"Order Something Kosher.... Like Pepperoni"

Saturday night, we (me, tiff, ben, matt, mike, cory) went down to DC for Tiff's birthday.
We got a cheap hotel room for the night and partied at DC9, where Simon Phoenix, Cullen Stalin, Stereo Faith and LowBeezy (from Philly) were spinning.

It was an awesome night - drinking, dancing, drunk pizza ordering, slumber partying.

And I got some excellent pictures as well:





more pictures on facebook & flickr

Playlist #9: Q3 + Q4 Shows

2011 is almost upon us. A look back at some of the shows I went to in the second half of 2010. Image is from the New Pornographers at Rams Head Live.



been to any good shows lately?
got any good shows coming up in 2011?

Daisy by Fang Island

Heart Swells / 100-1 by Los Campesinos!

Silver Jenny Dollar by The New Pornographers

Janglin' by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Ice Melts by Matt & Kim

5-4=Unity by Pavement

Too Dramatic by Ra Ra Riot

Giving Up The Gun by Vampire Weekend

10 Mile Stereo by Beach House

Bhang Bhang, I'm A Burnout by Dum Dum Girls

Money Honey by Lady GaGa

We Used to Wait by Arcade Fire

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!

Little Monsters, You Were Born This Way

Last night Tiff and I went to the very long-awaited Lady Gaga Monster Ball concert in DC! Of course it was absolutely incredible - but in my mind, Gaga can do no wrong!

Making Gaga-inspired outfits was very neccessary - when you go Gaga, you go hard. It took a lot of crafting + sewing but we looked FUCKING AWESOME, in my humble opinion.


We are SO ferosh.


My inspiration: Lady Gaga + Clark Kent


Flaming piano was badass, and Gaga was ROCKING the ballads. Her voice was definitely on point last night.


The outfit was incredible. It was motorized, and would GROW throughout the song.
Reminded me a lot of Hussein Chalayan's Spring 2007 transforming dresses collection

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

Hilton Head was excellent!

Lots of beach time + lazy reading + pool swimming + eating + family time.

With some fabulous bonuses: a fantastic mani-pedi at Faces, Pirate themed mini-golf, massage at the Westin Heavenly spa, indulgent shopping splurges at Porcupine.

I definitely did not want to leave, especially with an 11 hour drive back on Sunday. But we survived. And its nice to be back home in Charm City.


Ben's mom took this on her iPhone... pretty good quality for a cell phone camera, eh?


As usual, Ben successfully ruined every picture that I took of him.

Did you go on any vacations this summer?

Semi-Related: do you have any good book recommendations?
I ask because I read two very good books while I was in HHI, and would like to continue that streak ;)

• War by Sebastian Junger
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
  

I'll Send a Postcard!

I will be on vacation for the next week, hanging with Ben's family down in gorgeous Hilton Head Island, SC. Stoked for massive amounts of beach time + pool swimming.

Try not to miss me too much, k?

Xx
ML

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.

America the Beautiful, and Drunk

Over the weekend, Ben and I went up to Delaware to visit our friends Sarah and Scott, who hosted an excellent Independence Day shindig.

Some highlights:


Scott made some delish kabobs.


We set off some roman candles in the parking lot.



The fountain was pretty.

UDFRW2010

Last weekend was the second annual University of Delaware Forum & Reunion Weekend. It's basically just a huge drinkfest and excellent excuse to get all your old college buddies together and pretend to be back in undergrad. I loved every minute of it.







You definitely do not want to miss this next year.

24 by 25, the Moment of Truth

so, looks like i didn't quite accomplish everything on the below list. guess i'll be starting a 25 by 26 list (26... i shudder at the thought)

items in bold below have been completed!

1. Clean out my closet of things I haven’t worn since college
2. Keep a plant alive (my window plant made it to this week, so i'm counting it)
3. Get a pet
4. Visit far away family
5. Go somewhere new in Baltimore
6. Go somewhere new outside of Baltimore
7. Go to my first friend wedding
8. Knit an American flag (we bought an SSB, does that count?)
9. Have a major achievement at work (first international travel!)
10. Go to a show on a school night
11. Fall in love with a new band/musician/DJ
12. Put up new decorations in the house…make it more “ours”
13. Get a new video game that’s mine, rather than just playing Ben’s games (xmas PSP!)
14. Cook or bake something
15. Print pictures and frame some of them…and put the rest into albums
16. Replace the buttons on my new vintage dress and wear it (i have the buttons, but have yet to sew them)
17. Shop at a new store
18. Randomly surprise Ben with something sweet
19. Discover a new favorite book
20. Use my sewing machine
21. Donate to a charity or nonprofit that I believe in (sadly, the Red Cross's fund for Haiti)
22. Go on vacation with friends
23. Have a webcam date
24. Learn a new language on the Rosetta Stone (i'm not fluent yet...)


13/24...54% = F+

Mi Corazón Está en Bogotá

I was in Bogota, Colombia the past week for a business trip, had lots of lab dips to approve. Little did I realize that I would fall so in love with the city that I would cry in the airport the morning of my return flights.

A few highlights:


This cathedral in downtown was absolutely magnificent.


The Colombian Presidental Palace


Colombian National Crest . . . there's lots of fantastic symbolism. The bird on the top is the Condor, the national bird.

On our last night, we went to an unbelievable gallery show for the graffiti artist TOT. I am officially obsessed!!









Here's TOT in action, he was doing a live demo outside the gallery.


All done :)

Here's a quick bio on TOT: http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/giovanny_sanchez_tot.aspx
He is one of the sweetest people I have ever met.

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).

Recent Fun

Some recent happenings:

09.17 Matt + Kim & Amanda Blank at Sonar





09.19 Oktoberfest in Lancaster









i love fun <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

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)

California on my Mind

last night, ben & i went down to the 930 Club for the Wild Light/Doves show.

Wild Light kicked ass. got some good pictures.

Benny's Bday Celebration

ben & i went down to the 9:30 club on his birthday (05/17) to see Dan Deacon, Teeth Mountain & Future Islands.


We had fun.


Dan was awesome as always.


Teeth Mountain was good, but we both LOVED Future Islands. Definitely want to see those guys again soon.

Happy Birthday Earth

On Sunday, I went down to DC for the Earth Day festival with Ben, Mike, Nick and Nick's roommate Natan.

There was a main stage with speakers and bands all afternoon, but we were there to see The Flaming Lips, and they did not disappoint.

Wayne even went in the bubble for a little bit!



Oh, and by the way:



I put some blue in my hair.

Re: 24 by 25, item 7

cross off another item from the 24 by 25 list... on Saturday, i attended my first friend (read: not family) wedding. and it wasn't as weird as i thought it would be. especially since the bride & groom are so obviously in love with each other <3


the newly married couple! (wish i had a better picture for you)


Benny & I (with thanks to Tiff for the Tracy Reese cardigan and dress!!)


The Under Armour ladies - me, Jillian, Heidi and Andrea