dream interpretation, anyone?

image: greenweddingshoes. (this website makes me want to get married. it doesn't necessarily make me want to BE married - it just makes me want to have a beautiful, ridiculous wedding.)

okay. so, this morning, i woke up thoroughly confused/freaked out. see, i rarely dream, and when i do it's usually in black and white, and last night i had a DOOZY. granted, am i overwhelmed a bit at the moment and falling behind on the current piece i'm writing for the dig and trying to pack for newport and therefore stressed? sure. but hey, i'm always stressed by normal people standards, so this shouldn't be affecting my REM cycle, right?

anyways. the dream:

don't remember when the dream kicked off, exactly, but we were in a huge, fancy hotel in what i assume was boston and i was getting married to one of my good guy friends, let's call him bob. (bob and i have no romantic history and i've never had so much as a crush on him - no offense to bob as he's wonderful - but we don't really hang out as much as we used to, so this is also weird. also, i guarantee you that my subconscious doesn't want us to fall in love or anything.) so in the dream, i spend the morning getting ready for this wedding in this huge embarrassingly fancy looking hotel with my mother and the other women in my family. these women, in real life, don't necessarily get along and have a history as such, but they're all working together to get me pretty for the wedding. don't recall much about the dress, besides it's strapless, big, and my veil is huuuuuge.

bob comes in while i'm getting ready and i get upset (the whole "you're not supposed to see the bride before the wedding!" shabang), and then the next thing i know it's wedding time and bob is up front with all his groomsmen (including my brother) and then i get up there and notice that my bridesmaids are only my stepsister and alanna (my cousin) and then i freak out when i realize that my friends are missing. where's marcy and maya and jen and karen and everybody else? and, most importantly, where's los? (common knowledge: los is my best friend and has been since we were kids. obviously, should i ever get married, she'd be my maid of honor.) i get pushed through the wedding, bob looks all excited, and we go to exchange rings and i don't have one, only he does - i just have my engagement ring (which was huge in the dream) and i give him his wedding band. when i ask where mine is, he just says, "oh, you forgot to get it ahead of time, remember?" .... weird?

anyways, reception happens and i'm upset because my friends aren't around and i ask my mom about it and she tells me flat outright that my friends aren't coming and that they weren't invited. this shocks me for multiple reasons. it'd be one thing if my mom didn't like my friends/los, but that's ridiculous - she loves los and she loves my friends - and i get upset and my mom gets visibly angry and walks away. i can't find bob anywhere, and then i woke up.

so,

a) WTF

and b) HALP. what does this mean. someone point me in the direction of a dream interpretation website or something because i don't get it. i'm 100% sure i don't want to get married right now so that can't be it, and i know that this isn't a YOU AND BOB SHOULD BE TOGETHER! dream because that's just absurd. this is just bonkers. anyways, glad i got it off my chest because now i have to go transcribe an hour of tape and whip up a good feature for the next issue of the dig. ah, life.

X H

spring fever.

(photo ganked from ringo! have a banana, aka one of the most adorable blogs in existence.  

she's got the right idea with these lilacs, here.)

GUYS.

I REALLY CAN'T CONCENTRATE. like, REALLY REALLY can't concentrate. like it's writer's block and daydreaming about spring and portland this weekend and picking out what color i'm going to paint the walls of my new room next week and...... other things. all combined. in mah skull. i'm staring at four open word docs at my desk, i'm caffeinated, i have clients calling me every five seconds and i can't seem to just simmer down and get to work.  i would so much rather be in my bed with my laptop and some tea with the windows open doing my work from there, especially if my window had some beautiful flowers in it like the lilacs above.  a girl can dream, right? that would fix this crazy creative slump, right? GYAH!

this is for a multitude of reasons, but i think it just wittles down to the fact that it's been rather pretty out, it's finally time to tune up the bike and that my absolute favorite time of year in boston is here.  i'm missing my favorite holiday (marathon monday) in favor of exploring one of the best cities on the "best coast" for the first time, but i'll be celebrating the unofficial kickoff of spring with one of my favorite people in a place i'm bound to love, so it's ok.

for those of you with any portland (OR, not ME) advice to impart, out with it.  never been, so stoked to be there, and i want to make the most of my weekend!

oh, and while we're on the topic of procrastinating/not concentrating - i have to find a dress to wear to my dear friend erin's wedding, as the one i ordered on sale from anthro is hilariously small.  the wedding's in the afternoon and the reception is in the evening at the biltmore in providence at the end of june - how do we feel about this one, or too casual?

ok. need to buckle down and write some stuff, the next installment of defend yourself! that's getting published in the weekly dig next week.  did y'all read my feature on freelance whales? if not, go put on "Generator ^ First Floor" and start scrollin'.

X H

a spring weekend to-do list! ps: I'M MOVING!

here's my ideal (note, ideal) weekend to-do list:

1 - go grocery shopping at wilson's; grab asparagus, spinach, portobellos, apples, brussels sprouts, eggs, milk, tea (namely green, as i'm almost out), berries and other provisions for the week. NO CHEESE. i've been OD-ing on cheese lately.  there's some herb chevre in my fridge that cackles at me maniacally every time i open the door. i swear.  it's mocking me with each neglected bite.

2 - start. packing. i'm officially moving!  as of may 1st, i'll be living around the corner from my absolute favorite spanish restaurant, one of my absolute favorite coffee joints, and down the street from the best farmer's market in greater boston.  it's a 17 minute walk to harvard and trina's is literally rock-throwing distance from my new pad.  i'm also moving in with the lovely alaine, who's a good friend of los' from UMass and one of the silliest, raddest people i've ever met.  we've unofficially dubbed the new place the Flamingo Mapatorium because we've amassed a ton of maps between us and we want to have lawn flamingos in the bathroom.  (this is because the bathroom's kind of blah as compared with the rest of the place - lovely light, huge kitchen, HUGE rooms, and we get to paint it! oh, and did i mention there's a weeping willow in our front yard?  WEEPING. WILLOW. in our FRONT YARD. heaven.)

3 - make my grandmother a birthday card because her birthday was yesterday and we're celebrating it this weekend.  so much family over the past couple of weeks!

4 - clean my apartment, seeing as the landlord already has people coming over to check out my current space ALREADY.  inconvenient.  whatever.  more on this later.

5 - go to the gym.  i have been slacking on fitness so hard since the end of SXSW because i threw my back out (sort of?) at the airport picking my luggage up and then i just simply haven't had time between writing/interviewing/dancing/living life over the past couple of weeks.  zumba, you and i have a date tomorrow morning at 10am.

6 - sign up for zipcar and then jet over to lexington to pick up BRINT!  brint is one of my best friends from spain.  his grams lives up here and he's visiting her for the weekend, so we're going to have dinner.  he's got no car and i've got no car so zipcar it is.  (also, i just signed a lease to live here for another year, i may as well give in and get the damn zip car membership already.  have YOU tried parking in somerville lately?  it's unavoidable.) also, he and i have some talking to do because we may be plotting a return trip to eastern europe for august.  i can't sit still. it's true.

7 - organize all Dig clips to date before moving.  there's a few of them.  i see a lot of rubber cement/construction paper action happening over the next 48 hours.

8 - start thinking about portland because i'll be there this time next week! EEEP! my first trip ever to the west coast totally snuck up on me!

9 - go see The Runaways at Coolidge Corner on sunday with marcy.  she always treks to our side of the river and we rarely visit her there (we're awful friends, we know), so this is an opportune time to relish in one of the best attractions on her side: the coolidge corner theater.  yes yes yes yes yes. love love love love love.  i can smell the popcorn and twizzlers already. nomz.

10 - sleep.  i should probably start doing that again.

here goes, weekend.  X H

[ps: have you noticed how everyone's trying to get more comments/more retweets so they end every blog post/tweet with a question ("What do you guys think?" "What're you up to this weekend?" "Who would you rather punch in the face?") etc etc.  social media fo' SHAME. i'm not gonna do that. sorry dudes.]

¡headshots! with lara callahan [[elciphotography.com]]

my favorite incredible photographic impresaria, lara callahan, snapped some new headshots for me for my portfolio/business cards.  honestly, people, if you're in boston or new york and you need to get some good lookin' photographs of yourself, this is the girl to do it.  lara's super encouraging, incredibly easy to work with, and just an all around sweet girl.  that, and she made me look like a badass, and for that i'm forever grateful.  [i like posing with shades, ok?!]  

anyways, yeah.  launching a new site soon.  very excited about it.  heading to SXSW in two weeks.  very excited about THAT.  2010, you're not going to let me sleep very much, are you?

i am currently daydreaming at my desk about:

1 - planning a european vacation for may.  even if es can't go due to her upcoming trip to the states, i may just book a week in lisbon or granada anyway.

2 - purchasing one of the neon-hued cashmere throws offered today on gilt.

3 - making myself breakfast in bed and reading the current issues of interview, vogue, rolling stone, esquire and vanity fair in one sitting.

4 - going back to flamenco or tango class.

5 - love; lust.

6 - having a snowed-in fellini marathon.

7 - heading up to the maine house with my guitar, some books, lots of tea and firewood.

8 - running off to bangkok to go visit potter with kevin.

9 - trying on cowboy boots and soaking up everything through my ears at SXSW.

10 - the bookshelves at strand.

well, that was an entirely unproductive hour.

X H

the irrationally happy list, saturday evening version.

i love this photo, which was taken by this adorable girl cecilie over at bakerby.  her blog is so great, and also on my "this makes me irrationally happy!" list.  also, she totally makes me want to book a trip to copenhagen so i can check out all the amazing cafes and streets she talks about.  go check her out!

things that make me irrationally happy:

+ terry's chocolate oranges.  i just made dinner, and now i'm drinking a glass of malbec and savoring the last "slices" of the last of my chocolate oranges that i brought back from the UK in early december.  this is my favorite candy ever.  too bad they don't have them readily available all year!  (actually, my waistline is very grateful that they're not readily available all year...)

+ impromptu saturday day dates.  jen, aka one of my absolute favorite people aka jen of fantastic boston band static of the gods, and i opted to try zumba this morning.  we had a BLAST and the class was a fantastic workout and i would absolutely recommend it to any and everyone who likes to shake it in any capacity.  after the gym, jen and i hit diesel for a caffeine boost [not that we needed it after zumba, but it was pretty necessary for the taste buds], and then we opted to go on a bit of a domestic adventure.  jen's got the band van, see, so we drove up mass ave to arlington to penzey's spices and spent a good while sniffing jars of vietnamese cinnamon and chipotle pepper blends and cardamon and coriander.  afterwards, we continued on to wilson's farm in lexington and i was NOOOT ready for the hugeness that's wilson's.   i always went t wilson's as a kid in the fall only, for haunted houses and caramel apples and the like, so to go in as a hungry grown-up in need of groceries... yeah it was pretty awesome.   i came home with the makings of a proper feast and ate grilled chicken, portobello mushrooms and eggplant either grown on the premises or procured from local farms.  delicious and good for the local first movement, woooo!

+ the brattle theatre is showing la dolce vita tonight at 8.  james and i are going and i've never seen a fellini film, ever, so i'm pretty stoked for it.  we had originally decided on avatar, seeing as we're the only two friggin' people on the planet who haven't seen it yet, but fellini on a saturday night on the big screen? perfect? yes. i think so.

+ iiiiiiiiiiii could not be more excited to go see freelance whales at great scott on tuesday night with jess and amanda.  "generator ^ first floor" is my favorite song of 2010 thus far and i'll put money down early that they're gonna be the talk of SXSW.

+ today felt like spring.   i know that it isn't even february yet, but we're through the worst of winter! (watch me jinx this by merely typing this and then i'll be dressed like an eskimo from here on out 'til april. ohhh new england.)

yeah.  today was such a beautiful, wonderful day.  i don't think my happiness is so irrational after all :)

story for a sunday afternoon...

it's gorgeous out, so of course i woke up from sunbeams to the face at 9am. karen, best friend from a lifetime ago in spain, surprised me with a weekend visit and we spent the past couple of days catching up and celebrating friends birthdays and eating delicious things and drinking cups of tea upon cups of tea upon cups of tea. pretty heavenly. now, marcy and i are making thin mint/oreo brownies and watching clueless. yessss. sunday, it could be love.

i've been leaving this blog in the DUST because i've been so busy, so here's a brief recap of what's been keeping me away...

what hil's been up to lately:

+on a whim, i used up all of my remaining vacation days for 2009 and booked a last minute ticket to london on the cheap to go visit esme, a dear friend who i had worked with at an arts camp in maine a few summers ago. it literally feels like not a single day has passed since the last time we hung out and we're the definition of friends who can pick up where they leave off. esme has a beautiful flat in hackney [east london], so i spent about a week tagging along with her, shopping in shoreditch, making pizza while watching the x factor finale, getting lost/completely overwhelmed in top shop, scoping out the pop life exhibit at the tate and belting out amy winehouse's "valerie" in a rock-e-oke contest in covent garden. [i won said contest, prize being a £100 bartab, much to our friends' delight.] the trip was all i could've asked for and more and delivered exactly what i was looking for: a little jaunt out of boston, a little time away from what's happening in these parts, a lot of time to reevaluate some stuff going on/get my priorities and sanity in check. i'm looking into grad school in london and i can't wait to go back. londontown is officially another city to hit the "we get along famously and i could live here!" list, after buenos aires, chicago and lisbon.

+moved on from my post at TPB and am now an arts & entertainment contributing writer at the weekly dig, which is a move i couldn't be more thrilled about. i've been an avid reader of the dig for quite some time now, so to be a part of that editorial team is all walks of awesome. also, i wrote my first ever big paper feature, and i'll be covering SXSW in march for the dig which is kiiiiiind of a dream come true. (i mean, really. i'm gonna be all gonzo about it and i'm potentially going to be a band van stowaway.) here's a few of the pieces i've done so far -

-my feature on boston carnival rockers Mighty Tiny

-defend yourself! Q+As with Mystery Roar, Sidewalk Driver, the David Wax Museum, and my very own junior prom date Garett Hawe who just happens to be one of the featured ensemble members in the touring production of 101 Dalmatians: The Musical.

-a review on the DVD box set of Dawson's Creek. (guys, WB 90s teen dramas are totally emotional.)

-an exit poll or two, including one with my dad after thanksgiving dinner.

+ i turned 24, and had an absolutely wonderful day dancing, drinking and stuffing my face alongside my favorite people on the planet. look to the previous entry for the rundown.

+ i'm making music again. more on this development later, but it involves guitar and fishnets and 80s hair-dos and a debut at the lizard lounge early this spring.

+SXSW. I AM SO EXCITED. i can't wait to get my butt to texas.

those are the big things anyway. whenever i start writing these "oh hey hi it's met let's catch up lists" i always lose steam halfway through and forget important things. those are the biggies, though. it's nice to be back.

X HIL

i turned 24 and it was lovely.

(this is the famous key necklace found in shoreditch while i was in london last month, by the way.

it's my new favorite thing.)

this weekend, it's all about blogging/detailing the crazy things i've been up to since the beginning of november. i PROMISE. i will not neglect OH HEY! any longer. i promise i promise i promise.

in the meantime, these are shots from my 24th birthday party, which was an 11-hour marathon of goodness that started with brunch and ended with dinner and manhattans at trina's with a homey dance party/sit indian style on hil's floor and drink narragansett and sing party in between. i wouldn't have had it any other way. it was perfect.

the photos are all by jess, one of my oldest and dearest friends and my partner in crime/photographer for SXSW this coming march. [that's a sneak preview on the "what i've been up to" front.]

in other news: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYA! you're one of the best friends a girl could ever hope to have. i can't wait to dance my face off with you and los and cristina and a bunch of our other favorite people tonight in honor of you you you!

X HIL

"because when a door closes in hilary jane hughes' life..."

a real proper update is coming soon as LOTS has been going on, but in the meantime i'll leave you with this because it's a) true and b) ridiculous, as andrea can literally get me laughing my butt off at the drop of a hat for no reason at all.

[10:19] Hilary: omgggg london cant come soon enough
[10:19] Hilary: and i bet you feel the same way about the bahamas
[10:19] Andrea: i do, girl.
[10:20] Andrea: but i just want to reiterate
[10:20] Andrea: that i am really excited for you
[10:20] Andrea: and THIS
[10:20] Andrea: is why
[10:20] Andrea: i dont worry about you.
[10:20] Andrea: because when a door closes in hilary jane hughes' life
[10:20] Andrea: she smashes open six windows and pulls the fire alarm.
[10:21] Hilary: HAHAHAHAHA.

i'm so, so lucky to have such incredibly wonderful people in my life who don't get going when the going gets tough.

oh, also, i'm going to london in three weeks. prooobably should've mentioned that. as i said earlier, more later, i promise. Xx H

CMJ // it's cold // new boots!

what i wouldn't GIVE for a pumpkin muffin and a cappuccino from the biscuit right about now...

anyways, good morning! a few baby updates:

1) along with my cohorts jessie and gab, i'll be heading to new york city next week to cover the tail end of the CMJ Music Marathon. we're going to cover the Boston acts of the festival lineup [The Mieka Canon, Drug Rug, The New Collisions, Aloud, HO-AG to name a few] complete with photo timeline, concert shots, videos [hopefully!] and various critiques/musings. you can find our unscripted indie rock adventure [complete with copious amounts of red velvet cupcakes from buttercup and a run in at the waverley] over at TeaParty Boston.

2) interviews i've done recently for TPB: one with local favorites/Cantab frequenters St. Helena, one with Boston mainstays The Beatings, and one with the latest indie darlings to hit the charts, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. read up on some good listens here, friends.

3) after a particularly stressful day at work yesterday, i took a detour before driving home and stopped at the mall... and walked out with a quarter of my monthly wages gone. yeeeeah i'm gonna eat pasta for two weeks to make up for it. but my new party dress and blouse from anthropologie are gorgeous and these new frye boots are purrrrty:

seriously. i needed them. i keep telling myself this.

anyways. it's 9:02am. that means dayjob work time. tonight: the dodos are playing at the middle east, and i'll be watching from the ramp. if you're going, get there soon as i feel like everyone and their mother wants to snag last minute tickets to this show.

p.s.: dear fall: i thought you were going to stick around for a leeeeeeeeeettle longer to make up for the fact that summer was rainy 99% of the time. do i REALLY have to break out my winter coat two weeks before halloween? seriously? gyahhh. oh well. at least it's hot cider season.

quick update: TeaParty Boston, Interviewz, Major FreakOuts and Other Adventures.

HI!

real quick:

1) the weekend preview is up at TeaParty Boston. if you're looking for something to do this weekend in boston, you have EIGHT GAZILLION OPTIONS available including concerts in cambridge, somerville, allston and boston proper, of course. there's also a booze-soaked LEGALIZE CACHACA! march plowing through the south end/back bay and design hive kicks off for the season on sunday. long story short: GET YOUR BUTT OFF THE COUCH AND OUT INTO THE AUTUMN AIR, AMIGOS!

2) i am interviewing the biggest f#%#$%@ band on the planet tonight before their concert at the comcast center. if you've got any pressing questions for the followill brothers, drop me a line and i'll include it in my interview.

3) have i told you lately that i'm lucky? i'm lucky.

hunter s. thompson in the afternoon.

mr. gonzo himself: hunter s. thompson.

i think one of my favorite memories from my short-lived stint as an office monkey at wenner media was natalie's glam rock party, when cody and adam were drunkenly retelling RS stories from days gone by and the one came up about how hunter s. thompson got a huge load of edits from an irate jann and responded by walking into jann's office with a fire extinguisher and shot the fire safety device off in the face of the editor of rolling stone. hammered cody, in turn, ripped the fire extinguisher off the columbia university dorm room wall and proceeded to pull the pin, which filled the apartment with nasty foam and left the rest of us laughing our asses off as natalie's roommate panicked and screamed at cody while donning a silver leotard and red velvet cape. we're such media dorks, guys.

anyways. long story short: i love hunter s. thompson, and when we talk influences, he may be the one that i credit when it comes to honing my creativity and giving me something to aspire to as a ballsy writer.

i'm deleting this from my profile on facebook so i wanted to put it somewhere. here it goes, my favorite hunter quote.

"...no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. whatever it meant ... history is hard to know, because of all of the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of 'history' it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands all the time - and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened."

-Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

TeaParty Boston Update: Interviews, Photos, Silly Flashy Headshots and more.

hello friiiiiiiiiiends!

i know i said i wouldn't be updating, but i figured i'd give you the rundown on what's currently posted over at TeaParty Boston for your reading pleasure.

since the end of april, jessie, gab and i have been running around this city like chickens with our heads cut off interviewing, shooting, chatting with and going to see the best bands coming through town and hailing from the bean itself. between the paradise rock club, precinct and every single venue in between we've covered a lot of ground, and you can now find all of these interviews that we've been backlogging since this brainchild came to fruition a few months ago.

interviews currently up on TeaParty Boston:

-Frosty Pines: Steve, Andy and Conan, formerly of Boston indie powerhouse Baker, have reformed as a rock trio and will be playing TT the Bear's Place on July 23rd.

-The Antlers: Jessie and I had the pleasure of chatting up these Brooklynites as they were stopping through town on their way back to the burrough after their whirlwind national tour.

-Magic Magic: Probably one of my favorite Boston acts out there and definitely an act to watch. That, and these guys are hysterical.

-Taxpayer: Another one of my favorite local acts, and definitely one of the most fun interviews/shows we've ever done for TPB. Their album, Don't Steal My Night Vision, is currently playing on repeat on my iTunes.

-Thick as Thieves: Definitely my band crush. I. LOVE. THEIR. MUSIC. SO. MUCH. I stumbled across their last album while writing for Chicks with Guns last summer and I haven't stopped listening to them since.

-Au Revoir Simone: Okay Jessie looooves these keyboard-wielding ladies and it's no wonder why, seeing as they're adorable and their music is just as appealing as their personalities.

-The Luxury: Jessie and I were BLOWN AWAY by these guys at their CD Release party last week. Seriously, people. They're going to explode and you heard it here first.

-The Low Anthem: I'm really pissed that I missed this show, but these guys are amazing and Jessie snapped some sick pictures of their show at the Brattle.

-Thao with the Get Down Stay Down: Our first big interview! I love Thao. Everyone loves Thao. We hope you love our interview with Thao.

-Rock Plaza Central: Chris Eaton is such an upstanding chap and chatting him up about Rock Plaza Central's music, origami caterpillars and punching Scott Speedman was a delight.

soooo yeah. i've been busy, can you tell?

xx hil

the happy list, "i'm choosing bed before precinct on a sunday night for the first time EVER!" edition.

i have 7.5 hours until i have to be awake on monday morning, so i'll keep this list brief.

+ last night. period. i put on my pretty new dress, jessie put on her pretty new outfit [including her pretty sweet new american apparel leotard, very exciting] and we booked it over to allston to be very important people. we started off at the paradise, which basically looked like a bomb exploded in the equipment closet because four bands were soundchecking at that time, and met up with joey and joe of the click five for a brief talkin' to about how they went from shacking up in allston to speaking out against violence against women in southeast asia for mtv. afterwards, we went over to eastern standard for the most lovely meal i've had in ages - we split the cheese plate, i got the duck, jessie got the burger and we had peach cobbler [with basil icecream FOODGAAAAZM] and strawberry angel food cake for dessert. after THAT, we went back over to the paradise for the luxury's incredible CD release and saw aloud, midatlantic, the click five and the luxury ABSOLUTELY ENTHRALL the packed house. it was such an incredible show and it made me feel really, really good about what we're doing over at teaparty boston because it gives us the chance to celebrate these people and their incredible talents in a forum that caters to them as opposed to making them change for it. it was just a very, very inspiring night, and i think i speak for jessie and i both when i say that it was probably one of the best shows i've seen in boston. ever.

+ cambridge on a sunday. berryline? check. beautiful bike ride? check. lounging by the river? check. look shopping? check. sure, it's kind of a nuisance that there happened to be about 20938402938402 harvard tours passing through harvard square today, but it was a lovely sunday spent with lovely people and i shuffled back into my place around 8 sunkissed and exhausted and perfectly content. lovely.

+ farmer's markets. delicious produce, strawberry rhubarb pies, fresh bread? god, it feels good to actually go food shopping again and to support local farmers/growers/bakers as opposed to relying on the shalimar delivery guy to drop by my house every other day and to judge me when he sees that i'm ordering the same thing, again, four nights a week. i like eating healthier, preparing my own food and saving some cash. so thanks, central square + union square farmer's markets, for existing!

+ feeling very lucky. i feel lucky every single day, but lately i feel lucky moreso than usual for some reason. i have a great job in a chill office with really, really nice people. i have a supportive, nurturing family [especially my mom] that i can always call to make me feel better even on the crappiest of days. i have beautiful, exciting, interesting people in my life who never cease to amaze me with their warmth and humor and all around good vibes. i have an apartment that, though currently disgusting and covered in empty beer bottle STILL courtesy of july 4th, is very much so my nest that i love coming home to in a neighborhood i adore. and i have a burgeoning business with two of my best friends that has us living the dream and making plans for ourselves while having fun and working together to make something pretty amazing. despite blue days and unsavory characters from the past making the occasional reappearance and silly, petty drama that somehow always shows up at the wrong time... i'm truly, truly happy. i'm very much in love with life right now, and i'm going to ride this wave as long as it lasts.

oh hey oh man oh no oh wow!

hey friends.

i've been a really busy bee working on a ton of really interesting amazing stuff for go2, TeaParty Boston and Chicks with Guns, which means that chances are i'll be neglecting this lil' bloggity blog for a bit. it's not that i don't love you; it's that, frankly, i am way too busy to be interesting right now and the TeaParty launch is kind of eating my life in the best way possible. seriously, guys, jessie, gab and i can't wait to share this with you. it's shaping up to be pretty epic.

in other news: drivers in central square, slow the hell down. i got soaaaaked in the most comical way yesterday when i was walking from mass ave to jessie's place. i couldn't even be mad, it was that ridiculous.

also: my half birthday is tomorrow! red velvet cupcakes for everyone! if the rain breaks, i am totally cracking that saved bottle of veuve on the roof and eating cupcakes and anyone who's interested is welcome to join me.

photos: the girls of teaparty boston.

hey friends. we're still working out the kinks over at teaparty boston (and it's taking a lot longer than we'd like belieeeeve me), but we had our very first photo shoot and got to pretend to be models for an evening. here are my favorite shots of gab, jessie and myself. we really can't thank lara callahan enough for making us feel like goddesses and working a camera better than anyone i've ever met. so, lara, we love you! [also, do yourself a favor and check out her site. it's bangin'.]







we're launching this week. i PROMISE I PROMISE I PROMISE. in other news: boston, cut the shit with this rain. i'm not kidding anymore. it's the last week of june. give me some sunshine. love, hil.

"i have a cigarette and a beer. mama needs a break." - marcy, dock at the lakehouse circa 10:45 friday night.

since friday evening, i've eaten/drunk my weight in burgers/steak/beer/french toast/cinnabuns/more beer/more steak, spooned with my best friends, gotten into noodle fights, gone swimming in the rain in 60 degree weather (and LOVED IT) and survived a weekend of fun in the sun on the lake without a sunburn.

and then i came home and went to three shows (the sweet & lo-down at upstairs on the square, followed by natalie portman's shaved head at tt's, followed by the sea monsters duh) and woke up this morning at 7:35 [aka 6 minutes after my train to work left from south station. oof.] i still have mom's suv [i borrowed it for the drive to maine] and all i gotta say is automobiles are MAGICAL once you've got one in your possession and you're no longer dependent on public transportation during rush hour. i made it to work in 40 minutes, slept in and drove through a drive-thru starbucks before getting to the office.

i could probably be more verbose/articulate about how wonderful the past few days have been, but the long and the short of it is i'm such a lucky, lucky person and i'm loving life so much right now.

i fucking love being 23.

tonight, jessie and i rode our bikes down hampshire street and into central square and met up with our friends as they were stumbling out of the bank of america atm on mass ave.  we went to zuzu's, as it was soullelujah night, and danced like maniacs to motown until 2:30 am.  we then threw champ (the bike's name is champ, we've decided) into the back of christoph's car, stopped at the 24-hour shaw's down the street from my house for fixin's, and headed back to my place for grilled cheeses and mojitos on my roof until about 5 minutes ago.

had you asked me five months ago whether or not i could feel this excruciatingly happy i probably would've looked at you like you were a crazy person.  that was then, this is now, and excruciatingly, insatiably happy doesn't even begin to cover it.

allergies 1, hil 0.

if i sneeze one more time i'm pretty sure my nose is going to fall off and my eyes are going to pop out of my head.  just ask jessie.  this is getting ridiculous.

this definitely cheered me up, though.

¡cinco de mustache! en fotos.

though i'm officially typing this in the wee hours of the morning of the 6th of May, i figured i'd share with you snapshots for the crazy mexican feast that just demolished my apartment in celebration of cinco de mayo.  aka cinco de mustache.  for whatever reason, we decided to have a mustache party for cinco de mayo, and my silly, silly friends under the influence of cuervo especial thought it would be funny to take their adhesive mustaches and smush 'em all up on every surface of my apartment like this: 

and this:

and this:

and this.

(i promise you that that brazilian carnavale dancer was not sporting sick facial hair before approximately 10pm this evening.)

and they were right.  as i was cleaning up the carnage of crusty refried beans and the remnants of a guacamole bowl that may as well have been licked clean, i laughed my ass off as i found mustache after mustache mysteriously stuck to the counters and walls of my place.  i love my friends so much.