A healthy list of celebrity crushes

I like guys and read a healthy amount of celebrity magazines, so it's only natural that I have a long list of celebrity crushes. Some I'm very open about *cough John Krasinski cough* and some I need to put out there more. I can't let John think I'm just sitting around waiting for me.

(Note to John Krasinski: I'm totally ready to run off and marry you at any second. I just need to grab my purse. Call me)

So rather than focus on some recent family health issues, here is a list of my biggest celeb guy/girl crushes. Oh and for any man I date, it is totally okay for me to sleep with any of these guys. Consider it my "get out of jail free" card :)

John Krasinski

It can't be a huge shock that my uterus wants to give him LOTS of babies

Jon Hamm

Why yes Mr. Draper, I can come in your office to take a memo :)

Chris Pine

Beam me up Kirk! Rawr!

George Clooney

I just really want to say I slept with George Clooney. Timeless, just like Chanel

Ryan Reynolds

Boyish good looks in a chiseled man's body. Yes please!

Hugh Jackman

He can sing and dance. And likes women. Triple threat

If you notice, all of my guys picks are clean-cut, All-American guys. That shouldn't surprise anyone if you know me. I like 'em that way.

And now for the ladies....

Angelina Jolie

Gorgeous. Hands down. And her partner is really hot too

Isla Fisher

Love her hair. I wish my hair was that gorgeous

Leighton Meester

Preppy perfect and slept with Chuck Bass. Win, win

Reese Witherspoon

I love her look, style and man. I can't help that

Who are your celebrity crushes? Guy and girl choices can be shared.

Or does anyone have any big weekend plans?

Facebook makes me feel old

Once you set up a Facebook profile, you go through a variety of emotions:

• Acceptance, yes, you have a Facebook account now. You're not left out in the cold
• Shock, OMG friend requests from people I knew in high school and that guy I fooled around with for one night in college?
• Joy, yes! I am more successful, prettier, etc. than people who were mean to me in high school
• Stalker, hmmm John didn't call me back last night, let's check his Wall and see what he's been up to? Was he really "away from his phone?"
• Old

That's right, I said it. I'm at the stage where Facebook makes me feel old.

Sadly, I'm passed the shock and joy phase, I've moved through those emotions and have now settled on the "old" stage of Facebook. Of the many Facebook acceptance levels, I really hope "old" is the last one.

I hit this stage when I checked my e-mail a few weeks ago and received the following "friend" notification.

"Jessica, Grace [last name] has added you as a friend on Facebook."

Grace is my 13 year old goddaughter/cousin. Immediately I thought it was a joke, and that a pedophile was pretending to be my goddaughter so he could talk dirty to me on Facebook chat and spam me.

To my displeasure, I was wrong. It was my goddaughter trying to friend me.

Once I accepted her request, I checked out her profile. And let me say, the girl is gorgeous, which I already knew. Five foot seven inches tall and all legs (bitch).

I am about to leave a note on her Wall when suddenly I see her status as "in a relationship."

IN A RELATIONSHIP??? WTF did I miss? She's 13 and has a boyfriend??? If she has a boyfriend, have they been necking or god...touching???

To see if my worst fears were true, I lovingly wrote on her Wall, while having a near heart attack:

"You have a boyfriend?? How old is he? Did you run a background check? Does he have good credit? DOES YOUR FATHER KNOW??" (I know my Uncle wouldn't take too kindly to a boy around his pre-pubescent daughter).

And as I hit "send" I realized, OMG I sound just like MY parents.

That was a tough realization.

While cowering in the reality that I am just like my parents and that I said a "parent-like" thing to my goddaughter, I came into work the next day and got another friend request.

"Jessica, Hannah [insert last name] has added you as a friend on Facebook."

Sitting at my desk, blinking disbelievingly at my screen I muttered, "motherf*cker" because my other 13 year old cousin was now friending me on Facebook. Was this a conspiracy to drive me crazy?

So I check out her profile and see a picture of her weighed down my heavy eyeliner, blue eyeshadow and mascara along with several revealing outfits that are way too small for her. Let's just say this, bosoms were heaving.

And when I saw her status as "in a relationship" I thought for a minute before I wrote on her Wall. What would I say to her that wouldn't make me sound like a fuddy duddy? My goddaughter felt the wrath of my adult rage, would I make another one feel the same thing? Well, I do like my goddaughter more than this cousin, so maybe I don't have to worry.

After a few moments of thought, I wrote out quickly, "like your profile pic, just remember, don't hand out the milk for free."

And hit "send."

Has anyone else had friend requests on Facebook that make them panic or groan? Or who do you hope NEVER finds you on Facebook?

The joy of roommates

For me, picking a roommate is almost as important as picking a spouse or a pet. Why? Because you are inviting someone into your home and living with them in a casual, personal setting. This isn't like work where you can retreat to a cube or "punch out" at 5 p.m., oh no, this person is with you at night and first-thing in the morning. Oh and weekends!

I've only had a few roommates because I learned very early on that I do better living alone. I have a tendency to be territorial and like 15 minutes of quiet when I get home, where my Blackberry isn't buzzing, phone isn't ringing or people aren't saying my name. Having a roommate who is okay with "quiet time" and no talking right away is tough.

I bring this up because today, one of my co-workers was telling me about looking for a new apartment/roommates and hearing her talk about it, reminds me of an episode of the Bachelor.

First, how awesome would it be to have a roommate rose ceremony full of tears, self-doubt and drama?

In the city, having roommate is a common thing, but the process of picking one, from interviews, to applications to credit checks to waiting by the phone to hear if you're in, it's very reality show-inspired.

I guess we can say that the group dates and making out with multiple people are optional.

And along with hearing about the interview process, it made me really feel fortunate that my roommate experiences to date haven't been life-scarring awful. Sure, they haven't been great but not unmanageable.

I've had a roommate that told me to "burn in hell," on a regular basis, one that didn't like walking in on my boyfriend and me making out all the time so she would passive aggressively slam doors early in the morning and one that would chastise my cleaning skills verbally to anyone that would listen. So not awful but not fun either. That is exactly why I live alone.

What is your worst/best roommate experience?

Weekend recap: Back from Boston

Woo hoo, I'm back! I'm back in Chicago and it feels so good!!

So after my adventure in Vegas, I came back to Chicago, rested my legs for a day and then jumped on another plane, this time to Boston, aka Beantown. And now, I'm finally back in the Midwest to stay. I missed everyone!

And because I'm totally exhausted, digging through 200+ e-mails from work and preparing to get back in my routine, I thought I would recap this trip in a fun bulleted format.

My Boston trip in the numbers:

• Celeb sightings: Zero (I tried to stalk Ben and Jen but no luck!)

• Photos taken: 300+ (I know, I can't believe I took that many too!)

• Times I tripped on cobblestones: 8-10 (one hurt pretty bad)
  
  
• Length of my stay: 5 days, 4 nights (turns out the Boston Craigslist Killer struck at our hotel. We didn't know that ahead of time. Still, it was nice!)

• Total miles walked: Too many to count (helped me offset the beer consumption)

• Restaurants visited: 6 (some examples below)

• Times lost in the city: 2 (not bad!)

• Beers consumed by me at Fenway: 4 (fortunately, I didn't say anything inappropriate, but it did result in the below picture)
  
  
• Arms sunburned: 2 (both of mine are toasty red. Doh!)

• Gay pride parade run-ins: 1 (it was dad's first one, he was very excited)

• Women seen touching themselves pantless and underwearless on the street: 1 (that image is burned in my brain)

• Fresh seafood dinners: 4 (the lobster roll below was amazing. Like, I died and went to heaven it was so good)
  
  
• Pair of seersucker pants with embroidered pot leaves purchased: Zero (but it makes a great picture)
  
  
• Children I told to "back off" so I could sit on the duck statue: 4 (they wouldn't share!!!)

So that is a quick little recap of my trip. Photos are in the process of being uploaded to my Flickr page too.

Thank you again to all of my great guest bloggers and everyone for coming and commenting on their posts while I was gone.

Oh and here's a nice little picture of dad and me that was taken on our Harvard tour. I was going for the "bookish-cute" look in my coat and scarf. Thank you JCrew corduroy for keeping me warm!

How was everyone else's weekend? Do anything fun? Or see any good movies?

Guest post: Childhood summers

This guest post comes from Mandy at Just A Small Town Girl. Mandy is one of my favorite bloggers who writes the some of the most thoughtful and memorable posts in my Reader. I love her style and am thrilled that she's guest blogging for me! Enjoy!

The other evening while watching my cousins softball game (one of the three teams she is on this summer) I made the mistake of asking my grandma how another cousin was spending her summer. I should have known better. My grandmother went into a diatribe about how this 12 year old was spending the summer just hanging out, not doing anything in particular. Unbeknownst to me this is a very touchy subject. Heaven forbid a child not have every moment of her day planned out for her.Heaven forbid a kid be allowed to be a kid.

This conversation made me think about my own childhood.

My friends and I ran wild for three long, completely unstructured months. The whole town was our playground. My brother and I would leave the house in the morning and often not return home until dinner time. We rode our bikes from one end of town to the other and everywhere in between. My friends and I played kickball in the middle of the street, occasionally bouncing a ball off a parked car. When we tired of that we would go to the library or to the cemetery, where we made up stories about the lives of the people whose gravestones we casually lounged around on. Lunch was eaten at whatever friends house we happened to be at the time -- usually peanut butter and jelly or bologna and cheese. Every mother in the neighborhood always had an endless supply of either with a loaf or two of bread made from the local bakery.

Our imaginations ran as wild as we did. We went on safari's trudging though overgrown grass and bushes of vacant houses. We were tightrope walkers gingerly walking along the high wall on the backside of the elementary school. Sometimes we hung out on the walkway over the state route , overlooking the football stadium watching the high school boys practice plays and whatnot for the upcoming season. Sometimes we would ride our bikes uptown to the Newstand, which didn't sell newspapers or magazines but rather had the best chocolate peanut butter ice cream around. After ambling home and hastily scarfing down dinner, we would find our friends again playing kick the can in uneven alleys until the street lights came on. After the street lights came on we usually scattered about going back to our respective homes. Sometimes a few friends and I would sit out on a deck or front porch with citronella candles that never quite kept the bugs away.

I loved having the days to do whatever I wanted. No one thought there was anything wrong with just doing as we wanted, going from here or there. We didn't have music lessons or traveling sports teams. Most parents worked and we kids survived just fine. We defined the lazy days of summer. We were just kids, and it suited us just fine.

How did you spend your summers as a child?

Guest post: Non-Bachelorette material

This hilarious post comes from Alexa at Cleveland's a Plum. And I have to say, ITA with her below that I could never be a reality TV star.

for many years i didn’t watch any of the seasons of the bachelor or the bachlorette because let’s be honest, it’s cliché as hell.

but for whatever reason my roommate and i really got into the last bachelor season with jason, melissa, holly and the second runner up jillian.

jillian is truthfully why we are watching this season’s bachelorette at all – we love her. the dreamy bachelor’s vying for her attention don’t hurt either (i’m looking at your ed and reid).

but after watching week after week I have decided that as much as I love the show i could never (EVER) be the bachelorette for a few specific reasons:

1. no one needs to make out that much with that many people. just image what would happen if there was a mono outbreak!

believe you me, i’ve been known to be quite the make out bandit in my hay day but having random lizard tongues flicking me at every turn would be a bit much

2. knowing that my family and friends would be watching me make out that much

the fact that at times I have to cover my eyes because i can’t watch the awkwardness of the smoochy boochy pillow talk and it’s people i don’t even know, i can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like for people that know me in real life

3. getting fed constant bullshit

there’s no possible way that every single one of those guys are falling in love with her, it’s bull caca. watching some of the contestants is like watching a slimy salesman selling themselves for sloppy kisses. (except for ed and reid, they can do no wrong)

4. “i think i’m falling in love with you”, “no i love you more”, “i never thought i could fall in love this fast”, “i don’t normally have feelings like this”

when i hear those phrases all that comes through is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. i think there should be a drinking game associated with the bachelor and bachelorette that when any of those lines are uttered you have drink

and yet, I still watch – every. single. episode.

maybe i’m jaded, maybe i’m turning into a bitter old spinster, but i just don’t think i could be the bachelorette. that and the fact that the idea of me frolicking around a sausage fest in a bikini is something that no one deserves to see.

so what do you think - could you put yourself out there and be the bachelorette (or bachelor)? what about even just being a contestant?

Guest post: Guilty blog fodder

Why hello there everyone, it's Katelin here from gorgeous footsteps in the sand... and for

some reason Jessica let me take over her blog today. Really, I don't know what she was thinking, haha. But anyhoo, moving on.

So recently (aka today's post) I said there were some things that I would not write about on my blog anymore, but that doesn't mean I can't blog about them over here!! :)

Heidi and Spencer. Oh my gosh. They are probably the most annoying people out there right now, but also the smartest. Everywhere they go they make a spectacle of themselves and some media outlet picks them up! Ah. It's a vicious cycle! I can't stop reading all the craziness of their TV show adventures (even though I refuse to watch that ridiculousness) and their newest endeavors like selling shampoo. Seriously, gaaaaaaaaah. When will the madness stop.

Octo-mom. Now it's been a while since I've talked about this crazy lady but with talks of her getting a TV show and saying crap about Kate Gosselin, yeah I'm going to try and avoid her like the plague.
The Gosselin drama. I haven't really talked too much about the family drama on my blog but it's almost getting hard not too. Every episode has been awkward and the family is taking over every tabloid like wo. But from here on out I'll avoid the drama talk and just stick to the cuteness of the kids and the show.

Twilight. Yeah right. I can't stop. It's like an addiction. Anything Twilight I have to read it! I cannot wait for the new movie to come out and I'll probably reread the series again and pictures of Rob Pattinson make me swoon and ummm I'll just keep being a spokesperson.

So is there anything you want to stop blogging about but can't? Or am I alone in my habits, haha?