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! :)

couch fort? why, yes. yes indeed.

things i should be doing instead of building another hangover induced couch fort and watching law and order svu episodes before marcy and los come over and we make brownies:

+saving my apartment from the hellish mess devouring it at present.  it was created by a merry band of spaghetti-and-meatball-eating friends who wound up at my place after another rowdy sunday at precinct for tiramisu and hookah and, apparently, leftovers.  my kitchen is D E S T R O Y E D.

+picking out a green outfit for eighties st. paddy's dance party tomorrow evening at phoenix landing.  

+taking a shower.  i'm still wearing my makeup from last night and my hair looks ... interesting.  that requires leaving the couch fort, though. hmmm.

+committing to memory the list of reasons why i never, ever need to go to southie ever again after going to the parade yesterday.  as a local, i grew up with parents who forbade trips to southie for any reason whatsoever and who frowned upon the annual saint patrick's day parade because they deemed it an obnoxious, booze-soaked walk of shame perpetrated by good for nothins' and stupid college kids.  my parents? kind of right.  if i see one more wasted girl with flat-ironed hair, an oversized paul pierce/kevin garnett jersey, leggings and uggs, i'm going to vomit.  on their uggs. on the green line.  on the way back to suffolk/bu/bc.  which is where they can be found in their natural habitat. ugh ugh ugh hate so much hate so much seething searing hate.

+going to the gym.

+cutting up my credit card. NO MORE SHOPPING FOR A LONG LONG LONG TIME.  the stuff (headband, belt, dress and shirt) i picked up at urban today is grrrreat and completely unnecessary but i had to have them. a;sjdfal;sdjkf.

+getting coffee. 1369 please.  the starbucks on somerville ave made me want to eat glass a couple of days ago and i haven't been back since: basically, the girl working the bar (read: making the drinks, putting them up on the counter for customers to collect 'em) was real bad at her job.  i hate when people bitch and moan about food service ("how hard can it be? you work with coffee." "how long does it take to heat a croissant?" etc.) unless they, like myself, have actual food service/bartending/waitressing experience and they can tell the difference between someone who's awful at their job/lazy and someone who's slammed/unlucky/having a bad day.  this girl was either stoned or lazy or both.  laaaaaame.

+sending in my audition tape for rock of love four.  jessie and i are going to romance bret michaels.  (just kidding! we like/respect ourselves too much to do that, i think.)

Kendall Square: You confuse me.

last night, after a lovely couple of hours spent drinking limca (indian keylime soda, look into it as it's DELICIOUS and i'm going back to shalimar to get some more in a few) and smoking some rose and mango shisha with mike and matt, we opted to head over to kendall square to shoot some pool.  on the way there, i realized that my friends and i, uh, NEVER go out in kendall. ever.  know why?  because kendall is a royal pain in the ass and one of the most awkward areas in cambridge or boston to navigate, on foot or otherwise.

here's my beef with you, kendall: you're humongous.  and nothing of interest, with the exception of buildings important to MIT and all that, is situated anywhere near your T stop.  when i say "everything of interest", i mean everything that's not legal sea foods or the harvard coop satellite store, both of which are located on main street.  i mean the kendall landmark theatre, which is one of the best cinemas around for international and feature releases; i mean flat top johnny's, where we were last night; and i mean the garment district, which is the reigning champ when it comes to procuring vintage clothing and costumes in the greater boston area.  the fact that you gotta GoogleMap your kendall-bound destination before you even leave your house is enough reason to refrain from heading anywhere near that part of cambridge for the night.

with that said: i wish your layout was a little more sympathetic with the needs of boston/cambridge nightlife, kendall, because your location is ideal.  you're right over the bridge, for chrissakes! you've got movies, booze, pool and decent shopping! why can't you just be a little more accommodating when it comes to organizing a bar crawl or shopping on a rainy day?  

we wound up ditching flat top johnny's for the independent in union square, which is way closer to our respective homes and open until 2am on fridays and saturdays.  the food is awesome and the drinks are fantastic, and it's one of the few bars around that serves legitimate cocktails: i'll bet you $20 that a faneuil/causeway/comm ave bartender has no idea what an aviation cocktail is, let alone how to make one, and they shake up a mouthwatering aviation over at the independent.  union square, i fall a little more in love with you every day...

so, yeah. sorry, kendall.  you're kind of awkward, which is too bad because you've got some real potential. and now, i'm off to central (which beats kendall in every single solitary sense for food, nightlife, entertainment, shopping etc. anyway) to pick up some canvases, limca and some more paint.  i think i'm gonna walk there, too, seeing as it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS OUTSIDE.  seriously.  get off your computer and take yourself for a walk, just be sure to leave the jacket at home and bring your shades.