J

So (kind of a while ago) on an impulse, I decided to play in one of those blog memes. Clever girl gave me the letter J. So here they are...my favorite things that begin with...

J ackets


I think there's nothing classier than a nice jacket or coat. I wish I were one of those girls who has a beautiful jacket to go with every outfit. I only have one really cute one and I'm envious of the sea of beautiful coats I see in the winter.

J ell-o Pudding




I think Mr. Cosby summed it up. What's not to love about pudding - especially chocolate? Plus, no list of my favorites would be complete without Chocolate (notice its status as a proper noun) getting some face time. I also love this retro commercial :)

J et lag

Not that I particularly enjoy being exhausted, but jet lag means I've traveled somewhere exciting and maybe new. Yay!

J ane Austen



I LOVE Jane Austen's books, and most of the movies made about them. I don't care if they do set false expectations about romance for girls everywhere, I think they should be in every personal library. And I think all men should wear coats like the one Colin Firth wears in A&E's Pride and Prejudice.

J ogging

Which is funny, because I had no idea I liked it until about a year ago - in the middle of training for my first half marathon. I still remember realizing I loved it as I made it past the first three miles of a six-mile run on a beautiful almost spring day. Now I miss it if I go without for very long.

J ack-o-lanterns


Autumn is my favorite season. I love the way the air smells, any baked pumpkin treat, and (naturally) scooping the guts out of a pumpkin. Carving is good too.

J ack Johnson


Job description: singer-songwriter-director-surfer. It just doesn't get any cooler than that. Plus he kicks it with the Obamas. And have you heard the man's voice? Thank you. There's always new music to like, but Jack will always have my heart. (In MUSIC sweetie, obviously. I mean, clearly he's not even cute, right? Ahem.)

J ungles

This one goes with my travel obsession. Trekking through a little piece of the Amazon in huge rubber boots and swinging on a zipline through Jamaica's jungle (ooh - that's a double J - do I get extra points for that?) are two of my favorite travel memories.

J ones Hall

OK, so only a couple of you will follow this one - but freshman year with five fabulous roomies definitely has to make the list. Especially the part where we constantly spoke in {terrible} British accents. What was that about?

And last but CERTAINLY not least...

J uniors!

Not in an upperclassmen kind of way. As in my husband is Steve Jr. and he ABSOLUTELY makes the top ten of any list! (And not just to suck up because I mentioned Jack.) Muah!




OK, so if anyone wants to play, leave a comment and I'll give you a letter. But I'll just go ahead and warn ya that doing this, although fun, made me remember why I usually skip these. It takes like, forever.

Merciless? Who, me?

I don't do cutthroat very well. By that, I mean I generally enjoy things (at least slightly) less when I know someone else had to suffer for me to get what I wanted. (This does not apply to situations involving couch covers. I have no problem being content with mine even if it causes my husband mild trauma.) I feel guilty bumping people back to Start in games like Sorry and Trouble, so it naturally follows that I am TERRIBLE at Monopoly.

Don't get me wrong - I like to win. I just feel guilty taking away other people's accomplishments (or money). Scrabble, for example, is ideal. You don't delete anyone's words or kick their letters off the board and everyone gets to stay in the game; someone just has a higher score at the end.

Anywho, my first experience playing Monopoly with Steve was on a double date with a friend of his. I lost all my money and what little (if any, I don't honestly remember) property I had managed to accumulate in what must have been a record amount of time. Apparently, our relationship comfort level had not yet reached the point where Steve could mock me for my miserable effort, so he quietly tried to give me some of his property and money to help me save face and stay in the game. He didn't make that mistake again. Pity Monopoly money? Please.

Since our initial Monopoly adventure, we have purchased the Speed Die version to make the slaughterings less drawn-out and painful, but the rest of our Monopoly experiences have been similar...(dramatic pause)...until last night.

That's right folks. On Tuesday, December 9, 2008, for quite possibly the first time ever, I WON Monopoly (I won at Monopoly? I'm not really sure what the grammatically correct way to say that is). In a game of four players, I managed to heartlessly take everyone's cash, force them to mortgage everything they owned, and then ridiculously overcharge them for vacations on Pennsylvania Avenue. And I loved every minute of it. In fact, there may or may not have been a bit of sass on my part as I took my husband's last $20 bill.

Oh and hun? Remember how you stopped playing Scrabble with me after you beat me one game? I think I understand now. And I just might be done with Monopoly - I think I'll quit while I'm ahead ;)