this guy

 

dates with this dude are the best. we are perfect palate partners and he consistently reads my mind when it comes to menus and date nights. so glad he's around, even if it is only a few times a month.

magpie

 

the best part of biking to work (aside from saving time and money and losing calories, which then allows me to eat more pie) is discovering new places in philadelphia. I have plenty of time to notice new bars and eateries and i try to make mental notes of the ones that look interesting. then, when mikeyaz comes to town, we get to try them out. it's a pretty sweet system.

one such place, was magpie. they're located on the west side of south street around 17th or so and they serve up savory and sweet pies made from seasonal ingredients. the pies are a little pricey at $5 a slice, $7 if you want it a la mode, but DEAR LAWD. they are amazing. yaz got the chocolate espresso pecan pie and i got a butterscotch bourbon slice. both were incredibly swoony. on top of that, the decor was adorable - clean and bright with light blue walls. the woman who owns it apparently decorating it as well and is the mastermind behind all the pie recipes. i aspire to be that multi-talented some day. maybe when i'm 23.

if you're in town you should definitely hit it up! check out the details here: www.iluvmagpie.com.

extra ordinary

 

i helped make a movie. just a short one. but a movie! nonetheless! and it's a superhero movie!

i helped develop the concept along with fornwald and finch. then fornwald wrote it and directed it and it was mostly his movie, but i still helped out. it's about a superhero who longs for a boring life. it's only seven minute and you'll probably really like it, so you should watch it: here.

bonus feature: mikeyaz and i are in it. and we're looking pretty good. this might be because we shot it on our friend tim's camera and everyone looks like a flawless god. but seriously - go watch it while you fold your laundry!

d for dangerous

 

i bought this mug a few weeks ago at the thrift store near my house. i have a standing order (to myself, from myself) to snatch up anything that i think may be from anthropologie. that store is so crazy bean expensive that i don't even care if i like the item at the thrift store - it's a crazy steal and i need it. just to shake my fist at the man. though, let's be real , the man probably doesn't care.

this mug, though not my initial, is from anthro.  and it is delightful and i made it my offical office mug. we got office mugs at one point but they were HUGE and i couldn't fit it under the hot beverage dispenser and it also took like three hot chocolate packets to fill up so i was drinking WAAAYYYYY to much hot chocolate.  i'm happy with it as my work mug overall. i get about three hot beverages a day, just to break things up and as an excuse to stretch my legs. (which i can do on the way to the kitchen to get the beverage and on the way to the bathroom to dispose of the beverage a few hours later.)

the only really strange thing is that, not only does my name not start with a 'd' (sorry to disappoint everyone who's been spelling my name 'dcaitlin' - there is no silent 'd'.), but my coworker, who i share a space with and work next to for eight hours every day - that guy's name is Don. so now everyone things it's his mug. and it's a little too girly for his taste so he's not totally into it.

this is an important story! feel grateful i shared!

in other news: WHAT HAS WORKING 9-5 DONE TO MY BRAIN?!?!?

best friends

 

i ate some stromboli a few weeks ago. and goddamn. it was good.

stromboli is a food i would never really seek out on my own. i'm never going request it as a birthday meal or order it if there are other options present. but damn. the stromboli featured above? that was some life-changing stuff. weirdly buttery and gooey and soft and not like a pizza that's been sushi rolled. which is typically what i imagine when asked to conjure a mental picture of stromboli in my mind. i should also note, no one has ever asked me to conjure a mental picture of stromboli.

in conclusion, i ate five pieces of stromboli on that fateful night. 

good feeling

 

you know what's a good feeling? ordering books online, on a whim, and having them delivered to your childhood home. then going home a month later and finding packages. then opening those packages and remembering you bought all those great books. 

i predict an even better feeling will be completing all those books. 

mums

 

so you know how i wrote about my grandma? and was doing all kinds of things that reminded me of her last night? well, last night, i was knitting in bed. and watching upstairs, downstairs. and i had just slipped a bunch of stitches to stitch holders. because that's how it goes when you're knitting a sweater. 40 stitches on one; 20 on another; 100 on the last. stitch holders are these giant metal wire things that look like safety pins. the 100 stitch one was a little small so the stiches snaked up around the curve at the bottom, all jammed on. 

then, in true Caitlin fashion, i fell asleep. with my knitting on the pillow next to me. 

this morning, i woke up and noticed something magenta down by my feet. it was the stitch holder. with no stitches on it. so i checked my knitting, which was still sitting up by my head. all 100 stitches were there, sans stitch holder. also: did i mention I look my bedroom door everynight? and this morning it was still locked? 

there are several explanations here: 

1. i'm a crazy sleepwalker with enough patience and skill to slip off 100 stitches from a stitch holder. 

2. mice? 

3. my house used to be a church - ghosts of church ladies? 

4. it was a sign from my grandma, the woman who taught me to knit. just a little prank to say hey. this is the explanation i like the best. i'm going with this one. 

also, back when my grandparents used to live at their old house, they had a big greenhouse. it was connected to the garage and it was beautiful. i was into the smell. and every year, they grew a butt-load of mums. all colors. just tons of the suckers. and then, when fall rolled around, they gave them all away. people from church, coworkers, family, neighbors, my mom's sisters- whoever. they all came over and took the mums. and i love that tradition. i want a green house for that exact thing. to grow flowers to give away. 

i was thinking about this tradition last week and bought myself a mum. then i sprayed painted a plastic cauldron gold and planted it. gotta start somewhere. 

 

i think about my grandma at least once a day. pillows from her old guest room are on my bed as well as the quilt she gave me when i graduated, the same quilt her grandmother gave her. the patches on it came from her old clothes.

the little velvet couch and chair in the corner of my room were from her house as well and i wear her signet ring on a gold chain around my neck every day. i alternate between five pairs of her gold earrings.

i'm knitting a sweater and christmas presents for my family. i'm sewing my own halloween costume. she taught me the skills to do both.

this week a woman at work asked me a few questions about a scarf she's working on. at one point i found myself saying, "if you're not happy with it now, you never will be." a truth passed down by her.

i made her baked apples tonight. i'll make her baked man'n'cheese tomorrow night. i think of her when i put on perfume in the morning. i think of her when i'm choosing my outfits. would grandma janet wear this? she was always so put together.

i think i miss her more and more as i begin to see how deeply she's influenced me. so much of her has become a part of me. i was recently thinking about how much i would have loved to take her thrifting. how much i would have loved to show her around my house and cook her a meal. how happy she would be that i get to craft at work.

thinking of you every day. 

brunch warriors

mikeyaz and i classify ourselves as brunch warriors. we have this brunch thing down to a science. we win at doing brunch on the reg. here's how we work things:

1. scope out our options ahead of time. first, we decide if we want to revisit an old favorite or try somewhere new. 80% of the time we go with a new place. we yelp that sucker, scope it out, read reviews (and try to get a sense of what the reviewer is like/where their bias lies), look at pictures. then we go.
2. we scope the specials first - they're the friggin specials! they might not be there next time! if there's no specials, we look for entrees with the place's name in them. that probably means it's a house specialty.
3. we consult each other on what we're getting. this comes into play later.
4. we do a solid handshake after placing our order.
5. once the food arrives, we eat half of our own meal, then switch plates. typically it's a literal 50/50 swap, but sometimes we'll negotiate portions depending on how much we like what we're eating/what the other person has. but since most of the time we've consulted each other before ordering, it goes 50/50.
6. afterwards, we reminisce. we pick a favorite of the two dishes. we rate it out of five stars. we rank it among current favorites. then we watch fraggle rock or some joss whedon show or a cartoon and i fall asleep 95% of the time.

follow this steps and win.

a gathering of wizards

 

i threw my friend jonah a surprise party a few weeks ago. i constantly keep a notebook of lists (it's with me at all times) and i had made a note to throw him a surprise party. which means he probably mentioned wanting one or never having one or something like that. he also likes wizards so it seemed like a logical conclusion to make it a wizard themed surprise party.

so people came over. they dressed up. some were very creative in their interpretations of the term 'wizard'. we hid and surprised jonah and sang over a cake i made to look like a replica of the cake hagrid gives harry in sorcerer's stone. he claimed he knew it was coming, but i still seriously doubt it. and also, for everyone out there who may have a surprise party thrown in their honor one day, who may be on the receiving end of a celebration planned and executed for you by 30 some odd friends, where even your distant friends skype in to be a part of it, just friggin pretend. just act surprised and excited and happy. it's really crummy to act like you knew, even if you actually did know. just play along for that brief moment. because if you don't, it's going to make the party planner want to dump the cake on your head. and not in a fun crazy party way.

then we drank beers and taped them together to play wizard staff. this resulted in pretty hilarious morning-after scenes in our house. just huge columns of cans all over the place. we also did flaming french toast shots with a harry potter twist - just throwing cinnamon on top of the flame and making them dance. i trashed our counter. so sticky. our floor was also wrecked. but it was terrific.

the best thing about parties is the costumes.
the second best thing is having a huge group of people you love all in one place.

blue skies

 

i bought this bulletin board paper because it reminds me of my the ceiling in my room at home. my taste and style fluctuates on a scale of kitschy to preppy and reserved. but i think this cloud paper represents what really appeals to me. this paper represents the ideal version of myself. optimistic, cheery, looking forward to things. it also reminds me of pie (see previous post) and electric light orchestra (which in turn, reminds me of my dad.)

i hung it up for a party a few weeks ago and i think i want to hang it in my room now. i think i want to wake up to it in the morning.

pie in the sky

 

do you ever notice threads that appear in your life? like all of a sudden, some theme seems to be emerging in the events in your life? recently, there's been a lot of pie in my mine.

first, fake pies for work. this was an undertaking. many lessons were learned. most notably, i'm not very good at using clay, plastic grapes don't take to hot glue, and ultimately, the best fake pie is just a real pie covered in a butt-ton of shellac.

then, news of a possible stage adaptation of one of my all-time favorite shows, pushing daisies. 

and THEN, discovering a pie shop in south philly called magpie that has beautiful decor and INSANELY GOOD pie. butterscotch bourbon? chocolate espresso pecan? uh, yes please.

i can think of way worse patterns to emerge in ones life. i'm down with all signs pointing to pie.

dinner partay

 

check that off my new years resolution list! boo-ya! take that all you nonexistent nay-sayers! stick that in your nonexistent noses!

jimmy and forrest and kelsey and christine came over for an improutu dinner last week. the menu consisted of salad (arugula, feta, almond, and cucumbers with greek dressing), fancy pizza/not-really-pizza (one with apples, caramelized onions, and cinnamon blueberry goat cheese and the other with blue cheese, avocado, tomatoes, and corn), asparagus, and trader joe's no guilt brownies for dessert along with some delicious whole foods cookie sandwiches courtesy of chrisfish. we dined, we conversed, we acted like grownups. there was a table cloth and water in a pitcher and a wooden salad bowl. i set up tv trays to hold the food since my table is on the small-ish side. it was legit and wonderful.

this face

 

 is killing me. it's from this video, which is also amazing. please, do your funny bone a favor.

baby wants candy

 

current wishlist:
1. pants the same color as all those skittles. not in one pair of pants. that would be visual murder on everyone. but a pair of pants in each color.
2. rosetta stone german
3. copper cups so i can make moscow mules the right proper way.

that's it fort pitt. what are you wanting these days? 

house

 

 i made this for work. and i would like to live in it. do you know who i would talk to about getting this made on a my-size scale? or shrinking me down so i can fit inside it? 

three things i definitely want in my grown up house, when i'm a grown up: a ping pong table, a trampoline, and a treehouse. obviously the last two can be outside of the actual house. in the backyard preferably. but once i have those things, i'll have it made in the shade. that's my american dream. also? it would ideally be an exact replica of my grandparent's house from growing up. that place was amazing. 

i'm consistently torn between wanting to set down roots somewhere and own a house, and wanting to move everywhere always. how can choose one place to make a home? can't i just have a home on wheels? can't i have a home with helicopter blades attached to the top? again, i need to know who to contact about this. do you people have connections? 

city life

 

i'm pretty future minded. i'm always thinking about what i want to do, where i want to live. i make a lot of lists. i plan trips and parties.

and every now and then i stop and look at my life, and i think to myself - i don't totally remember what i planned on doing at this point, but i'm pretty sure this isn't it. did i plan on living in philadelphia and working a 9-5 job? did i plan on dating a boy who lives two hours away? did i think i would look and dress this way? did i think i would think this way? did i imagine myself doing improv two to four nights a week? where did i see myself?

i don't even remember.

and i'm sure that two years from now, i won't even remember the plans i made for future me in the present. which begs the question, what's the point in planning anything? things aren't going to go as planned and that's not even a bad thing. it's just a thing. 

when i was in kindergarten, i imagined that sixteen year old caitlin would only wear stick-out-belly shirts and date a guy with a ponytail and a red convertible. when i was fourteen, i thought i would live in new york and be on broadway, despite my lack of vocal ability. i've wanted to be a journalist, the president, a teacher, and a doctor. and i'm not those things. and i don't want those things anymore. isn't it strange that we can change so much and still be the same person?

the point of the matter is, if you asked me five years ago where i thought i would be post-graduation, i would have never in a thousand years told you that i would be cramming a weeks worth of groceries into a bike basket and teetering home in the rain. never planned on that one.

chrono uke

 

it's going to get mushy in here ya'll. my boyfriend, dj mikey y, is in a band. he started writing songs on his ukulele - really funny, adorable, good songs- then teamed up with his insanely talented musical friend alex, who provides back up guitar/piano/drums/bass/everything, and now they have a two man band called chrono uke. i'm kind of obsessed with their music. mikeyaz writes all the music and lyrics, then alex adds the funk and takes it up a notch. i got to see them play last weekend and goddamn. so good. i couldn't stop beaming the entire time. thank god my boyfriend is in a band i actually like. i've dated some dudes in the past who made music and, let's be real, it's a pain in the ass to pretend to like their songs all the time. to seem enthusiastic about hearing them again. to not fall asleep or pick up a magazine and start reading. thank god for mikeyaz. thank god for chrono uke. you can listen to it here. (and you totally should listen to it. OR ELSE.)