birthday + bowling + byob

yesterday was my birthday.... i hit the difficult two-six.

to celebrate, i wrangled up some close friends for an evening of traditional baltimore duckpin bowling and byob.

hours of semi-wholesome fun, followed by the requisite drunk visit to Towson diner.


we found a magical hat


i wore my new LAMB dress


tiff and whit had a good time

One Night in Canton (Ohio)

Over the weekend, Ben & I drove out to Canton, Ohio for my co-worker Andrea's wedding. The 6 hour drives (Saturday + Sunday) could have been worse - the Pennsylvania mountains out that way are just gorgeous. It was a really short weekend but so worth it. It was great to be there for the wedding and the reception was realllllly fun. Baltimore kept the party going 'til 2am. We shut that place down.


Ben & I


All the UA girls!

Only Minor Emotional Damage

This past weekend, Ben & I survived my family reunion shockingly well. The drives there and back really sucked, but the actual reunion had it's moments.

My cousins are awesome and their kids are ridiculously cute.


Beautiful Anna


Gorgeous Julia


& Ben was looking pretty freaking cute too.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2010

The Kinetic Sculpture Race, hosted by the Visionary Arts Museum, is one of my favorite annual Baltimore events. It's a bit tricky to explain, so definitely check out the website for a better explanation that I could ever offer.

There were some great sculptures this year, a few favorites are below:




Fifi went as a clown this year


Nemo!

Halloween + Homecoming

For the first time in the 7 (wow) years I've been going to UD homecoming, it was on Halloween. It's like they wanted it to be an extra-huge shit show.

& it was AWESOME.


Tiff (Taylor Swift) & I (Fallout 3 Vault 101 resident)


Becca & I at the tailgate...it was raining

FARM PARTY 2009

Farm Party might be my absolute favorite tradition.

Every year, we get together at Matt's dad's house in central Jersey for a fantastic halloween costume party and bonfire.

This year's party was excellent (as always).

Pete Yorn @ Ram's Head Live

on Tuesday, Ben & I went over to Ram's Head Live to see Pete Yorn, a long-time favorite of mine.

not only was the show AMAZING, but my super-duper-awesome cousin Jay hooked me up with an in to the soundcheck.



<3

Wedding Bonanza

ben and i went to two weddings in the last month.

tom & andrea's wedding in lancaster, PA:





rachele & kevin's wedding in blue bell, PA:





both were beautiful & awesomely fun :D

E P I C w e e k e n d

tiff visited this weekend and we celebrated 4th of july hardcore.

tons of food, tons of firework, tons and tons of booze.

some pictures:


tiff & i



ben & i during the fireworks



ben & mike enjoying some roman candles

Dela-Bration

the 1st annual UD reunion weekend was last weekend.

this picture pretty much sums it up:



(friday night's festivities included green screen pics, hence the very fake background)

graduation celebration

my little bro became a fellow blue hen alum on saturday!






i'm a proud sister :)

My Job is Cooler than Yours

i love my job.

this week was "armour week," so lots of celebrity visitors!

during the all-company meeting, we had 3 special guests:

• cal ripken jr.

• deion sanders

• q the kid (defjam records)

the next day, we had a visit/live interview with lindsey vonn:



me (i look gross here), lindsey, andrea

the next next day, we had a live interview/autograph session with:

• dave trembley (manager of the O's)
• jessi stensland (pro tri-athlete/endurance athlete)

• jen hudak (pro half-pipe skier)
• chris ray (O's relief pitcher)
• aaron smith (steelers)

Meghan & Aaron (she's a major steelers fan, check out how excited she is!)


have i mentioned that i love my job?!

The Only Thing Better than Baseball...

Is FREE baseball!

The Orioles are doing a promo for free admission on your birthday - but don't delay if you're a winter baby like me, you'll get a month's window to score the free ticket!

Register your birthday here: https://secure.mlb.com/bal/fan_forum/birthday_form.jsp


I'm also LOVING this logo for the "Birdland Stimulus Package."



i definitely need a t-shirt with this graphic. and i love that it reminds me of the Ramones ;)

Jer's Brother, the Rock Star

I had a lovely Wednesday last week... my good college friend Jerry visited during his spring break from VTech Architecture. Conveniently, his brother's band Vetiver was playing at Sonar with Beach House.

Show was good AND I got to hang with Jer AND I got to meet 2 rockstars - his brother and brother's girlfriend.


Sarah. Jerry. Me.
Delaware class of 2007.

Definitely the highpoint of the week :D
A lovely hump-day treat.

24 was Fun.

it was an excellent birthday weekend.



i just wish i had more pictures!

Happy Chrismukkah!

Ben & I put up a Christmas tree yesterday (in a completely secular way).

Since this is our first xmas, we don't have an accumulated collection of sentimental ornaments... we stuck with the classic glass balls in blue and gold, with a few random red ones.

I hung the ornaments while Ben attached the hooks (which I didn't even know you had to buy!) and we watched football. The Eagles & the Ravens won yesterday, so we were both happy :)



YouDee is our tree topper, and with all the blue & gold ornaments, i guess that makes this a UD themed tree... is that totally lame, or awesome?

And of course, it's not hanukkah without an electric menorah in the window.

Love is a New Handbag

one of the many, many reasons why ben is so amazing:



image from LouisVuitton.com

270...Here We Come!

did you vote today?






GOBAMA!


free poster from Design for Obama (with thanks to Sarah for the tip!)

I'm a 3 Time Virgin

So I have an excuse for my recent hiatus... my roommate moved to her new apartment, and the cable modem went with her. After Comcast was 5 hours late on Monday (quite the story, but I'll spare you) I finally have internet back.

A lot's happened since my last post. First things first!

VIRGIN MOBILE FESTIVAL 2008>
This was my third year at the Fest (out of 3, I'm calling it my "threepeat") and I'll honestly say that last year was better. This is due in large part to (in my opinion) a better line up last year, but I'm not complaining - this year's Festival was fantastic.

The best of what I saw? I'd say Bloc Party, Chromeo, Wilco, and Underworld, in no particular order. Iggy & The Stooges were also excellent, but we were unfortunately far back. That man is incredible - he's just as cool as he was in the 70's, only less stoned.

Some highlights:


Suzanne & Mike came to the Festival too & stayed at my place, yay! We tailgated before the Festival both days.


Ben & I were really happy to see Wilco as always. I <3 href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank">
I got headbutted by a drunk/high/crazy girl who was wildly dancing/running/flailing. This is the aftermath. But I managed to get right back into the tent and sort of dance (bop) with ice on my eyebrow.

I love live music.

Moving on.
Shira visited last weekend! :D


I took her to my favorite local Korean dive for karaoke and drinks. Good times.


Kristyn stopped by for a quick rendition of our favorite karaoke tune, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by the greatest singer in the world.

...that would be Celine Dion if you're still wondering.

p.s. note the new hair in the second set of pics ;)

America, Fuck Yeah

This weekend was awesome. Tiff visited from NYC, Reza visited from Montgomery county, and Becca came all the way from AZ!

Some highlights...

Wednesday night: Becca arrives! We go out to dinner at LP Steamers and for drinks at Lime.


Silly ladies

Thursday: Ben, Scott, Becca & I went over to Canton for lunch & to pick up some party supplies.


We got a watermelonbaby.


We decided to bottlefeed the watermelonbaby.

Thursday night: Ben, Tiff, Reza & I went out in Fed Hill.





Friday: Sarah & Maggie threw a fantastic 4th of July party.


Showin' the Red, White & Blue some love


Blue Hens, in the rain, down at the harbor, for fireworks!

Saturday: Ben, Tiff, Reza, Kristyn & I went shopping in Fed Hill, then met up with Eric at the O's game.


We got new sunglasses.



Saturday night: Ben, Eric, Kristyn, Tiff & I went to Aloha Tokyo for karaoke. Kristyn, Tiff & I found our new calling in life.



Sunday: Brunch at Little Havana's & serious detox.

It was a really, really good weekend.