jamie ann

The year is almost over and THANK GOD FOR THAT. It’s been a rough one.

Breaking 2009 down.

Ready?

OKAY.

January
I failed at smiling with my eyes for photo shoot for the New York Times. This is why I would never be America’s Next Top Model but then Tyra herself commented and told me how she braved a photo shoot in Antarctica wearing a swimsuit and that she believes in me. It was totally inspirational.

February
I dealt with the whole can you be friends after a big break up thing and got a ton of support. For the record, we are friends still and see each other often. It might not work for everyone but it works for us. For the moment, at least.

March
I left the startup I helped launch. I did a hell of a lot for them and don’t think it was appreciated so it was time to move on. But besides that, I happened to host a Nintendo Girlfriends Guide to Gaming party too in March and it was all kinds of amazing.

April
I went to the Circus to see a living legend. I also confessed my slight obsession with Lifetime movies.

May
In May, my blog disappeared and turned into some nun website. I learned to always back your blog up or you will end up bursting into tears and your friend will be like WTF it’s just the internet and you’ll be all like JUST THE INTERNET?! MORE LIKE MY LIFE! I also shared my dream jobs and I’m still waiting for someone to create them and hire me because hi, I’m awesome.

June
I confessed how I use to steal from the library but paid my dues and now me and the library are in love. And the highlight of my year: VEGAS BABY! All my bffs and Cirque’s LOVE. It was the best weekend ever.

July
I told everyone about my favorite comeback: CRUCIO. I also met Tim Gunn, did naughty things to a cardboard cutout of Edward Cullen and drunkenly video blogged all while wearing a McDonald’s bag as a hat at BlogHer.

August
I posed the most important question ever: Friends or Seinfeld? (the correct answer is Friends if you’re wondering) I also decided not to settle because I know what I’m worth.

September
I talked about how some of my favorite memories are connected to music. Working Girl Two and I hosted the most amazing Pretty Wine Label Party ever for the Chicago ladies. And then celebrated my blog’s two year birthday.

October
There was retail therapy. There was a sort of life list. And a feeling I was pretty much waiting the entire year to feel.

November
Dealing with a parent’s middle life crisis. Ugh. But RPattz learned of my existence and we are now registered at Pottery Barn. And I stopped biting my nails. Go me!

December
I decided I was just going to do epic shit. Shaba sent me an awesome diamond encrusted toothbrush. My puppy Edie turned two years old. And blog world rallied around an amazing friend.

So there you have it. 2009. I had a few good moments but I’m so ready to put it all behind me.

2010 is going to be when everything comes together for me.

I just know it.

Facebook is an ass and wouldn’t upload this photo so it had to go here. I hate it so much.

P.S.  I hate Facebook not my shirt. Duh.
P.P.S. Facebook friends?
P.P.P.S. Also, I won’t add you unless you include a note telling me WHO THE EFF YOU ARE. I hate when people don’t do that.
P.P.P.P.S. For the record, I could have also gone with Team 17 Year Old Boy With No Shirt

Read this. Think about it. Pass it along.

My name is brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He’s a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He’s the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He’s the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He’s a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He’s made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He’s listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He’s recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He’s the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I’m overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren’t sure what’s happening. He’ll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what’s going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as ‘brandy’s hot awesome dude’). If you don’t pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven’t seen it, google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I’m throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn’t a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It’s just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven’t already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

In my lack of posting due to the crazy busyness and sickness last week, I forgot to mention a very important event.

Edie’s 2nd birthday!

My puppy, the star and real reason you all read my blog, turned  two years old on December 17th. All together now… awww!

Remember the day I got her?

So two years later Edie is still, in fact, the cutest puppy in the history of puppies. She scoffs at the toys I buy her in favor of an empty toilet paper roll and a knotted sock. She has a million nicknames including: Pup, Puff, Dog, Edie Beadie, Bea, Angel Dog and Mamas. She snores in her sleep and gives great hugs. She is the only dog I know who had a comic strip created just for her.

I just couldn’t imagine my life with out her.

Happy birthday Edie!

And now for your entertainment, puppy playing around the little crunchy snow we have on the ground today. (And lots of my annoying puppy mama voice.)

Edie in the snow from Jamie Lovely on Vimeo.

I woke up this morning feeling hungover. And when you didn’t have a drop of alcohol the night before, that’s clearly a problem.

You see, my weekend was filled with too much awesome. So much that I’m hungover from it.

(Or not enough water, whatever)

At first I was kinda sick and that was just not going to go well with my plans. I had to cancel dinner with Jessica Maria, who was in town, and Ang on Thursday night. And then missed Friday night’s Motion City Soundtrack show and one of the outside pockets of my Marc Jacobs bag got completely soaked on the outside and I had a three minute meltdown in the Target parking lot that included freaking out on Twitter and me being very close to tears because YOU JUST DON’T FUCK WITH A GIRL’S MARC JACOBS.

(Yeah, I’m talking to you, Target carts)

That night after a little bit of  a late start, I met up with an old acquaintance, who I haven’t seen in about four years. Personally, I’m a fan of spending my Friday night talking to a cute boy and eating soup until 2AM. So here’s to new friends!

The following day, I spent it mainly in bed with Barney Stinson and making out Christmas cards which was great until I got a paper cut on my lip. Who does that? Apparently, I do.

(I’m sorry if your Christmas card has blood on it)

But yesterday was a pretty fantastic way to round out an amazing weekend. I was just minding my own business when I see a tweet from Whitney (who has an excellent fashion blog you should check out) that Rodarte for Target was out and I was all HJASDLAK and ran out wearing leggings as pants and my ugly boots. All my clothes were in the laundry and it was CLEARLY A FASHION EMERGENCY so I made an exception to my rule.

Bad fashion for the sake of good fashion. Duh.

Here is my good fashion: crepe lace print dress and this cardigan. The cardigan (mine is grey) is amazing which is to be expected if you are familiar with Rodarte knits. AMAZING.

And then I found out that Brittany Murphy died. WAY HARSH, TAI. But seriously, I need to go buy Clueless and watch on repeat to honor her memory because it’s really one of the best movies ever. She was way too young to come to an end so soon.

My sister, Sara, is also home for the holidays so she was my partner in crime for the night. Then I got a text saying Jessica’s flight got canceled and Sarah flew in from Detroit for the night and we all hung out at the Motion City Soundtrack show! I haven’t really listened to them too much but after seeing them live, they definitely have a new fan.  After we got to run backstage and say hi to Jesse (Jessica’s husband) and it was pretty cool being able to meet one of the people I’ve read about for so long.

The show itself was fantastic even if it made me feel totally old. I use to be the one bouncing around in the crowd freaking out to my favorite songs and this time I was up in the side balcony checking everything out from up top. Regardless, I need more rock shows in my life.

There is only one way to wrap a night of good fashion, music and friends: GRILLED CHEESE. So the sister and I headed to The 44th Ward Dinner Party to grab a Belmont Harbor which is basically the sandwich dreams are made of. No joke, come to Chicago and I will take you there.

And the winner for most awesome weekend ever goes to me.

The other day something arrived in the mail that I never knew I needed to be complete until it was in my possession.

A diamond encrusted toothbrush that allows me to sparkle while brushing my teeth, well sparkle if I wasn’t planning on placing it in a glass case on a satin pillow for all the world to admire and be jealous* that they don’t have a blinged out toothbrush.

Thanks to the lovely, Shaba! No gift will ever compare.

Do you think there is a market on Etsy for diamond encrusted toothbrushes? Just throw Twilight and Edward in the tags and you’ll make millions.

* except for Brandy. Our toothbrushes were separated at blinging**.
** do people still say blinging? I kind of hope not. Bedazzling? Let’s go with bedazzling.

Hi.

It’s me again. It’s that time of year again and I’m sure you’re completely overrun by letters from greedy little jerk faces begging for the coolest new toys but I promise you that’s not what this is.

Okay, maybe it is a wish list but I swear I’m not a greedy little jerk face. I’m actually pretty neat.

(also, why don’t more people say neat? I’ve been using it to describe everything lately)

First on my list is a biggie, an iMac. Imagine, Santa, next year I could be writing to from one of these gorgeous pieces of machinery. Wouldn’t that just benefit everyone? I think so!

Next up, Etsy. Oh Etsy, my one true weakness in life. I could seriously get lost for days in that site. Pretty things and supporting independent artists? I don’t think it gets better than that. Pretty much anything from Softspoken or Local Library would complete me right now. Long necklaces, slouchy berets and scarves are staples here at the House of Lovely.

And I doubt this next one is a surprise to anyone, since I NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT HER. And it all sold out pretty quick. I just want to see Lady Gaga come January at the Chicago Theater. This will be the second time around that I’ve missed her and I’m kind of hating my life because of it.

Lastly, with the new year coming and all, do you think you could tell the Universe to go easy on me? 2009 wasn’t a very good year for me in more ways than one. I could use a little break from it kicking my ass all over Chicago. I promise to work hard and do everything I should, just ease up a bit? No family drama, illness, heartbreak or anything of that sort, please? Keep my dad healthy, help me make peace with my body and let me continue on the right path career and education wise. Any more roadblocks and I just might break. If you could pass that along, Santa, you would pretty much be the coolest dude ever.

xoxo,

Jamie Lovely

P.S. If you’re feeling extra generous, I definitely wouldn’t say no to having a hair stylist at my beck and call? I think a blow out every day might improve the well being of everyone I come in contact with. Plus, my hair would be absolutely fabulous ALL THE TIME. Clearly, this is a win for everyone.

P.P.S. Or maybe RPattz? Please?

P.P.P.S. No, seriously. Hair stylist? Pretty please?

P.P.P.P.S. Twitter? Holler.

I was recently asked by Arbor Mist and BlogHer to put together a creative party in a box featuring Arbor Mist Sparkling. I chose to create the ultimate night in to help a girlfriend survive a break up. I got the idea for a break up basket from Leah and actually own a copy of the book I featured in it myself (thanks to Jenn).

Basically, break up or not, it’s the most amazing party in a box ever.

So go check it out and see how to win $100 Visa gift cards.