I Can't Believe It!

Happy Friday lovies! I've come across/realized some unbelievable things this week, so I thought I'd share them with you:

1. Edible intestines. I came across a recipe for these on Pinterest. I will spare you the picture, but if you want you can check it out here. I just have one question: why? Go home, Pinterest. 

2. Chris Brown is still getting jobs. No, seriously, how is this happening? I read somewhere that he's going to be in a new movie soon. Albeit the movie looked like something that would come out of my dog's butt bad, but who in their right mind would want to hire someone with a reputation of having an extremely violent temper and all that unwarranted arrogance? Unbelievable.

3. Christmas is just a little over 2 months away! I need a few more weeks of fall first (why do the stores have to push it on us so early?), but then I will be SO into the most wonderful time of the year! 

4. Bar exam results come out THIS AFTERNOON. I just can't even with this, I am SOOO nervous and need to be distracted, help?! 

Have a great weekend guys! Follow me on twitter if you want an update on the bar exam results ahhh

Rockin' and Rollin' and Whatnot

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who linked up yesterday for What's in a Name? It was such a success and so fun to read the stories behind everyone's names!! 

Secondly, last night I made this Black Bean Pumpkin Chili in the crockpot. Pinterest Fail! I hate to say this but it was really bad and we couldn't even eat it. I know I made it right, so I have to fault the recipe. BUT then I made this Best Spaghetti Sauce Ever, and it seriously was THE.BEST.EVER. It was so good I could have eaten it with a spoon and maybe I did a little out of the pan. By the way, in mine I use Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles instead, since I don't eat meat. 

In other news, it was finally announced yesterday that bar exam results will be released TOMORROW after 4pm. Can you say nerve-wracking 5x fast? I am fah-reak-ing out!

Anyways, I signed up to do the Cara Box last month, and one of my partners is the awesome Stacie from Happiness in Bloom (check out her blog to see the questions I asked her!). We decided to do a little question swap to get to know each other, so here goes..

1. What was your best Halloween costume? I'd have to say the year Brian and I went as Danny and Sandy from Grease. We bought Brian a leather jacket from a thrift store and I printed out the T-birds logo onto fabric paper and stuck it on the back of the jacket, and we even dyed his hair black! 

Excuse the skeezy Lehigh frat house basement

2. What's the first thing you do when you wake up? Check my phone. I keep it on silent at night so I don't get woken up because I am an extremely light sleeper!

3. What's the craziest thing you've ever done? This is a hard one because I am not crazy at all. Would you settle for my most embarrassing moment? 

4. Are you a Veronica or a Betty? I had to Google what this one meant, but definitely a Betty. Betty is described as the everyday Girl Next Door type, which is definitely more me than Veronica's exotic and edgy personality haha. I am not edgy nor exotic, not at all! 

5. Name one place you wish you could visit, why? London! I just really want to go there, all of the history and sites seem so amazing. Future honeymoon?!?

6. What's your favorite part about blogging? It's pretty amazing to be able to connect with different people from different walks of life all over the country (and world)!

7. Chocolate or flowers? Too hard to choose! I love both equally :-) 

8. Early bird or night owl? Definitely early bird. I can hardly stay awake past 10!

9. What's your best quality? I asked Brian and he says I am always willing to have people's back and defend them. I guess this is true, I am very loyal and hate when people hurt my friends and family... so don't mess with us! haha

10. Work out or veg out? Veg out! I love laying around and watching TV or reading a good book.. I mean, who doesn't? 

Feel free to answer these questions or the ones I gave to Stacie on your blog.. or in the comments! I love reading people's answers to questionnaires! 

What's in a Name? Link up!

Hey guys! I am super excited about this link up! I always find it so interesting where people got their names (and I love making up nicknames for people) so when Miranda approached Kelli and I with this linkup idea, I jumped right on it! What better way to find out about people's names than have a link up?

So obviously my name is Jessica, along with 776,039 other people in the United States. My parents tell me they thought the name Jessica was original when they named me it! I bet the parents of the 4 other girls on my soccer team in high school named Jessica thought the same thing, along with about a bajillion other parents who named their kids Jessica the same year I was born, 1988. It was actually the most popular baby girl name from 1985-1989, and again from 1993-1995. It was actually in the top 4 from 1977-1997! What can I say, I'm pretty popular ;-) 

My parents actually debated between naming me Jessica Shannon or Shannon Jessica. I am glad they went with Jessica Shannon, because Jessica as a middle name sounds weird (also, I don't think I have ever typed my name this many times in a row, and it is starting to look weird now, like how when you look at a word too much and it doesn't look like a word anymore.. that happens to other people too, right?!). If I was a boy I would have been named Trevor or Dustin.. let's just say I'm glad I'm a girl.

I don't normally get asked how to spell my name when I'm asked it at stores or over the phone or whatever, but when I do I'm usually weirded out; it's so common! I always thought there was no other way to spell it, until one time I came across this in the yearbook: Gesikah. Yup, not making that up. I am assuming it is supposed to be pronounced "Jessica." Umm anyways..

Nicknames I have been given over my lifetime include (don't get any ideas, by the way.. I don't respond to most of these haha):

• Nermal- the cat from Garfield, my Dad apparently thought it was cute when I was a baby lol
• Chocolate Babka- another Dad original, which he still calls me to this day
• Jesse- I only let my family and Brian call me that, so don't try it
• Nails- by my friend Lindsey's dad/softball coach in 4th grade. Apparently I could hit the ball pretty far and he always asked me if I ate my Wheaties
• PJ- by Brian

I love names and nicknames, which is probably why the instant I met Brian, I asked him what his middle name was (it's Robert) and proceeded to call him Bobby for the first 2 months of our relationship. I don't actually call him that anymore, but he is still in my phone as Bobby :-) 

What to Do:
-- Follow your hosts: Miranda, Kelli, and me! 
-- Grab a button!
-- Link up through one of our posts.
-- Click around and check out other participants!

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Achy Breaky Heart

If you follow me on the twits, you know there was a little drama in the neighborhood last night. I'm not one to report people and whatnot, but this one situation has gotten out of control and I finally had to do something today.

About 6 months ago, these idiots moved in across the street. Immediately, our quiet neighborhood (it really was a quiet neighborhood, regardless of what people on the website say) turned loud and obnoxious. These people have a huge dog that barks all day everyday, and they keep it chained up in the garage when they aren't home, where its barks echo 10x louder than normal. They have people coming and going from the house at all hours of the night (seriously, I don't even know who lives there full-time), horns honking, people screaming and playing music and acting like they are at a freshman college dorm. 

This obnoxiousness has been going on and we have dealt with it. It's annoying but we figured other people would handle it.. I mean, people write on the neighborhood website about how they complain about these people all the time, but the response they get from the management company is that they worry about "retaliation" from the tenants. Really? You won't fine them because of fear of retaliation. That's insane. Some liar reports me for non-existent dog poop and we almost get fined, yet these people have horns blaring and tires screeching and fist fights in the street and nothing? 

Well, we've let it all slide and kept quiet.. until today. I was already annoyed from being awoken at 1:30am last night because of their stupidity, and I've had some stomach issues the past few months, and today my stomach was killing me. I was laying in my bed in my house with all the windows closed, and I was woken up by the loudest most vulgar music I have ever heard in my life. I'm not kidding, I have never heard music ("music" being a very, very loose term) that raunchy and disgusting in my life, and I could hear every single lyric with my windows shut.

I looked outside and this guy who lives at that house has all the doors open on his car while he is working on it and blaring the music. I give it 20 minutes, then decide to go say something. I go out on my deck and say (well I had to yell it so he could hear me) "Excuse me. Excuse me! Could you please turn the music down? I can hear it in my house and the lyrics are gross and I really don't want to hear that. He looks at me, puts his hand up (whatever that means), and walks away. "Thanks!" I say then go back to bed.

The music gets LOUDER. I wish I was kidding. I laid there for another half hour, hoping it would stop, but I couldn't fall asleep and I was in pain and I was mad. So I went back out on the deck and yelled "Excuse me!" again and again, but he couldn't hear me over the "music."

So I put my shoes on and walked down there and tried again. I mean, I am trying my hardest to resolve this civilly. I yelled in the nicest voice my body would allow "Excuse me! I don't know if you couldn't hear me before but I asked you to please turn down the music because I can hear it in my house and I really don't want to and.." He interrupts me and starts coming at me with his arms raised (keep in mind this guy probably has 6 inches and 50 pounds on me) and yells, "WHAT, IF IT WAS BILLY RAY CYRUS WOULD YOU LIKE THAT? HUH? HUH?" I was shocked and frankly, offended.. so just because I am a blonde white girl I have to like Billy Ray Cyrus? That's bull. And stupid. 

This may or may not be the background on my phone.. Okay, NOT

I was pretty scared of this jerk at this point but I didn't back down yet so I responded "uhh no, I don't want to hear your music inside my house though especially when I can hear every offensive word.." and he keeps yelling and screaming and cussing at me and I finally say "okay, do you want me to call the police then?" and he yells YEA EFFING CALL THE POLICE CALL THEM GO AHEAD." At this point I'm jogging back to my house scared and in tears. 

I call Brian who leaves work to come home. Then my doorbell rings and it is one of the neighbors who is usually nosy but who I was glad to see this time. He told me he heard the whole thing and that he deals with these idiots all the time and always calls management on them and nothing gets done and he tells me to call the police. He tells me they thrive off confrontation and then he leaves, telling me one last time to call the police or else nothing will ever get done about these scary people and reassures me that he is calling the management office tomorrow about them. 

I go in the kitchen to call my Mom and lo and behold SOMEONE ELSE had already called the police, thank God (I guarantee that guy thought it was me though, so I am scared of any "retaliation" I might have to endure). I see the guy pointing and raising his arms and the cop leaves like one minute (literally) later. As soon as the cop is gone, the music is back up as loud as ever. 

All afternoon and night this went on and on. I am talking to the management company tomorrow, but I don't expect any results. Legitimate complaints get no action around here. Like I said in my post last week, I am SO READY TO MOVE AWAY FROM HERE. As soon as I get a job, we're out. But in honor of poor old Billy Ray, here's Achy Breaky Heart for your listening pleasure :-) I'll be listening to it all day today on repeat because apparently that's the only kind of music I can like. 

P.S. I hope your posts are ready for the What's in a Name? Link Up tomorrow!!

How to Survive a Haunted House

..or a Haunted Hayride/Den/Walk in the Woods... haha I try to get to at least one of these every October, and because I've been going since 7th grade, I've picked up some tips on surviving them.

1. Dress accordingly. Seriously, don't be an idiot. Haunted attractions are usually at farms. Why are you wearing a nice sweater/fancy boots/flip flops? There's mud and hay and uneven surfaces. You will get dirty and you will fall. I was wearing old Uggs and still almost wiped out last night. Hoodies and crappy shoes are where it's at. 

Freshman me after Field of Screams.. perfect attire, stylin

2. Choose who you go with wisely. If you don't want to be harassed by the actors, leave your boyfriend at home. He won't warn you that a creepy clown/witch/zombie is right behind you and you will almost pee your pants. 

3. Don't go while pregnant. Honestly, I thought this one was obvious, but I saw more than one pregnant woman there Saturday night. The teenage actors playing zombies and psychos probably aren't trained to deliver your baby when you go into premature labor. 

4. There are youths everywhere. Keep away from them. Just, stay away. Trust me. Also, you will see the weirdest people you've ever laid eyes on in your life.. stay away from them, too. 

5. Be prepared for the longest lines of your life outside of the airport when you're trying to get back into the country during a sequester. Just when you think the line is over, you'll enter a building and realize you were only halfway through.

6. Speaking of lines, while you're waiting, be "scanning, constantly scanning" (if you know what movie that line is from, we're now best friends). But yea, this is extremely important. I mean it. There are people planted in the line trained to scare you, and if you're not paying attention or your boyfriend thinks it's funny not to warn you they will catch you off guard and scare the pants off you.

7. Learn to limbo. This will come in handy when trying to escape the crazies in line. Just duck under the chains and you're golden. 

8. Always turn your head slowly and look before you talk. If not, you will get out a full sentence as you turn to your sister before you realize a clown stuck its head in between the two of you and you will be face-to-face with it and scream your head off. 

9. They will touch you (at most places). They will touch your hair, clutch your shirt, grab your ankles. Don't touch them back, it's frowned upon. But seriously, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the haunted house. 

10. Never let 'em see you sweat. Do not look the actors in the eye. Walk past fast or act like you don't see them. And definitely DO NOT SCREAM. They will be bored with you and leave you alone. Or they will call you a Justin Bieber wannabe, just ask Brian bahahaha.

 

11. They WILL chase you out with a chainsaw. It happens every time, don't be surprised and don't run, because they'll chase you halfway through the park. 

12. When in doubt, run out the emergency exit. I've done it before They don't love you for it but you gotta do what you gotta do, man. 

*If you follow all of the above tips, your haunted house experience will be a lot less terrifying. But hey, I don't listen to most of my own advice and still have a great time. Getting scared is kinda the point.* 

And if haunted houses don't scare you at all, just remember this last tip..

13. It's impossible to tell if all of the clowns/zombies/monsters are employees OR if they're actually psycho murderers who are pretending to be actors so they can murder unsuspecting thrill-seekers under the cover of the haunted house (what? no one else thinks of that? because I definitely think it every time I go to a haunted house. The more you know..). 

P.S. Don't forget about the What's in a Name? Link up happening Wednesday!

Recipe: Pumpkin Soup

And another Friday rolls around.. and it hasn't stopped pouring rain for the past 36 hours. Everything is flooded, so what should you do? If you're looking for something awesome to make on this rainy Friday night/this weekend, you're in the right place. Even if you don't like pumpkin, you will like this soup, I promise! It is just the right combination of.. stuff, and believe me it's amazing. My mom and I have been making it for years and years, so I am not sure where the original recipe is from, but you should definitely make it this weekend! Plus it's easy, so win-win!

Ingredients:

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 fresh bay leaf

- 2 ribs celery, finely chopped

- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

- salt and pepper

- 3 tbsp flour

- 2 tsp thyme

- 2 tsp hot sauce

- 6 cups broth (I use veggie)

- 28 oz can of pumpkin

- 2 cups heavy cream (I sometimes use half milk to lighten the calories)

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

- On medium/medium high, add oil and melt butter.

- Add bay leaf, celery, and onion, and season with salt and pepper. 

- Cook 6-7 min, until tender.

- Add flour, thyme, and hot sauce; cook for 1 minute.

- Whisk in broth and bring to a bubble.

- Whisk in pumpkin in large spoonfuls. 

- Simmer 10 minutes to thicken, then add cream and nutmeg.

- Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

Told ya it was super easy. You can serve with some bread, a salad, red wine, etc. Have a great weekend guys! Don't forget to get your posts ready for the What's in a Name Linkup next Wednesday!

Let's Talk About Lists, Baby

Funny story-- someone found my blog yesterday by searching for 'true facts about carrots' haha, if that's what you're here looking for, you're in the wrong place! Anyways so Erin posted this list/countdown thing a few weeks back and I've been wanting to do it, so I am because lists are fun!

Five things I'll be doing over the next week:
1. Making mini apple pies! We love making these in muffin tins, so cute!
2. Going to a cookout. In October.. yea we're cool like that.
3. Linking up for What's in a Name? on October 16th! You know you wana join in the fun!! 
4. Job searching. Because duh.
5. Finding out if the pass the bar exam. At least, I hope the results come out within the next week, everything is so secretive! Cross your fingers for me, please!

Four items that I need to purchase:
1. The gold iPhone 5s! My poor 4s is truly on its last legs 
2. Suits. Blah, but attorneys wear them so yea. Anyone know any places with nice suits that won't break my itty-bitty bank?
3. Halloween candy for the kids. I like to buy it early but then I eat it all and end up having to buy more. I am ashamed, but probably not as much as I should be. 
4. Pie crust. For the mini apple pies. Like I'd make my own, ha!

Three shows I can't wait to have come back into my life (I am actually going to change this to shows I am glad just came back into my life):
1. Revenge. 
2. The Good Wife. 
3. Nashville. 
(Oops there are more than 3.. Parenthood, Parks and Rec, American Horror Story, I could go on!)

Two reasons I'm excited for fall:
1. Leggings with boots! (That counts as one reason, right?)
2. Halloweenie!

One thing that's currently bothering me:
1. I have NO Monday night shows this fall! Any suggestions??