Finding Jessica

trying to reach that essential plateau of hopeless wonderment associated with achieving the ultimate inspiration...

 This year I got to go to the NC State fair 3 times!!! So Sweet...the fried Snickers bars, the candy apples, the hot dogs smothered in everything and ferris wheels and tummy-twisting rides...I'm just sad its over and can't wait until next year's! Here are a couple (thousand) shots of the fun.


A beautiful sky as we enter the fair.


 I'm just a girl in the crowd...brrr!



A classic ride, the swings! I loved this one at the Pitt County Fair when I was little.


My first prize of the year! A giant pamper and pacifier-weilding gorilla. Thanks Herman for your AMAZING dart-throwing skills.


Adell and Brandon...what she's doing I have no idea.


Me and Herman and baby Gorilla. Its a girl.


So cute! Don't you love when you get to have FIRST DATE PICTURES!!!


Hungry hungry Herman! Go giant turkey legs!


His baby turkey...before its death.


So sweet...


I think I'm hungry...


Poor turkey...


I'm about to murder my FRIED PICKLES!!!!


I'M WINNING I'M WINNING I'M WINNING!!!!


I WON!!!


CHEEZE!




Awesome ride and Herman blocking the view. ;-)


Weird Ferris Wheel...I never saw one with the seats like little round buckets for four people.


First date pic!


I'm cute. He looks confused.


Nice view.


There we go! See Mr. Wuf? (Go Pack!)




This would be the one water ride at the fair...at which you get DRENCHED and people were letting their CHILDREN get on that ride when it was BELOW 45 DEGREES and windy and nighttime!!! ?!?!?!?!?!?!?


I think there's an alien worm taking over his face...


The ride PHAROH'S FURY, which the announcer kept calling "Furor's fury"


My three prize babies. Gorilla, Mr. Wuf, and the baby Wolf.


Awesome.


 The fireworks!



 FIN.

Was a great time, rode absolutely everything that could toss your tummy and ate things I will regret until I hit the gym (someday). Nos vemos next year!






koonzite koonzite!

(small jungle animal having sex)

(as told by my roomie)

jaina. the last time I opened your legs
I saw the end of the world for a second

-------
by Guillermo Gómez-Peña

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OMG does anyone want to shed light on this?!

I found this *here* on another site

 

The “dynamic duo” of teeth whitening

Next I did what I should have done right off the bat and followed the dentists’ recommendation. I had wanted to all along, but I’m not a rich woman and didn’t think I could afford it. But after looking around online, my son helped me find a few special offers where you could try the product by only paying a few dollars for shipping. That allowed me to get two different products–completely free! :). My idea was that I’d just use one first and once I ran out I’d switch to the other, and that’s exactly what I did. The results were good with the first product alone, but what I hadn’t expected was that when I followed it with the second, I noticed improvements in parts of my teeth that the other product hadn’t affected, or had only slightly improved. Like I said, I’m no doctor or medical expert, but it appears that each of the separate products focus on DIFFERENT parts of the problem, or that the second one just gave the whitening enough of a “boost” that it finished the job! By using them both in a row I was able to get even better results, and because they both had trials I was able to do the whole thing by just paying a few dollars in shipping charges. By using TWO trials, I effectively got a super whitening that was even better than either them would have been on its own. I am absolutely blown away by the results. For years I was afraid to smile for fear of showing my yellow teeth - now, I’m regularly getting compliments on how great my teeth are, and I smile all the time :) . I’m happy to have a chance to share the secret - after all, it was really pretty simple to do. The trick is just to combine two trials. There are still trials available for the following two products (at least there were when I wrote this!).

Step 1: Smile White  

http://myteethtrick.com/go/smilewhite.php

Smile Whites is the first product in the two product dynamic duo. I found a “promo code” for this offer that reduces the shipping cost for the trial down to just $0.99. Make sure that on the second page of the checkout you enter "Save" (without the quotation marks) in the promo code box. This will lower the shipping to $0.99 and saves a few extra bucks. The trial is still available Sunday, October 18, 2009 and last I checked the promo code was working!

Smile Whites Helps With:

  • General Yellowing of the Teeth
  • Aging Stains
  • Coffee/Wine Stains
  • Smoking Stains (my problem)
  • Genetic Stains
You can get a trial by clicking this link: Smile Whites

Step 2: Denta White

http://myteethtrick.com/go/dentawhite.php

Denta White is the “second ingredient” in the white smile recipe–it basically fills in the spots the Smile Whites misses and adds to the overall whiteness. Again, after some digging I was able to find a another promo code online (this one reduces shipping down to $0.99). Using the promo codes along with the trials is the key to doing the whole whitening without spending a bunch of money. When you're checking out on this one, make sure to put "whitesmile" (without the quotation marks) in to the promo code box on the same page where you enter your credit card information. Your shipping charge should go down to $0.99. Last I checked it was still working.

Denta White helps:

  • Whiten the areas the Smile Whites doesn’t hit.
  • Reinforce and complete the general improvement.
  • Complete the whitening using just trials to save money.
The trick is using two trial products TOGETHER that compliment each other to give yourself a whitening that’s better than you ever could have expected. Pictures speak better than words, and looking at the change always makes me smile, so I’ll end with my improvement again.
You can get a trial by clicking this link: Denta White

        Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces dos olas
y la noche es océano.

        Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces dos piedras
y la noche desierto.

        Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces raíces
en la noche enlazadas.

        Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son a veces navajas
y la noche relámpago.

        Dos cuerpos frente a frente
son dos astros que caen
en un cielo vacío.

SO. in case I made the same mistake here as in FACEBOOK, the LIGHT THE NIGHT  walk in Durham is NEXT  thursday, the 22nd of october, instead of this thursday, the 15th...which bites, because now I can't go b/c its the designated day mommy is coming (yay!) to go with me to the NORTH CAROLINA STATE FAIR!!! (totally the best in like, the country) entonces, me voy con mi madre a la fiesta del estado en vez de este fundraiser walk, but my thoughts and my $$$dinero$$$ will be with Kendra, Kayla (her daughter) and Miguel (the dearly departed).

on a lighter note, here is a poem I encountered in my senior seminar class for spanish that I really like from Gloria Anzaldua's book Borderlands/La Frontera/The New Mestiza:

To live in the Borderlands means you

    are neither hispana india negra espanola 
    ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed
    caught in the crossfire between camps
   while carrying all five races on your back
   not knowing which side to turn to, run from;

To live in the Borderlands mean knowing
   that the india in you, betrayed for 500 years,
   is no longer speaking to you,
   that mexicanas call you rajetas,
   that denying the Anglo inside you
   is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black;

Cuando vives en la frontera
    people walk through you, the wind steals your voice,
    you're a burra, buey, scapegoat,
   forerunner of a new race,
   half and half-both woman and man, neither-
   a new gender;

To live in the Borderlands means to
   put chile in the borscht,
   eat whole wheat tortillas,
   speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent;
   be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints;

Living in the Borderlands mean you fight hard to
   resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle,
   the pull of the gun barrel,
   the rope crushing the hollow of your throat;

In the Borderlands
   you are the battleground,
   where enemies are kin to each other;
   you are at home, a stranger,
   the border disputes have been settled
   the volley of shots have shattered the truce
   you are wounded, lost in action
   dead, fighting back;

To live in the Borderlands means
    the mill with the razor white teeth wants to shred off
    your olive-red skin, crush out the kernel, your heart
    pound you pinch you roll you out
    smelling like white bread but dead;

To survive the Borderlands
    you must live sin fronteras
    be a crossroads.

------------ 

gabacha- a Chicano term for a white woman
rajetas- literally "split", that is, having betrayed your word
burra- donkey
buey- oxen
sin fronteras-  without borders

http://pages.lightthenight.org/nce/Durham09/JChaplin

Join Our Light the Night Walk Team and support Kendra and Miguel!

 

 (THIS IS FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS TO HELP!!!)

For those of you who know Kendra Leonard, please help us honor her late husband.  Kendra has been an integral part of Banana Republic and raising money for the LLS.  Through Banana Republic sponsored fashion shows she has helped raise over $10,000 in the past year.  We would now like to raise $5000 in her name in memory of Miguel.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/nce/Durham09/BananaRepublic <https://webmail.gap.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://pages.lightthenight.org/nce/Durham09/BananaRepublic>

We're forming a team for Light The Night Walk in memory of Kendra's late husband Miguel and we hope you'll join us.  Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's evening walk and fundraising event.  It is the nation's night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and to commemorate loved ones lost.  If you are unable to join our team please help raise donations for our team.  We are trying to raise $5000, the amount equal to what we would raise with a fashion show.  We will then take pictures and present Kendra a plaque with pictures and the donations we raised in honor of Miguel.  Please help!

By joining our team and raising funds for this important cause, you'll be making a real impact on the fight against cancer.  On Walk night, you'll join us with other teams and individuals from all over our community in the culmination of our efforts to find cures.  Walk night is a family-oriented evening in which participants carry illuminated balloons, raise awareness of blood cancers and come together as a caring community.

We all know someone who has been affected by cancer.  Please join the team and "walk the talk."

To join the team or make a donation please go to:

http://www.lightthenight.org/register/reg/#action=join_team;teamName=BananaRepublic;teamID=160274;eventName=Durham%202009;eventLocation=American%20Tobacco%20Campus;eventDate=10/22/09

Thank you,

Tara Konya and Banana Republic



By the way, it is not ok (for me) to get an engagement ring that isn't all diamonds and prettiness...fake or "synthetic" just can't cut it...literally. They're a great way to find new ideas on rings though! I wonder how much custom rings are....craziness, no one listen to me, this is the random rambling of an almost-college-grad....


Soooo....why does a girl's taste in engagement rings change? Maturity? Changing perspectives? Well, mine has, and here are a few beauties that I would love to own one day...not ALL of them, of course! I, as a classic country lady, would prefer to only be married once...unless he ate that piece of pie...hehehe....lol...(size approx. 5.75-6!!!!)

A beautiful halo cut...








I know, I generally HATE yellow gold, but something about this gorgeous, 1.5 center carat, hand-engraved combination...
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Another halo style...








This one is sooo gorgeous, really unique, close second to the one above.
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Nice antique inspired....






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Another nice one...appears to also be antique inspired


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Okokokokok!!!! I could drive myself CRAZY doing this, what girl couldn't?! But these are good choices, no?

*I would like to have everyone that reads this send a prayer to god for my former manager Kendra and her newly departed husband, Miguel.*

Miguel has been battling lukemia for a number of years, since before they were married, and Kendra has strongly stood by him every day through it. Through the trial medicines and spending months apart, through the infection scares and pain flares, she has always been a loving wife while being the best manager I ever had every shift along the way.

Miguel, there are so many that will miss you and that love you, and you are in our hearts and minds. We'll keep fighting for the cure.

-----------------------------------

This coming thursday, October 15th, there will be a Light the Night walk in Durham, NC. For anyone that would like to join the Banana Republic (my job and Kendra's) team or just to donate to the (lukemia research) cause, more details and a website/like coming ASAP.

Sooo...besides meeting/helping Lee today (Boy Meets World-the best friend) I also discovered he graduated from J.H. Rose High in 2000! Then went to Wake Forest!
 ***
Soooo...thanks to a shabby memory I had to look up exactly who this kid was...




(found this pic somewhere online)

Dude, MINKUS, the annoying yet cute as a button kid that Cory and his friends always picked on!!! Ran from 93-2000, awesome stuff....ironically the cast was in college at this point and this is the year (I believe) he actually graduated from MY HIGH SCHOOL!!!Craziness...

Where are my fans from?