the wedding guest

(creepy cellphone-self-photo!) 

today at work

my grandma's dress that she wore to weddings over twenty years ago. actually, it was a floor-length skirt that i fashioned (belted) into a pretty frock. silver, small pleats, lovely. and i'll wear round two (the matching top) tomorrow. thanks, nana! 

candyland

a brunch at spitzer's (fries and mayo, panko crusted poached eggs with spinach ricotta terrine, several coffees) followed by a trip to economy candy and a stroll through nolita may be my favorite way to spend a saturday afternoon.

827

thoughts.

• lack of posting has been due to running around the city and feeling really creative (more on that another time).
• also, when i'm actually in my apartment, i've been doing some serious redecorating. and if you've been in my room, you'd know that it is a place filled with my favorite things in the world. and after tons of recent ponderings, i decided i needed a change. i have been spending my birthday-monies on buying vintage floral fabrics to put in beautiful picture frames all over my walls and i bought a wildly perfect, floral statement-duvet. it's been a huge process but i think it's starting to come together well.
• summer in manhattan is pretty brutal but fall is on its way.
  
• with the seasons changing, the entire city changes. winter is my favorite. then fall. then spring and summer. but that order was definitely reversed when i lived in vermont. and out of all of the seasons, i'd probably pick the spring as my overall favorite. it's all relative, of course.
• and speaking of winter, a cozy feeling is: the light pollution when it snows. and the feeling that you're inside still. or at least you're not really outdoors.
• latest love: emmentaler cheese.
• and talking to friends who knew you when you were younger and what you were like five years ago. ten years ago.
  
• also, reading old diaries and seeing how i used to react to situations. especially at the end of high school/in in the beginning of college. i was so spunky.
  
• note: be spunkier.
  
• trying to photograph your hand seems along the same line as listening to a recording your voice on an answering machine.
  
• i like how jenna, and i have noticed this about her forever, always says "comfortable" pronouncing every syllable. com-for-ta-ble.
  
• and that i received a lovely card from her today!

yellow

sixth street

QT

i wrote this in my diary on july 25th, 2004:

i cut my hair so short tonight at the chief's house. i think it may be shorter in the back. but i do not even care the littlest bit because i never see the back of my head anyway.

i like me at age 17.

hey hot stuff

samesies

on sunday, britt and i wore nearly identical outfits. ankle-length cowboy boots, short shorts and a gray v-neck shirt with a pocket. on monday, we both wore skinny jeans, tee shirts, blazers (that both had reversible cuffs when rolled up) and our hair in ballerina buns.

today i wore two different varieties of pink stripes. just to see if third time's a charm and we'd match again. but it wasn't and we didn't and it'd be really, really freaky if we did.

la vie en rose

looking at my pictures from france before i go to brunch with britt. 

sunday morning.

jermajesty

• every now and then, i will pick up a bonne bell lip smackers lip gloss at duane reade. usually in some sort of vanilla frosting or cotton candy flavor. it gives me as much joy as it did when i was eight. i also usually lose them within the week. just as i did when i was eight.
  
• i can't really justify cat-calling. especially when it takes place in midtown during work hours. or any time. but i am beginning to, on some occasions, think of it a bit differently (depending what is said, of course). this week i've been told that i had a beautiful dress on, i have great style, i look good and (when i had a side braid on wednesday) that i resemble pocahontas. okay!
  
• it is weird when people are in a conversation at a bar and they are both (slightly/slowly) dancing to the music at different times.
  
• jenna asked me if i had ever seen a cockroach before. this made me laugh. also making me laugh recently, various friends' harrowing tales of roaches. everyone has a story and everyone's is the worst.
  
• my bus driver was a bit snippy to me a few weeks ago when i questioned him for passing my stop because i didn't hit the signal button. i contemplated telling him to not be a grump (i didn't) but ever since, we've been getting along so well each morning and i guess in some relationships, rough patches are necessary.
• while vacationing in france last month, i didn't use conditioner in my hair once. in two weeks. i came back and my hair was a big nest. at my blow-out appointment last weekend, it took two men to comb through my hair at once as i read the new issue of marie claire with MK on the cover. i felt like a celebrity, except it was only it was by default. and my hair came back to life (for a bit) - but now it's back to nest. i can't run my fingers through it. such is such.
• best line from muppets take manhattan:

  kermit (as phil philips): me? in love with a pig? wait 'til i tell the guys in marketing.
  

scrumptious

this is my friend's boyfriend when he was a tot.
love!

dawson

brookey's farewell party

last night.
will missmissmiss her

sure

if you absolutely insist.

withdrawal

the two cups of large "strong" coffee from pret and one venti (large) coffee from starbucks that i have everyday, (i've realized) are probably doing more harm than good. it's not only hurting the ol' piggy bank but making me have insane amounts of energy at inappropriate times (3am).

so i've completely quit. as of saturday. and i have since had an on-going massive headache. but, le sigh, i'm sticking to water and one cup of tea in the morning.

connecticut vanity

birthday cake

really, really impressed with myself and the giant cupcake-cake that i baked.

sweet birthday

today i am twenty four!

it turned midnight and i was with emily and justin and we were sitting on the daybed in the living room. we were listening to french pop music and eating beef jerky and then i was officially twenty four. emily gave me a jeweled cell phone case (that i've been talking about for months but never actually bought) and tickets to blues traveler in a few months. she bought tickets for herself but also gave me two, so we'll go together but i can also choose someone to bring. it excites me to think of the future and just who i will end up bringing.

and then i went to bed with the happy thought of not going into work today. i lovelovelove my job and everyone i work with but as emily's dad says, do not work on your birthday. i'm spending my day exactly how i please and it feels wonderful. i've been enjoying the people who are out during the day downtown. there is a whole other world going on while i'm up in midtown during the week. i dream of freelancing at some point while i live in the city. it seems so lovely. i woke up late today (9:30) and listened to records and enjoyed the sunshine in my room. i made a wish at 11:11 and left my apartment.

the weather today in new york is beautiful and i am very thankful and happy for that. i went to housing works bookstore on crosby street and found the only copy of the bell jar, just what i was looking for. i read it yearsandyearsandyears ago and i am so excited to read it again. i don't think there is an edition for it that i can download on my kindle and that is perfectly fine. the bell jar is definitely a book i want to read and have and experience.

and now i am at tea spot. my favorite place for tea. or maybe just in general. i used to come here a lot when i first moved to the city. i lived a few blocks away and would come here whenever i could. i love the atmosphere, it's such a gem. i always get the same pot of white peony tea and add tons of sugar and milk. i always sit in the back with my laptop. today i also brought my old diaries to read from the past few years. i love being here. i love enjoying tea. i feel so happy right now.

after i finish my tea (i've been here for hours, very leisurely), i'll be picking up cake supplies and will bake a massive cake for my friends who will come over later tonight and eat it with me. we went to rosa mexicano on friday night to celebrate too, but tonight i just want to do something low-key and see the people that i love!

every year, i have the same gift to myself. actually, it's not a gift so much as a thought. a reminder to live a life filled with happiness, beauty and adventure.

me and a few of my lovely girlfriends from friday night:

the sad sads

jenna and i ate all of the marshmallows out of the box of lucky charms and then went to a secret garden on avenue b with various cheeses and a baguette and read fashion magazines and had the loveliest saturday.

JLR

jenna is here for the weekend. yipppeee!

kellogg

since i live very close by, i do all of my grocery shopping at whole foods. but it's nice to go into regular grocery store every once in a while and pick up a box of lucky charms.

puppy love

duff
ashley's and greg's new puppy
love love love

east houston street

moustaches and cupcakes

allison, me and mini cupcakes from crumbs 

(courtesy of the lovely beatrice)

all right

since i've been back from france, everything has kind of flipped upside down for me. in a lot of ways, for the better. but still, so much change has made me a bit loopy and i feel luckyluckylucky that jess came to stay the weekend. especially since she was only going to stay until saturday morning and she stayed until sunday night (typical). we had a lovely brunch at lovely day, then strolled around with ashley, shea and molly, had tapas at boqueria with jess' cool older sister (check out the awesome shoes that she designs - marais usa) and went to a rooftop party in williamsburg. i hung more streamers and created a day-bed in the living room and we watched titanic until they hit the iceberg. after that, the movie is too high-stress.

jess is worse than my mom when it comes to always being on her blackberry. if that's possible.

friendship bracelets from babel fair