Dear Hippie Moms,

Underwear doesn't count as a swimsuit. Especially your kind of underwear. And your children are definitely too old to be running around butt naked in public. I thoroughly enjoyed watching your families spend the day at the beach doing all sorts of weird things and wanted to take pictures of you, but realized this might have seemed a little bit creepy.

Subtext: I went on a day trip down to Santa Cruz on Friday and enjoyed some sun, sand, ocean, and some pretty weird people. In addition to the beautiful view of the ocean I had from my spot in the picture below, I also watched old bearded Indian men meditate and light all sorts of funky smelling incense while chanting. All in all, I can't wait to go back to the beach again soon!

Third Generation Beatlemania

"Standing There" - Andrew Buskirk

My nephew may be a bigger Beatles fan than I am.

We had a little recording session in the studio last week

when I got to watch him for the day...

I Left My Heart in San Francisco...

The first time I ever visited San Francisco was on a business trip with my dad, I was eight. As always, I was traveling with my favorite stuffed animal, a Gund puppy. It won't surprise most of you to hear that I lost this stuffed animal on the trip. I was beside myself with grief and my dad decided to teach me about the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and then told me to change "heart" to "Gund puppy" and sing the blues about my loss. Here's to some more fun times in San Fran!

Here's my and the momster in front of my new house in Palo Alto! I had braced myself for something a lot older and grosser in a neighborhood that had couches on the lawns, so I was super excited when I saw my new place!

I've had fun exploring Palo Alto's downtown, big pretty houses, and Stanford' campus. This pictures at the top of the Dish, basically Stanford's version of the Y that overlooks the whole area. L-o-v-e it.

Although I'm new, I've had fun reuniting with the couple of people out here I already know, and meeting some new friends through them too. I've found myself singing the theme song to "Full House" a few too many times in the last couple of days and hoping that maybe if I put myself in harms way, Matthew McConaughey will magically appear to save the day. I'll keep you posted!

Dear Utah,

I will miss you're big, tall, snow capped mountains...

but for now I'm trading them in for some rolling golden hills!

I'm going to miss this little baby tot and her parents and grandparents a whole bunch, plus lots of long time Provo friends who decided to be lame and not follow me on this new adventure.

but I am excited to be a bit closer to this little guy and his parents, not to mention a few old friends and hopefully some new ones!

Me and Momster reached Palo Alto tonight after a day full of driving (12 hours to be exact).

A few of our life lessons from the road:

1) Brian Reagan is still as funny as ever

2) The book "Eat, Pray, Love" is complete trash

3) Reno, Nevada is complete trash.

In other road trip news... picture this: We had just driven over one of many hills, the sun begins to set, San Francisco Bay comes into view, when the radio begins to play Journey's classic "Lights" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pODfbLv2nOo&feature=related). Fate has spoken.

It's Back!!!

If you've spent much time with me recently, you would know that I have fallen into a deep state of depression over the sudden disappearance of my favorite website... This Is Why You're Fat. I spent a few hours researching this anomaly and could not figure out what what had caused some sick person to take away something that had given me so many hours of pure joy! Despite efforts to heal the cracks in my heart with new websites I'd discovered such as Food Porn Daily, Cupcakes and Cashmere, or Bake-A-Rella, I was inconsolable. None of these poor excuses for food blogs could come close to the sheer joy that was the Bacon Lasagna, the Donut Hamburger, or my personal favorite... the Bacon Turtle.

Imagine my surprise today when I typed in my beloved website's address (as I routinely do) and it was back and better than ever! Eyes can't imagine the amazing(ly disgusting, gut renching, heart attack inducing) creations that the restored This is Why You're Fat contained for me. Go ahead, peruse, fall in love like I did, feel like throwing up, but then don't look away, because you can't, it's just too glorious. It's back!

Bouquet of Newly Sharpened Pencils

Today is an historic day. For the first time in 18 years, I did not have a first day of school. No first day of school outfit. No wondering what cute boys would be in my classes. No ten pages syllabus that made me break into cold sweats imagining those nights staying up til 4 am before a research paper was due. No more meeting up with friends on campus for lunch. My career as a student has finally come to an end. All day I kept thinking that maybe I could just go up to BYU anyways? Maybe grab a wrap in the Cougareat? Wander around the library? Take a nap on the grass? I was able to restrain myself today by running errands for my working-mom and planning dinner (how did I go from 0 to housewife so fast?) but I can't promise I won't be having a premature college-reunion later this week.

I thought I would share some memorable first days of school from my past.

1) 7th Grade: Every girl knows that the first day of school was the chance to wear your my stylish new outfit and show off to your friends just how much cooler you had gotten over the summer. This hairstyle reflected what I believed to be the pinnacle of cool 90's style. Behold.

Luckily my mom and brother's combined ridicule made me question myself enough to take it out and thus avoid being made fun of the entire year for my hair (I'm sure there were still plenty of other non-hair related reasons to make fun of me).

2) Freshman Year of High School: My high school, Millburn High School was nationally recognized for the terrible hazing that goes on. I was able to experience this first hand. All freshman girls had to wear a red shirt the first day of school so that the senior girls knew who to target, I like to draw a comparison to Spanish bull fighting here. We were passed out a list of rules we were to follow for the year... one of these rules was "Don't use such and such bathroom, waterfountain, row of gym lockers". Let's just say I used an off-limits bathroom on the first day of school. Big mistake. Those senior girls were mean! The movie Dazed and Confused was their inspiration, this clip should give you an idea:

Senior Mean Girls

3) Junior Year of High School: I decided that I need to do a little eyebrow grooming before the first day of school. Rather than just use tweezers or go to a salon and get them waxed... I decided I would try and wax them myself. Big Mistake. Huge. Luckily I have no pictures to show you.

Hope the rest of you had a great first day of school or had fun reminiscing like I did! In the words of You've Got Mail...

"Don't you love the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies.

I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils."

Real Life's A Trip Too

I've decided it's time for me to start using this blog more often, not just as a pseudo travel journal for myself and a way for my family to make sure that I haven't been stolen by human traffickers while I'm abroad. So start checking back from time to time and hopefully I'll have some funny stories to share. Love, Jess.