who i’m listening to… and you should too!

etsy… bitsy… artsy…

check out wcjones.etsy.com to view some of my father-in-law’s newest artwork for sale!

bobby flay @ kohl’s

i read this and i literally said “shut up!” to my computer screen! ha! i’ve had the pleasure of eating at mr. flay’s spectacular mesa grill at ceasar’s palace in vegas. yum yum yum. now that i’m in nashville, it’s not as cheap and short of a flight there so i guess i’ll be hitting a nearby kohl’s…

ain’t he the cutest? eat your heart out! literally.

caviar anyone?

yes, i actually DO like caviar (i know, i know, i have expensive taste).  i’m not well versed in the caviar world but what i have had has been really good. here’s a new twist on caviar for ya. it’s actually one of my favorite little dishes to make and it’s great for parties!

Texas Caviar

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped – don’t forget your gloves or you will have hands-o-fire!
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle zesty Italian dressing
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander – if you can’t find this spice, then you can leave it out, no biggie.
• 1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, mix together onion, green bell pepper, green onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cherry tomatoes, zesty Italian dressing, black beans, black-eyed peas and coriander. Cover and chill in the refrigerator approximately 2 hours. Toss with desired amount of fresh cilantro to serve.

love love love this “salsa.” make sure you serve it with Scoops tortilla chips. also try it on a hamburger, yummy! you’ll see why it’s called texas caviar when you make it. remember, everything’s bigger in texas, especially the hair!

opposites attract

do you ever find complete, utter satisfaction and yet a mutually extreme emotional distress in something (or maybe someone) that you care for so deeply? well i do…

…and this weekend i got to experience just that! yes, i am excited about this one my friends! my favorite magazine in the world arrived! yippee!!!

here are just a few things that, although completely opposite, make for a beautiful disaster in the jones household…

• it’s free but it costs me a ton of money!
• it takes up a lot of my time but yet it’s worth every single second
• it’s a four letter word that i love to say over and over and over and over again!
• there can never be too many of them yet i wish i didn’t have one so close by

any idea on what landed on my doorstep?

and they’re off!

about this time last year, we were in the process of digging our heals into the bay area. we had been here about 4 months and we still felt like we were on a little excursion, if you will… not at home. we were in the midst of all the things you do when you move to a new area – finding doctors, a trusty car repair shop, where-the-locals-go establishments, etc, but most importantly – a church home.

we had begun our search, but it was a slow one. we found ourselves somewhat disheartened by the lack of churches in the area. coming from the bible belt, it was quite an eye-opening experience. i realized my naivety about areas outside of the south. i expected to see a church on every street corner like back home, but we found the exact opposite, in fact. hoping for a miracle, we continued searching for our church home. driving around the streets of the peninsula, we hadn’t found much. dear friends, if you ever are presented with “the church hunt” when moving to a new area, remember this – you cannot judge this particular book by it’s cover! i began thanking the lord for his reminder to me…

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.    Joshua 1:9

we began with a couple of “big” churches, then moved to the “cool” churches with the snazzy websites, and finally after two dead ends, began seeking recommendations from friends who knew the church-circuit out here. the very first place we visited was the highway community, and it was completely by chance. we really liked it a lot. it just felt good, however, we didn’t want to say yes to the first place we visited. we found that it’s kind of like apartment hunting, it looked like it would work out but there may be a better deal out there, ya know? over the next several months we visited a few churches but we kept coming back to highway. we really enjoyed the laid back casualness of the crowd, the challenging sermons, and the worship was refreshing. everything felt good but we weren’t completely set on it until this one particular crisp sunday morning… there it was… there, in the program… we saw “the sign” written just inside the front page… in dark bold letters it read…

 

WIENER NATIONALS

i believe i looked at jason in that very moment and said one word… SOLD!

i was sold at that very moment! i thought, if a church accepts me, great, wonderful, lovely, but if a church literally goes above and beyond to reach out to my dogs… heck yeah… i’m pretty much there. it was then, that we committed to this church, amen. that’s a funny story, huh? but the Lord has done a mighty work thus far, so far beyond what we could have ever imagined! i am so thankful for this church. god knew exactly what it would take to get our attention. he knows our hearts; he knows our joys; and he used our precious four-legged blessings to guide us! (oh, and you better believe that our dogs competed in those races! mucho fun was had by all!)

… … … … …

so here we are, a year later, completely in love with the community that we belong to, and we’re off to the races again – this sunday! i will post pictures and a recap for all you dog lovers!

with this event, i am reminded of the faithfullness of the lord to provide his people with the comfort, guidance, love, and the community that we need, and that comes from being part of a church. i am so thankful for our home!

Love vs. Hate

today is a sad day… i experienced something quite tragic in the simple life of rebecca. something that is so dear to me (enough to say that i love it with a capital OBSESSION) has joined hands with something that i passionately hate… i mean HAAAAATE!!!

okay, okay, so i know hate is a harsh word to say about anything, but honestly… i can say that i hate this particular thing so very much that i try to avoid it at all costs!

alright, enough already… i’ll stop with the guessing game… are you ready? i’m so sorry to all you health-conscience people out there… but i HATE, loath, despise, and refuse to eat… BANANAS… yuckie yuckie yuck! they not only taste gross but they make everything around them take on their taste and smell. if you eat one, the rest of the day you have it on your breath, you burp it and no matter what you eat, it has a slight banana taste to it…  and to me, that’s just plain gross. frankly, it gives me the heebie jeebies!

so what is this thing that i love so much? ah yes… the magical sign of life… it breathes energy and open-eyedness into me just about every day… you got it – the bucks of stars! better known as

today, i ventured to my local spot… and i walked in through a door plastered with clings talking about a new banana smoothie. yipee! NO. no yipee… but yuckie! i entered extremely hesitant to find what was on the other side. and much to my utter disgust, it wreaked of the unbeloved yellow contaminator. it seeped into my pours upon immediate contact and i actually believe that i could taste the air. it was all i could do to order my coffee.

so please please please mr. bucks, i plead to you with every fiber of my ever loving heart… cut out the ‘nanners! you just might have lost an extremely loyal customer…

————————–

i just can’t help but wonder… is GOD in this detail too? maybe this is HIS attempt to get me to stop with my consumption of the ever-so-wonderful dehydrating beverage that i love so… you know, HE does give and take away… oh LORD but PUHLEEEEAAAASSSEEEE not this!

Ginger, this one’s for you, girl!

Sorry for the less than stellar quality…

 

True Friends

I get made fun of for all the friends that I have on Facebook… I think I’m over the 500 mark at this point. (And in all honesty, I actually DO personally know 95% of them. It’s true! The other 5% of course are a few bands & musicians I will probably never meet.) I will have to tell you though, the good ‘ole F’book has helped me rekindle friendships that I never would have otherwise, I’ve learned of marriages, births, engagements, happy times, sad times, and all those in between moments in life. I don’t really consider myself a socialite although I do like to remain social; Facebook has certainly allowed me to do that, much more than I ever have, in fact. I know, it’s not face to face contact, but when you have friends that live in Nashville and D.C. this is about as good as it gets! I boldly confess that I spend way to much time at the computer but it has certainly benefited me for the better. I know who my true friends are.

Here are a few highlights from the past year, attributed 100% to Facebook:

One of my best friends from high school, who has grown up to be quite a lovely lady of God, got married and moved off to D.C. a couple years ago. I NEVER would have known this if we hadn’t connected through Facebook! Last September, she and her hubby came to the Bay Area for business and again, thanks to Facebook, we got to meet up and hang out for the evening. She continues to be one of my closest friends and is a constant source of love and encouragement for me! I know that if I ever need her, she’s only an poke away. Thanks Heather for being one of the best friends I’ll ever have! I’ll send you a drink later

I have taken on the exciting yet difficult task of planning my high school reunion. Next year, will be 10 years. First of all, I am now officially a grown-up… 10 years already?! Whoa… Secondly, without Facebook, I certainly would not have been able to gather contact info and catch up with the majority of my classmates. I am now looking at an 85% completion of my contact list for my graduating class! Now if I could only just hunt down the remaining 15%…

Facebook is also a fantastic way to shamelessly promote music and business. So, we have done exactly that with Otterball. It’s a really laid back way to introduce and update your product and keep your fans enticed. Thanks F’book for thinking about the business owners out there! We have loved the interaction that it has provided us thus far with the www. Are you a fan?

Another really great friend of mine from high school and I met up on Facebook just before I left Houstonin 2007. Come to find out, she had been living 30 minutes down the road from me for the past year and half and I had no idea… until Facebook. How awesome and yet somewhat sad is that all at the same time?! So, when her hubby had to come to the Bay Area for a job interview, she came along and you got it, we spent the day together! Lisa, hope to see you around these parts again soon! Or, maybe I’ll catch ya in H-town.

Last but not least, a great friend of mine from many years ago has made a gold mine for himself! He recently placed 3rd on a little show with a big name called “The Next Great American Band.” His band is amazingly talented and you should all go out and buy their cd right now! Thanks to F’book (and his wife for setting up the account for him), we’re gonna be hanging with my cool cat Denver and the Mile High Orchestra next month in Napa (and that’s spelled with one ‘P’). All I need now is the t-shirt!

Sooooo…. how has Facebook helped you rekindle friendships once lost?

Is this what they mean by “two become one”?

I don’t even know…

What Happens in Vegas…

We’re back from Vegas! What a blast! We had such a great time. I think we saw just about every hotel on the strip from Mandalay Bay to The Wynn and I know for certain we walked about 100 miles! We were so tired by the third day that we practically just sat around and did nothing. Next time we’ll pace ourselves a bit more and stay in a hotel we don’t have to leave if we don’t want to.

On Saturday we were so excited to see everything, so we got in as much as we could, including some nice cold beverages which led to two sleepy travelers before the sun went down. I think we went to bed around 9:30p. Who does that in Vegas? Oh yeah, that’s right… the Joneses… of course! We didn’t even get to see the city lights! Ha! How about that for spunk huh?

Sunday was a much more adventurous day. We bought tickets for a Cirque show and the Wax Museum. Mystere was amazing, by the way! I can’t wait to see another Cirque! It blew my mind. We hit the rest of the hotels we hadn’t seen and stopped for a few street performances. I literally kissed a black man dressed head to toe in silver pretending to be a statue (don’t worry mom, it was on the cheek). Jason won $80 playing BlackJack - his first time gambling, by the way. But, most importantly, we slowed down on the alcohol consumption. That made the day much more rememberable and tons more fun! Who says you can’t learn lessons in Vegas?

Monday was the day we wished we could have gone home sooner. We woke up and decided to order room service (I think I’m the only 27 year old who’s never done that before). We checked out around 11am and then meandered outside. In about a hour we were ready to go home – seriously. It was quite a bit hotter outside plus we were just completely exhausted. We headed down to Madame Toussauds Wax Museum. I’d never been to one before… so, it’s super cool but yet really freaky at the same time. We ate at the Bellagio buffet for a late lunch, watched the fountain dance, and then went back to our hotel and sat around in a smoky lounge until about 5pm. Our flight didn’t leave until 9:25p but we went ahead and took a cab to the airport anyway. I have never been so ready to go home!

Next time, I think we’ll stay at Ceasars Palace or the Palazzo. Ceasars was by far my favorite although the Bellagio was the prettiest. I don’t think we would ever have to leave Ceasar’s if we stayed there anyway with all the shopping and stuff to do.

All in all, Vegas was just amazing! Better than I thought it would be. I realized though, and this is a really good thing, is that you don’t see all the sleezy stuff unless you seek it out. So it’s all good! We’ll go back again and again I’m sure, now that we found that out. ( Jason was a little nervous about it.) The alcohol however, flows like milk and honey and come to find out… it’s free in the casinos! Why didn’t someone tell us that? Oh well… there’s always next time. Am I right ladies?

Oh, I almost forgot… we saw a few famous peeps… Zach Braff & Donald Faison from Scrubs and then Criss Angel the magician. Pretty cool huh?

I’m taking a bunch friends with me next time. Who’s ready?

Home Sweet Home

We have finally moved into our new place, last weekend in fact. I absolutely love it! This is the first time I’ve lived in a place that feels like home. You know that unsettled feeling you have when you live in an apartment? The feeling that you really can’t do much with it… I mean, why would you, you’re leaving in a year anyway. Well this place is completely different! It’s a townhome for starters. All of our neighbors own their home. It’s two floors, all the bedrooms are upstairs and, we have a garage! How cool is that? Jason is most thrilled about it because now he can have his manly area – you know, with tools and stuff. I’m really excited for him! I remember how much my father enjoyed his time in the garage fixing stuff and playing around with all the gadgets. It’s kinda like us and all our purses. Am I right ladies?!

Anyway, so we have the cutest little garden on the main floor porch that we’re going to have to have a gardener for. I have the brownest thumb I have ever seen. I cannot for the life of me keep anything alive (plant wise)! Then we have a huge balcony off the master bedroom which will be the perfect place for a lounge chair and soaking up the sunshine! Ginger, you’re welcome any time. I think you need a little Cali sun anyway!

There are so many great things about this place. The best of which it feels like home. It’s a very safe area, the floorplan is just fantastic, the rent is less than what we were paying, we have a garage & a W/D, and best of all, we’re not in a corporate apartment complex and my name isn’t Jones – 316A.

I’ll post pictures soon after we get all our furniture arranged and all the boxes are gone. You know how that is.

Here they are!

Sushi King

Most of you know that I LOVE SUSHI! I didn’t realize myself how much I loved sushi until we stumbled upon this restaurant last year in San Mateo (THANK YOU PAUL!). It is called Ni-Mo’s and you better believe that they have pictures of Nemo the cartoon around the place. The best thing about it is this guy…

That’s Steven, the owner and chef. We go to see him about once a week. I feel like he’s part of our family now! So, if you ever come visit us… we’ll be taking you to Ni-Mo’s

Test Your Awareness

Seeing is believing! It’s easy to miss what’s right in front of you if you’re paying attention to something else. Thanks, Very Short List! 

iExcited…

…because, I’m about to be the proud new owner of an iPhone! I might just be as happy as this guy..