neat photoshop filter

because its friday, and i've mentally checked out of the work day already, i decided to google the interwebs for fun photoshop stuff... i found a really fun and neat-o filter. all you need is a photo of yourself and you simply make one click.

just look at what it did to the photo i took of myself here at work - click the photo to see!

..............jfk..............

the bathroom stall creeper

i wanted to write a post today about something that annoys me. so, before i started to write my post i decided to set out to find an image that illustrates my annoyance. much to my surprise, i found someone else' blog post about the very thing that i was about to blog about.

if you want, you can just read the first few paragraphs of this person's entry:
http://www.aginggal.com/pet-peeves/

if you don't want to read their post, for whatever reason, don't worry. i still intend on making a quick post about what i wanted to blog about. here goes:

it bothers me when i walk in to a public restroom where there are about, oh, a thousand empty stalls of which i will likely choose one on the end, and then someone else walks in and somehow decides to choose the stall directly next to the one i am in.

i yanked the image above from this site: nothingihatemore.com

"seriously?! out of all the empty stalls around me you chose that one? fuck off! at least go one more over. what? do you want to smell my bits and pieces? should i let you sit on my lap??"

.............jfk..............

scutigera coleoptrata, anybody?

did you just pee your pants a little? i did, when i looked at that picture.... in fact, my skin started to crawl, too. then i felt nauseous... yikes!

the common house centipede
that's what you are looking at. and if you want, you can read about these creepy little buggers here, on wikipedia. we've all seen one of these guys. most likely scurrying along the floors of our own home at one time or another. they freak me out more than spiders do. ugh...

so, do you want to hear a story about one of my many encounters with your average house centipede? yeah ya do! here goes...

a long long time ago - about 5 o'clock in the morning this morning - i woke up to a tickle on my chest. i sort of shrugged in off, until that tickle moved its way across my collar bone. mortified; i froze.

"holy crap! what. is. that?!"

i had no clue what is was. all i knew is that it was alive and on me. my best guess could only be that it was a spider. eek!! i didn't want to freak out. because if i did that, then whatever it was would more than likely a.) bite me and/or b.) end up in my bed/sheets and still end up biting me. so i just laid still... and while my heart was pounding and sweat was beading on my brow, i laid there trying to think of the best way to get this thing off of me... you know... without freaking out...

tickle tickle tickle. it moved its way to where the neck of my shirt was. it seemed as though it was stuck there. maybe trying to get under my shirt. i don't know. but i could still feel it tickling me. just not really going anywhere at this point. i decided to make my move. slowly, i peeled off my blankets and decided that, as i jump out of bed i would simultaneously strip off my clothes and shake the ever-living-daylights out of myself and hair. and i did just that. boy, would that have been a sight to see.

i flipped on the lights and saw what you all saw when you clicked to read this post... a common house centipede!

mother f'er - crawling on me while i sleep!!!!!!! gah!!!!!!!!!!!!

you better believe i squashed that bastard with something i had nearby. how dare he crawl on me while i sleep. i was so totally creeped out that i could barely fall back to sleep. i mean... i did eventually get back to sleep. but it took a little while... and i know i'm going to have trouble tonight when i lay down in bed for the night. my skin is crawling just thinking about it.



......jfk.....

shaving it all

if i start to get bald spots from losing all this hair, im shaving it off!


or going for something like this - what do you think?




.............jfk.............

chewbacca: part duex

so. here i am again posting about my dear friend chewey. i didn't think i needed to post again about this, but this morning was exceptional - i thought. chewey was out. of. control.

first of all, yesterday i wore my hair in a french braid all day. that means that all day i didn't shed anything, because all my hair was held in it's place by the braid. it was glorious not to feel the tickle of falling hair. but this morning! lordy lordy... when i took the braid out, and did my usual finger comb through, it was nuts-o. i couldn't believe it! i'll give you the picture show...

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

last time's pre-shower finger comb through hair collection


today's pre-shower finger comb through hair collection





last time's shower drain collection


today's shower drain collection





by the way - this is what it looks like when i scoop it up and sling it on the shower wall. i do this midway through my shower. that way the tub can continue to drain while i finish up my shower





last time's post-shower finger comb through hair collection


today's post-shower finger comb through hair collection





last time's full chewbacca

today's chewey

"bad chewey - go away."

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



...........jfk...........

i'm a mom?

it's not like i don't know that i have a baby, or that i forget that lill really does exist... but sometimes, in the quietest moments of the day, i really tune in to the fact that i. am. a. mom. whoa! when did that happen?! february 19th at 11:10p.m., duh! but seriously. i'm a parent.

i remember the first days in the hospital, holding our little bean, and the first weeks home with her. my world was flipped upside down and shaken for it's lunch money. i was petrified with all that i had to learn about taking care of a newborn and how life was about to change...life would never be the same. but as the weeks went on, i started to get used to things - sort of - and i could feel a little relief fall over me. it was nice, but short lived, as a new worry was creeping up on me. one day i was going to have to go back to work. how in the world is that supposed to happen. how am i supposed to take care of myself and a baby and go to work on top of all the other daily/weekly/monthly happenings?

**side note** i know it seems that i am leaving mike out of this whole equation. like i did it all by myself. but i'm not. he was there and going through all of this too. and helping me out greatly with everything. i'm simply speaking on my personal feelings, my own struggles and realizations that came from within me. i love my husband and all that he does for us as a family. he's a hard working and caring man and i am eternally grateful that i married him.

fast forward to today, and all is fine. i didn't even notice that things were just moving along as they would. i mean; there have been some adjustments with schedules and timing and whatnot, but overall, things just kept going... seriously. one morning i woke up, stretched out my arms and breathed in real deep and was about to start my usual day when i realized, "hey. i am a mom! how and when did this happen?"

even though i feel like the same person i've always been, i'm not. i'm a version of my former self. i have a new type of life and a new schedule. i have a baby and yet things felt like they almost never changed. weird, because i sort of, kind of, didn't realize it till that moment while drawing in one super, deep and wakeful breath. things just felt normal up until that moment. normal; meaning that things were just the way they always were. but now i'm a mom. i have a baby now.

i went to sleep the night before as usual, and woke up the next day a mom.

maternity leave + outlet shopping

maternity leave + outlet shopping with my bff = the best, worst decision ever.

not too long ago, i decided to go shopping with my bff, beth. we wanted to hang out, shop and enjoy some quality time together as best friends often do. it was a nice day. we hit the outlets as they opened and walked around and shopped and then concluded the afternoon at the craft ale house, in limerick.

neither one of us is really a big clothing shopper and both of us had agreed we were each in serious need of some new clothes. i was winding down the home stretch of my maternity leave and it had been at least 10 months since i had really bought new clothes for my non-pregnant self and beth was trying to outfit her wardrobe to fit her new svelte body.


this is my depiction of beth and i that day at the outlets

we had a gay ol' time - bought clothes at the loft, gap, columbia, banana republic - even made a stop at starbucks for some iced deliciousness... by the end of our shopping, i new i was dangerously close to over-drafting my bank account, if not having done so already. but we weren't quite done with our time together - there was one more stop, and that was lunch/good beer at the craft ale house.

good times.

now, obviously i should have known better than to go on a shopping spree while i was still on my unpaid maternity leave. what was i thinking?! not much i guess. i just wanted to enjoy my time with beth. and that i did. though i guess if i made one smart move that day, it had to be that i put lunch on my credit card and not my debit card. by that point i had already over-drafted my bank account, even though i didn't really know it yet. i didn't find that out till later, when i got home and checked on the situation.

oops.

but there are four good things to this whole experience/situation 1.) i had a really fun time with my bff. 2.) my checking account is hooked up with my savings account. so if i do happen to do what i did that day, the overage comes from my savings and i don't have to stand there looking embarrassed and rejected by the person trying to charge my debit card. 3.) i guess i am allowed one over-draft a year, month or whatever, without incurring the $35 fee. so, all in all, it didn't cost me anything extra to be an irresponsible shopper that day. 4.) i learned a valuable lesson; don't go on a shopping spree with your bff when you are on an unpaid maternity leave.

..............jfk..............

chewbacca lives! in my tub every day

so. i've always lost a lot of hair on a daily basis. i know i'm not alone here. we all lose hair throughout the day. but it seemed that i was losing quite a bit. every day - every shower. i would be scooping out this massive sopping clump of hair from the drain/bottom of the tub. ugh. it was so gross - there was so much hair! so much so, that my husband and i fondly named the clumps of hair, my little chewbaccas. chewey, for short.

every day i'd scoop chewey out of tub.

"oughloughloughloughloughloughloughl"

this is an on going struggle that i still deal with today. but recently i was pregnant for 9 months and one of the only perks that i experienced while housing a fetus, taking a mega vitamin the size of a small bird's egg, drinking huge amounts of water and staving off things like alcohol, deli meats, sushi and fun sports like football, was that my crazy hair loss sort of subsided. chewey was... almost non existent. he wasn't really chewey anymore. it was... great! it seemed that for a while there our tub was draining 5x better than it ever had. it was glorious.

but alas. i knew it wouldn't last. something inside of me said, "you know jessica. when you are not pregnant anymore, it's likely that your cheweys will come back..." i knew that it was true. and guess what. chewey is back. that bastard!

but it's like super chewbacca these days. there is something about this wild roller coaster of post pregnancy hormones, or whatever it is that causes us mothers to lose our hair at a ridiculous rate 3-4 months after giving birth, that is just insane. holy moly. i've never seen chewey like this. when i go to scoop him up there is so much hair! it's so thick, soft and cushiony that i cannot even feel the tub drain. i used to be able to feel the tub drain. yowsers and gross!

i took pictures this morning of chewey because i knew i wanted to blog about him. and i didn't want to blog about him without pictures of my chewey. enjoy!

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


this is what i remove from my head before i even get in the shower.
i do this by combing my fingers through my hair after i remove
my hair tie.



this is what i pull from the bottom of the tub after
my shower. aka. chewey!



this is what i remove from my head after my shower, when i once
again comb my fingers through my hair.



all my glorious hair clumped together; pre-shower,
shower and post shower.



postpartum chewbacca = chewey on steroids...

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

and this is just what i get from my head in the morning time. i can't imagine what chewey would look like if i collected all my lost hair throughout the day and balled it up. bleh!





.................jfk.................

this sh*t is bananas

it was about two weeks ago, when i bought a 3lb bunch of bananas at bj's wholesale club. they were the most electric green bananas i had ever purchased! for serious - electric might not even describe the color they were!

now, i have purchased bananas from bj's many times. and something you should be aware of is bj's bananas seem to have a much shorter shelf life than most bananas found anywhere else. i don't know what it is... they maybe last half as long as your typical grocery store banana. here is the way it goes down. you buy bananas at bj's. green, yellow, greenish-yellow, whatever color they are. though they are generally some shade of green. they quickly turn yellow within a day or two. then you have very little time before they turn brown and spotty.

basically, you have to really like bananas - eat them every day kind of like - or have intentions of baking something with them to make it worth buying the 3lb bunch at bj's. otherwise you are just wasting money and bananas.

so, back to the bananas i purchase almost two weeks ago and their super electric green color they radiated... they are still green! two weeks later and they are still green!!!!!!!!!!

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

look at 'em! and this isn't even the shade they were when i bought them. i'd have to say, the color died down a little over the past two weeks.

now, i thought to myself, "maybe they are just green on the outside, but ripening on the inside..." like, some sort of strange phenomenon. nope - not the case. i know this because i brought one of these green bananas to work the other day and attempted to peel/eat it.

this is what it looked like after my attempt to peel the green banana. wtf! the peel was tough. so tough that it wouldn't peel. flat out wouldn't peel. what was weirder? the inner peel - you know, directly beneath the outer peel - seemed like tree bark. rough and tough tree bark! belongs on a tree, tree bark. look at it. tell me it doesn't look like tree bark!

what i did next was, i used my hands and snapped the banana in half. it snapped cleanly and easily. look at that banana! you try doing that with a yellow banana. no way, jose. then i poked the fruit inside to see just how hard it was. hard as rocks. well. not really rocks. but pretty friggin' hard for a banana that i bought two weeks earlier. it didn't even smell like a banana. it was virtually void of aroma.

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

the rest of the green bark rock hard bananas are still sitting in my kitchen. i'm not sure what to do with them just yet. i can't bring myself to throw them out. there is something inside of me telling me to keep them for a bit longer - just to see.

maybe they will turn yellow. maybe they will be forever green. maybe one day i will wake up and they will be black. or, maybe one day i will walk in to my kitchen and they will just be petrified in their green state. i don't know. but i want to find out how this one ends.

.........jfk........

big sale

yard sale at kenney marketing just got bigger!

im a professional

i work for an advertising agency - at least that is what boss-man calls this place.

i do ads, packaging, websites (yeah right), web banners, product tours, brochures and bla bla bla. basically anything you want, we would do; including signage.

just look at what i did today!



you see that beautifully designed sign? sure you do - need a closer look?



there she is! i'm a professional. yep.

............jfk............

i went corporate on their butts

reader beware. this is a long post!

i'm going to share a story, or rather an email, with you today here on my blog.

first, here is a little background information that is good to know before you read my story - for the last four months, i've been dealing with various verizon wireless representatives over the phone trying to get a $100 gift card for a phone i traded in as participation in their trade-in program. now, four months is too long - don't you think? especially when it was only supposed to take 3 weeks. so this week i had enough!

i was going corporate!

after a quick search online, where i googled "verizon wireless corporate email", i found a nice list of about 15-20 names to various people in charge of different departments at verizon. score! I chose the ones that sounded most pertinent to my situation... it went out to 6 corporate headies.

the email subject line read "one small crack can take down an entire empire..." a little dramatic, but i was upset and now i was about to get the job done! bitches be crazy!

.............................begin email.............................

Dear Verizon Wireless Corporate Employees,

My name is Jessica Krumenacker. And up until about a few months ago, I loved everything about Verizon Wireless. Let me tell you my story... It's long, but please read this.

A few months ago, more like 4 months ago, I participated in the Trade-In program. I traded in my LG Dare and bought a new iPhone. I received an email on September 16th stating that my phone had appraised for the $100 and that I should receive my gift card in the mail within 3 weeks.

3 weeks passed and I had not received my gift card. Eventually, on October 25th, I called about it. The representative with whom I spoke to had the gift card reissued. Another 3+ weeks goes by and I still had not received anything from Verizon resembling a $100 gift card - Nothing. So, on November 29th, I called again. I was told to wait till the end of the week to see if it would arrive, but it didn't. So, on December 7th, I called again. This time the nice woman on the phone tapped us in to Customer Care. The result of that conversation was that my case would be escalated in request for a credit to my account for the $100. I was told that I would get a text/contact from the authorities that be at Verizon within 24-48 hours on whether or not the credit would be approved. 24-48 hours had passed and I had heard nothing from Verizon, so I called again. I was told that the credit request was denied and that the ONLY THING THEY COULD DO was try to resend the gift card a third (and final) time. I asked what would happen if I still did not receive the card, since this is the FINAL try... The representative said that at that point someone higher up would have to step in and handle it - like - whether or not they would bother sending another one. At this point, I gave them a different address (my work address) to try. Just in the case that something was goofy with my home residence. I sort of felt a bit a faith that this time I would get the card... But no. I still have not received the gift card...

I called last week on January 11th. The person said that my card was sent to the shipping facilities on the December 20th and was shipped from there on January 9th to me and that it should arrive on the 17th. I'm not sure where all of these cards are going, but I certainly have not received it. So of course, I called again yesterday. I wanted to speak to a supervisor. I was told there were none available and that all that could be done was to have my case escalated and that someone would contact me within 24-48 hours. I've been there, done that. No one called me. I called back a little later to see if I could speak to a supervisor. The gentleman on the phone said that he was the highest authority available and that all he could do was escalate my case. No thank you. I asked when a supervisor would be available to talk to. He gave me the run around and eventually told me that they cannot just let everyone and anyone speak to a supervisor when they want. If they did that then it would be overwhelming for the supervisors...

I'm sorry. At this point, I am not just anyone, and I certainly hope that I am not an example of everyone, unless it is common for your customers to be waiting for over 4 months for something that should have arrived in 3 weeks. If I am, that means that there is a serious problem with your Trade-In Program. I did manage to find some posts in the Verizon Community where people are going through the exact situation as me. You can read them yourselves here:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/766487
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/751960
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/767040

If I would have known there were going to be such issues attaining this gift card, I would have just held on to my old phone to keep as a spare. I am very sorry to have to search out, and use corporate emails of people who are surely busy with other company happenings, but this appears to be an issue and I am not alone. I am one person, of however many more out there, struggling to continue to enjoy being a Verizon Wireless customer. I really just want to be able to speak to someone who can and will help.

JESSICA F. KRUMENACKER
Designer by Day • Artist at Heart

[e] jfkrumenacker@gmail.com
[w] www.jessicakrumenacker.com

.............................end email.............................

i sent this email yesterday. and today, i got a phone call. the guy's name was tad johnson or somthing or other... i can't remember. i know he wasn't one of the headies i emailed. but he was from verizon corporate and he somehow had the privilege of reading my email.

he took care of the problem by crediting my account $100. whoo hoo! mission accomplished! i feel good now! now get this - he then proceeded to tell me that, when the $100 gift card i am waiting for actually does arrive, to go ahead and use it. like - in addition to my fabulously instant credit he just gave me. excuse me for a moment...

hahahahahahhahahahahahahha! i doubt that thing will ever arrive anywhere near my mailbox. wait. let me laugh some more.

hahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

for some reason they all have this illusion over there and that these gift cards i've been calling about are going to actually arrive in my mailbox. it's been 4 months and i have not received any of them! not one. i would have like 3-4 by now if they ever did arrive. silly verizon people. i would put money on it that they never do arrive - ever. but if they do, i now have the go-ahead to use the last one issued. great. thanks. but not going to happen.

.................jfk................

recycle this, troll!

who knows what goes in to a recycling bin. more specifically; the big blue recycling bins? you know, the ones that look sort of like this one...



the one in our office has two holes in the top to throw your plastic, glass or aluminum bottles and cans in. we have a certain someone in our office that consistently throws trash in our recycling bin. it drives me up the wall. she will throw paper towels in there, laminated paper calendars and even plastic grocery bags with her lunch trash in them...

one day, she threw out a plastic food/soup container that was full... it looked like the larger of these ones seen here - but full of food.



i mean - it was full! not partially filled or just simple tainted with food residue because she didn't feel like rinsing it out. it had food in it filled to the top.

you don't put that in the bin, troll!

after i saw her do this, i got up and walked over to the bin and dug out the container right there and then. as i did this, i proceeded to say that the bin was not a trash can, and that the item she just threw in it did not belong. she responded with the fact that it was plastic and could be recycled. although true, it was full of food and didn't belong in the bin at that point. so, i calmly told her that if she wanted to recycle it, she should empty it first, otherwise it is still trash and not recycling. and i threw it out in a regular trashcan.

(sigh) she constantly throws trash and other inappropriate items in our recycling bin no matter what you tell her or how many times you tell her... what is so hard about keeping it to plastic or glass bottles and containers... even aluminum is acceptable in this bin... just not paper towels, laminated paper calendars, plastic grocery bags or containers with food in them (which, by the way, she said that someone at the recycling plant would empty it. what a cunt! way to make his/her job harder you lazy fuck! excuse my profanity - but for real.).

is there a solution to this? i feel like one day i'm going to punch her in her troll face!

..............jfk................

picture post

time to play, "what's going on back there?"
____________________________________________


stretchy-stretchy
yep - just like that! right there at her desk?




scratchy-scratchy
need a better wipe job or bigger panties?



picky-picky
maybe i should offer her a tissue?



more picky-picky
must be something good up there... ooop. she's looking this way!



stoppy-stoppy
"what you lookin' at?!""

you might be looking at my mountainous boobs or huge belly in this one actually...


...........................jfk...........................

i owe my baby $50 already

yes, you read that correctly. i owe my baby $50 already and she's not even born yet!

i was just looking in my wallet and saw that i have three dollars cash. that's a rare occurrence - seeing cash in my wallet. many of you already know this about me, i rarely ever carry cash on me. i mainly just use my debit card to pay for the things i need on a daily basis. works for me. i don't like being bothered by having to get cash out of an ATM or what-have-you.

i guess it was a couple weeks ago now - my grand parents were up from florida and mike and i went to see them at my aunts house. my mom-mom gave me two things for baby lillian; a wonderful hand-knitted blanket and $50 cash.

now, giving cash as a gift is something of a vietnamese tradition for many occasions (actually many asian societies do this - not just the vietnamese). and more often than not, they give it to you in a little red envelope that is adorned with intricate asian art as seen in the photos below.


you can also read more about red envelope gift giving at this wiki page, if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelope

on this particular day, mom-mom didn't have any little red envelopes with her to put lillian's gift in, and i could tell she was bothered by this. understandably so, i guess... but i am not going to go in to details for why she was upset. though you might be able to formulate your own guess after reading the wiki page at the link above. be it as it may, i told her it was okay as i put the cash in my wallet. i assured her that mike and i would put it to good use for lillian... probably by depositing it in to some sort of account that we will eventually open for her for when she is older. something like that anyway. and i also told myself that i was not to touch it!!!!!!

well - wouldn't ya know - i spent it! i left it in my wallet longer than i should have. one day i needed cash and that $50 was there. neatly tucked away in my wallet. i used it :-/ i know. shame on me. now i owe lil' lill' $50.

after reading that wiki page, i'm sort of glad it wasn't given to me in a little red envelope. if it was, i'm certain i would be in for some serious bad luck. i just know it. but since there was no red envelope, i'm hoping that null and voids the whole "good luck" part of the asian tradition of red envelope gift giving. i guess i can sort of chuck this up to me being a silly american. a born and raised mixed race that never quite fully understood, till now, the whole tradition in the first place... perhaps mom-mom could have better explained that to me some time in the 31 years i've been alive.

whatever the case, i owe my baby $50. stat.

...........jfk..........

products i love, continued

yes. im going to continue where i left off with yesterday's blog.

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

kleenex ultra soft tissues
there is nothing more i hate than having to blow my nose a thousand times a day when i have a cold. and your average tissue will rip the sh*t out of the skin around your drippy nostrils when you are blowing it that many times a day. of course you have options now-a-days that will solve that problem. like kleenex with lotion and what-have-you. but i hate tissues with lotions and other substances in them. they all make my face break out, not to mention they make me feel like i just slathered my face with a tissue soaked in bacon grease - gross! doesn't matter what brand either - if it has something in it then it's not for me.

but kleenex ultra soft... ha! these bad boys are awesome. they wont rip up your drippy little nose, nor will they cause you to break out. they are as soft as a cloud in heaven and they feel tremendous once they touch your skin. i'm not kidding. when i first put one up to my face, i just about melted they felt so good. i just wanted to rub it all over my face for like 5 minutes. strange. i know. but i am not lying. give 'em a try.


neutrogena moisture shine lip gloss
i have personal issues with using lip glosses, chapstick and lip products... i need a lot of moisture. yes. me. all of me. my hair. my skin. my lips. they all need lots of moisture. i dry out easily. and occasionally i like a little glam-glam on me lippers. i like to feel pretty...

when it comes to my lips i have problems. i cannot just lube them up as i do my body... it's just not the same.

here are the problems i found with the options i had/have out there to deal with dry lips.

• chapsticks - you think it works great, but you have to apply it every 20 minutes. and if you don't apply it, you are left with terribly chapped and flaky lips. well. maybe that's just me. it makes my lips so much worse.
• your average lip gloss - does nothing for you except look pretty and shiny. no real moisturizing of the lips and most of them sort of leave my lips slightly more flaky when i am not using them regularly, similar to what chapsticks do to me.
• lipstick - i'm referring to the kinds that claim they moisturize. they leave a strange feeling/residue on your lips. not to mention if you don't reapply often enough, you look silly sporting the remnants of a lipstick. i don't need to look that pretty all day anyways... i like things that are lower maintenance. and. i still get the strange flaky thing going on with my lips. chapped and flaky lips are the worst!

the common denominating problem with most lip products for me is the flakiness. i don't know what really causes it. its different from chapped lips. chapped lips happen to me from too much sun exposure or cold exposure. the flaky thing happens when; after getting in to a regular routine of using a lip product, and if i happen to stop for a day or two, i get flaky lips. ugh.

so anyway, one day while perusing the cosmetic isle of our local grocery store i came across neutrogena's moisture shine lip glosses. i needed a gloss, and i like neutrogena's brand, so i bought one. can't hurt to give it a shot... i love it!! the product line offers a variety of colors and tints - most of which are just enough to add glam-glam to my look. and when they start to wear off you just look normal. no remnants or residues or need to reapply throughout the day if you don't want to. and the big winner winner chicken dinner deal breaker for me, they don't leave my lips flaky if i happen to not use it for a day or two.

buy it. try it. love it.

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

ahhhh ok. ok. no more products. i'm getting too chatty. though there was one more product i wanted to talk about... real quick. i'll give you a picture and product name at least.

listerine whitening pre-brush rinse
this stuff totally works. just be sure you buy the bottle labeled as original, not the other whitening rinses that listerine offers. the others are bogus. trust me. i've tried them and they do not whiten. well. maybe they do. but they are no where near as good as the original.





..........jfk.........

products that i love

i was sitting here at my desk, bored as usual, when i realized i haven't blogged in a while again. sorry. that is what this whole blog was created for - to fill up my bored moments with something to do.

time to blog! but what to blog about? i sat here for a bit and contemplated what i could blog about... anything really. it wasn't supposed to matter. i was supposed to just blog my brains away without a care. here are some of the things that crossed my mind.

pregnancy?
nah. i wanted to try to keep that as separate from my blogging as i do my facebook profile. which is why i created it's own special group page to bombard with crap about me being pregnant. the occasional post and blog entry is all i want to see on here...

how bored i am?
nah. that gets old and boring after a while.

penn state drama?
nah. i wouldn't even know where to begin with that. plus im a little late to the game - everyone and their mother has already blogged, tweeted and posted their feelings on it. why share mine?

thanksgiving?
not going there right now... it will all get figured out in the end. gotta love family.

life, love and the pursuit of happiness?
i already do that little bits at a time here and there. but now is not the time.

...anyway. as i continued contemplating today's topic, i realized my armpits are nice and dry. i have drysol to thank for that. wonderful, fantastic, awesome drysol. then i realized what i'm going to blog about; my favorite products! not all of them. don't worry. but i will go through a select few that i just cannot live without.

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

i will start with drysol!
i never used to sweat much back in the day. but as i got older i started to sweat like a normal person. then in recent years i began to sweat at a disgusting and alarming rate. mostly my underarms... started to notice, that no matter how cold or hot i actually felt, my armpits were always sweating. i would get dressed in the mornings and 5 minutes later i would have already dampened my shirt to a point where it was noticeable to those around me. how embarrassing!!

i tried a lot of antiperspirants. women's. men's. all natural. baking soda based. clinical strength... all of it. finally i went to my doctor. well, no. i didn't go to my doctor specifically for my pit problem. i was already at the doctor for a checkup or something and i decided to take that opportunity to talk about my sweaty pits. something had to be done. she recommended drysol. it's the best! in the beginning, i was to apply it every two days at night before bed and thoroughly wash my pits the next day. let me tell you. this stuff burned like a mo-fo. but sure enough, i wasn't sweating. like, right off the bat! this sh*t works. i'm at a point now where i only have to apply it once every three weeks or so. or whenever i notice my pits are getting a little dampy-damp. it's glorious. no more sweat for me :-) and if you have any questions about drysol just ask me and i will share my thoughts, opinions, feelings and knowledge on it.

oh yeah. and i don't have to use any deodorant at all anymore - as long as i keep up with my drysol treatments and not let myself get damyp-damp. it's weird how armpits work... it's not the actual sweat that causes you to smell. although it plays a vital role in armpit odor. its actually a result of a combination of sweat and bacteria that is found in many of our armpits. read more here. so if you don't sweat and you wash your pits everyday, you shouldn't smell and therefore shouldn't need deodorant.

next up - exposed skincare system.
throughout much of my life i have battled with significant outbreaks of moderate to bad acne. it started when i was in 5th or 6th grade... and when i was in high school, i had tried acne prescriptions like retin a, a harsh topical, and tetracycline, an oral antibiotic. not to mention every over the counter acne cream/treatment, and nothing really got rid of it. they all just sort of tamed it a little. but that was about it. as i got older the breakouts seemed to be less severe and less frequent and somewhat more manageable. but they never quite stopped and i started to develop acne on places other than my face, like my chest and back. fun times... sure is hard to feel pretty with acne everywhere...

anyway. it was about 4 years ago when my bff was set to get married and my lovely back acne (b'acne) was flaring up and looking quite lovely as usual. and for her wedding we had these pretty jcrew dresses that had a lovely v-back cut that kindly exposed a good portion of my not-so-pretty b'acne. i had to do something. anything.

it was time to seek yet another way out of my acne problem. during my internet searches i recalled all the proactive infomercials i had seen on tv that advertised beautiful skin for real people. so good, even celebrities were using it. no better place to start than where a celebrity has found success, right? whatever. i decided to look in to it more. while researching proactive and it's results i found myself checking out a website that compared a handful of acne treatments to each other. proactive was one, exposed skincare was another and i cannot recall the rest, but there was something like the "top 5 acne treatments" listed. out of all of them, i liked what i saw in exposed skincare compared to the rest. so i went with it and ordered my first kit.

love. love. love this stuff. it worked fast and has not yet failed me in my years of using it. i will always have breakouts. that's just the way it's going to be. but my acne is more under control than ever. and i cannot complain about that. something is better than nothing.

if you have acne, you have to give this stuff a try.

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

i have other products that i want to blog about, but its the end of the day and i need to wrap this up. maybe i will continue tomorrow.

........jfk.......

mindless and unnecessary eating

i hear it's common for a lot of people to mindlessly and unnecessarily eat when bored, sad or depressed... not me though. when i am bored i like to drink coffee and i find that i have no appetite, and am often repulsed by food, when i am sad or depressed. ** side note - the terms sad and depressed are not interchangeable vocabulary. they each have notable differences in their definitions and should not be confused with one another**

so, when do i mindlessly and unnecessarily eat? because i do. i am not free of the guilt from stuffing my face full of food for the wrong reason(s). i do it when i am mad, angry or infuriated. i realized this behavior a short time ago while working here, at my current job. i wont lie - i often get angered at things around this place. and every time, i end up furiously devouring my lunch while still wanting more when its all gone. it's unnerving and totally irrational how much i want to eat when i am angry. this place must really bring it out of me...

i just don't understand

there are some things in this world that i just don't understand. let's review a few, shall we?

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

1. waiting at the doctors office
   it seems, no matter how early you show up to a doctor's appointment, you always have to wait... always. and most of the time it seems that you waiting past the actual time of your appointment. every doctor's office should have a slogan. here's a good one, "early, on time or late? you still wait!"
   
   
2. pregnant ladies and being photographed with guns
   the pictures say it all - or nothing about what is going on.
   
   
   
3. pregnant ladies being photographed completely nude
   this covers a very large spectrum of pregnant and nude ladies. to some degree, i understand why this happens. but then i see things like the first two photos... seriously?! and the last photo, while artistic and tasteful, still bothers me... i guess i am just not comfortable with that much nudity. and why does the man have to be in there and naked as well?
   
   
   
4. the obligatory act of giving gifts
   i think i've sort of mentioned this before - maybe not. but why do most people feel obligated to get/give gifts to people for all occasions, whether special or not? obviously i understand the feeling of obligation for birthdays, weddings, babies and certain holidays. but truthfully, i don't feel the need to receive gifts for most of those occasions anymore, so i don't think anyone should feel the need to give me one either. no more gifts for jessica - you're all off the hook! i'm happy with you just mentioning a simple "happy" this or "congratulations" that. besides, if you have to ask me what i want for my birthday, a holiday or a celebration then i don't want a gift. i loath telling people what to buy me for that stuff. it's not out of spite... but if you haven't heard me talk about needing or wanting anything lately then i'm probably fine. you're best bet is to keep your ears and eyes open during conversations with me to see if there might be anything you can get me.
   
   sorry about the mini rant there. but does all that make sense? my bff beth knows exactly where i am coming from with that one.
   
   
5. people that wont grow up and/or be the better person in some situations
   enough said.
   
   
6. animal abuse/neglect/cruelty
   why did you get an animal in the first place?
   
   
7. conservatives
   seriously, where did they come from?
   
   
8. 100% blind faith - in anything
   i want to believe blindly in some things. but its hard for me. i always find myself wanting proof.
   
   
9. honor killings
   if you don't know what i am talking about, google it or read any one of these articles:
   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing
   http://www.gendercide.org/case_honour.html
   blows my mind.
   
   
10. people's need to share their opinion(s) while also thinking that it is the be all, end all to life's questions
    if i didn't ask you what your opinion was then basically i don't want your opinion. especially if you are going to be pushy about it. don't force your yackity-yack-smack on me - shut your trap! do you need me to further explain what i am saying? okay. what i am trying to say is, when i want your opinion - which is just what it is, an opinion - i will ask you for it.

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

i'm done. have a nice weekend!

...........jfk...........