some pics.

*i found this AMAZING dress in a consignment shop in Yardley, PA called Fashion Re-View. It was supposedly my size... but it definitely didn't fit like it should have. ha. nevertheless, i had to show amanda. i might go back in a few weeks and try it again.*

*this was some Casa Coffee (spanish?) from H-Mart (definitely Asian). as you can see, you fold out the little tabbies and you pour boiling water in the pouch and when it comes out the bottom it's ready to drink. it was really good but really strong. megan and i drank it and now we have the shakes... megan said that every pore in her body was about to go crazy. i have a bit of a headache now... oh well. it was good.*

*we finally got a couch in our apartment (it's kinda busted... oh well). i also did laundry for the first time in about 3 weeks :) as seen on the couch.*

*i also purchased a table and four chairs for our apartment today. only the chairs would fit into my car, and i have until friday to pick up the table. i also have until then to find a WAY to pick up the table :) dad, you wanna come visit me in the truck? :D*

*hahahahaaa!!! our bathroom light went out today. we improvised with one of our five lamps usually inhabiting the living room*

*hope you enjoyed some random pictures from the past week. i'm sure there will be more soon. the apartment is actually looking like a place where people live these days. i'm very excited. i love you guys. see you in 2 weeks when i come home for fall break!!! :)*

This one's for you, Mom!

Despite your multiple pleas for pictures of the changing colors of fall in Maine, I completely failed to take even one picture in the fall of 2007. So this first picture is evidence of the good faith effort I am making to do things differently this year.

To me, this tree looks like it is on fire. In a really cool hot pink way. It makes me smile when I pass it on my walk to school; it's in our neighbor's yard - our house is just to the right of this shot.

Pixie 101 or, How I Wasted Several Hours Today

Since it has now become common knowledge in the English department that I cut my own hair, the requests have been rolling in from my shaggy haired friends. This is not surprising for several reasons.

Number One: We are graduate students, and therefore, most of us would just go without haircuts rather than give our hard-earned money away.

Number Two: Those of us who have bitten the bullet and paid for a haircut in Maine have been sorely disappointed. See any pictures of me late last fall. It was...awkward...to say the least.

For some reason, I have gotten three requests for haircuts just this week. I saw a fourth coming last night and ducked out of the room before she could get the words out. I know it might be rude, but I just couldn't handle one more. A lot of my reluctance has to do with the fact that my superstellar Rhianna cut of late summer is now...well...shaggy.

In my research [read: pop culture mags, tabs, tv, etc. that I follow continually now that I can rationalize it through 101], I have been noticing all the adorable haircuts that I should be having. Or at least trying.

So this is what I've been most taken with:

Victoria Beckham has done it again. This pixie is flawless. Who knew her hair was perfectly curly? By the way, J.Lo is still boring.


Now, I never EVER thought I would take style cues from Samantha Ronson. Anyway, her new pixie is soooo cute. She looks like a girl again. And there is nothing wrong with that. Rock on, Ronson!

And...oddly enough, this joker impressed me this morning.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is Sid Vicious' mugshot. But...his hair is amazing.

So, determined to be at least as attractive as Sid Vicious, if not Ronson and Beckham, I inspected the canvas. Here is how you can tell if your short haircut has gotten shaggy. It might look something like this:

Finally, after a lot of chopping and reinspection and rechopping and evening and randomizing and blah, blah, blah, I now have a haircut I can live with.

So, what do you think? Did I approximate the Beckham/Ronson/Vicious?

And...for those of you who are keeping track, I'm having a haircutting day next weekend. So far there will be three haircuts, but who knows what could happen in the next seven days!

Race for the Cure

Today a group of my friends and classmates participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It was the first time I've ever worn one of those marathon runner bibs, and I really did feel pretty fancy. :)

Anyway, it was a really cool, hopeful, meaningful event and I'm glad I was a part of it.

...even though Tony Consiglio and Cindy Michaels weren't there. :(

i'm not crazy, i'm just a little unwell...

but luckily, my sickness leads to a lot of baking. :)

tonight i made jessica's superfancy oatmeal splenda cookies. and, just to make them my own, i made a dozen cupcookies. observe:

beth - probably correctly - pointed out that i was so uncomfortable with the cookie baking genre that i had to translate it to a form that i felt some control over.

so...voila! cupcookies!

there was a creature on my car!

*there was a praying mantis on the roof of my car the other day. kinda scary. katie tried to take a picture of it on her phone but then it flew at her and she screamed like a girl. quite out of character for her...*

*i couldn't believe that there was actually a praying mantis on my car. RIDICKALOUSSS!!!*

I have to work tomorrow morning from 7am-12pm and then from 1pm-4:45pm. So I think I'll go to sleep now. Also, tomorrow katie, steph and i are going to visit Chris, Laura and Ms. Callie. We're all very excited.
<3 jess

shirt dress and cupcakes!

so, this isn't a cupcake, but i took this picture for jess. :)

black and white cupcake. like the cookie, only a cupcake. very complicated with the two batters but ultimately rewarding.

these are the banana splits. black and white cake with vanilla frosting on top and banana pudding filling in the middle.

this is a vanity shot of an arnold palmer cupcake. tea & lemon in both the cake and the frosting.

mimosa cupcakes. orange cake soaked with champagne glaze. in the background: mimosas frosted with a mixed fruit mascarpone icing.

amaretto cupcakes. they weren't very amaretto, however, next time i'll use more of the flavoring.

amaretto cupcakes with raspberry cream filling inserted with new bismark tip.

cupcakes in the fridge. some have vanilla amaretto frosting; the others have raspberry frosting made from the leftover filling and added powdered sugar. the amaretto frosting was good, but it got too dry in the fridge.

glamour shot of one of the raspberry on raspberry cupcakes.

hope you enjoyed that random dress + cupcake post!

i'm so blissfully posting from my apartment. :) success!

re-nay-nay!!!

Renae!!!!
Renae was getting ready for her placement and she looked so beautiful! I just thought you all might want to see her :) I feel like she is part of the family anyways <3

This is a VERY frustrating day!

I haven't had a full fledged 100% frustrating day at my job in a looooong time. Well today made up for it! I know I should be thankful because most days of the year it is at least a decent job if not a pretty good one. HOWEVER, when it's bad like this - it's BAD! I would explain but it would take way toooooo long and it's not worth my energy or focus to tell you. But I would like to give a big ol' shout out to all the Grubbs and Hedricks and say booooooo on the irritaters of the world!

and now for something really different...

hi, guys!

i only have a minute before i have to hit the road again, but i wanted to tell you that i'm now taking a t'ai chi class in bangor. i learned a little bit of the t'ai chi form in my summer meditation/gardening class, and though i thought it was hokey at the beginning, i really like the relaxing properties.

so, the next time you see me in a park, i might be doing some t'ai chi with some elderly friends in linen pants. :)

recent fun

*katie and i went out one night and couldn't find a seat at starbucks... so i had the bright idea to go next door and sit on the rocking chairs outside of Carb Country. Oops! I mean Cracker Barrel.*


*of course... i had to do some ballet to commemorate the occasion.**me and renae trying on deon's birthday presents.*
*me on nay's bed... i was tired of holding my tea, so i hung it on my toe :)*
*playwicki park today by myself. there was torrential rain yesterday so i had to go to my secondary spot, the concrete slab. i usually lay on the "beach" by the water...*

*this stuff is my best friend.**arg. first exam tomorrow in 'Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship' class. can't wait.*

*it was blazing today... you can probably see my shiny-ness. but i was having so much fun.*

*love you, guys! hope you enjoyed a little peek into my life as of late.*

Amanda Jo Hedrick- This is a personal message for you. I KNOW you have things you can post about on here... ok? So, you should probably do it. I love you. I miss you terribly. I was looking at pictures from Maine and I was amazed at how much fun we packed into one week. I CANNOT wait to do it again. That is all.
<3 jecca

Happy Birthday Christina~September 3rd

Let's celebrate Christina's first year, even in the hospital she was awake and ready to go!!

Oh so tiny, just relaxing at the baby shower.

What kind of sitter was Keven?

Who needs clothes when you have shoes.

Always surrounded by love.

Happy Birthday Christina! Have a great day! And we love you!!!!!!

playwicki park with the boys

*it was a BEAUTIFUL day on sunday. my favorite asian, my favorite filipino and i decided to go do some homework at playwicki park. i enhanced my wonderful tan, while billy remained fully clothed from head to toe in black clothing and yasou sought shade on the other side of the river. here are a couple pics. i got sad when no one was posting on the blog... do i have to do everything around here?!*





<3