A Very Typical Jess Thursday

Hi friends!!!!! As everyone has stated, this was such a wonderful idea Kate, and I have loved getting a glimpse into all of your daily, routine lives. It's been fun!

Finally my day has arrived. Coming at you from beautiful SoCal, here is a very typical Thursday (and how I spend most other days) of mine.

We begin with the alarm clock. I set it for 6:00am (mostly because Drew gets up around that time), and then I proceed to snooze....


An hour or so later after snoozing, I finally decide it's time to get out of bed. Like Mark, I am a morning person, I just love my bed and don't want to get out. (And yes that picture is from a Tokyo photobooth.)

After breakfast, coffee, getting ready, and more coffee, it's a final check in the mirror before work.


In order to function for work, I require two things on my drive:

That's right, bumpin' music and, you guessed it, more coffee.

I work at Westminster High School in the Special Education department. This is my desk. There are so many awesome things about my little area of the classroom. See if you can spot them all.



When lunch comes around, I usually grade papers, if I have any, or I do a crossword puzzle and eat leftovers (today veggie stew!).


Today was not too crazy and the most productive thing that happened, besides teaching children to read and write of course, was when my boss and I came to the realization that one of our students looks, sounds, and acts just like Kevin Malone in The Office. Can't believe I didn't realize this until now. Oh and of course there is a group picture of us on my desk!

After work, I head to Ralph's because there was a random sale, today only, from 1:00pm-9:00pm.


I love coupons and Blue Moon.

I head home and thought I'd show you what I come home to.

This is my living room.


This is my kitchen.

I live maybe 1.5 miles from the beach and even closer to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. This is where I go for my afternoon runs.


It's okay to be jealous. This is the view (most days). That's Catalina in the distance. There are a ton of trails through the wetlands. This is on the bluffs before I descend down to the actual wetlands.


Dead Marshes? Don't follow the light.

Upon my return from my 4 mile run, I head to Trader Joe's for a few things.

It's literally like 600 ft. from my apartment. Not a week goes by that I'm not there.


The powerberries from TJ's are my favorite, so as I walk home, I eat most of them.

When I get back it's time for pilates.



No this doesn't mean I'm too lazy to go to the gym, it means I'm too cheap to buy a gym membership.

After my pilates session, it's time to start making dinner so it's ready when Drew gets home. Since being married, I have really gotten into cooking and I love it. Tonight is BBQ chicken pizza night. While it is in the oven, I check emails and see this picture because it's my background:



Everyday I'll see an adorable puppy either in commercials, on my desktop, or when I'm out and about, and everytime I go, "Ahhhh look at the puppy! I want one!" Some people tell me I should feel this way about babies...I want a puppy!

Anyways, pizza is ready, Drew is home, so we dine.

Not to pat my own back, but that pizza was good. Really good.

After dinner, we take to the couch for Jeopardy.


What is tributary? I win $1800 imaginary dollars.

Then we go for a walk around the neighborhood.



Aren't we adorable.

We usually play some sort of game so we don't watch Netflix all night. Tonight was Scrabble.

I really did get this word, and it got me 96 points.

Since we don't get cable, we are limited to watching things on channels 2 through13, and sometimes we don't get all of those, so we watch what we can on tv or watch stuff on Netflix.

Oh ya, I get foot rubs all the time. He's the best.

This has taken me forever to post. It's time for me to go cuddle up with my husband in bed and listen to the rain which just started.

So that is my day! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed looking at and reading your posts! I love and miss you all, and though it wasn't pictured, I do have a spare bed (tempurpedic), so if any of you find yourselves in SoCal, you have a place to stay!

A Rickdiculous Wednesday

Hey friends! I miss you guys! Also I’m totally buzzed as I write this—read on to find out how and why, but let’s just say it has something to do with banjos.

Here we go:

Day: Wednesday, March 23

Location: the great city Pittsburgh, PA aka “The Steel City,” “The City of Bridges,” "City of Champions."

Weather: TORNARDO WATCH with thunderstorms and a high of 58, low in the mid-20s (no, I’m not kidding).

7:30 - I barely rise from my bed to get ready for another day of work!

Let’s take a short tour of my place, shall we? I live in a house with my friends Lou (he owns the house), Dan, Caroline, and Dan’s annoying cat, Moo. Here are a few pics of my room (yes, that door in the back is the front door—my bedroom is essentially the living room—our real living room is in the dining room--we use the entrance at the side of the house).

I raid a few popsicles from the kitchen freezer. I’ve been recovering from a tonsillectomy the past few weeks (it’s a pretty intense surgery for adults), so popsicles are still essential for my weak throat.

8:00 - I’m not a “morning person,” but I try to stay positive, so I read about 15-20 minutes every day before I leave. This morning was devoted to “Soccernomics”—it’s awesome—assuming you really dig soccer.

8:35 - After talking a bit to my roommates, I leave to work for the man. Here’s a picture of my house (it's the one with the bluish grey front).

Sometimes I take the bus to work, sometimes I drive, and when the weather warms, I ride my bike. I drive my car this morning due to the crappy rainy weather. It’s a six-minute drive supplemented by some Democracy Now on the radio.

8:40 - Here’s a picture of the city from where I park everyday. I take my additional ten-minute walk through the Strip District (to avoid paying $8 a day in parking).

8:55: I arrive...ugh. I have a management job at an online university in the Finance department. It’s nothing that great, but my job’s pretty unique in that I do something different everyday: I lead trainings, teach new hires, run reports, put tutorials/online documents together, and make jokes generally all day. So sometimes it's fun.

Here’s my desk, though I’m often away at meetings and such (the balloons aren’t mine).

My laptop, which follows me everywhere:

9:00-12:45 – I’m at trainings all morning…sheesh (can't really take any pictures). Oh, here’s my best friend at work, Megan. She sits next to me and we have tons and tons of gossip and girl talk every day. Kate and Steph—you’d be so jealous.

1:30 – I meet Mark for lunch! We generally talk about life, work, and anything else one can think of. Good times!

2:30 - My mother texts me to report that there’s a tornado warning…yay!

3:00-4:55 - I’m in meetings for most of the afternoon and miss a few wild hailstorms (apparently).

5:00 - I’m very, very anti-smoking, but I’ll occasionally take non-smoking breaks with friends outside. The clouds in the sky are shifting in all different directions, which is somewhat terrifying.

6:00 - I leave work, walk to my car, and drive home. I live in Bloomfield, and if you read Mark’s post, you’ll note that it’s in the East End of Pittsburgh. It’s pretty much the greatest, as everything's there: bars, coffee shops, good restaurants, record stores, grocery stores, a lot of my friends, etc.

Bloomfield by car:

6:30 - I make it home avoiding any twisters(!!). I walk into the living room where my roommate Dan talks to his girlfriend about his dream the night before where a bear was grilling food at picnic wearing an apron that read, “Chomp-laments of the Chef.” Yeah, those kinds of stories are common in my house.

I heat up some leftover quiche that I made a few days ago, watch this crazy Youtube video, and spend twenty minutes or so writing. I write for a couple of websites and blogs nowadays. Today I’m working on an article for Pittsburgh-based site Draw Us Lines. If you’re ever looking for some new music, check it out…it’s apparently becoming quite the big deal around Pittsburgh, which is awesome.

7:30 - Speaking of music, there’s a quick band practice I have to attend! Boca Chica, a band I play drums in, is practicing for a show Saturday night. The band is folky rock, while my other band, Horse or Cycle, (that I’m much more involved in) is louder and a bit more rockin’. HoC actually has two shows this weekend and a short mid-west tour next week, which I’m super pumped for!! Here’s a link to our album from early last year: http://horseorcycle.bandcamp.com/

9:00ish - During practice, a friend texts me about Banjo Night. I was planning on just going home, but simply ask Kate and Mark—Banjo Night is probably the greatest weekly event ever. A bunch of older gents (and a few ladies) play old tunes in front of seniors and hip 20-somethings at a lodge in Pittsburgh’s North side—free to the public! If I had to describe Banjo Night in one word, it would be "pleasant." I meet up with a few friends at the bar inside, drink a few $1.50 Yuenglings, and manage to sneak away to shoot the vid below for you guys. The dude singing makes lots of good jokes throughout the night--wish i got one on video--it's so pleasant.

10:30ish: I don’t stay for too long, as I quickly grow super tired. Another beer is consumed at home, I write this blog entry, and make it to bed around 12:30 with a decent buzz.

So yeah, that’s a pretty average weekday for me, albeit it a bit busier than usual. Have a great week everyone!

Tuesday in San Francisco with Kate!

Hi Friends!  I got a tuesdays - and coincidentally, it happens to be my favorite day of the week these days (I promise I didn't plan that - I switched with someone to even land on this day!) But, this Tuesday is significantly more low key than my last few weeks have been (which is such a good thing! I've been trying to hard to get more rest and slow down a bit when I can). Right now, I feel like I lead two lives: a monday-wednesday kiva/teaching life and a thursday - friday school life. I am in grad school in San Francisco and am submitting my Thesis in a month! Meaning, I am almost done! So, that part of my life, you dont get to see. The University is beautiful and I have some great classes. My friends are great people and I will be sad to not be in school anymore, as much as I am ready to be done with this all!


This morning I got up a bit early to finish writing this article for Kiva that I have been working on for a while. It was just one of those things that gave me intense writers block and I've sectioned off so much time to do it, but it had yet to be completed! Today was the day though - I had a meeting with my boss at Kiva and I needed to be able to tell her that a draft was done! So... I did it! (with a cup of tea, really early in the morning, sitting in bed)

Here's my daily schedule/desk calendar. Its the only reason I function:

Since it was still pretty early and life in San Francisco rarely started before 10am, I had enough time to still take a long shower and go to the corner market for some fruit and make some juice! I really love market. The owner has become almost a friend of mine - we have wonderful little chats, almost every morning.

Unlike most girls, I'm not a huge clothing fan - but what I do love are jewelry and shoes! So, today is an adorable shoe day! It is also very common occurrence for me to send the second photo here, to my sister, to ask about clothing, jewelry, etc. advice - I am 25 and I still cant dress myself without her! A normal caption would read: Is it alright to wear these earrings two days in a row, or do they stand out too much?

Here's the jewelry selection (I take pride in how international it is! Today's earrings I bought with steph in Seoul), and my bike. My bike is pretty much my best friend.

I left for work. Finally!  Here is the street outside my house. Notice the awesome, wide, bike lanes!

I am interning at Kiva.org, and met my boss of our bi-weekly check in. We met at one of our favorite coffee shops across the street from the office. We go here often. Awesome lattes, adorable baristas, and set in an old stable - could it be better? Yes. Amazing, fresh food, always - like asparagus and goat cheese sandwiches.. 

This is my desk at Kiva (Markie: notice the tub of whole foods peanut butter behind my computer. there's a spoon there too. that is often lunch!). Today there was a ton going on, for some reason. My schedule was packed, I was supposed to publish an article to the blog - it didnt happen, it will tomorrow, and then I had been there a bunch of hours and it was time to go teach! Shoot!

This is the outside of Kiva (the green building). The red corner one is another coffee shop I go to often - not that I'm admitting to how much espresso I drink...  It got rainy during the afternoon - which sucks to bike in. Especially if you are me and you often (read: always) forget your raincoat.

So, three days a week, I teach in the evenings to high school kids, in the only ghetto in San Francisco. Its this super sweet program where kids commit to our intense guidelines (like requirement for college rep visits, tutoring sessions weekly, extra workshops or classes) and get tons in exchange (free ACT classes, scholarships, free tutoring, workshops, etc.) On tuesdays, I teach two classes, an Algebra 2 class and an Economics Class (this one is really cool. I am teaching the kids Business and Econ and we are starting a fake company. I wrote the syllabus for it. I have huge respect for people who write educational course material, now! ) Today we were talking about financial statements. I'm sorry that there aren't students in the photo. Today got a bit intense and I forgot to photograph until the lessons were all over and it was time to leave. 

I have worked at several different after school programs. And I love this one so much! It does so many good things, so well. I don't think I've ever valued really really believing in the organization itself, that you work in, so highly. But now, I do.  


After work, I biked home. Settled in for a minute. Had a lovely chat with some of the people I live with who were just finishing dinner. And sat here at the kitchen table for a while. Sometimes after long days, I like to just sit. So, I did. I drank tea and sat. Eventually, I started some work (oh regression tables for my thesis! - but awesomely, I am getting great results. It turns out that entrepreneurial propensity (factors like being a community leader, having parents that ran businesses, being assertive, etc.) are correlated with taking up microfinance loans, while age, income, religion, and education don't necessarily follow the same trends, or trends we would think - all only in Rwanda, of course.) I've spent a lot of time sitting at this table, thinking about this - and about what to do next.. May is coming up quickly:

A few more pages of data, and I will be off to bed. Thanks so much for sharing my day with me. I have loved sharing the day with all of you.






P.S. For the record. Friends:  I think you are all so wonderful. I have loved getting to see your lives. I think we should continue this, on some sort of semi-regular basis. Thanks for all buying into my crazy idea... You're all such wonderful people. I am thrilled to get to have you as friends.

Welcome to the LowCountry!

Hey Y'all!

Welcome to my day in Charleston, SC at the Medical University of South Carolina. I'm a research assistant in the department of psychiatry which keeps me pretty busy but I tried to have a nice Monday so you'd have some lovely pix to see on your Tuesday! Enjoy your hipstaaaaaa pix of the Lowcountry! (Thank you to Matt for showing me this amazing app)

Picture 1: I'm currently wondering what possessed me to ask my mom to take this picture of me. It's Monday effing morning. Early Monday morning. Clearly I did not think this through....

This bridge goes by many names. I drive over it every day & it's probably my favorite thing about the morning (besides my many innumerable cups of tea....see below). If you ask Natalie, Eric or Noopur they will tell you this bridge is named "The Future Bridge that takes you to the past." If you ever bring an engineer here they will bore you to death about the piles & retaining walls that went into the design. The locals call it the Cooper River Bridge or Ravanel Bridge. Silly people run across it (for a 10k) the first weekend of April every year. It's a MESS!

This is my office building. It's a bigger than this but there's a ton of construction going on across the street. My office is on the top floor just beyond the curvy window.

Yay-it's my desk! Here's where the science happens. You can't quite tell but there's half a chocolate croissant, a travel mug, a thermos & a mug....I like my tea in the morning....

This is a cafe called Halo in one of the old houses across from campus. I like to go here for lunch. Today I went with a post-doc in my department who graduated from a program I'm going to apply to in the fall.Spring is here in full force! I never thought I'd live somewhere with palm trees but I have to say it's grown on me.

This area is called the quad. The white building is the "Colbert Library" (Yes, it's those Colberts. Stephen Colbert's family has donated big $$ to MUSC.)
Liz is the project cordinator on my study. She's been the best coworker I could have asked for this past year. This crew is Trouble. Jane, Kelly & Tammy. These ladies handle intake on our floor & some of the other studies. They keep me entertained to no end....Some of the stories are not fit to be published on the internet.
Phew-finally off work! My friend Jess wanted to meet up tonight somewhere downtown, so since it was blog day I of course told her I wanted to go to my favorite place.... This pic is of King St which has a lot of historic architecture, yummy restaurants, & lots of cute shops.

The Gin Joint! Piciquito Picante in hand, boys in bowties at the bar & cheese plate on the way. A lovely way to mark the end of another monday.My Charleston bestie Jessica. She went to Chapel Hill but we decided we should be friends anyway. Truth be told, most of my buds here are from North Carolina-the NC expats seem to stick together.Unfortunately, there are 4 more days in the week so we had to call it an early night. But I decided to snap a pic of the pollen splouge on my car. Ordinarily it's dark green but it's more of a yellow right now....I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of Charleston! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's blog post! Let's all do a weekend sometime or a sights to see in your town post soon!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!!

Love,

Em