Terry (commonly known as Tory) is making me look at my goals again. Apparently this Blahgh is not dead. Before I review the progress I have (not) made on my goals, let me post this, to let you, the people, know that I have not given up my desire to write... even if it is a complaint letter to one of the largest companies in these United States:

Hey there Google. I would like to tell you a story.

Tonight, I tried to access an old email account. The account automatically forwards to my account, so I haven't needed to access anything in there for a long time. BUT, tonight I did. "Why?" you ask coyly from your side of the couch. Here's why - the old account's login is my maiden name (this account, to which I had to add NUMBERS because apparently Jess Browns are a dime a decadozen, is my married name) and therefore has all of my pre-smugmarried email. Some of which I wanted to access. Tonight. But guess what? I have been married 5 years.

In these 5 years, I have (maybe? as a generous guess) accessed my email approximately 10 times. And those 10 times were much closer to the date of my wedding than they are to the date of my 5 year anniversary (it was August 9th, in case you'd like to send a belated card). Which means, OBVIOUSLY I have forgotten my password.

This wouldn't be an issue if the recovery process was something that hinged on my ability to answer questions about myself, like what my mother's maiden name is, where I was born, the name of my favorite pet (his name is Moose and he's a good-looking but very anxious beagle, in case you'd like to send a treat), or my father's mother's favorite uncle's high school mascot (okay, I don't really know that... but I could probably find it out. You know, with public census records and such). However, what you, The Google, require of me to retrieve a password (that I forgot! Clearly I am not a steel trap, an elephant, or a hard drive... this memory is limited to things about which I care an exceptional amount - myself - and UsWeekly's "Who Wore it Best" column) is far beyond my mental capacity; you ask me to remember when I created the account (down to the month! I can't remember the darn year!) and also to remember the last time I remember logging into the account, DOWN TO THE EXACT DAY. Obviously I got these questions wrong. What kind of people get these right?! ("Aliens, and OCD Type-A Aliens," you murmur as you pass out from boredom at my lengthy rant.) I barely remember what day I got married! I mean, I remember it, as illustrated above... anniversary card welcome... but it takes some thought to pull even that out of ye olde memory banke, and that's up on the list with my birthday, Christmas, and which Thursday Thanksgiving falls on. And I don't really know that last one all that well. Also, I should probably put the 5-years husband's birthday on that list... but we all know what really matters to me - myself. 

PLEASE. I just want to log into my email. I am not going to be able to remember what dates I created it. My memory is bad and I feel bad. Can't you help a lady out? Send her an anniversary card. I mean, wait... what was I doing? Oh, right - PLEASE JUST LET ME HAVE MY EMAIL. 

Ask me any questions you want (about myself) anytime. I'll even show you my passport. I swear I'm not a Nigerian prince (though if you want to send money to one, I'm your guy).

With much love for your products, but waning love for your policies,

Jess M. Brown (08)

Welp. There you have it. Blaaghghingh resumed. Oh, and here's a pic so this was totally worth your time:

That's my couch. Now you know where I bhlahaghghagh from.

Good grief, goals...

Well, apparently I am terrible at maintaining this blog, and there is no real excuse; just the explanation that I have terrible follow-through. HOWEVER, just because I haven't written here doesn't mean I haven't been writing! First, there is some blog writing here:

Brown Family Travels -- This is all about our road trip moving out to Florida! I wish I could re-post all those things on this blog, because it would look like I kept up with it a lot better than I have you could just read everything here instead of having to visit another place, but I am not that internet savvy. I just know how to copy and paste.

Second, I got a job as a writer! It's nothing fancy, just some copywriting (different from copyrighting, the only patent I deal with is leather) for a coupon company. It's been really fun and has challenged my brain in great ways - I haven't had to come up with this many original thoughts since college. Ha! That sounds so sad.

As for goals, I will have to look at those another time, because I think I have completed some... but maybe not. But what's important right now is that I not make Laura look like a dummy. She has an amazing blog that she actually keeps up with, and she tagged me! It's just like the old days with those AOL surveys... man, I loved those. I could pretend that I'm cooler, but I really love answering questions about myself. That 25 Things thing that went around FB a couple of years ago? All over it. 

First, here are some pictures so that you don't get bored with too much writing:

At Halloween, dressed as Mad Men (& Women?) with Princess Belle.

Lake Apopka, which is a 7ish minute walk from our house.

Our House at Christmastime! I miss the lights.

Visiting our nation's Capitol. One of the 5 times I got to wear boots and a jacket this winter.

Alright, now to the questions!!

1. What is your favorite meal?

I rarely get to eat it because someone in my family (it's not Moose) doesn't believe a meal is complete without meat, but my favorite meal of all time is probably a french baguette with cheese and fruit. And if you throw some wine in there, I won't complain.

2. If you could only listen to three albums for the rest of your life, what would they be and why?

This is the one I know for sure.

"Dog Problems" by the Format is probably my favorite album to ever exist. It's almost structured like a symphony with different movements, and I like every single song. I don't know that there is another album I feel quite as strongly about. I go back and forth with what other albums I would want... something sentimental? Really different sounding albums so I don't get bored? I dunno. Maybe one of Tory's mix cds. Or Ace of Base.

3. What is your favorite item in your closet?

My favorite items are all in one garment bag because they are all things that came from my Grandmother's house. There's a nightgown that belonged to her that I played dress-up in when I was little, a fur coat with her name embroidered inside, and a scarf that was my Great-Grandmother's. These are totally the first things I'd grab in a fire. As for things I wear the most, my brown boots. Nothing like a good pair of boots (too Florida weather means I rarely wear them anymore).

4. When is the last time you cried?

I used to never cry. I had tear ducts of steel all through middle school and high school, even when I wanted to cry, like when I saw Titanic for the 8th time (which, OMG I am so seeing it when it gets released in 3D in April OMG!). 

Now, all it takes is some sad-ish music and a picture of a puppy or something and you could mop me off the floor. I don't know what happened, but it's embarassing how quickly I come unglued. So the last time I cried was probably at some commercial (like that one where the elephant brings his zookeeper cough medicine and tissues when he's sick? Gets me errytime). 

5. What is your favorite tv show of all time? 

If it's of ALL time, it's probably Friends. I wanted to be Rachel, I loved EVERY season, it reminds me of my teenage years, and I can still reference & quote it thought I haven't seen an episode in over a year. 

BUT, I also love Arrested Development and firmly believe it was the best show on television ever. I also unreasonably love the first season of Felicity.  I made a Facebook page for Noel Crane. Yikes?

6. What is your favorite movie? Now, what is the guilty pleasure movie that you could watch over and over again?

Romeo & Juliet, the 1996 version, without a doubt and without shame. Though watching it over and over again can be a little emotionally taxing... Drop Dead Gorgeous might be my repeat guilty pleasure. I can recite both from beginning to end.

7. What would your dream vacation destination be?

As I've gotten older, it has become harder for me to say if when I travel in the future I would rather go to new places or back to places I've already been and loved. I LOVE traveling and don't get to do nearly enough (why do they make you pay $ to travel? Ridiculous), so at this point I think my ideal vacation would be to take Andy to Europe because he's never been, and specifically to go back to London, where I studied abroad. I LOVE England, the people, the humour (<-- see what I did there?), the tea, the fashion, the Tube, everything. So yeah; London baby.

8. Describe your personality in three words.

Awesome, & TOO nice. Ha... so I guess sarcastic would be one? I guess I would actually say... dorky, easygoing, and fun. Or awkward, because that's how this question makes me feel.

9. What is the one make-up item you absolutely have to have on your face every day?

I feel like I look dead without a little bit of blush. Bobbi Brown pot rouge is my favorite because it looks like natural color. I could pretty much forego everything else... but I kind of like makeup.

10. Dream dinner party guest list! (Three people, living or dead.)

I might have to cheat on this, because 3 is not enough. I would 100% want a hilarious dinner party over a super-serious-pick-people's-brains dinner. Part of me wants to have all women, because there are so many funny ones that I want to be best friends with. I love Amy Poehler, and of course Tina Fey, and Ellen DeGeneres... so maybe those would be my top three. But then I would clearly want to have Portia DeRossi, Ellen's wife, and also Will Arnett because he's Amy's husband AND was on Arrested Development with Portia. And really I don't even have to be there, because I would just want to watch them all talk. Can someone make this show happen, please?

11. Why did you start blogging?

HA. Because I made goals, and one of them was to blog about accomplishing my goals. Doing well, eh?

Goals!

It's been busy around here.

True, I'm not employed right now... but I do have a job: getting ready to move. Meaning my days are filled to the brim with sorting, packing, cleaning, donating, and trying to wrap my head around that whole house thing. (Eeep.) BUT, I finally took some time to look over my precious goals list this morning, and realized that I had actually completed some stuff! What a nice surprise.

The first one I hadn't remembered was a "goal" was #73: Get an Eye Exam. I did that about a month before I was done working (and being insured... don't tell my parents).

This is not my eye.* 

I always knew I had good vision, which is totally random since my dad wore coke-bottle lenses until he had corrective eye surgery, and my mom has astigmatism**. I've always been able to read things from pretty far away, and my grandmother used to joke that I could spot a bug from a mile away (especially spiders. Gross). I was kind of worried that maybe my vision had gotten worse with aging; unlike some people, I did not want to be told I needed glasses. Thankfully, I was told that I still have good vision - and it's actually better than 20/20 in both eyes! I may not be good at a lot, but I'm a darn good looker-at-things. Seer-of-stuff? Beholder-of-crap? Good eyeballz, I haz 'em.

Also, I got to use insurance to pay for (most of) THESE:

Super-fancy-not-$10-from-Target sunnies!

And if you can't tell how special they are from that angle, maybe this will give you an idea:

Burberry! (More like Blurberry with my photo skills...)

I have been wearing the heck out of them and have only come close to losing them once. I love getting fancy things for (almost) cheap!

Anyway, there are more goals that I have completed... so there will be more posts once I get some hot pics uploaded. I know you can't wait.

See you real well soon.

*It's the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. He probably had better-than-20/20 vision too. Also, just FYI: if you ever decide to image-search "eye" or "eyes" on the interwebz, be prepared to come across some really yucky pics. I am praying they were all photoshopped.

**It took me until right now to actually look this term up; I finally know that it's "astigmatism," and not a "stigmatism" that plagues my Mama's eyes. I never was sure, and for that reason always avoided writing it. 

Going on a House Hunt...

...gonna (maybe) catch a big small one. 

Soooooo... Andy & I are leaving tomorrow to go look at houses in Orlando. That's right: WE MIGHT BUY A HOUSE! Nothing is final yet, and I'm trying to not get too attached to the idea just in case, but WE MIGHT BUY A HOUSE. Crazy. Real adult stuff, man.

I will let you know how it goes. Not a goal in terms of this here blog, but a life goal... so it counts. I decided.

Wish us luck! Seriously, you have to.

--------------------------------------

PS: Have you seen this? 

You can enter here! (That's what she said. Ew.)

I want to go to there.

I drew this.

The Regal Beagle.

How is your Thursday going?

Orcas Island, WA... Or Canada, According to My Data Plan

A few weekends ago (okay, a heckuva lotta weekends ago), Andy helped me complete one of my more involved goals - #28: Visit the San Juans.Andy suggested the trip after a Friday saturated with basketball and ruined brackets. He even promised that there would be NO basketball watching during the trip! He must really like me.

The trip began with this:

Yes, in the age of GPS & iPhone, we used a map.

Andy decided that it would be a good challenge if instead of relying on our phones for mapping the trip, if I (yes, the most directionally-challenged person you've probably ever met) navigated using the most ancient of technology, a map. At first, I was pretty sure we'd end up in Mexico, but after a little bit (and after realizing that if you're just mapping your way across highways is fairly easy) I felt comfortable enough to even take us on a small scenic detour to see if we could find the Skagit Valley daffodils. We didn't. But here's what we DID see!

Sweet picture-taking face, eh?

My chauffeur.

This field clearly warrented documentation.

Was your Mama a llama? Mine wasn't.

Lance!

Holla to the 'Rado!

All of you non-Seattle/Bellevue/Washingtonians may not have noticed this, but LOOK AT THE SUN! It was SOOOOOO sunny for our entire roadtrip up, and it just made the adventure even more exciting! (It did not, however, make my skintone very exciting. Just call me Blanche.)

One of my favorite things about living in Washington is ferry rides. So easy, calm, and so gosh-darn-tootin' beautiful when it's sunny.

Can you find the sailboat?

There it is! Sorry I made you blurry, little fella.

Enjoying my ferry ride by sitting in the sun.

Andy enjoying his ferry ride by making me "touch" a dude's butt.

Argh! So pretty it hurts.

 Once we actually landed on Orcas, we (through some trial and error) found a place to stay. We attempted to stay at the Rosario, which is a mansion-turned-hotel that used to be owned by the guy who turned a big chunk of Orcas into national park land. It was full. So instead, we stayed at the place next door, the Orcas Inn.

The check-in lodge at the Orcas Inn.

The lady that checked us in was lovably-flustered, and the owner of the Inn was kind enough to make dinner recommendations. I think they were both really excited to have tourists in the off-season.

The deserted boathouse... kinda creepy.

The generator? Andy made me take this.

Nerd alert.

The beautiful fountain leading us towards the room.

Andy was a real little photog with that fountain...

What a sweet ride.

Even though we didn't get to stay at the Rosario, we still had a sweet view of it from our balcony.

It's not as Shining-esque as this picture makes it look.

We stopped at a little market (doesn't "market" make it sound so quaint and adorable? It was a gas station mini-mart... same-same) and got snacks for the room and lunch - they actually made really delicious burgers! We took our burgers with us for some sight-seeing.

I call this one, "Patriotism." Don't be ashamed if you get emotional.

A baby sheep!

More baby sheep!

Then we went to the Mound Constitution Observation Tower, which is basically the highest point on any of the San Juan Islands. We ate our delicious burgers in the parking lot, and then trucked on up the tower. It's about 4 different levels with stone steps, and it's pretty dark inside. Each level has a room where you can learn facts about the tower, Moran State Park (named after the Seattle mayor and shipbuilder who bought and then donated the land to make it state protected, you can learn more here), and Orcas Island in general.

These are from the overlook area on the way up:

I like this view.

Some of these pictures are dark, but it really was a beautiful sunny day.

I guess we take pix of all the pretty views...



Even the better pictures don't do the view justice.

Then we got to the tower!

Just like Hogwarts, only skinnier. Diet Hogwarts.

I like pictures of stuff taken through stuff.

Some sort of seal. Probably a Freemason thing indicating that there is a lot of National Treasure below it. We didn't check.

Aaaand, the view.

Pretty sure you can see Canada from here. Maybe.

Hubba hubba.

Then we went back down.

It was really neat, but got REALLY cold at the end. After the tower, we drove around some more and then went to dinner at the Inn at Ship Bay restaurant, which was recommended by the owner/manager of the hotel we stayed at. I mostly forgot to take pictures at dinner. Oopsy.

It's obv why this was picture-worthy. If you don't get it that's your own fault.

Some sheep in the distance. Mostly brown grass. I am talented.

More sheep on the way to dinner.

He caught me taking pics! Eek!

A baby!

Are you tired of looking at sheepies yet?

And dinner... we did eat food, but I just took artsy wine pix. So artsy.

A little too artsy... or maybe it's dark. Too dark.

Not really an art pic, more of a these-are-our-wine-glasses-and-this-is-my-hand pic.

Andy was better at the art pics than I was.

The next morning we had breakfast at the other place the manager/owner guy recommended - the New Leaf Cafe - and then headed on home after grabbing some snacks at the supermarket and some pot pies from Passionate for Pies (which were www.bomb.com).

Breakfast tea.

Breakfast company.

Breakfast.

Andy's breakfast (or lunch...)

Our homward-bound setup... watching movies on the ferry.

With delicious snacks.

 And that was our trip! So fun, and goal accomplished.