surface

See ya later, sucka...

2009-02-13T01:00:00.003-05:00

i've moved...

wanna grow up?

love,
lauriebot

le calme avant l'orage...

2008-05-15T16:27:00.002-04:00

it's design week in new york, so i've been superbusy! aside from providing exposure to the preeminent designers of today, the whole point of design week is... parties. many, many parties. parties out the waz, if you will. and of course, i've come down with a killer allergy/cold combo. rad.

i've pumped myself full of drugs and the hope that i'll be in able to work through this in 24 hours because tomorrow begins my occupational obligation to party.

as part of our event, we'll be unveiling some fantastically whimsical pieces from studio job. three words to describe them: huge, glittery, disney.

behold:

7 Lights!

2008-04-24T16:18:00.002-04:00

go see Paul Chan's 7 Lights exhibit at the New Museum on Bowery before it closes... it's amay-may.

Proof:

papawesome!

2008-04-22T14:28:00.000-04:00

i just introduced my coworkers to the whimsically sticky world of papabubble candies and now we have a little jar of delights in the office.

the lavender candies taste like flowers with chocolate inside.

the bergamot candies taste like tea with chocolate inside.

we have a little apothecary jar of passionfruit candies at home and guess what? they taste exactly like passionfruit.

if you have the supreme good fortune of living in one of the following cities, please do your soul (and belly) the favor of visiting one of their shops!

barcelona
amsterdam
tokyo
new york

oh mr. sun...

2008-04-16T12:55:00.000-04:00

this winter has been so long... i just really miss the sunshine.

long ago, in a time called last summer, spencer and i had the most glorious mini-vacay to the jersey shore that i hope to repeat this year when the weather finally decides to act appropriately. we stayed in a creepy b&b right on the beach and shared the establishment with a very large Hasidic family.

the town, Ocean Grove, is unbelievably clean and pure (imagine Hummelville from that episode of the Simpsons when Ned grows tired of the corruption of his hometown). and, much to our surprise/chagrin, it's a dry town (say what?!) so our weekend consisted of good, wholesome fun in the sun.

children/teenagers played innocent games of tag on the beach while their parents watched an outdoor screening of Endless Summer and strangers happily bid us "good day" as we strolled down the immaculate boardwalk that remained blissfully free of all vendors and riffraff.

despite the odd blend of blandness and creepiness (a giant church with a giant crucifix overlooked the beach and served as the town's centerpiece), i really miss the beach and can't wait for the sun to break on through...

new do, new you.

2008-04-15T15:10:00.000-04:00

after months of talking the talk without putting the money where my mouth is, i finally booked an appointment to get the asymetrical mess that i call my hair chopped and shaped back into something presentable.

i'd gotten an amazing cut last summer that i loved, but unfortunately, laziness and procrastination hindered me from keeping up with it. i had allowed myself to slip into the comfortable routine of wash-airdry-ponytail/headscarf.

i was so ashamed.

thankfully, i got my act together and headed back to arrojo where morgan, my little stylist angel, came to my rescue.

i walked in on a rainy/humid friday night, sat in the chair, removed the arsenal of bobbypins keeping my coif from total meltdown and gave him the following instructions:

"i desperately require symmetry to re-enter my daily life. i want it chic and sleek and i want serious bangs that begin from the tippy-top of my head."

he delivered.
my hair is totally smooth and swingy (which is a small triumph for a woman of color who wishes her hair to be smooth and swingy) and i've actually had strangers stop me on the street, praising my new do!

so for two weeks, i was feeling fierce: the fabulous blow-out and flatiron job i'd received at arrojo was lasting surprisingly well. things were still smooth and swingy and glorious. had a minor overdose of styling product one day, but a quick application of dry shampoo totally sorted that out. but soon, i realized that i needed to actually wash my hair with real shampoo and water. to say i was nervous about achieving a polished look befitting of such a polished haircut would be an understatement.

i gave it a shot. and the results left a little something to be desired. so i decided to go on a quest to find the perfect blowout for my hair texture that wouldn't cost me a small fortune. my results are below:

1. tried out a fancy salon/shop in brooklyn called Commune. the space is adorable and they were generally pretty nice. but then, the girl who did my hair just couldn't understand why i'd want someone to just blowdry and flatiron my hair without getting a haircut. i didn't find this request to be all that unusual, but apparently it is at Commune. she did a great job (prolly the best blowout i've gotten in nyc) using essential oils and leave-in conditioners in lieu of goop and serums, but she kept telling me my hair was damaged and that i should learn to blow dry it myself. i prefer my styling without a lecture, thankyouverymuch so i decided to never go here again.

2. next i ventured into the heart of chinatown in search of the elusive $15 blow out. i found it at Top Ten Hair Salon on Pell St. but ladies of color be forewarned: the guy who did my hair was totally offensive and borderline racist (the first thing he said to me upon viewing my towel-dried hair was, "how am i going to blow dry this?"). he did an okay job (i ended up having to re-flat iron a few sections and use some of my own product when I got home), but the low price tag is not worth enduring his frowny face and snide comments for half an hour. now of course, i can't speak for all the hair salons in chinatown, but i'd definitely recommend NOT going to this one if you are anything other than Asian or caucasian. oy!

3. the next place on my list is a salon run by sassy Dominicans... i think they'll know how to treat a sistah of ambiguous ethnicity better than all the rest. fingers crossed!

ambi-turners!

2008-03-17T14:46:00.005-04:00

thanks to emily, i got a chance to go to a show for a pair of up-and-coming young designers during NY fashion week. Jordi Scott. their aesthetic is decidedly west coast and they opened up the shabang with a mini burlesque performance courtesy of some mildly famous East Village burlesque sisters whose name is escaping me at the mo...

anyway, fashion is a lot more fun to see than to read to about, so here's 9,000 words... metaphorically:

selam superstar...

2008-02-22T11:30:00.002-05:00

peanut butter puppy time!

2008-01-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

i totally got a puppy...

the deets:
t'is a girl
her name's nina
she's 11 weeks old
part chihuahua, part magic

consider me enamored...

christmas time is heeeeerrreeee!

2007-12-15T14:30:00.000-05:00

kelly, spencer, and i braved the wintry wind and gentle snowfall to check out all the fabulous windows on 5th avenue and they did not disappoint! we got a couple of hot chocolates from a streetcart and began working our way down 5th. bergdorf, saks, barneys, henri bendel... they were all amazing! behold...

cut and paste...

2007-10-14T16:01:00.000-04:00

i've had the most wonderful sunday so far...

woke up late and stuffed my face with warm apple pie and vanilla bean ice cream while watching back to back episodes of sex and the city on demand.

after that girlfest, i met up with my beloved sean for a semi-greasy, yet unbelievably delicious brunch at the newish cafe up the street. one bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and a couple of hours later, i finally decided to tackle one of my many DIY projects that's been waiting in the wings. a couple months ago i bought a truly heinous kitchen table at ikea that i abhor. it's pine and blocky and square; i hate it. so i figured i'd do something about it and decoupage my heart out.

so i headed over to my friendly neighborhood junk shop and sifted through about a million old magazines. popular science, popular mechanics, vogue, vanity fair, sheet music, and comics as far as the eye can see. briefly stopped to drool over an issue of Paper from 1995 with a pre-haggard thurston moore on the cover and a tiny article with my 8th grade mtv crush, squirt tv genius, jake fogelnest. a fellow rummager pointed out a hilarious headline from 1973 about how strip clubs provide lonely housewives with a much-needed sense of emotional fulfillment. finally narrowed my choices down to a handful and headed up to the sassy japanese guy enjoying a hoagie at the register. the total: $18.42. i had exactly 42 cents in my pocket. i felt the need to note this aloud and the guy at the counter responded in heavily accented english, "it's times like these that i find life is beautiful."

i walked home, smiling to myself.

out of touch...

2007-10-07T01:24:00.000-04:00

i went out in the district tonight and recognized approximately 1% of the people i saw. to say that i am displeased by this observation would be a vast understatement.

snaps(hot)s...

2007-09-28T17:04:00.001-04:00

on tuesday, i was idly moseying down broadway when i came face to face with a native american man. he can best be described by the following overly flowery sentence... he had two long braids of shiny ebony, no shirt, no pants, purple ladies' bikini briefs, black reeboks, a pair of ray-bans and was carrying a whole foods bag. that's it. he was the nakedest person i've seen thus far on the streets of new york and nobody seemed to care but me.

this morning, i was yet again idly moseying down broadway when a cute girl with rockabilly flair whizzed right by me, with a huge smile on her face. she had black hair tied into two tiny ponytails. i smiled to myself thinking, my, what a cheery girl. but then i noticed a fairly glossy man with feathered hair and love in his eyes. he smiled a gigantic smile and it was at this point that i recognized who he was... willem dafoe. then he took off skipping after the cute rockabilly girl. yes... willem dafoe is in love.

as soon as i manage to set aside some time to update this ol' thing, i promise to extrapolate on the following:

a beach trip to jesus town
my first meat-packing
a long-lost londoner in the big apple (a tale of rooftop soirees, indulgent shopping excursions, japanese art porn and free booze as far as the eye can see)
the best girldate i've had in months

love is fickle...

2007-09-05T12:46:00.000-04:00

i'm no longer in love and i've returned you to your maker.

make way for something younger, hotter and less intrusive...

i think i love you...

2007-08-28T07:49:00.000-04:00

a few days ago i was faced with a most important decision; should i indulge in yet another pair of shoes? and if i do, should i play it practical and go with a more or less basic shoe that will work with 70% of my wardrobe or should i follow my heart/sense of the absurd and purchase the whimsical statement shoe?

...

i think i'm in love.

well-dressed, well-coiffed, well-connected...

2007-08-15T13:26:00.000-04:00

a few months after the renovation of our showroom was finally complete, we had our opening party/ICFF party. in true Design Week fashion, it was dazzling and our new space was all abuzz with the social twitter of the well-dressed, the well-coiffed, and the well-connected.

the party was an utter success, due mostly to the following:

slightly attractive male model/waiters who supplied the schmoozers with tasty hors d'oeuvres served on flashy grouted boards of glass mosaic tiles

tasty hors d'oeuvres

peace biscuit!!! new wave/throwback DJ extraordinaire with a tiny voice and a huge personality

my dress made a huge splash with the design-y sect. got lots o' compliments on my DVF - one fellow who was more than just a little reminiscent of that "i can't believe he's not a stud" fabio stopped me as i made me way from the dancefloor and demanded, "WHO does your dress?!" i responded in my flighty fashionista voice and he gasped a little, hand on chest, "ah! i LOVE diane."

between glasses of prosecco and sweaty twirls on the dancefloor, i managed to take a few piccies of various work-related people and their dates. there were a slew of fancy italian ladies in fabulous italian fabrics, jewel tones, and fine tweeds in unnatural colors.

spencer looked amazing in his new vest. tiya and aaron were both super festive/fab.

my new girllove, karen showed up with her fanciful friend and they danced the night away in adorable smock dresses and comically oversized spectacles.

at a respectable hour, the party began to wind down and we decided to go to dinner. reservations for 25 at Butter. holla.

indulged in a bit more booze, delicious sea bass and asparagus with shallots. tasty, tasty.

a more than satisfactory monday night...

lightstick's back... alright!

2007-08-12T11:36:00.000-04:00

train to coney island. hot dogs. hippies/lightsticks/hipsters/2nd hand pot. dancing beefcake in tight red tank who totally looked like he belonged in a remake of saturday night fever. ran into college friends. amazing light show. robot helmets and seamless mash-ups.

long f-train ride home. standing up from coney island to park slope. possibly had a small world encounter with one half of that hipster dj duo i loved from pianos.

lessons learned:
daft punk shows are amazing
coney island is really far away
cowboy boots are not appropriate concert footwear.

on 11!

2007-08-03T11:33:00.000-04:00

about a month ago, i turned 25. i went out. and now, a sufficient amount of time has finally passed, thus enabling me to view the following pictures without vomming...

bestill my beating middle school heart...

2007-07-12T10:52:00.000-04:00

thanks to the goodwill of our italian bossman, we've taken on an italian intern for the next couple of weeks. we all had different ideas about what to expect of this european gopher - i had images of sweaty brows, overstuffed cheeks, over-tight pants and a marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth.

after much deliberation, i soon forgot that he would be joining us in the showroom this summer and continued on my merry way.

this morning, i breezed into work just a few minutes late and upon entering the back office, came face to face with the modern incarnation of all my middle school crushes rolled into one attractive european package. he's 20 years old. he's tan. he has long, layered blonde hair like the california surfing boys of my pre-pubescent dreams.

the next two weeks are going to be awesome.

i'm in a band...

2007-07-10T13:06:00.000-04:00

this is the dudeliest i've ever looked...

j'ai alle a montreal avec mon amour...

2007-07-07T13:09:00.000-04:00

airport
the opposite of a warm reception. lots o' customs. suitcase checker lady hit on me just a tad. absolutely no one in the airport. ghost town, canada. rude, rude, rude. mysterious bus that took us to somewhere - didn't know exactly where it would drop us off, we just lucked out that it was only 1 metro stop from where we were staying.

first day
stayed in mont royal... hip/hippie young part of town. lots o' boutiques and even more cafes. stopped off at our hotel to check in and drop our bags off... sweetest brown girl with heavily accented english showed us our room. delicious brunch and kir royales. skipped in the rain. nap and disaster television involving gruesome plane crashes and burn victims. decadent dinner of various sausages and giant beers at a belgian rest-o-raunt a mere hop/skip/jump from our hotel.

second day
it was still raining. the hotel staff left a delicious breakfast for us outside our door, consisting of croissants, jams, orange juice, tea and fruit which we thoroughly enjoyed before venturing out into the gray, overcast city. headed downtown where we stumbled across a cirque de soleil tent. stopped off for a delicious lime tart and chocolate-drizzled almond croissant at sweets shop. window shopped in touristy old montreal. explored a labyrinthine underground maze of subway tunnels. took the train a few stops and disembarked in yet another young/hippie area.

it was by this time that i'd determined that montreal is a great place if you're young, artistic, and financially unambitious.

spent the afternoon wandering down narrow straights and in and out of vaguely french boutiques. stopped in at a fun-looking vintage shop on rue st-denis only to come face to face with my beloved duck duck dave's french canadian doppleganger. the likeness was uncanny, save for canadian dave's thick accent and love of fanciful chapeaus. while he was ringing us up, he told us a charming anecdote about how, while his english grammar is fine, he struggles with vocabulary every once in a while. apparently, he and his pals are making art porn photographs of vajayjay, and while discussing the project with a potential investor, he wanted to make it clear that it would be more art than porn. unfortunately, he couldn't quite think of the proper verbage and ended up proclaiming that the project would only involve "tasty vagina". thankfully the investor understood that dear canadian dave meant to refer to the ladyparts as "tasteful" and they all had a good chuckle.

we parted ways with doppleganger dave since sunday shopping hours were quickly drawing to a close and i had yet to purchase anything spectacularly french canadian aside from a handful of expertly executed culinary triumphs. and then suddenly, a beautiful, striped dress caught my eye from across the busy thoroughfare. i felt compelled to enter this boutique, lustre and to sample their wares. everything was moderately boutique priced (low to mid $100s) which i thought was fair considering the level of craftsmanship and the whimsical nature of their prints. i tried on a few pretty things, but they were made to fit ladies with more endowments, until i came across the loveliest striped jumper dress in the most muted tones of eggplant and wine. it's jersey. it cupcakes out to just below my knees. i stood admiring my reflection in front of the mirror, commenting that the only thing that could make this garment more perfect was if it had... POCKETS! as soon as i uttered the word, my hands instinctively found two pockets at my hips, hidden within the delicate folds of canadian jersey. alas, i had found my purchase and nothing was going to stop me from making it mine. the lustre girls locked the shop door behind me and spencer and i worked our way back onto the street into the increasingly clear late afternoon sun.

more street wandering. more vintage window-shopping. ended stopping for a couple of drinks at a low-key bar near the hotel. second-story, streetside, with a great view of the neighborhood. uber pleasant bartender. the bathroom had saloon doors. a couple hours later, we headed back to the room for a much needed nap.

slept a long time, only waking up long enough to head down the street for a surprisingly greasy plate of pasta and some tea.

last day
woke early and braved a long line outside of a restaurant we'd noticed on our first day. it did not disappoint. most delicious brunch i'd had in a super long time and it was at this point that i determined that montreal was not only ideal for loafing artists, but also for foodies, as nothing i'd consumed in the span of 3 days did anything less than utterly delight my senses.

headed back out to the airport, back through customs, back on the plane, and back to new york city. tired, well-fed, and totally in love with our gentle, bilingual, hippie neighbors to the north.

tiya's birthday, y'all!

2007-07-05T16:36:00.000-04:00

a few weeks ago, my darling roommate turned the big 2-4. what with our living in new york city, away from our loyal stable of wild-n-crazy dc friends, we assembled a small, but worthy group of ny-based pals and hit the town. behold the photographic spoils of a fabulous, drunken excursion in honor of the day of birth of my beloved Tiya-dactyl...

after gathering at our apartment, the evening was initially intended to begin at capone's in brooklyn, where we planned on enjoying some fine free-with-beer pizza. unfortunately, capone's was mysteriously closed. so we walked back homeward and decided to stop at that lovely beer/wine bar whose name repeatedly escapes me.

alliepants told stories.
the boys posed.

after enjoying framboise and other fancy beers served in giant wine glasses, we all piled into a cab and headed to that subtle haven of below-houston hipsterosity, the lower east side. delicious food was obviously a priority, considering we were denied access to capone's pizza palace, so we made a quick stop at DASH for sliders and dogs.

when we were sufficiently stuffed full of hamburger-y goodness, we all giggled and twirled our way over to 200 orchard where our long lost dc pal, coryface was spinning. he was one of my favorite nighttime friends back home, not only is he fun-sized, but he's hilarious and is no wallflower when it comes to cuttin proverbial rugs. but when we arrived at our destination, we were punched in the face by the knowledge that cory would not be making a musical appearance until very late in the evening and we must endure the musical stylings of no fewer than 2 other djs and a band before he would spin! so we all got another drink and took up residence in a corner booth next to a silent, creepy kid who spent the rest of the evening sitting in that exact same spot, drinkless and smile-less, only adjusting his position when the glass djs got up to perform. here's the rest of our night in piccie form:

he totally went down...

2007-07-04T10:47:00.000-04:00

so i've been taking a photo class at sva for the past few weeks and while i find aspects of the course occasionally irritating, i'm generally pleased by the overall outcome. i've begun thinking more technically about the science of photography (meaning i now have a slightly better understanding of aperture/shutter speed/ISO and how altering these settings can physically alter the appearance of a photograph). i also have a better idea of what kind of gear is best suited to what i like to shoot, which was one of my main goals in taking this class. and now that i've figured out what i want, spencer has had the lovely/thoughtful notion to get me a fancy new lens for my 25th birthday, which is looming on the not-so-distant horizon.

aside from my foray into higher education, there have been a handful of other awesome occurrences in the recent past, which i fully intend to commit to the digisphere this week. i swear, i'm gonna sit myself down, with a pot of something highly caffeinated and maybe some candy and get cracking on turning the 8 or so drafts i have saved into real-life digital nuggets of autobiographical fluff. there have been birthday celebrations, musical happenings and celebrity sightings, the latest of which involved the following forgotten star...

igby, a.k.a. kieran culkin. i totes saw him walking down 3rd avenue, near gramercy park on monday looking like nothing i would have expected. he was dumpy with a beer gut worthy of a 30-something midwestern truck driver. his face was a little sweaty and his hair hung in limp, stringy strands against his forehead. he swung a clear plastic bag containing a blimpie's sandwich as he trudged his way into the late afternoon sun. his main saving grace was that he did have lovely, sparkly blue eyes the same shade as his slightly dishevelled, oversized tee.

adventures in afrocentrism...

2007-06-22T17:02:00.000-04:00

i wasn't blessed with afro textured hair.

but i was blessed with curls, the ability to procure superior products, and an imagination...

doom/mood!

2007-05-30T23:25:00.000-04:00

every so often, thankfully not too often, i get into one of these moods. when everything is amplified and either really terrible or really awesome. currently, things are leaning toward the terrible. and i've had a lingering headache for the past 48 hours or so. despite blasting lo-fi fnk and secret mommy on a continuous loop, i just can't seem to shake it off this time. i'm hoping that by filling my free time with delightful distractions of the musical or cultural persuasion, i'll be able to diffuse this spell and return to full lauriebot awesomeitude. tonight was a good start.

after a mid-afternoon meltdown and an emergency phone call to big mama, i pulled it together and spent the last hour and a half of work blatantly not doing any work. then it was off to barnes and noble for a book reading. thanks to my recent purchase of a grown-up choose your own adventure book, i've reignited my my love affair with the written word, especially that which deals with the frivolous and flighty as long as the prose is engaging and at least occasionally exuberant. this literary requirement is perfectly embodied by girls who like boys who like boys, a hodge podge of essays, anecdotes and love letters to that most sacred of relationships, that between the hetero woman and the gay fella. occasionally fluff, occasionally profound. i hadn't been to a reading in a super long time, but i thoroughly enjoyed myself. i adored the oversized, puffy sleeves of a white linen designer dress attached to a woman who looked a little too similar to SJP circa her sex and the city days. loved the grit and apparent sluttiness of a bearded park slope resident. and was utterly enraptured with an uber fancy boy and his tales of prepubescent musical theater appreciation.

bought the book and stood in line to get it signed (yearbook style) by a handful of the contributors, half expecting someone to scribble "stay sweet! k.i.t.!" somewhere in the title page's margin. the cashier looked like this guy and told me that i had a great smile.

gorgeous balmy evening. quick trip down to the east village for ben reynolds' show at cake shop. a little bit of a cool reception. delicious iced mocha. i'd never been there before, only walked by and was more than a little intrigued by the mix of bar, record shop and cupcakes. paid my $6 and headed down a long narrow stairwell painted a muted green. for some strange reason, i thought of heath ledger walking into that lady club in 10 things i hate about you. i liked that movie... don't judge. took a seat at the bar, drinking my mocha and enjoying my book. was amused by all the cool kids with fashion hair drinking red wine in fancy glasses. even more amused by the very fancy middle-aged people with leather satchels and ted baker beagle boots who sauntered in and ordered brooklyn lager. ben's band started playing, loudly, and apparently offended the delicate eardums of one of the fancy adults, who made a charming face and covered her ears. her dapper escort chugged both their beers and they headed for the exit.

stood up front, still enjoying my mocha when someone tapped me on the shoulder. it was totally a friend of a friend, whose name i can never seem to remember, but she's a lovely girl nonetheless! small world to the max. giggled and gossiped for a short while before i got tired of schmoozing and began my trek back to brooklyn...

finding confetti for days...

2007-05-29T20:01:00.000-04:00

so, today has been a bit of a bittersweet/shiite kind o' day. here's some angst in bullet-form:

perma-headache that began as a piercing white pain behind my left eyebrow. after a self-head massage (snicker, snicker), i managed to diffuse the eyebrowcentrism to a more manageable dull ache between my temples.

a rushed and unsatisfying lunch which i purchased with my credit card because i left my debit card and cash in my other pants.

a quick lesson in opportunism.

but on the plus side...

got a much appreciated sugary sweet text that made my heart smile

i successfully resisted the urge to numb my dissatisfaction with today by buying pretty little things

ran into duckduck dave on my way home, engaged in some light-hearted banter that made me feel better. and then, all of a sudden, an open-top, safari-style jeep packed to the brim with bushwick hipsters came barreling around the corner. dave responded with, "look at these douchebags!" i turned and totally recognized an exceedingly thin, swoopy-haired boy in the backseat. awesome.

so today's been weird/terrible, but i did have the best weekend ever!

friday
impromptu girldate! i was alone in the apt, tiya having gone home for the holiday weekend, so i was looking forward to a bit of social interaction. alliepants called me and we arranged to meet for drinks and possible bbq. headed to fette sau (the epitome of ironic hipster barbecue) to meet up with allie's pal. i feel the need to mention my unironic appreciation of this meat-eating hipster movement that's begun spreading throughout my age group. i like meat. grew up liking it and continued to enjoy well into my post-adolescent years. for a while, vegetarianism and (gasp) veganism, were the standard culinary choices of many of my friends. i held fast to my carnivorous nature, taking special care not to judge or attempt to entice my more socially-minded friends to the dark side. and now, it seems as though the true rebels are embracing meat, reveling in its juicy after drippings without apology. whew...

so yes, fette sau... allie and i changed our mind(s) and decided to just drink. crossed the street to that wine/beer bar she loves and whose name i can never remember... spike and something. i'm not much of a beer connoisseur, so i informed the casually disheveled bartender that i would like something light, sweet and preferably belgian. he produced a hearty mega beer called goliath, sold in wine bottles, and boasting a 9% alc vol. delicious. and then i discovered they have mead. if you recall, after having imbibed mead for the first time at tiya's holiday party, i became an insta-fan, but sadly hadn't had the chance to have it again... until friday night. it was as delicious if not moreso than i remembered. hurray! and then a few sips of allie and rebecca's framboise, because it's also delicious. we all became uber giggly, stopped off at the bushwick country club (hahahaha!) for what turned out to be the worst photobooth session i've ever been a part of! in spite of the inferior photo results, i had a spectacular time with my ladies.

saturday
felt like poo for much of the day, which made me angry since one of my favorite high school friends was coming to town to hang out! luckily pulled it together in time to meet her and her crew in soho. took them to barneys co-op where i purchased yet another pair of cheap mondays (hot damn, these greywash ones are amazing) and got shyrynne to try on a bunch o' crap too! her cousin and friend decided they were bored of walking the streets with us, so they retired to, presumably, make out while shyrynne and i headed to room 18 for a steak sandwich.

headed home for a quick half hour of couch-loungin before realizing that my beloved jay brannan was playing a show at mo pitkins in a matter of minutes! threw on my montreal dress and some cutiepie flats and shyrynne and i booked to the LES, only to discover that it was sold out. no worries, though, because there was a freestyle rap battle involving becky drysdale goin down upstairs that could not be missed. made our way upstairs, purchased strong libations from the charming irish bartender and took a seat close to the stage. the premise of the show was this... 5 comedians and one (un)lucky audience member would freestyle rap at each other and the audience would determine the victor of each battle by level of applause. the chosen audience member turned out to be a serious redhead in a tight cream and kelly green satin tube top dress and very high heels with, apparently, a lot of rage. rap battles outside of 1983 are, by nature, embarrasing at best, but thanks to my high spirits and shyrynne's presence, i spent the whole time giggling my ass off. three notable moments in the battle:

1. the winner who was more than slightly reminiscent of bud bundy didn't blink once while he was in the midst of rapping

2. the unassuming cargo-shorted, bespectacled and freckled boy with the best beatboxing skillz i've ever witnessed firsthand

3. rebecca drysdale referring to her mic as a "dykerophone"

the show ended, bud bundy won and attempted to chat us up (hey ladies...), and we headed back into the bar area with the irish bartender who delightfully poured me a pint (wee, a pint!) of jameson and ginger on the house. took a couple goofy piccies and called it a night round 1am.

sunday
sunday was the best and totally made me re-realize how much enjoy spending time alone when the weather's beautiful! shyrynne's cousin picked her up from mine in the late morning and i watched bits and pieces of the naked brothers band and twirled around in my bedroom. long, cool shower. slipped/shoe-horned my way into my new cheap mondays and artfully mussed my oversized white tank. navy and white wing-tip kitten heels. essential items and my DSLR all went into my tote from ICFF and i headed to union square. got myself a little picnic lunch and ate under a large american elm in union square, watching teenage couples awkwardly engage in public displays of PG-13 affection and two separate groups of modern and/or gay fellows play card games on picnic blankets.

slowly sauntered down broadway swigging from my bottle of smartwater and occasionally closing my eyes to feel the sunshine on my eyelids and also to see how long i could walk without tripping or slamming into someone. stopped off at barnes & noble where i purchased a choose your own adventure book for grownups and made my way down st. marks place to find that vaguely european bar that i like so much. i'd been walking for a handful of avenues, becoming less and less confident in my navigational skills until i noticed a near empty bar across the street that looked moderately inviting... upon crossing the street, i realized that it was in fact the bar i had been searching for! and there was an empty table outside! what luck! i staked my claim on the empty table and ordered a blue moon. settled in for a pleasant late afternoon of slow beer drinking and adventure choosing. i don't know who this writer is, but she has an extraordinary ability to conjure up the most bizarre and unexpected ways for you to die. i especially enjoyed the death by sharpened paintbrush shot through a bow by a jilted lover. another beer and a plate of proscuitto and asparagus bruschetta later, i had died in many fantastic ways, a few unfantastic ways and had managed to spend the better portion of the daylight hours sitting alone at a table on st. marks place. gathered my belongings, tipped the waitress well and headed back home.

at this point, i still hadn't decided whether i wanted to go see my pal's band play at pianos. there were plenty of reasons to inform my decision either way and ultimately i decided to go. i was feeling sassy. a french electro noise duo with whom i've recently become obsessed was the opener. and shyrynne and co. were already in the vicinity of the east village. met them out, but by the time i got there, they were already weary from a long day of shopping and general touristdom. they bid polite goodbyes, i hugged shyrynne and headed over to welcome to the johnsons to meet up with tom, aaron and posse. quick introductions to about 8 people i didn't know. giggles and quick catch up. realized it was getting close to the frenchies' set, so we all made a mass exodus over to pianos. en route, i ran into tiya's friend with whom i occasionally butt heads. genuinely friendly hugs/high fives and then it was time for the frenchies... the berg sans nipple! huzzah!

they were astounding. i've never before seen a fellow play the drums and kiddie xylophone at the same time. or rock a mini steel drum and a vocoder. so many pedals. so many gadgets. so much awesome. if you ever get the opportunity to see these boys play, please allow me to highly suggest that you make it happen. and the super tall, blondish one totally looked like my fella... so basically, he's a stud.

after their set, i discovered that there was a slammin danse party happening upstairs. seriously... best dansable tunes i've encountered in this city thus far! the dj boys were just so into every song they were playing and they danced and giggled and thrust fistfuls of paper confetti at the danciest folks within reach. confetti in my hair. confetti in my shoes. confetti in my beer. made fast friends with a particularly dansey, curly-coiffed boy named carlos. informed him early on of my "in a relationship" status and yet he remained awesome, dansey and super platonic. we spent the next hour or so twirling and flailing and jumping on the furniture to jackson 5, "two of hearts", and that awesome 80s prom song they play when molly ringwald walks into the ballroom with jon cryer near the romantic climax of "sixteen candles".

then it was time for bellman barker - and they did such a lovely job! i hadn't seen them play in probably over a year, possibly longer. tom was as basstastic and frantic as i remembered. aaron was lovely and a little grittier than i remembered. basically, they were all super fun and i was moved to dance and sing along to whichever songs i remembered from my dc days. met a fun gal named hatti who was in our crew and we danced and giggled the whole set through.

stuck around for a while, danced it out with hatti, watched an angry jersey-goth get into a semi-fight with the bouncers and then shake his fist up at the sky while spouting inventive obscenities. called it a night soon after the crazy goth relieved himself on a nearby fence, bid farewell to my dc friends and made my way to the subway, stopping off for a quick happy meal and phone call to the spencerator.

got home round 3ish. crawled into bed, warm and satisfied. before i shut my eyes, i surveyed the small trail of white confetti strewn across my bedroom floor and scattered amidst my sheets and reflected on one of the most fun sunday evenings i've had in a long, long time...

current musical obsessions:
the veils - advice for young mothers to be
the berg sans nipple - mystic song
secret mommy - kool aid river
lo-fi fnk - wake up

fancy italians and painful shoes...

2007-05-19T12:37:00.000-04:00

one of the italian owners of our company is here right now and in honor of her presence, i am wearing supremely uncomfortable shoes.

damn Guess. and damn occupational pretenses.

but on the plus side...

our party is in a matter of days and i plan to twirl/schmooze my arse off with all the fancy designers and architects who will undoubtedly be in attendance.

i'm a well-dressed sucka...

2007-05-12T19:31:00.000-04:00

thanks to my job's heavy involvement with the new york design community, i have been afforded the opportunity to attend a handful of parties in the near to very near future. i have achieved varying levels of preparedness for each of these parties. for example, there's one black tie affair in a matter of days for which i have yet to procure an adequate garment. and then there's my work party for ICFF design week... let me spin you a brief tale of a girl thrown into the shopping mecca of SoHo with a nice commision check and a taste for designer.

yesterday, i embarked on a relatively innocent window-shopping spree with my sensible/classy coworker, priscilla. we perused the ruffly edwardian blousons at max azria and the shimmery, citrusy silks at some high-end wooster street boutique. and then, barney's co-op. the bane of my financial existence for i always fall instantly in love with some high-priced gem that i know i should not even contemplate buying. yesterday was no exception.

against the back wall of the shop there's a rack heavily laden with exquisitely crafted dresses of silk and chiffon and linen and such. and sewn into the inside of each of those dresses is a little tag. and on that tag, the words "diane von furstenberg" blaze proudly and with conviction.

needless to say, i became enthralled with one (in my opinion) pricey piece in the floaty/mod/rainbow chiffon arena. it. is. amazing. but after nonchalantly glancing at the tag, i just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on one garment. camera equipment, sure! but a dress?! that's unheard of in lauriebot-ville. i placed the dress back on the rack and left, willing myself to put it out of my mind.

unfortunately... i was unsuccessful.

i managed to bring it up in practically every conversation i had in the next 24 hours. it made a cameo in my dream last night. so finally, i had to admit to myself that diane
von furstenberg clearly had a hold on me. so i resolved to head back to barney's co-op after work today to try it on. my hypothesis was that since the material is so flowy and amorphous, there would be a very high probability that it would overwhelm my frame, giving me the appearance of a coat hanger or a slightly malnourished child playing dress-up in her voluptuous mother's fancy clothes.

this was not the case.

it fit me to the max! it's exactly the length i want. it twirls. the chiffon feels divine against my legs. the colors are so vibrant i can't imagine ever feeling anything less than blissfully elated whilst wearing it.

so after a good 10 minutes of prancing/twirling in the powder blue dressing room, i solemnly resolved myself to my fate, headed to the register, handed over my card and spent too much dough on a perfectly beautiful dress.

and now there's little else to say except that i am a sucka.

but at least i'm well-dressed.

the cure for cohesive...

2007-05-11T08:47:00.000-04:00

due to my apparent complete lack of the capacity for linear thought at the moment, i'm going to divulge the contents of future bloggie-boos in sentence fragments, throwing any need for chronological order to the wind...

romantic/soggy trip to that most friendly of pseudo french towns, montreal

art opening and LES barhopping with increasingly interesting co-workers

semi-celeb sightings/name-dropping!

an ex-convention in dc

many, many girldates

danse music at trashy clubs

buying things in an attempt to overhaul my less than fresh spring wardrobe

all of these stories are on their way and as soon as i get my act together i hope to display them here in nothing less than sparkling prose.

a new leaf...

2007-04-11T08:43:00.000-04:00

lots of fun/wonderful things have happened in the past month...

i got a mac
my fella has met my parents and lil sis
saw some good music
took some good piccies
ate a ton o' good food

so today, i've decided to embrace the newness and get crackin. eating a beautifully healthy breakfast in the sliver of sunlight at my kitchen table:
half a grapefruit
two sausage links
banana nut muffin (made by my roomie)
tea with milk

also found a photo class at SVA that i want to take AND fits into my schedule! so things are comin up rosy.

expect a handful of bloggie boos in the next couple o' days... they are a-brewin like you wouldn't believe...

succumbing to the fruit of knowledge...

2007-03-16T11:03:00.000-04:00

it's over. we had a good run and you served me well. you taught me the exact art of the F command and the subtle science of the ALT key. i constantly required you to become accustomed to a myriad of programs and you delivered again and again. taking up practically all your hard drive with frivolous images of my daily life.

but an era has ended. our era has ended. and it's time for us both to move on.

perhaps you sensed my increasing desire for a macbook. the sleek lines. the more user-friendly interface. the hot commercials. leopard. it's all too much for a technology-loving girl like myself to withstand.

so i'm succumbing. i'm taking a bite of the Apple and it will undoubtedly show me the way.

R.I.P.

my toshiba.

t.m.i. with coworkers

2007-03-06T23:14:00.000-05:00

first soho work-related party. we all headed over to b&b italia after work. had most delicious belvedere cranberry and grape martini and then something else with belvedere vodka and orange and rosemary and triple sec. oh man. the attractive french smoker who works next door and is most likely gay came to the party and gave me drunk eyes. it was awesome. talked music and giggled with coworkers... was also awesome.

very hungry after the booze so we headed to greenwich village in search of pizza. unfortunately, the pizza place we wanted to patronize was closed by the health inspector, quite possibly that evening. so it was thai. delicious, delicious thai. more giggles and schmoozing, this time accompanied by pad thai and thai iced tea. expensed it as a business meeting and then headed out into the wintry mix with the subway as my destination.

got on the ACE before deciding that that was probably not the right train i needed to get back to brooklyn. disembarked round canal street and got a call from my boyboss who had forgotten his keys to the showroom and, for some reason, desperately needed to re-enter. luckily, our beloved cleaning lady, rosa, was there and she let him in. the weather was getting progressively worse and more uncomfortable, so i took a cab home. screw the subway.

been there, done him.

2007-03-03T08:59:00.001-05:00

dinner
steak sandwich and a hoegarrden alone at room 18. felt a little douchey sitting at a bar reading the little prince, but what can you do? a sketchy real estate developer bought me a soco and lime and attempted to chat me up. thankfully, seanie called and "excuse me, i have to take this..." so the offending older man made a gracious exit. awesome.

oh, and earlier that day, i saw yet another european man wearing a g-string.

holy hail
one quote best sums up my experience of seeing holy hail at midway... "she's really cute, but i just don't get it... is it irony?"
i just can't get into them all that much - i like a couple songs, but mostly i like the recorded versions better. the boys have bad shoes, great hair. the girls are completely hot - holey tights, sideswept bangs, rosy cheeks, newsie cap, lurex, patent heels. erik estrada.

heloise and the savoir faire
one quote that best sums up my experience of seeing heloise and the savoir faire at midway... "i'd do her... and i'd even stick around the next morning to cuddle. it's that serious."

oh god, i'm obsessed with them - i want to be in this band so bad. glitter, mustaches drawn on with eyeliner, sheer body socks, 7 foot tall drummer, more lurex, hot pink, big hair, dilated pupils, sweaty dancer boys, choerographed. my favorite dancing boy stepped up to the mic at one point and proclaimed, "backup vocals... awesome!" in a fanciful voice that sent me into a fit of nearly uncontrollable giggles.

the non-blinker crawled off the stage and molested tiya's thighs. we giggled. and then she showed us her nipples through her body sock. and i blushed a little. later she crawled up on the bar, ta-tas modestly held in by the infamous (and transparent) body sock, took a big swig of vodka, threw her head back and promptly spit it out all over herself and whoever happened to be close enough. that girl is a rock star.

i danced and danced, knocking out the fangirls behind me. front and center. singing along as though i knew the words, even though i don't; i just make them up.

kept singing odyle and making my own choreography on the subway, the mexicans next to us were into it.

artfully...

2007-03-01T01:14:00.000-05:00

saturday couldn't pass quickly enough. got home, watched some cartoons and passed out, hoping that the time before spencer arrived would somehow pass more quickly were i to sleep the hours away. awoke at 10:57 to discover that i'd missed a couple o' texts. hopped in the shower and as soon as i got out, i got the call... "let down your hair, rapunzel..." he was at the front door.

purple pants again, this time with my coveted tweed jumper and boots. skipped over to the G, where we began a slow trek up to the pencil factory. met up with tiya and coworkers for a birthday celebration for their blogger. drank a gin&tonic faster than i ever have before. high fived and talked jive with a fellow district kid as the whole posse made its way over to studio b for a night of what was supposed to be indietronic, electrostasticity. unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty lame clubby music, accompanied by very poor transitions and a fog machine. they did play some good danceable soul and i was drunk enough so as to not be terribly bothered. drinks were expensive, the bartender was chatty/friendly. the coat check boys were very tall and very short, respectively. ventured away from the group and spencer got to finally enjoy some quality time with tiya & aaron, during which tiya took advantage of my drunkenness and totally got to 2nd base. decided the tunes were too lame to bear much longer, so we called a car to take us home. got sidetracked by the prospect of fried chicken - got the driver to stop, but he got tired of waiting and eventually deserted us, which was fine because we were drunk and in the presence of the most delicious fried chicken any of us had encountered in our relatively short lives. seriously... fried chicken palace on the corner of nassau and manhattan... you won't be sorry.

sunday was designated spencer & laurie quality time day. got up early and lounged around. the lodge for brunch... challah french toast, blueberry pancakes, mimosa, bloody mary, crispy bacon as far as the eye can see. eavesdropped on the hipsters seated next to us; apparently, a moustachioed hipster who was more than a tad reminiscent of modern jason, recently had the worst sex of his life with a girl who was "like fucking a dead person". the women on the other side of us had terribly cliche jersey accents. finished up and headed over to the L with the intention of seeing jeff wall's photog exhibit at moma. made it all the way uptown before realizing we had little to no idea where MoMa is. i recognized a pizza place and set us travelling in the right direction but we accidentally went to the met instead. the daylight was waning and so were museum operating hours, so we decided to make the best of a lame museum and headed for the modern art wing. it didn't disappoint - all our favorites were represented and the halls were virtually tourist free.

trudged back downtown to hit up trader joe's for some bresaola, cheese and wine for that evening's oscar party but the line was wrapped all the way round the store (they were actually blocking some of the produce!) so we nixed the snacks and just got a couple bottles o' vino next door. stopped for a quick slice in a very dirty pizza shop and then back to brooklyn to catch a quick lounge before rocking emy and lydia's party.

the party was cozy, got mulled wine upon entering. perched on some stools and i enjoyed catching the ladies in the room eyeing my hot mantoy. allie showed up late in all her banged glory and we giggled and she regaled us with skiing stories. so many snacks. so many booze choices. had the most delicious fancy rum. made friends with my white, male, gay, comic counterpart. my cousin keisha's hubby won best actor so i'm thinkin i should probably send them something congratulatory. way to go forrest! i thought most of the ladies had lame dresses and bad hair (what's up with the sideswept, over one shoulder, mermaid locks sported by so many hollywood girls?) i was also disappointed that the female presenters weren't funny at all. ellen was adorable and hilarious. i loved the dancers/contortionists. and jack nicholson looked like a sweaty turtle.

it snowed a lot that night, making the walk home both magical and slippery.

monday SPENCER'S BIRTHDAY- up early, sausage and donuts and tea. lounged on the bed watching cartoons and wasting time before mustering the energy to head over to beacon's closet. bought the most astounding leather doctor bag (that's actually designer or something and costs a pretty penny, in my book) and a color-blocked, muscle sweater vest by jordache (try and imagine that). birthday lunch at sea. pad thai and thai iced tea... yummers. lagged on the way home, and was sad for a bit, but then spencer's impulsive impracticality kicked in and he decided to stay another night... yay! ice cream and cartoons in bed before crashing... warm and happy to the max.

dropping trou for the sake of the danse...

2007-02-28T07:36:00.000-05:00

saturday
long day at work - two phone calls, not too much to do until influx of people that lasted about 4 hours. one lady sat and contemplated shades of gray for almost 2 hours. a lot of babies. a lot of foreign languages that i wish i understood. i've got to get on my further education plan... i think it'd be best if i perfected my french first... then get crackin on some italian.

took the a train uptown to catch my train down to the district. got there a mere 5 minutes before boarding. slushy platform. made my way up to the cafe car where seating was more plentiful and an important (yet frazzled) looking woman sat down next to me, speaking loudly on her cell. was clearly a lawyer in a high-profile dc case. kept talking about how "they" don't know she's heading back to dc that night. telling some man named leo to go by her house to make sure everything's alright. saying "if she wants to play this out in the press, it's going to get very ugly; tell her to say 'no comment'". and whining about some persistent journalist who's been camping outside her house monitoring the license plates of her visitors. a short while later, her cell phone rang again and her voice got very serious... "how did you get this number? no comment. no comment. that's all i'm going to say to you... seriously, how did you get this number?" i listened intently and attempted to catch a glimpse at the name on her ticket to figure out who this woman is and what is so interesting about her case that people are hounding her on a saturday night.

i briefly fell asleep and when i awoke, starving, decided to grab a snack. when i returned to my seat, we were outside philly and the lawyer moved to the empty pair of seats behind me so that she could spread out a bunch of paperwork. i enjoyed the extra space for a few minutes until a very hip boy with a black, fashion mullet, skinnie jeans, black muscle tee, pointy white leather duckie shoes and a white leather puma bowling bag asked if this seat was taken. it wasn't. turns out it was john redden and he was on his way to dj the very party to which i myself was en route. we talked about dj-ing and records and hip kids and the burgeoning dc scene, byt, cory, philly and the apparent lameness of high profile new york city parties. it was a welcome distraction seeing as how i had forgotten to bring any sort of entertainment on the train, save for the most recent issue of house and garden (don't judge).

as we neared union station, i became more and more excited and less and less focused on what john was saying. pulled into the station, exited the train (but not before noticing the j.crew/abercrombie high school girls a couple seats back who were visibly lusting after j-dog) and was promptly greeted by a bespectacled spencerator. i smiled.

quick ride back to spencer's house so we could de-frock and prepare ourselves for the awesomeness that was the byt/garutachi underwear party at rock-n-roll hotel. baby blue AA briefs. high top adidas. tight pants. hoodie. purple spandex leggings. hot pants. legwarmers. sweater vest. leopard print faux fur. kelly green clutch with purple lining.

caught a cab almost as soon as we stepped out the door and were swiftly on our way to the rnr. there was a line (wtf) and snooty fratacular people crowding the door. we waited semi-patiently. while waiting to get stamped, half my favorite dc people walked by in varying degrees of nudity. we hugged and high-fived and both spencer and i were briefly felt up by cale's vibrating gloves. got stamped and made our way upstairs to the clothes check. bundled all our cumbersome clothes in a white garbage bag and headed out into the throng of scantily clad slaves to the danse. so, so, so fun!

nikola was snapping piccies of all the lovely ladies left and right. we knocked back a couple o' sparks. caught a bit of john redden's set downstairs and thoroughly enjoyed an uber dirty electro version of something nirvana. caught up with a good portion of dc kids i love - cale/grace, glo, coryface, rebekah, svet, emily, kelly/rachel/ed/rob and so many others. it was lovely, like a non-annoying high school reunion.

at some point in the night - nikola beckoned for us to follow him into the back room. oh man.

more frivolity, more dancing, more camera flashes. i reveled in spencer and cory's bromance. after the party, we all waited in the cold on H st for the first available cab that wasn't trying to rip us off, fare-wise. successfully procured one after a fairly icy wait and a slight altercation between a cabbie's window and adan's fist.

made it over to rebekah's adorable place and was immediately in love with her bright red walls. took lots of pictures, drank beer and lounged unattractively on the couch between a couple of righteous dudes. nikola complained of a fever so spencer gave him some sort of temple massage - photographic hotness ensued. cory and spencer man-hugged, adan played mixmaster and it was generally the most pleasant evening i've had in a long time!

i've been busy...

2007-02-17T15:22:00.000-05:00

this is why my blogs have been so few and far between...

and then justin came to town...

but i've still made time for my favorite motherduckers...

and of course, there's always time to jump...

kcart: it's my party and i'll remove my pants if i want to.

2007-02-16T20:55:00.000-05:00

Pre-emptive apology for the disjointed nature of this post... i had written it all out in nothing less than sparkling prose over a week ago and blogger deleted it. so blogger and i were in a fight for a few days. now i'm back, but i've lost my motivation. here is a very old post written in mostly sentence fragments...

a few saturdays ago, i made a special trip down to the district for spencer's pants-off-danse-off party, which shall henceforth be referred to as PODO. left the italians in the showroom a little early and headed uptown to penn station where i caught a 6pm train back home. spencer was waiting at the station, his car was at the meter.

got back to my beloved coHi and promptly removed my pants in preparation of this dance party. discovered that i particularly enjoy a peculiar and disgusting blend of vodka, lemonade, and natty light. despite my drunken haze, i managed to notice a handful of wonderfully "dressed" party-goers; little punk rockers in big bad boxers. skinnies in thongs. a pvc catsuit complete with riding crop and elbow-length gloves and girls stuffed into corsets/bustiers. one of spencer's sassy girl roomies shook it on me till the cows came home and a sleazy dude in the shadows attempted to capture it on film. made new friends with a fabulously giggly lady who goes by the name of smashleah. some old dudes came in off the street and took off EVERYTHING. the spencerator was in charge of the playlist and brought with all the danseable tunes that had been recently stirring my kool-aid: PYT, presets, cut copy, etc. overall, i had a spectacular time despite the presence of a handful o' voyeurs who totally owe me a dinner.

on sunday, spencer had to go to work so i slept in a bit, dicked around on the computer and arranged to have brunch with my favorite fancyboy, london tom. it was unseasonably warm so we met up on a sunny corner of 16th and euclid and shared a pleasant stroll over to the reef. delicious pancakes and a strong mimosa. noticed kingpin joel and a mystery boy who looked very familiar to me - i've sinced figured out who he was. on the way out, we ran into spencer's saucy roomie and her punk rock pals; grabbed some tukas.

after the adams morgan brunch experience, i decided to go visit kellyface and rachel at their place. rocked the metro and met up with a barefoot kelly on the corner of her street. played with coco... she's one sassy pup. heard juicy details of district dj wars and later became reunited with my favorite hair product of all time at ulta. helped kellyface with some test shots for a video project she's workin on; that girl's gonna be famous.

headed back to the district for dinner with spencer. delicious lamb sausage pizza at coppi's (let's hear it for meat-eaters!) raspberry beer at saint-ex. later, adan, spence and i headed to prince/pharell dance party at black cat. it was suprisingly fun/good... to the point where i was dancing too much and actually had to take a break (unheard of)! brief encounter with the blackcat boy that makes me bashful and borderline sheepish. high fives. got silly drunk and sappy and engaged in a little session of t.m.i. before drunkenly truding up that ridiculous hill in the coHi and crashing, warm and content.

spent monday lazing around... practically the whole day. it got to be 2pm until i realized that i was starving. luckily, there were m*ms and trailmix so i didn't have to worry about fainting in the shower. whew. diner for a blt. superb! blackcat boy... again. returned to spencer's for a lilttle bit o' sap and tunes and then it was off to union station to begin the trek back to the big apple.

pantsless for byt...

2007-02-16T01:42:00.000-05:00

so excited to remove my pants with the byt crew this saturday. if you like showing off what your mama gave you, be in the district this weekend and prove it.

i'm ready.

happy v-d, jerks.

2007-02-14T11:14:00.000-05:00

it's snowing... heavily.

i put on a bright red coat to complement my bright red lipstick and braved the sleety downpour to make it into the city for work.

black umbrella.

candy-striped boots.

a man emerged from the bakery on the corner, carrying a baguette, and sang a verse of nat king cole's unforgettable to me.

i smiled a bright red smile and continued on my way.

superhero.

2007-02-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

it's fun to wear your underwear outside of your pants.

stay tuned for an actual bloggie boo... i swear.

ruffled.

2007-02-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

got my feathers ruffled a little at work, so i've decided to spend the evening in my bedroom eating pirate's booty and blogging it up, soothed by the subtle, blue glow of my laptop and the gentle warmth of my walgreens space heater...

what's on my mind.

2007-02-03T01:15:00.000-05:00

1. debts to friends. those are the worst.
2. getting my haircut by a foxy lady this weekend.
3. seeing a younger boy who makes me giggle.
4. seeing an older boy who makes me hot.
5. what i'm going to wear tomorrow.
6. finishing up bloggie-boos before more awesome stuff has a chance to happen.
7. the following songs:
the knack - my sharon
nico - these days
journey - don't stop believin (again...)
beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
kinks - lola
cheap trick - i want you to want me
velvet underground - all tomorrow's parties

long overdue on the BYT...

2007-02-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

it's been a long time since i've digitally rocked the brightest young things. it feels good to be back in their loving embrace.

czech it.

scott stapp is illuminated...

2007-01-31T09:16:00.000-05:00

got solicited to take pictures at a show at mercury lounge a few thursdays ago, so i bundled up my lil camera, my thirst for adventure, and a pair of awesome ladies and headed out for some rock.

first stop - met up with leslie, my uva/fashion design club pal from academic years past, for dinner at a lovely low-key bar down the way, Room 18. i had the sandwich of my dreams... marinated flank steak with provolone and a side of fried plantains. it's basically a glorified cheesesteak, but oh god does it rock my world. she had the duck wrap. i think the steak is better.

after having our delicious dinner, we headed over to mercury lounge to meet up with tiya. they got a drink while i headed back to the stage to get some practice in on the first band. 'twas my first time using my digirebel for band photography and i definitely only had an inkling of an idea of how to use it! pushed lots of buttons and messed with settings until i had a better understanding of how to work with the stage lighting because i find flash photography (especially at a show) imposing.

first band was jared scharff and the royals. tiya was into them. i giggled at their final guitar solos and half expected them to welcome us to the jungle. after the show, when we were on our way back to our respective homes, a be-hatted fellow approached and inquired as to who i was taking pictures for. he also asked how the sound was - i asked if he was a sound guy to which he replied, "no, i was in the first band". we all giggled, applauded leslie for her hot dance moves/ass and i struck up a conversation with the guitarist's tall angular friend of ambiguous ethnicity (he may or may not have mentioned something about being a jewish native american).

second band was the upwelling; their keyboardist is the chap who asked me to take the pictures. we gave him a nickname. they opened with the one song that i'd heard before and actually really like, despite being moderately embarrassed by their dramatic opening light scheme. took tons o' piccies, successfully steering clear of too many obviously posed shots, because that's just not my style. definitely felt like the singer was playing to the camera, which is fine... makes my job pretty easy. but over the past few years that i've occassionally taken band pictures, i've determined that i take the best pictures when the subject doesn't realize he/she's being photographed... thus my love affair with non-flash photography.

after those boys played, i was all set to leave as i'd had a long day lugging my camera around and my super hot boots were beginning to totally fucking hurt, but then... out of the corner of my eye... i spotted a very skinnie boy in white jeans that were so tight they may as well have been leggings. a red satin cowboy shirt with fringe. snakeskin boots. old timey saloon-style vests. a bowler hat. there was no way i could leave when the next band had style such as this. they're called the films and they're from south carolina and they looked more new york hipster than anyone else there. i love taking pictures of hip kids, so i continued to stake out my 3 square feet of space at the front of the room, just to the left of the singer's mic. there was an older, cbgb-style rocker man and his youngish, leather mini-skirted female companion off to my right. he may or may not have been tommy hilfiger's brother and one of my friends may or may not have made out with him. the films put on an excellent show and gave great face for my piccies.

i got my act together and totally saw them again...

ciao/chow!

2007-01-13T11:53:00.000-05:00

it's pretty rare that i do something so horribly inappropriate that i become embarassed to the point of wanting, nay, NEEDING to bury my head in the proverbial sand. thursday night was one such time.

my pride prevents me from completely divulging all details in this sphere, but here is an abridged version of my occupational humiliation:

got too drunk with my boy boss and told him all my business

may or may not have kissed a tattooed stranger

revealed my semi-secret mini-crush on an important italian fellow in the company ("i want to have hot italian babies with marco!")

barfed in a fancy french restaurant, thus breaking a 16 year streak of non-barfitude

my amazing coworker got me in a cab and made sure that i got home alright, even though she barely knows williamsburg and i wasn't much navigational help. after i got home and slurred the details to my roommate and her fella i managed to talk on the phone with spencer... for 6 hours. that kid is a trooper in helping me talk through my drunkenness.

my boy boss called me at some point in the night and informed me not to worry, "dude, it was awesome! and marco thinks you're hot, too!" ugh.

despite my mere 3 hours of sleep, i felt moderately chipper in the morning and was able to hold my own in the showroom until 4:30 when sleep deprivation began to kick in and i became clumsy. there was minimal teasing and only a few uncomfortable looks from marco. so basically, everything's fine. but i still felt like a major douche.

and now i've learned a valuable lesson; never take aspirin and then drink on an empty stomach with coworkers.

tidbits.

2007-01-09T22:06:00.000-05:00

photog
i've been wanting to take some fun piccies of attractive washing machines and dryers for a while (don't ask why, it's just one of those things), but had had no luck. all the laundromats i knew of were cursed with bland, beige machines with no aesthetic appeal to me. until i stopped in at the one near the subway a few days ago and realized the machines are so pretty! so i finally got what i hope will be the first of many laundr-o-shots.

digital starfucker
i sold some fancy mosaic tile to one of the fellows who makes up electro duo, fischerspooner and proceeded to giggle and spread the word to anyone who'd listen (and some who weren't) for the rest of the day.

big mouth
despite the fact that i put practically all my business on the line, i'm still surprised to find someone i wasn't anticpating who reads my bloggie boos. such an occasion arose the other night at my beloved duck duck. high-five, cabbage-patchin' dave and sassy ms. jenny informed me that they'd stumbled upon SURFACE after googling themselves and proceeded to shower me with fun compliments. if i weren't so brown, i would have blushed. for serious. i love those sunny kids and i love the duck.

racial tension and ass-kickery on the L-train
on my way home from work on friday i witnessed my first subway fight. this oldish man with high-waisted pants and a vacant gaze was spouting off obscenities about the racial degradation of the neighborhood, that the whole place has gone to pot since "the spaniards and the blacks" came to town. a 30-something brown woman next to him was becoming increasingly agitated and firmly asked the man to refrain from cursing in front of her young daughter. he declined. they continued arguing back and forth and when the train stopped at grand st, the woman unexpectedly leaped from her seat and threw one of the man's bags onto the platform. he got up to get it and she pushed him out of the car, keeping him out with her leg until the train doors closed. everyone in the car applauded the little girl removed her hands from her ears.

oh, there's my chiffon!
bought a really ugly dress at h&m because it was so ugly that i couldn't not have it in my wardrobe. it photographs well and that pleases me.

brooklyn girldate 2007
i fucking love brooklyn girls. tiya and i have been fortunate to meet a gaggle of sassy silly ladies who live quite close by. we all met up for dinner/drinks at santa fe on saturday night and it was unbelievably enjoyable. the waiter looked like scott baio and he was totally in charge of lydia. the bartender had floppy hair and wore rose-tinted glasses. there was a 3 foot plaster santa claus with "FE" written in black marker on his festive hat. as the night wore on and our table became cluttered with guac, complimentary tortilla chips and empty margarita glasses, our voices became raised and talk turned to dirtiness. i apologize to anyone who was near us, trying to quietly enjoy their meal amidst our sailor talk.

after dinner, it was off to what has quickly become my saturday night equivalent of black cat, black cat... union pool. more drinks, more giggles. some boys whisked emmy away to salsa. a bearded boy tried to give me vibes and his phone number. we liked the bartender with the hat (but not without it). a very old man told us we all had it goin on. ran into the UK boys from NYE weekend, i've forgotten their names again, but they're very pleasant. i flashed my belly to a group of unsuspecting, innocent male bystanders; tiya does an excellent impression, ask her when you see her next. lost steam super early and headed home, giggling loudly on the phone with the spencerator.

mini shopping trip in billyburg
SLUTTY ATTIRE
the prospect of a pants off, danse off party in the district is proving exceedingly difficult to resist. so i'm planning on making a trip down there in the super near future. naturally, i took this as an opportunity to get some new cute underthings that will temporarily become outerthings. but where to purchase borderline (and perhaps over the border) racy things that make my bod look hot but not porn starry. of course, the natural and obvious answer is american apparel. red bra to be worn under a sheer hoodie and teeny tiny hot pants. so looking forward to strutting while scantily clad in january.

VERY SMALL PRESENT
i got you a teeny tiny present that i think you will like very much.

RECORDS
was the only girl in the record shop, which i think directly influenced the fact that i scored a white label squarepusher promo for free from the beared record shop guy. purchased the following staples that everyone in the world has in their record collection:
beatles - abbey road
beatles - rubber soul (love, love, love this one... used to always play my housemate's copy while cookin in my fabulous ex-house in dc)
michael jackson - thriller
cyndi lauper - she's so unusual
echo and the bunnymen - S/T

and it all only ran me about $30... i love brooklyn.

the most recent songs that have ensnared my heart:
presets - down, down, down
presets - girl and the sea
fischerspooner - never win
cut copy - future
css - music is my hot hot sex

clark gable parties in brooklyn.

2007-01-08T22:49:00.000-05:00

most people who know me, know that i despise new year's. i've never really had a good one because i always built it up in my head as this spectacular, magical night where everything (and everyone) would be to the max. but it never worked out that way and i was always left feeling disappointed and deflated.

this year was unexpectedly excellent.

saturday
after having spent christmas at my little brother's new place, my parents decided that it would be awesome to spend new year's weekend with me in new york (and also attend a fancy boat show at jacob javitts). they took the train up last saturday and i made some dinner reservations for the four of us for later that night. business was slow due to the holiday, so we closed up shop early and i headed uptown to hang with the fam at their midtown hotel until dinnertime. the hotel was creepy, in the vein of the shining hotel in the mountains.

the dining hour was soon upon us, so we all smooshed ourselves into a cab for a short ride back downtown. first stop - my place o' business so my parents could see that i was actually employed. of course, my key was being insubordinate and i had to get my dad to help me, but we finally got in and i gave them a mini tour and they were impressed by the sparkle and grandeur of the space, as i am on a daily basis. my boy boss showed up and bonded with my dad, which made me smile.

dinner was delicious and decadent. took the fam to a quaint italian restaurant, mezzogiorno, in soho, where i enjoyed a delicious bit o' filet mignon and a luscious chianti that ended up being far more expensive than any alcohol i'd ever purchase for myself. chianti all around and my parents became a bubbly pair of jokesters that made me proud to call them my own.

we eventually parted ways, mom, dad and ari heading back uptown, i headed east to meet up with my houseguests for the weekend. they were enjoying some hippie food at a warmly-lit jazzy place in the east village called caravan of dreams. the atmosphere was pleasant enough.

back to brooklyn to change out of my increasingly uncomfortable shoes and then it was off to meet up with one of my favorite brooklyn girls and her crew at pete's candy store. a delicious gin and tonic helped diffuse some weirdness. i finally met my pal's cutieface bf who, while dressed up in a striped scarf and thick rimmed spectacles, was more than vaguely reminiscent of harry potter. as the evening wore on and our posse thinned, i began rapidly losing steam and was unable to engage myself in the potentially stimulating musical conversation that had blossomed between my (formerly) dc pal sean and a couple o' boys from the UK. headed home with the intention of passing the fuck out, but instead chatted spencer's ear off once again, ensuring that his energy at work the next day would be utterly zapped.

sunday
started my day at the crack of noon with a hearty dose of aunt jemima pancakes. spent the next couple hours alternately lounging, obsessively checking my email/myspace, and cleaning my apartment in preparation of my parents' first visit to my brooklyn abode. i met them at the subway, smiling to myself when i saw the very distinct and recognizable silhouette of my slightly limpy 6'5" dad, crimson-hatted and begloved 5'5" mom, and skinnie lil sis with her bright blue chucks. we walked along the few brooklyn blocks between the subway and my apartment engaging in fun family banter interspersed with random quiz questions from my pop about the neighborhood. got to my place and the afternoon flooded in through the windows in such a perfect way as to make my place seem even nicer than it is and my parents were impressed. spent some time chilling and giggling while my dad watched bits and pieces of the twilight zone marathon and my mom felt moved to break out the mini camcorder. overall, a very pleasurable experience.

got a call from the spencerator who was in town with his pal for the new year. arranged to meet them out for a beer before the night's festivites began. i had made tentative plans to get glittery with london tom and his foxy brooklyn friends at some loft party later that night and it turned out that spencer and adon were thinking of rockin the very same party. so apparently, brooklyn can be just as small world as the district. met up with the boys on bedford for a beer and giggles that turned into the most delicious mac&cheese i've ever had at a cozy bar in s. williamsburg, which then turned into me inviting myself to adon's cousin's super fancy loft near the domino sugar factory. my mind was completely blown by the space - two floors, open plan, granite floors that had chic moonish craters and an entire wall of windows looking out upon the east river, a couple of bridges and all of manhattan, awash in the soft glow of holiday lights.

a few more glasses of wine, champagne and a couple o' sips of a jack&ginger and it was soon time for the countdown. vom alert... we were alone, framed by the window wall and river sparkle. swooped me up clark gable style, best new year's kiss ever. and i didn't even spill my pink champagne.

monday
put on my rain boots and braved the drizzle for a stack of supremely delicious blueberry pancakes at life cafe. orange juice and lovely conversation. upon our return, we hit the couch for some much needed chill time with the twilight zone and sean made delicious teaism tea for us all. eventually peeled ourselves away from the semi-comfort of my living room to make the trek to whole foods to procure the required ingredients for our spectacular dinner. i was/am so impressed with spencer's culinary skills; dinner was absolutely delicious!

later, adon came to join us, but since i'd been entertaining basically for 3 days straight, i'm afraid i wasn't the most gracious o' hostesses. spent the early evening in front of the tv with giant mugs o' tea until i crashed around 11ish, warm and content.

most fabulous new year's ever.

life-induced hiatus...

2007-01-07T18:28:00.000-05:00

actually been super busy the past week or so, but a mega bloggie-boo's a-brewin. will most likely include snippets of the following:

familia time: big city edition
uncomfortable house-guests and boozin' brits
unexpected nye fabulousness
a delicious dinner
digital starfucking
bashfulness at the duck
girldate and belly-flashing fun

in the meantime, please enjoy this photo of my tacky new tinkerbell dress:

o to the m to the g.

2006-12-28T00:44:00.000-05:00

most thoughtful gift ever... thank you so much.

mon metier...

2006-12-23T18:56:00.000-05:00

had my first day of saturday workin today and it wasn't too bad.

was the first one there at 11am, turned on the lights and jazzy/bossanova music, disarmed the alarm (once i figured out what that incessant beeping was), made some tea and set up my borrowed computer.

the day's clientele was mostly rich european browsers with impossibly adorable toddlers.

i like working in the midst of glittering glass mosaic tiles and the unbelievably affluent.

and my heels make a wonderful sound on the glass tile floor...

i went for a walk.

2006-12-22T17:48:00.000-05:00

on sunday, i went for a walk through my neighborhood and a little bit beyond. 

this is what i saw.

soho(t).

2006-12-20T23:35:00.000-05:00

i've discovered that i love soho. and a few choice, ever-so-slightly posh soho bars.

had my first day o' work yesterday and it went pretty well, considering i have very limited knowledge of the field in which i'm currently employed. my coworkers are pretty ace. my boss is cool. my long lost london pal, alex is unexpectedly in town, so he stopped by for a quick second to say hello. spent the day at work slowly learning about glass mosaic tile and enduring sporadic quizzes by my superiors.

after work, the boss and i went for a drink/dinner at this lovely, yet overly warm bar on the edge of little italy. fun bartender/actor named hugh who has a math degree. had kind of a lot to drink, but what can you do? had a delicious steak sandwich that actually entered my dreams last night. it was that good.

boss and i parted ways and as i began my trek toward the subway, i became suddenly distracted by a very skinnie boy in a teeny tiny suit. ended up talking music for a couple hours over a very limey gin/tonic blend. awesome.

came home and was unbelievably chatty to anybody who'd listen. thanks to my ever-patient roomie and the spencerator for enduring my late-night chatitude.

tonight was a lot more low-key, just went for a beer and some euro-nostalgia with my lovely english pal from springtimes past, alex. he chopped all his hair off since i last saw him. and bagged himself a presumably foxy soul-singin ladyfriend who's on the up and up, signed to universal. reminisced a little, made fun of one another and enjoyed the novelty of the other's slang. overrall, 'twas a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

cheerio.

everything's comin up lauriebot!

2006-12-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

the past few weekends have been amazing thanks to a handful of fortuitous occurrences...

a couple saturdays ago, i was lazing it up on the couch, but at the last minute decided to trek it up to UWS for my former coworker, shannon's housewarming. on my way to the far regions of the upper west side, i unexpectedly ran into foxy nightlife photog, nikola of gawker.com fame on the subway. giggles and accents.

finally made it to shannon's and her apartment is soo cute, painted cheery colors, huge bathroom, lots of excellent photos/art on the walls (most notably a cutiepie piccie of sir bob dylan from the late 60s.. god, he was such a fox). spent much of the evening schmoozing with benderites, delicious breadsticks and douchebags who are "into metal". saw a very old man with a black mock turtleneck, slate blue dinner jacket/suit accessorizing with a 14k gold chain round his neck. he reminded me of someone blanche might date on the golden girls. the festivities were interrupted by the most adorable text from someone rockin' so when i had exhausted my quota of fun at the party, i began making the long trip back to my hood. stopped off at the late-night hippie organic market (partially to get outta the cold and partially to purchase a snack) and then headed to union pool to meet up with some cool kids. dansing and gin and giggles and tom tom club.

longest late-night ride on the stupid L-train of my life. apparently, at 4:00am, the train lady decided that she would switch the L to express to broadway junction. ... wtf, mate?! that is so far away. finally crawled into bed round 5am and slept heavily and comfortably.

in more recent news...

interview city
i totally got the italian job!!! i start today, so of course, i'm utterly stoked. making good money, in an excellent neighborhood. the people i work with seem to be pretty cool and surprisingly un-uptight. super-hot working hours. oh man... i can't wait to work again!

high fives were in order
thanks to my supremely elevated mood, i went out to celebrate for about 60% of the weekend! first stop was thursday night, just a few short hours after being informed of my newly employed status. duck duck with sean and aaron and OMG, we had the best time! we were one of the first few people to take up residence at the metal encased bar (due to the earlieness of the hour) and made friends with dave, the cheeriest bartender i've ever met! he remembered my name, which was pretty flattering and we all became bff. shots and delicious top shelf booze and sporadic high fives. met a couple o' sound engineers who work for blue man group (!). they were friendly enough, but just a little too mocking of my overusage of the phrase, "to the max". came home round 1ish, warm and happy.

was surprisingly productive on saturday afternoon. finally mustered up the courage to brave the shopping districts ISO xmas presents for my loved ones. got super fun things for ma famille. discovered this vintage/antique store that has amazing cameras (some working, some just awesome-looking) that are completely afordable. i'm totally buying one/some. unexpectedly ran into tiya on my way to the robot store on bedford. one of my favorite things about living in a city is those few chance encounters when you run into people you know outside of the area where you usually see them. that's one of the things that makes dc fun also, the high probability of running into your friends on the street. talked robots for a while and then headed for some delicious thai at sea. i love spontaneous girldates.

saturday night was also completely boss. tiya and i decided to go out for a celebratory drink, girlie style. union pool is surprisingly reminiscent of black cat, black cat. rolled up round 11:30ish and were taken aback by the sheer number of couples but were sated in the fact that at least those couples were well-dressed. scored a booth with prime people-watching possibilities. exchanged funny faces with the bouncer/helper; reminded me of how steviepants and i met back during out fourth year o' uni. met a smiley, bearded (yes, another one) fellow. an old guy attempted to hit on tiya. a very pretty afro-ed girl in a twirly skirt and backless shirt attempted to get a danse party started. in the midst of our bartime giggles, a slightly familiar looking boy and his crew sat in the booth next to us. took me a few minutes and then i leaned over to tiya and exclaimed, i think i went to high school with that kid! turns out, i was right. 'twas none other than cool kid, paul paoletti who i thought was such a stud when i was a sophomore! one of the girls in his crew also went to my high school and she came over and was like "oh man! i heard you lived up here... what a small world!" so there was basically a little nostalgic reminiscing and all was well. after we all grew tired of playing catch up, i hung out with a very cool german kid who "takes the pictures" and spent a good hour and a half talking about photography and europe and haircuts.

headed home round 3ish, but decided to stop off at duck duck to say hi before i hit the hay. they'd had a private birthday party with a speakeasy theme earlier that night, so dave, his ladyfriend, and the birthday girl were all decked out in flapperware (replete with long strands o' pearls, heavy eye makeup, and finger-waves) and satin-backed vests with undone bowties. they are the friendliest bunch o' peeps i've met in new york during my short time living here! lots of high fives and giggles. a shot of something delicious. ran into the blue man guys again and their very stylish friend with baby bangs and a fashion sense best described as german architecht or gallery curator.

duck duck is by far my favorite drinking hole.

be very, very quiet...i'm hunting for employment.

2006-12-14T08:13:00.000-05:00

the past couple days have been spectacular on the job front!

scored a mindless, yet fairly lucrative temp job for yesterday. the drudgery of press kit assembly was softened by borrowing some girl's iPod for a few hours. her taste in music can best be described as college... plenty of pop rap preferred by the frat sect (b.i.g., jay-z, nelly, cam'ron, etc), a smattering of what her parents listened to when she was growing up (eagles, johnny cash, van morrison, the beatles), obligatory hair metal and monster ballads (def leppard, mr. big, journey, whitesnake, poison), the occasionally angsty and/or headbangy rock (metallica, silverchair[!]), and some fun brown music from my middle school years (salt-n-pepa, blackstreet). overall, the tunes served as a more than adequate opiate for this occasional temp.

had an unbelievably promising second round of interviews for that fun italian-centric job i interviewed for a couple weeks ago. this time was with HR and she seemed pretty pro-Laurie. i want this job so badly - the hours are awesome, as is the pay, the people seemed cool/chill and the location (soho) can't be beat. they're making the decision today... fingers crossed!

have an interview with the sundance channel in a couple hours. the position is exactly the same as what i was doing at TLC. exactly. except instead of being in development, it's affiliate sales. not even sure what that is, or if i'm interested in that. so i'm not as stoked about it, even though the company/channel is awesome! and it doesn't help that the bitchiest temp lady i've ever encountered set it up. if i didn't need a job, i would just tell that girl to bite me.

and, thanks to the lawyer from last week and a stellar preliminary phone interview on monday, i've got an interview on friday with a trend forecasting firm that looks amazing! super excited about that, especially since the woman who interviewed me was voted best dressed at harvard business school. love ladies with style.

so lots going on, something's gotta pull through! if i get a job this week, drinks and high fives this weekend will be mandatory.

it's alright.

2006-12-10T16:03:00.000-05:00

know what's a wonderful feeling?

seeing a picture of your fairly recent ex-boyfriend dansing and drinking with another girl and realizing that you're okay with that. i'm not always the best at letting things go, so this is a major step.

since the great dissolution of late october, i've met some really wonderful people, both in dc and new york, and i don't think that would've happened had i still been in that relationship. so i'm beginning to actually believe that things happen for a reason and am trying very hard to work through all the bitterness and the "i'll- cut- that- bitch- in- the- face" feelings that i've been harboring.

on a lighter note, i'm having an unexpectedly lovely weekend... bloggie-boo with vague details and glaring omissions to come.

the verdicts...

2006-12-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

1. tiya's office throws the best holiday parties; they had mead, honest to goodness, mead! and fancy boys who fondle you upon introducing themselves (hi, i'm mike. woops! third base!). and cute norwegian girls in suspenders and fedoras. fatties who stalk the hors d'oeuvres.

2. networking at parties can be successful - a well-to-do looking, yet unexpectedly witty lawyer i met at tiya's party is helping me find a job. already got my resume out to this hip design/trend firm.

3. the british Office is absolutely hilarious and uncomfortable, but mostly hilarious.

4. it gets dark way too early.

5. i actually do enjoy talking on the phone for hours. it's been so long since i've had any reason to spend such long hours on the phone with someone, but it's nice and wholesome and much appreciated.

6. the following songs have ensnared my heart and caused me to sing along loudly and occasionally in tune:

regina spektor - fidelity
blondie - call me
boston - more than a feeling
pretenders - brass in pocket
cyndi lauper - girls just wanna have fun
holy hail - county fair part two
journey - don't stop believin'

jiggity jig.

2006-12-06T10:03:00.000-05:00

took an early bus home. uneventful ride. whopper for lunch. was super excited to see my apt and my fabulous roomie upon my return as i've spent the better part of the past month in dc. quick ex encounter to retrieve my rapture 45 that had accidentally found its way into his stash of records.

wednesday
after receiving a lovely reminder phone call from jessetron the previous night, tiya, aaron, sean and i headed out to catch these united states' show in williamsburg. they played at a cute bar i'd never heard of, laila lounge. it was skinny and painted red and very warm with a giant pool table that commanded most of the space and a teeny stage at the front of the bar. an inviting patio in the back. i was in a pbr mood and knocked a few back while jesse and co knocked out a few choice ditties. my beer-induced haze coupled with the extreme warmth of the bar caused me to quickly lose steam, so we headed home, but not before stopping off for a greasy slice o' brooklyn pizza.

friday
finally had a good job interview! don't wanna jinx it, but fingers crossed! wore a power outfit - crisp black pants, ruffly cap sleeved top, red heels, red lips. holla.

was supposed to have a girldate with allie and some other fancy ladies, but due to inclement weather, we decided to... take a raincheck (snicker, snicker). spent the early evening watching the first harry potter movie and dozing on the olive couch.

later that night, spent a few hours feeling like a middle schooler, laying upside down on the couch, enjoying snacks and talking to my pal on the phone... for 3 hours. i forgot what fun it can be gossiping and giggling in the wee hours of the morning.

saturday
tiya came home with a christmas tree and some holiday cheer. our whole apartment smells festive.

did a whole lotta nothin during the day and determined that i would definitely go out later that evening as i'd been feeling cooped up lately. got sucked into the second harry potter movie and kept falling asleep. almost wussed out on going out because of my grogginess. luckily, i pulled it together, put on some pants and some lipgloss and we all headed out to get blotto.

first stop - new bar down the street, duck duck. it's so new it doesn't even have a sign out front. it's very small and fishbowl feeling, red walls, mismatched vintage couches. cute bartenders who know how to pour a strong drink. a gin and tonic that was 70% gin, 20%tonic, and 10% love only cost me $4. a creepy guy in a suit tried to chat me up by musing about my armwarmers. swing and a miss, my drunken friend.

second stop - subway to dansing hipster haven, union pool. my new nyc pal, swoopy-haired keith, met up with us and it was so much fun. giggling and people-watching galore. so many fashioned out ladies in cute vintage shoes. hair products. a slightly sleazy bearded dude and his german friend complimented me on my cheap h&m necklace and holey t-shirt. i thanked them and relocated. made friends in the unisex bathroom with a boy who's fashion could best be described as dexy's midnight runners. bowler hat, satin backed vest, dancin shoes. the dj(s) was/were actually playing hot, sing-a-long-able tunes. propped my legwarmer-clad legs up on a nearby chair and talked L.A. punk rock and childhood friends with keith while makin goofy faces at a swoopy-haired, skinnie-jeaned, freckly boy with ratty headphones round his neck.

third stop - awesometown. shared greasy pizza and giggles on bedford ave in the icy wee hours of a december morning.

sunday
woke up semi-early for brunch with the girls. three sets of sassy girl roomies. recipe for success. discovered that i live a lot closer to a lot of awesome stuff than i originally thought. walked to my new favorite brunch place, the lodge. showed up with reservations for a table for six. i'd never been there before and was surprisingly charmed by the kitschy faux-antlers and other hunting paraphanelia mounted on the wood-panelled walls. blueberry pancakes. fancy omelettes. challah bread french toast with almonds and carmelized pinapple. bacon out the waz. 2 for 1 mimosas and blood marys. giggles, inappropriate anecdotes, too much fun! a little bit o' window shopping, post-brunch where i discovered a vaguely japanese/fruit vintage shop that housed some gorgeous brown leather boots that were just a tad too small, a gold sequined mini sheath dress in my size and some amazing red-rimmed aviators. i've forgotten the name of the store, but it has become my cheap fashion haven. i can't wait to new yorkify my wardrobe.

came home round 5, exhausted and happy and still a little buzzed. bundled up on our remaining couch to watch the third harry potter (it was hogwarts weekend on abcfamily... don't judge), but ended up falling asleep for the next 4 hours. i awoke to the inviting smell of mulled wine and sugar cookies, my roomie is the best. we all indulged in those holiday favorites and dressed the tree with white lights, crystal balls, silver ribbon and topped it with a silver wire star.

fa la la la la.

aflame...

2006-12-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

friday
because of my giant mouth, practically everyone i know has already heard this story at least thrice. so, greatly abridged:
met a dansey boy at the cat through death by jason.
dansed.
...
someone attempted to be smooth and vastly misjudged.
my hair was accidentally set alight.
spencer put my head flame out with his hand.
the smoke detector went off.
i went home, my hair slightly crispier and a lot smellier.

saturday
slightly bitchy phone call in the morning to secure my much needed haircut at aveda. spencer delivered.

made it out to aveda in georgetown where, after a few moments of whispered gossip, everyone who works there realized just who i was. yes, i was the girl spencer had set on fire the previous evening. they were all really nice about it and i was able to laugh at the ridiculous nature of the circumstances. got a super deep conditioning treatment for about an hour. sat with a shower cap on my head, alternately reading fashion mags and giggling with john the hair guy and spencer the pyro. the conditioning helped a lot, so john didn't really need to cut that much off and i was quite happy with the end result.

ran into rebekah and kc on my way back to the car and filled them in on my incendiary experience, thus beginning my downward spiral of telling the story far too often to far too many people.

t e a s e that night. super duper fun. here are some quick highlights:
dansin/sparkin it up with kellyface, rachel, rob and jessica. there is documentation thanks to kellyface's handy canon/LED flashlight combo.
getting felt up by rebekah and aric. at the same time.
meeting a sassy-coiffed fellow who lives up here. holla for new nyc friends.
running into fun former UVAers of the cataract camp persuasion.
a very fun text conversation with a modern.
very long and revealing conversation with the ginger, after which he apparently felt embarrassed or found out or something.
a snub from the eyelids! ha! a year ago i would have been so hurt, but this time around, i just thought it was funny. and weird.
some guy blinded me with science.

sunday
coffee and punk rock.
family time and detox.

tide me over!

2006-12-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

a mega blog is a-brewin' once again... in the meantime, here's some awesomeitude:

thanks to jay leno and ms. tiya, i've become obsessed with senator barack obama, the dreamy rumored-to-be presidential candidate. just try and tell me you're not lost in eyes and his moderate, yet heartwarming political platform.

never paid attention to regina spektor, mostly because i was fairly to moderately annoyed by the incessant plug of her new album on VH1. but now that i've seen the whole video for fidelity, i'm musically smitten with her plucky, caterwauling girlvoice. and the super warm premise of the video... oh man, i'm such a lady.

our beloved borrowed olive green couch is moving to its permanent home today. cue tears.

talked on the phone last night for 3 hours and was thrown back into memories of the illicit crushes and secret midnight phone calls of my middle school days. awesome. and let's hear it for free nights and weekends.

discovered that our tv has access to over 1200 channels, most of which are in another language, which provided me with hours of channel-surfing fun. i was disappointed that we don't get the bangladesh channel, but pleasantly surprised that we did get 3 VH1's that offered hour long blocks of Pop Up Video. caught up on some vintage episodes of queer as folk and all the cartoons i could handle. late night tv can be so amazing.

laurie-b-q.

2006-11-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

dear dude who set my hair on fire last night,

thanks for the free haircut.

love,
lauriebot

on a roll...

2006-11-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

saturday
stylistics at rock n roll hotel. so many talented designers. katie's awesome capelets. fashionable girls in full makeup and glamorous baubles gliding around the upstairs bar, swirling malt liquor in plastic champagne glasses. verbal mood-boosters from my decadent pal who basically told me that while i was in a relationship i had let myself go, but now i'm back to my original kickass self. holla - i took it as a compliment. tons o' pictures. wasn't really feeling brazilian girls, but i did like that so many peope were wildly dancing and sweating into the early morning hours.

washed my hands of a certain person who has done little other than confuse and piss me off since we met a few summers ago. c'est la vie, bitches.

sunday
finally went to see ms. karen's newish chinatown apartment... it. is. amazing!!! huge kitchen with fancy stainless steel appliances. comfy crate&barrel couches in muted tones. a red bookcase. one of those bengal tiger cats, who was surprisingly low-key and cuddly. had red wine and girly gossip for a couple hours and it was lovely! tentatively planned a trip to vegas, which would be super awesome since i have some mover/shaker cousins out there who would totally hook us up with some good times during our stay. never been to vegas and very curious to see if things that happen there actually do stay there.

monday
detox city... population: me.

tuesday
tom's house with fancy boys - watched bits of pieces of the American Music Awards while slowly getting wasted off gin and tonics with no ice. love tom's house... in an excellent area - tons o' shops/bars and walkable to most of my favorite places to chill in the district. gossip and catty remarks about each of the unbelievably sub-par performances on the AMA's before we all decided to roll up at c.u.n.t.... 6 deep.

hadn't been to wonderland in ages, mostly because i never liked how ridunkulously crowded it got, to the point where the only place to stand was right in a high-traffic walkway, thus ensuring that more of your drink would end up on the floor than in your bloodstream. made our way upstairs, greeted coryface behind his fancy tables, briefly enjoyed the beats before making the beeline back to the bar. delicious. danced and giggled with the boys and eventually a bunch of the dc cats that i really like showed up! high fives and bandannas from hairdressers. reciprocated ego-boostin from tatted up punk rockers. sharp words with that kid. reunited with the cowboy from TLC. quick schmoozin with a non-descript uva girl from my academic past. non-committal head nods with death metal kids. double cheek kisses and gossip galore. basically, it was yet another wonderful tuesday night and i was quite pleased, once again.

wednesday
spent much of the day alternately napping and helping with pre-turkey day preparations. big mama got started on her collard greens that take no less than a day and a half to prepare.

was fast losing steam past 10pm, but somehow managed to muster the energy to meet modern jason out for beers at pharmacy. i'd actually never been there and was pleasantly surprised. cory was playing some glorified duck hunt game with a plastic shotgun and wore a seizure-inducing bw striped boatneck shirt that i really liked. that barback with whom i drunkenly embarrassed myself a few weekends back showed up (i've got a secret... high five!). i steered clear. a delicious gin and tonic at bourbon at closing. on the walk to my car, ran into a drunken pal who had spent a seemingly awesome evening at fox-n-hounds and townhouse. awesome! i am now thoroughly obsessed with "why can't i touch it" by los buzzcocks. another amazing wednesday.

thurkeyday
the members of my family are notorious for wild and uncomfortable holiday moods and today was no exception. passive aggressive mom. absent dad. sleeping bro. cranky laurie. utterly-engaged-with-her-gamecube ari. good thing we had the puppy to diffuse things a little and we all ended up eating together at the table. everything was delicious and satisfying and we all felt moved to nap for the next few hours.

awoke round 10:30ish to get myself together and take my little brother to catch his midnight bus to norfolk. minimal navigational difficulties and i even made it back to dc9 with no problem! met up with tom and his fancy friends at taint and was surprised to find some sort of electro-ish performance act up on stage, rather than sweaty, dancing hill workers. leslie and the LY's... perhaps better known as that bespectacled, slightly bee-hived woman who takes lots of pictures of herself in sparkly sweaters and stretch pants that you've seen floating in the myspace-sphere. they were okay live, but later when the dj played an actual song of theirs... it was excellent! reminiscent of a district-ized version of my beloved heloise, replete with overly accessorized dancers.

we danced our way into the moderately wee hours of friday morning and tom danced his way into the hearts of admiring strangers. got a pleasant text as i was leaving. high fived the bouncer and began my walk back to the car.

oh... and to the short, blonde fucker on the corner of u and 9th who so eloquently proclaimed that i needed to "eat meat and put on weight, skinny bitch"... you can blow me.

quelques choses que j'aime...

2006-11-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

1. wallaby organic australian style yogurt. whole foods has turned me into a culinary hippie. soy vey!

2. rob & big... a surprisingly endearing/hilarious reality show on mtv (say what?! good programming on mtv?!) that follows rob (a pro skateboarder), his larger than life black bodyguard (affectionately named BB or "big black"), and their bulldog, meaty on daily adventures of privilege and thug life. rob is probably 5'6", 130 lbs... big is 6'4", 320 lbs. they roughhouse. they giggle. they fall down. they evade the po po. thus, they warm my heart and i plan to tune it whenever it's on.

3. smooth bar friends who look like k-fed (but less douchey) who like to treat us to high fives and shots of soco and lime.

4. hashbrowns - smothered, covered, and capped.

5. dc friends who shower me with drunken praise when i'm feeling moody, thus breaking my mood and saving my s-s-s-saturday night.

6. listening to songs i've recently discovered on a loop for hours on end. most recently: anything by the prototypes (try autonomie and gentleman) and in the morning by razorlight.

7. skinnie jeaned barbacks with girlbodies who danse wildly and uninhibitedly to west end girls.

8. chatty asian busdrivers who enjoy lucky star-era madonna and the sugarhill gang, thus ensuring the best chinatown bus experience, ever.

the shape of things...

2006-11-16T17:51:00.000-05:00

it's incredibly windy outside. to the point where trash from the street has been caught in an updraft, thus relocating to our roof.

went on a bad job interview today for a job i have absolutely no interest in performing, despite the beauty of the office's hardwood floors (and the amazing sound of everyone's heels clicking along). i totally need a job.

my olive suede boots are amazingly comfortable and make me feel like a supermodel when i'm walking down the street.

cashiers at trader joe's like me a lot better than the cashiers at whole foods. there are also exponentially more trader joe's cashiers with beards than at whole foods. i believe that these two facts are interrelated.

yesterday, i awoke to a charming message from a long lost boy from my london past. consider me giddy.

i'm making chicken korma for dinner tonight. hopefully this korma sauce will be similar to the delicious kind that i became accustomed to in london. it's the same color, so that's a start.

was an artist model for this painter/photographer and actually had a lot o' fun.

my sore throat is completely gone. it wasn't nearly as bad as sore throats i've had in the past. this one hurt pretty intensely on tuesday and caused me to talk funny (all strangely nasally and stifled). then on wednesday it gave me that fun raspy voice that limits your vocal range, where an attempted squeal comes out more like a breathy whisper.

debating about whether or not to go home early for thanksgiving.
pluses:
get to see katie and co.'s fashion show at r-n-r hotel
chill with some dc people that i've been missing
spend some much needed time with my mom

minuses:
operation nyc jobsearch would be put on hold for a few days
i'd miss one housewarming and two potential partays with a gorgeous lady

midway to awesome...

2006-11-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

surface has been lacking color lately, so here's the one photo i took at heloise's show at midway before my insubordinate sony digicam lost power and was subsequently relegated to the dark recesses of my handbag for the rest of the night. slightly blurry, slightly post-disco in the vein of brown michael J's billie jean, slightly awesome.

gray day!

2006-11-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

i've been a homebody to the max lately, partially due to my over-silly saturday night during which i embarrassed myself no fewer than 4 times in the space of just a few short hours. anyone who received an inappropriate phone call/email/text... i totally apologize!

did have a lovely time at the heloise and the savoir faire show at club midway. they played in the low-ceilinged basement. the floor was inlayed with bright panels of neon blue light. the crowd was pretty thin for the first two bands (one charmingly named sweet a** p*ssy), but when our beloved heloise finally took the stage around 11:45, everyone pushed up to the front and cut a rug. sweaty, glittery fun. no elijah wood this time.

the rest of the evening was pretty bad and it was entirely my fault! although, aaron did manage to hail a limo on the street. so punk rock.

spent the day yesterday eating fried chicken (that actually came in a bucket) and watching the following from the comfort of our borrowed olive-colored couch:
squid and the whale
lolita
big love

starting to get a sore throat, which is never a good sign. fingers crossed that it's just seasonal and not strep or some other terrible throat affliction.

the only thing i've done today is make another short journey to the mailbox, where i mailed my second batch of letters on my wintery stationery. writing letters is super fun.

i'd forgotten how much i love moon safari.

2006-11-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

with the exception of last night between the hours of 2am and 5am, i've been essentially alone, with minimal (even digital) contact with other people/the outside world. color me lonely. but i've got dinner plans and later plans to get silly tonight to some lovely electro dansetasticosity and hopefully rope myself a homosexual with whom to danse. here's a brief rundown of some fun stuff i've done in recent weeks, beginning with the most recent.

yesterday, after having finally done a much-needed load (or three) of laundry and talking with temp ladies on the phone about my increasingly dire state of unemployment, i decided that i'd grown tired of being in the apartment. so i gathered up my camera, a biography of mishima that still holds my interest even after a handful of re-readings over the past few years, and my wintery stationery and set out on a mini adventure to my favorite hip kid coffee shop in bushwick/e. billyburg. despite the relatively early hour, the sun had already begun to set and by the time i'd arrived, the streets were cloaked in darkness, the cafe was illuminated by candlelight and they were in the throes of a $1 PBR happy hour. took a seat at the bar, laid out my writing materials amid a few extra candles (decorated with decals of our lord and savior) and proceeded to spend the next few hours alternately catching up with close friends through fairly to moderately self-indulgent prose and sneaking glances at the cool kids coming and going between the cafe and the adjacent lofts. a hippie DJ who bore a striking resemblance to jesus wore birkenstocks and spun trip hop and brazilian bossanova. the endearing russian owner who reminded me of bill the hostel guy in london, marveled at the quaintness of the act of letter-writing and smiled at everyone who entered. i managed to compose 4 letters (signed, sealed and soon to be delivered), get through two PBRs and discuss the possibility of procuring a patent on a curtain design made entirely of heineken bottlecaps and free time.

got home, where i promptly passed the fuck out on the couch, drooling ever so slightly on a borrowed pillow. moved my lethargic ass to my comfy, newish bed where i slept for another couple hours, just long enough to completely throw off my sleep schedule for the rest of the evening. awoke, bored, watched E! and VH1 list shows for a few hours while digitally stalking friends and former coworkers on various social networking sites. got a text from my foxy roomie regarding another michael pitt sighting in chelsea (i'm seeing a trend...). sent out a digi-plea to any other insomniacs at 2am and my request was answered by my good pal who lives just a few short meters from my apt. quick high school reunion with yet another kid who looks like jesus, followed by a couple hours of mario kart and bad movies on cable. headed back home because i was rapidly losing steam, only to get a third surge of energy upon re-entering my apt. played with photoshop and had some fancy candy. finally crashed at 6. woke up 9:38 and i'm still going strong.

greatly abridged other recent social excursions:
last weekend - tiya and aaron had a gaggle of pals visiting (at one point, there were 7 of us staying at our place). so, on friday night we all headed out en masse to the lower east side to get crunk. welcome to the johnsons' (or in the words jessetron, "bienvenidos a mi Johnsons!") fast becoming one of my favorite places to drink in the city due to it's wildly diverse clientele of scenesters, bumpkins, media folks and everything in between. PBR is 2 bucks, we got seats at the bar. knocked a few back, fell in love with a boy who looked like a legal, hipstery version of charlie bucket. moved the party to a bigger bar on 2nd. don't remember much of that, except that it was fun and loud, but no where near as kickass as the johnson's abode. off for a late-night snack of gourmet sliders at DASH (sooo delicious) smothered in wasabi mayonnaise and bacon bits where i guess i struck up a conversation with a dashing fellow with beatles hair and a tight, wool military coat reminiscent of my own. don't remember much of that either, except that my cheeks later hurt from over-smiling. brunch the next morn at enid's in greenpoint... table for seven. superb.

halloween/mini cmj experience - missed jesse's set at mo pitkin's (no surprise there as i haven't seen a full set from him in about a year), met some of his pals including a couple o' cool gals. spicy pizza for 8. hopped in someone's car with jesse and his interior designer friend to participate in the madness that was the halloween parade round washington square park. too many people, too much random stranger action. randomly ran into the other jesse i know on the street. headed back over to the east side for a few more drinks with tiya, aaron, and a mystery boy, who was exceedingly obnoxious yet a more than adequate conversationalist considering my increasingly inebriated state. hung out for a couple more hours, rocking the whiskey before heading home and sleeping comfortably alone in my bed with the window open.

side note/observation: what the hell is up with all these boys with full beards? i always thought that was an old man/lumberjack look, but it's cropping up in all the hot spots and roughly half the boys i used to have the hots for are now sporting them. dit quoi?

my day in pictures

2006-11-09T23:10:00.000-05:00

excuses, excuses...

for many reasons,
i haven't felt very articulate lately,
but
i have taken a lot of pictures of nothing.
here
is what my apartment looked like today.

each egg in the carton was stamped with an expiration date.

ikea gave us a pineapple plant, which tiya diligently re-potted.

our boots were lined up in the kitchen.

a robot read me poetry while i ate an apple.

i took the subway.

i jumped for joy.

i admired my roommate's rack.

i remembered the ice bot.

his keys hung from the brass shower caddy we nailed to the wall.

i enjoyed a hearty snack.

my impractical new heels are practically perfect in every way.

en haut. en bas.

2006-11-05T14:58:00.000-05:00

feeling better for no particular reason other than i've had some time to myself.

brunch with pals. stained some mini-mirrors i got from ikea. listened to tons o' dc(ish) music from summers past that made me smile from ear to ear.

vandaveer * these united states * red right return * the run-in * greenland * the gaskets * rosemont family reunion * thomas lunch and the drugs * paul michel * hard tomorrows

also indulged in the following:
edith piaf * the rinse * vhs or beta * otis redding * phoenix * of montreal * astrud gilberto * beach boys (pet sounds on vinyl, such a snob i am) * madonna * secret mommy * carole king * the turtles * figurine * death from above 1979 * bloc party * jeff buckley * radiohead

drew a prototype of my proposed tattoo and i'm now 71% sure that i want it. i'm still gonna let the notion marinate before going ahead.

tattoo me?

2006-11-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

lately i've been having quite un-laurie-like thoughts... perhaps most interesting is my newly acquired interest in getting a tattoo. now, in the past, tattoos have not really had a place in my general/personal aesthetic; i've been proud of my relatively unadorned person. no tattoos. no piercings. no jewelry. solid colors ( be they muted, black or bright). never had anything personally against tattoos on anyone else (actually, i've always kinda liked boys with tats), i just never thought it'd be for me since there's nothing i've consistently liked enough to want permanently placed on my body.

but since i've moved, i've had a small revelation; i have some serious dc love. i was born there. i've lived there (or therabouts) for 96% of my life. my family is there. some of the most wonderful, stimulating people i know live there. i'm actually proud to be from there, former murder capital of the world or not. and now that i'm removed from this town that i apparently adore, i'm learning that it informs many aspects of my personality.

so i'm thinking about getting a little dc flag on my inner wrist. two bars, three stars. small and red and subtle on my most important wrist.

i haven't really made the decision of whether or not i'm actually going to get it yet. i've never gotten a tattoo before. i'm quite afraid of needles and i don't like bleeding.

maybe i'll take a lesson from the kelly school of preparation and draw a little version in ink on my wrist to see how i feel about it being there.

thoughts?

family time: suburbia edition

2006-11-02T10:09:00.000-05:00

last saturday, i spent my last full weekend day in dc with my amazing little sis. it was clear, sunny and unseasonably pleasant, so ari suggested that we go for a walk round the neighborhood. i fully supported this notion since i had long depleted the money that had been put aside to entertain us during my stay. grabbed the camera and headed out into sun...

two twirls.

2006-11-01T20:56:00.000-05:00

spent the afternoon listening to side A of carole king's subtle masterpiece, tapestry, on my el cheapo portable record player in my bedroom. every song held some sort of relevance for me and i was surprised at its sudden poignancy. i twirled and got misty-eyed and felt all woman-like. i opened the window to allow the occasional waft of warm late autumn air cause the white curtain to billow.

family time: puppy edition

2006-10-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

done feeling sad and sorry for myself.

one nerve-wracking, yet pleasant surprise from home... my little bro got a puppy! he gave me a call on monday and casually asked when i was going to be around. i gave him a time to which he replied, "excellent, i've got a surprise for you and ari!" so, later that day justin and his lady show up at my parents' house with a teeny bundle of sleeping adorableness... tucker, the pitbull puppy! now, both my mom and i are apprehensive about having pitbulls (this was the breed that ripped that lady's face off a few years back), but this one is just too cute.

please enjoy these slightly blurry, yet wholly adorable picas...

hyperventilation

2006-10-25T07:52:00.000-04:00

a while ago, i did something that deeply hurt someone i love, perhaps irreconcilably. i wish that i could go back and erase it, but i can't. i know that my sincere regret and tears have done little if not nothing to ease this person's pain.

we've both done a lot of things that have caused one another pain - i think that's often part of having a relationship and learning how to be in a relationship with someone. but another part is being able to work through problems and at least attempt to salvage what once was if it's worth it. i honestly believe that this is worth it.

i understand that this person is unbelievably angry with me and it's completely warranted. but i refuse to let this beauty that we've created die because of my indiscretion. my feelings for this person are the most real thing i've ever felt.

i never meant to hurt you.
i'm deeply sorry.
i love you.

today

2006-10-24T19:20:00.000-04:00

i watched animal planet and thought of you.

soon, i swear...

2006-10-23T23:22:00.000-04:00

many updates - all soon to come. here's an abstract:

back to discovery - lunch and reminiscing with past colleagues at discovery
saturday with ari - salon, party store, ari's masquerade ball
byt/american apparel/garutachi - fun and photo ops at the rock 'n' roll hotel
sunday with ari - busboys & poets and pulp and then tapas in chinatown
first homebody monday in dc - a fancy roast and a puppy

as soon as i locate a USB cable, i'll get to uploading the few pictures i've taken since being home. until then, please enjoy the myriad of incriminating pics from last saturday's american (psycho)
party at the R&R on brightestyoungthings!

also, it's no secret that i'm a huge fan of geico commercials. i especially enjoy the caveman angle they've been working lately and have subsequently have fallen in lust with Royksopp, particularly the song from the "airport moving walkway ad"... listen to "remind me".

rosemont is candy to my ears

2006-10-18T19:20:00.000-04:00

saw the spectacularly talented rosemont family reunion play at pete's candy store a couple weekends back. we got there a little bit late and scored a table right in front. they played well as usual. the atmosphere was supremely welcoming and a wonderful change from the standard cool kid shows that i've seen elsewhere in willamsburg.

don't have much to say about it except that i had a super time at the show and then giggling and having a beer with kyle and ben in the cozy bar up front. go to pete's candy store. and see rosemont family reunion whenever you have the opportunity.

on fannypacks...

2006-10-17T21:20:00.000-04:00

a few weekends ago, ben and i stopped in just about every thrift store that crossed our path in the east village. there were cowboy boots. and stacked heel boots. and slouchy boots galore. none in my size (except for a particulary pricey pair) but they were fun to look at nonetheless.

i've been going through a i've-got-to-get-a-romper phase for the past few weeks so you can imagine my excitement when i came across a particularly fabulous 70s romper at one of those east village stores. it was a crazy jewel-toned rainbow number with cuffed short-shorts, a high neck and kehole back. unfortunately my torso was far too long to accomodate such a form-fitting number so i had to put it back on the rack.

ben came across this amazing faux leather fanny pack. i wanted him to buy it so badly.

unfortunately...

he did not.

table for five

2006-10-16T14:55:00.000-04:00

after a relaxing saturday of frequent snacks and non-movement, it was nice to actually get out into the city and rejoin society for a stimulating sunday afternoon.

we all headed out for brunch with emilyface in the east village around noonish and after just a short 20 minute wait, we finally were seated at our table for five. veggie frittatas, eggs benedict with melon slices. french toast with fresh blueberries and rum butter. bacon. best. brunch. ever.

slowly sauntered down sun-filled avenues until we all eventually parted ways; aaron&tiya to a sports bar to watch a game, emilyface to a coffee shop to get a grande- double- mocha- half- caf- no- whip- special- cup-o'-ccino. we wandered semi-aimlessly toward a bookshop where, after several hours and a trip to kmart and back, we purchased two games - trivial pursuit pop culture and boggle to go! the impulse section at the register prompted me to also get the latest issue of readymade, with which i've been obsessed ever since my college boyfriend bought me my first issue from the university bookstore. i can hardly contain my excitement at creating one or more of their proposed 80 small space solutions!

at this point, ben's mid-afternoon hunger got the better of him/us so we went out in search of something. anything. french fries, in particular. we eased through astor place, past bowl vendors and used screenplays, down st mark's and stopped in a subterranean bistro to inquire about the availability of said french fries. much to our surprise, they did not have fries. ben expressed his incredulity at their absence and we made our way back from whence we came. a few doors down we came upon a more promising establishment, a pan-european pub (there were guinness ads, black and white italian posters, old french newspapers, a portuguese waitress...) we ordered our fries and a couple of of hefeweizens, unpacked our newly acquired boggle and settled in for a few hours of vocabulary stimulation with an improv jazz duo (complete with stand-up double bass) as our soundtrack.

when we'd adequately overstayed our welcome, the check came in a little tin pail. paid in cash and skipped down the street in the breezy, late afternoon air. scored some sweet artwork from the side of the road and felt compelled to take a picture while the J train took us home.

it was the perfect afternoon.