JP's Year in Review: 2007 edition

well, like every other blog I profile at work, I figure that I should give you a year in review jp style.

Well, 2007 started out for me in Times Square. WOAH. Glad I did it. SEO was visiting. Never doing it again. Spent the next few days in good ol' PA but went back to France.

In France, I continued to teach my kids (realizing now that I really should have been an el ed major b/c I LOVED every minute with those kids.) I also got to spend time in France with a group of girls that I would have never hung out with in the US. But that's why I love picking up and moving to foreign countries. It's the people you meet. That group of girls taught me so much about myself and life. And I love every single one of them for that. And check off a life goal...France for a non school related activity.

I also spent possibly the two best weeks of my traveling life ever with Zoe in Greece and London. There was not one day that went by that we didn't laugh hysterically and not see some cool old stone (or dolphin). And I learned to drink beer. YEAH!!

Then I added Portugal to my list of countries I've been to. Along with the south of Spain. Gotta give it to their culture, they LOVE to LIVE. Which is something we can't do in the US. (I also believe it was somewhere around this time that I said "I will NEVER live in New York City." I think that sealed my fate.

Finished up my term and my poor mom came to visit me at another crappy time. When I was ready to be back in the US. But we missed a soccer riot by like 10 minutes. Dangit!

Came back to the US for an incredibly long, miserable three months of living at home with my parents and an unpaid internship in NYC where I had to take the bus every day. Not so much fun. I did discover the tail of Jamie and Claire "the outlander series" and was in reading heaven for like 3 months.

Then, finally in October I got a job in NYC. The funny part was when I basically had a feeling I was getting the job, I was sitting in SEO's car in Manhattan, KS going to a Kansas State career fair. I've been to Kansas three times this year and loved every minute of it.

And a shout out to Fall Out Boy. My band emerged and saved me from some dark times this year.

And then I used Craig's list to find an apartment in NYC. SCARY! But it ended up working out perfectly w/ a huge room and an awesome roommate on Manhattan island (c;

And now it's Christmas. Stay tuned for my new years resolutions. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Everlong

I feel new obsession coming on. Any ideas? Um, I think it's the Foo Fighters. Every time I turn on K Rock (which is at least twice a day) Best of You comes on. Which is not a problem b/c I'm still not tired of hearing it!! OK, but that is not the true reason of this post. Recently, a super stellar friend of mine asked me what I wanted from a significant other in the future. I had no idea. Then, I decided. So, Dear boys, Here's what Jenny P wants. If you qualify, then you rock.
--Wears jeans
--Knows what bowl week is
--Is American
Well, good thing like 90% of the country fits that description.

And I still love Fall Out Boy (c; Pete was in MSG last Saturday! And so was I!!

Oh, and this is for whoever reads my blog (immediate family excluded, Hi Grandma and Grandpa!) just so you know, you all are very bad at sending cards. This includes Christmas and Birthday cards......tisk tisk.....I send you cards!! (mail, folks, mail)

Why Why Why????

Do I always get the room next to the musician?

So in France it was OK. I made it to bed before guitar boy started playing his electric guitar in France. He had a few things going for him: He was HOT, He had an American flag up, and he disappeared for like three months.

Cut to now. I now have piano girl. Let me tell you, she enjoys playing the piano at all hours of the morning, evening, afternoon and I swear all she plays is warm ups. I couldn't go to bed at 11:00 PM Wednesday b/c she was playing the piano. Cut to this morning. 8:00 am. WARM UP. Loud obnoxious. I wait til 8:30 to storm out of bed and down the hall. I spend about 10 minutes POUNDING on her door because she's down at the end of my hall.

10 minutes later this is the scene:

PG: Who is it?
Me: Your neighbor.
PG: Who?
Me: Your neighbor.
PG: Who?
Me: Your neighbor next to the room with your piano. could you please just hold off til 10:00?
PG: It's almost 9:00.
Me: On a Sunday morning.
PG: It's almost 9:00.
Me: Please just hold off til 10:00.
PG: Not a chance.
Me: I've been hearing it at 6:30 in the morning and 11:30 at night. Could you please stop when normal people sleep?
PG: Not a chance.

Followed by a slamming of the door. Well, she's still going 4 hours later. B*TCH!!

Glorious #1

Is the song I'm listening to. I've found a new awesome music community. (it's my job to find these random pages that bring people together to form groups on random things).

Anyways...imeem.com. Set up a profile. Listen to any WHOLE song you want. you just can't download it. See what other people are listening to that you're missing out on that sounds like your bands. This page ROCKS!!

Black holes and revelations....

is the song on the radio right now...so good title for this post!

A few things. I know I haven't updated in a while. I've been pretty busy which is nice!

First off, I missed out on Foo Figthers at the Garden by about 15 minutes...they sold outo NYC is 45 minutes. Aaahhh....it's my brothers and my goal to get seats to that show. They have to be nothing less than AMAZING.

I also finished my Chirstmas shopping (c; all that needs to be mailed anyway!! I also finished sending out all my Chirstmas cards but one. (Hint hint, I only send out mail in hopes I'll get some back......) I also had to buy a dress for my Christmas party on Wednesday. Well, let's just say it's hot!! Considering this is my first dress I've bought since seventh grade, I'd hope so!! However would you believe that the first dress I found that was EXACTLY what I'd described to JCA the night before was completely sold out in my size in ALL FIVE bouroughs in NEW YORK CITY?!?! Annoying.....

I started a new series of books! They're about a vampire and a 16 year old mortal. Not too bad. Better tahn the other books I've been trying to read.

I also went on not one but two blind dates this weekend......it was a lot of fun! New guys and fun places to eat in Manhattan......nothing bad about that situation!!

OHOH! And I won my first bet this weekend!! Yep. I bet a guy at work that the Chiefs were going to get beaten by the Broncos....cause well, let's face it Herm......YOU'RE SO BAD YOU MADE MY FIRST BET AGAINST MY TEAM AND I WON!!! Luckily for me it was 41-7. (c; I made $5 off my team loosing!!

Heroes is over )c; But at least we have October Road now...I mean, it has Jake from OTH. Who could resist? KAP is coming Wednesday. And then my mom on Thursday. and ARESNAL has just lost their first game in the EPL )c; Oh well, we're still ahead of EVERYONE ELSE!

JP's Peptalk for Missouri

Alright boys, everyone's not giving you any credit and believes you're going to loose to Oklahoma. I have one thing to say about it. It was 2003 and the "best college football team ever" was playing another big 12 team. You can do it!!! MIZ ZOU!!

Musings on Life from a new New Yorker

DISCLAMER: This blog is my personal blog. It is written so you know what I'm up to in good ol' NYC and to make you laugh (most of the time). It's also a side of me most people don't get to see....ie the side where I talk (c; So feel special you're reading it. That being said, if you want to know why I wrote this, give me a call and I'll tell you b/c it's a pretty funny story!




Well. I have a few things to say. First off, we'll start with all the live super cool things on tv in new york city you've always wanted to go to. Just so you know, the majority of the time, the look exactly like the picture to the left. Uh huh, with all the tourists you'll never see a thing. So you should just be content watching it on TV!!! Even though you could throw a rock and hit Nick Lachey around the corner, b/c you'll never see him!!! But even weirder is I met up with my friend Nadja and she brought the new French marketing intern w/ her. Well, she's from Amiens, which is AWESOME because that's where I studied abroad! Well, we all bailed and I ended up missing the tree lighting on TV. Woops....but Gossip Girls was worth it!!


OK, so, my dear friend SEO sent me a birthday present. In this present, she included the Plain White T's CD I'd asked for b/c I saw FOB and the Plain White T's like 2 days before I saw her. So today at work, I gave it a good listen while I was surfing some innovation blogs (tons of fun, let me tell you). From the minute it started getting overplayed, I hated "hey there delilah". Well, I listened to the whole cd, and that song was last. And...


Dear Delilah:
So I hated your song from the moment it started playing on the radio. I wouldn't even listen to it. I HATED IT. And then I moved to New York City. And started working near 42nd Street. And while surfing through the interent for Innovation blogs (which are no were near as quirky as mine) the song came on.
So, did you marry this man? He's paying the bills with his GUITAR now!!! Ok, and the part that would have officially sold me was "Times Square couldn't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true." Sold. I would have married him then. Times Square is BRIGHT!! And let's face it, who wouldn't basically just melt. And then I'm assuming that "Write you a song" is for you too. BTW, the Plain White T's rock. I'm sold. I'm a fan now. Enjoy your boy with his guitar and make him sing that song to you. A lot!
Love, Jenny
PS. Way better than "Marching bands of Manhattan" by Death Cab.


Plain White T's. Awesome. Who said rock was dead?! They're not counting my taste in music.

Next! Guess what! It's COLD in NEW YORK! And I LOVE IT! And decorated for Christmas. I love it. This city rocks. Which MEANS....I can really drink my tea now. I have a new love for a drink. Since my no so much friends at the Coca Cola factroy don't even produce cherry coke zero and sell it in New York City, Vanilla tea. It's awesome. Yum.....drink some it's good.


So the past few days, I've been in an inexplicabily good mood. Who knows why? It might have something to do with the rockin' book I got. It's called Twilight. And it's about vampires. Good good stuff. And I don't even know their vampires yet!! So I get on the train, sit and read. 20 minutes seems like 2. And then I have to change stations and get 5 more minutes waiting. And then I ahve to wait all day to get on the train and read again. I love reading good books. I figure I'm making up for my four years of not reading anything b/c I was too busy procrastinating reading text books!


Yes. This blog was a lot funnier as I was writing it at work. Anyways. Have a good weekend. And GO K STATE!! Beat Oregon (sorry Zoe)!! And watch us play Notre Dame next week b/c I have court side seats......(c; Like I'm in row A on the floor!!

Few more things.....

I forgot to write.

So it's officially after Thanksgiving...why is this so cool? Because as I was decorating my Christmas tree.......I remembered I could listen to my FAVORITE Christmas CD. And for the first year in like three, Jackie doesn't have to email the songs to me!!! BTW....it's Snowed In by Hanson!!!!! And more news on the Hanson front today......Zac's having a baby!! Boy these hanson boys can knock out the kids....I believe it's like their 6th among the three of them.

And once I finally fulfill my life dream of running into them on the New York metro, I believe I'll finally be able to quit claiming them as one of my favorite bands. However, if they keep running off to Africa how am I suppose to run into them on the metro?!?!

Hello!!

Hello hello what's your name?

and on to the post.

So a few things. First off, I'd like to announce to the world that for the first time EVER I ate a whole orange. And what do I have to say about it? They're messy.

I turned 24 last week. I have a few things to do before I'm 25. I better start doing those things now so they can be accomplished.

K State Football, you've gotten so bad that I didn't even watch your game Friday. And I'm dedicated. Jordy, you're still my hero.

Last week was also Thanksgiving. So in no order I'm thankful for: my job, being 2 hours away from my family, my insurance that is coming on Saturday, Fall Out Boy (they were there for me this summer.....), my car getting hurt and not me when I hit animals, the fact that I'm in New York freakin' City, and my new roommate.

So on my list tonight is: Heroes, decorating my Christmas tree, and making dinner.

Officially a really long post

Well, sit back and relax because I have a lot to type. Feel free to come back and read it in parts.

OK! Well, this starts off with my wake up this morning. I turned on the radio to get out of bed. I've recently switched from KRock (shocking, I know) to Fresh. That may have been because there were dirty lady commercials coming on K Rock at 2 am, and music on Fresh, but who knows.....OK, well, a very memorable song came on. (nantes girls this is for you) The one, the only, "Please Forgive Me." The immediate picture I got in my head was the lovely dance parties in Mattieu's room and Lou. And then that the song was not as dramatic as I had remembered. Which I love b/c Lou made it a great song to listen to! Anyways, that made me think of my blog I wrote very late last night and another common Nantes thing popped into my head. Translation!!! Translation!!

So, translation, for what, you ask? My previous post. I can check off a life accomplishment off my list. What would that be? A concert in Madison Square Garden. My roommate, Megan, and I went to see Cute is What We Aim For, Plain White T's, Gym Class Heroes, and my personal favorite reason for going to the show.....Fall Out Boy!!

So side note, the all time greatest song title EVER written.....also one of my fav FOB songs....

I Slept With Someone From Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me

OK, so its a great, long and pointless title that has nothing to do with the song. And a GREAT song!! "I found the cure for growing older/and you're the only place that feels like home/just so you know you'll never know/some secrets weren't meant to be told/I found the cure to growing older." Ah....I LOVE IT!! And they PLAYED IT!! Along with XO, and of course, Thanks for the Memories and Dance Dance. By the end of these two songs I had no voice and I'm sure the really cute guy around my age behind me was hurting my dancing was so bad. Oh, and earlier i the set....Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner acoustic....ahhhh.......

Then we chilled, took some photos at the garden and came home and watched Gossip Girl. I love this show by the way!! PS, I was gossip girl for Halloween.

OK, another topic. In case you didn't know, my mom rocks. She was always the only mom I ever knew that would buy me clothes, and they were the ones I would have picked out on my own. And now we finally got text capabilities on our phone (i know, we're late adapters) and she's been sending me "good morning" texts the past two mornings, which was awesome. Especially since I haven't been getting to bed before 2:00 and my neighbor plays piano at 7am.

Stellar week, and I'm going to Kansas tomorrow. Best friends, family, and grandma......and next week is thanksgiving (french friends here too) who's excited about pumpkin pie after a year w/o it?!?!

Oh! Heroes!! Who's excited Maja (whiney voice) is NOT COMING BACK after Christmas?! I am. However, I like Caitlin. I do think Peter needs a little action b/c he is the freakin super hero and all. They shouldn't take her away.

I also solved my book problem!! It was a very stressful situation and I was in the 5th Ave Barnes and Noble (not very big) for an hour trying to figure out what I was going to do. Three phone calls and a near trip to the cash register later, I decided I had dignity, and am NEVER going to buy a book where at any point in time Fabio could have been the cover boy. REFUSE. I've got sanity!!

If you made it this far I'm proud of you. Summary of post: FOB, Bryan Adams and Kansas. (c;

Yeah man

So what's better than S & B on a Wednesday night?

Well that would be Pete and Patrick and gang (-: WITH an encore of Thanks for the memories followed by Dance Dance. At THE Garden.

I need a book

So this summer, I stumbled upon The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I'd read Into the Wilderness series while I was in France. I kept hearing about this series, and one day just picked it up at the library. Seven books, 1000 pages, hard cover and HUGE. For a while, until Harry Potter came out, I'd finish a book in two weeks. And then in September, I finished the series.

And I need a new series. I'm in pain with out one. But this one was SSSOOO good, I have a high standard now. Claire and Jamie, I just don't think you can get better than that!! So I need books. Now. I got a library card, now I have to find an author. And it's NO FUN. I'm so picky. I need historical romance. But not smut romance, intelligent. OK. Back to my quest to find these series.

Highlights of my weekend

1. Mike came
2. The lifesize blue whale at the Natural History Museum
3. My grandma called me today!
4. I can finally score some points in nertz
5. Eating lunch in Greenwich Village and getting to see man (who must have been intoxicated) poll dance with the no parking sign
6. Ohio State loosing
7. KU on national tv....i was excited to watch a loss......but anyways
8. 32 points and 24 rebounds in Michael Beasley's debut at KSU
9. I finally got Sexy Back on my IPod
10. Mail from my other grandma
11. My next weekend will be in my fav state
12. Fall Out Boy and my song of the summer (Thanks for the Memories) w/ my Roomie on Wed!!
and my quote of the weekend at the natural history museum: "Mike! I want to see a life size planet!!" (after we'd seen the life size blue whale....i would have preferred Saturn)

The Top Five Songs of All Time

But first a only in New York story. So I was doing laundry. Btw, I was the only one not fluent in spanish in the joint. I got tired of waiting on my clothes to fully dry and settled with kinda dry. Anyways, I'm walking home and there is trash on the sidewalk ready to be collected. and BOOM! Big furry rats run across the side walk. I shriek, and one runs into the pole before it can continue running across the sidewalk. Not so coool.

Anyways. I was hanging up my damp clothes listening to KROK (you can only do that in nyc too) and the Foo Fighters "Best of You" came on. So inspired by my "let's play the piano at 7 am" neighbor and BLAST it. Honestly, if you don't blast that song, I'm wondering if you can't appreciate a little rock.

So anyways on to my top five songs of all time: (in no particular order)

1. Best of You -- Foo Fighters
2. Possession -- Sarah McLachlan
3. Hands Down -- Dashboard Confessional
4. Dance Dance -- Fall Out Boy (they're playing in the Garden next week!!!)
5. All the Stars and Boulevards -- Augustana

I guarantee you, if I'm on my own and one of these songs comes on, I'll start singing.

That being said. Yay for going to Kansas next weekend. Happy Tuesday. PS. Write some comments (; I'll take your top five fav songs.......

Sunday evenings

So when I tell you I don't sing and dance, I lie. One of my favorite activities is on Sunday evenings, if no one is around, I LOVE to crank of the music and clean. And sing and dance to random tunes as the cleaning progresses. But you see, I make sure no one's around (c;

An afternoon in the city

So one of the things I've been meaning to do for a while is just spend a lot of time walking around the city. So this morning I finally went to church here. I went to one down by Columbia University. I used hopstop to figure out how to get here (hopstop = you put in where you are and where you need to go and it tells you how to get there by public transport). So of course I trust it and take the C train. So have to walk a ways and then I get to the park and have to walk up 200 stairs, I laugh. Because yesterday on the way to the K State watch party I had to walk clear across Central Park. But I went to church and it was 1/2 in Latin. Not so cool. But I am in NYC so I'll go somewhere else next week. Then I decided to go to buy myself some work pants and set downtown. Well, the 1 train isn't stopping where I need it to this weekend so I decided to walk the Upper West Side for fun. It was awesome. I stopped and had lunch. Then I walked, and it was clean, posh, not too many tourists and had an awesome Christmas store. So (go me!) I walked from 72nd and Broadway to 59th and Lexington. I passed the New York Marathon en route and a Russian Tea Room as well. And then I came home. And now I'm watch football b/c we got cable this weekend (c;

I'm FAILING!

At keeping up my blog. Which, by the way, is what I'm doing at work. Learning how to make blogs enhance websites. So generally if you want to make money off you're blog, you're suppose to update it like twice a day. But I'm not trying to make money off my blog, so I guess it's OK!!

OK, well, not much has gone on this week. I've gone to work. I did meet my friend Kira for drinks at the bar. Sr Fabregas (my new fav arsenal player) contributed two goals to a record tying performance of 7 goals in a champions league game. Then I went to the store and Kira an and I watched the first half of the ManU game.

It's finally fall here in the city. I really like it. I need some winter clothes, but those come with paychecks, so I think I'll manage.

And that's all I have for now. By the way, I do not choose the pink background, it's the closest to what I want. My dream is to have it in cream and dark maroon and dark orange, so we''ll see when I can get to it.

Confirmation!!

Yes, it has indeed been confirmed. As you probably know, I have an undying love for my favorite band. They're backburner, but, yeah, it's Hanson. So, not one of the incentives I had on my list to move to New York. So after I signed my lease, I remember that I think they live in New York. Well, thanks to home makeover on abc, it's CONFIRMED!! Which, I truly believe it's my destiny to run into them on the subway. Just to say hi, you guys have rocked since I was 12 and a photo. You know. After that happens, just like 3 more things and I can truly die a happy woman.

Other than that, my first weekend in New York has been pretty eventful. It included auburn football at the auburn alumni bar, penn state boys, my cool german friend, vanilla lattes, and plans to watch the champions league this week (c;

and goodness, I've never wanted Texas A&M to win so bad in my life. BEAT FRIGGEN KU PLEASE!!

Really expensive concert shirts

In high school I always but a teeshirt at every concert I went to. I quickly quit when I went to college. So this summer, I talked myself into buying the Augustana shirt for three months ahead of time. It was perfect. So I go, see that the shirt is $30 and try to talk myself out of it. When finally bought the shirt I got handed a memory stick. With 8 songs I didn't have. Let me tell you, I still listen to them everyday. I even start to lip sink on the train to "Stars and Boulevards." If I start singing out loud ever, I'll let you know.

Anyways I saw "Dan In Real Life" tonight for free. I would have paid the $11.50 New York price to see it anyways. Simply amazing, the best movie I've seen in years.

I also contribute to a really smart blog. So you should read it.
http://iir-pcc.blogspot.com/

I sadly tricked them into calling me Jennifer at work.

It's been too long!

So when I created this on Friday, I meant to post at least three times by now! But I haven't. So I'll fix that now.

So, New York. I'm back and not cheating and going home this weekend. This week is much better than last. But your new first week anywhere isn't any good usually!

So yesterday was one of those days I knew that New York was the right choice for me. So since I live north of all of the action on Manhattan, there's really no good grocery stores. So I went in search of one. First, I took the express train (I didn't know how to take it before yesterday!) and decided to get off at 125th. Big stop, maybe a huge grocery store.

So I start walking around. A cute little woman made a comment, so I decided to ask her where the biggest grocery store was around . "well, around here there aren't many big ones. Oh! Go right up Amsterdam through the projects and it's right there!" I mean, where else would I get told to walk through the projects! I love it. So I just decided to walk around for fun. Turns out I was in the heart of Harlem. I'd never been there. I could have met Jermain DuPree!! Not that I know who he is. I also saw the Apollo. Then I came home and my roommate, her friend, and I decided to go to a Broadway play. Evidently, if you have your student ID (I do!) you can go right before the show starts and get the tickets 1/2 off! But we didn't go b/c it was still to expensive and had Mexican food instead.

So. It's working out. Slowly but surely. (c;

New York, New York

Well, I guess I should document my experiences that are going to come out of the city. So that's why I started this google blog. Xanga just wasn't doing it for me anymore.

So instead of my story of my first week in new york and being a real working woman.......I have a message for all of my confused friends on the east coast (because my oh my there are a lot)

K-State stands for Kansas State. And no, we're NOT the jayhawks.

Thanks for taking note!!