Ocean Journey

I woke up today with only one real mission: get to the ocean. “Ocean? Don’t you live in the city, you silly girl?” Why yes, I do live in the city, but I also live on the shore. I can see Long Island Sound from my apartment window!

See?

I’d driven by it before, I’d looked at it, I’d just never walked to it. So why not today? It was a warm (34 degrees ha!) and sunny Spring day here in New Haven and I had nothing to do but whatever I wanted. How great is that?! So, I bundled myself up, grabbed my iPod, camera, Ray-Bans and set out on my mission; dodging homeless people, crack dealers, power walking under sketchy bridges, across busy roads and around the occasional pile of who-knows-what laying on the sidewalk.  It only took about 30 minutes and the Glee cast more than happily sang those minutes away- auto tune and all.

 

There was the cutest lady there feeding about thirty seagulls with stale hot dog buns while her husband fixed their flat tire. Each time she threw a bread chunk into the air there was a mixture of sheer joy and immense fear while birds catapulted towards her. I understand that fear, honey. Birds are scary. Especially seagulls- those buggers have NO fear.

I apparently only have a fear of birds when they’re violating me in my apartment and pooping on my things though. Understandable, no?

After finding my way through the bird maze I walked to the end of the pier and took time to enjoy the water. It’s crazy how therapeutic the ocean can be. My grandparents lived in a small fishing town in England and my mother said that when her dad was in his last days he used to just in front of the water. Somehow it made his pain hurt a little less. I never met Grandpa Reg, but I think of him whenever I stare out at the ocean.

“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke

Well this post took a turn for the sentimental! Oh well, it’s my blog and I can write whatever I want, right?

 

Bird Brained

I had quite the unwelcome guests in my apartment last night. Living twenty floors up, I never considered keeping my windows open to be dangerous. Honestly, is someone stupid enough to take a really, really big ladder and try to break in? Well, two someones with wings were stupid enough.

Let’s rewind a smidge. 8pm. After a twelve hour work day, I enter my apartment with a sigh. Peace, quiet, clean (okay, not really it was a disaster, but this is my story retelling and not yours.)

I first noticed something was awry when I saw that my once beautiful orchid (which I got for Valentine’s Day from my honey)’s petals were strewn about the floor. Had it gone from hero to zero in twelve hours? And wait…my finally mature basil is gone? Just when I planned to make a huge pot of sauce… and the coriander? (I dunno what I planned to do with my coriander… tacos?). Okay, I digress. Point is- all my fresh plants were gone. So unless maintenance came in, massacred my plants and then decided to take a poo on my computer…something was very wrong.  Not that maintenance doing that wouldn’t be wrong, because I’d definitely complain.

Just then, while examining my apartment for more evidence, I notice a small blob of gray and red underneath my fridge. There was the culprit! Frightened, I run across the hall and grab my neighbors. The next hour or so is such a blur. Visions of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” were on repeat in my brain. All I remember is a lot of nervous laughing and squealing on my part and my ever brave British neighbors catching temporary pet #1.

Oh maaaaintenance… How about some screens for my windows? And some antibacterial wipes. Oh, and a bird flu shot.

Waste of Money

Well, shit.

I was watching Tosh.0 tonight and saw an ad for this online bidding website where people were getting iPads and iMacs and 55″ TVs for $1.42 and such craziness. So, I was like, killer! Let’s go check this out.

Well, “free” is never really free is it? Free registration cost me $60 to sign up and get 100 bids. Each bid costs ME $.10 but only ups the auction price $.01. I find myself some auctions that were ending within seconds and thought “hot damn! let me sneak in at the last second!”. Come to freakin’ find, every time there’s a new bid, the clock goes up another 10 – 20 seconds. Are you KIDDING me?

So, I’ve already spent the $60 and there’s no way I’ll get it back. I might as well have fun with it. I won two auctions. $25 to Famous Footwear and $10 to Chilis (plus paying the costs and shipping & handling for said auctions- about $6 all together). Okay, so I spent $66 on $35 of gift certificates and wasted about an hour of my time.

Sigh.

 

Then I opened up a West Elm credit card.. because I wanted to earn “design points” on my upcoming $300 purchase. Wait, didn’t I just pay off all my credit cards?

 

Well, shit.

Brunch Brunch, Baby.

Ummm………. YUM!

T

Two lovely ladies came over to my apartment and made brunch with me. Poached eggs, pancakes with whipped cream and homemade fruit syrup, fruit salad and girl talk. Yes, please.

Snowglobe

I’m living in a snowglobe! Who knew?

This is the first time all day that I’ve been able to see more than just a white blur outside of my window!  Dear Winter in New England, I’m ready for you to go. Thanks 🙂

Oddball American

I would never expect myself to feel out of place as an American in America. Or as a Connecticut-ian (Connecticut-ite?) in Connecticut. But, last night- I did. And not in a bad way.

I went to a party that my neighbor was throwing on the 6th floor of my apartment building. It’s new for me to be going anywhere “single” so I was pretty anxious- not to mention that while reading the invitation, every other e-mail address ended in @yale.edu Not that I don’t think I’m smart or personable- but Yalies? Oh boy, I may be out of my league here.

Let me just say, I am so pleased that I went. Never before have I been with such a diverse, but lovely, group of people. Just as taste of the countries that were represented last night: England, Ireland, France, Africa, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Turkey and Scotland. There were fifteen of us. I was one of four Americans and the only native of Connecticut.

It was a blast sharing stories of cultural differences and oddities over the ever bonding wine and whiskey. I found that I have a pretty spot on British accent. I learned that if you’re going to visit Ireland, the LAST place you want to visit is Dublin. I discovered that in Europe, aside from meal portions being about half the size as those in America, “doggy bagging it” is not commonplace.

But what really made me smile was the realization of how innately similar we all are. How we’re all driven by the same happiness and love and smiles and laughter.

Look at me! Branching out! Making new friends! Learning new things. I rock.

Sh*t

Sorry have been MIA the past few days! Been a busy, busy bee at work. That’s a good thing, right? I should be grateful- and I am. I am grateful for so many things. A lot of crappy stuff has happened to me in the past three months or so. A friend of mine said “Jess, you’re a really tough girl.” This is true, but I think moreso than being tough- I am appreciative. Yeah, shitty shit happens. A lot of it. But throughout the bad times, and in these three months of what seemed like “one bad thing after the other”, there has been a lot of joy and smiles. It’s easy to just be angry with the world when things go wrong but, “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” as Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently states. So instead of being angry or sad or beaten down, I will take the good from the bad, See the light in the dark and find my joy in every day.

I hope the same for you all. Blog ya soon.

Blankets of Happiness

Like, literal blankets.

Going through my apartment I noticed that aside from my bed, I have a whopping six throw blankets scattered over chairs, draped in baskets and folded onto ottomans. I like to think that this is a direct respresentation of who I am as a person. I’m cozy. I thrive on cozy. I live cozy. First of all, my apartment is 450 square feet- including a kitchen, dining area, bed/couch, three chairs, two ottomans, dresser, washer/dryer, walk-in closet and bathroom. Cramped to you? Blissful to me.

My home is my retreat and I would want anyone who comes into my home to feel the same way. Every seating area (aside from the dining table) comes adorned with a blanket. I want you to come into my home, sit down, snuggle up with a blanket, drink a cup of tea or have a glass of wine and feel at home.

Who cares if it’s New England Winter, 12 degrees out with snow banks up to my knees? No matter what it’s like outside and no matter what my day has been like prior to walking through my apartment door, I know that once I sit down and cover myself with a blanket – everything will be OK.

25 Things Before Twenty Five

Part of my ending things in my old relationship and moving out on my own was to discover and grow within myself.  Yes, I want an “Eat, Pray, Love” experience a la Elizabeth Gilbert.  I’m so excited to have the world at my fingertips right now and the freedom (not to mention the time!) to dream and accomplish anything I want.

After seeing Nicole from Making It Lovely complete nearly all of her “30 before Thirty” list in just about six months, I decided to create a “25 Before Twenty Five”  list.  Why 25?  Well, twenty five seems to be the next milestone birthday. Who cares about what I’ve accomplished by the time I’m twenty three? (kidding) But seriously, I will turn 25 years old on May 9th, 2014. That is, if we make it past December 21, 2012 (damn Mayans).  That gives me about three and a half years to do the list. Seems like an awesomely long amount of time, right?  Well, I have a feeling some of my goals are going to take a little while to accomplish.

I already know a few things I want to do, like skydive and become a certified yoga instructor, but I still have a long way to 25 things. So, check back here to see not only the progress of my list compilation, but also to see what and when things get crossed off!

“Peapod vs. Conventional Grocery Shopping”

This post could also be titled “The Lazy Man’s Way of Acquiring Groceries vs. The Antiquated Loading Up of Your Actual (Not Virutal) Shopping Cart”, but that’s a little long winded though, don’t you think?

So, after I saw my lovely neighbor get her groceries delivered and brought right into her apartment (20 floors up! no lugging bags!), I decided to give Peapod a whirl.  My first order came today and while I was pleased to see all my produce was fresh, all my frozens were still frozen and my coupons were indeed accepted, there were still a few sanfus that made me miss conventional grocery shopping. So will I use Peapod again? I’m still debating.

Let’s do a Pros and Cons list!

Pros of Peapod

-No waiting in line
-Delivered right to door
-Awareness of spending and
can edit before purchase
-After placing order can continue
to add new products as I think of
them
-Makes it easy to meal plan and see
meal combinations
-There’s a mobile app to edit my list
with
-Stops me from impulse buying
-Saves on gas
-Don’t have to lug groceries up 20 flights
-Don’t have to load up my car in inclement
weather

Cons of Peapod

-Shipping charge
-Encourages laziness
-Not everything available
online (ex: my local eggs),
so I will still need to go to store.
-Have to put shipping into my budget
which may equal less food
-Can’t use my reusable shopping bags;
lots of plastic bags used.

Peapod has a lot more pros that I intially thought. If I utilize it correctly, Peapod could actually be a very helpful service in more ways than just allowing me to be a lazy bum and not walk up and down aisles. I can meal plan, keep track of my spending, not impulse buy, save myself more time for other things (like working out!) and overall have a more efficient method of purchasing and preparing meals. I will, however, still need to go and pick up my eggs and other randoms as needed, but I think I’ll be able to deal.  Now, if only I could get my hands on some free shipping codes…