puzzling

i haven't even thought about puzzles in years. i was never huge into them as a kid and i have literally erased their existence from my mind in the time since. but recently, my improv team has been super into doing puzzles. it must have rubbed off on me and last tuesday, i found myself wandering in to the puzzle section of salvation army. i picked up a sweet cat quilt puzzle (550 pieces, unopened) and then coaxed my friends into completing it with me. i tried to do it solo but just turning all the pieces over was daunting. my friends were reluctant at first, but came around in time with the help of some red wine. there's something magnetic about puzzles - like humans have this innate need to organize and put things together. we all had very specific, very different puzzle skill sets as well. matt and i were good at organizing pieces by pattern, anna was good at finding individual pieces, and ellen mastered the border. by the end of the puzzle we were all pretty giddy, high-fiving over piece placement and screeching when we got close to finishing. there was some pretty serious puzzle-gasming going on. now that it's over, i'm itching to start a new one. i had to put the cat quilt back in the box but i tried to keep it as intact as possible. because who wants to see all that hard work get broken apart?

eating with mike yaz

all photos from meals i've shared with mikeyaz, my favorite eating partner. we live the high life.

ellis island party

finally. the ellis island party. it's a theme that's been rolling around my head for the past few years and we finally made it happen. we strung up lights, bunting made of old national geographics, and a laundry line. angela's ashes played on repeat all night (possibly the worst party movie of all time) and we danced to the titanic soundtrack. we put tea lights in old jars around the dining room and all the guests drank the beverage of their ancestor's choice. lots of babushkas and suspenders and shawls. lots of dancing and sing-a-longs. so much love for the great place ladies.

three sixty five

happy three sixty five mikeyaz. i have enjoyed every bus ride, every late night skype session, every afternoon call, every episode of buffy, every taco, burger, & brunch, every made-up song, every ukulele serenade, every everything. thanks for being asteroid's number one fan, for putting up with my ocd level planning, for willingly dressing up for all my theme parties, for not harassing me too much when i fall asleep during movies, for introducing me to one bajillion new tv shows, and for always matching my dance style move for move. the past year has been absolutely wonderful and i cannot wait to continue adventuring with you in the future.

one way ticket to yumtown

this place rolled onto campus in november and dayum. dayum. dayum. dayum. it is good. super fresh, crunchy baguettes and insanely good ingredients. i'm a total sucker for pulled pork so that's normally my go-to (lime mayo and pickled jalapenos seal the deal for me) but i've tried the whole menu and you really can't go wrong with anything there. plus, the duo who run it (lanie and andrew) are super sweet and great for a waitin'-for-my-sammie chat. if you're around philly, you should check it out! follow them on twitter! salivate over the beauty of the truck and food!

james as the artist

sometimes i forget about how amazing my friends are. or more specifically, i forget the ways in which they are amazing.

i know that jimmy is amazing in the sense that he gives me hand massages and will always play just dance with me. he's always down for beyonce sing-a-longs and will walk you home if you're feeling like a wuss. but one of the other incredible ways jimmy dunn exists is as an artist! as wonderful glorious artist!

i went to visit him in his studio a few weeks ago and he showed me some of the things he did in his screenprinting class. AMAZING. homeboy has serious talent. that second one is a bunch of little teeth and the last one is modeled after dead birds jimmy found outside the art building. he works so hard on all his projects and always goes above and beyond the class requirements. he's incredibly invested in the work he does and you can completely tell.

very proud of j.d.