Live, Love, Ramble

Digital Moving

2010-10-16T11:44:00.002-04:00

I finally made the move to Wordpress. Follow me there!

http://liveloveramble.wordpress.com/

A little bit of this...

2010-10-11T21:46:00.009-04:00

Sometimes I miss life in Corvallis. College town bliss, football season, fall leaves and generally awesome people. Then I discovered Burlington, Vermont, this weekend. Collin and I didn't get to stay very long (don't go on the most popular weekend at the last minute and realize there's no where to stay except a smokey room for one night) but we loved every minute of it. The college students, the great architecture, the waterfront, the boutique style stores - the home of Ben & Jerry's! I can't wait to go back and stay at an adorable B&B to get the full experience of this town.
On the other hand, New York City seems to be self destructing. Tonight was interrupted by another random massive storm. And with hail this time? What. The. Heck. I'm just glad I've been inside for all these disastrous storms. Maybe I earned my credits after all the Corvallis storms that soaked me. Living in a place that rains constantly, but usually never hard, means I rarely brought an umbrella with me anywhere. When I moved to New York I was so confused by this constant need for an umbrella. Nasty, nasty storms, NYC. Not cool.

My new favorite website

2010-10-06T11:55:00.008-04:00

I'm really fascinated by tumblrs right now, although I still have no desire to start my own. I keep imagining how crazy it would be to have tumblr and all this social media in high school. Yikes. I got in enough trouble with AIM!

Also, less than two weeks until C and I go to the PNW and figure out where we will be moving. I'm so ready to move.

Fuck Yeah Felines!

Will they, won't they...

2010-09-29T19:00:00.006-04:00

Have you ever hoped - I mean, really hoped - for the positive diagnosis of a disease, injury or infection? No, just me? It's been five months and I feel like super-crazy hypochondriac girl. But I have to assume that constantly having a high temperature and almost dying/being unable to breath/intense rib pain while running 0.4 miles is probably not normal. And those are just the major symptoms. And I may have exaggerated the "almost dying" part.

I've ruled out several causes this summer and I'm about ready to give up figuring this out. Actually, I had broken up with my desire to diagnose this ailment, but I went crawling back last week asking the doctors to try once more.

Now I'm waiting back on some more test results. And I have to consider filling a prescription to test another theory. And I have to decide whether or not to call in my referral to a cardiologist. I may have Cobra coverage for my health insurance after being laid off, but basically, all of this blows.

All I know is what I'm feeling is not right, but Googling only gets you so far in trying to put a name to your problems. (And it also always convinces me I'm dying. So. Not the best idea.) I might as well wait until some major symptom knocks me out and gets me diagnosed.
I love watching House. I've even got Collin watching it now from the beginning. (Score one more for my TV education of the boy!) I would love to have someone throw me in a room with a real House team and have someone figure out what the eff is wrong with me. I also love Dead Poets Society. Who else watched House for the first time and went "OMG, it's that dude!" when they saw Dr. Wilson? I want to go watch that movie again.

On a lighter note, my cat has absolutely zero tolerance for change. Moving furniture around, vacuuming, taking things off the wall, cleaning the windows... it all disturbs her inner calm. Apparently. With the potential/likely move on the horizon, this does not bode well for the furry woman in our lives. Kitty Valium, anyone? Anyway, this is the look of a cat frozen with fear.

Where Do I Go?

2010-09-21T15:37:00.008-04:00

I have no idea where I'll be six months from now. Not simply in the broad sense of "will I have a job, will I be happy, will I find my purpose?" Although that counts too. Quite literally, I do not know where my body will be in a few months. The anticipation is killing me. It's not completely up to me, you see.

I've learned, being part of a couple, that thinking about the other person's happiness is pretty important. While I'm sure people will see this potential move as me doing it for him rather than with him, just read on and you might understand. Now, what's on the table, you ask? The possible locations for Collin's grad school and our general future:

University of Washington (Seattle)
Portland State University (Portland)
University of Oregon (Eugene. Ducks. I'm a Beaver. Noooo!)
Eastern Washington University (Spokane)

Still, we could end up staying in NYC. Initially the idea freaked me out - "What?! I can't leave! It's only been two years!" I have started to warm to the idea... of change, of new opportunities, of a bigger apartment (seriously. hah). I'd feel stronger about staying if I had something bigger going on in NYC, but my dream job isn't falling in my lap, mainly because I haven't figured it out yet.

Add in my love of the PNW (and Fred Meyer!), my four years of college in Oregon and friends out there, and the idea of mixing things up again isn't so scary. I've embraced all the crazy, random, serendipitous opportunities that have fallen in my lap in the past, so why not now?

No matter what, I'd feel a great deal of sadness leaving New York. Friends, Brooklyn, musicals, etc. - everything about living here. But I'd be back. All the time. Just like when I lived on the west coast before. A few week-long trips a year would obviously be necessary.

I'll check back at the end of October with the decision.

My Favorite Speech from American Idiot

2010-09-21T14:32:00.010-04:00

"December 7th: Dear Dad... or God or whatever. I sold my guitar to get a bus ticket home. I met the girl of my dreams, but I'm dead to her now.

So. I'm coming home... in victory, arms open wide, sitting by a Greyhound toilet...

First stop, convenience store! I've got lies to tell - glory never felt so good! Justice was served - you were just too stupid to notice. That's why I love you.

P.S. Take a fuckin' shower!"

More travel and old blogging past

2010-09-14T21:28:00.013-04:00

It's lovely back in NYC, especially with the weather shifting slowly to fall. The onset of the fall allergies... not so lovely. Still, I'm happy to have some permanence in the city again for now. Alaska was great, as was LA (err, PV really), but doing both trips over the course of 2.5 weeks was quite the travel overload. And in a month Collin and I will be traveling again. (More on that at a later date...)
the job hunt continues... and stalls

When looking for jobs, I often will Google my name to see what shows up on the first page. I've done a lot of writing for several publications, so articles will show up in various forms. Other weird things pop up sometimes, thanks to site aggregates in relation to news, Twitter or personal data. Reading articles about "the future of privacy" make me a little nervous, but at the same time, clearing out your online world is a lot to tackle.

Then I came up with a new idea and decided to search my usual username. What did I find? Oh, just my old Diaryland account. Diaryland... wtf? Yes. From high school. Good lord I was such an angsty teen, and my writing is a surprising display of my immaturity at the time. (While re-reading my hand-written diaries I tend to marvel at how well I expressed myself... go figure.) Realizing I have this information still online is pretty weird.

beach and sun are way more fun with someone

It had been almost nine months since I was last home. Having Collin come with me was so much fun. I may require him to always come from now on. I'm not a huge fan of freeway driving or LA roads, but we went on some great adventures I wouldn't normally do. We found Collin's home from the first few years of his life in Pasadena and rode all the way down Sunset Boulevard. We even saw the LA IAC building, which was exciting for a second. We visited with my high school friends at OHOP - Original House of Pancakes, which I only just learned originated in Portland, OR. We met up with Collin's NYU friends currently in LA at a seriously delicious Mexican place in Santa Monica - I had forgotten how much I liked that area. I made sure we scouted out Mexican food during the whole trip, obviously. We had plenty of beach time. We even played tennis. All in four days - good times.

Oh, hi.

2010-08-28T16:06:00.007-04:00

Collin and I have returned from Alaska today. We left Friday evening. Not unlike the long trip over there, I feel very disoriented right now. And we must make ourselves stay awake until a decent hour, although neither of us slept much on the red-eye.

I may have rocked out listening to the American Idiot cast album multiple times in a row... which for the record, is not great when you're trying to sleep and Tony Vincent's voice jumps out in "Know Your Enemy." Woah, wake up! However, bribing me to climb steep mountains with playing the cast album on drives works very well. After seeing the show twice the week before leaving on this trip, I'm sort of verging on obsession in terms of seeing the show again. There is so much to analyze and watch and discover each time! Theater junkie needs her fix.

We had several moose sightings and one black bear with cub encounter on a path. There's a lot of "bear-anoia," so you spend most of your hikes talking loudly and making noise, but bear encounters almost never end badly. Still kind of freaky, though. But I was wearing plaid flannel, so I felt powerful.

Why yes, I did win a stuffed monkey in the claw machine at Fred Meyer

Anchorage and the surrounding areas are beyond gorgeous. Not only did it remind me of Oregon, but they had Fred Meyers too! Everyone needs to experience a Fred Meyer in their life. It's everything you need in one place. And there will always be something you need at Freddy's.

I should stop because I know I can't make much more sense the way my brain feels right now. Later we shall adventure to dinner somewhere nearby and continue to adjust to the hot temps here. NYC decided to be a jerk and have cool weather while we were gone. UNCOOL.

Speaking of Adventures...

2010-08-10T16:25:00.010-04:00

This year is quite the year of travel for me. In the past the majority of my travels led me to spend time in NYC (so surprising I decided to move here, huh?), but I haven't been to that many different places.

Well, it looks like traveling is the other addiction I've appropriated from Collin along with coffee. It's kind of awesome. Now I just need a ton of money, I've already got the free time! A glimpse at this year's adventures and what is to come:

JanuaryEuropean getaway to Rome and Naples

March

Friend visiting in Seattle, Corvallis and Portland

May

Spontaneous trip to Newport, Rhode Island

JulyFamily vacation in Telluride, Colorado

August

Why not visit Anchorage, Alaska?

SeptemberVisiting my family and my beach in Palos Verdes, California

What will the remaining three months bring? Maybe another European adventure? Or a New Orleans visit? There are many options on the (admittedly dorky) list I've posted on our kitchen wall.

Just Another Adventure

2010-08-09T09:50:00.007-04:00

I can often be a high-strung person. A control freak, if you will. Somehow, though, when it comes to travel, I never get too ruffled when things go wrong. I've been hassled an unbelievable amount of times trying to fly out of PDX during college, spent epic hours trying to cross the border into Canada on a road trip and have run like hell to meet a plane connection across an airport (twice), among other adventures.

Most recently, C and I have run into issues traveling by plane and by bus. Sometimes when you try to fly to Colorado, you get delayed several hours, stuck on a plane, miss your connection, get another flight later to a different airport and wind up at your destination 24 hour later.

Or, say, you take Megabus from NYC to Philly on an unassuming Friday afternoon, but your driver decides to drive off course and mumble incoherently, then pulls over in middle-of-nowhere New Jersey with a popped tire, causing passengers to make some new friends and take taxis at a discounted rate into Philly. Plus side? I found a ten-pound note in our car. Woo!

In other news, there is no news. This week will be a busy one, but after a weekend in Philly with C's family there isn't much to report. Except that I should probably stay away from Forever 21 in the future, since they're causing me to increase my cat t-shirt collection.
No, I was not aware this was a kid's shirt when I found it. And no, I have no shame that I still had to buy it anyway.

A much smaller adventure we had was arriving at C's mom's house when no one was home. Luckily there were alert kitties to monitor our presence.
Have I mentioned I'm the crazy cat lady? Because I am.

From Romper to Jumper

2010-08-02T15:48:00.007-04:00

There are days where I get antsy and don't know what to do with myself. And when it's been a thousand degrees plus humidity, taking a stroll in the neighborhood isn't the best idea. Thankfully, the weather is no longer so bad. C and I managed to make the most of the nice days with a 6-mile hike on Friday and 36-mile bike ride on Saturday. What to do on Monday when everyone else is at a real job? Crafty project, of course.

I bought this romper last summer at a thrift shop in Brooklyn, knowing it was too big but figuring I could make the most of it as-is. But I never wore it outside the house except when I was heading out to get covered in fur while hanging out with some kitties. (Mini the cat makes more sneak appearances in my pictures.)

I figured I could turn the shorts into a skirt and take off the straps to create a halter top. I (still) don't have a sewing machine or any real sewing materials (pins and fabric scissors, I need), so I had to do my best with tight hand-stitching and eye-balling measurements.

Basically, the work was successful, but just like in all sewing projects where I cut corners, there are some drawbacks. The length of the romper isn't really conducive to a skirt, so practical wear is only achievable with leggings. The skirts is also a little tight - it seems I forgot about having hips for a minute there. I still love working on designs, even if they don't work out. Learning is fun, right? Although designs are way cooler when they're easily wearable.
As my brain gets exhausted hunting down jobs and wondering just when I'll hit the line where I give up finding my next career and just find a paycheck to fill my days, I feel my craving for creativity grow and grow. You'll be seeing me at more Broadway shows, cutting up and sewing my clothes and wandering around the city finding places to write and think. I'd been so lucky up to this point, so now that I'm jobless and direction-less, I'm a little frustrated to feel the need to create and do things without knowing what I really want to do. Is my quarter-life crisis coming early?

Easily Amused

2010-07-26T09:19:00.002-04:00

When life hands you a weird cat, you make videos.

I has a bike. What I do wif it?

2010-07-06T13:57:00.003-04:00

In honor of my 100th post, I give you this:
My first time on a bike in yearrrrrssss. My first time on a bike since I said "I don't do bikes" all through college. My first time on a bike in New York City. Granted, it was 6 am on a holiday weekend so the street were empty, but it was still the most awesome bike ride ever, especially with my ever-wonderful tour guide.

(Reference picture, courtesy of FiLife memories.)

Reasons to Love LA

2010-06-30T09:13:00.010-04:00

I never thought I'd actually say that I love LA, considering I've been there a handful of times in my life and have no desire to ever return to live there - my hometown is on the beach nearby, great to visit but not to stay (sorry fam!). A few recent events, however, have made me say 'hooray LA!' for once. Being unemployed with a mysterious illness makes it easy to sit on your bum all day and watch YouTube videos.

First up, In The Heights is on tour in LA right now, and the show's creator/original star is joining the cast for the LA stop. And because cool things happen with or around Lin, it only makes sense that a flash mob did a number while he was eating lunch at Universal City Walk.

The city walk isn't technically that great, but I have some great memories from high school. I stalked Shia LaBeouf during his Even Stevens fame, met O-Town at the Hard Rock Cafe after winning tickets on the radio (hello 16th birthday present to me!) and then met Jared Padalecki (Gilmore Girls hottie) that very same night. So I believe in the magic that is Universal City Walk... cue corny music.

Now cue the flash mob:

Now, what do I love more than musicals and boy bands and stalking? Kitties, that's right. This ice cream shop in LA is selling directly to me when they launched their campaign that says nothing about their store, but says everything about their love for cat videos.

I was already hooked when I saw the official video.

Than I fell in love... and fell over laughing, at this video:

Then there's this small clothing company in LA that I had to do some digging to find. I saw this amazing cat shirt on ModCloth.com but it was sold out before I could get my hands on it. In comes unemployment boredom, and I decide to try to find the company. Turns out this LA company usually only does wholesale in Japan, but a simple inquiry led me to a wonderful person at Cameron Hawaii and I was able to purchase this shirt, which will soon be in my possession. (Best shirt evarrrr. I may wear it every day. Because I can.)

And those are my reasons to love LA right now. I may also be thinking this way since I'll (hopefully) be visiting my family in August. If only it didn't cost so much to fly across the country. So annoying.

Community.

2010-06-18T17:33:00.008-04:00

Love. Can't believe it took me this long to start watching.

I sure do love new dart

2010-06-16T19:51:00.006-04:00

Yeah, yeah, I haven't been blogging lately. Rhode Island was awesome (and sun-burny) and one of my best friends spent the last 4 days in NYC (amazing but exhausssting). Woo! And still no job. Boo! Boo? Whatever.

Anywho... while I don't have new-dart (HIMYM reference, for the winners), I do have new art. Have to keep that boy in line with all his maps.

And we're off!

2010-05-25T12:45:00.002-04:00

Random last minute trip planning has C and I driving to Newport, Rhode Island, for a few days. Turns out that finding last minute airfare under $400 is tricky. Guess that was just wishful thinking. However, I'm excited to check out this non-Californian Newport (how strange all the cities, street names, parks, etc. that are named the same thing across the country). We're even staying at a cute inn that sounds wonderful - and is walking distance from all the good stuff. Adventure time!

Coffee Talk

2010-05-23T11:25:00.001-04:00

Coffee and I have an unusual relationship. For starters, we never really got together until 2007. I'd never been a fan and always got my caffeine from Coke or, shamefully, when I was beyond hungover in the newsroom on Sundays, Mountain Dew.

Then I moved to New York to be a fashion intern/bitch for the summer. I was on my feet for 9 hours or more a day, often lugging heavy bags of clothing and sweating it out in disgusting subway tunnels. Suddenly I needed coffee, even multiple coffees, to make it through the day. I still didn't dig coffee, so I added half a packet of hot chocolate to the mix. Sugar and caffeine, mmmm overload.

Also, fashion closet overload:Once I returned to Oregon for my last year of college, I became a social coffee drinker. Want to grab coffee out sometime? Sure! Want me to make my own coffee every morning? Heck no. Then I moved back to New York. When I actually found a job, which had a free coffee machine like at Conde Nast, I was back to my old habits. Not to mention the free sodas too, which were basically asking me to destroy my health. It was a challenge. I'd go through phases of trying to cut back, but inevitably I'd stay out til 3 a.m. a few nights or be run down by work and I'd become an addict once again.

Then I met C, the coffee master. He made drinking coffee look cool, and I'm all about peer pressure. Kidding... sort of. Now that I'm unemployed, I'm only still drinking coffee because he makes it every morning. And we have a weekend ritual that I mentioned before: peanut butter bagels and coffee at Outpost. A delicious combination.
Recently, though, it seems that my alcohol and coffee consumption may be taking a toll on my body. I have a long history of being irresponsible with my drinking, and I decided to cut out caffeine too just to see the effects. Four days in, and I caved for coffee, mainly because it's just not the same to get a peanut butter bagel without coffee. The plus side is now I'll be full of energy for the day since I'd been on caffeine withdrawal. Woo! Sometimes I wonder if it's possible my body is not made for daily consumption of caffeine or liquor. I'm sure I'll figure some way to work it out.

Ch-ch-changes

2010-05-20T19:10:00.008-04:00

The women in my family, on my mom's side, are all independent people who share certain personality traits. Myself, my mom, and my two cousins are all prone to talking loudly, talking a lot and (sometimes) talking over each other. But less annoyingly, we all also have a penchant for messing with our hair. We've probably covered every possible color outside blue or green among the bunch of us.

A family story favorite that we still talk about today: my mom dyed her hair brown for years before letting the gray settle in. When I was younger, my mom didn't check the bottle carefully, and wound up with purple-y hair. She freaked (it was awesome) and washed her hair a thousand times before dyeing over again. Cut to the next weekend at a family gathering where one of my cousins, probably 17 at the time, shows up with the same hair color. On purpose. Cue my mom freaking out. Traumatizing at the time for my cousin, sure. Awesome story to harp on later, absolutely.

In high school I was pretty tame with my hair color choices, usually different shades of brown: darker, lighter, bronze-y, reddish, ice-y, etc. And my one rule was never to use permanent dye. Thirty days and I'm out! That's not always the case, of course, when you choose a very different color, like red, which I dyed my hair twice during college. The red fades in a bad way, and I had to dye over it with brown after month or two.

So what's my next move? To dye my hair an even darker, harder to fade out color: black. You can blame C for this one, because it was a challenge. He's a dude, and given that most dudes don't notice hair, he hasn't noticed many times I've cut or dyed my hair. Recently, he mentioned, "I bet if you dye it black it wouldn't be that different." Challenged accepted, thank you very much.

The result:I've never been so scared dyeing my hair before. Not only was I trying to keep the dye from getting all over the bathroom, but I knew if I didn't cover my hair completely it would look ridiculous. Oh, and a funny thing, when you use a dark color, the dark dye will aggressively stain any part of your body is gets on.

I should have remembered when this happened to my friend Maren in college. She gave me the sense to realize that it's just hair, it'll grow back, and why not have fun with it? She's the person whose head I shaved freshman year, the person who attacked me with bleach to give me my first highlights and the person I trusted for the rest of college to cut my hair. That also might be the reason I get the scissors out myself these days and hack away out of boredom or curiosity. I still have never been to a salon in New York. Crazy, I know.

I'm pretty happy with this new look. I don't love the blue and purple stains below my neck and on the back of one of my arms (uh, how'd that get there?). Looks like I'll have to thank C for this challenge after all. But what can I possibly do next? Purple just isn't for me.

Hittin' a Stride

2010-05-18T10:08:00.006-04:00

I won't say that I'm actually hitting my stride, because who knows what that is, but I'm definitely feeling like I'm on a good track right now. A full weekend of sun and wandering, plus a productive Monday can do that to a person.

Friday night C and I had dinner at a Mexican place below Washington Square. I made the error of ordering a burrito that had lettuce instead of rice. No rice in a burrito does not really equal a real burrito in my eyes. Good thing we had a large order of guacamole to make it a full meal for me. The best part, thanks to our waiter's error, is that we received large margaritas instead of small ones. Win!
The night was young and we decided to walk home across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a gorgeous night, despite being extremely windy (helped beat the heat, though). I wasn't wearing the best shoes, so I knew I'd be in pain the next day, but a little ice cream at home helps to forget all that.

Saturday and Sunday involved a lot of walking around parts of Brooklyn, to the flea market and beyond. Sometimes you just need a small cup of Uncle Louie G's to set off on a path. Italian ices may be my new summer essential. My peanut butter cookie dough "water ice" [C's words, not mine] was amazing!

Another new favorite activity is wandering after our hearty 'usual' breakfast at Outpost on the weekends. Yup, we go so often we have a usual and know the staff - a new thing for me. I'm not the type to frequent a coffee shop on my own, but this place is all kinds of awesome. And a heavy, delicious peanut butter bagel requires a long walk afterward. If only we'd thought about that before walking the 5th Ave street fair on Sunday. There were many amazing smelling foods, but we were too full to indulge. What I did indulge in: awwwing over the adorable kittens and cats in the BAFN booth. It may be the way C and I will test out having a second kitty before we adopt one officially.

Last night I spent the night with Kim, enjoying vodka lemonades and Mexican food in the courtyard at our beloved Blockheads, and we spent the night talking about life and everything (read: a little bitching, being dramatic, ridiculous stories). Sometimes it's just necessary.

Probably the most significant improvement: I'm getting more confident with the whole 'applying to jobs' thing. Cover letters seriously suck. But I pounded out two more yesterday, for two very different jobs on opposite ends of my career spectrum, but I feel accomplished.

Balancing the job hunt with fun outdoor activities, fun times with friends and reading an awesome book is working out nicely for now. Add in the spontaneous trip C and I will be taking next week (we decide the destination day-of) and some fun summer plans (including more travel, yay!) and everything is looking up.

Flanders Nachos and Union Square

2010-05-14T14:52:00.011-04:00

It's great to have a any kind of Nordstrom store in NYC. I know rents are high and blah blah blah. I'm currently a little angry with Union Square, although its easy access off the Q will make me forgive it eventually.

I get that people with agendas, volunteer work or donations needed do whatever they can in a public forum. On my way to Nordstrom Rack, however, I witnessed some insane behavior. There were 6 or more people within a half block, holding clip boards and going up to people trying to shake their hands and motioning others to take off their earphones, and then the next person would harass them if they made it through the first wave. Seriously? Seriously?

I've even been that person, to lesser degree. I solicited donations in front of grocery stores in Oregon for Circle K (not the convenience store, but still, strange things were afoot). One key lesson I learned is that the method in which you approach someone actually matters. I only regret not finding out who they were working for to let someone know what douches their workers are.

Anywaaayyyy anger management knocking... I made it into Nordstrom Rack and had a grand ol' time. The store has only been open 4 days, so I feel like in some time they'll figure out all the kinks. It already is incredibly efficient with dressing room attendants and digital display for check out. In my usual no-nonsense shopping style, I was out in an hour with two cute new dresses for summer. (And a new desire to clean out my closet. Again.)

After a clearly exhausting adventure, I had to refuel with egg + cheese + salsa and Flanders nachos. Thanks to Netflix I've been able to rekindle my love of The Simpsons in their glorious early seasons. (Side note: I wasn't allowed to watch MTV until high school, but watched The Simpsons with the fam since I was probably 10. Silly parents)
One episode has Bart and Lisa stuck with the Flanders family. Ned offers up nachos, Flanders style, in the form of cucumber and cottage cheese. I like these two ingredient separately, so why not try the weird concoction? Result: I should have agreed with the cringing Simpson kids. While not terrible, I'd rather cook up some real nachos any day.

And now the warm weather has returned, just in time for some fun Brooklyn activities this weekend. A Franklin Street celebration for Saturday and a street and record fair on Sunday. I'll just have to do my best to drag C away from that whole "school" and "finals" thing.

For the Love of Clothing

2010-05-13T10:36:00.012-04:00

I've had a love affair with Nordstrom since my teenage years. My dad has been buying his suits there forever, so we've had a steady stream of cash-back coupons thanks to him. Luckily I never felt much peer pressure to spend more than I should on basic clothing, given the town I grew up in, but I could never say no to $15 sunglasses (which I'd constantly lose) and durable tanks and tees that cost more than they should. It's safe to say that is where my accumulation began.

It should be noted that I have Nordstrom on the brain since I discovered a Nordstrom Rack has opened in Union Square. I had never heard of this discount outlet until college when my friend brought me to one in Seattle. Amazing finds. Love it. I'll be running out the door to check it out when I'm done here.

My brain is often lives in a crazy place between hoarding and cleaning. As I mentioned before with keepsakes, I also hoard clothing. Probably not as much as I think though, since I managed to merge my stuff into a studio apartment with C. One key to having a cleaner closet: move all the time. It's helped me clean out so much over time.

Chronology of moving:
- In to the dorms Sept. 2004
- Back home for the summer June 2005
- In to my apartment Sept. 2005
- Back into the dorms Jan. 2006
- In to my own studio June 2006
- In to an NYU dorm June 2007
- In to a women's dorm in NY August 2007
- Back to a new studio Sept. 2007
- Graduation, moved home June 2008
- In to my friend's one bedroom in NY July 2008
- Back to the women's dorm August 2008
- In to my Park Slope apt Dec. 2008
- Moved in with C in Feb. 2010

I'm exhausted just remembering all that. But with each move, I cleared out what I didn't need, or didn't want to pack or just got sick of looking at. Donation centers love me. Unfortunately I still hold on to items because "you never know" when they may come in handy.

Outside the winter stuff in storage, I managed to fit almost everything in this wardrobe and dresser:
Additionally, since I don't know where I'll end up job-wise, I need all the variety I can get. Working at a start-up website spoiled the crap out of me. When I returned to school after a summer at a fashion magazine I tried to dress up more thinking that I'd have to get used to it soon after graduation. Then I wound up at a place where business casual to sneakers and jeans were the dress code.

I was trying to go somewhere with this, but I think I lost track. I think it's time to get out of the apartment. It looks like spring may actually be returning despite winter's effort at a coup earlier this week.

Thanks, Mom

2010-05-09T17:30:00.006-04:00

It's Mother's Day! All I could do was chat with mine on the phone earlier, so in addition to my most recent craft project, I present a mommy-dedicated post.

My mom has been a strong influence in my interests growing up, and it's something for which I'm grateful. Of all the things my mom has shared with me (including learning French, musicals, tennis and Oregon), learning to sew is probably my most treasured skill. I started sometime in elementary school, and by fifth grade I was making basic jumper dresses.

Thanks to my mom, I discovered my love for fashion, clothes and creation. It's why I decided to be an apparel design major (...which eventually became merchandising management) and to move to Oregon. It's what took my life on the path I've been on for so long and brought on so many great experiences.

While the majority of my creations (hit and miss) are stored in boxes, there are a few I show off proudly. Funny enough, even though strapless dresses aren't my favorite, two of my best creations are in that form.

First, my red satin princess seam dress I made in high school - lets be honest, it just barely still fits and I may never wear it again, but it looks nice. Second is a dress I made with boning in the bodice that I like best with a t-shirt underneath. The third is a dress pattern of my mom's from the 70s that I messed with ... er, altered.

The reason my mom is great can be summed up in my love for fashion and everything that came after: she always has pushed me to take chances and get out of my comfort zone. And that's how I ended up unemployed in New York City after a stint at a personal finance website. Ba dum chh! Seriously, though, the support and love of a parent who lets you move across the country without complaining and wants you to succeed just reminds me how lucky I am.

On to the present: My most recent, non sewing machine project - boot alteration

I love comfortable boots, and while the boots I have are runner-ups to my favorites that died a few years ago, they've served their purpose well. However, I always cringed walking through my quiet office with the clanking of the belt buckles on the sides of the boots. They were lightly secured, but over time frayed at the zipper and felt like an unneeded weight on my legs.

What to do in this situation? Cut the suckers off, obviously. It's not perfect, I'll admit, but it'll do.

Before and after:
I never realized how in love I was with my seam ripper before (fabric glue is #2 in my heart), but I miss it so much with little tasks such as this. I made due with scissors to take off the strap. The belt loop leaves to worst mark after removal - a seam ripper really would have been essential here.

I'll probably play around with the minor residue left on the sides of the boots, but I don't think it's too offensive. After test driving them on a walk to the grocery store, I found the boots to be so much lighter and they felt fantastic. Success!

Scrapbook Central

2010-05-07T09:15:00.009-04:00

Near the end of high school, I became a scrapbooking fiend. My friend Megan showed me her elaborate, beautiful scrapbooks of high school events and I realized it was absolutely necessary to start putting together my own memories. Hooray for the internet and digital photos and all that, but dude - I cannot live without hard copy prints. I didn't even buy a digital camera until my sophomore year of college. (More embarrassingly, I still used a CD Walkman until getting an iPod that same year.)

My high school scrapbook isn't great, since it was started late and I had to do a lot of backtracking. When it came to college, I was intense. On the major holidays when I came home, I went full force into printing out pictures. I itemized, organized and bought thematic sheets for each page and scrapbooked the crap out of each term of college. Of course, it was important to have a separate scrapbook just for trips outside my years in Oregon. I make extra work for myself, it's cool.

I've only just now begun putting together photos since I moved to NYC. However, there aren't any really defining periods since I plan on living here for quite a while. That requires a new game plan. I managed to only get three scrapbooks/albums. One large album for my trip to Italy with C. One album with notations for my first year in NYC. The last one is a scrapbook (additional pages can be added) that is called "Events and Excursions." That allows me to include any and every kind of event or small trip. Hopefully it's enough to curb my insane desire to categorize everything.

Simplicity:
One day soon when I return to California it's my mission to clean out a lot of my old belongings. Most stressful task ever, because I hoard. Essential keepsakes vs. stuff that might mean something one day if I find it but probably won't care because I have too much stuff.

Unfortunately, I have a large amount of hap-hazard albums, albums with cross-over photos or photos in bags that I never did anything with, as well as random papers, diaries, journals, etc. *cue my brain exploding at the thought of organizing* I need about a week to go through everything and a large suitcase or two to fill up and take back what is most important to me.

Exhibit A (What I Randomly Brought to NYC):

Basically, I have store up a lot of mental strength before I can tackle this task in a small time frame. It stresses me out thinking about it, and several times recently I've had to hold back from just tossing everything. One day, though, one day it'll all be blissfully organized.

Side Note:

Cinco De Mayo on Wednesday. I loved the cook out celebrations we had in Oregon. I'd never gone out to a bar/restaurant for the occasion. But it couldn't be as bad at St. Patrick's Day, right? Wrong! Even in Brooklyn, do not try to go to a Mexican restaurant at 9 p.m. The places are packed, with hours-long waits and they run out of chips and beans. Chaos!

Mumble Jumble

2010-05-04T15:10:00.010-04:00

A recap of the last few days...

Thursday night I reunited with Kim, where we reunited with our old 2007 selves. We decided to head back to the Time Out Lounge for karaoke night and to see our fave bartender and catch up and of course, drink. Unfortunately, three years have passed since we were in our prime at the lounge. We both felt fuzzy after our first sangria and headed upstairs to hang out in the courtyard after karaoke became crazy. Tamra joined us, and then we celebrated Kim's birthday at midnight. And then... we went to bed. Old people, we are.

Bartender love = to-go cups for drinking outside:
This weekend C and I traveled to PA to hang out with his parents and explore. The weather was hot, but we managed to do a lot of wandering. The last time I was out there was for Thanksgiving, and it was too cold to do any real exploring. This time around we walked along the water at Valley Forge, took a picturesque and sweltering walk through downtown Philly, drove around (I do miss driving sometimes) and helped out for a big dinner party.

I found a great dress at TJ Maxx of all places, but it wasn't in my size. It's a new mission for me, even though I don't normally love strapless types:We watched the Kentucky Derby, which reminds me of Fashion Week in the a sense. Everyone kept saying how incredible that all that preparation went into a 2 minute race - the first time I went to a show, I thought I'd be off work for the day, and my boss was like, "You'll be done in half an hour." You spend more time waiting for the show to start. Craziness. We even got two movies in, The Fantastic Mr. Fox (awesome and weird) and The Art of the Steal (intriguing and sad-ish).

I have some new cat loves. One is a mini-Mini in the form of C's mom's cat. I may steal her next time we're there.And how can you not love a pissy looking cat named Winston? Who has his own following online? It's hopeless.

The Story of the Susie Cake

2010-04-29T15:07:00.001-04:00

2004, Cake Eating on the Bleachers

Five 15-year-old girls. One AP European history class. A shared obsession with baking. This is how the Susie cake was created. If you're going to study for hours on end and act like maniacs with amazing people, why not fuel that with some cake? But it has to be special, so we saved it for birthdays. I'm a little fuzzy on the debut of this cake, but I do remember thinking I had a genius idea: yellow cake + chocolate frosting + cookie layer = foodgasm.

The basic premise: Two layers of yellow cake, one layer of cookies in between with cookies crumbled on top. Of course, my master chef and bestie, Miss Anthony, has perfected and re-perfected the recipe over the years. However, she still gives me credit and even created a Facebook group for me. That's the big times, y'all:

My arsenal of photography sadly still resides in California, so we'll make do with the cake photos I can find. One weekend Miss Anthony came to beautiful Corvallis and helped make a another cake with princess-sprinkle cookies. YUM. And princess-y.

The cake has no only served it's purpose in showing my friends that I want them to be in a sugar coma on their birthday/celebration/whatever, it's also helped me win over people. It was a two-for in December 2008 when I made the cake for my office holiday potluck and my roommates started drooling. I kept them at bay with delicious mint chocolate chip cookies, but I had to make good on the deal eventually. Here the result came with sprinkles on top:

Come on and grab a piece!PS: I've been told by many and can only assume this cake is not really mine, and probably has a real name in a real place and someone else owns it. But la-la-la-la-la I can't hear you! I'm just enjoying this moist piece of cookie-and-cake...

Running the Course

2010-04-28T09:40:00.000-04:00

Unemployment probably unfolds differently for everyone, given your age, financial situation, etc. I have a vague idea about how everything will pan out for me. But just for fun, let's look at the potential, generic course of reactions.

Disorientation

Oh, hey, I know this! I'm still in the confused state of being home every day and not being totally sure of what that means. Do I check for jobs and scrounge around like a crazy person? Do I read blogs all day? Play with the cat? Read 800 books a week? It's all still so new. The plus side is having free time and not being too tired from work to hang out with friends. Then I remember that I don't have work to make me tired or have fun stories to share. Sometimes I feel boring. What else should I be doing with my day? I've already cut my hair once, if I continue to find myself without anything to do, I may end up bald. Or worse, blond.

Elation

The perk of being jobless at the end of spring is, of course, the impending great weather that will lead me to be outside all the time and to travel. I assume that's when my excitement will kick in, when I can sit in the park and work, wander aimlessly or just absorb any of the general happiness I feel when the sun is shining brightly. Just don't talk to me about the humidity, okay?

Insanity(ation)

I like continuity, so there. This is usually the stage you hear the most from formerly unemployed people. Unemployment sounds fantastic to many in a crappy work situation or who just feel tied down. Then you receive your freedom and run around like a crazy person wishing you had a schedule to... tie you down. I think this stage may be inevitable, but it could turn out to be not as dire for me depending on where my time goes. If I continue to write consistently and make clothes/crafty projects, then I'll be busy enough to assuage the crazy, as well as have something to show for my time away from an office. Who knows, maybe my projects will lead me right into a new career path.

Stitches on the Horizon

2010-04-25T18:52:00.008-04:00

No really, I'm totally getting that sewing machine. Seriously, this week. I mean it! Okay, I've been lazy. And now the weather is crappy and I don't have the urge to pick up a sewing machine at Target and lumber back home with it. But I will. Self-accountability: right here.

I moved to New York 21.5 months ago with a degree in merchandising, experience in journalism and found a job in personal finance. Now I am jobless with too much free time and no excuse not to alter my clothes myself, create new cute dresses and design an occasional embarrassing cat outfit.

What if I had a sewing machine from day one in NYC? I could have...

done my own alterations on my bridesmaid dress
hemmed pants of my own and the roommate variety, because finding pants that fit perfectly is a hilarious joke
started an Etsy store to have a side stream of income no matter where my career goes
easily eased boredom by playing around with new designs and old patterns
started my own line of cat-wear

What will I really be doing when I finally acquire my sewing machine? We're about to find out. (Soon... I promise)

Relearning, Reframing

2010-04-23T13:57:00.000-04:00

Somehow I always knew there'd be an end to the free snacks and drinks in my office. Of course, that's because my company went under and I no longer am privy to that joy. If I could sneak back into the building I would stock up on goodies like I used to encourage my own friends to do.

Now I live in unemployment land, and I'm re-learning how live my daily life. I have to buy more groceries before and actually decide what to eat at all times. Chelsea Market is no longer a catchall for being indecisive. I have to get creative. Have a routine. I need to re-frame how I look at having an open day and what I want to accomplish in the short and long term.

I'm somewhat lost at the moment. Most people in my situation hurried to new jobs or are head strong in their searches. I'm... floating? I'm buying that sewing machine this week. I will get crafty. I need to write more often since it's been a while since I did any writing for the old job. (Old job? aw, that's sad-making) I want to figure out my voice again. Create writing tasks covering what a love: Broadway, fashion, entertainment, travel, daily observations, etc. I keep feeling like I need to justify to myself that I can take this time slowly and not only enjoy the freedom but also turn it into something for the future.

Several things this morning have left me feeling sad/teary/angry/discontented, etc. But the only thing I can link to is this, which I find to be so heartbreaking: A Mother's Loss, a Daughter's Story

On another note... can someone please pull me away from the American Idiot cast recording? I can't stop. Must. See. Again. Soon.

The rage and love, the story of my life

2010-04-18T16:30:00.023-04:00

Saturday was a lot of things for me. It was the first full day of life recovering from the massive hangover of being laid off (and the subsequent drinking to forget). It was also the first full day I had to think about actually being without a job, not the just the impending news while still being cocooned in having an office and coworkers to see daily. That might be why I had some unusual, as well as predictable, reactions to seeing American Idiot for the first time.

But first! The lottery situation at Idiot was madness, but luckily Mary has awesome friends who came to help us, because that's how we won tickets. After a rushed lunch, we were finally waiting in the theater, front row, to see a show I knew was more of a rock concert mash-up of the Green Day album in a 90-minute fast paced show. The stories are told in the lyrics with minimal dialog that's sung more often than spoken.

The premise is simple and relate-able: three friends decide to make something of their lives and end up on very unique paths. The energy of the show is powerful, so even if the music is pounding and it isn't an emotional moment, I found myself tearing up at random moments (which I assume is from wondering where the hell my own life is going to head). I haven't been able to get 21 Guns out of my head... in the context of the show it's breathtaking. This is the kind of show, for me, that ends leaving me exhilarated as well as a little confused. Mainly, I look forward to seeing it again after listening to the cast recording and approaching the show again from a new perspective.

The rest of the day was spent with friends and the boy... hanging out, munching and boozing (lightly). Even though there's no job for me to go to on Monday, this is still the end of my weekend. I have to start planning, start figuring out what I want, and start making lists to fill my days. What's next? Hopefully something fulfilling, something fun. Outside of my future career, there is plenty to look forward to in the coming months in the form of travel, celebrations and more, so I'll be focusing on the positive. Mostly.

It's true

2010-04-16T12:15:00.007-04:00

Even when you know it's coming, even when you think you can't wait for it to be over officially, getting laid off still is no fun. But there are appropriate ways to celebrate/forget the mess with your always awesome coworkers.

This involves:
A fancy lunch and drinking at Park
Napping and/or running to prepare for the night
Courtyard night drinking at The Sixth Ward
Getting rowdy and drunker (and drunker) as the night goes on
Making a departure
Falling asleep on the F train and walking/running home drunk from Bergen
Regain faculties around noon the next day

Good times. Many memories. Great pictures.

Uncertain Future

2010-04-08T15:21:00.018-04:00

It's sunny and warm outside. If you forget about the gross humidity business, it's perfect. After spending a week in the rainy, cool (and cool, har har) Pacific Northwest, this weather is lovely to come home to. But it's been a lonely week at work, and it's sad to see things slowly come to an end. I don't really think about my future career (err, okay, I do, but... see below) but I like focusing on how great it was to have an awesome first job in NYC. Nice, fun coworkers to drink and work with (reverse that?) and learning about web and more in the process.

But now it's closing time. At 23, I choose to see this as an opportunity. Should I go back to school and move forward in my degree by choosing textiles as a specialty? Who knows. Freelance at several places? Find an editorial job at another company with more desirable content? Or hell, just an established company in general? Ha. Maybe I'll stop dragging my heels and finally get a sewing machine (I have a blog idea that is possibly awesome or lame).

That whole needing an income and health insurance thing is a drag in the euphoria of having options once again, but I want to remain hopeful. I do remember how six weeks of unemployment drove me nuts two years ago, but this time I've prepared myself financially instead of being a poor college grad who moved 3,000 miles to try to find a job. Still, the cat lady life is always on the table.

A Glimpse of Spring

2010-03-18T11:17:00.006-04:00

At least for the next few days it will be nice. Then comes to rain and less desirable weather, which is convenient, because in a little over a week C and I will be in the PNW!

I'll be returning to the rain and clouds to visit my lovelies in Seattle, Corvallis and Portland over the course of a week. The lucky boy will be taken forcibly through my nostalgia on campus at OSU and will be rewarded with great cheap bars. There's even a beer and wine festival in Portland! Couldn't be better.

If I didn't have friends all over the Northwest to visit in my rationed time off work, I'd probably go back state by state and region by region. The whole west coast feels like a part of my life, and I intend to go back and visit often. Obviously California (the peev, my beach and all those other parts of the state - ha), Oregon, Washington, and even sketchy hostels in Vancouver are near and dear to my heart.

One day when I have more time and money I want to rent a car to travel up or down the whole west coast. Whether that happens before or after my hopeful cross-country road trip is debatable. And totally imaginary since none of this will probably happen for a long time.

Ramble, ramble...

Furniture Saved!

2010-03-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

I'm a proud parent today...

Shock and Awww

2010-02-26T11:16:00.004-05:00

OK, that playbill/promo image is still ridiculous, but wow did Corbin actually live up to the reviews! It's weird knowing he just turned 21, but he has the charisma and singing ability that makes my heart warm during and after the show.

Janet as Nina is amazing.
Hot Michael was in the ensemble.
The new GP and Carla are not so awesome.
Still too soon to decide about the new Sonny. I HATE that they changed the Twinkie line, but that's not his fault.
Andrea Burns, Chris Jackson, Eliseo = perfection. I don't think I've seen Eliseo in over a year. So good.
Corbin was emotional and choked up DURING 'Everything I Know' and practically cried at his exit... omg. I haven't cried at the show since Lin.

I can't wait to go back to see Corbin again over the next 2 months. It makes me happy that the cast is mostly whole again with the same energy as before. And I love that Ricky is back in the ensemble, I love watching him. Several new ensemble people as well, overall very good.

Note to self: Lotto during snow storms or impending snow storms is a great idea!

+1 for Religion

2010-02-16T14:52:00.004-05:00

Apparently Lent starts tomorrow. How interesting.

Well, not to me. However, apparently the day before Lent is known as "pancake day." Nothing else matters. Mmmm pancakes.

Image from my pancake-serving days at the Kiwanis Pancake feed. Which involved free pancakes after serving. Win.

Freaking love this show.

2010-02-15T13:50:00.002-05:00

FLS: Gurgle Edition

2010-02-02T10:20:00.007-05:00

Highlights from last night's more graphic than usual show:

Gurgle = Google

the foundations of freestyle
Run This Town
Dave & Busters doesn't sound so appealing after Lin raps about it

person/place/thing - Why did I not think to call out Christopher Walken?!
LL Cool J
Lady Gaga: Lin in a hood and the Gaga hands, amazingness
A Philippines history lesson

true: drumstick style
Lin - Vegetarian + Medieval Times + Turning 30 = hilarity
UTK - OHMYGODDIDHEJUSTSAY "IWANTTOEATYOULIKEADRUMSTICK" WOAHTOOFAR
Two Touch - Happy life formula contains: army, marriage, playing drums in philly

word association
I wish I knew anything about X-Men because this bit would have been much funnier. Oh well.

day in the life
Two Touch called the girl bulimic. That is all.

RIP JD Salinger

2010-01-28T14:41:00.010-05:00

"Oh, what's the difference, Mother?" "Muriel, I want to know. Your father–" "All right, all right. He calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948." the girl said, and giggled.
(A Perfect Day for Banana Fish)

"They wanna think you spent your whole life vomiting every time a boy came near you. I'm not kidding, either. Oh you can tell them stuff. But never honestly. I mean never honestly."
(Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut)

"Where'd you meet her, then?" She asked. "Party," he said. "At a party? When?" "I don't know. Christmas, '42."
...
"Well I mean did you ever phone her up or anything? I mean didn't you ever phone her up or anything?"
(Just Before the War with the Eskimos)

"You aren't an admiral. You're a lady," Lionel said. His sentences usually had at least one break of faulty breath control, so that, often, his emphasized words, instead of rising, sank. Boo Boo not only listened to his voice, she seemed to watch it.
(Down at the Dinghy)

A few minutes later, when I stepped out of the Chief's bus, the first thing I chanced to see was a piece of red tissue paper flapping in the wind against the base of a lamppost. It looked like someone's poppy-petal mask.
(The Laughing Man)

I used a coat tree as delicately as possible, and then sat down at a table and ordered a tea and cinnamon toast. It was the first time all day that I'd spoken to anyone.
(For Esmé–with Love and Squalor)

"You know who I'm married to? You want to know who I'm married to? I'm married to the greatest living underdeveloped, undiscovered actress, novelist, psychoanalyst, and all-around unappreciated celebrity-genius in New York. You didn't know that, didja? Christ, it's so funny I could cut my throat. Madame Bovary at Columbia Extension School. Madame–"
(Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes)

I prayed for the city to be cleared of people, for the gift of being alone–a-l-o-n-e: which is the one New York prayer that rarely gets lost or delayed in channels, and in no time at all everything I touched turned to solid loneliness.
(De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period)

"After I go out this door, I may only exist in the minds of all my acquaintances," he said. "I may be an orange peel."

A man walks along the beach and unfortunately gets hit in the head by a cocoanut. His head unfortunately cracks open in two halves. Then his wife comes along the beach singing a song and see the 2 halves and recognizes them and picks them up. She gets very sad of course and cries heart breakingly.

This is exactly where I am tired of poetry. Supposing the lady just picks up the 2 halves and shouts into them very angrily "Stop that!"
(Teddy)

-Nine Stories

Franny saw that he was irritated, and to what extent, but, for the moment, with equal parts of self-disapproval and malice, she felt like speaking her mind.

----------

"You know, I'm the only one in this family who has no problems," Zooey said. "And you know why? Because any time I'm feeling blue, or puzzled, what I do, I just invite a few people to come visit me in the bathroom, and – well, we iron things out, that's all."

-----------

"You either take to somebody or you don't. If you do, then you do all the talking and nobody can even get a word in edgewise. If you don't like somebody – which is most of the time – then you just sit around like death itself and let the person talk themself into a hole. I've seen you do it."

Zooey turned full around to look at his mother. He turned around and looked at her, in this instance, in precisely the same way that, at one time or another, in one year or another, all his brothers and sisters (and especially his brothers) had turned around and looked at her. Not just with objective wonder at the rising of a truth, fragmentary or not, up through what often seemed to be an impenetrable mass of prejudices, clichés, and bromides. But with admiration, affection, and, not least, gratitude.

-Franny and Zooey

Italian Vacation = Success

2010-01-19T10:16:00.006-05:00

The trip was amazing. And I was sick the entire time. But a stuffy nose and hacking cough (oy bruised ribs) would not stop me! We rocked our way through Rome and Naples and it was great fun.

We wandered, saw the sights and ate lots of food (mmm gelato, pizza and beers to-go). We even picked up some Italian along the way, however crappy. :P

Randoms: Found Rome's hot nightlife town. Finally saw the Sistine Chapel (No picture! Shhh!). Piazza Navona is sadly empty in the winter. There is no such thing as traffic rules in Italy. We stayed at great B&Bs with weird owners. Popped champagne off the balcony in Rome. No one eats dinner until 9, and even then you need to be in the right part of town to find a full restaurant (Winter really is an off-season I guess). Naples has gorgeous buildings and winding streets and very skilled graffiti. 15 feet tall statues in museums make me realize how scary it'd be if they came to life or fell on you. Rain clears out the streets. Running through Madrid's airport to catch a flight is nuts. Gelato is always better than pastries. Wandering the streets at night, figuring out the subway... traveling with your love = win (should I say priceless? no, I won't go there, haha)

You know...

2010-01-07T13:15:00.003-05:00

If I had realized how many great classes FIT offered, I may have seriously considered going there instead of brushing it off as too-fashion-intensive-for-the-unsure-but-ultimately-really-sure-of-what-I-wanted-but-wouldn't-admit-it-high-school-grad.

ROME

2010-01-06T16:35:00.004-05:00

In one week we'll be at JFK awaiting our flight to Rome. First time back in Europe since 2004... madness!

Serenity...

2010-01-06T16:12:00.002-05:00

...is not something I have right now. Not sleeping well lately due to many aggressive, strange and unyielding dreams. My brain does not seem to know how to chill out. Working on a plan for that.

Step 1: Dream Journal.

Notes

2009-12-18T13:34:00.006-05:00

Open bars: I doubt I'll ever realize how dangerous they are. But I've had worse moments with free alcohol... at least there was someone to wake me up on the subway this time :)

Helping: Not a smart move when you offer to carry a 25 lb. dumbbell several blocks and have no upper body strength whatsoever. Ow.

Crafty Time: This sketchbook, I wants. A sewing machine, I needs.

Owls: Don't put them in a box. They will be angry.

Warm and Fuzzies.

2009-12-01T15:26:00.001-05:00

I want.

Sometimes I wonder...

2009-11-30T15:33:00.009-05:00

Less than three weeks until I'm home in California. It's been 11 months... I definitely have missed it:

But to be honest, I think what I really miss all the time is this:

Sadie, sadie, married lady...

2009-10-16T17:31:00.003-04:00

Probably my favorite picture of the weekend in Mississippi. So much happiness (and cheering!) as we road to the reception, celebrating Ashely and Reid :)

Not So Deep Thoughts With Not Jack Handy

2009-09-10T13:24:00.003-04:00

I just discovered Sara's blog and already love it. Thoughts from people our age, part 1 and part 2. I pulled out my favorites:

- If the best four years of your life were during high school, there is zero chance of us ever being friends.

- Finding a typo in a book makes me feel like a champion. How is it that I see that and the author and editors did not? I win.
I do this all the time. And with major news publications, which I feel even better about catching errors in.

- I don’t care if you pushed the pedestrian crossing button. I’m pushing it again, but harder.

- Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say.”

- Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart,” all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart.”

- How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
I definitely gotten in trouble for resorting to the smile and nod. Don't do that when someone tells you something sad.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

-Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
So true.

-It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
Seriously CNN, you're already a joke, at least be honest about your links!

Life Flow...

2009-08-16T19:44:00.009-04:00

My mom will be in NYC in two weeks. Yay! US Open antics, touring Brooklyn, taking her to In The Heights... groovy.

I miss Heights a lot. I had to balance out my brooding N2N listening and realized I REALLY miss the show. Probably especially since the last time I went Jon was u/s Usnavi, and he just didn't do it for me. Hopefully Mary and I will win lotto this week, but it's nice knowing I have tickets already as well a few weeks from now.

Got up at the crack of work-time this morning to see Collin finish the NYC Half Marathon. It helped that I got enough sleep the night before, but I really enjoyed being out that early. Wall Street is cool at 8 in the morning. Then I reunited with the Ollie's cats after being gone for two weeks. Patches and Violet moved upstairs and they are two of the most beautiful cats ever -- I love their coloring! And totally forgot to take pictures of them. Boo. But I got pics of Micho acting adorable despite his surly nature. If I do end up moving into my own place eventually, deciding which cats to adopt is going to be the hardest thing ever.

I've begun PT for my knee. The intial appointment was good and believe it'll help. However, 3 times a week already annoys me. Plus, I'm already sure I'll forget to do the exercises at home on off days. I guess that means the 3 days of PT in office are necessary...

Experienced an Oregonian invasion this week. Tom came to NYC out of nowhere, but it was great to catch up. Plus, I love getting to show people around the city. Then Lindsay came into town, and of course, we went to see a show. She loved Next to Normal and was awesome for doing the rush for us. Great catching up with her too!

I'm debating not going home for Thanksgiving this year. It sort of pains me, but traveling that much over two months for two holidays seems silly. Except that I love Thanksgiving more than any other holiday or my birthday. But I think I should test it out this year. I'll go home for a 3-day weekend at the end of September, do a pretend Thanksgiving in NYC and go home for Christmas. If it sucks and I hate it, I'll make sure to go home next year. Decisions, decisions...

Just Another Day

2009-07-21T16:24:00.005-04:00

I left my iPod running at my desk, on Next to Normal of course, and put my earphone back in unknowingly... right in to the end of "I Am the One (Reprise)" ... almost sobbing at work = NOT GOOD. haha.

Oops.

2009-05-30T15:49:00.002-04:00

Rough night thanks to lots of booze and not enough food. Shocking, I know. So I spent the "morning" vacuuming my apartment and reorganizing my room. I'm getting close to actually figuring out how to maximize all my space. I need to go into the city and get a new shelving unit... but I think I'm going back to bed. Training at the animal shelter tomorrow - I'm pretty excited... hope it turns out well.

Yikes.

2009-05-17T20:20:00.003-04:00

Reading through my real journal from the last year was kind of freaky. I really shouldn't do that.

I did find a nice little quote from 'the perks of being a wallflower' though:
"I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

20 Things

2009-05-01T19:29:00.006-04:00

I had been stockpiling information to do the 25 things for Facebook, but I never finished, and then I forgot about it. But I really wanted to get it out of my drafts.

1. I never drank coffee until lived in NYC. And pretty much only drink it at work, and because it's free.

2. I'm addicted to peanut butter and I find nothing wrong with always eating PB&Js.

3. I loved interning at Glamour, and I think going to Fashion Week was the main payoff of my time there. It's not an industry I could work in full time in the long run... I think.

4. I'm obsessed with In The Heights. Especially all of Lin's YouTube videos. It's probably not healthy how much I watch them.

5. I apparently have perfect hearing, but I constantly have trouble hearing people... but maybe it's because I can't focus on things very well. So I nod a lot and laugh and hope no one was asking me a specific question.

6. I love editing and rewriting others work, but I never like what I write. I can't read it or edit it much after. Then years later I read old journal entries and it's like that writing wasn't even me.

7. I firmly believe I have no idea how to make friends, and never have. I barely like people as it is... and I think all the great people I've been friends with have just kind of fallen across my path and I got lucky.

8. I've learned to balance my aversion to people when I need "me time" and to fully enjoy the awesome people in my life.

9. When I interned at Glamour I had to deliver clothing racks to Mariah Carey's apt downtown. I was hung over as fuck and the traffic was horrific. But I have no shame bragging about it.

10. I honestly didn't know my legal name was Susan until kindergarten, and I was pretty offended by it. There was only a brief period during middle school that I demanded to be called Susan.

11. I really suck at drawing, which is why I decided not to be an apparel design major after my first year. I kind of regret that a little. I miss making clothes and wish I learned how to drape.

12. I had no idea what a calorie was or how they factored into what you ate until college. Seriously.

13. I've been really lucky so far in life. The way I've relatively easily transitioned to Oregon, making great friends, getting in at the newspaper, working at Glamour, making city friends, moving to the city, getting a great job, great apt... lets hope that doesn't run out.

14. I was at the Ford Models Christmas Party in '07 and managed to get hit on by a 45 year old business man. Go me.

15. I only pulled one all-nighter in my academic career for a class project. And the event that caused my need for the all-nighter was so absolutely worth it.

16. Grammar and formatting continuity are my obsessions. I will judge you no matter what, but I'll try to get past it.

17. I made spaghetti from scratch with my dad as a kid. It's just about the only Italian thing I got from him.

18. I hate the phone. I am so awkward on the phone. I would rather text, but I still manage to be weird anyway. I overthink things.

19. JD Salinger's Nine Stories is one of my favorite books and the most portable. I've read it so many times I can't even remember.

20. I think I'll always need to live close to a coast. Sitting by the water is so calming for me... living in Oregon intensified my love of nature.

Freeeeedom.

2009-05-01T19:24:00.002-04:00

I leave for Oregon tomorrow afternoon. I have a week off, a week away from NYC. I don't have to work, apart from checking my email once or twice. I think I've been waiting for a breather like this for a while. So much has been going on... I'm excited to escape. Hopefully that will make returning that much better.

Now I need to figure out packing. Crap.

"It's one of these nights..."

2009-04-10T15:43:00.002-04:00

Thursday started out gorgeous and sunny and ended where else, but TOL! We finally kidnapped Mary and brought her to Karaoke, but not before indulging in Twilight chatter and theater gossip and enjoying the brief warmth in the courtyard. The random theater school kids at Karaoke were pretty entertaining, especially with the Carlos look-a-like doing Suddenly Seymour. It was sad though that Dylan wasn't there and we didn't have Dakotah's threatening hosting technique. But we had FMLs and Overheard in NY's to entertain us. Overall... super fun night... and lots of good future plans too! :D

Reading is Fun!

2009-03-26T11:44:00.002-04:00

Instructions: Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien ( )
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte ( )
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (x)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (x)
6 The Bible - ( )
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (x)
8 1984 - George Orwell (x)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ( )
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens ( )
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ()
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ( )
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare ( )
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier ( )
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (x)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk ( )
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (x)
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ( )
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ( )
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell ( )
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (x)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ( )
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ( )
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams ( )
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh ( )
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ( )
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ( )
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll ( )
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame ( )
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ( )
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ( )
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis ( )
34 Emma - Jane Austen ( )
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen ( )
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis ( )
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - ( )
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ( )
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden ( )
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne ( )
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (x)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (x)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving ( )
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ( )
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (x)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ( )
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood ( )
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding (x)
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ( )
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel ( )
52 Dune - Frank Herbert ( )
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ( )
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ( )
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ( )
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( )
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ( )
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley(x)
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon ( )
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (x)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ( )
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ( )
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (x)
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ( )
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac ( )
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ( )
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding ( )
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ( )
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville ( )
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens ( )
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker ( )
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett ( )
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ( )
75 Ulysses - James Joyce ( )
76 The Inferno - Dante ( )
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ( )
78 Germinal - Emile Zola ( )
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ( )
80 Possession - AS Byatt ( )
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens ( )
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ( )
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ( )
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ( )
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ( )
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ( )
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ( )
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ( )
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ( )
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (x)
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (x)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ( )
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams ( )
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ( )
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ( )
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ( )
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (x)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl ( )
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo ( )

20 out of 100. Well, shit. I guess I have a new book list here.

Fuse blown

2009-03-11T11:11:00.002-04:00

You're not supposed to hit a kid with glasses right? That would be wrong? ... I might be able to look past that right now.

Working at Home

2009-03-06T11:02:00.003-05:00

Attention whore kitties like to be the center of attention. And I can't bring myself to dump her off my lap, even though it makes getting work done a little more challenging.

Back on the streets of NYC...

2009-02-21T15:35:00.003-05:00

Last night was a great reunion night. Finally caught up with Steph and Andrew was in town! Went to Bowery Poetry Club to see Sticky plays, including Penny's awesome Pope moment. Lots of fun... wandered off to a diner, more drinks, drunk dialing Vardanega, Andrew drawing inappropriate pictures... failed at getting into a fashion week party with 5 guys, more drinks, then back the the APT to watch the Laker game. Lots of drunken eating and then I crashed on the couch. Like old times... sigh. Russ is coming in a few weeks, and Andrew will hopefully come back and we'll almost be a complete old crew again! Hopefully will be going to Steph's tomorrow for an Oscar gathering. Should be nice... have to work on seeing more of her again and staying in touch with people.

Weekends need to be longer. After the insanity of work lately I just want to hide out and enjoy detaching from it all.

I am Usanavi and you probably maybe heard my name...

2009-02-16T17:33:00.014-05:00

What a weekend. A relaxing and restful Friday night. A Saturday night of blacking out on 3 glasses on wine. Ugh. Seriously, how did I deal with that happening constantly my freshman year of college?! Of course, I clearly need to raise my tolerance.

Sunday. Lin's last show in Heights. AH. So amazing. It's hard to believe he's gone, I can't just go anytime and see him be Usnavi anymore. The show was on fire, and with a few jokey things in there. Everyone was living it up BIG. The finale... so great... so emotional. The band playing "Simply the Best" and then "Beat It" at curtain call while Lin was dancing around. So cute. I'm so glad I got to experience it. Even the really annoying fangirl next to me was highly entertaining. I'm giving it some time and then Kim and I will try to lotto again to see Javier. And god, I don't want to see this show without Kim again, but especially not alone. Stupid job keeping her from the Lin's last.

Monday's been nice, sleeping in, hanging around the apt. FINALLY seeing Kim up at the Beacon, after like forever.

Just made some mintchip cookies... Now to settle back in to the Top Model marathon I started earlier.

More Lin's last pics.

Horoscope Time!

2009-02-05T20:30:00.003-05:00

This may be the strangest horoscope I have ever read:
SCORPIO OCT 23 — NOV 21
Did you ever hear the story of the diminutive decorator who got wallpapered into the study wall by her overzealous assistant? The pattern was so bright and intense that no one noticed for five years. The study itself was the location of an unusual amount of drama, most of it interpersonal, and people always said it was a degree cooler than the rest of the house. Avoid that room, Scorpio.

But what does it mean?!

Sigh...

2009-01-27T09:34:00.001-05:00

I am so in love with this Dior look. I want to go to Fashion Week again. I miss the fashion world, craziness and all.

Wednesday Night

2009-01-22T08:49:00.002-05:00

A short rundown of Wednesday evening:
Meet Kim at lotto. Lose lotto. Ponder $41.50 side view orchestra seats. Get dinner. Come back and reject side view seats. Decide to go to NWS to see ABz for cheap. Stand on line for 10 minutes. Feel lame and awkward. Run away back to Heights, use discount code for center orchestra seats. Hang out at Mariott. Back to Heights for show. And the 11th time seeing it, it was the best show and the BEST finale yet. You'd think it was the first time we saw the show. It's not fair how awesome this show is. Lin can't leave.

It's gonna be a happy new year...

2009-01-02T17:35:00.005-05:00

Sitting here watching a That 70s Show marathon, pretending to work from home, I realized it may be a good time to update.

Going home was pretty nice, although I think it would have been nicer to have an extra week. I only got two days of sun, but at least I utilized both by going to two different beaches. Back in the cold, snowy city I finally need to adjust to my real world.

This week was strange without everyone in the office, and coffee was getting in the way of my sleep schedule. New Year's Eve was pretty awesome though, I got to watch all different seasons of The Office and stayed up until 7am. Still trying to recover from that.

Still torn on whether to go home to PV for my mom's 60th. I think it would be a great surprise and everything, but that's more traveling within the month and who knows how crazy work will be or if it'd work out. Maybe if I get a last minute $200/300 ticket I'll do it. Surprise both parents! That would be fun.

Flights to Oregon in March are annoying. Basically no nonstop flights, which cuts into my ability to get the most out of my time. But I really can't wait to go. I still miss Oregon a lot. And Christine and Maggie and Lisa and all of Corvallis's little joys.

Super excited for Heights on Thursday. Kim AND Laura. It'll be beyond fun. And front mezz seats!

I am scared for January at work. And my new 8am start time. Hopefully that will translate to a 430/5pm departure, aside from meetings.

I'm bored with updating. That 70s Show is winning.

Snoooore.

2008-12-15T22:32:00.005-05:00

I realized it would be nice to update here... eventually. Right now it's sleepy time. Current thoughts and mood: something something grumble grumble. I don't know. Looking forward to baking tomorrow. Fun things toward the end of the week. Some heavy drinking. Then home to (hopefully) sunny California. Hmmm. Sleepy time for real now.

What?

2008-12-03T00:22:00.002-05:00

I just realized there were no updates in here from the two FLS shows Kim and I went to last month. It's too hard to put into words... but this video will give an idea of how fantastic these guys are. SO excited for the show on Monday!!!

Am I really going back to NYC tomorrow? Wow. I have to be responsible again. Hmmm.

Dear Beavers:

2008-11-29T20:31:00.001-05:00

Can you please start making touchdowns and win the Civil War so I can be happy and you will get to the Rose Bowl? Kthx.

Where the weather is above 60 degrees.

2008-11-26T21:09:00.003-05:00

...I'm in major jet lag mode right now. It's only 6:15 in California. I've been up since 7 am EST and was on a plane for 6 hours. I got confused and already thought it was an extra hour ahead since none of the clocks in my room had "fallen back." I'm going to try and stay up until 9 tonight to try to keep my brain together.

So. Life. First, the best news, of course - I have a real apartment to live in! No more nunnery. Sweet. And all thanks to me acting on a whim and somehow finding a fantastic apartment and convincing the girls that live there to pick me. In a span of 5 days. I emailed them Friday night. Tuesday night I officially got the apartment. I'll be moving in next weekend! Ah! Fantastic. I cannot wait. And they have kitties! It's in a beautiful part of Brooklyn and I can buy the bed and the dresser from the original roommate. I have a home! And come February I'll be able to go on the lease and sign on officially for a whole year. SO happy.

What else? Not much, just work and whatever. But I've been strangely content lately. It's kind of weirding me out. Add in one week home and hopefully that will do me a lot of good for when I return.

There were things I wanted to take care of tonight and they've escaped me.

Random flight notes: I loved that How I Met Your Mother episodes were played, but I loved even more that in one montage Marshall was wearing an OSU tshirt. Mamma Mia, the movie-musical, is ridiculously cheesy and way too campy to be a good movie. In my opinion. I found myself oddly adoring the two little girls who were sitting in the row in front of me... is my hard shell cracking? Strange.

I should go back to watching Scrooged with the fam. Bill Murray in one of his finer movies. Oh my god, it's only 6:18. Time is mocking me.

Hmmm...22.

2008-11-13T23:34:00.004-05:00

Oh right, today's my birthday. But really, who cares? Well, obviously some people do... but I'm still un-enthused. I mean, I had a great night and all and have some weekend plans... but, eh. I don't need the focus to be on me. I just like to hang out with my friends.

But I'm not mopey. Seriously. Just tired. Tomorrow will be loooong.

In The Heights was fantastic tonight, with Kim, of course. Sitting rear mezz made both of us remember how afraid of heights we were (heights... tee hee). But still enjoyed the first act a lot. Especially when Lin forgets the wine and still says his line... "Shiraz vintage 2008..." *awkward arm gestures* LOL I laughed so hard I cried and couldn't stop for like five minutes. Probably a good thing we were in the last row instead of the first. Fantastic.

The second act we moved down the the front mezz on the right, which are GREAT seats. Quite possibly better than front row. But we'll see if we say the same thing after winning lotto again. Which hopefully will happen before I go home for Thanksgiving. It's scary how much this show makes me happy and... well, makes my life. And FLS. It's an addiction, clearly.

I just ate way too many Max Brenner chocolates. Why is it not the weekend already?

More reasons to love Obama...

2008-11-08T01:06:00.003-05:00

More Proof That The Obamas Are The Cutest Couple In All of Cuteland.

Also, this official election night photo journal rocks.

YES WE CAN

2008-11-05T07:24:00.002-05:00

I may have missed voting in the '04 election by a week, but I think it's even better that I can say this is the first election I participated in. Finally, change!

Shocking, I know

2008-11-01T18:25:00.003-04:00

So I've been pretty aware that I haven't been mentally with it lately and have been avoiding updating more because of it. But that changed a little with last night and being Halloween and all.

I was sorely missing Oregon, as I mentioned before, and was worried I would end up lame and alone on Halloween. Then Facebook reminded me that Krisja (who I managed not to see yet since I've been back in the city) was throwing a party at her place in Brooklyn. I thought, what better reason to go - catch up with Krisja, meet new people, be social and have a good time. And good times it was. I drank a lot of wine, met some cool girls and lots of people from Oregon in NYC, including some guys who are from Oregon but live in southern California. But it didn't end there. We then went back into the city to another loft party where dancing ensued (I SO missed dance parties!) while chugging wine from a random abandoned bottle. I got home at 5am. And masses of people were still wandering the streets. In costume. I'm officially a fan of Halloween in New York.

Of course, all my errands for today have been put off, so hopefully I can sleep some more tonight and actually be productive tomorrow. I really am so glad I decided to go out last night though. Add that on top of Kim and I finally seeing Heights again on Thursday (BEST performance we've seen yet - everyone was on fire... or on something. Seriously. Ridiculous.) and I am feeling good.

I can't believe it's November. Before I know it I'll be in CA for Thanksgiving. I may be saying this to an annoying degree, but I cannot wait to go home. And now I officially can't wait to move out of the Webster. I need to live actually on my own. Convenience and free food be damned!

Boo.

2008-10-28T18:45:00.004-04:00

October is almost over. Halloween is Friday. And it's kind of making me sad. Each of my four years in Oregon have resulted in fabulous Halloween adventures with my favorite people... and I don't know what I have here. It's strange. I've been missing Oregon more lately... and with all this rain I'm really missing Oregon! Plus, I really don't care about my birthday this year. It's weird, but even at school when I didn't have a core group of my own friends, I knew groups of people that I could combine or go to when big events happened. I guess I feel at a loss. And anyway, 22 is not that exciting. The only reason next year will be awesome is because my birthday will be Friday the 13th. Sweeet.

Things to be grateful for however (pre-Thanksgiving) is that I'm officially employed long term! And I get the title of Associate Editor. Very kick ass. And now I'll be itching to find myself my own APT soon. The Webster has its moments where I don't want to leave and want to take advantage of everything... but I think I'm ready to be done. Really not looking forward to the NYC adventure of brokers, landlords and putting together all my stuff and furnishing ... but hopefully when I do it, it won't be so bad.

I'm really excited to go home for Thanksgiving. For a whole week. I am beyond excited. I wish it was right now.

"What about me?" looks confused

2008-10-17T00:03:00.004-04:00

Sure, it hurt my soul a little bit that Kim and I lost lotto AGAIN tonight... but we made up for it. It's been months since we showed up at New World, and we had a pretty freakin' fun night. We first got fun supplies at Rite Aid (after unsuccessfully stopping at every Duane Reade we passed) and got a coloring book, colored pencils, some stick on letters and more. It was apparently the opening night for Rock of Ages at NWS. Later in the night I saw Constantine as I headed toward the bathroom downstairs and am pretty sure I saw Adam Duritz of Counting Crows downstairs while heading back to the bar. Lots of overly dressed up people and pretty boys abounded.

Given that it was Thursday, it was a good ol' karaoke night. Of course, with some differences. But ultimately, just a fun, great night. Kim and I are awesome, obviously. And that's what matters.
But seriously? I've gone out drinking the last three nights in a row. I've barely drank that much in the last two months. I am SO excited to stay home on the weekend and catch up on TV shows.

Oh also, thanks to Dylan, you all must check out this video, and the other response versions. Ridiculous. Classic.

FLS, ITH, Cheyenne Jackson

2008-10-12T16:20:00.006-04:00

I may love these things way more than is probably healthy:

Legally Brown: Cheyenne's Little Problem

Freestyle Love Supreme... Mic check!

And a small moment to say WTF? to the weather right now. How did it turn back into summer? I was getting excited about the fall chill!

"Tell them you're going to a wedding... mine!"

2008-10-07T22:14:00.004-04:00

I really need to catch up on sleep. And tv shows. Currently failing at both. However, tonight may have been one of the most hilarious nights Kim and I have ever had, especially considering we lost Heights lotto. Good times at S'Mac... although I question what they put in that mac n' cheese that may have contributed to our state of mind.

I get to go home for Thanksgiving! And I get to take a whole week off, which dropped my plane ticket by $300. SO excited. But now that that is taken care of, I've realized it's only October and there's a lot going on before I get to go home.

Official site launch is next Tuesday. Then launch party sometime the next week. Then of course, Halloween. The first two weeks of November involve two Freestyle Love Supreme shows, and Kim and I have decided to go to both. Then my birthday. Then hopefully sometime in there a full time job offer. Then HOME.

I love the fall weather, but I really wish it wasn't making me want to go shopping so badly. I'm trying to budget really well to save away money. And honestly, I'm probably budgeting myself out more than I need to... but the focus is on saving now. Hopefully I don't go crazy. ... I'll rationalize my eventual shopping spree somehow.

"Do you think Bert would ever leave Ernie?"

2008-09-30T07:19:00.002-04:00

The In The Heights lotto winning streak is still on. Kim and I went on Sunday and got a little nervous, but I won! We were on the far left this time, which I think is probably the best spot so far. Plus, it's awesome when we got our tickets and then see Lin heading toward the theater and practically stop in our tracks and then try to look away and be cool... LOL. We have a feeling we're known as the elusive lotto winners. Point is, though, that show is phenomenal. And we saw full cast! Everyone was on fire and ... well, you get it. I'm in love.

"Where would Knight Rider be without Kit? He'd be taking the bus!"

Fuck Yeah!

2008-09-26T01:51:00.004-04:00

We took down USC on Covallis turf AGAIN!! I'm actually glad I was having crazy-ass nightmares and woke up to check out the score! YESSSS GO BEAVS!!!!

And some picture love circa the 2006 win over SC:

New things! ... that are really old things!

2008-09-22T20:52:00.004-04:00

I got my September box from home today. I didn't realize quite how happy that made me. I have sweatshirts... and more jeans... and jackets ... and clothes. Best of all, my movie DVDs! I've missed them. I already immediately popped in Saved! and it's almost over now. Now if only I felt better. I need to get an egg crate or something for this bed. I didn't realize it exactly, but I think it's why I'm not sleeping well and have been feeling crappy. My neck is like beyond knotted.

Anywhoo... sleep soon.

Say What?

2008-09-21T11:31:00.003-04:00

I've come to the conclusion that I must have been in an alternate-universe happy-bubble during my internship at Glamour last summer. I finally caught up with Michelle yesterday and heard the horror stories of her internship. I mean, the stories are heinous, but all plausible too... I would've been miserable if I had the same experience! So I'm glad I had my fun internship and have good memories and then decided to get the fuck out that industry.

In other news, I'm really excited I found out about this no-kill shelter in Williamsburg I'm going to start volunteering at. Playing with kitties every weekend sounds like a great idea to me. And it gets me out of my head more. Win-win.

I can't believe it's already Sunday! The weekend has been good though... and I so love that MSG is so close by and I can visit Kim on her breaks during the weekend. Yay! And I was so impressed with her Bread Factory salad (only $3.50!!) that I really need to get one soon.

I'm so excited for Tuesday. Epic night, for sure.

2008-09-13T04:53:00.004-04:00

No big deal... it's just 4:50am and I've been up for over an hour... that's not weird at all. I'm pretty sure I'm still drunk, but sleep is just not happening. I'm worried I'm becoming one of those people that can't get back to sleep once they wake up. I don't like it. But here I am, eating a granola bar, chugging some water and have the computer screen brightness toned waaay down.

Tonight was a lot of fun. Not to mention seeing Chace Crawford in the street on our way to the bar. That boy is gorgeous... but also kind of didn't seem human? Interesting nonetheless. Way too much booze but good times and new friends. Drunkenly caught up with Christine on my walk home. Still haven't been able to connect with Steph... hopefully we rectify this soon. Far too long not seeing her.

Looking forward to Naked Boys with Kim later today. And glad that besides a wine headache I think I'll recover OK from tonight. Now if only I could get back to sleep...

Broadway Where's Waldo?

2008-09-07T18:37:00.003-04:00

The stupid internet is down at the webster again. At least they posted it at the front desk so I don't have to have another frustrating call to tech support. Blogging via phone is interesting.

Today began at 5am heading out meet Maren at JFK and I awesomely managed to navigate us to the place she's staying in Brooklyn. Then I got to take her and her Russian friend Maria around the city. Good food, wandering and catching up. I love having Maren here and that I get to see her off before France. I get to see her tomorrow night and on tues for lunch. Yay!

Now for my own reference so I don't forget, I saw many the recognizable face today. At Columbus Circle I saw the Batterys Down people rehearsing and whatnot... and then again when we were sitting on a bench in Central Park the crew passed by. Later walking by Fashion Week I very well may have seen Kirsten Dunst. Hanging out at Bryant Park I also saw one of my old editors at Glamour. Love the fashion week. Sitting in the courtyard at 50th I saw a handful of Spring Awakening kids going to Blockheads, including the delicious Hunter Parrish. Then on my walk home I spotted Robin de Jesus crossing the street. Yay people watching.

It's September!

2008-09-02T21:21:00.002-04:00

Fall is knocking on the door... I've made it September. I have a feeling this is going to be an exciting month. I'm starting to get more involved at work... and I'm honestly really glad to be back after the three day weekend. I want order. Although going to the beach on Sunday was amazing - beautiful and I even went in the water! Nothing like some good sun.

Anyway, working on getting my stuff back in order now. The usually 9 to 6 with the weekend and having enough energy to have fun and whatnot. Sadly, my leg is verging on even more jacked up. I walk about a mile to work each way, and I don't always remember to wrap up my leg - ankle or knee, I switch off. It's kind of been killing me today. BUT going to a doctor is not something I have time for nor do I want to deal with right now. Why, oh why, do I always have the stupidest injuries?

Seeing Penny's play this week, then hopefully Karen in In The Heights (Kim and I are buckling and getting the $80 seats right before show time to make sure she's actually on). Friday is the first day of Fashion Week! Part of me wishes I could finagle myself in some shows - although Steph may be connected this time around - but I'll enjoy at least just seeing the tents. There's also the 20at20 for Off-Broadway shows, so I'll get one or two of those in. The Broadway Flea Market is happening later in the month, which may be cool just to walk by... I get to experience a Cary Shields gig with Kim and the girls... it's basically just cool that I'll be here all the way through September!

I keep getting a little ahead of myself... I just need to enjoy what's going on right now. And not get bored with things so easily like I always do. Moral of the story - I need to get back to the library to get 800 books and some DVDs.

New Job Time

2008-08-30T20:20:00.005-04:00

Well, I survived my first week at [redacted]. I already had a pretty positive outlook going in, but I've been enjoying it. My boss was in the office the first two days so I managed to get settled in and have the other half of the editorial department with me. The website is going through a major overhaul for a relaunch soon - it's all a little over my head in some areas, but it's definitely exciting to be a part of a start-up.

Did I mention the free food before? Because it's awesome. Although I think I'm going to have to forgo my excitement about the free coffee because I was getting the jitters by the end of the week. I clearly should just sleep better and not rely so much on caffeine. However, we have a sweet soda selection and other goodies that probably shouldn't amuse me as much as they do.

Everyone on staff is really friendly, although I'm still not sure of most people's names. It's an open set up in theory, but as an editorial department of one I'm behind a wall and only hear voices and activity beyond it. But I'm usually buried in reading large groups of finance stories, so sometimes tuning out is good. I'm getting closer, little by little, to understanding everything.

All in all, it was a long week, but it was quite fulfilling. And it was a half day Friday and thanks to Labor Day I get a three-day weekend! I've spent the weekend relaxing so far. I was going to go out with Steph last night but decided to take some Tylenol PM and get a good full night of sleep to feel alive during the weekend.

Today I adventured out early to scout out some "business casual" items. It's not super necessary, because the office definitely is more casual, but I like the idea of dressing up a bit for work. The Old Navy by me is on 34th, and sadly, does not have as much size-wise in stock. I found things but not in my size there and gave up. But after a nap I went out again to the one on 6th Ave. So much nicer, just a way longer walk... plus my knee and ankle on my left leg are still pretty jacked up and I know I'm not doing enough to help fix that. BUT I got the "capris" I liked there (that go to my ankle) and I am officially in love with Old Navy because they let me pretend to be a Size 2. Fantabulous.

Tonight is another chill night and the rest of the weekend proves to be that way. I know I'm going to eventually need to make more of an effort to make more friends and reconnect with people I've been slacking on calling... but I'm choosing to focus on being happily employed and then go from there.

Update?

2008-08-23T18:36:00.005-04:00

Hmmm... so what's been going on...

This week wasn't that exciting, but it was just nice, knowing I start my new job Monday. Monday I discovered the library with Heather, and I am so in love! I got my library card on Wednesday. I love it. Books for free! Why did I not do this in college? Plus they have DVDs, including TV shows (they have Little Britain, Christine!!).

Tuesday and Thursday were dedicated to the US Open qualifying matches. They're free, and since my mom isn't coming out this year to pay for things, I figured I'd get my US Open fix for free. Saw some good matches and some promising young American players. Also, of course, I managed to see a shirtless Tommy Haas on the practice courts. It's kind of necessary.

Wednesday I checked in with my new boss and went over the basics to prepare me for the first day. I'm really excited! I've thought a lot about my career path lately, and even though the fashion industry is pretty awesome, it's also pretty insane. I kind of like the stability offered with [redacted], and websites in general. I like the path I'm on, basically. I'll miss the access to Fashion Week and the fun and the craziness, but I'm not sure I'd be able to sustain it without completely losing my mind.

Thursday ended up being a great day. After a long day at the Open - I don't know why, but I really like being out there alone - I met up with Kim for our traditional Heights lotto losing. Except, uh, we won! More specifically, I won, they called my name! So ridiculously cool! Except Karen was out again, but we saw a different understudy and she was great. The show is still amazing. I can't get over it. Then we attempted to make the Slushee Sonny describes in the show and then went home. Being in the sun all day is draining. So while we missed Karaoke night, it was just so cool and random winning Heights lotto.

The weekend has been mellow. I don't find myself really caring if I go out... I feel like I do enough during the week, and the weekends are so much crazier anyway. I'm loving my books checked out from the library, so it's keeping me busy. Plus I'm starting to draft my first blogs for [redacted] and generally just hanging around. I realized I don't always have a lot to say when people ask me what I've been doing... I mean, I keep busy, but I guess it's just normal now... I'm in the city, I see friends, things happen. Which is good? I think.

Briefly

2008-08-16T14:43:00.003-04:00

What to say about last night? The plan to have celebratory drinks with Steph at the Wine Cellar quickly turned into one too many glasses of wine, getting accosted by "the mayor of 8th street," and chatting up interesting boys. I've learned that apparently I'm great to be chatted up but not to be gotten digits from. But then again, when I'm plastered in a bar with loud music I chat up a guy and then can't remember his name... This was part 2 of the night, at a new underground club on west 10th and Greenwich Ave. I don't even know what it's called. Enjoyed chatting up Mr. No-Name and adding to intoxication. Steph and I stumbled out and walked back (admittedly with great difficulty on my part), along with roller-blading Lou. Home by 2am. Functioning human again at 2pm. Oh, life.

I'm employed!

2008-08-15T15:38:00.002-04:00

It's official... I have a PAID internship! At an amazing company that I plan to stay with for a long time. I'll be an intern at a web start up.

I can already feel that this will be a great place to work... it has the relaxed element of brass (people in jeans, friendly open-cubicle office) and there are free snacks and drinks. I start a week from Monday. So now that I have this security I can enjoy my last week of unemployed freedom. YAY.

So close, yet so far.

2008-08-14T13:29:00.001-04:00

The interview Tuesday went really well in my opinion, and I've been trying to hold out on writing about it until I got the final answer - however, I got the call today to meet with the Pres of the company tomorrow. Almost there, I guess? I want this so bad it's kind of ridiculous.

More reasons I love New York

2008-08-09T11:29:00.001-04:00

It has been one hell of a week here in the city... in the best kind of way.

Tuesday, beside finally conquering ITH lotto, I also got a phone call from a company to interview for an editorial internship. It's a paid internship! Money! Yay! I know that shouldn't be my focus... but this is New York. I can't help but spend money, and therefore need to get any back in the bank, however small the amount. Anyway, I have the interview on Tuesday, from 9:30am - 11am -- with 3 different people in the company! My agenda this weekend is prepare hardcore to knock it out of the park.

Wednesday was another fun and surprising night. A friend was celebrating his birthday at the Frying Pan. It's a docked boat right off 26th on the Hudson. Beautiful! So we had Coronas on the upper deck and I got to meet a lot of random people.
Best people of all - the power couple - she used to work at Tory Burch is about to launch her own handbag line to be sold at Saks, Barneys and the like. She brought a bag and let me tell you - I may not be able to afford it, but they are fantastic. She offered to pass my resume along at Tory Burch if I was interested in PR... even more fantastic!
He used to work at BlackBook and does freelance for them still, used to work at Playboy and New York Magazine. He's like my hero in the journalism world. The funniest part was that I asked if he was at Playboy when Sara Jean (from OSU) won playmate of the year and he was. Even better - when on campus a student made up an "inappropriate" banner and we covered it at the newspaper and found out it later showed up in Playboy... he was the one interviewing the student! Crazy connections. He too told me to get his info and get in touch with him later. New York and networking with cool people... hand in hand. Loves it.

Thursday. Last year it was Liar at the Time Out Lounge. This year... it's Karaoke Night! Kim and I went and considered getting drunk enough to sing, but it's just an impossibility when you're at a bar with talented theater people. The only way I can sum up this night is lots of booze, a dangerous shot, getting boys to sing Rent songs and being loud and drunk. Very drunk. I got home at 2am and didn't really function again until Friday afternoon. One good reason to be unemployed. But god, I love New World sometimes. Thursdays for the win.

As you can imagine, Friday was relatively uneventful. I wasn't exactly leaving the apartment. But Friday night I did go out to the Wine Cellar to see Caytie. It was great to see her again! I was lingering there for a half hour alone with wine, but then Steph joined me, and I got the update on the insane drama that is life for her right now. Insanity, man. Anyway, we both stuck to one drink and called it an early night. Then I finally caught up back home - I love being only 20 blocks from Steph... walking home gives me time to call my West Coast people... given that I'm not too drunk.

And now it's the weekend! Off to be productive and whatnot.

In The Heights - Spread the word!

2008-08-05T23:18:00.001-04:00

Tonight, finally, after about eight thousand tries, Kim and I won lotto tickets for In The Heights!!! We had front row seats to (seriously) the best show on Broadway. We only had one understudy on... we were there.
This show is phenomenal. It has the energy, the humor, the heart and staying power that, quite possible, Rent has/had. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays the lead, wrote this show when he was a sophomore in college. At 28 now, he has his show on Broadway, a Best Musical Tony to his credit and so much more. Kind of makes you feel like you should do more with your life, huh?

I'm still in the afterglow of being in awe of this show... but all I can say is the music, the set, the dancing, the story, the chemistry -- everything draws you in and is beyond amazing. There will be many more lotto-ings of this show... I'm downloading the cast recording as we speak. Success!

Awkward ramblings...

2008-08-04T19:16:00.000-04:00

Sigh... I miss my Ramblers.

The interview went alright today. It's one of those things like when I applied at brass having little financial or web knowledge, and I came away just hoping they liked me enough to hire me. I try to be clear and likable... but I rambled. Obviously. The things I'd be doing - working with Excel, client orders, working with PR agents, etc. - seem to be manageable tasks even though I really don't have a sales background. I'm just hoping my honesty won me some points, because I made it clear I'd commit to them if there was a hiring opportunity in the future and came clean on having no sales background.

If I'm chosen, it'd be three days a week for three months, which is doable, and hopefully I can add some other part-time (PAYING) work to that and around Sept/Oct I can look for a new job or if I'm happy talk to the showroom about getting hired. One of their old interns is now a sales associate. That's never been a title I ever considered... but I feel if I got the training and experience I could work toward that. Who knows? There are many different facets of fashion, and I may fit this area, or maybe I wont. We'll see if I even get hired for now.

Movin' on up?

2008-08-04T11:43:00.000-04:00

So here I am, moved into my little room in The Webster. Thankfully, now with air conditioning. Feeling a little bit like a fraud for not being out working right now (since that's the condition of living here) but at least I have an interview today. Hoping to find out that since the internship is deemed "indeterminate," I can negotiate working for as an intern for a little and then being a candidate for full time hire.

It's weird not living with Steph anymore... I miss it. I think I'll have to spend lots of time over there with her and little crazy Biskie. And also find a coffee shop to be my home during the day when I pretend to be out working... until I really am with job.

"There are like 14 billion Altar Boyz here!"

2008-08-01T07:38:00.000-04:00

I'm glad I didn't think of blogging when I got home at 2am, because I'm afraid it would have been extremely incoherent. But thanks to my inability to sleep in, here I am at 7:30am. Awake for the time being.

SO. Yesterday could not have gone better. This whole week has been a major downer, and I was definitely looking forward to a fun night. But before I even got there, I got amazing news! I have started looking in the retail/wholesale area on Craigslist and found an ad for an intern at a swimsuit/resort wear showroom. I only would get reimbursed lunch and transportation, but it's something to do during the day - plus, it's a whole different area of the fashion industry, and unlike Glamour I feel like I may have some opportunity to eventually get hired on after interning for a while. Who knows. But I literally got a response less than 15 minutes later. A response! The holy grail in my eyes. They want to interview me next week. I can't wait!

After my happy dance I got my butt uptown for dinner with Kim. We had great tickets to Altar Boyz (right isle row C) and joked about me getting pulled up on stage (it would be time #3). We hit the bar first and ran into a lot of people we knew, who were all there to see Ryan Ratliff's last show. Having not lived in NYC in the height of the Altarholic thing, I never got to experience how cool it was to know so many people at a show with everyone coming together like that.

We sit down and get great news: Kevin Kern will be at the show! With Andy Karl! We're stunned, and start to joke that more of the boyz should be there. We look to our right and see not two but FOUR boyz walking in to the theater. Kern, Andy, Joberg and Daniel Torres. Our jaws just dropped. It's probably been years since they saw the show and all these boyz show up together. Amazing! The show itself was really awesome - these new boyz were so great and a lot of their new takes on the show had Kim and I practically on the floor. I was blown away at "I Believe." Although I don't know how they'll replace Ryan...

Moment of truth: right before "Something About You" I happen to see the Matthew (Michael Kadin Craig) looking my way. I'll admit, I panicked a little. How do I always get this to happen to me?! And sure enough, he's singing, coming down the stage, staring right at me. This time I had a bit of fun hamming it up while on stage, but skipped on molesting Ratliff even though Kim really wanted me to. So fun though. Love my luck!After the show we said hi to Kern and Joberg, and Daniel chatted me up a little - he is so sweet, and I'd never met him before. Kern was like hey, you got pulled up on stage! haha. Then we watched as RJ got his head shaved right there at stage door... apparently he really wanted to once he was done with the show. Then off to the Lounge where Karaoke was in full force and we were busy drinking away. It was so much fun just hanging out and telling stories and singing along to the songs.

Came home around 2am and hung out with the crazy kitty then crashed. Probably a routine I will be repeating again soon. Oh, the ABz gods love me and Kim. Now if only the Heights ones would let us win lotto!

This blows.

2008-07-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

Spending most days searching for jobs, writing cover letters and sitting around thinking of ways to not spend money is not fun. I already had my month off in CA, and that was more than enough time to not do anything. This all seems so hopeless.

Can someone freaking hire me already?!?!?!
or maybe just an interview... please?

And time goes on

2008-07-25T09:52:00.000-04:00

I've been here 10 days now. I have to keep giving myself reality checks that I haven't been here that long, even though I'm already bored with not working and endlessly applying for jobs.

The heat hasn't been bad with all the thunder storms, but sitting around all day applying for jobs and fending off Biskie got me going a little stir-crazy. I met up with Andrew yesterday and we commiserated over our lack of job status. He heard reliable info that a lot of companies post a lot during the summer but then start really hiring for September, meaning we'd start hearing back around mid/late August. I hope. Although I keep seeing Steph get all these interviews set up and wish I could figure out what she was doing right. But my goal is to apply to at least a job a day, which is going well.

Earlier this week I returned to the Lounge on the usual Tuesday to see my best buddy bartender Dakotah. Kim and I have a fantastic night, and it was hilarious that the whole Altar Boyz cast showed up later... normally they only did that when Kim still worked there! haha. That was a good fun drunk night, and Dakotah gave me a heads up about jobs at his non-profit org.

Wednesday I got a tour of Coney Island and saw the Atlantic ocean for the first time! I was thoroughly excited. Plus it was at least 10 degrees cooler down there than in the city. We wander around the boardwalk, saw some filming of a show to be called "Cupid" (hmmm?) and played (and lost) the claw-machine games. We also went to the promenade where this Brooklyn Bridge Park is under construction. It's beautiful over there, and happens to have a little ice cream place that is probably the best I've ever had down there. It was the ultimate mini day trip out of the city!

We also tried, and failed, that night for In The Heights lotto. So we're determined to lotto it every day until we do win. Which I enjoy because it gives me something reliable to do each day besides apply for jobs and remember that I have no money.

Off to apply for a cool Time Warner job I'll probably never get. Whoo hoo!

Back in the streets of NYC

2008-07-19T18:00:00.001-04:00

I have had a great first week in the city. While it's been disgustingly hot, I've caught up with many of my friends and already gotten to experience some new things.

Wednesday was a slow day where I got familiar with the neighborhood and bought some groceries. That night, I made my return to the Lounge at New World with Kim! It was technically Wii Wednesday, but the girls spent the night on our intense game of Apples to Apples. For the first time ever, I amazingly won! There will still 4 people playing when I left, but I won something like 17 green cards?! And it was just great being back at the lounge and made everything feel even more like home.

Thursday I got a little more serious and spent the morning job searching and applying. It's kind of nice getting scope out new job openings and selling yourself, but I also don't like the insecurity of it. I want a job! And money! I then strolled up 8th avenue and spent a good two hours wandering around midtown (though safely outside of times square) and basically just enjoyed the wandering.
That night I met up with Heather and Lori for dinner. We had lots of catching up to do and we talked TV and all sorts of great stuff. During this, I found out that Lori lives in Astoria, Queens, because she mentioned that Ugly Betty would be filming there this weekend. So after dinner Lori offered to give me a mini-tour of her area. It was the first time I'd ever been outside Manhattan, and I LOVED it. This area has smaller buildings, a little quieter, but absolutely everything you need. Plus, she's in the area near the park and the waterfront, which is gorgeous.

Friday morning I did another round of job searching and then made plans to reunite with Baro alum Andrew N! I wandered around again in the afternoon, doing a little shopping (though bought nothing) and a lot of walking. But the breeze made it much more pleasant. I rested at home and applied last minute before running out the door to a freelance month-long position for NY mag that I'd love to get. I really worked to sell myself and my skills... crossing my fingers!!

I then headed out to meet Andrew and his friend (another OSU alum), we brought picnic supplies, bought a box of wine and headed out to Brooklyn. Two boroughs in two days! There's this Celebrate Brooklyn festival going on all summer at Prospect Park, and we went out to see a band called Deerfoot. (Ghostland Obvservatory is playing next weekend... they played at OSU for free in May, love them!) It was great to catch up with Andrew, see his fiance Elly and meet their friend Kate. I love having so many different friends in the city! Also, overall, Brooklyn was also really nice, and Andrew lives out there so I may recruit him to look for vacancies in his building in the future!

After leaving the concert, I caught up with Steph and went to meet her on the Lower East Side. She was with some friends at their apartment, hanging out on their rooftop. Seriously, you cannot beat rooftops in NYC. It was beyond beautiful. We drank and I got to meet new people and we headed over to a bar called The Magician for some more drinks. I was done from drinking that boxed wine at the park but had a fun time despite some of the tension. It was like late night dinner theater, haha. Came home around 2am and hung out with Biskie while I drank copious amounts of water and was surprisingly not tired. Went to bed around 3am and eventually got up at 9am because I was having way too fucked up dreams... oh fun.

Today has just been lounging and nursing hangovers for me and Steph. I went for a short jaunt to get myself outside, but good god is it still hot. May just be staying in tonight... we'll see.

Success!

2008-07-16T13:29:00.000-04:00

Well here I am, writing from lovely New York City. Yesterday getting up at 4am (hell... I'd really been up since 3) made me a tired, nervous wreck. I honestly hadn't been so nervous that I felt I almost would throw up since high school. Events from Monday may have also shaped my odd frame of mind, but we'll gloss over that. I had been so comfortable at home and while I was bored for lack of work and purpose... it was nice. So saying goodbye to the parents was hard, like leaving for college all over again!

The flight was perfectly on time, but after not flying for 6 months, good god was 5 hours long! Anyway, got in to JFK, got my luggage and got in the cab to head to Steph's. It was long and traffic-y, but it was great once I arrived. Home!

Steph has a lovely little one bedroom in an amazing part of the West Village. She also has an adorable (when he's not attacking my body like a playtoy) kitty. Steph didn't have to babysit after all, so we hung out for a bit and I got briefed on the insanity that was her life over the past few months. Short result - I won't be interning at OTR after all. But I don't look at it as too much of a drawback because I would have been job hunting anyway. Plus my papers already are in at the Webster so it wont affect moving there either. Yay! Then we got food and just hung out and I definitely passed out early after the long day.

Today Steph went off to work (she has a temporary job this week, but is also in the midst of interviews) and I slowly got my act together. I'll have to work with her later because her internet cable isn't working and I haven't been able to figure it out. So I'm currently stealing WiFi that only gives me barely a bar. I needed it to look up locksmith places to make my own set of her keys. After a false loop that resulted in the store addresses being wrong, I made a second trip out and went a great little place and got my keys and was done! It is meltingly hot right now, and sadly is getting hotter this week. Joy.

On a better note, I've already gotten at least 5 "hey beautiful" comments from sketchy guys on the street. Oh, New York, how I love it.

Packing it all up.

2008-07-13T16:49:00.001-04:00

Two days now. My boxes are packed, and I've gotten my suitcase almost packed and organized. I'll be in NYC on Tuesday evening. I spoke with Steph briefly yesterday and she got me really excited again. And it's great knowing this time I have solid friends there when I arrive in the city. I mean, I technically knew people last year, but I had a pretty tough adjustment period. Now I have my different friends from work and theater and Oregon that I can meet up with and start to feel like I've really settled. I still can't believe it's happening so soon. Plus, I have to get my head back in the game and start searching out jobs and getting interviews. Oh, fun.

Six days

2008-07-09T13:36:00.001-04:00

So... uh... yeah. I have six days to get my all my crap together.

Boxes to buy and fill and label.

People to see and things to finish (read: scrapbooking).

Right, and packing. And storing. And giving away more belongings.

Trying not to completely panic, but it's what I do best...

Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding...

2008-06-29T03:54:00.001-04:00

One of those moments where I really miss Oregon and Corvallis, my friends, the insanity and everything I knew and could count on...

it's just not the same here.