london: you make me happy.

i haven't uploaded photos yet, but i need to jot down SOMEthing about london because there's no way in hell i can go without documenting this incredible trip in some fashion or the other.

thursday: i arrived at heathrow, esme met me at the terminal with a chocolate orange in hand. we came back to her flat in east london, picked up a cheese plate on the way, made some tea and had proper girl talk/catch up time before going for an AMAZING indian feast on brick lane.

friday: sightseeing party timez. walked up and down the south bank, saw the london eye, st pauls, the millenium bridge, trafalgar sq, shopshopshopppped (absolute vintage on brick lane is MECCA), dined in covent garden, ran out for drinks in bank with esme's friend aj, spent the night dancing our faces off with suits galore until we piled into a black cab at 2am and came back and danced around with es and her dear friend aj to nina simone passing out.

today: slept in, went for breakfast in shoreditch at a gorgeous french spot called la vie en rose, stuffed our faces with eggs and toast and sausages and pan au chocolat, esme's sister sophie happened to be walking by and came in to say hello with her fiance, aj and esme and i got incredible coffee brewed on the street at broadway market and we moseyed through the most cheerful, gorgeous, treasure-filled flea market/food market/flower market for hours. we bought cakes, brought 'em back to es' flat and had tea. we're now watching grey's anatomy reruns [britain's a few seasons behind] and resting before going to sophie's christmas party and then out to dinner with es' friends.

tomorrow: our friend jon, who es and i worked with at an arts summer camp nearly five years ago, is gonna meet up with us and we'll stroll portobello road. and then we're going ice skating by the british museum, and then we're going for high tea at fortnum and mason.

the pictures i'm taking are great. i can't wait to share them with you.

seriously? this is exactly what i needed. thank you, london and esme!

i am truly happy.

for the past four years, the first sox vs. yankees game of the season has been the true start of spring for me and i've celebrated it with my best friends in new york who all happen to BLEED pinstripes.  with the exception of the spring of '07 when i was still living in spain, i've watched the game go down at a dive bar in yonkers with bren, ryan, billy, larz and a slew of my other ny favorites.  i got all nostalgic sitting on my couch with meg and later jessie last night watching the sox take it in an AWESOME game that stretched into the twelfth inning courtesy of jason bay and his 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th with two outs.  i miss my boys down in yonkers and mel and jules very much, though it was kind of wonderful to just crack open a brew and feel the first drafts of summer passing through my open windows last night.

so, this is meg and goofing around during the game.  photobooth turns everyone into small children who are easily amused.

oh, and jessie and i got excited when they won.  here's the celebratory shot.

this is jessie's anime face.  this is just my scary face.

before the sox went all rockstar at fenway park last night, meg and i went for a feast at local indian food favorite punjabi dhaba followed by banana cinnamon/chocolate banana ice cream cones at christina's.  there is NO BETTER COMBINATION than a delicious, piping hot meal at p-dhabs followed by the best homemade ice cream in cambridge.  we were gonna stop at the thirsty scholar on the way home for a round/some sox action but opted to just drink the beers in my fridge and slouch on my couch for the game.  we ran up to the roof last night because meg's never seen it, and i could've done cartwheels when i realized that it's FINALLY that time of year for drinks and hookah on the roofdeck.

meg had to bust early due to her crazy athletic fitness loving ways (she's going hiking today, have fun meggg!), but jessie, christoph, mikey and matt all came bounding into my apartment shortly after her departure and within fifteen minutes we were smoking honey shisha on my roof while matt cat-called and howled at random pedestrians moseying up and down somerville ave.  (favorite quotation of the evening: "hey BOZO! you got a calzone? .... yeah ENJOY YA PEPPAHRONI CALZONE BOZO.")

after the hookah started to ash, we opted for an impromptu adventure and decided that heading to the nearest playground was definitely the way to go.  the one up the street from my house is an excellent choice for late-night playground debauchery as it's got good swings, monkey bars and a huge basketball court that slants at a pretty sharp angle, ha.  we must've been out there for at least an hour.  here are the best photos from one of the best nights of early spring.

it's gorgeous out in boston today, you guys.  jessie and i are bouncing over to harvard to go find maya in a little bit and i'm wearing the first sundress of the season.  GO SPEND TODAY OUTSIDE! :)

recipe for a dance party, brought to you by maya.

background: los, maya and jessie are my three partners in crime when it comes to most of my adventures in the Bean and in life in general, actually.  more often than not, we tend to dance around like crazy people wherever we are and whenever we're at my place you can bet that maya's playing dj and making some ridiculous, adrenaline-pumping playlist on my itunes.  

while cleaning my desk yesterday i FINALLY found the cd that maya made for los, jessie and i.  i knew it was in my desk somewhere but couldn't find it the night of my birthday when about 30 people piled into my tiny one-bedroom apartment and we were in desperate need of danceable tunes, and los keeps the disc playing on heavy rotation in her car.  so, without further ado, here's what we listen to before we go out, when we're en route to going out, when we're already out... you get the idea.

architecture in helsinki, heart it races. (this is also one of the most absurd cockamamie things i have ever seen.  that should mean something.)

hot chip, ready for the floor. (my neighbors are probably real sick of hearing this when they walk by my apartment after 5pm.)

new order, temptation. (side note: the sea monsters do a fantastic cover of this. well done, friends!)

passion pit, better things. (we saw them at the middle east a couple of weeks ago.  pretty boss.  also, the intro makes me giggle.)

beyoncé, single ladies (put a ring on it). (you do not know ridiculous until you're at phoenix landing with us on a friday night and you watch hil and jessie and company try to do the choreography to this while jessie spills her beer and hil breaks stuff.  it's absurd.)

that's it, for now.  what do YOU listen to when you're getting all gussied up for a big night out and you're dancing like a cool kid in front of the mirror in your bedroom?

ps: this is us. taken at the brazilian girls show at the paradise this past october; from left, jessie, hil, maya, los.

aw.

(also: somebody make me go to the gym. seriously.  my couch is way, way too comfortable and i can't spend another afternoon on it and still like myself.)