The day I got a turquoise couch

About one month ago, I ordered a turquoise couch from Target for the quaint living room area within my bedroom.

So posh.

Sadly, my couch was on backorder for two to four weeks, but I knew it would be worth the wait.

Yesterday afternoon, I got the email I had been eagerly anticipating since mid-August.

MY SHIPMENT HAD ARRIVED!!!

The only problem?

The box was almost bigger than me. And I live on the third floor.

Mayday! Mayday!

How was I going to get this giant thing up all of those stairs?

Naturally, I sent off a Snapchat image of the giant box and drew a stick figure girl (adorable) attempting to carry it up the dozens of stairs to all of my friends.

Very logical solution to the problem.

About half an hour later, there was a knock at the back door.

It was the house handy man (AKA Kelsey's fiancé) in shining armor!

Taylor can build and fix everything. And he is one of the nicest human beings you'll ever meet.

And he had arrived to construct my turquoise couch (first taking it up the stairs, of course)!

With the Bengals football game on TV, Melissa and I lounged and enjoyed a few bières (Don't worry. Taylor also had a Bud Light- we aren't that rude) as Taylor worked on my sofa.

Because he has a heart of gold and all.

And now, I'd like to present to you the finished product...

Lovely, isn't it?

It's the perfect place to watch TV, do homework, read a book...the sky's the limit!

Thank you, God, for this wonderful new addition to my room.

And for sending Taylor to build it for me.

Seriously. This sofa would be still sitting in its box in the foyer if it wasn't for his heroics.

Mindy returns!

I first discovered my love of Mindy Kaling in December 2011.

My dad bought me Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) during our trip to the bookstore to celebrate my 22nd birthday.

I creepily found the need to pose with a BOOK on my birthday. Completely normal.

I came home that cold, winter day and flipped Mindy's memoir open to the first chapter, which was titled, "Chubby for Life."

Something I could relate to already!

Needless to say, I flew through Mindy's book. How had I only known Mindy as Kelly Kapowski? She was so much more than that...!

Keeping with my pattern of arriving late to the party, I just recently started watching The Mindy Project this past summer following months of Libby recommending the show and more than a few people saying, "Have you seen The Mindy Project? You remind me so much of her!"

I bought season 1 from Amazon as soon as it was released in August, and to put it mildly, I am obsessed.

Utterly obsessed.

Let's get the obvious out of the way- Mindy and this show are hysterical.

Beyond the witty dialogue and hilarious situations though, The Mindy Project features an extraordinary cast. Each character adds something special to the show, and all of their varied personalities work together perfectly.

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There are an incredible amount of relatable moments in The Mindy Project for any twenty or thirty something single woman, and this show manages to find laughable moments in those less than ideal situations every lady of this group occasionally finds herself in.

On top of all of that, Mindy's style from her wardrobe to her apartment decor?

Amazing.

Just...amazing.

Of course, doctors Jeremy Reed and Danny Castellano aren't so bad to look at either.

Swoon City.

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I am so looking forward to the season 2 premiere tomorrow night! Eeeeeep!

Any other Mindy fans out there?

The Great Chicken Hunt

Grocery shopping is one of my favorite activities.

I love eating, and I love food.

So naturally, I quite enjoy trips to Kroger.

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Tonight, I stopped by a Kroger location that I'm not very familiar with. I've only been to this Kroger a handful of times and to make matters worse? The entire store was under construction!

It was a bit of a nightmare navigating my way through my list.

"Excuse me?" I said to the butcher once I had made it to meat section. "Do you know where the lemon herb chicken is?"

He scratched his head and thought for a moment.

"Uh, it comes in a bag...about this big?" I motioned awkwardly with my hands.

"Honey, I don't think we have anything like that. Who makes it?"

"Kroger! I buy it every week!"

He nodded, but I could tell he still wasn't exactly following me. We walked around the meat section together, poking our heads into freezers and leaning over cases as he held up bag after bag of frozen chicken, none of which was my beloved lemon herb variety.

He was quite a character, to be honest.

But I probably would have found his jokes more humorous if I had a bag of chicken in my possession.

"Shoot. I don't know what to tell you," he shrugged helplessly. "If you still can't find it later, come back over here, and I'll get my boss. But...I just don't think we have that chicken."

Really? I'm not buying that, butcher.

"No big deal!" I waved my hand as if this wasn't a care in the world when in fact, it was a huge care in the world. An absolute monstrosity. I ate that chicken all of the time. I would have to go to another Kroger to get it! This was so terrible. "Thanks anyway!"

I finished my shopping and then weaved my way back through the aisles, now determined to find this stupid chicken.

I would show him! Lemon herb chicken did exist in microwavable breast form!

And suddenly...there it was. Next to the Teriyaki chicken in one of the frozen aisles, a bit hidden in the chaos of the construction.

I greedily grabbed a bag, tempted to hug it to my chest.

Then, I hurried back to the meat department, eager to show the butcher what I had found.

"Look!" I practically shouted, startling the poor man who was stocking one of the cases. "I FOUND IT!"

"Well, look at that! It does exist!" he laughed, shaking his head. "You aren't one of those secret shoppers, right? Because I'd be in big trouble considering I was absolutely no help to you. And told you we didn't even carry that stuff."

"I wish," I sighed, "but really, I cannot tell you how happy I am. I love this chicken. I really, really love this chicken."

I then basically gave an ode to Kroger lemon herb chicken, and the butcher nodded in appreciation.

After I finished my speech, he gave me a high five.

"Whoa there! Sorry. That was harder than I meant it to be!" he exclaimed. "Probably because I work out."

"Don't high five her that hard! She's a girl!" Another butcher called out.

"I can take it. I work out, too," I replied evenly, my I went to all-girls school so don't you dare say anything chauvinistic to me attitude emerging. "Thank you for your help earlier."

"I am just glad you found your chicken. See ya next time!" he waved, as I made my way towards the checkout.

Weirdly, I think I will be going back to that Kroger.

Computer Lab 1, Jenna 0

I walked over to campus early tonight so that I could print my paper before class.

It should have been so simple.

Which is usually when things go terribly awry.

When I entered the computer lab, I was pleasantly surprised to see a handful of computers available. I quickly took a seat in front of one of the beautiful iMacs. When I toggled the mouse, the screen awakened.

While the monitors were Apple, the systems running on them were Windows.

There is probably a more appropriate way to say that, but I've never claimed to be a tech-savvy, now have I?

CTRL + ALT + DLT

Right then- I could do that to log in!

Except I couldn't. Because the Mac keyboards were different, and I couldn't for the life of me remember where the square delete key was located.

I sat there like an idiot poking around until I finally managed to log into my account.

I opened my document and sent it to the printer.

Good and good.

When I went over to the printer area though, there was a guy disassembling the entire thing!

NOT GOOD.

"Is there a problem?" I asked stupidly.

The guy looked up. He was handsome in a rugged techie kind of way.

Maybe we would fall in love!

"Well, kids...you see...it was the funniest thing! Dad helped Mom print out her paper before class, and the rest is history!"

"The printer has a massive jam," he sighed. "How many pages is your print job?"

"Just two," I smiled, inexplicably proud of my short paper as if I was bragging about a tiny waistline or something (which I'll never have to brag about).

"Great," he nodded, definitely polite but also definitely not falling in love with me. "Let's try it and see if it works. It's been jamming after four pages so your job might be okay."

I fumbled around a bit before remembering where to scan my ID card.

BEEP BEEP!

Card number invalid.

The guy looked at me quizzically.

"Right. I don't know why it's doing that," I murmured, swiping my card unsuccessfully a second and third time. "Huh."

"These readers can be so slow. Mind if I try?" IT Guy gallantly swiped my card, his motion smooth and strong. He was clearly an expert card swiper. "Let's see here."

But it failed. Again.

"Something is wrong with your card."

Embarrassed of my stupid ID, I thanked him for all of his help and glanced at the time.

It was almost 6 o'clock!

I sent my professor a hasty email with the document attached and scurried off to class. Sans paper.

Computer Lab 1, Jenna 0.

Celebrity Doppelgänger (kind of)

I don't have one of those faces.

"You look so much like someone I know!"

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like insert name of gorgeous celebrity here?"

The extent of my doppelgänger experience has been limited to a group of drunk people deciding I resembled Kate Bosworth (How many jello shots have you guys been downing?), and my grandma declaring, "You look just like that Brittany Snow actress!"*

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Of course, my grandma would probably look at Carrie Underwood and shake her head, "Oh, Carrie's beautiful and all, but you should see my Jenna."

Because that's just how grandmothers are, especially ones as loving as mine.

This morning though...this morning, my life was was changed forever.

I received an email that my friend had posted on my Facebook wall. When I went to see what she had written, I almost gasped.

I texted my friend right away- was she just kidding? Could this be true?

"I am totally serious! I was looking at it while drying my hair thinking, 'Who does this look like?'"

I was practically glowing.

No, I was totally glowing.

I instantly took out my phone and used its camera to examine my nose and side profile.

I will never have Kate's lovely figure or her long, dark hair.

But I might just have a similar looking nose (and profile!).

And that is one amazing self-esteem boost.

I hope people don't start mistaking me for Princess Kate!

I wouldn't want rumors of Kate hiding a Target addiction to begin.

*I was wearing hair extensions and had a very talented friend do my makeup that day.

My brother turned 27. Whoa.

Tonight, my family went out to celebrate my older brother's 27th birthday.

We had dinner at Maggiano's, which was delicious as always.

"I'll have a side chopped salad, and the..." I awkwardly paused and pointed to fancy Italian entree name  on the menu. The waiter stared at me. "...uh, this...um...chicken dish with lemon butter..."

Still no help.

He was going to make me struggle.

"The Chicken Fran...fra...francese?" I managed.

"Ah, the Chicken Francese," he replied in perfect Italian.

Jerk.

Anyway, despite my being forced to botch up the beautiful Italian language, dinner was marvelous.

Afterwards, we went to Joel's place and had cake and ice cream with his roommates. Except he was sneaky and secretly cut the cake himself before we could put candles in or sing!

His loss- he is minus one birthday wish now.

I still cannot believe my older brother is 27-years-old.

He's always been the absolute best big brother anyone could ever hope for.

I can remember perpetually following him around as a child and having to confirm everything with him. I would end each of my statements with, "...right, Joel?"

"We're going to a Reds game tonight...right, Joel?"

"Mom is making us piggy in the blankets for lunch...right, Joel?"

And so on and so forth.

He never got annoyed or mad. He would just nod and confirm, "Right, Jenna. Right."

When he made his First Communion at the age of 8, Joel asked our mom if he could use some of his gift money to buy me a doll I had been wanting.

In high school, when I was an awkward-looking freshman (think braces, round cheeks, and those terrible Hollister jean skirts), Joel and his cool senior friends would say hello to me and make me feel like less of a dork.

Every Valentine's Day, Joel will bring me a bottle of wine or a bunch of chocolate over.

He always checks in on me and makes sure everything is okay in my life despite his very crazy work schedule.

Happy 27th birthday, Joel!

I love you very much, and I am so fortunate to call you my big brother.

Here is hoping that this is your best year yet!

...right, Joel?

"Um...it really just has to be Leaves."

Thursday evening after work, I sped off for my favorite mall.

Since it was a gorgeous September day outside, the mall was much less crowded than usual, which made me feel quite happy.

Then, I saw THIS for the first time with my very own eyes.

And I felt euphoric.

Pulling myself away from the beauty that was before me, I walked down to the nearby Bath & Body Works, which was where my main mission at the mall was to take place.

My coworker had told me about a special B&B was having with their candles- 3 mason jar sized ones for $20.

I quickly located two of my favorites, Pumpkin Cupcake and Autumn, but the creme de la creme of all fall scents was missing.

Leaves.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me where your mason jar sized Leaves candles are?" I asked a nearby associate.

"Sure thing!" she replied cheerfully.

She scanned the shelves quickly, a frown crossing her face.

"Hmm...hmmm..." She opened a few drawers, her bewilderment increasing. "This is strange. Maybe we are all sold out?"

I followed her around the shop like a loyal Golden Retriever or something as she looked high and low for the Leaves candles.

"How do you feel about Marshmallow Fireside?" She held a candle beneath my nose.

"No, thank you."

"Farmstand Apple? Spiced Cider? Harvest Coffee?"

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The candles were flying at me now, the associate so eager to help me.

"Um...it really just has to be Leaves. I'm sorry. It's the only one I want," I replied, feeling apologetic and terribly particular, like I was the jerk who just had to have Leaves. "These are all really great scents! It's just...I only want Leaves."

She nodded somberly. She understood.

Then...something caught my eye across the store.

It was a lone medium sized candle of LEAVES!

"Oh my God! Look!" I exclaimed merrily. "It's Leaves!"

So I left Bath & Body Works that night with three of my favorite scents.

Oh, how divine my bedroom smells now.