Well that would be me!! So as you, my blog followers know, August was a really stressful month. It pretty much stayed crappy the entire month. So to celebrate the end of August and the start of a new month, I treated myself to a shopping trip. I took a drive up to my favorite outlets, Woodbury Commons. I went into the Temple of Fendi and saw a few bags that I liked and a few pretty dresses but nothing that screamed "JANN". My next stop was Yves Saint Laurent. This was only my second trip there and as I stood in front of the shoe wall, my jaw dropped. It was like a candy store stocked with the most delectable sweets ever. My eye immediatly went to a most beautiful pair of pearly patent leather heels. Truth be told, I was a little scared of them at first. They are deliciously tall. I tried them on and they fit perfectly and were and extra 20% off...

I mean, could I really say no to shoes this fabulous? Right before SD I had bought a sweet little pair of Manolo's that were lovely to the eye and pure hell on the feet, these would replace them and I already have a dress lined up to wear them with. I found myself looking at some very demure flats and then my eye caught something red and high and so impractical. They fit like a glove and are surprisingly comfortable. I won't be running any marathons in them but honestly, when will I ever run a Marathon.

So both pairs are ridiculously high but somehow not painful to wear. They were beautifully designed and incredibly well made. I am not a short gal to begin with and with these shoes on I am almost 6 feet tall. It's pretty damn funny.

From there, I went Gucci. I do love my Gucci. The shoes were picked over, the bags were way out of my price league but the clothing never disappoints. There was a lovely plaid jacket but about two sizes too small. They had the lovely white one strap dress I had been drooling for ages also too small. I picked out a really elegant black silk cocktail dress, a black cotton shirt dress, and a black cotton top. As I was going to my fitting room, the salesman asked if there were any sizes I needed him to check on for me. I asked him to check on the jacket and the dress, a few minutes later they appeared in my dressing room. After much deliberation, I choose the black cotton shirtdress and the plaid jacket. the jacket is no lavender fur collared Kors but I love it.

On another note, my best friend Stephen was stuck in New Orleans all day waiting for a flight home. He said he wasn't worried because Geraldo Rivera told him that he wasn't leaving the city, therefore it should be okay.

this coat would already be in my closet...

Do you see the lavender-ness of it? Sigh......

I know I haven't been around much to update you on my life, my meals, my pets and my most recent purchases but things have been a little pear shaped for me post SDCC.

I am feeling a little bit better every day and the good news is that I finally lost those pesky six pounds.

Big hugs to all of my cheerleaders thru all of this. You know who you are and I love you dearly.

Okay so from my last two blogs, you can see my summer has totally been summer on the go. I won't lie it's been really stressful. So I have to find outlets to relieve my stress. From the contents of my closests, one can figure out that shopping is one way I relieve stress. However, I work in comics so that really limits that avenue.

 My other outlet is knitting. Knitting is like my yoga, it keeps me even and grounded and from killing people. Needless to say, after my Gucci filled shopping spree in AC, I had to dive back in my knitting before my Mastercard simply melted. So here is a gallery of what I have worked on since the beginning of July..

1) a cotton baby cardigan

A lot of my friends are pregnant or have newborns so these always come in handy for quick gifts.

2) Another baby cardigan.. this time in wool

Seriously folks, my biological clock is not manifesting itself through knitwear. These are just quick easy brainless projects.

3) a cardigan for my Mom

She doesn't know about it yet, so please don't tell her.

and

4) a scarf..complete with nerdy photo of me

And that's it. Actually it's kind of a lot considering I still have two weeks left in July.

San Diego is this week, I fly out on Wednesday. I am almost ready, almost. This year is a big year for me since Tiny Titans is up an running, Billy Batson has it's first issue on the stands and Ambush Bug comes out on Wednesday. I am nervous and excited and sleepy and stressed.. did I mention how stressed I am?

Week 3) This was the trip I probably shouldnt' have taken but I am oh so glad I did. We had a long weekend and I decided to run away to Atlantic City with the McSattlers (Ian & SG). On Friday, we hit the road and had a ridiculously easy ride down the GSP. While on the road to the hotel we spotted a billboard that informed us Bret Michaels, the one and only ROCK OF LOVE, was in town and playing at our hotel!! I felt like the gods were smiling down upon me.

Once checked into our hotel, we took a cab straight to the fabled AC boardwalk. During this adventure, SG and I went on the Crazy Mouse coaster. It really should be called the whiplash machine as it is a mercilessly whips you from side to side, forcing you to smoosh the person next to you. There is a coaster camera that takes a pic mid-ride and it captured this priceless moment.

How awesome is this kid?

I proceeded to win not one but TWO kung fu pandas with my mad crane game skillz.

 And then there was the greatest boardwalk game ever, they gave me a crossbow and let me shoot a target!! This is where I found that I am not a bad shot when given a crossbow. I am very tempted to get one for the house.

We then hit the new luxe boardwalk mall where I indulged in a Gucci crazed shopping spree.When Gucci has a sale, it's a damn good one. I ended up with three new pairs of fabulous shoes. I felt like I was living that shopping scene from "Pretty Woman", you know the shopping part not the hooker part.

After an amazing dinner, we headed back to the hotel for some prime people watching. There were skanks a plenty, all there to see the blond extensioned bandana wearing love god know as Bret. Lots of fake boobs, fake hair, fake nails, lucite platform heels and thirteen inch miniskirts were the uniform of choice..oh to be 21 again .

Roulette was the game of choice and SG and I made $100 last until the wee hours of the morning. We just couldn't lose. Everytime we were on our last stack of chips, we would hit. I am also proud to say that I have finally mastered gaming table etiquette and did not get reprimanded once, which is a first for me. I ended up walking away $83 richer. Take that, Harrahs!!

The next day was a leisurely stroll on the Ocean City boardwalk. It's a really nice boardwalk with ten cent skeeball lanes, the most awesome Big Buck Hunter video games, old time photo booths (a personal favorite), and a most delightful selection of junk food. I promtly ate my way up and down the boardwalk dining on fresh lemonade, chili cheese dogs, blue snow cones, monkey bread, shrimp cocktail, clams, slushies, and Johnson's caramel corn.

After this feast, we made one last stop back in Atlantic City at the world famous White House Sub shop. The sammiches are so good that Jersey boy, Frank Sinatra, used to have them flown in to him in Vegas. They were so good, that even with my boardwalk, I ate half of the jumbo sammich.

This adventure primed me for my next weekend journey....

when you sit down and write a blog entry and it's witty and clever and awesome and you go to hit post and POOF! you get a message saying there was a technical error and all is lost. So it's just one of the many reasons I am a bad blogger.

I am currently recuperating from a six weekend road tour from hell. Okay, the trips weren't hell themselves but being on the road six weekends in a row was. It meant five airports, six hotels and living out of my fabulous pink shiny suitcase. Let me give you a a rundown:

Week 1) Book Expo in Los Angeles: I am pretty sure I had a good time at this one. It was my first Book Expo and I was a little in awe of the whole thing. There were tons of celebrities signing every day and I even spotted one of my knitting icons... the Yarn Harlot. I was walking Brad Meltzer to a signing and I saw her pass by and I blurted out, "Holy Sh*t, that's the Yarn Harlot." I think Brad thought I had lost my mind.

I also got to to see one of my most favorite bands, the Cure, play at the Hollywood Bowl. My friend, Lieb, mentioned the show during my second dinner Friday night and I almost spit out my martini. By 10:00 a.m. the next day, I had tickets. It was unbelievable, they sounded amazing and the venue was as cool as I hoped it would be. Robert Smith's voice was clear and he sang for three hours. It's funny because from a distance he looked like Robert Smith but when you watched him on the giant screens, he kind of looked like Liz Taylor after a night on the town. It was a totally magical experience... at least until Jim Mahfood tried to steal my cab home. Ask him about it sometime

There was dimsum on Sunday with King of All Dim Sum. I had just had a breakfast meeting and then went straight to Chinatown. The food was fantastic and I promptly ate my body weight in dumplings and fried yum yums.

2) Week 2) My high school reunion and a trip home. This trip started out with my rental car getting side swiped by a drunk haitian and a two and half hour wait while the police kind of wrote up an accident report that I would have to wait a week for. It did get better. I got to see old friends, my old neighborhood, my old high school and a bunch of babies.

This is my best friend from high schools baby girl. Isn't she cute? It was so weird because my two closest gal pals and I were standing in the house we used to all hang out in and for about two minutes it seemed like 1994 all over again...at least until the baby cried.

It wasn't easy to go back but I am really glad I did. I even started to understand just a little why people vacation there..

Part 2... tomorrow

Okay so I have been away for a while.... I know I know, I am a very bad bear. So sorry bout that, it's been crazy over here and when it's not crazy I guess there are just some aspects of my life just for me. But I am back so let's start with some update you...

1) My birthday was totally amazing. I felt like my 32nd was the way my 30th should have been. I got a so many thoughtful presents and I do mean truly thoughtful.  I also had so many flowers in my office it looked like the Rose bowl Parade. SG and Mr. SG bought me an ipod. Now I had been holding out on getting an ipod for years and I was almost a little bummed out about its arrival. After two weeks of it sitting in my desk, it is now up and running and I must admit I love it.

2) Sticky is getting bigger every day. Owning a hedgehog isn't all I hoped it would be but he is very cute. He hates his hamster ball, he hates his wheel, mealworms are disgusting and  I have never seen an animal that small poop that much. He is very much the pet who cannot love. Did I mention how cute he is?

3) I have now joined the ranks of competitive sushi eater. I have discovered a frightning ability to eat large amounts of sushi & creme puffs. It's kind of like my super lame super power. Round 2 took place on Friday and I beat my own personal best by one plate.

I have never known true thirst until now... I also have to say that the water retention from all of the sodium in the soy sauce and the need to drink two gallons of water to quench one's thirst is a perfect recipe for a nice bloated feeling.

4) The one year anniversary of Thom's death was the 14th. I can't believe it's been a year since he's been gone. It has been an emotional rollar coaster for me but thanks to the love and support of my good friends, I made it through. I learned a lot about myself, my family, my friend and life. I will never stop missing him and I am super pissed about all of the things I won't get to share with him but I do feel blessed for all of the good years we did have.

5) Work is insanely busy but really fulfilling. I am finding it a little hard to believe that I am editing four titles, it's kind of a lot for someone who never wanted to be an editor. Tiny Titans is really finding an audience and I am so proud. I am hoping that Free Comic Book Day made even more people fall in love with it. Here are Art & Franco at their Challenger's FCBD signing...

6) Speaking of Challengers Comics, check out my best friend Patrick's new store. I can sit and watch him on the store cam for hours. Sometimes he even comes out and waves at me :) This is an awesome store... so go buy stuff.

And last but not least, here is Samcat finding a new way to drink.....

Hedgehogs are friggen awesome. I really can’t tell you more than that. It was so hard to go to work yesterday and leave Sticky!! I couldn’t get home fast enough to see him. And boy did he give me a scare.

Domesticated hedgehogs need to be kept warm, at least 70 degrees. I keep my place around 65, which I learned is just too cold for him. When I pulled him out of his cage, he was rolled into a tight ball.

It took him forever to unroll and when he did I noticed he was shivering and he was cold. I freaked out and immediatly looked up hedgehog hibernation on the interweb. Hedgehogs should never go into hibernation and I had to warm him up. One website suggested him to keep him close to your body to get his temp back up so I promptly stuck Sticky down my shirt. He warmed up nicely and unfolded himself slowly.

So I learned two lessons... 1)Turn up the heat in my apartment and 2)Sticky likes to sleep inside my shirt (no perverted comments, please). And now I will leave you with something so cute it will make your teeth hurt....

Isn’t he adorable....

And our first photo together...

I was in Maryland again this weekend, visiting the very fabulous Kho’s!! I just love them and I don’t get to see them nearly enough. WonderCon was our last time together but the the craziness of conventions, it’s just not enough. So Friday night I drove down after work, I drove straight through and rather quickly (I made it in three hours). This was all so we could eat dinner at my favorite korean joint in Maryland.

As a general rule, korean restaurants are usually open rather late so I figured we would be fine on time. I picked J & K up at 10:00 p.m. and drove like a lunatic to the restaurant. The bad news was the place is closed but the good news is that it’s only closed for renovation. I was relieved to see that they would be open again in only two weeks but I was still starved.

Unfortunately their part of Maryland everything shuts down pretty early so it was a race to find someplace open. We settled on Red Lobster, for the seafood lover in me, and we had a lovely meal!! It was great to catch up with them and I told them all about my latest obsession, to own a hedgehog. Jody immediatly said, "You could call him Sticky", she is a genius.

We went back to their place, which is nicer than any Westin or W hotel you have ever been to, to watch awesome crappy horror movies. Miss Jody also got me some amazing MAC products!! Have I mentioned my awesome friends?

Saturday morning was Chick-Fil-A for breakfast!! I love Chick-Fil-A and sadly there are none by me. I swear they put crack in the chicken!! After yet another awesome crappy movie, we left for the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.

They surprised me with a stop for dim sum and that made my day even better!! I am a total sucker for dim sum. It was an awesome place and each cart looked better than the next.

After eating copious amountsas of delicious MSG ladden snacks, we got on the DC Subway and headed to the Mall. The weather was beautiful and it seemed like all of DC was out to see the trees and they were lovely.

Post Cherry Blossom viewing, they took me to 7-11 for a slurpee. The day just keeps getting more awesome. They had a ton of super sweet lenticular Iron Man cups and straws but I settled for a good old fashioned blue slurpee..

Our next stop was an exotic pet store that Miss Jody found on the interweb. This place just happened to carry hedgehogs. When we got there, we found a big pen of hedgehogs. Each one was cuter than the last. There were some tiny babies (8 weeks) and some older ones (4 months). I decided on an older model, as I always feel like the younger ones have a better shot at getting picked. There was a rather fiesty Pinto male and I plunked down my plastic and brought him home.

Turns out there was a reason this young man didn’t have a home, he’s completely crazy!! It started with him scratching his backside for twenty minutes and finished with him running in circles till 3:00 a.m. It turns out there are four basic types of hedgehogs: cuddlers, loners, runners and sleepers. I am the type of owner suited to a cuddler or a sleeper. After a tough night of debating what to do, I woke up knowing I needed a different hedgehog.

I called the pet store and they were awesome and said I could exchange him. Lucky for me, the pet store was on the way home. The whole exchange was easy as pie and I found the hedgehog of my dreams. Ladies and Gents, meet Sticky Jones aka Don Prickles the Hedgehog.

Seriously folks, could he be any cuter?