One happy island.

I am now officially obsessed with the Caribbean. Before my trip to Aruba, I had never actually seen white sand beaches or turquoise water. And once I realized how amazing it all is, I couldn't get enough. I felt like I was living in a postcard the whole time.

Beautiful. 

I wanted to hug the palm trees, but I was afraid a lizard would jump out and eat me.

My sister, Mom and I out on the town

Enjoying a delicious dinner at Madame Janette's (so good!)

So in order to squeeze a week's worth of travel tales in one neat little (ok not so little) post, I thought I'd highlight the important parts in a segment I'd like to call "Happy Learnings from One Happy Island":• Going on vacation with my Mom and sister means lots of sun time, lots of reading time and lots of relaxing time. Exactly what I needed.

• Snorkeling is fun. And sometimes dangerous, especially when you jump off the side of a sailboat into the middle of the ocean on a cloudy day, in a sea of very, very choppy water. When you're trying to stay afloat with 30 other snorkel-happy people, you might collide with someone. Head on. And end up with a cute little cut and egg-sized lump on your forehead. Thank goodness the crew onboard thought to douse my head in vodka to clean the cut. Vodka buuuurns. (And I walked around smelling like a dirty bar the rest of the day.)

• Playing the "guess what I am singing under the water" game never gets old...no matter how old you are.

• The sound of waves crashing on the beach is so much better than an iPod.

• If I ever get a pet iguana, I'm naming it Bob because iguanas love to bob their heads. There are oodles of head-bobbing iguanas all over Aruba and they love to lounge in the sun. Hence, the "lounge lizard" phrase.

• If a 73-year-old couple suggests a fun outing, they mean you'll end up at a "street festival" in the backyard of a cultural center watching little kids jazz dance and old people getting their kicks from an off-tune organ. And if you find yourself in such a place, it's not okay to burst out laughing (whoops), but it is okay to quickly sneak out the back.

• If you tend to talk wildly with your hands and feel the need to give a passionate speech about the Aruban economy in response to someone simply saying, "Aruba is beautiful", perhaps you shouldn't be a cab driver. It could result in very swervy driving, very wrong turns and very scared passengers. 

• Thong swimsuits are never appropriate. Especially on men. (shudder)

• I adore Aruba Aribas. Almost as much as I adore Strawberry Daqoladas, a hybrid of a Strawberry Daquiri and a Piña Colada. Mmm so good.

• Happy hour is so much better when tropical drinks are involved.

• It is a little creepy to see a huge missing persons case centered in Aruba resurface all over headline news when you're actually in Aruba.

• The Aruban airport is like a funhouse. Only not a fun funhouse. And it's important to remain patient while you wait in line 2 hours to even get to the check-in counter. And then while you wait in line another 2 hours to go through Aruban customs, one security check point, another security check point, a huge room full of luggage to pick up your screened luggage, a trip through U.S. customs, and yet another room to drag your luggage to the plane. It just makes leaving vacation that much more difficult...

• Don't try to smuggle a parrot home in your suitcase. It might have the bird flu (and that's clearly the only reason why it's a bad idea). The Aruban airport feels the need to tell passengers that with brightly colored posters hanging on EVERY wall.

• It's possible to take 3 million pictures of sunsets and only about 5 of actual people. See below:

Amazing. If you haven't been to Aruba, you should definitely go. It's warm, sunny and picture perfect every single day. I can't wait to go back...

Need my Starbucks fix

Today was Starbucks Day. I love Starbucks Day.

Ok so I make it sound way more fun than it actually is.  Starbucks Day is actually Friday in disguise. 

Every Friday my coworkers and I head to the Starbucks downstairs to load up on our favorite drinks. It's our way to treat ourselves after a long work week. Sounds pretty lame, yes, but I get really excited about it every week.

When I first started working and realized that every day for the rest of my life I'd be forced to go to work (I had major post-graduation blues), Starbucks was my little retreat every morning. I didn't live in the city yet, so I had an hour and a half commute from my parents' house in the suburbs each day. I took cars, trains, buses and boats. Sounds like a blast, doesn't it? (Actually the boat was fun) So I used to go to Starbucks every morning and cradle my lovely, familiar caffeinated friend as I headed into the dreaded working world that awaited me.

And then I moved downtown. And I realized I had to pay for everything on my own. Groceries. Bills. Laundry. Lunches. And with all those expenses, Starbucks just couldn't make the cut. So like any addiction, I had to cut back slowly. From 5 a week to 4 to 3 to 2...and now to 1. 

So every Friday at 9:15am I march right over to Starbucks, clutching my little Gold Card (Thanks Santa!) and order my Skinny Vanilla Latte (I miss PSLs and GingerSnap Lattes SO much). Oh and good news! The barista knows my name now. Thank goodness I have my identity back.

Alright wow, I just wrote a whole post about Starbucks (not that it's a bad thing, obviously). I think I need some new material to write about. Does anyone have any questions? Things you would like to know about me? Stories you'd like me to tell? I'll go do some brainstorming...

What's the craic?

When I say I love Ireland, it's a bit of an understatement. 

I'm kind of obsessed with it. Irish accents, Irish people, Irish music, Irish holidays (or just one), Irish pubs, Irish beer, Irish shots (Baby Guiness!), even Irish food (ok not all of it). I hear someone mention it and my ears perk up. When I pass by the travel section in a book store, I have to browse through the Ireland books. If I'm bored at work sometimes, I look at pictures of Ireland. It's a bit sick, really.

My infatuation with the glorious Emerald Isle started back in Fall of 2005, when I studied abroad in Galway. When we first got there, I'll admit I wasn't too crazy about it. Perhaps it was after the disastrous first night in which we got ridiculously drunk on Red Bull vodkas with a handful of boys from Liverpool...right. Can't tell that story. I'd probably be shot. 

But as the slight culture shock wore off, I fell in love with it. Classes didn't matter much there. My 3 "flatmates" (my high school friend A, a girl from my college I hadn't known previously, and a girl from NY) and I had a rule: If it was raining, we didn't have to go to class. And it rained a lot. We went out almost every night, met the cutest (and not so cute) Irish boys and traveled all over Europe on the weekends. And when I ended up dating a very cute Irish guy for a couple of months, it was the icing on the cake. 

Though sometimes I grew tired of the constant rain, I loved every moment. When we had to leave and I had to say goodbye to everyone, especially my Irish guy, I was heartbroken. I literally cried the whole night before I left, the whole bus ride to the airport, the whole time at the airport and then the whole 7 hour flight back. I was a hot mess. No not even hot...I was a cold, tired, ugly, sniffly, snotty mess. Sick. The poor woman sitting next to me must have thought I was crazy.

I had the time of my life in Ireland. I could literally talk about it for hours on end. And every day, I wish I could go back. One day I do want to go back there...actually I want to go back now. But I know it won't be the same. 

So luckily, I get the next best thing. Tomorrow night we're having a mini Galway reunion. Technially it's only me, A and our other roommate from the Niland House (where we lived over there), but it's the first time we've all been out together since we left Galway 3 years ago. I can't even wait. We're going on a little Irish pub crawl around Chicago. It should be a lot of fun. And hopefully it will be like having a tiny little piece of Ireland back again.

Sidenote: "Craic" is a Gaelic word for fun, good time, etc. They say it all the time over there. 

I need sleep

I'm exhausted.

I went to the midnight showing of Twilight last night, and didn't get home until about 2:30. I was still giddy from the movie, so I had to settle down a bit before I could fall asleep. The last time I checked the clock was about 3:20.

After awhile, I had a very vivid dream in which Edward Cullen was standing in my room, watching me sleep. I opened my eyes and saw his shadow out of the corner of my eye, standing off to the right side...and I literally jumped up and flew out of bed. I really thought he was in my room and it was really scary and really exciting at the same time. Naturally, it took me a few minutes to get my heart to stop racing so I could fall back to sleep...

And then my alarm went off. I got 3 measly hours of sleep. And boy, was I tired all day long. Thank goodness for my Starbucks Gingersnap Latte, that's all I can say. Oh, and the barista didn't call me Jessica today. She didn't call me anything, actually. I think the dreadful bags under my eyes must have scared her away.

So anyway, I'm off to bed. I left my cousin's birthday party early because I could barely stay awake. I'm not going to post my thoughts on Twilight until next week, after most people have seen it. I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

I'll just leave you with the images that have been running through my mind all day...

Amazing.

Teenybopper at heart

I'm finally getting a bit of free time after my ridiculously busy week. Ok maybe that's not entirely true...every spare minute I had was spent reading the Twilight series. I finished the third book "Eclipse" just this morning and immediately walked to Borders to pick up the fourth and final book "Breaking Dawn". To say that I'm obsessed is putting lightly. Yes, it's meant for teens, and yes, there are a few loopholes in the story, but it has most definitely become one of my teenybopper obsessions.

That's right. At the ripe old age of 23, I still consider myself to be a teenybopper at heart. I may look calm, cool and collected at the mention of Justin Timberlake, Jonathan Rhys Meyers or Jim Halpert, but inside, my 13-year-old self is screaming and jumping up and down in excitement.

My obsessions started when I was 10. Before than, I was relatively obsession-free. And then I laid eyes on my first celeb crush ever...Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I can't even remember when I first discovered him, but I just knew he was the boy of my dreams. I became an avid Home Improvement watcher and immediately ran out and bought every single BOP and Tiger Beat that I could. I had a little playroom under the stairs (no, not like Harry Potter) and it became my shrine to JTT. I rushed to him see him star in Man of the House and Tom and Huck, and relished over his sweet little voice in Lion King. As a young writer, I even wrote story-lines for future Home Improvement episodes, writing myself in as character (naturally). I even wrote a long letter to him, which included something along the lines of, "I am so in love with your sandy blonde hair, your blue-green eyes and your raspy voice..." I was too embarrassed to send the letter, so I threw it away. Lucky for me, my brother found it and mailed it for me. I acted mad, but was secretly excited. I was all about JTT, until...


I was introduced to Leonardo Dicaprio (via Titanic). My love for Leo made my infatuation with JTT seem like a silly child's crush. Leo was not the boy of my dreams...he was the man of my dreams. I just knew if we met he would fall in love with me. I saw Titanic 6 times in the theater (scary, I know) and watched the VHS probably a million times. I saw all of his movies and had posters of him all over my room. I cried at Romeo and Juliet not because of the tragic love story, but because my poor little Leo had to die before my very eyes (sigh). The scene where he's behind the fish tank made me swoon every single time. He was so handsome and broody and wonderful...


And then one day I sat down and watched some random boy band on the Disney Channel. *NSYNC? Never heard of them. But I watched the concert, fell in love with Lance and immediately forgot about that Leo guy. I watched that concert about 20 times, went out and bought the CD and immediately plastered my room with their posters. This was by far my biggest obsession ever. I taped EVERY TV appearance, went to see On the Line twice in the theater (yikes), traveled across the country to see them in concert 6 times and talked about them nonstop. I always loved Lance (hey, I didn't know he was gay), JC and Justin (even with his horrific platinum hair). I owned t-shirts, buttons, hats, books, bobbleheads, action figures...and my personal favorite, an embroidered afghan (which is still at my parent's house).


I loved them from 7th grade until about sophomore year in high school. My friend and I spent hours in class making inappropriate comic books and poems about our love for them and sneaking into hotel after hotel to find them when they were in Chicago. I was determined to meet Justin and fall in love with him...

And then one day, I realized I was over them. I got a little sad as I took down all my posters, but I guess they just didn't do it for my anymore. JC was getting all weird and Chris was old and Justin was clearly outgrowing the group...

But naturally, when Justin came out with his solo CD, I was instantly re-obsessed. I still am, actually. I love Justin Timberlake. I think he's super hot, he's a fantastic performer and his music is so fun. So yeah, still have that obsession.

I also have a mini obsession with Jake Gyllenhaal. I saw him in Donnie Darko my sophomore year in college and as luck would have it, he came to my school the very next week to urge us all to vote. Not only did I go to hear him speak, but I also got to meet him and (GASP) HUG HIM! I believe that story deserves its very own post....which will probably come tomorrow.

I probably shouldn't even touch on my obsession with Irish people (as in straight from Ireland) either, that's another story entirely. Or my obsession with another fictional character, Jim Halpert (why isn't he real?!) But suddenly, after getting completely immersed in the Twilight series and feeling this passionate urge for Edward and Jacob, all of my teenybopperness is coming back in full force. And I'm absolutely loving it.

I am attracted to a fictional vampire

I love to read. I always have. As a kid, I used to read ALL the time. I would curl up in this old rocking chair overlooking the stairs and devour novels. There's nothing liking cracking open a brand new book. The crisp pages, the smell of fresh ink, a whole new story waiting to be read. Getting lost in a good book is one of my favorite things to do.

A few weeks ago, I was running out of books to read. I had been reading lots of chick lit and Philippa Gregory books and while I love the adventures of Becky Bloomwood and the love affairs of Queen Elizabeth, I was looking for something new. So I asked my friend, who loves reading even more than I do, for advice and this is how our (abridged) gchat convo went:

P: i need new books to read. any suggestions?

A: read the twilight series!
i bet you would like it
it's getting me through harry potter not coming out in november
because they made it into a movie
and the first one is coming out in november
the the guy who plays "edward" is HOT

P: oh yeah!
they're good?

A: well

P: what are the names of the books?

A: it's not that they're really that good...
it's that they suck you in
because there are four of them

A: mostly i find bella annoying (she's the main character)
but i love edward
dreamy

P: ohhh
good, ill read them
how long are the books?
i miss harry potter
it ended so well

A: i know
and this one is just getting insane
i'm on the fourth
literally i've read them all in the past two weeks

She went on to tell me the basic story line of the series and I was very intrigued. Even though it's about vampires which I've never really cared for...probably because I had a children's version of Dracula when I was 8 and was so scared of it that I hid it in my brother's room. I honestly believed Dracula was going to come out of the book and bite me in my sleep. Yes, I have an overactive imagination.

So the next week, I headed over to Border's to pick up Twilight and another book I wanted to read, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. As I walked up to the Twilight book display and saw the large "YOUNG ADULT" sign, I almost changed my mind. I was really embarrassed to buy a teen book. I kind of wandered around the store a bit until I realized I was being stupid. I swallowed my silly 23-year-old pride and finally bought it.

I was really excited to read it, but I decided to read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle first. It was a great book...very interesting, intriguing characters, exciting story...until the very end. I hated the ending. So much so that I was in a terrible mood for the entire day after I finished it.

And then I started Twilight and I was hooked. I literally could not put the book down. I started it on the bus to work on Wednesday (and yes, I took the book jacket off) and was so sucked in that I snuck pages throughout the day, spent my whole lunch hour at my desk reading and then read from the time I got home to the time I went to bed. The same went for Thursday and I finished it right after work. I was obsessed. All I could think about was Edward and Bella and what would happen. It was exactly as my friend described it...I just couldn't stop reading!

It's not that the writing is great at all...you can tell it's written for teens. And I can't stand the constant use of the word "chuckle". And Edward seems to laugh and chuckle quite a bit. The relationship between Edward and Bella really does seem a bit abusive (obviously), but the story just sucks you in. It's kind of ridiculous. Edward seems so smoldering and handsome. Stephenie Meyer does an excellent job of making him sound HOT and totally swoon-worthy. I find myself attracted to a fictional vampire. Wow, that's a sentence I never thought I would ever write.

So after my relaxing Friday night, I woke up early on Saturday and went straight to Border's to buy New Moon. I was only able to read the first few chapters because I was really busy the rest of the weekend but now that I'm finally home I can't wait to read more. Even as I'm writing this I see it sitting on my table and I'm dying to read it...

Ok I can't resist the urge any more...I'm off to read more of this amazing vampire-y saga. Goodnight!