ridin' derby

saturday FINALLY felt like summer weather. we've been having this miserable seattle-sky crap for the past week that has been seriously messing with my mood and general motivation. but saturday- redemption for summer 2011! it was sunny and hot and i applied sunscreen generously and we biked and we sweat profusely and we refused to stay inside for more than a half hour stretch of time. it was perfection.

the first part of my saturday involved biking with tim and beth to fishtown for the kinetic sculpture derby. it's a fancy-pants trendy-times part of town and there's a big festival with lots of overpriced/delicious food and vendors selling kitschy art stuff. right up my ally. i ate a pulled pork sandwich (ballin'/smallin'. i could have consumed ten more if daddy warbucks was footin' the bill) and two exotic ice creams from the new ice cream tricycle in town- birch beer vanilla bean and peanut butter maple tarragon. both were out of this world, though i could have done with a little more tarragon. i've been feeling adventurous with my flavor choices.

of course the real draw for the event is the awesome/wacktastic bike sculptures. there's a whole parade showing them all off followed by the mud pit to test their strength/stay-together-ability. the pizza brigade was my favorite this year. roommate keiran always talks about getting a tattoo of a pizza on a skateboard (jokingly? i hope? maybe?) and i actually saw one in real life! overall assessment: food, unreal blue skies, costumed bikers = happy camper.

goings ons

it's a big ol' picture dump! a visual representation of the past few weeks of my life! or at least the parts i remembered to document! let's do this thing list still, shall we?

1. boyfriend mikeyaz came to visit! we got tacos from a truck on campus and ate on the 'beach' (not a real beach, despite it's name.) with some comrades.

2. i made chocolate cupcakes and attempted to top them with my mom's incredible peanut butter icing. but i got to the part in the recipe that called for a box of vanilla pudding and had a total forehead slapping moment. didn't have any vanilla pudding. i did, however, have some butterscotch pudding a friend randomly brought to my house once (it was wine and cheese night and that was his contribution- box of pudding. nice.). i figured butterscotch pudding was better than no pudding and damn. What an incredible mistake. So delicious. So many flavors happening all up in my mouth. I'll be forgetting the vanilla pudding more often.

3. went on the harrisburg house tour! my parents go every year and i was finally old enough to partake in the festivities! mikeyaz and j.carr joined me as we toured insanely gorgeous houses in the italian lake neighborhood of harrisburg. each house has beer and food (catered by a different harrisburg restaurant!) and you can talk to the home owner about their decorating, blah blah. everything was pretty top notch. the houses were older so there were tons of weird nooks and crannies and insane detailing. one guy had a total rock house complete with framed set lists in the bathroom, an elvis bust, and a killer basement setup. another house was a brady bunch dream. i was dying. so good. afterwards, there's a big picnic on the front lawn of this mansion on front street. we ate burgers by the river and danced around and drank our fill of the beer truck. baby eric showed up too! my parents and their friends? total party people. if i didn't believe it after st. patrick's day, i'm totally sure by now. those people know how to have a good time.

THAT'S ALL FO' NOW, BROWN COW.

More-drobe Maturday

this is actually what i wore to work on friday. NO RULES ON THIS BLOG! or if there are rules, I'm breaking all of them.

i also got my make-up done by the lovely miss fogarty. considering how rarely i apply make-up (and what my defintion of 'make-up' is (mascara and lipgloss i've had since tenth grade)), i always feel like a totally different person when it's on my face. annie is super legit- has a whole sweet setup and all the brushes and palettes- the whole nine yards. she's in a class right now and needed to practice on people and my face had no plans for last night so i signed up. totally awesome. really fun. good stuff, good stuff. and considering i have no idea how to take make-up off, i'll pretty much be rocking this look all weekend. lookin' fly.

shirt: goodwill
skirt: the limited, courtesy of Helen "Mama" Weigel
necklace: forever21
unseen awesome peep-toe leopard shoes: target
fancy face fixing: annie fogarty

things that happened in the sunny past

because the weather here has not been that good in a while. it's been weird and cloudy and always threatening rain. i haven't had a chance to ride my bike or sit in parks or worry about sunburn. it's like i secretly moved to seattle. it's the pits.

but these are photos of happier times! times when we saw a woman on stilts dressed as a fern doing weird plant tricks! times when we ate sandwiches in the park and played word games! times when it was sunny and the lighting made everyone look like little lit up angels! times when we went to karaoke and got our diva on!

hopefully there are more of these times in the near future. step one: less gray, more sun.

TEMPLE SMASH!

the sketch show i'm involved with (as a writer, director, and occasional actor) on campus has our eighth episode online now! everyone involved in temple smash works absurdly hard to get the show together. it's such a wonderful, collaborative process and, though it gets stressful at times, it's really rewarding to be a part of. so watch it! do it! it's funny! and you're trying to procrastinate anyway.

More-drobe Monday

and a surprise switch to larger photos! muh outfits all up in yo' face!

i'm pretty proud of my ability to google search 'make pictures bigger' and follow a tutorial on resizing blogger (which i keep typing as 'blooger', an interesting combination of blog and booger). and yet, i'm still unable to work a camera timer or pose like a normal individual and not someone who awkwardly attempts to corall their own arms is if they were oddly shaped pets i just recently acquired and not part of my body. someday; someday.

i'm sporting a whole lot of blue and a whole lot of pattern. rocking the nude fishnets as well, which i think are classy as all get up. i'm like a sophisticated smurf who's just moved away from the village to pursue an office career.

shirt: originally new york & company, but homiegirl got it at salvation army
skirt: salvation army
belt: salvation army
shoes: salvation army
fishnets: kohls, courtesy of santa or birthday santa.
sweet rug under my feet: doctor grandpa.

to my beautiful mother

happy mother's day helrin. thank you for being such a beautiful, funny, caring mother. i am consistently in awe of how lucky i am to have you in my life. thanks for packing me amazing lunches all the way through my senior year. thanks for bringing my birthday dinner and easter meal to me in philly complete with wine. thanks for always thinking of me and spoiling me and drew with your constant kindness. thanks for teaching me to be independent and value hard work. thanks for being goofy with me in kohls and dress barn. thanks for always encouraging me to set goals and have high expectations for myself and those around me. thanks for giving me my blue eyes and love of candy. thanks for having the best dance moves and mind-blowing baking skills. thanks for giving me a wonderful example of what womanhood should be. you are the ultimate role model- someone who manages succeed in her career, in her social life, in her role as mother and wife, and as an individual. i love you a stupid amount.