pure inspiration...

Andrew McMahon. This man is what makes my world go round. I must say, that his music truly inspires me beyond what any person can imagine. The heart and soul of his music affects me more than any person I know. He will never know what he has done for me in life, but hopefully one day I can really thank him.

I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing him perform with his band, Jack's Mannequin two nights ago at the Hat Factory in Richmond. I have never been so happy. The set was amazing and quite long. Catching up with some friends topped off the night for me. I would travel anywhere for him. Which brings me to my next piece of info... Something Corporate, Andrew's original band, is reuniting for a fall tour that I will be attending two night in a row in DC! August can not come soon enough! My friend Kristen and I are going to be spending 3 days and 2 nights up in our nations capital for the once in a lifetime experience. Hopefully I will get to hear some of the songs that helped shape me into the person I am today. Some personal favorites include...

(Me and Kristen at Jacks' Mannequin)
Ruthless- Off the North Album, this song can put me into one of the best moods no matter where I am or what I am doing. Seriously, it in an anthem for all relationships that you want to fight for.

Hurricane- Off of Leaving Through The Window, I cant help but absolutely go nuts when this song comes on. If anyone wants to hear me scream at the top of my lungs, put this on and cover your ears.

Wait- One of the most melodic and raw songs by him. This was the very first song I tried to learn on the guitar. Mind you, I did not learn it very well, but I tried anyways. The version of this song that he sings on the live at The Fillmore album is breathtaking.

Konstantine- No explanation needed.

These may seem pretty typical but to me they are some of the best. I will never be able to express to anyone how I really feel about his work. Anyhoos, some other great Jack's songs worth listening to are: Dark Blue, Kill the Messenger, MFEO/You Can Breathe Now, Swim, Caves.

Everyone go have a listen! What band in your life has this influence on you?

xo

"You don't do it on purpose but you make me shake, now I count the hours till you wake. With your baby's breath breathe symphonies. Come on sweet catastrophe..."
Hurricane

summer style...

As of late, I feel that my fashion selection has become minimalistic in the sense that I ALWAYS wear an American Apparel Deep V-neck shirt, skinny jeans, chunky jewelry and flats. Ask any of my friends and this is what you will see me in 95% of the time. I spice it up now and then, but generally this is all my wardrobe consists of.

I was recently browsing this site my friend Mark turned me onto called Lookbook! I have fallen in love all over with fashion and below are some of the following inspirations for what I am going to strive for my summer look to be. Along with my ever growing love of native american colors, fringe and garb, hopefully some of the following pieces will make it into my collection.


I will begin at the top. I can not express how much I would DIE to have my hair look like this! I have been growing it out for years and will continue to grow it until it gets to this length and then I will get it this color. Everything about this shouts beauty and to have the texture and waves in my hair that this girl has is wonderful!

Middle section. The light colors, matched with the hippie chic look of this girl makes for an airy, boho look that screams summer! Coupled with my love of chunky jewelry, and a lot of it, I will be on the lookout for flowey oversized shirt dresses and t's. Also notice the long hair again with headband look! WANT WANT WANT

Finish. Gladiator Wedges. Enough said!!! I think that these shoes could polish off any look! Jeans, shorts, skirts and dresses, these shoes are made to be worn all the time, and I must find a pair for me! The ones pictured above are perfect! Plus, this skirt and purse are too freaking cute! Jeffery Campbell come into my life with your entire collection of shoes! Thank you!

So, over the course of the summer, hopefully I will be able to say that some, or all, of these pieces have made it into my growing collection of fabric and looks! What is your inspiration for summer fashion?

xo

"We were the kings and queens of promise. We were the victims of ourselves. Maybe the children of a lesser god. Between heaven and hell."
-'Kings and Queens' by 30 Seconds to Mars

usa, usa, usa...

WORLD CUP is upon us and I could not be more excited! Today I watched the US men's team tie England in a 1-1 match. INSANE!!! Now I know it is kind of ironic, but to be honest, if the American's were to be knocked out in a round and England was still in, they would be the team I would root for. But since, the American's showed up and played, and we are still in this thing, I am USA all the way!

The new love of my life is the starting goalkeeper for the US, Tim Howard! First, he is an amazing keeper. Without him in goal today, the game would have been ugly and not in our favor. Second, he is pretty hot for 31! Deff a Billy Zane vibe with more athleticism! Delicious. Third, he plays for our home team! Geeze, how perfect!

Being a keeper myself, I know I am being bias but he is one of my favorites on the team! Who is yours?

xo

mermaids and cops...

The other week I had gone to a flying squirrels game with my family and some family friends. Danielle and Rich have a son who plays little league with my brother and we all rode in their car to watch some baseball. Some side notes to this story. Rich works for the county Sheriff's office and used to be the guy who would train all incoming new recruits to become Chesterfield County Police Officers. Since giving up his training duties, he has come across some hilarious stories, and the one he told coming home from the baseball game is priceless. It goes like this.

"Officer Brown recently started the new class of recruits for the police academy. They all came into orientation thinking it is going to be a walk in the park after the first day of no yelling and nothing but help when trying to get accustomed to police procedures. After they are issued their uniforms on the second day they get a rude awakening when all the fun and games are over. Hell and drill time start immediately. It is Officer Browns job to get up in the newbie's faces and yell and scream and whip them into shape. From day one, there was one girl who stood out as not being able to cut it as well as the rest of them. Freshly 21 with all the hopes in the world to become an officer, she was practically in tears after the first round of yelling was over. Lets call her Amy. After the first week of training, each new recruit is issued their police vehicles. All vehicles need to go through inspections from Officer Brown before being allowed to do anything with them. Apparenlty, Amy had not completed the inspection of her vehicle properly because Officer Brown went off on her again.

Officer Brown: "RECRUIT! HOW MANY YEARS OF MY LIFE HAVE YOU SPENT WANTING TO BECOME A POLICE OFFICER?"

Amy: "All my life SIR!"

Officer Brown: "AND EXACTLY HOW LONG HAS YOUR WHOLE LIFE BEEN?"

Amy: "Since I was 11 years old SIR!"

Officer Brown: "WELL I SUGGEST YOU GO BACK TO BEING WHATEVER IT IS YOU WANTED TO BE BEFORE YOU WANTED TO BE A POLICE OFFICER NEW RECRUIT."

(No answer)

Officer Brown: "AND WHAT EXACTLY IS IT THAT YOU WANTED TO BE BEFORE BECOMING A POLICE OFFICER?"

Amy: "I wanted to be a mermaid Sir!"

(You heard that right, a mermaid! At 11 years old)

Officer Brown: "A MERMAID!!! WHAT IN YOUR MIND MADE YOU WANT TO LOSE YOUR FINS AND PICK UP A GUN RECRUIT!?"


From this point on I am busting out uncontrollably in the car laughing at this most recent story from Rich. His delivery of the whole account was spot on and since then I have told sooo many people this situation. What is even funnier, is that Rich actually found a mermaid book in the dollar store to give to Officer Brown to relate more to his new recruits! What a riot this man is.

Anyways, thought I would share this little story with you all!
xo

"Let's leave these lives tonight, you can find us by the trail of our insides, they were left at the scene of the crime. We've tampered with evidence, finger prints were left behind..."
-Make a Run For It by Hit the Lights

it hurts so good...

I sincerely apologize for the lack of posting as of late. I promise that I come to this blog at least once a day with all intentions of writing a witty and note worthy post, but blank as soon as I hit 'New Post.' So after my friend Justin informed me of my absence, I figured I would throw something down onto the computer screen and hope it comes out ok.

This past weekend my friend Hannah was in town staying with me which made for some fun times. She got in Wednesday night and the weekend kicked off on hump day. We went out to see Sex in the City 2 with a bunch of gals from my work. (Side Note: When I go out to girls night, I don't like to wear my uniform from work because I feel very frumpy in a blue polo and khakis. So this particular day I ran home at lunch time to grab a change of clothes when all of a sudden someone is at my door ringing the bell. "Really?" I thought to myself. I only have 5 minutes before I have to get back to work and someone is wasting my time. Come to find out I needed to save my neighbor by helping get her car out of her garage because it was stuck on the automatic door when she backed out. Needless to say I was flustered and late getting back to work and did not have the best of ensembles for the oh so stylish evening... womp womp)

Thursday night my friends band, Jonas Sees In Color, was in town playing at Canal Club so we met up with MB and Mikey for dinner at Bottoms Up Pizza before hand. I have to state this: Their pizza is freaking delicious! Their drinks are wonderful too! I suggest the Topicolada! YUMMY! After dinner we went to the club and sadly there were only a handful of people there for the show. Either way, Hannah and I rocked out and it was good to see friends finally home from being on tour for so long.

My weekend festivities continued Friday night with a trip downtown with Hannah and Justin to Richmond's "First Friday's." This is an event that takes place on Broad Street, where local art galleries open their doors with new exhibitions for the month and street vendors and musicians all come out to have one GIANT block party. It was a blast walking around looking at artwork. I must say that in one of the galleries, I found an artist who seemed to be ripping off my beloved Robert Parke Harrison and his work. I tried to find him but he apparently was not at the exhibits opening so I plan on sending an email with inquiring questions about his work. We concluded the evening with drinks and food at Uno's because they have Happy Hour all day every day! Yeah, you heard me! Cheap drinks make for a very happy Jenn.

I woke up Saturday and went out to get pedicures with Hannah before my little brother's baseball game. I have to say that this was one of the best decisions of the weekend. I know that is a sad revelation, but I needed one real bad, and if anyone knows me, I hate feet in general so mine always have to be well kept and somewhat pretty. Anyhoos, bro's game was great minus the fact that it was a bajillion degrees and I got burnt sitting in the shade with SPF 50 on! Yeah, this is the girl who burns no matter what. So right now I have a lovely red triangle on my chest. Classy, let me tell ya. The afternoon carried on with shopping on Cary Street and a night out for my friend Deanna's Birthday! I hope everyone had a good time because I know all in all I did.

Bone picking time starts NOW: I love being able to go out with all of my friends in a night, and not have only a select few be able to join. It is so much better when everyone is together so this night in particular was awesome in that respect. However, the night was not awesome when my tab at the bar came to $20.50 for 2 drinks! WTF! I had a John Daley in a little glass. How on earth does that come to $10.25 a drink? I know Firefly Vodka is a little pricier, but really? I would not go back to The Fan House on this principle alone. Someone please explain this to me.

Today was relaxation day... or so I thought. Up until 9:30 tonight my day consisted of spending time with Dad and Christian and shopping. At 9:30 tonight I decided to start my P90X workout videos. That's right, for an hour all I worked on were my shoulders, arms and upper back muscles, which mind you are weak as shit to begin with. The only way I am typing this blog right now is that my hand were not effected in this process. I literally can not move from the neck to mid back. I failed half of it because along with day one shoulder exercises, I should have done the Ab Ripper X video as well. I got half way in and decided against it.

All in all it has been a very busy weekend but wonderful at the same time! This week I am going to work on getting together with Justin to start a video blog where we talk about random things and answer any questions anyone has for us. I think it will be a very fun experiment to start and keep up with! So, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or email me at jmontrose1@gmail.com, or check out Justins Blog!

xo

"Weekend warriors, and our best friends. The writers weren't kidding about how all good things must end. Then again some things, then again some things are far too good, some things are far too good to go ahead and let go..."
-"Down and Out" by The Academy Is

p.s.- I am going to set a goal of including more pictures of me and my adventures in the blog.