a nice break...

these are some cute quotes from a book i have that is full of letters to God from little kids. these are my favorites. =)

Dear God,
If we come back as something, please don't let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her.
Denise

Dear God,
We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday School they said you did it. So I bet he stoled your idea.
Sincerely, Donna

Dear God,
I read the Bible. What does begat mean? Nobody will tell me.
Love,
Alison

Dear God,
Did you mean for a giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?
Norma

Dear God,
I am American. What are you?
Robert

Dear God,
Thank you for my baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
Joyce

Dear God,
Please send me a pony. I never ask for anything before. You can look it up.
Bruce

Dear God,
Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother.
Larry

Dear God,
Of all the guys that work for you, I like Peter and John the best.
Rob

Anyways, that is all! I thought those were pretty darn cute... Have a good day!
Love,
Jessica

happiest summer life!

hello all! i just wanted to let you all know how exciting my life is! ok, so this week is boring... but on saturday i go to newport beach with my family, which is obviously way fun. and guess what??? when i get back i am going to take a cake decorating class! i signed up today! i am so excited! now i can put my fascination with cute cupcakes and cakes to use! hooray!!! wish me luck! i will let you know how my creations go... =)
have a great day!

my plans...

hello all! i just want to update you on what is going on next semester! if you don't already know, i am so excited for every part of it. it will be my first semester of all elementary education classes. i am taking dance, drama, ballet, children's literature, math education, art, & PE (you can see why this is the arts semester). i am SO excited for school. i am also excited to live south of campus! it's going to be great in a new, nice apartment without mold on the walls and gnats under the sink! YAY ME! did you know the duck pond is south of campus? well now you do! i want to adopt a duck. i will name it and feed it. it will be great. =) that is mostly all... just wanted to let you know what i will be up to! life is grand!

my favorites

hello all! i am going to make a list of all of my favorite things right now... smells, actual things, tastes, anything! i figure it could be a fun time. so yep, i will try!
-the beach boys
-having a clean room
-playing sims 2
-having a job that isn't every week
-looking at delia's magazines
-watching paris hilton's my new bff (it's classy)
-watching my gossip girl dvds
-planning cute outfits
-finding old songs that i love
-harry potter!
-making giant cupcakes
-thinking about school next year
-dancing whenever i can
-filling out my planner
-finding old pictures from high school
-little orange kitties in my backyard
-making friendship bracelets
-bathing suits
-music boxes (preferably the ones where you can see the little machine)
-my long lost liberache dinosaur
-apocolypse the mexican porcupine
-coloring books

the end. even though i can still go on forever, i think those are my tops for right now. =) happy life! loves.

some qualities inherited

hello all,

i am just letting you know that today i am cleaning my room. actually, cleaning doesn't really describe it. it is more like eliminating my room. (thank you kseniya for your amazing russian friend-- "i will eliminate you...") who knew that i was the BEST pack rat that ever was. i mean, i knew i kept everything, but i had no idea that i kept EVERYTHING. old letters, ancient magazines, girls camp song books, tic tacs from mexico, and of course my multiple tins and boxes that have yet to come in handy. everything in my room has sentimental value, you see, so it's not my fault! really!

point being, i have inherited some qualities. i am not a completely organized like my mom and i keep everything like my grandma. this is probably why i wasn't allowed to go to my grandma's house with my brother to clean out her garage-- grandma and i would have teamed up against my brother to save her stuff. and good stuff too...

much love. jessica

dirty nacho pants, crazy irish people, & the hannah montana movie

hello all! today's blog should be pretty short and sweet... considering it is all about me flying about 4 billion miles. ok, not really, but it was a really long day. so today we got up really early to fly from paris to london. the flight didn't take long at all, but then we had to fly from london to san francisco. unfortunately, that took long. =( we were on the plane for almost 11 hours, and it was SO boring. also, i wasn't supposed to sleep so i could go straight to bed when i got home, which made it seem even longer! the people on the plane with us were all crazy irish doctors coming to some meeting thing in san francisco. they kept spraying perfume on the plane and it was way too overwhelming. anyways, i watched almost all of the tv shows on the flight, and i also watched a few movies! one of these movies was the hannah montana movie, quite the delight. i loved 17 again! you should definitely see it. i got home, and i was totally car sick... and i am just glad to be back on solid ground again! oh man!!! the trip was amazing though, and i miss all of our adventures. i am so lucky that i got to go at all! =D thanks mom and dad!

claustraphobia, sewer tours, & es cargot

bon jour! ah, today... what a day. we started off with some delicious breakfast at about 8:30- it was way nice to sleep in. i sure am going to miss those amazing pastries with chocolate in the middle. ah, heaven. after breakfast, we headed off towards the eiffel tower so we could climb most of it! we got there, waited in line... and started the climb. i am slightly scared of heights, but it wasn't too bad. i just buckled down and went up. =) we went up about half-way (500 feet about), and then we were supposed to take an elevator up to the third level. talk about scarring... in paris there is no air conditioning, and there is no way around the fact that i am completely claustrophobic. of course i wanted to go up, and i felt like i was going to hyperventilate right before we got on, but i just got on anyways. they packed everyone into the wussiest small elevator that was stinkin' hot... and made creaky noises. not to mention the idiot lady who obviously was ms. captain-obvious who let us all know that it was really hot, and too high up. DUH LADY. we know that it's the freakiest thing ever. so yeah, i cried. the end. it was horrifying, and i am glad that's over. but i survived and i got a strawberry ice cream for my valiant efforts. haha. after the eiffel tower, we started walking towards another art museum. my uncle steve told my mom that the paris sewer tour was really cool. (yeah.) anyways, we went on the sewer tour. i figured it might be cool, seeing where ratatouille was from and all that. yeah, there was all of ratatouille's fearsome, foul, & freaky cousins were down there. AND it smelled like filth. PURE FILTH. i literally walked over a river of poop. literally. it was disgusting and i am pretty sure i have the black lung. after about fifteen seconds of me plugging my nose, i started telling my family i had to get out. so i did... i ran and screamed and plugged my nose. needless to say, we finished our "tour" of poop that was supposed to last for 45 minutes in about 10. we spent more time in the poop-land gift shop looking at the (i kid you not) rat hand puppets. awesome. so after i gagged a million times, we got above to the "fresh" air. we sat on the grass and just chilled for a while. then we went to a classier museum, and saw all of the degas paintings of ballerinas that i wanted to see yesterday. it was way fun, and i got three mini poster things to hang up in my room next year. =) they're pretty. fun fun fun. after that, we aimed to go back to the hotel for a break. we got caught up by crepes. uh, holy delicious! crepes are amazing! i got a chocolate and banana crepe! the process of ordering them was slightly difficult since the man didn't understand us. but hey, we got them in the end. and eventually we made it back to the hotel for our break. later that night, we went to this artsy part of town for dinner. we rode the metro (without getting lost), and went to this amazingly delicious and adorable restaurant. i had es cargot!!! really! and it was super good! i also had salmon and this raspberry dessert. after our long dinner, we came back to the hotel, and here i am! last day of our vacation!!! =( i am sad to leave. i like this life better. =( i'll write more tomorrow and upload these last pictures! good night!

mona lisa, plastic, & blindness from gold

GET THAT CORN OUTTA MY FACE.













bon jour!!! this morning we woke up to our wake up call... oh wait... it was 30 minutes late! haha... woops on their part! anyways, we scrambled and got ready in time for our perfect tour of versailles!!! i fell asleep on the bus again, that seems to be the trend for me on this trip. we got to versailles just before nine o'clock. it was perfect weather, and there weren't very many people yet. happy day for us! we got these snazzy little ear piece things and we could listen to our tour guide. it was grand. anyways, we went all through versailles. it is so amazing. there is gold everywhere, and it is literally blinding. i needed my sunglasses a lot. i loved the hall of mirrors. finally today my humanities class helped me out a bit. the picture in my book just didn't do it justice at all. i saw marie antionette's bedroom and it is so gaudy, but really amazing. the windows all faced the gardens that are so cool. the designs are amazing from above. i will load some of the pictures on here. =) after versailles, we got back on the bus and drove to the louvre. AMAZING! it is huge! our guide said that if we walked through the whole louvre and spent one minute looking at each piece, we would finish in four months. i don't know if he was kidding, but it seems true to me. i saw a bunch of the paintings from my class, and i saw the mona lisa!!! woohoo! it was pretty far away and there were a million people... and there was glass in front of it. but hey, i can say that i saw the mona lisa! that's pretty legit! we wandered through most of the french artwork, and we skimmed the rest. i mostly wanted to see the ballet paintings by degas, but they weren't in the louvre. =( i guess they are in a museum that we are seeing tomorrow, so that's good! i feel very cultured now. haha. after the louvre, we wandered pretty much all of paris looking for this ballet store i saw on our way into paris. the window had a huge pile of pointe shoes, and it was really cool. unfortunately, we couldn't find it. =( after that little adventure, we walked towards the arc du triumph (spelling... again, sorry). we ate dinner at a cute little sidewalk cafe, and i had bruchetta! yummy!!! in the process of this whole walking day, i literally felt like my feet were going to fall off. seriously, they hurt so bad. my ankles are still swollen. i am a wuss i reckon. haha. we got to the arc, and we got to climb up to the top!!! after a long climb, we finally made it (triumph, ha). the view was BEAUTIFUL! you could see all of paris. everything, the eiffel tower, notre dame, the louvre, the river... it was great. i took a landscape picture that looks pretty cool. i also got a really cute tin with caramels in it, and it has the eiffel tower on the front... definitely my kind of little box. haha. anyways, after the arc du triumph, we took the metro (way scary considering i don't speak french), and went back to our hotel! we didn't even get lost (hardly...). =) now we are back for the night, and i get to sleep in until 8. you have no idea how happy this makes me. =D haha.
good night! sleep well!!!

french, creepy gargoyles, & the eiffel tower

hello! i am in france!!! it is so amazing! this morning we got up and went to breakfast, and then went to king's cross (true story) and pretty much went to hogwarts. ok, not really about the hogwarts part, but we really went to platform nine. you know what platform that is next to? yes, platform nine and three-quarters. probably the best day of my life. =) after that, we got on the eurostar (a pretty sweet train that goes under the english channel to france)! it was a good time, the french countryside is beautiful, and we kind of drove through a bit of the ghetto. that was interesting... once we got off the train, we all loaded on a bus headed on our first tour of paris. talk about the hugest most confusing city ever! it is beautiful and amazing, but SO HUGE! i am pretty sure i will be lost the whole time. i saw the eiffel tower, notre dame, arc du triumph (spelling?)... the whole deal. i obviously don't remember the spellings of stuff, and i definitely can't pronounce it, but it was fun seeing the stuff that i learned about in my humanities and european history class. =) after our brief bus tour, we went to our fabulous hotel. a) i have internet b) the toilet flushes better c) the beds are from heaven and d) it looks way more legit. i am quite excited about being here for the next few days. at around five o'clock we went on part two of our day tour, and headed towards notre dame! you know notre dame, the crazy place with esmerelda, talking gargoyles, and other creepy things! ok, that's a lie. there are no gypsies (i was slightly sad). there are WAY creepy gargoyles though. they are like springing from the roof and walls. way sketchy. some of them are even eating people. not exactly a charming place of worship. the stained glass is beautiful though... i tried to take a picture and it just doesn't even do anything justice. no pictures do any part of europe justice... really. of course, right before we went to notre dame we had dinner at a posh little french cafe. i ordered yummy pasta with pesto and tomatoes... true love with the food here. that is for sure. =) after notre dame, we got back on the bus and headed toward the river. we then got on a boat and took a river tour of france! it was so fun, and the breeze felt amazing compared to the rest of our humid day. we saw all of the buildings and stuff from the river... definitely a new perspective! france is so cute... everyone eats on the lawn and stuff right by the river. it's great. and i am definitely jealous of all of them. after our boat tour, we went to the eiffel tower again. by this time, it was about 10:00 at night and the sun was just about gone. they turned on all of the lights on the tower, and then they turned on the flashing lights! the eiffel tower sparkled! REALLY! it was so great! i took lots and lots of fun pictures, so i will load those asap. france is beautiful, and definitely amazing at night. i can't wait for tomorrow... because we are going to versailles and the louvre! SO GREAT! so i will let you guys know how that goes tomorrow! bon nuit!

windsor castle, the roman baths, & stonehenge

new pictures!!!
















more pics to come! look below... i uploaded the other blog & pictures. =)





hello all! today was such a long, but great day! we got up really early to have breakfast, and then we went on a tour to places right outside of london. i honestly don't know what happened, or what the tour guide said for about 45 minutes while we were driving to windsor castle... i fell asleep while we were still in london. first off, did you know the queen still lives in windsor castle? she goes there when she isn't living in her other houses/castles. haha. it was so beautiful! i feel like i keep saying everything is beautiful, but it really is! we went in all of the big rooms, saw all of the crests of every knight since pretty much forever... and we even saw queen mary's doll house. it's a miniature doll house that has real working things, like a vacuum cleaner that really vacuums, running water, and even a sewing machine! all of the pictures were real paintings, everything was so cool. it reminded me of this american girl toy that i pretty much worshiped when i was little. anyways, it was very cool. right outside of windsor castle, we got ice cream and took pictures by the crooked building. it is so slanted! i couldn't believe it... after that, we ate a sandwich on the bus and headed towards the roman baths. Bath is a town with ancient roman baths that the people back then thought would cure any of their problems. the baths are the only hot springs in the uk, and it's mineral water. we drank some for 50 pence, and it was so disgusting. haha, and i don't feel cured of any illnesses. so, i dunno. we will see if it works later i guess. haha. also, i made a wish with a quarter, so i bet it will come true. =) i also so koryl from my freshman year floor! haha! so random to see someone in bath, england! after bath, we went to stonehenge! stonehenge was really in really pretty countryside. it was interesting learning about all about the different theories of how stonehenge came to be. i am not going to lie, the burial mounds all around stonehenge--- totally creepy. basically they just piled people up and put dirt on top of them, and now there are just like lumps all over the countryside. so, yeah... creepy. but i took this black & white & blue picture of it. you like? i think it looks kinda cool. we then drove back to london for about 2 hours. it was a long drive, but a really cool day. definitely worth it in my mind. when we got back into london, we went to harrod's (the department store). it was SO HUGE! all of the clothes were SO expensive. there were shoes that you weren't allowed to touch. there was also a giant cupcake, and i decided i want a cupcake cake pan. yeah? won't that be so cool??? i also decided i want to dress really posh from now on. everyone here dresses really cool. on the way back to the hotel, we stopped at pizza hut! it tasted better here... the crust was better. i dunno, i liked it though... now we are back in the hotel, and i am packing up for FRANCE tomorrow! we leave super early... and i am SO EXCITED! so i had better go to bed! love you all! good night!

lion hair, richard the lion hearted, and the lion king

yes. there definitely is a theme for the day, and that theme is lions! so this morning i woke up to beast hair, and it was absolutely uncontrollable. so, excuse my hair in these pictures, i have to work with what i've got. =)

so today was a perfect day. we started taking the bus to go to the tower of london. however, we quickly learned that our bus passes expired and we had to get off the bus. but because life is just so good, we stopped at an h&m. what is a girl to do? of course we had to go in... and of course we had to buy things. man, do i love that store. i got a few new clips, and some cute clothes too. i didn't get too much because it's really expensive here. i am definitely not into that. after we ruined my dad and brother's lives and h&m, we continued on our way to the tower of london. we had to take the tube (subway), and i really hated it because i thought i was going to suffocate. there are like a million people, plus it was like 90 degrees, AND underground. but we survived, and we made it to the tower of london. i was expecting a tower. NOT a castle, and it was definitely a castle. it was amazing! we went on a tour with a sassy british man that joked about killing bambi. he was quite entertaining. we also learned all about henry VIII and his 50 million wives. did you know he had one wife, had her beheaded... and married a new one in THIRTEEN DAYS!?!? uh-mazing. after we went on the tour, we saw the crown jewels. they are SO beautiful! also, amazing. i wasn't allowed to take pictures or anything, but i can tell you that every crown and every piece of jewelry since the entire history of england is beautiful. after that we saw stuff from henry VIII, like his armor. everyone is fascinated by how fat and tall he is, but his armor isn't that big. i dunno... maybe it really is and i just don't know. after we did that, we walked around the castle for a bit and took some pictures. we also walked over to the tower bridge. i think that i have been confusing this bridge with the tower of london for my whole life. it turns out that the tower bridge is cool, and the london bridge is not. i was sad, and i think fergie wouldn't be proud. the london bridge was just a road. i dunno, kinda disappointing. after the london bridge, we went to saint paul's cathedral. all of the churches here are fantastic. the ceilings are so high and detailed, and the paintings are amazing. it really is breathtaking, and i can't imagine how long it took for them to do all of that. after that we went home and got all ready for our broadway adventure...

we got to the theater, by taxi of course =), and i saw a broadway musical for the third time, the lion king! it was so good! the costumes were so detailed, and the actors were amazing. they would move just like animals, i was so impressed. i loved the song can you feel the love tonight (despite some awkwardness). nala's voice pretty much rocked.

that pretty much sums up my day! it was amazing! i am so in love with london! why do i even live in the united states??? haha