Birfday gurl

Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birrrthday to meeee-eeee! Happy birthday to ME!

Yea, normally I don't get too excited but these last coupla' years have been steller! ...all because of the people I have in my life. Swear to God, I've never felt so loved. My friends are amazing, my family is amazing...and it's all just so simple. Love you all, so much.

My bfriend, especially, was ever-so-loverly to surprise me with a lil sumthin' sumthin'..... a plane ticket to Austin! He knew how much I loved my trip earlier this year, and I was so excited when I found out he was gonna be playing there on tour this fall. He'll be out there with my bestie, Jessica's husband, Jesse, so he and Jessica strategically planned to book the flight together, so we'll be flying together to see our men on the last night of their tour! And only to make things even better, we'll be visiting our other bestie, Miss Decker! Gah, an overwhelming sense excitedness! (Notice all the exclamation points?)

Anyways, Jessica was there to capture my surprise. I swear, I literally had NO idea...I didn't even get it until I saw the little miniature plane Tyler planted inside.

So excited, I got double chins. PS, beautiful wrapping job, babes. I wish I kept the bow.

Tyler helping me open the box cause I, obviously, am a child.

Birfday gift part one: party hat! And it's yellow...ma favourite!

Why does it look like our party hats are superimposed on our heads?

Birfday gift part deux: party blowers! Toot Toot!

Don't ask me why I got so confused when I saw travel sized toiletries.

Ahhhh...I get it! It's a plane!

And here is my ticket with my flight information.

Ahhhh how cute!

Party time!

It's a party in the U.S.A. !!!!!!!

JKill me

My two newest obsessions might get me into a lot of trouble:

Yankee Candle & JCrew

Well, Yankee Candle company has always been an obsession of mine...pretty much since I was a little girl and my parents brought me to their flagship store in South Deerfield, Mass. The scents they have are pretty genius. Though, strong scents kick off my migraines (I'm not a floral-y scent kinda girl), just the right ones can send me into heaven. I'm particularly into anything that mimics the smell of food. With that said, don't ask me why I bought the Midsummer's Night air freshener for my car. It kinda smells like a prepubescant boy that doesn't understand the right way to put on cologne. Literally, I have to throw it away. I bought a new one today to replace it, and it is much more my style: Farmer's Market. Smells like fresh berries and other kinds of delicious fruits. I actually liked this scent so much I bought it in a tumbler size along with Harvest since it was "buy 1, get 1 50% off." Another amazing scent is Autumn Fruit. Kinda like Farmer's Market, but more apple-y. But, I didn't want to get too ahead of myself...summer is still going strong, so I wanted something a little bit more zingy, so I bought this amazing plug-in air freshener thing in Vanilla Lime...and I can't stop sniffing the air because I'm so addicted. So so good.

Before I write a whole other paragraph on candles, I figured I'd justify my new obsession with JCrew (I guess I can't ever fully escape the Connecticut side of me). Whoever their creative director is and head of design, I seriously applaud you. You make preppy look fun. Usually preppy is so blah, but somehow you style it all so well. Can I join your team? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

Ummm also, this necklace I die for...why do you have to be $275.00?

A more reasonable splurge for me, though, was these oxfords I bought last week from Crew's sister store, Madewell. I even waited a whole week to think about it (sometimes, I shop better that way so I don't buy on impulse). However, I couldn't stop thinking about them, and when I went back, there was only one pair left in my size. It was on display, too, so I knew I had to act fast before they were completely sold out everywhere. I figure these shoes are so classic that they would last me quite a while. I can't wait to break them in!

Anyway, yeah...these are my guilty pleasures right now. Somebody help me.

In A Safe Place

I can't believe it took me this long to download The Album Leaf...particularly, In A Safe Place. I've written down the name of this band several times. I kept hearing their music in random places.

I came across them, again, about month or two ago when watching a gorgeous yet tragic video of the Nashville floods (...from what I heard the video isn't nearly half as devastating as what damage was really done), but I couldn't help but write down their name again.

Well, I guess the final straw is when I began my first yoga class last week. I recognized the music right away...it was the first thing I heard as I sat down on my mat. Immediately, it put me at ease, and I was ready to take in all I could from this experience. I knew I was about to fall in love. The peace of it all.

I can't wait to experience it again...I can't wait to lie in bed falling asleep to these sounds.

Little helper

Getting some help from Xander while my ma and I work on some stuff for the wedding.

Ask me why

Only have a few things to say (in which, afterwards, I'm sure you'll never want to read my lame blog again. However, I promise you, I will have more intriguing things in the near future).

I spent a lot of the last month kinda preparing

for my only brother's wedding this summer. My future sister-in-law's sister and I (with the help of all the other awesome bridesmaids) put together a bridal shower for the bride. It was really nerve wrecking to do something like this with having no experience at all, but I have to say it went really well. I was super happy with the results. Then, I've been spending a lot of time trying to find a bridesmaid dress (the bride is letting us pick out our own). Shockingly, I'm the last of seven to get a dress. Don't ask me h

ow it's taken me this long because, most certainly, I've known pretty much what I was looking for for almost exactly a year, now. Anyways, I still have a few kinks to work out with that area, so I'm not exactly done shopping just yet. Then, I've been helping my mom with a few crafts for the soiree. ..no details to give out on that just yet, but I'm sure I will explain everything from start to finish come the time of wedding.

Pics from the shower:

(5 of the 7 bridesmaids...the bride is the one next to me, third from right. I look like a little midget and freak of nature, so you best bet I'll be wearing some good heels for the wedding day.)

Anyways, memorial weekend came around and what that means to me is basically the annual festivities at the Parker residence is Massachusetts. I was sad at first cause I thought I was going to miss it, but I have a great boyfriend and he found a way for me to reunite with all of my friends. We played the best game of "Psychiatrist" which I can't really explain if I ever want to play this game again, but just take my word for it: It was awesome! Yay for Sam being so awesome, and thank you to Gabbers for timing the hour and a half it took us to play. Besides that we played a game of wiffle ball which, somehow, Jesse guilt Amber and I into playing (we were celebrating his birthday, how could we say no?). Team Bacon is what Erica dubbed us (the winning team). Then we played some badminton. Tyler and I whooped Adam and Amber's boooo-tay! I missed out on the bocce and the bag toss thing, but how much could I possibly handle in one day? The rest of them had all weekend long, and I had one day to cram it all in.

Ok, then, earlier this week, I went to see the screening of The Next Karate Kid with my mama, and despite all your giggles I can hear out there, I thought it was pretty good! Maybe it's just me and the fact that I grew up on Mr. Miyagi and The Karate Kid, but I was really into it. I mean, it's no box office hit, but I fully enjoyed it. And the star is the spawn of Will Smith...how could I not like this film? You may not wanna spend your money going to the theater to see it, but I think it's netflix-able. I already have a crush on little Jaden.

I have a lot going on in the next month, but one thing in particular is the release of my boyfriend's band's debut full-length album. June 22nd. A Great Big Pile Of Leaves. Be ready.

K, thanks. I'm off to read the stupid Eclipse book from the Twilight saga. I don't even know why I bother anymore cause all I wanna do is just get it over with once I start. I can't not finish something I've started. I gotta do it, so I'm sucking it up.

Gnight y'all.

Rest In Peace, Gaston!

Last night my mother came to me with some sad news of a dear "friend" who recently passed. Of course, there comes a time for all of us, but for those of the canine species it seems to come so much quicker. Gaston was particularly close to my heart because of a situation I had back in the summer of 2003.

I had just come home for summer break from college and had not been home much longer than 5 hours, yet as I prepared for bed in the bathroom of my parents house I heard a loud scream from my mother calling my father's name. She had let my dog outside to do her "business" in the backyard only to find a man standing on the railing of our back porch peering in at me while I was in the bathroom. He jumped at her screams but managed to scare her even more by charging at her first, in what she realized, after, was an attempt to pick up something he dropped...then he basically ran like hell.

Everything after that was such a blur. All I basically remember was my brother and father waking up from a sound sleep, grabbing a club and flashlight, and bolting out the door. I have never seen such furry in their eyes, and it was actually pretty reassuring. I worried only slightly for their saftey. I've never seen them so angry, so I was pretty confidient their rage could take whatever lie ahead of them. Immediately, my mother dialed 911, and surprisingly only minutes later there was a police officer and a huge german shepard tearing through my house.

That german shepard was Gaston! He was all business, I tell you. He paid no attention to my little yapping jack russell terrier. He was busy picking up the scent of the intruder. Seconds later, he was off down my neighborhood following his tracks. Unfortunately, the track ended ubruptly, and we found nothing. The officer said the man must have hopped into a car because Gaston lost the scent on the street, and it just stopped no where in particular. But seriously, that night my heroes were my brother, father, and Gaston. Somehow, I felt safe because of them.

It was really nerve wrecking to have not found the man looking in at me through the bathroom window. The police think he knew me. They didn't believe he was peeping tom choosing at random because I had been in town for such a short time and found foot prints only under my bedroom window. They had no evidence to catch the guy, but my parents say they have a pretty good idea of who they think the culprit is (also, yes, my mother had seen the man, but it was dark outside and it happened all so quickly that she only really saw his silhouette). Luckily, they also think he didn't have intentions to hurt me...just to pretty much be a perv or a jerk or both.

Seriously, I've never been so terrified, though. Ok, yes, I have...but those are another story. Pretty much, I'm thankful my town had a canine on their police squad. Even though nothing came of my incident, I can only imagine how many people he has helped over his lifetime. So thank you, Gaston! You were definitely appreciated and will be missed. I hope you are happy now in puppy heaven and get all treats you deserve.

And to the creep who was my peeping tom, if you are reading this now, screw you! I really hope it was a one-time thing, and I pray you are a decent human being and realized your mistake. I really want to feel safe in my own home, but you have forever made that difficult for me.

Bamboozle 2010

And the time of year is here...when kids break out their favorite band t-shirts, get their farmers tan on, and listen to as many bands as they possibly could in a 48-hour period.

For me, bamboozle is somewhere I get to discover new music and hang out with old friends. Lately, I've been out of touch, so I had lots to catch up on.

We spent most of our day hanging in and outside of the Red Bull tent. Where it used to be thee location to party. ..not so much the case this year. Everyone just went there to fill up on drinks, and maybe grab a meatball or some veggies to munch on. Kinda lame and something they should work on for next year.

The real fun was obviously out in the sun.

I totally discovered Spose this bamboozle. His beats are catchy and the rhymes are clever. I may be late to the game on this one, but I'm obsessed with his single, "I'm Awesome." Must. Go. Check. Out. ...and become your favorite new jam of the summer.

This girl is my favorite, my bestie, my lazy day comrade, and so much more. Love her.

Somehow, I got lucky enough to get on stage to watch Drake's set and take a few shots. He had an insane crowd.

Even though Drake went over on his set time, Paramore still went on graciously afterwards and killed it, sending everyone home fully satisfied. I'm sad I have no photos of them, but I always have too much fun watching them play to take pictures.

Of course, the day left me way too exhausted to go for another, so no Sunday Bamboozle for me. I will get to say that I enjoyed attending Hoodwink, though (Friday night, pre-boozle style). Got to see a handful of bands play other bands' music. Obviously, my favorite was Motion City Soundtrack covering Nine Inch Nails. A solid set that I enjoyed though only knowing a few NIN songs. It sounded so rad to hear them a different brand. And then Saves The Day ended the night by covering another headliner, Weezer. Twas awesome and had fun dancing it out side stage with my ladies. Mucho amusement!

Check out more photos here!

Cry fest

Last night I watched Everybody's Fine with Angela. I was super exhausted so I figured I'd fall asleep in the first 10 minutes, but for some reason, I got so caught up in this super depressing movie and practically balled my eyes out every 5 minutes. It made me miss my Grandpa so much.

>

Now my eyes are all red and puffy, and I want nothing more than to go spend some time with my Grandma and let her know how much I love and appreciate her. Mark my word, when my parents get older, I want them to live with me. I never want them to feel alone or abandoned.

Hello, my dear friends!

Of course, I'm up all super late right now (4:55 am to be exact). Ok, maybe I should have said "early" instead because I went to bed around 11 or so. I feel like my brain is going to explode, though. I swear, my thoughts are eating me alive. Sometimes, I think it's funny how I stress myself out. There are times when I have real legit excuses, but other times it's the silliest of silly things. Example: I'm stressed because I haven't had the time to find any new music to listen to...either the "finding it" part or finding the time to listen to it. Yesh, am I really that strange? Guess so.

Anyways, since I'm up, and haven't written in a crapload of time...I am here now.

Where can I start? Well, I wanted to finish a post I started a while back about my trip to Austin, but I didn't feel like I was in the mood. I do that a lot...start a post, run out of time, and never return to the mood to actually get it finished. Lame, I know. That's why I kinda like this one I'm writting right now. It has no real "start" or "end"...I'm just going with it. Going with the flowwww.

Let's see, I will tell you some recents viewings and readings of mine. First off, I finished In The Woods. Good book....maybe a 3 1/2 or 4 stars (outta 5). I had a rough time getting into the first chunk of chapters, but once I got half way in, I was really digging it. It was very Law & Order...or maybe more so like an episode of Bones or The Mentalist because of the female/male detective, kind of bond, thing.

Now, I started reading the 3rd book of the Twilight Saga, Eclipse. I have this thing that I like to read the book right in time with before the movie comes out. I can't lie, though, I'm not really into it as much, anymore. I loved (ok, I was as obsessed as any other Twi-hards out there) with the first book, but once I hit New Moon, I was over it. I feel like I'm only reading it, now, just so I can find out how it all goes. I mean, it's not terrible (well, the writting is), but it just doesn't do it for me. But then again, I've never been a series-kind of girl. I read the first book of Harry Potter and I was done. Oh well.

Movie-time! Just recently seen Date Night. Sorry, just did not dig it. I just couldn't find it funny...at all. And I love Tina Fey! Ok, maybe the taxi scene got a giggle out of me, but that was it. Vincere, I saw with the girls at IMC theatre. I'm a little surprised that I actually really enjoyed it. Sure, I got a little confused from time to time, but I thought it was really well acted and beautifully portrayed...'twas about Mussolini's supposed secret wife, and yes, it was in Italian. Subtitles, people. What's Eating Gilbert Grape...can you believe I've never seen this one? I feel like I've missed out on a ton of movies from my childhood. Anyways, Leo! What great acting! I still marvel at how people can be so convincing. A good classic. Jennifer's Body...now, I'm sorry, but I truly loved (maybe I should say "liked") this movie. It's totally not my style: comedy & horror. But weird, I LIKED it. Yeah, yeah, Megan Fox is hot in it (and I was actually surprised that she can act)...but Amanda Seyfried, I'll just say she's in my top five. Every movie she does, she's a completely different character. PS, I Love You. Great movie. Adored it. Do want an Irish boyfriend with an accent. Thank you. Away We Go...awful, terrible, hard not to turn off. Somehow, I actually bought this...and I couldn't want to sell it any faster. Oh, and I finally saw New Moon. It was ok. I love the soundtrack! I still love Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Maybe which is why I loved this movie better than the book...a first for me.

Have I mentioned.........??? I've taken a few dance classes! Hallelujiah! For those that don't know, I've spent 20-some odd years of my life dancing. It's the one thing I can actually say I'm good at. But its been a couple years, for me, since I've left it behind. I've decided, officially, to go back and do what I love most. I even hired a personal trainer to get me back to what I used to be physically (man, it's rough, but I'm working on it). Well, anyways, I took a basic class ...actually, it was a Gaga class with a few of my friends...just for fun, ya know? Not taking it seriously. Just doing it to have a good time and enjoy myself...and I figured, what a better way to do it than to do it with my besties. Plus, I figured it was good to go and take my first class in years in "private," if you know what I mean. No one to watch me ease back in with embarassing myself, no pressure from my elite dance friends that dance with artists like Beyoncé, Rhianna, Britney, etc. etc. etc. It's just not fair that way, ya know? Oh no, but of course, I run into an old friend of mine, Bijan, who just finished auditioning in a studio upstairs not too much earlier. He insisted on knowing where the hell I went and what the hell I was doing in a class like that. Whatever, I thought, I gotta start somewhere, right? He was supportive, though. And told me to come back, and just jump right into it. Sorta like riding a bicycle, right? Not exactly, but I'll try my best.

Ok, so that's what I got. Time to get stressed out on things like my brother's wedding coming up in a few months...money & time-wise. Weddings are expensive! I couldn't want to spend money any other way, though. This is my only brother, and I'm super stoked to have his future wifey as my sister-in-law. I want to go all out!

Anyone going to bamboozle next weekend? I'm gonna be working at the Nylon tent taking photos, so come by to say "hi" and pose for a little photo-sesh!

Gotta go eat, now...ma tum-tum is a rum-rum rumblin'!

Mucho love!

Your missing unicorn

Yum yums

Tonight I made some more!

Though it may be vegan, I'm not exactly sure how healthy it was. I wish I knew how to count calories and things when cooking, but I have no idea. I'm actually trying to keep a food diary. I'm not getting too serious about it, but I'm just curious what it is that I actually eat. Paying attention to it has really shocked me in a lot of cases. I don't think I eat horribly, or exceptionally either. What really got me is the serving sizes and what size portions I eat and how it all adds up. It's crazy how easy it is to overeat.

Anyways, my dinner was really sweet (the tofu and the rice). I usually don't like sweet things unless it's dessert, however, tonight, I guess I was in the mood. The tofu recipe, I got from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan...the book Tyler had given me as a gift.

It's called Orange Sesame Tofu. Not too hard to make at all, but may take a little bit of prep time (marinating the tofu for at least an hour is recommended). Originally, I saw another recipe suggested as a sidedish to the tofu, but when I found I didn't have all the ingredients, I looked up something similar online. It's very simply called Coconut Rice. I excluded the lemongrass and just went with the coconut milk and sautéed onions...oh and I cut the recipe in half. You could definitely taste the coconut, but I want to say it wasn't too overbearing. I honestly think the onions made the recipe, though. To go along with everything else and to bring color to my plate, I bought a huge batch of asparagus. I'm obsessed with green vegetables! I seriously can't wait to eat my leftovers tomorrow.

This is how I know I'm getting old

I find this video disturbing.

I love Dakota Fanning and all, but I'm just not ready to see her in thigh highs and making out with dudes. Isn't she still 6, and wasn't her last movie I Am Sam?

Regardless, I will probably go see this movie just for the shock factor.

How does she go from so darn cute, to so darn "adult-like?"

Beating, not biting the bullets

More and more every day I want to get involved. My heart is literally tearing at the seams. Stories like this make me feel so heartbroken...and helpless. I want to help animals find a better life, a home, a family, and the care they deserve. I only wish I had the resources to help foster animals, or even adopt. Don't get me wrong, I love my perfect puppy, but there are so many animals out there that need love. Where do you even start?

Thank you, Ultragrrrl, for retweeting about this. This is an awful, yet amazing story how this guy survived after 2 bullets. What kind of person could even think of doing something like this. They should be tortured.

Someone, please, adopt this adorable dog.

A Unicorn's Birthday Book

Tonight, I found an old notebook of mine containing the birthdays of all my stuffed animals from childhood. Literally, I had hundreds of stuffed animals, and each had names and birthdays. The funny thing is, looking through my scribbling of names, I can totally remember each one of these beloved friends.

Are you surprised?

In case you couldn't tell, I had a little help from my dad in naming one of my little fellas. Too bad he didn't help me spell it.

Fee-Fee was my very first stuffed animal and was given to me on the day I was born. I wonder why we don't have the same birthday. Also, I named my dolphin poster?

I love that I named one of my guys "FunBun." I have no idea where that came from.

I started leaving myself notes in case I lost track.

I believe it's spelt R-A-G-G-E-D-Y A-N-N.

As you can tell I was quite the speller, and had quite the imagination. Some may have had imaginary friends, but mine were real. ;0)

Flapjack Smack

Totally made my first pancakes from scratch today...no dairy involved, and no eggs.

I felt defeated, yesterday, when I went out to breakfast with my parents. Everything on the menu had some sort of dairy product in it besides, maybe, the homefries? The waitress looked at me like I had two heads, too, when I asked about the ingredients in the batter. I suppose I should have known better in going to a small-town diner. Well, every now and then, I "cheat" on the not-so-obvious (breads, bagels, pasta, etc), and yesterday was one of those times. I got the waffles with strawberries, holding the whipped cream. Man, I cannot even tell you how unsatisfying it was. Sure a waffle is a waffle, but they gooped it with this gross, thick, strawberry jam-like topping. It was warm, syrup-y, and way too sweet. I guess I was expecting fresh strawberries delicately placed on top. I think I am becoming somewhat of a food snob, now.

Anyways, I decided this morning that I would take my revenge by cooking something marvelous and extremely simple: Banana Flapjacks. I took the recipe straight from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbook, Vegan Brunch, and divided it in half. In less than 10 minutes, I was eating this delicious treat.

Need I say more? It was awesome.

I have to say thank you to my good friends who have supported me in this choice I have made even though they don't choose it for themselves. Occasionally, I'll get the sarcastic remarks, the mocking, and the down right cruel displays of behavior from others about becoming vegan, and honestly, it hurts. Sometimes they act as if I've joined a cult or done something horrific. So to those that have been good to me, I will do my best to be good to you. I will not judge you for eating meat. I will not shove veggies in your face. And I will not preach about my way...directly...and unless called upon. But, seriously, it means a lot...especially the gifts, two vegan cookbooks, from my boyfriend who is the biggest carnivore I know. I love you...all of you. You know who you are.