately describe it). The building is intricate making it easy to get lost between the rings, corridors, and floors. The September 11th Memorial Chapel is beautiful and full of yellow glowing light. The outside memorial is beautiful as well, as it is made up of 184 silver benches to represent each of the 184 lives lost in the flight and Pentagon. There is also an extravagant food court and shopping center equipped with their own Best Buy, CVS, and DMV (to name a few).

Buildings like that have the power to make you feel so insignificant compared to the overall picture. It's like being hooked up to a lie detector... even if you know you haven't done anything wrong, the pressure makes you question everything. Lets just say that I was scared to take my metal eco-bottle out of my purse for fear that I would be "taken out" for "suspicious activity." Lets also say that I'm a little intimidated to put anything else about what I saw in the Pentagon in this entry so we'll just leave it at that!

So what's next?! Who wants to give me a tour of the White House?... :)

Music According to Jes - September

I'm always on the hunt for new music and I go through more phases than a teenage girl during puberty, but here some my favorite songs right now (no particular order):

• Uprising - Muse
• Sailing by Night - Department of Eagles
• Gold Guns Girls - Metric
• Penelope - Pinback
• The Funeral - Band of Horses
• Let Down - Radiohead
• Boy With a Coin - Iron & Wine
• Future Foe Senario - Silversun Pickups
• Substitution - Silversun Pickups
• You're the One - The Black Keys

A few new songs to keep your ears warm. Enjoy :)

*UPDATE: I linked each song to YouTube for easy listening!

BACON?! Bacon Is Good For Me!

Starting next Monday, August 23... I am going to attempt a vegetarian diet for 2 weeks.

Yes, I said "attempt" because I LOVE bacon and burgers.. this is not going to be easy for me.
You may be curious as to why I want to torture myself. Well, I definitely couldn't handle being a full-blown vegetarian because I enjoy meat too much, but I want to experiment with recipes and learn how to plan a meal that doesn't just revolve around MEAT! Too often, people choose the meat they are going to cook with and then plan the sides. I want to learn to cook without meat. Educational and healthy :) I would also like to experiment with Tofu. I'm not completely sold on it yet, but maybe after my two weeks and a few trial recipes I will grow to love it.

I have never "gone vegetarian" before so I need your help! Please email (Jbarmstrong87@gmail.com) or comment yummy recipe suggestions or tips. Wish me luck!

P.S. Sunday night I will be having an enormous BURGER (loaded with TONS OF BACON!.. Bacon that's good for me)

Love

©Jessica Armstrong

Dolphins

Last night, I was up at 2 in the morning bawling my eyes out because I watched "The Cove."

I know I'm a little behind, but I finally got the opportunity to watch it. I am completely horrified by what I saw in the award winning documentary and I will no longer support Dolphin captivity for our amusement. One line from the movie that stuck out to me the most was,

"If you're not an activist, you're an in-activist." 

Today, I will start by helping to spread the word.

He's a Professional

A text my friend Matt sent me:

"I've gotten so tired of people asking me what an annuity marketer does.. I've started telling people I'm a professional vampire hunter.

When they tell me vampires don't exist, I reply that I'm really good at my job."

I'm so Metro...

At the request of my little sister, I took a picture of my commute home on the metro.

  This photo was incredibly uncomfortable to take because I was crammed on the side with my neck in the oddest angle while I tried to avoid breathing at all costs due to the incredibly smelly armpit dangerously close to my left cheek.

Please note how excited everyone looks.. oh and that guy sleeping woke up right after I took this picture because I forgot to turn off my flash... awkwarddddd.

Overly dramatic sketch of my commute to work

Icky

I went to pound town a little too hard on Saturday night so I got sent home in a cab by myself early... awesome I know.

*Update: pound town means pounding beers.. you dirty minded people!

Well, with my head down in the cab, I faintly remember the cab driver basically trying to solicit me for prostitution. He told me that if I let him come into my house, he would "pleasure" me and my cab ride would be free... Seriously!? My head is between my legs in the back of your cab. This cab driver was so repulsive, I had him drop me off at the corner because I didn't want him to see where I lived. If only I wasn't too drunk to remember to look at the license plate number and cab company to report him.

P.S. after reading this my mom is going to make me swear to never ride in a cab again.

Sorry mom.

Digital Death

Twitter just released a new plan that allows family members to petition and remove Twitter accounts for their deceased loved ones.

Just a thought: Are gay couples allowed to petition their deceased partners Twitter account too or is the Bible against that as well...

Anywho, I have had a few encounters with haunting, deceased Facebook accounts. For example, one of my friends passed away last summer after a long hard fight with Leukemia at only 18 years old. Facebook sends me constant reminders like, "Reconnect with Blake." and "Wish Blake a happy 19th birthday!" Not to mention, the countless wall posts saying, "Thinking of you. Wishing you were here," on my news feed.

Of course, these reminders make me sad, but more so, they make me happy. It is nice to be able to look back on Blake's profile, and others that have passed and be able to "pay your respects" or browse through old photos to remember.In this case, Blake's family "took over" his account information to update and thank Blake's social network for support. I'm sure it is and was very difficult for his family to manage his profile account, but I would  like to think that they get some comfort from looking back and reading Blake's thoughts and postings from time to time.

In this day and age, we die two deaths, the physical and the digital. Or, we can let our social network sites live on as a sort of homage to our lives...

Forever 41: Blake <3

DO YOU LIKE HORSES?!

Yesterday I was walking to lunch trying to stay cool in this blistering heat. I have this theory where if I take slow steady breaths and smile, the heat won't bug me. It never succeeds, but anyways.. I was walking through Georgetown with a smile on my face (my heat-ignoring tactic), when this guys steps in front of me and goes:

Man: HEY!

awkward startling pause

Man: Do you like horses?!

immediate defensive response

Me: NO!

I kept walking, confused as to what just happened, and determined to escape from this awkward conversation. As I was walking away, I heard Man say this, disappointingly in the background:

Man: Lame.

As I got further away I couldn't help but laugh. This man jumped in front of me and made me feel so uncomfortable that I said I didn't like HORSES! Who doesn't like horses?! The man startled me and caught me off guard so much that he could have said, "Do you like babies?" and I probably would have said no.

Standstill

I'm at this weird transition point where I'm trying to figure out what I want and who I am. I lived in a bubble for 4 years in Athens, Ohio (which I don't regret a second of), but now I'm ready to spread my wings... I just haven't figured out how yet.

I haven't had much to update on my blog, not only because I'm in a transition where I don't really know anyone yet and there's not much to talk about, but also because the move here has put quite the dent in my pocket so there isn't much room for exploring at the moment (pay-day this Friday HOLLA).
However, today was fish taco day (hallelujah)! Exciting, I know. Fish taco day also means Wednesday, which is Hump Day and one day closer to the weekend (also exciting), and when Glee starts again, it will be Wednesdays as well! Wednesdays are really exciting.

New house photos coming soon :)

This is how exciting Wednesday is:

Lost, Splintered Pieces

i like lyrics that make you think and movies that make you feel. i like how my sisters and i can laugh for hours about something that happened years ago. i like when that old song comes on the radio that brings back memories. i like anything that is beautiful enough to cause you to look twice.
This quote was so accurate, it made me weak in the knees:

From birth, each of us sets out to discover who we really are. But when trauma occurs, we create ways to survive. Often, we split into pieces and abandon the most vulnerable parts of ourselves, boxing them up in tiny packages and tossing them away. Later, we spend our lives looking for these parcels, hoping to meet someone who can help us find these lost, splintered pieces of yourself.        ~United States of Tara

Horoscope

My Cancer horoscope for today was:

"You may be used to things being a certain way in your personal life, and someone new or some new situation may threaten to shake that up. It's not that you are necessarily set in your ways, but you aren't always good about dealing with change. You like your home environment, your personal relationships, and the general scenery of your life to remain the same. For you, it just seems safer that way. But sameness can also lead to stagnation. There is wonderful growth possible for you now, which could lead to changes that are very, very positive. Allow some change into your life."

How fitting.
I feel better now... :)

Something Smells Fishyyy Around Hereeee...

Dear Fish Taco,

I am sorry I didn't try you sooner. They always say that when you're not looking for love, that's when it surprises you. Well I was plesently surprised by your juicy, deliciously grilled flavor.

I'm sorry if I hurt you by judging you so harshly in the past. I didn't know what I was missing. I will spend forever making it up to you, even if that means coming to half price fish taco day every Wednesday at Tackle Box for the rest of my life.


Love,

Jessica

YAY to Not Being Homeless!!!

So it's official... last night I finally moved off my friend's couch and  into my house!

I felt like Cinderella whose pumpkin (couch) had just turned into a shiny white carriage (bed). My roommates were all out for the night so that gave me plenty of time to snoop around and see what goodies I have to work with :)

So YAY for not being homeless and CHEERS to a better back! 

Special thanks to: Mo and Justin for offering your apartments/couch/bed to me during my homelessness.

The Day I Thought My Tampon Was Chapstick...

So, before you freak out from the title of this post, let me explain!

And men, before you get grossed out, it was a tampon fresh out of the wrapper! so don't get all icky faced with me!

So I was walking down the streets of Georgetown, trying to look like I belong (I still feel like a tourist) and I reach in my bag to grab my "chapstick"...

I put it to my lips all nonchalant like and the minute my "chapstick" made contact, I realized this was not my chapstick at all, but some cottony-plastic thing! It was a tampon in my purse that had sneakily snuck out of the wrapper! What if someone saw me rub a tampon on my lips!? My life is over.

They look similar... right?! I swear I'm not crazy...