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I wanted to share some pictures of our new home! Brad was very very VERY adamant on getting everything unpacked/purchased/settled/organized within minutes of us moving in. It wasn't gonna happen...it took about a week, but before we knew it, we had this:





This is our brand new dining room table. You can't really tell, but there is a bench on the left side. And we are VERY proud of it. Not only proud of how it looks, but proud of what a killer deal we got on it. It is huge, and we are excited for the ability to feed many people at one time.


This is our brand new bedroom furniture. We are VERY proud of it. Mostly proud that we didn't get arrested while buying it. We are pretty sure Mr. Craigslister who sold it to us got it straight off the back of a truck somewhere. We didn't ask any questions.


This is the silly putting green in our back yard. It is fun....and it is fake grass so we don't have to water it or cut it, and it looks pretty!

Come visit. We have a guest room. And I make awesome scrambled eggs in the morning.

The big picture....

Literally, the big picture. This is a test post to see if I have figured out (well, with the help of Rach and Vic) how to make my awesome photos BIGGER.

Sam Champion and Brooklyn Decker

Completely unrelated to each other...as far as I know.

One of the major holiday initiatives my team has been working on is the Good Morning America holiday window. Three cities were chosen to decorate a window space in the GMA studio - that can also be seen from Times Square. In addition to the branding exposure that the cities get just from the window, GMA also sent Sam Champion to that city for a day to officially "unveil" the window.

Today was Las Vegas day.

Just a side note.....GMA starts on east coast time. I live in west coast time. Think about it. Yep - that means the lives shots started at 4:00a.m.

Our 'colorful' Mayor Goodman went to NYC to do the in-studio segment with GMA, and Sam Champion broadcasted live from Fremont Street with special guest Wayne Newton. Welp - I was told by the producer that they needed someone in the background to 'do something' - I wasn't quite sure what he needed me 'to do' - but I went and stood there, and before I knew it, the cameras were rolling. Here, you can watch it for yourself - I'm just behind Wayne's left shoulder. Thanks Rhonda for finding the clip!

Wayne Newton's Las Vegas

Well, about 4 hours before this clip, I was at a private cocktail reception with SI Swimsuit model and wife of Andy Roddick, Brooklyn Decker.

Las Vegas is hosting the 2nd Annual SI Swimsuit Party in February, and the SI team was in Las Vegas for a partner summit and special party with NASCAR. So, after cocktails at a suite in Mirage, we headed to a private party at Pure.

Moral of the story? I didn't sleep at all last night. I left Pure, and went home to change into WARM clothes (it was FREEZING), and headed down to see my favorite weatherman.....

Here is my new pal Brooklyn:

Cowboy boots - Wedding at the ranch

This weekend I met the DG girls in Big Spring, TX for Morgan and Matt's wedding. Morgan lives in Dallas, but her family has a ranch (Morgan Ranch) outside of Big Spring. And it is beeeaaaauuutiful. It is so peaceful and serene, and it truly was a picture-perfect setting for Morgan's wedding.

Friday night we tried to find some local 'joints' to eat and and then enjoy some cocktails...it was pretty apparent that we were the outsiders anywhere we went :) We finally found Wesley John's Pick Pocket Billiards. They serve two types of beer and two types of wine and two types of wine coolers. I am pretty convinced that the wine and the wine coolers were one in the same, but who knows....


Saturday morning we checked out Ward's Boots - again, it was obvious that "we weren't from around here...."

Saturday was a perfect Texas day for a wedding on the ranch. The colors were beautiful, the weather was fantastic, and the cowboy boots were a-plenty. I started the evening out in my heels...but quickly had to turn them in for my way-more-comfortable cowboy boots.

We had a great time at the reception - I taught Andrea/Mike and Laura/Dave how to two-step. I would like to think that I did my midwestern-civic-duty. I told them to take those skills and love of two stepping and pass it along. We owe it to society.

Arizona Wine Country

Thanks to Nevada Day...I had last Friday off. Pretty ironic that Nevada Day falls on Halloween weekend...it seems pretty fitting for Las Vegas. Three day weekends are perfect for going down to Tucson to visit B. So even though I was going to miss out on a few Halloween parties (halloween isn't one of my favorite holidays anyway....sorry Rhonda!), I took a much anticipated trip down south.

B doesn't have school on Friday, so we had the whole day to play in Southern Arizona Wine Country . Yes....there are vineyards in southern Arizona. The more south you go from Tucson, and the closer you get to Mexico (obviously), and the Arizona desert landscape morphs into more rolling hills and green trees and plants (as opposed to cacti). When we were done with wine country, we drove to the border of Mexico in Nogales. Interesting fact about Jess: she has a weird obsession with the Mexican border and immigrants. I got really excited anytime we saw border control. I'm weird.

Moral of the story, we were pleasantly surprised by what these wineries had to offer. We left with 4 bottles of wine, and two of them were gone by the end of the night. Woops.

Stop #1 - Callaghan Vineyard

Stop #2 - Kief Joshua

(Midget) sheep from the vineyard:


Stop #3 - Canello Hills Vineyard

Break for lunch - we were the only ones in the cafe....


Stop #4 - Dos Cabezas Winery

I have awesome friends..continued....

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that Rachel is ONE of my greatest BSC friends. In NO way, would I ever DREAM of ranking my friends. Silly...

Rachel got her own post because she stinkin' spent time designing my blog - and I was ever so grateful.

This is my friend Courtney. We are in Ireland in this photo.
Here are the top 5 reasons that I love Courtney (notice, it is only the TOP 5, it isn't the ONLY 5, ahem).
1. Courtney is my cerebrum (yes I had to look that up) My long-term memory is almost non-existent. For what I lack in long-term memory, Courtney makes up for me ten fold. Courtney remembers EVERYthing - and what is pretty amazing is that not only does she remember everything in her own life, but she helps me to remember everything from MY high-school years as well. There are many times when someone will be talking about a story from high school, and I will have to turn to Courtney and ask her if I was there. Its awesome.
2. She is a great traveling buddy. We planned a Europe extravaganza after college graduation, and it was fabulous. (yes, I do remember how fabulous it was, thank you)
3. She loves photography and takes awesome pictures of her nephews that I stalk on facebook and her sister's blog.
4. She makes the best gooey bars in the world.
5. She is very very sincere and genuine. And perhaps those are the most fabulous qualities that you can have in a friend....

This is my friend Stina, here we are, after enjoying a fabulous dessert at a restaurant in Siena, Italy.
Top 5 reasons I love Christina -
1. Even though we went to high school together, we didn't start really hanging out until college. I can remember (shockingly) running into Christina at the dorm when I moved in freshman year, and I can distinctly remember the sense of relief I had after seeing a familiar face in a very very overwhelming environment.
2. I would like to give myself credit for getting Christina drunk for the first time in her life. Oh smirnoff ice, you were so good to us.
3. Christina is VERY tall and lets us call her Godzilla. She also introduced me to my Mint M&M obsession over the holidays. Ok, those are unrelated....
4. She was so generous to Brad and me when we went to visit her and Bob in Cayman. She was such a great tour guide, and gave us the best vacation experience two people could ask for.
5. I think that I changed the most during my college years, and Christina was there by my side the whole time. She always makes me laugh, and I love her dearly.

It's a sign...

Today I experienced reason #467 why it is a good thing my friends are having babies and i am not....

Let's start with reason #466 - It would be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for me to decide on a name for it. No way. That decision is way too much pressure and way too permanent. I am in no position to bestow something so permanent upon someone who has no say in it, but will be stuck with it for the rest of his/her life. I had two fish a couple years ago, and I named them Jack and Jill. Oh so original.

Reason #467 - I am physically incapable of purchasing children's clothes. I was in Laughlin for a work event last night/this morning, so on my way out of town, I stopped by the outlet mall to try and pick up some fun things for my niece/nephew, friends' new kiddos and friends' future kiddos. It seriously almost sent me into an anxiety attack. The whole sizing thing is TOO much for me. If I get a 6mo. size now, and Finley JUST turned 6 mos, will he be able to wear throughout the WHOLE winter season? Should I get a 9mo size? What if it's Christmas themed and he doesn't fit into it until January? If I want to get something for Baby J, do I buy a newborn size? What if the baby comes out and it is an unusually big baby that is too big for the new born size? (No, Hill, I don't think your baby is going to be a 17-pounder-or something, but the newborn size look so tiny!!) I know it can't be too pink, but what if it has just a LITTLE bit of pink on it, is that ok? If I buy a 3 month outfit, should it be a winter outfit or a spring outfit?

If I get something for the future camper...will mom like something that is baseball themed? Dinosaur themed? Rockstar themed? They don't really make "I'm mama's lil rock climber" onesies!

So what was my resolution to all of these problems? I put EVERYthing I had picked out down on the nearest rack and bolted. I.cracked.under.pressure.

L.A. - Family Weekend

A couple of weeks ago, B mentioned that he wanted a vacation away from school. LA is one of his (and consequently now one of my) favorite getaway spots...so when both of us want to get away for a 'cheap' weekend, that is where we land. His sister and her boyfriend also live there, so that is a nice perk. The weekend that we were looking at was also Steve's birthday. So I hi-jacked B's plans of a weekend getaway and invited my parents. The weekend's events were all a surprise to Steve - which was fun, and slightly stressful :)

B was such a trooper and we were really able to treat my parents like VIPs in LA. B got an awesome deal at the Intercontinental for the weekend, and set up a complimentary dinner at THE GETTY for Saturday night. His aunt used to be the executive chef there, and she is still able to take really good care of her family for a few meals here and there.

Let's just say that it wasn't just 'order what you want' kind of dinner. It was an 'order what you want and we will pair EVERYTHING with a glass of wine" kind of dinner. We had 7 glasses of different wines/champagnes. It was amazing and my parents were so so grateful and excited about the experience. As was I...B has talked about going to The Getty for the past two years we have been together, but this was the first chance we got to go.

I have more photos of The Getty, but I think that deserves its own post...

At the beach

The one thing (ok, probably one of many) I can do to annoy B is to ask someone to take our photo. He HATES having his picture taken. However, I have learned that if I wait for him to have 2 beers, he is MUCH more agreeable. After two beers...look how happy he is!

Mama C and B 'looking for crabs.' Instead, they found an octopus. Ya, I don't believe them either, but they both swear by it.

Chicago Wedding

I have an awesome new camera that took me forevvvver to decide to buy. And what do I do? I forget to take pictures. I will say though, as much as I love my camera, it isn't always convenient to take out for a night on the town. It is almost like another appendage, and it takes quite a lot of effort. I digress...I took a total of about 4 photos in Chicago. Two of them were of the most amazing hot dog I have ever had.

The weekend was more than this hotdog. It was an amazing wedding with my amazing friends. Sebby looked gorgeous and I was so impressed with how calm and collected she was - and at the end of the night I don't think I ever saw her without a drink in her hand, but still looking classy and fabulous.

Do you "work" here?

I had a commercial shoot all day today down on The Strip. It started at Barneys at The Palazzo at 8:30am. (sidenote, it was an interview with Simon Doonan, the Creative Director of Barneys, who is hysterical).

The parking garage at The Palazzo is fairly convenient, and I am on this new kick of trying to cram in a few extra steps of exercise wherever I can, so I valiantly opted not to valet right in front of the store, but instead parked in self parking.

I park my car...in the very lonely parking lot, as it is 8:30am on a Tuesday. I get out of the car, thinking I am ALONE, and I hear this "Ma'am, Ma'am! Do you work here?"

I spin around, completely caught-off guard that this whole time there has been somebody watching me. Sure enough, the parking garage security guard is standing about 15 feet away with a clip board. Not to mention, he is dressed in the Palazzo 'security uniform' that resembles that of a policeman straight from Venice. It's creepy.

I immediately answer "no" while looking around totally confused and wondering if I accidentally parked in employee parking. Nope, I didn't.

In a accusatory tone, the security guard repeats "you don't work here?"

I repeat, "no, is there a problem?"

Security guard: "No, I have just seen your car here a lot."

Me, still confused and looking at my innocent car: "Is there something about my car?"

Security guard, now irritable: "No, Ma'am, it's my job to monitor cars, and I have seen yours a lot. You are sure you don't work here? And not just in the hotel, but you know, work here....."

STILL completely confused as to what about "I don't work here" this man doesn't understand, I repeat AGAIN. "no, I don't work here...I don't know what else to say,"

At this point, in a very irritable tone, the security guard says "Ok, thank you ma'am."

Now, if this would have happened in Kansas, I would have just been weirded out and annoyed that some security guard was giving me grief about being a local who frequents the same place a few times a month. But, after living in Las Vegas for 4.5 years, I OF COURSE understand that this whole "not just work at the hotel, but you know, "work here" line inferred a completely different/unacceptable/inappropriate line of work. No...I don't "work here" as in a "workin girl, thank you."

I have awesome friends. period.

Meet Rachel. She is awesome. She is one of my greatest BSC friends, an awesome mother, a fabulous marathon runner, and the only person in the world besides myself that knows my secret password to just about every online account. I essentially trust her with my life. She is also designed my wonderful blog for me. Out of the kindness of her heart. It's called Karma, and I am sure I will return the Karma in the form of Diet Coke or CC Salsa.

This is a pretty picture of Rachel (mind you, this was taken 3 years ago).


Immediately before the pretty picture above was taken, THIS happened:

The Bean.

I don't think I could ever get enough photos of The Bean. This is from August. I love it. I love the skyline. I love the reflection. I love that I look like a nerdy tourist with my nerdy camera.

Chicago!

I should be packing...but I'm not. I would rather write about how EXCITED I am to see these girls this weekend for yet another celebration of nuptials. Whether it is my DG girls from college, or the BSC from highschool, there is something unexplainable about time spent together, no matter how many months have passed. Reunited and it feels SO good.

The cutest little girls...

Maybe I am a little biased. But these two girls, my nieces, are adorable. huh? They came to visit this weekend.

T-Pain and Mister President

All political views on healthcare reform aside, this is HIGH-larious.

My not-so-secret obsession...

Wedding photography blogs. I'm obsessed. As in, sometimes I catch myself wasting away an hour (easily) catching up on all my favorites. Maybe the 'weirdest' thing about my obsession is that I am not even "that girl" that has dreamed of her wedding day since she was 5. I have not planned out every detail of my "big day," I don't have a wedding folder, I don't have my colors picked out...blah blah blah. I seriously have an obsession with wedding photography. Although - at this point it has grown into an obsession of other people's weddings, but it still has not made me think any more of my own eventual wedding. Ok, that's a lie. I want to get married on the beach.

So here is a list of my faves. Most are in SoCal.

My all time favorite-I-want-to-be-this-girl blog: http://www.jasminestarblog.com/

Close runner-ups: http://www.jessicaclaire.net/, http://www.josevillablog.com/, www.f8studio.com/blog, http://www.dougmiranda.net/

Not always weddings - but really awesome photojournalism: http://bobbyearle.blogspot.com/

An amalgamation of other wedding photographers: http://greylikesweddings.wordpress.com/

There are a few others - but those are the must-sees.

Brad asked me not too long ago what I would do if money was no object. Wedding photography. THIS kind of wedding photography. Not the "ok, I need the mother of the bride, the sister of the groom and 5 ushers to line up shortest in front, tallest in back" kind of photographer.

babies and exotic adventures

I have neither of those. I have joked with my high school friends before that I don't think that I 'deserve' a blog because blogs are for people with babies or people who live in exotic places and want to make their friends back in the states see how awesome their overseas adventures are compared the mundane life of the continental U.S. But I digress. So here it is...the gazillionth time for me to say "i'm back to blog writing, haven't you missed me?" Ya, I didn't think so.

To be continued.....

softball, wine, bowling, patron with Roseanne Barr's daughter

Friday was the last softball game of the season...and i played like crap so i don't really want to talk about it.

Saturday...B and i had some much desired quality time with some wine and lunch at an awesome restaurant. In fact - next to Firefly and Blue Gourmet, i would say it could possibly be my new favorite place. you did good :)

Saturday night we went bowling with some friends of ours....B claims to 'usually' bowl a 150 (ahem). After bowling, and several pitchers, we went to the bar in the middle of Red Rock Casino. A girl asked us to join her and two of her friends and celebrate their new engagement...they had already bought a bottle of patron and needed some help finishing it. After about an hour of hanging out -we find out that the girl that just got engaged was Roseanne Barr's daughter!!

Sunday was spent recovering - a pedicure with Alison, and dinner with my parents. Anddd....B and I watched Super Bad with them....ya, that was interesting and only slightly awkward :)

Sometimes we are in our own little bubble.....

I think it is really hard for a lot of Americans to relate to the economic, religious, political despair that goes on in other countries. And that is sad....

For instance, this story from the New York Times today.

....Saint Louis Meriska’s children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal recently and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said forlornly, “They look at me and say, ‘Papa, I’m hungry,’ and I have to look away. It’s humiliating and it makes you angry.”.....

I don't think that 99% of Americans can relate to this. Granted, we have our own issues with the homeless and the hungry, but read the whole story...and you will see that there are people in Haiti eating patties made of mud, oil and sugar.

However, Americans want it supersized, we want an all you can eat buffet for $7.99, we balk at the thought of not having enough options on the menu, we want to eat until we can't eat any more, we want to know we got our money's worth, we complain when the portion sizes are anything less than what we think we deserve......yet at the end of the day, we ARE THE statistic of obesity.

It is stories like this one that make me want to sell all that i own and teach kids in a country far far away......

The world: 2 / Jessi: 0

I am down...not down and out. Just down.

Not down by much, but down by two.

And you better believe that this girl is keeping track.

The game isn't over....but there is lot of 'coming back from behind' that better be in my future.