Top Ten: Shopping Spots

10. Kirklands

Inexpensive, cute home decor. It's been sad to see them phase out their mall stores.

9. White House Black Market

I like the simple concept that all the clothes are either white and/or black. A couple of years ago they started picking one color to showcase each season or so (ex: this winter it's red). At first I was not excited about the change, but they do it sparingly and the pop of color here and there works. Too bad I can't afford the prices.

8. Yankee Candle

I used to work here and after a 4-8 hour shift the scents permeated my clothes, skin and hair. When I got home my mom always told me that I smelled and to take a shower. Smelly memories aside, I still love to go in here to check out new scents and occasionally buy a candle or accessory.

7. Hot Topic

My favorite part about Hot Topic is the awesome pop culture t-shirts they always carry. My second favorite part is the staff is always friendly. I think it's because they have a job where green hair and eyebrow rings are acceptable. 

6. Charming Charlie

Accessories, accessories and more accessories! They also have some shoes and clothes, but you go for the cute, inexpensive jewelry, hats, scarves, headbands and purses. The store itself is enormous; probably about the size of 6-7 Claire's stores, but it's almost exclusively dedicated to adult fashion. My first visit was with a friend and we spent about an hour wandering the displays, organized by color, and still felt like we hadn't seen everything.

5. Old Navy

I've been an Old Navy fan since they first opened. I prefer their denim over any other brand (except the first year the switched to stretch denim ... bad year ... too stretchy). I also like how I can buy an outfit for work or comfy weekend fleece all in the same store. I do wish they'd bring back the "campy" commercials though. They were hilar.

4. Bath & Body Works

Another place I worked where I came home smelling like the store puked on me. It was part of my job to try the products, okay? Sheesh. B&BW has gone through some changes over the years with look, products and scents, but they have never lost focus on their values: sell quality bath products with a 100% guarantee.

3. Target

Please, who doesn't like Target? You can buy a frozen pizza, a tent, a video game and Advil all in the same store. I like to go for the quality, reasonably priced shoes and clothes. Plus most of them have an in-store Starbucks these days. Win.

2. New York & Company

Best work pants ever. This is my favorite clothing store, but I never buy anything full price though. They are constantly sending out coupons and have great clearance sales. Wait a couple months and that $50 sweater will be redlined to $8.

1. Barnes & Noble

Like I even have to explain this, but I will. First of all, I worked at one of their college bookstores and one of their regular stores (not at the same time). It was my second home for awhile. Secondly, I am a reader and a writer. Thirdly, their relaxing atmosphere is conducive to a lazy afternoon having coffee with a friend or perusing through a stack of interesting looking books.

Who's that girl? It's Jess!

My poor little blog has been neglected lately because of a busy schedule, so I thought I'd post something fun to get back into the groove.

I'm in love! No, not like that. Well, I love my husband, but that's not what I'm talking about here. I love the new show New Girl staring Zooey Deschanel! Have you people watched it? If not, stop reading, go to hulu or fox.com and watch the available episodes. We're talking dorky, heartwarming, eyerolling, quotable comedy. For example, after Tuesday night's episode I updated my Facebook status to "I <3 New Girl". Out of the 18 comments that friends left, 12 were quotes from that one episode. There were no duplicates AND it's only a half hour show. That's good stuff.

A quick synopsis to intrigue you further: The aDORKable Jess (Zooey D.) gets dumped in an embarrassing way by her loser boyfriend in ep. 1. She doesn't want to live with her BFF CeCe because all her model roommates are annoying, so she answers an ad and ends up moving in with Nick, Schmidt and Winston. The hilarity that ensues as they all adjust to living with someone of the opposite sex is worth the price of admission. There are some very sweet moments as well where the guys help Jess move on from the break up and stand up for her when she's being bullied. And, as much as they try to avoid it, Jess helps the guys with their girl/self-esteem/sharing, etc. issues. They learn from each other in a fun, caring way and it works.

Go. Watch. Learn about the Douchbag Jar. You won't regret it.

Top Ten: Boy or Girl Bands

This week's Top Ten was inspired by a recent trip visit my parents. They live about two and a half hours away and 45 minutes into the trip I start to lose my radio stations and have to switch to CDs. This time I went old skool ... *NSYNC all the way baby! No Strings Attached followed by Celebrity. I would have listened to their first, self-titled album if it hadn't been stolen out of my car (along with my radio) seven or eight years ago. I'm still mad about that. I hope the hoodlums were very embarrassed to discover that a boy band album was inside their stolen goods.

Anywho, during a convo with Cory, my friend and co-worker, I thought, "I'll do Top Ten Boy Bands! Score!" because I love me some boy bands. Apparently, I'm picky though because I couldn't come up with ten. I remember thinking "Too bad the Spice Girls aren't a boy band." It was then I had my "duh" moment. I could do BOTH!! It is my blog afterall.

So without further adieu, Top Ten: Boy or Girl Bands

10. Hanson

A one-hit wonder, but boy was it catchy! "MMMBop".
 

9. 98 Degrees

They had several hits, but my favorite is probably "The Hardest Thing". So emo! *Sigh*. Meanwhile, check out those classic boy band moves: pointing at the camera, falling to their knees, expressions racked with emotional pain!

8. Backstreet Boys

Surprised they're so low on the list? My heart belongs to another band, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the Boys. My fave has to be "Larger Than Life". Sorry for the lack of cool video. Just picture sharp dance moves and maybe some cuts to an audience going nuts.

7. TLC

The title of one of TLC's albums "CrazySexyCool", is how I think of them. The have fun, empowering and danceable songs (not that I dance to them, but I would if I had any rhythm). My favorite is a departure from their norm: "Unpretty". Beautiful song and great message.

6. Boyz II Men

I'm a sucker for boys who harmonize and Boyz II Men do just that. Often a cappella, which is even better.  I can't even choose which song is my favorite, so I'll go with their first single "Motownphilly".

5. Dixie Chicks

So much controversy! Oy! Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, they have some really awesome songs women can relate to like "Wide Open Spaces". And who hasn't wept or at least teared up when "a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair" found out her "Travelin' Solider" died in Vietnam. The song that really gets the crowd riled up at their concerts though is the epic "Goodbye Earl". Sucks to be you, Earl.

4. New Kids on the Block/NKOTB

My original boy band crush and just about everyone else's, too. When my friend Carina, who is from Peru, heard I included them on the list she immediately started telling me about the New Kids Trapper Keeper she had in school. In Peru! These dudes were a global force. I definitely preferred the original recipe, but when NKOTB emerged a few years ago, I squealed along with every other twenty and thirty-something female around the world. New Kids still has "The Right Stuff".

3. Destiny's Child

Beyonce, Kelly, Michelle! Talented singers and dancers with great fashion sense. Again, awesome harmonies plus all their singles felt unique and original. Destiny's Child taught us to be strong women and to keep those boys in check. One of my faves is "Survivor".

2. Spice Girls
When I was telling people this was going to be my next Top Ten list several said "You're going to include the Spice Girls, right?" OF COURSE!!! GIRL POWER!!! I mean, seriously, it's been almost 15 years since "Wannabe" dropped in the U.S. If I were to walk up to someone about my age and sing "Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want," about half would look at me like I was nuts, but the other half I'm betting would chime in with, "So, tell me what you want, what you really, really want." Being a girl was way more fun after they came to town.

1. *NSYNC
Back in the day you were either Team *NSYNC or Team Backstreet. Obviously I was and still am the former. They're just better! Cuter! Better Singers! They had Justin Timberlake, for goodness sake. Okay, maybe JT was sporting a blonde 'fro for a bit, but we've all had questionable hairdos. Everyone sing along ... you know the words ... "Bye Bye Bye".

It's Begun - Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon

NaNoWriMo ... I can see how this drives writers crazy.

I'm on Day 2 and doing fairly well so far. I'm a little above my target word count (YAY!) and I've been doing pretty good about not editing. I have to admit that I have gone back and changed a word here or there, but I haven't done anything major. For a girl who loves to make things right as she goes, this is a huge step. The way I've gotten past the urge to edit is to write as quickly as I can and not look back. I'm taking the NaNo tagline "Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon" quite seriously. I've abandoned my ways and flying by the seat of my pants.

Along with this "seat of my pants" thing comes the delightful feeling of "Holy. Crap. This is the WORST thing I've ever written. I mean seriously, why am I even doing this? There's no rescuing this motha." It's daunting to push these thoughts aside and keep going. It's tough to keep your faith alive, when you are the one trying to take it down. I'm starting to believe that it's not the word count or the time frame that drives participants to pulling out their hair and crying into their lattes. It's the epic struggle within us all that we're not good enough, interesting enough or talented enough to be writers.

The cool thing is, we're all writers. Whether one person reads our work or a million, we all writers because we simply put words on a page.

Final Thought: I got my editing fix with this blog! Take that NaNo!!! :)

Snow Before Halloween

I'm visiting my parents this weekend and am thouroughly annoyed by the pre-Halloween snow storm we got. I'm a weather geek, but I definitely do not like cold weather or snow. It's annoying, a hassle and makes we whiny. Mother Nature and I aren't speaking until she brings back the fall temps and sunshine.

Luckily, I had purchased some snow boots earlier in the week and thought to bring them with me. So, I got to try out my new kicks, which are adorable as far as snow boots go and it was perfectly acceptable to sit around the house watching Triple D and college football all day. Tomorrow the temps will soar to the mid-forties, which should melt off most of the stuff. Not an epic win, but I'll take it.

Top Ten: The Wonderfulness of Mom and Dad

When I asked for suggestions on what my next Top Ten blog should be about my mom said "How wonderful your parents are?" Of course! Why didn't I think of that?

So today, in honor of my dad's "35th" birthday, Top Ten: The Wonderfulness of Mom and Dad.

10. They LOVE tacky Christmas lights. It was a sad day when they had to retire their blow up Nativity scene after many years of being the centerpiece of the yard.

9. My mom is scary as crap. Friends, old and new, know not to mess with "Mama Malone". I learned my very effective "death stare" from her.

8. My dad claims to pick out all of my gifts because my mother has no clue what she's doing.

7. They have more dogs than kids. This seems like a smart idea.

6. They're big fans of Disney World! Mom's favorite ride is The Tower of Terror and Dad's is The Carousel of Progress.

5. My dad is super funny! I steal most of my jokes from him.

4. My mom is my favorite shopping partner. We like to go in all the same stores and usually she buys me lunch when we're out and about.

3. My dad does things that are unintentionally funny and then make for great stories! Like the time he was trying to view the Hope Diamond, but didn't realize the pedestal turned every few seconds so it was visible on all four sides of the display case. He kept walking around the case to see the diamond, but just couldn't seem to find it! :)

2. They treat my hubby like part of the family, meaning he gets teased big time. The day they start being nice to him, he'll know he's in trouble.

1. They encouraged me to choose a major that would make me happy, even if I wasn't guaranteed a humongous paycheck. (I had to do one nice one!)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

NaNoWriMo

I've attempted NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, www.nanowrimo.org) the past two years, but like blogging, it never stuck. The object of the event is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The key is quantity, not quality. Don't worry if it sucks! Don't delete anything! Just keep writing until you get to 50K. You can make it not suck later, after you've recovered from writing 1,667 words everyday for 30 days.

It's a tough assignment, especially since it occurs in November. Who's bright idea was that anyway? Let's challenge writers to write a novel on the eve of the holiday season! That being said, I have an awesome writer friend who was a winner 2 years ago (you win if you finish) and she told me that she wrote over Thanksgiving with the whole family in the house. That's not even the best part. The smoke detector went off that weekend and before she evacuated the house she grabbed her laptop because dammit she had 47K words and she wasn't losing them! P.S. It was a false alarm! All is well.

I've learned some things about myself this year. I've raised a lot of money for breast cancer research, education and assistance. I walked 39.3 miles to raise awareness for the disease. I've now maintained my blog for several weeks (a record!). If I can do those things, then I can do this. Life's too short to not give it the ole college try. In conclusion, I'm going to do it!

I probably better figure out what I'm going to write about ...