ya'll are fancy!

we got fancy. i mean-- fancy. we donned our black dresses and heels. we walked the red carpet. we ate truffle oil and lobster macaroni in a place dripped with diamond-studded peacock feathers and black-lace chandeliers. invite only. black and white apparel. yes, that kind of gala.

and then we dipped into the free stoli. and a couple dirty martinis later... we tested how many people you can fit into a photo booth, made friends with the media, and danced our way down broadway passing out peacock feathers to all.

turns out life is really fun. like, ridiculously fun.

m + a

the new house is... (how can i describe the new house in a way that will evoke calmness+excitement+enthrallment+brilliance+laughs+snuggles+drinks+cooking+shock+gasp+music+art+happiness+more+more+more all at the same time?)...magic. my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. my eyes are tired from so much fun. my fingers have a constant garlic tinge to them (so much cooking!). needless to say. it's magic.

and you know what else is magic? the flannel scarf i have on today (thanks, karine!), the pumpkin beer i drank last night, the tights i had to wear yesterday.... this autumn crispness really crisps my life up. in a good way. yes, a very good way.

xoxo. all my magic+autumn love.

oh, ps. have i mentioned? this is the view from our new home....

tee hee! <3

the move.

it's always so odd to approach the end of an era. you have been living in it for so long that it has become the normal.....you forget what it's like to move forward. but at the same time you are anticipating the future so strongly.... you forget what it's like to live in the present.

it's that melancholy nostalgia that really bites you....


this past year has been one of living alone in a beautiful gingerbread-house apartment building. it's been independent, proving to myself that "hell yes i can live alone and thrive!" it's been one of parties and plans and go-go-go-never-miss-a-beat-always-running-to-the-next-thing-because-there's-always-the-next-thing-and-no-time-to-rest-must-fit-it-all-fun (phew, that sentence exhausted me!). it has been a beautiful year, and i owe so much of that to my stunning home.

photo by Allison O'Connor: http://urbanresearch.wordpress.com/

it's odd for me to be at a loss of words about everything that this gingerbread house was to me... but i am. i don't know how to describe to you how it built me, helped me grow, helped me mature, made me wiser. i don't know how to evoke the emotions that came with that dim lighting, that stained glass, that blue floor, that clawfoot tub. i'm unsure how to convey to you the beauty of this year. it was warm. it was solitary. it was good.

photo by Allison O'Connor: http://urbanresearch.wordpress.com/

 

and thus, while i am at a loss of how to writalize (verbalize? but in writing? get it? oh god i'm sleep deprived) this place to it's fullest, i know this much: i'll carry this with me to the next era. i'll carry these things (so many things!) and this feeling and these memories and stories and moments. gingerbread house, you've been lovely, but it's time for me to go. and here i go!

because change is good. and beautiful. and exhilarating. and refreshing.

and thus, it is on to the next era. upward. onward. the forward move. i raise my glass to karina and erin and jill and emily and sophie and sean who will be my lovely roommates this year, cheers to my best friends. i raise my glass to our 3.5 story home and view and jacuzzi and balconies and fireplace and sunroom and chandelier. clink*clink*cheers*cheers!

we smile. we look around. and then we say, "this will be our year, took a long time to come."

i've got the spins.

i love when i look down at my left wrist and see the small streak of pink, that scratch still healing in its tenderness. you know the one? the day that my brother and i did a photoshoot in michigan... i defiantly fought gravity and climbed the apple tree, provoking scratches and smiles galore. that streak on my left wrist? well, it reminds me of home.

i love when i close my eyes to blink and they stay put for a full beat. you know that feeling? it is exhaustion at it's finest, begging me to prolong the blink just...as...long...as...possible. but, alas, through the heaviness of these weighed down eyelids comes the memories that make them such. why sleep when there are so many cheers to cheer, so many snuggles to snug, and so many giggles to gig? the ever-lasting blinks? well, they remind me of how happy i am.

i love when my phone battery wears itself out and withers away. certainly for one moment frustration shows his face, but frustration succumbs to more important things. it succumbs to being free of constant communication and to plans made by door-knocks. soon i am not thinking of the time or the text or the voicemail, but instead i am thinking of the present. when my phone dies? well, it helps me slow down.

i love when i eat spicy food and my lips tingle and burn. besides the fact that the taste running through my body is worth it in and of itself,  it also is so telling of how well my skin is clearing up. that burn? well, that reminds me that things are changing.

i love when i hop into mazey and after a couple of moments that daunting orange light comes on. "check engine," she screams. it is mystery so enticing-- what could it be? my guess? she's just a tired little thing from running around: airports and bellinghams and oregons galore. she must be tired. ok, my pretty lady, let's rest. when the check engine light goes on? well, it reminds me of where i've been.

sometimes you just a new spin on things.

<3

le petit été

it's the first day of summer.

it's fifty degrees.

it's the first day of summer school.

oui monsieur!

<3

tula.

to my travel buddy. to my giggle buddy. to my adventure buddy. to my personal weather man. to somebody who helps me see the world through ever-inspired eyes. to a dreamer and a changer and a transformer and a man of wisdom and knowledge. to a kid at heart. to someone who taught me to take the world by the hand and dance with it. to rice and raisins. to "well b's and g's." to cowboy songs. toby keith. sunday popcorn. apple fights. ROCKS. (to stealing rocks from places all over the world. shhhhh.) to somebody who inspires knowledge and craves learning. to nine fingers and clubbed thumbs. to traveling abroad. to a role-model and an unabashed life-lover.

to my dear papi-tula.

cheers to you on this father's day. i love you so.

sans int.

my internetability is limited to a few minutes these days. it's limited to the few minutes i'm at my friend's houses, to the few minutes i sit and sip coffee down the street, to a very few minutes.

i gots no internets at home!

(so sorry for the anti-updates.)

michigan.

when your sissy is home and your days are full and you're sick of school and you need a break.....

you just want to go home.

it's real?

we prance around street fairs.

we listen to family bands sing "wagon wheel."we cry.

we eat cheese.

we eat cheese cake.

we buy coolbars and surprise friends on balconies.

we barbeque in the sun.

we sing dolly and mariah and hall & oates.

we dance dance dance dance dance.

we dress up for masquerades in sequined barets and sun-hats and heart-glasses and fur hats and fur coats. we take pictures in the streets.

we a-bar.

we dance on rooftops and talk about family.

we are alive. alive. alive. alive. 

dear weekends like these,

please don't ever end. 

i love you.

-m

when squirrels enter.

got home last night from a party to a kitchen full of broken dishes.

"i think something was here?" oh well-- leave it for the morning light, leave it for tomorrow.

and with tomorrow now today, and with my lil' head resting for a nap, i hear a crash. a boom. a crush. a bang bang bang. up i jump (disturbed my nap!) in i run (it's a really long way from the bedroom to the kitch, ya know?) ready to attack.

and there he stands.

a squirrel. wreaking havoc on my life.

that bastard.