Letters from me (Jake the Bachelor week 2 edition)

Before I share a series of letters I would write to people on the Bachelor, let it be stated for the record that I had not one bite of candy today. NOT ONE! That is a major accomplishment because where I work, there is candy everywhere.

Thank you in advance for your praise and adoration.
-------------------
Dear Jake,
You quite possibly could not have been any hotter than you were in tonight's episode. From your sweet way of calming the nervous Christina down during the photo shoot to your preflight safety check (hubba hubba!), you totally and completely floated my boat tonight.
Love,
me

Dear Christina,
I wanted to like you because you seem real and normal. I like that in a bachelorette. But then you had to ruin your chance for a rose by getting stupid-drunk. Hope you figure things out and consider going to a meeting or something. It surely couldn't hurt.
Your non-drinking friend who knows everything,
J.

Dear Ali,
Could you have gotten a more perfect one-on-one date? Could you BE even cuter??? (Say it like Chandler Bing, people!) You are my new #1. Please don't turn into a sleazy jerk, 'k?
Love ya,
me

Dear Elizabeth,
You are beautiful and you seem really sweet. I want to like you even more because of the whole "I'm not kissing you until I'm the only one you will kiss" thing. But then you have to be a tease and tell Jake you know he wants to kiss you while getting all close to him. It's a fine line, sweetie...don't cross it.
From someone who wants you to do well,
J.

Dear Rozlyn,
So you couldn't hold off and only make out (or whatever) with just one guy for a few weeks? Seriously?!? Oooh, I have an idea. You should see if you could be the next Bachelorette because then you could make out with lots of guys at once. That might be a perfect next step for you!
Good luck!
J.

Dear Michelle,
You are so sad. We all know you can't win so please do something awful next week so I don't have to watch you on this show anymore.
Thanks a bunch!
J.

Dear pretty much every other girl on the show,
Why don't I even remember any of you from last week? Were you even ON the show last week?
Try to not be so boring!
me

Dear Chris Harrison,
I so totally heart you. You're cute, a good husband and father and you choked up telling Rozlyn she was leaving. You're cool and I love your blogs on ew.com and hope everyone reads them.
xoxoxo
Jeanelle

The highlights of my week

Besides the Bachelor premiere and the creepy complimenter, here's what else made up my week:

• Bought a ticket to go to Utah the end of April. I'm going to Callie's graduation from BYU (woo hoo!) and Women's Conference. It's going to be fantastic.
• Got the H1N1 shot for free at work (I love working for a big company.)
• Got tickets to see "Legally Blonde the Musical" for next month with Chrissy, Kim and a few of our other friends. Oh, but I'm SO excited to see this show. I think it will be difficult for Chrissy and me to not recite lines and sing the songs.
• Ate the most amazing clementine oranges ever. EVER! I mean, so good they made my weekly highlights!
• Bought a bag of the most unamazing (aka ROTTEN!) clementine oranges. (Thank you, Costco for the buzzkill.)
• Started reading my book again - I don't know why I put it down. I just get busy. I wish I was independently wealthy. I could get so much more reading done if work didn't get in the way. And it's so dang cute -- thanks again for the recommendation, Shannon!
• FINALLY got to minus 20 pounds at WW. It has taken forever but it's gone for good, people. Now I'm hard at work on the next 20.
• Partied with some of my most favorite, longtime friends. Every January we get together to celebrate birthdays. This year, we had a theme and everyone was supposed to bring a white trash food to share. I went with my bacon cheeseball because hello, it's a ball of cheese that's rolled in a pound of fried bacon. Lisa brought this beautiful cake.
  
  Can you even believe it? Heather brought the celery/peanut butter/chocolate chip things in the background. Patty made bacon wrapped little smokeys that sat in an oven for 5 hours basting in some sort of brown sugar sauce. Heaven. Why does bad food have to be so dang tasty?
  
  Anyway, it was so much fun to catch up and laugh our behinds off. I seriously love these girls and already cannot wait until next year's party. (The birthday girls are the ones in sweats/pajamas...I think next year's party will be a pajama party for all of us.)
  
  

We have our winner!

We have a winner for my big huge giveaway. I loved reading about what you're working on this year. Go read the comments if you haven't already. You might find some good ideas - I know I did.

Okay, so I don't do the whole random.org thing. This technology-loving-girl just doesn't like that site and doing the number method. Plus I think I prefer to create more work for myself by writing everyone's name on a tiny piece of paper, folding them up and putting them into a little bowl.

Okay, the winner is........



JESSICA! (photo of the gorgeous winner and her cute husband stolen shamelessly from her blog)

Yay for you, Jessica! If you've never read her blog, you need to click here and spend some time reading about her and her darling family. I highly recommend you check out the quick quote right at the top of the page and then watch the barf training video (located here.) They have done such a service for the world with that video! Jessica, send me your address and I'll get your goodies in the mail!

Thanks to everyone who entered. I appreciate you all letting me begin accomplishing one of my own goals which is to be more giving this year.

Creepy guy of the day

Today, a guy called me at work because he had a meeting with my boss and wanted directions to our building. I told him where we were and then he proceeded to tell me that he'd looked me up.

What the heck? Looked me up? Oh and he may or may not work for a federal agency so did he just google me or did he look in some secret squirrel computer system somewhere? Anyway, he "looked me up" because he wanted to know if I was his stepbrother's daughter.

I am not.

So he arrives for the meeting and we make small talk while he waits for my boss. After the meeting, I escort him back down to the lobby. Before he leaves he says "you're as beautiful as your voice" and then made some other sort of comment about how he knew I'd be pretty after we talked on the phone. I thanked him and quickly got back in the elevator? Why you ask?

Of COURSE he was married.

Congratulations, weird possibly employed by our government guy! You're my first ever creepy guy of the day!

The Bachelor - Jake

If I was a great blogger rather than a lazy blogger, I'd add pictures. But I am what I am so what you're getting are my random thoughts from watching tonight's premiere:

• Jake has a really great smile
• Did they truly play a Muzak version of "On the Wings of Love?" I know it's the show's subtitle but seriously? It brought me back to the Office episode when they had the bird funeral and Dwight played that song on his recorder.
• Um, he obviously prefers very well-endowed ladies. Yikes.
• Vienna wins my vote for best crazy eyed contestant
• Elizabeth the nanny with the football? Stunningly beautiful.
• Kristina who brought in the jelly beans? Tacky and rude but I liked her more as the night went on.
• Channy's comment she translated from Cambodian? Sick and so unnecessary. So glad she didn't make it.
• Oh my gosh - crazy Michelle? Freakazoid. I want to be your copilot in the end? Gag. Every reality show needs a whack job, I guess.

Oh the scenes for the upcoming season are SO good. A contestant has an affair with someone working on show? Someone has been married and has kids and nobody knows? Jake walks out of an interview? Jake cries? Is the final show in Hawaii? Wherever it is, it's beautiful and I can't wait to see what happens!

I think Elizabeth was my favorite with Ali a close second. They both seemed "real." Jury is still out on Tenley the crying/kissing girl who got the first impression rose.

Holly is going to blog her own recap and hers will be MUCH better than mine, I'm sure! Go read her blog on Tuesday...but wait, don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already!

Giveaway -- #300

I finally made it to 300 posts here on my little blog. I can't believe it! I'm going to celebrate with a giveaway but first have something to share that's been on my mind today.

A divorced dad of three got up and bore his testimony at church today. He's had a rough year. In addition to the divorce, he was laid off and has been without work since March and is living on his savings and thanks to the goodness of ward members, he and his family had a wonderful Christmas. This was after his youngest son said "it's okay if we don't get any presents, Dad" or something to that effect.

I felt awful hearing all of this because it reminded me that I didn't do enough service during the month of December. Yes, I take care of my friends and family but I need to look around my community (or at least, my ward) and share what I have with others. I have it so good. I need to give, and of course, not just in December but all year round.

So I'm giving first to you, my faithful blog readers. The giveaway will be random, just like me. It will include:

• an iTunes gift card
• a brand new copy of "Twilight" audiobook on CD
• a brand new copy of "Sense and Sensibility" on DVD (the Emma Thompson version)
• a brand new copy of "Grease 2" on DVD (you may remember I inexplicably own TWO copies of this classic!)
• a few boxes of Peppermint Crunch junior mints (so good and only available at Christmas!)
• a couple of brand new tubes of my fave Mint Carmex sticks (I bought a box on eBay since they aren't available in stores anymore! Love eBay!)

This is a pretty sweet giveaway, if I do say so myself! So one comment per person of course and you have to tell me what's one thing you plan to be better at this year (a goal, a resolution, a thought...anything.)

I'll keep this open until Saturday, January 9th at 5 PM Pacific then draw one winner at random.

What I've done today

1. Woke up at 7:30 AM
2. Finished my book (so good - read it.)
3. Did one load of laundry
4. Made my favorite soup (recipe at the end of this post)
5. Worked on my 2010 schedule for Primary music
6. Worked on YW camp plans (first meeting with the girls is Feb 10!)
7. Uploaded (downloaded?) all of the Primary songs for the year to my iPhone
8. Got sucked into the Biggest Loser season 3 marathon on Bravo (I've seen these shows before so why on earth am I watching them again?!)
9. Did yoga on Wii Fit
10. Started my favorite jigsaw puzzle
11. Did not get dressed but did brush my teeth.

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup (thanks, Boni!)

1 can refried beans
2 cans chicken broth
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can pinto OR great northern beans (drained)
1 can rotel tomatoes OR 1 can diced stewed tomates plus one can chopped green chiles
1 small can corn OR a handful of frozen corn (add as much as you like)
2 large cans (Costco/Sam's size) chicken breast (drained & de-chunked -- ha)

Mix the refried beans with the broth until combined, add everything else. Heat to a boil then simmer until you're ready to eat. I top with a little shredded cheese, a little sour cream and a few of the santa fe flavored tortilla strips you can buy at Winco. Soup freezes great.