Finally- I have a Friday off!

Good morning and happy Friday!

It's a beautiful day here in Ohio

This is the first Friday in weeks that i'm not scheduled to work (cake decorating at Kroger).

I'm not sure how or why i have the day off - but I'm not complaining! My hands have been killing me.

The problems I'm having with my big ol hands is due to the fact that I use them for everything while at work - throughout my entire 6-8 hour shifts I'm constantly squeezing an icing bag. Ouch.

I need to hire a handsome professional hand masseuse named Javier.

Breakfast this morning....

Grilled peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich. Yummmmm!!

(Recipe can be found at this old post from February)

Got a case of the Monday's?

Yesterday I went to my friend Kim's house to hang out...

(I was clearly stoked beyond belief about watching one of the many movies I brought lol)

Kim, my new friend Kirstie, and I had stereotypical girl talk including boys, hair, and in my case, food. We picked up dinner from 'Panera Bread' and watched two of my favorite classic movies ever (which neither Kierstie nor Kim have ever seen....bunch of weirdos I tell you!)

1st movie - Poltergeist

2nd movie - Jaws

I've seen this movies hundreds of times throughout my life- and i'm used to watching them with people who have seen them hundreds of times as well. So it was really cool to watch them with two people who have never seen them before - I really enjoyed it.

I've been wanting to do something drastic with my hair for a while....

because i'm in this sort of "transitional" time of my life - where I want everything to change...including the mop atop my head.

While hanging out with the girls last night - they told me they wanted to do the same thing. We've all been flirting with the idea of going....::gulp::.....blond.

Yes me...dark haired/featured Jenna has been thinking about going blond. Why? I have no idea...something different I suppose. I love my hair but it's looked exactly the same (minus the length) for the past 6 or 7 years.

Kim told me a few days ago that she was also thinking about going blond (kim is half korean with dark hair/features and a very light skin tone like me). It is kind of a crazy idea for us super dark haired gals to want to "cross over" but it's just hair. If it looks good - great - if it looks terrible we can always dye it back!

I think Kim is more serious about the blond thing than I am ...and to be quite honest she is 10x ballsier than I am- I just don't have the guts to do it lol. I think in the long run i'll be all talk and no action in this situation.

But I do want to make a major change of some sort. I'm definitely not going to straighten or anything like that...but I have been flirting with the idea of getting it cut like one of my favorite singers and curly heads - St. Vincent.....

But this even scares me! I fear that if i cut my hair short like St. Vincent - I won't look elegant and classy like her...but I'll look like a little boy lol.

I also fear that my hair isn't curly enough to pull off a look like this. My curls start half way down my head - not at the roots...so what if I cut it and it just doesn't curl? And it looks like a fro!?!?! I'm such a sissy lol.

I think this needs to be like the time I got my first tattoo - I didn't think about it. I just did it. Because if I think about it too much longer, my hair is going to look exactly the same for the next 7 years.

What do you think?

Speaking of tattoos...

I love the flower tattoo I got in February so much - that I think I'm going to get another one!

I'm not sure when, where, or of what (perhaps another flower?) - but I want to before the end of the summer.

When I got my african daisy done - I told myself I would never ever ever ever get another tattoo again because the pain was so bad........looks like someone spoke a little too soon hu? Lol.

For now this is just a thought/urge - we'll see what happens.

Even if you aren't apart of the "twitter world" like I am...

I still think you'll find this segment on 'Late night with Jimmy Fallon' hilarious.

While going through my daily "blog check" today I came across a lot of pictures that I find interesting, cool, beautiful, and wonderful in one way or another:

Well it's time to bid yee fairwell.

I have a lot of summery activities planned for my day off! So I better get started before my day passes me by! I hope you enjoy your friday - eat something delicious, and do something fun :)

Let us begin....

[[Today’s music]]

LYKKE LI – TONIGHT

This original version of this song is amazing - but this version is just absolutely beautiful. Lykke Li is the bees knees- she's def. got it going on.

[[Today's restaurant]]

ZEN PALATE NYC

“Our foods are imbued with rich flavors, expansive tastes and textures rarely seen in vegetarian foods. Interestingly, over 70% of Zen Palate's patrons are non-vegetarians who simply cannot resist the heavenly combination of taste, health and freshness found in our menus. Our foods are developed and prepared with a diverse array of ethnic cuisine arts from around the globe including Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Mexican. Rather than buy processed ingredients from manufactures, we produce most of our foods on site from daily fresh top quality fruits and vegetables. Our menu archive contains nearly 1,000 recipes of various vegetarian dishes.”

“Today, Zen Palate continues in the temple culinary tradition of developing divine and appetizing vegetarian foods while also incorporating other diverse styles from around the world such as Indian, Malaysian, Mexican and Italian, coupled with our rejuvenating beverages and sumptuous desserts. We feel blessed to have this opportunity to serve you and present you with our delicacies, and we hope you will visit us soon at one of our four locations in New York and New Jersey .”

[[Today’s kitchen gadget]]

GRILL GLOVE

[[Today’s news]]

CONSUMERS STILL SKITTISH ABOUT GULF SEAFOOD

“The oil well's essentially been plugged. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reopened large swaths of Gulf Coast waters to fishing. And the Food and Drug Administration said last week that fish from specific state waters are safe to eat. So why aren't people eating it?

"It's a perception challenge more than anything else," seafood promoter Ewell Smith told Morning Edition Host Steve Inskeep today. Our survey and those of others concur.

Smith, who heads the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board, says despite the fact that Gulf seafood is receiving more scrutiny than ever, people see the computer image of gushing oil 24 hours a day, and they draw their own conclusions.

Tom McEachern, top chef at seafood-centric Ray's on the River in Atlanta put it bluntly to Morning Edition Host Renee Montagne:

After the spill, he said, "we literally removed the word 'Gulf' from our menu, we also removed the oysters that we were serving from the Gulf from our menu."

Partly because he just can't get Gulf oysters, and partly because his customers are concerned about the potentially lasting problems with contamination in the beds and the marshlands where oysters hang out.”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/08/05/129000765/consumers-skittish-on-gulf-seafood-safety

[[Today’s random]]

NIKE SPORTSWEAR PRESENTS 1LOVE: BROOKLYN FEATURING THEOPHILUS LONDON

“As part of the lead up to the World Basketball Festival, Nike Sportswear is connecting the Five Boroughs of New York City in a celebration of hoops, culture, and its iconic Air Force 1 sneaker. Nike Sportswear has chosen five ambassadors from each of the five boroughs to participate in 1LOVE, a program that includes a online documentary series, a basketball tournament, and a Manhattan block party takeover. Brooklyn-raised rapper, songwriter and producer Theophilus London kicks it off, as the focus of the first 1LOVE episode, in which he gives a tour of the Brooklyn neighborhood he grew up in and uncovers what makes his borough unique.”

http://hypebeast.com/2010/08/nike-sportswear-presents-1love-brooklyn/

[[Today’s food clip]]

MAN V. FOOD – SARUSSI’S 16” CUBAN SANDWICH

[[Today's curly head]]

CHRIS MESSINA

Attention ALL curly heads!!

Want to be recognized for your beautiful, crazy, and all natural curls?

Then sign up to be a featured curly head!

You must provide:

- Your: Name, Location, Occupation

-Tell me why you love being a curly head.

-Fill me in on what makes you a unique curly head.

-Give any tips or secrets you might have about maintaining hair like yours.

-And send 2 photos – so you have a chance to put your curls on display!

(If you would like me to provide a link to your blog, facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. for the rest of my readers to see – then also throw that in there! The more exposure you get the better!)

Don’t be shy J Go right ahead and apply!

Please e-mail your application to: Jennablack8@gmail.com