OMG.

my boyfriend just met dave grohl!!!! rick stepped out of work and saw the peter pan of rock n' roll eating lunch and called me and asked "should i get my picture taken with dave grohl???" my reponse was "WHAT?! OHMYGOD, YES!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DID YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK?!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" hahaha. when i got the photo via my cell phone, i started jumping up and down. i'm probably more excited than rick is about it. hell, i feel like i was the one who met him. hahaha. but i didn't. :(

lucky rick!! (and lucky dave grohl too, hehe).

highly social weekend (and a record of my spending)

saturday: drove to rick's parents house at 10 am so he could go pick up a refrigerator for his mother since his parents are in mexico. now this is the funny part... i got up, put my glasses on, gathered up some stuff and left. on the way there (it's about an hour away) i started falling asleep in the car. and once we got to rick's parent's house, i took a nap. i guess i tired from... sleeping?! i have no idea -- but it was the best nap ever. i woke up around noon or 1 pm, i forget. then we went to the mall to buy rick's dad some dress shoes. i wound up blowing $68 at victoria secret. thank goodness we passed the store because i forgot about the semi-annual sale!! which isn't really a sale at all... it's just when VS decides to price items with a 10% markup instead of 30%. and sometimes even the "sale" prices aren't that great. ($27.99 for a BRA... on sale?! you kiddin me???) underwears are marked down to $3.99... but with tax (7.25%) they wind up costing $4.28 per pair which isn't really a deal because you can buy underwear there for 5 for $25 alllllll the time. yet women (like me) go NUTS and spend LOADS of money during the semi-annual sale. when i was at the cash register i could hear other people's totals and all i heard was $105... $117... $87... etc. .

after our mall excursion, rick and i picked up some crazy chicken (el pollo loco) and ate it at his parent's house while watching "50 first dates" on TV. then we met up with rick's friend james and james's wife and their daughter at a free outdoor concert... it was EDDIE MONEY!! i dunno how old Eddie Money is now, but his voice still sounded really good. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Eddie Money, he sings "Baby Hold On [To Me]" "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Take Me Home Tonight" among others -- all of which i am SURE you've heard at one point (or multiple points) in your life. we stood really far from the stage (it was at a huge park) but it was still a good time with a 4th of july vibe.

after the concert, rick and i went back to james's house for rootbeer floats and vanilla ice cream with blueberries. (can you guess who ate what?! haha). i know i've mentioned this in the past, but james's wife sarah is one of thee nicest people i've EVER met. she's #2 on my nice meter. (#1 is mrs m, my former 2nd grade teacher turned close family friend). people like sarah (and mrs m) are rare, but i'm sure you know one person who is SINCERELY nice to EVERYONE... we're talking pure, selfless, unbiased niceness here. these people are all heart. not one ounce of deception or manipulation. anyway, i've hung out with sarah a few times now and i had a feeling she might enjoy etsy.com, so i told her about it. within a few minutes we were online and i was showing her my shop and other people's items that i adore. one minute led to twenty minutes and twenty minutes led to an hour... i never knew sarah was into thrift shopping or craft making!! (her medium is polymer clay) so now we want to do a craft night. :) i'm bringing shrinky dinks.

sunday: rick and i woke up relatively early to attend a birthday brunch at la paz for rick's friend mike's wife jessica. (got all that?! haha). la paz is a mexican restaurant that has money tacked to the ceiling; a collection of antique bicycles (also suspended from the ceiling); and a mexican/american buffet on sundays complete with mariachis that serende every table. of course, i wound up eating the most un-mexican food there -- belgium waffles piled high with fruit, hahaha.



after brunch, rick and i made a pit stop at our apartment before heading to dodgers stadium to meet up with his friend jonathan to watch the dodgers beat the indians. it was about 104 degrees and because i assumed we'd be in the sun all afternoon, i decided to wear long pants and close-toed shoes. bad idea. luckily, we were seated in the shade but it was still sweltering. and we had a bit of a walk since parking cost $15 and dodgers stadium doesn't accept debit cards or credit cards and rick and i didn't have any cash on us. but hey, saved us $15.

monday: went to the post office, put gas in my car (gas prices are ridiculous here. i've seen it as high as $4.86 and as low as $4.53 this week). then i went to the mall and spent even MORE money in victoria's secret. this time my total was $71. i bought two beach coverups (like i needed more of those) and a looooong comfy sweatshirt (as if i will need to wear it anytime soon) but everything was on sale. i also bought a nice, long-ish purple and white striped tee-shirt from express (on sale for $10) and a rainbow striped tank top from forever 21 ($14) that will look great in polaroids. i get major buyer's remorse... i ALWAYS feel bad after i go shopping and usually regret having spent any money at all. i was thisclose to returning that sweatshirt to victoria's secret while i was still in the mall but it was the only one left and i could picture myself all curled up on the couch wearing it. on my waya home, i called my friend lindsay (who is even more of a shopaholic) who consoled me by saying... "pffft, $100?! i spend that on my lunch break." haha, thanks lindsay.

hearts, love and cupcakes. and MSG.

i worked for james on valentine's day, assisting a jewelry product shoot. my job was to clean titanium wedding bands with acetone to make them as lint-free as possible. after the acetone treatment, we used compressed air to blow them off. so basically we were just inhaling acetone and freon. after that, james showed me how he retouches his images and had me try it. i did an awesome job but i took forever. (he gets one image done in 20 min!!) so i have to get faster. the plan is for me to retouch his images while he's shooting so he can accept more work which is good because more work for him means more work for me!! i like working with james because i can get away with saying things i normally wouldn't say to a boss. needless to say, he teases me right back. he's a good guy though.

rick had to pick his brother up at the airport after work and drive him to their parents' house (a good hour long drive each way) so that gave me plenty of time to go to the foodstore, go online and bake some heart-shaped lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting and heart-shaped sprinkles. Mmmm!! rick didn't get home until 7:30; luckily we exchanged gifts at 6 am that morning. i got him a nice button-down quiksilver shirt, a pair of brown quiksilver pants, a pair of khakis and a box of hand-picked See's chocolates. he got me a pelican case for my camera (i really needed one) and two necklaces i ordered myself on etsy. :) i am seriously addicted to that website.

because of the time, we had to flake out on our thai food reservations near the grove and instead, we went to a closer, smaller restaurant i recently discovered and loved. on our way to the restaurant, we stopped at james's house to drop off some cupcakes. he was pretty happy about that. :) our dinner was good. we did what we usually do: order and split three meals because we are pigs when it comes to thai food. unfortunately, on our way home i discovered that the food at the new thai place i found gives me sinus headaches. :( it happened last time too but i didn't think the headache was caused by the food. i usually don't get headaches, so when i got a headache 20 min after eating at this restaurant AGAIN, i realized it was the food. damnit!! my theory is they use a lot of MSG.

when we got home rick almost immediately fell asleep on the floor with miss gray and i wasted time online. and yes, of course i teased him about it today.

i have a new appreciation for shopping carts...

what a crazy, hectic week this has been!! rick and i moved out of our nice, big apartment into something less nice and less big but it's located in a convenient area, dave grohl lives in the same town and we will be saving money... so it's all gravy. (let's bring that phrase back, hehe).

packing and hauling one year's worth of accumulated crap to the apartment was quite a challenge (not to mention trying to fit a large entertainment center into a small elevator) but thank goodness for tim and aldrin and shopping carts!! when we signed the lease the manager said, "if you're going to use shopping carts, don't leave them in the halls because they are a fire hazard." my face must have said "what the hell?!" because the manager then added, "some people like to carry their groceries or laundry up that way." ooooh.

well, thank goodness no one listens because i was able to find THREE shopping carts in the hallways and boy did those things come in handy!! unfortunately the apartment is not cart friendly. there's speed bumps in the parking area; you need to open the door to the elevator with a key; there are double doors that are kept shut that separate the hallways... a lot of obstacles. and on top of everything i was SICK. runny nose, fever, cough... all that good stuff.

rick and i worked every day last week but we managed to get a lot done by pulling a few all-nighters (and we basically had to in order to beat traffic). i have yet to see this apartment in the daytime. i left early on sunday to go home for the holidays, leaving rick behind with a yowling cat and our old apartment still 1/5 full of my belongings that needed to be packed and moved by monday and A LOT to be cleaned so we could get our deposit back. i still feel bad i couldn't help but because my boyfriend is the best ever, he didn't mind. in return, i promised: to keep the kitchen table at our new place perpetually clean (which is a quite a challenge for me); to keep our new apartment more organized in general; and rick and i vowed to never do anything THAT last-minute again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

my b-day weekend...

saturday: i picked up my mom from the airport. :) and it was pouring. :( first time it rained in CA in a LOOOONG time (CA certainly needed it) but by the time we reached the apartment, the sun was shining. when we got to the apartment, there was a bday package waiting for me from lindsay. miss gray met my [mom's] dog roxie and hates her. poor roxie just goes about her business and miss gray actually stalks, chases and attacks her. after rick got home, we went food shopping but for dinner we ate in a local restaurant that has thee biggest, most widest variety of a menu. and we all passed out early that night.

sunday: my mother gave me my present in the morning. :) she had my dad's Valley Forge class ring made into a bracelet. it came out really nice!! my dad would have been impressed. (and i bet he's happy i'm wearing it).

later, my mom, rick, aldrin and i got all dressed up (i wasn't aware as to why at this point) and ate sushi in hollywood. which was nice because i've been craving california rolls!! then rick surprised me with tickets to Wicked. we had never seen it (except for aldrin who has seen it three times now!!) and it was really good.

monday: (my actual b-day) my mom had decorated the apartment with balloons and banners and gave me flowers and a b-day card full of lottery scratch-offs. then we went for a hike/walk with roxie.

after lunch, we went to a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. the guests were The Rock, Dennis Kucinich and Dinana Krall. we noticed former SNL cast member Victoria Jackson sitting a few rows diagonally behind us in the audience. we got to see Jay do the "Headlines" segment and *drumroll* afterward, we met him as he was leaving the studio and he signed an extra ticket we had and my mom took my photo with him. :)

on our way out of the studio, we were handed tickets to see Late Night with Carson Daly. (they needed more people to fill the audience). we accepted them, but remembered we don't even like Carson Daly... so we were no-shows.

when we got back to the apartment, rick gave me a star wars b-day card (yuck!!) and some pretty purple orchids. we watched Shooter and ate dinner. then we ate angel food cake with strawberries... Mmmmmm. all and all a very happy birthday!! :)

me wearing my new gnome pjs pants (part of a gift from my grandmother):

i feel so loved...
total # of birthday cards i received from my grandmother: 4!!
total # of happy birthday comments on my myspace: 6
total # of people who called to sing to me: 4 (plus mom and rick)
total # of "happy birthday" messages received on facebook: 24
thanks everyone!!!! :) :) :)

tomorrow: the new Foo Fighters cd comes out!! and my mom and i plan on lounging poolside and visiting a Chumash Native American museum. and wednesday, we're going to a taping of the Ellen show!! :)

the truth about cats

my new favorite quote:
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
-Robert A. Heinlein

so my boyfriend and i always debate over the cleanliness of cats. the latest scenario: we have a blanket at the apartment that we used when we picked up the desk i bought on craigslist. the blanket really belongs to magoo, my boyfriend's dog. the blanket SMELLS like a dog so it has found a new home outside on our balcony until we return it to rick's parents' house. in the meantime though, miss gray is willing to call it her own. but before she could even make herself comfy, rick runs outside, shoos her off the blanket then throws a crappy tablecloth over the blanket. why??? good question. he thinks little miss gray (who is self-sufficient and self-cleaning) is dirtier than his smelly, yet likeable dog magoo. his reasoning: gray digs in a cat box containing her own feces. good point, but miss gray also washes her paws. and so the debate continues, often with amusing little conversations like these:

rick: she digs around in her own piss and shit!!
jena: but then she cleans herself...
rick: yeah, but with her tongue!!
jena: so, the cat's tongue is like a comb.
rick: well, then if you shit on a comb and comb your hair with it...
jena: no, no that's not the same thing.

so i found a discussion board that supports my theory that cats aren't hazardous to our health. the best part is that the pro-cat people make it seem like the anti-fecal people are crazy for thinking a cat is the least bit dirty. my favorite response was this:

"Yes you are most definitely being way too over protective and paranoid. I have 9 cats and my kids hardly ever got sick. I mean the cats would eat off of our plates while we were eating and they walk on the kitchen counters too. Sitting on our lap after using the litter box, well no problems there. This whole thing has been going on now for over 16 years. Maybe once or twice a year we will get a cold but that doesn't mean we got it from the cats. If you are that worried about it, then you need to find your cat a new home. It's beyond me why people always think it's the cats fault and why all of the sudden the cat becomes a dirty filthy animal."

in my best cat impersonation... MRRRRRRRAAAAWWRR!!!

my rebuttal to rick's germ argument is this: we NEED germs to stay healthy. :) bottom line: as long as you aren't licking your cat's paws, then you should be fine and need not worry about cat germs.

on the subject of animals, here's another good quote:
"She's a nonstop, super hyperactive, pardon the expression.. little piece of shit."
-my grandmother talking about my [mother's] dog.

a post only missy will appreciate...

on sunday rick and i were wrestling around because i was trying to smell his delicious armpits. (missy understands). for those who think smelling somebody's armpits is gross then you have never smelled rick's. haha. HE NEVER SMELLS!! i dunno how he does it. there's probably some logical scientific explanation involving my brain being attracted to his pheromones and all that crap, but the bottom line is that rick has some good pits!! i think it's the combination of 1 part old spice deodorant and 3 parts rick's sweat but anyway... so i was trying to smell his armpits (rick hates when i do this by the way), and during the scuffle i gouged myself in the forehead with my thumbnail. ouch. actually, i didn't even notice until rick pointed out that i was bleeding. so now i'm hoping it won't turn into a scar... but if it does, that would be pretty funny.

away for the weekend

rick and i stayed at his parents' house this weekend while they were away. i worked two promo gigs and rick and i watched a few movies and a lot of tv. (we were having cable withdrawals).

friday: we made dinner and watched Napoleon Dynamite because rick had never seen it. we both agree it doesn't live up to the hype. and the most hilarious part was after we finished watching it, we turned to the dvd player off and guess what was playing on MTV... NAPOLEON DYNAMITE!! hahaha.

saturday: rick and i went to jamba juice with aldrin. then we went into Nordstrom Rack and i bought a really kewl pair of plaid hurley board shorts, a pair of BRIGHT neon green roxy capris and a cute SOFT gray tee shirt. rick and aldrin actually left me there and came back for me because i take a realllllly long time to shop. then rick and i took his dog magoo to the beach. he loved it.

saturday night: we watched North By Northwest a really good Hitchcock film with Cary Grant. so good i even watched the extras/the making of the film and that was pretty good too!! Hitchcock takes the cake for suspense thrillers.

by sunday i was itching to hug miss gray and eat lots of pretzels and upload more photos onto flickr. and rick was itching to play resident evil. hehehe.

sunday: on our way home i bought a half crate of fresh strawberries, Mmmmm!! miss gray was REALLY happy to see us. she was meowing up a storm and even rubbing against rick's legs!! (she's still wary around rick). during dinner we watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High because i have never seen it. it make me feel like watching 10 Things I Hate About You (i really like that movie) but i actually liked Fast Times more than i liked American Graffiti. still, 10 Things and Clueless are tied for my favorite teen/high school comedy but maybe that's because i was a teenager in the 90s.

music i can't stop listening to: Charlotte Gainsbourg's "5:55" album and Susanne Vega's "Nine Objects of Desire" album. good stuff.

it's saturday AGAIN???

because the 4th was a wednesday... i have been totally unaware as to what day of the week it is. in fact, today felt more like a wednesday than july 4th did. the 4th flet like a saturday and now today is saturday. ahhhh!!!! the confusion. anyway... so here's the scoop.

thursday: MAJORLY productive day. i called a lot of ad agencies for dave. both lindsay AND andrea called me (my two best friends). i did the dishes, made the bed and cleaned every inch of the guest bathroom. then when rick got home we went to the bank; i ran into a foodstore to buy snyders pretzels; we went to costco; i dropped off film; we went to the library; we went back to costco and shopped; i picked up my film; we went to albertsons; then came home and made dinner and watched The Break-Up which certainly doesn't deserve the 5.9 rating it received on IMDB.com.

friday: worked for michael doing layouts and making templates. went to post office. aldrin came over. rick and i cut his hair. (his hair was getting LONG!! it grows so fast. the last time we cut it was in may!!) then we all went swimming. aldrin stayed for dinner and we watched Lucky Number Slevin which was actually really good. i didn't know ANYTHING about the movie before i watched it... and that's the best way to watch that particular movie. it's pretty violent, but not excessively gruesomely violent. but four or five characters die within the first 30 seconds of the movie, even before the opening credits are finished.

saturday: meeting up with kerry (guy who works for michael/dm photography) at *drumroll* 6:50 AM to drive to santa clarita to shoot a wedding. ohhhh my. and i am NOT a morning person. the good news is the wedding ends at 5 PM.

fourth of july. lucy in the sky. i remember palm trees and the coat of many colors. ~311

hope everyone had a happy 4th of july!!

rick and i went over his parent's house for a BBQ. we picked up aldrin, went over tim's house and browsed through their high school yearbooks. we also ran a few errands then went to see the fireworks from the harbor. there was a little street fair with a live band and a highly amusing old guy who danced like nobody was watching (although he was kind of hard to miss). we wound up sitting on a bridge watching the fireworks from accross the water (and have now been inspired to rent a little boat one of these weekends).

this week: i am finishing up work for dave until the 11th.
this weekend: i am working as 2nd shooter for michael.
next weekend: i am doing promotional work.

i'm also working on albums during the weekdays. i'm trying to get as many gigs as i can right now because i am going home in august for two weeks to see family and friends and i could really use the money. hopefully a lot of jobs will come my way.

tri-tip and sangria.

saturday: rick had to work so we got to ben's BBQ a little late. i also had to leave early to go to work but for the hour and fifteen minutes i was there, i had a good time. ben made tri-tip and sangria and there were lots of cherries. :) ben was exhausted (and pretty toasted) and was leaving that night with his girlfriend to go to nyc to visit jonathan (rick and ben's friend). i'm sure he slept well on the plane, hehe.

saturday night was A LOT of fun. i worked a gig at the wiltern during a citizen cope concert. i got well-paid to take polaroids of people and ask them survey questions. :) rj reynolds was hooking people up. free packs of cigarettes and drink tickets and photos and spin art. (the lengths tobacco will go to get more victims... i mean kids... i mean people to enjoy their products). hehe. i had a great time tho. i would love to be a part of a street team that travels across the U.S. maybe not for a tobacco company, but an ice cream company, sure. i didn't get home til 1:30 am. i couldn't believe the amount of cars on the freeway at that hour. it was like driving on a busy highway back east during the day!! but at least there wasn't any traffic.

sunday: worked. easy job. rick did our laundry and we ate dinner over his parent's house. we also picked up some ugly chairs from this girl i found on craigslist. they were $10 a piece and in really good condition for their age. they're retro and they don't match a damn thing in our apartment but at least they will accomendate another tush. one is round and spins and the other is striped.



the girl i bought them from is having a quarter-life crisis after enrolling into a film school that wasn't what she expected. take a wild guess at which school it is... BROOKS!!!! *bites tongue* poor girl. at least she was smart enough to get out. i also scored a nice roxy overnight bag and a large marilyn monroe poster and a framed print and a little crab ashrtry. all (including both chairs) for $30. thanks Brooks!!

monday: uploaded lots of new photos to my flickr site. did dishes. made the bed. hung up my clothes and rick's clothes. all that fun stuff. rick and i watched Sabrina (billie wilder's version with audrey hepburn, humphrey bogart and william holden... not the remake). i never saw it and i really liked it... except the ending. i won't say what i wanted to happen. don't want to ruin the surprise. ;) aldrin stopped by for a while and finished watching the movie with us. rick fell asleep so he doesn't know the ending yet, hehe.

earlier in the evening, rick's mom made the mistake of calling and asking if we wanted a kitten. her neighbor only had it a week but needs to give it away because his older cat hates it. we said we'd stop by and see it. i told rick "do NOT let me get this cat!!" but then his mother's neighbor sent rick a picture of the kitten to his cell phone and AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!! it's way too cute and it's ORANGE, striped (like my hexum!!) and i already have a name for it. we really shouldn't get it tho, but we probably will because who can resist a kitten after you hold it and press it against your face and it purrrs and looks at you all cute with those big kitten eyes!! :( o, geeze.

whereabouts and happenings

wednesday: finally planted the strawberry plants my grandmother had shipped to me :) they already had roots but were in a dormant state and just needed some dirt, water and sunshine. rick and i went to the mall and i returned a pair of nine west shoes to macy's because when i peeled off the price tag, it tore up the suede sole and left a huge sticky square. doesn't sound like a big deal but they were black strapless sandals and every time i walked it sounded like... "whoooooit. whoooooit" because my foot was sticking to the shoe. plus they were $41 plus tax (on clearance) and they were pretty ugly so i only would have only ever worn them with pants anyway. why are only the ugly shoes comfortable?!! i wound up buying a really cute top and a pair of shorts with the money i got back from the shoes and had $10 to spare. woo woo!!

during dinner, rick and i watched Saw III. i was a bit disappointed. here's the eloquent review i posted aldrin:

"Saw III def didn't live up to the first two :( it would have been waaaaay better if marky mark rescued donny and kicked the shit outta that dumb jigsaw-wannabe beyotch."

couldn't have said it better myself... oh, wait. ;) haha.

but check this out... doesn't the chick from Saw look a bit like demi moore??? i thought so.

according to IMDB.com, "The final shooting draft of the script was written in under a week in Toronto by Leigh Whannell based on an idea by creator and Saw director James Wan." and it shows. the casting was pretty poorly done as well. the actors who played the lawyer and the male lead victim were awful.

thursday: (today) i cleaned out the closet in the spare bedroom/computer room and put away all of my clothes, which was quite an accomplishment considering how much more i brought back with me from jersey.

funny thing that happened: i got a phone call (accidentally) from someone who didn't know their phone was on. apparently they couldn't hear me saying hello repeatedly. i didn't recognize the number, so i stayed on the line for four minutes just to try to figure where they were or who it was. sounded like they were setting up/cleaning up for a trade show. unfortunately nothing interesting occured while i was listening but my favorite line was: "yeah, we're looking for a f*cking trailor too to pull our Bobcat around on."

after rick got home, we walked to the park and played tennis. this is only the second time we played tennis together. the first time we were rusty, but this time we did really well. it was so nice too... two little boys came up to our court and were watching us play and would retrieve any balls we hit into the net. it was like having our own personal ball boys!! hehe. after tennis, we went swimming and finally used the hot tub. (we've been living in this apt. complex for five months and never used the hot tub). we starting watching what ever happened to baby jane? (my pick, hehe). bette davis is definitely one of my favorites. tim and his girlfriend morgan stopped by for an hour and then rick and i hit up the hot tub again. then i tortured rick by plucking his eyebrows. all and all, an eventful day.

plans for this weekend include: a BBQ at ben's house on saturday and work on sunday.

my good deed of the month.

our apartment complex has been chopping down all of its trees. every day. early in the morning. so far, they cut over 80 trees total. there are three trees right by our bedroom windows marked with orange dots, waiting to be cut. so naturally i got all hot and bothered over it.

#1 because if those trees are taken down, we gain a lovely view of the parking lot and our neighbors' apartments. likewise, our neighbors gain clearer views into both bedrooms.

#2 because it's unnecessary... i was told the trees are being removed because the pine needles kill the grass. we are talking three measly pine trees on a SMALL area of grass between the sidewalks. my mother's house has TONS of pine trees, to the point where all you see is orange pine needles covering the lawn, yet we still have grass.

#3 another reason for cutting down the trees: "because they don't correspond with the new landscaping plan." they cut five or six trees down across from our apartment to clear out a space to build a small putting green. HOW STUPID and (again) UNNECESSARY.

so after rick and i chiseled away the orange dots off the trees by our apartment, i wrote a petition/letter and went door to door collecting signatures. a few pansies were concerned that signing the petition would lead to the apartment complex raising their rents, but regardless, i got a lot of praise and signatures. :) hopefully my petition will spare the remaining trees... if not, at least i tried.

what was your good deed of the month???

i have the BEST friends. (thanks lindsay!! XO)

last week i got two packages from one of my best friends lindsay...


the packages were covered with ladybugs!! hehe.


i had no idea what could be inside...


to my surprise lindsay and her mom sent me and rick A CUPCAKE KIT!!!! complete with sprinkles and frosting!!


MmMmMmmm... naked cupcakes!!


rick started eating his even before he was finished decorating it...


my cupcake:


tim and aldrin stopped by and made some cupcakes too. here's aldrin licking icing off the knife...


and here's tim. (notice the b-day decorations that have been up since rick's bday...)


the other box contained a stuffed monkey (we have an ongoing monkey-joke-turned-gift-theme that started in 7th grade). there was also a cute pomeranian magnet and sign.

here's the magnet:


I HAVE THE BEST FRIENDS!! THANK YOU LINDSAY AND MRS. F!! we loved the cupcakes and surprisingly we have a couple left!! ...but not for long!! hehe.

happy birthday to rick!!

wednesday was rick's birthday!! after working (and driving) all day long on tuesday, i stayed up until 2 am baking rick a cheese pie, decorating our apartment and finishing his birthday card. and of course i didn't let the cake finish cooling before i put the icing on... :( you can see the funny result here. on wednesday, i was exhausted!! i surprised rick by having aldrin bring a chuckie cheese pizza over for dinner, hehe.



we had a good time laughin, and eatin and findin silly things online. and although we kept rick's birthday pretty low-key, it was still an awesome night because it was the first time i got to spend rick's birthday with him!! the past two birthdays have consisted of long-distance celebrations and priority mail. one year i even sent rick a slice of carrot cake from my school and my mom and i took photos of the happy birthday messages we wrote on the sidewalk with chalk, hehe. we've come a long way.

workin with CJ.

tuesday and wednesday i worked as 2nd assistant to CJ. the first day i was mainly a gofer, which i didn't take to too well. in fact, i called dave, complained and told him i decided i want to work for him for the rest of my life (which i would gladly do). i ran to CJ's hotel, and to the paint store, and then the 1st assistant/studio manager asked me to run to supermarket to buy more soda (and trust me, we didn't need any more soda). OOOO, guess where the 1st assistant got her photography degree... BROOKS!!!! my favorite place on earth, hahaha. poor Brooks' alum/students. this girl is pretty well established and works for 6 photographers but it seems she has lost her shot at becoming a photographer. she feels like she doesn't have a style... and that's after three years at Brooks!!

ANYWAY... on tuesday i did dishes, varnished a veneer panel and painted a large square of linoleum "weathered brown." it was exciting to be involved in the making of the set (for about two minutes) until the fumes started to get to me. on wednesday i served as the model fill-in and packed up a very large desk. each afternoon lunch was catered by local places like Tender Greens and Bamboo!!

the shoots were pretty fun. there was an earth, wind, fire and water theme which involved a lot of hair and makeup. it was interesting to see how CJ works and what a different style he has compared to the other photographers i've worked with. CJ is really precise. he starts with sketch and follows that sketch to the very last detail. instead of shooting a bunch of various shots, CJ has ONE shot in mind and he achieves it. personally, that method would scare the crap out of me because i like options, but if you have a high-end client (in this case, Geiger Furniture) and you sent them a sketch for an ad they are paying big bucks for, i can see why you would want to be precise.

overall, CJ was really professional and personable and i would like to work with him again. he said he'll contact me the next time he has another shoot on the west coast. :)

What did the mom tomato say to her little kid tomato when they were walking into town?

..................Ketchup!!

thursday: i bummed around. all. day. long. i called dave who will have some work for me the end of the week. he wants to have another casting call. rick brought me home roses... just because (aw!) hehe. i did dishes and played scrabble and boggle online with my mother. she always beats me at scrabble (only online) but i always beat her at boggle. rick and i watched The Best Years of Our Lives, a black and white film (from 1946) about three WWII veterans who return home and must adjust to being a civilian again. it's a REALLY good movie. i highly recommend it. there's a man/actor in the movie who has hooks for arms and he is amazing with those things!! the movie has really good story line; only one thing irked me and that was one of the main characters' sons. he was barely in the movie and they his family never invites him anywhere. it was almost as if he was just a fill character. i didn't understand his purpose or significance in this film.

friday: turkey burger night at aldrin's house with tim and their friend fonz. aldrin made his special turkey burger patties mixed with bacon served with ranch dressing and potatoe chips. i made some veges to go along with the burgers. we rented The Jerk, a classic steve martin comedy. rick and i stayed at aldo's til 11 pm then we stayed overnight at rick's parent's house while they were in washington d.c. i also got a package from my mom filled with eastery goodies and my dad's old camera AND a package from my aunt stuffed with a new spring-y bedspread. :)

one of many crazy hats:


why skippy doesn't like tim:


saturday: worked an easter promo in a furniture store from 10:30-4:00. i was the polaroid photographer. good pay, easy job and it was fun. it was kind of a funny scene tho... me talking to a giant bunny. i felt bad for the guy (paul berg) who was the bunny though... that suit was hot!! and he talked in his bunny voice the entire day, in case any kids were lingering nearby. paul was pretty interesting though, he's a puppeteer and has worked on a few snuggles the bear laundry detergent commercials as well as Men in Black I and II. (he controlled the lungs of the little alien who lived inside the big alien's head). after work, rick and i got some jamba juice and watched 13 going on 30 on tv (cute movie). later that night, we picked up his parent's from the airport.

easter sunday: my mom had groceries delivered to the apartment again!! :) this time she sent over mangoes, pineapples, strawberries, swordfish steaks, asparagus, grapes, clementines and beef jerky. my mom is the best!! rick went to church and then we went to his parent's house. we were expecting a low-key BBQ with his parents, but his old neighbors stopped by as a surprise. they were very nice, brought a cake and stayed for dinner. the daughters (nicole and racquel) are our age and are living in pasadena now, so we will probably go out with them sometime. rick's sister and her family stopped by and rick's niece isabel taught me some new patty-cake rhymes. then rick's neighbors all came over and lots of funny old stories were exchanged.

my mom loves me:


monday-wednesday: i work for photographer CJ Burton. wednesday is ricardo's birthday!!!!! so hopefully i won't be working too late that day because i have a few plans up my sleeve ;) i just hope i have the time to accomplish them all!!!!

is it my birthday or something?!

friday night was pretty awesome. rick spoiled me rotten. i got home and he had done the dishes and bought me fruit... lots of fruit. a cantaloupe, strawberries and grapes. Mmmm!! i was pretty exhausted so i took a little nap while rick cooked dinner for me. then we went to the movies to see Shooter and rick bought my ticket. and then rick said...

rick: damn, i am hooking you up to-night guuurl!!
jena: i know!! is it my birthday and i just don't know it?!!
rick: no, but when your birthday rolls around and i don't get you a daaamn thing... remember this night.
jena: hahahaha.

the funny part is right before rick and i went to bed i realized that it sort of was my birthday... it was my half-birthday (on saturday)!! so i am officially 22 1/2.

anyway, rick and i both thought the movie was really good. i was thoroughly entertained. the plot kept me intrigued from beginning to end. mark wahlberg is fantastic... he's like a modern day McGuyver, but better looking and more sarcastic. his character is cunning and smart. i'm not a huge fan of action movies, but this movie was so packed with plot that i just kept moving along with it. i bet most of the naysayers of the film are going to be people who believe every word their government tells them. yes, this film depicts government officials in a bad light, but what or who doesn't? i'm sure in reality it's much worse. don't let political beliefs interfere with seeing this film; it's a good time no matter what side you are on. it's intense but not overbearing. easy to follow but complex. and you'll be impressed with wahlberg's character. wahlberg excels in playing characters who are determined to make an impact. after seeing i heart huckabees, mark wahlberg has quickly become one of my favorite actors. he totally kept that movie alive. i added Fear to aldrin's netflix queue after rick explained what a psycho his character is that movie.

so after our little "date night" was so successful, rick and i decided we need to have more "date nights" and i proposed a "craft night" since i am having withdrawls because my best friend andrea and i always would always get crafty when we were together. that girl needs to accru more vacation time faaast so she can come visit meeee!!!! i miss her damnit!!!! i need to keep in touch with my friends from high school more because i had no idea my friend lindsay was going to mexico until she texted me about it the night before. i am so out of the loop!! i'd say 80% of my friends are people i met in middle school/high school. 15% are people i met in college. 5% are friends of rick's. i need to meet some kewl chicks around here to hang with and do girly stuff with like go shopping or sit by the pool reading magazines.

the weekend.

saturday: (st. patrick's day) rick and i went to his parent's house and did some laundry. rick washed my car :) and i rode on tim's kick-ass longboard skateboard (i soooo want one!!) rick's dad made us delicious BBQ chicken and tritip and ribs. tim and aldo and jen stopped by and we all bought chocolate bars from rick's neice isabel for a school fundraiser. it was funny because we originally bought the chocolates from rick's mom (who had previously bought a whole bunch) so when isabel showed up, rick's mom gave us our money back so we could "re-buy" them from isabel, hehehe.

adorable photo my mom took of roxie:


sunday: aldo came over and i finished his haircut. rick evened up the sides and back with some clippers and we all went to the mall. i redeemed a coupon for a free pair o' underwear at victoria's secret (i never pronounce the 's in victoria's...) and i got some hemp hand cream at the body shop. i also bought a really cute wallet at pacsun for $3!! (it was 70% off). it's gwen stefani's harajuku brand. and although i'm not "just an orange county girl," the orange is highly adorable.



we watched Little Miss Sunshine, which is semi-predictable and way overrated. i can't believe it was nominated for "best picture." i hate when pseudo-indie B movies get over hyped solely because the movie SEEMS unique to the average viewer. perhaps i am too harsh because i expected a lot more from the movie, but instead it turns out to be a tragic national lampoons road trip.

how to identify a pseudo-indie B movie:
*characters are extremely stereotypical (or purposefully anti-stereotypical) and their characteristics are extreme. example: moody teenager who won't speak, father who is more preoccupied with work and business than his own family, grandfather who curses and snorts heroin.
*what could go wrong, goes wrong before the characters' goal is attained. example: car trouble, emotional setbacks, business setbacks, death of most amusing character, they just miss the deadline.
*characters appear to be stuck in a time warp although the rest of society is in the present time. example: clothing styles, dance moves, lingo, vehicle.
*at least one main character is played by someone well-known who is in role that appears drastically different from his/her previous roles.
*at least one main character is played by an actor/actress who is an unknown and after the movie is release he/she is over hyped.
*there is no happy ending. there is not even an unhappy ending. the ending leaves you in the same mental state you were in when the movie started which makes you feel as though you just spent two hours walking in a circle...

proof that just because it's labeled "not mainstream," doesn't mean it's GOOD. beware, the following movies are NOT "indie" movies, they are merely B-rated movies (at best) in disguise:
"Little Miss Sunshine," "Napoleon Dynamite," "Party Monster," "Punch-Drunk Love," "Swimming Pool," "The Last Kiss," "The Virgin Suicides," "11:14," "13 Moons." (there's plenty more... but those are what currently come to mind).

the rest of my mother's visit...

thursday: went to malibu. my mom saw martin sheen (with his grandchildren) in that little plaza with ralph's. (i missed him because i was driving). we bought some snacks/lunch and ate them at the beach. it was pretty cold near the water so after lounging there for a little while, we headed back to the apartment and sunbathed near the pool until the sun set. but first we stopped at jamba juice!! after the pool, we went to a paint-your-own-ceramics place and we painted mugs for each other. it usually takes about 3-4 days to get them back (you glaze them then they fire them) but we had ours expediated so my mom could take hers home with her. they came out pretty awesome!! i made my mom a coffee mug with little designs all over it and my mom made me a large mug with a gnome on it (she even painted roxie next to the gnome!!) they both came out reeeally cute.

friday: my mom and i drove to carson to pick up my car. that took a few hours due to traffic and poor directions. my mom and i told rick we got tattoos and he believed us until i told him mine was a gnome. we finally got new cell phones (that we hate) and picked up our mugs. we stopped at albertson's and bought some more food, then we made cornflake chicken!! (rick couldn't eat it though, because was a friday during Lent). tim stopped by to pick up the communal ipod. my mother and rick passed out in the living room EARLY... like 10 pm. i tried my hardest to keep them awake by suggesting we go for a walk and by reading trivial pursuit questions aloud, but my attempts were futile. even roxie fell asleep on me... so i went online, hehe.

saturday: my mom, rick and i took a tour of the adamson house in malibu. the house was built in 1930 and the interiors and exteriors are adorned in beautiful malibu tiles. unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos inside the house (i snuck one) but there are plenty of opportunities to take photos from the balcony of the home. after the tour, we ate thai food... Mmm!! we drove to michael landon's former home, but rick wouldn't drive up the driveway!! :( ugh. after stalking dead celebrities, we went over rick's parent's house. poor little roxie stayed home, locked in her crate until we got back around 10-10:30!!

(TURNED CLOCKS BACK!!)

sunday: my mom and i played scrabble until roxie trampled all over the board. temperatures reached 94 degrees!! my mom and roxie went home :( rick and i went for a walk (around sunset... the weather was beautiful then). we stopped at a playground and hurt our hands on the monkey bars (we'll probably have blisters tomorrow). then we watched sybil while we ate dinner. i never saw the movie, but always hear of it. i really like sally field. she's good.