someone cut up my credit card plz.

soooo while taking a break at work today, i was browsing through etsy.

and i bought this:

i don't NEED a necklace made out of gorgeous, silk, vintage neck ties. i don't NEED to buy said necklace, especially since this would look ideal with vnecks [aka half my wardrobe] and men's undershirts [aka the other half.]

i will need, however, a fantastic accessory or few that packs a punch and will pack easy when i whip out the passport and cross the pond next month.

seriously. just cut up my credit card now. i'll love you forever and so will my savings account.

my morning was weird.

well, i guess it's still going on so "is" weird would be more appropriate, but whatever.

a little update: i am exhausted. i drove up to lake george on thursday afternoon, it took me five hours to get there because i got craaaazy lost, and then i doubled back and drove home in less than 24 hours. made it back to cambridge, picked up jessie, we drove down to rhode island in a torrential downpour and made it to newport in decent time. we got up at 7:30 on saturday and sunday mornings and worked for pretty much 12 straight hours at the newport folk festival [which was an incredible, incredible experience that i'll put into words later] and then we drove back home sunday night and got back here around 9:30. last night, we met up with the love language over at the middle east for their sold out show (!!!) with cursive and i didn't even make it to cursive's set. the love language were amazing, as usual. what a great group of people, too.

anyways, my tuesday night is going to consist of watching "the life aquatic with steve zissou" in bed with a salad [who am i kidding i'll probably order shalimar] and my laptop and i will start plowing through the first half of the newport folk fest transcripts. before i start work for the day, though, i wanted to share with all of you the two notable sights i spotted this morning while walking to work.
first off: shepard fairey. fairey got a slap on the wrist for various installations he's done in the city since his exhibit opened at the ICA and he's supposed to notify BPD of when he'll be in town AND he's not allowed to have "tagging materials - such as stickers or paste" on him when he does come to Boston. so, yeah, imagine my [pleasant] surprise when i woke up, showered, ran out my front door and literally walked into this in the parking lot behind my building:


i like shepard fairey, i'll admit it. i like his style, his collages and the murals he's done. maybe he's a douchebag in real life, maybe not, but i dig his work. i'm just bummed that i missed him painting it, that would've been sick.

secondly: after getting off the train this morning at my office, i walked through the parking lot by the commuter rail station and passed this:


please note the "please do not leave anything outside of the box" memo written across the front of the box. 987213987198273 happy meal toys? for the american red cross? really? what the hell? i literally stopped and stared at this pile of technicolor plastic for ten whole minutes before shuffling off to my cubicle shaking my head the whole way.

haha seriously. and all of this happened before 8:30 am. wow.

because i would rather be at the beach than sitting in my cube...

i stumbled across Body Surf today, which is a collection of surfing-inspired photographs taken of waves coming from every sea and ocean on the planet. i know i'm the umpteenth-millionth person to point this out, but this summer in boston? not so warm or beach-friendly as of yet. we've had a couple of nice days, but seriously, mother nature, give us our four months of beauty and sunshine, please. we deserve it after the miserable winter we had. ANYWAY: the photographs of Body Surf are seriously making my morning and i find myself clicking through the site's gallery of surf shots hoping that i'll eventually get to go to gloucester or plum island or falmouth in the near future so that i can splash around for a bit.

favorites from body surf:

stulle-berlin wallets: definitely worth the international shipping fee.

almost exactly two years ago, los and i were finishing up eurodyssey, the two week trek we took from istanbul to amsterdam after our semester in spain came to a close. we started in istanbul, then moved onto the greek islands for a few days, then hopped on a plane to amsterdam and spent the last leg of the trip in berlin, one of my absolute favorite cities in the whole wide world. my friend konstantin, who i had met in my latin american econ class in granada, is a berliner and he oh so generously offered to play tourguide to los and i during our stay in germany's capital.

konstantin was the best possible friend we could've hoped for in berlin: he knew the city like the back of his hand and made it his personal mission to make sure that we saw all tourist attractions and all local underground spots in every neighborhood in our 3 full days there, which is no easy feat seeing as berlin is MASSIVE. knowing that we're fiends for anything shiny or pretty or beautiful and creative, konstantin took us to Hackescher Markt in West Berlin near Alexanderplatz to mosey through the community of boutiques, galleries and show rooms. i've been shopping in paris, buenos aires, rome, tokyo, all MAJOR fashion capitals of the world, and i haven't seen ANYTHING like the shops of berlin: Each store was literally a design studio where the decor was just as eye-catching as the goods and garb on display. when i say we spent HOURS leafing through hand-pressed comic books and trying on dresses that were silk-screened by the designer who happened to be working the register too i'm not exaggerating. los and i were totally enthralled with the hackescher markt, not gonna lie.

anyways, the point of all this "ICH LIEBE DICH BERLIN" business is to talk about stulle-berlin. my big purchase when we were there was a wallet that i found in this tiny, airy studio in the district that was essentially chock full o' gorgeous billfolds and bags and belts. the 45 EUR pricetag slightly deterred me at first, but nothing was going to stop me from getting that wallet. i had been using some shoddy urban outfitters canvas wallet that was entirely too big, and it was falling apart anyway... so yeah. long story short, i sucked it up and bought this beautiful baby:

two years later and we're still so happy together.

i think it may be love.

but ANYWAYS! i've been meaning to look up stulle for ages just in case, god forbid, my wallet happens to disappear or wind up, gasp, stolen. bored on the train home yesterday, i googled it on my blackberry and found, to my delight, that YES! stulle has a website. [i don't know why i assumed they wouldn't; at the time they seemed like a small operation, but now stulle wallets are being sold in the giftshop at the MoMA and it seems to be the only place where you can purchase them in the states.] i'm browsing through it this morning as i'm sitting here waiting for los to pick me up for our breakfast date [ohhh biscuit, i miss frequenting you on a daily basis!], and i'm dangerously close to picking up a new one. favorites from the site that i've seen so far:

i'm stoked that they now have leather ones instead of vinyl/imitation leather, so that may be my default wallet. i can't bring myself to throw away my blue beauty just yet, but i think it may be time for a replacement soon enough. i'm definitely eyeing the leather one. thoughts?

in other news: McAlister Drive is playing at precinct tonight and jessie and i will definitely be in attendance. if you want to see me [maybe!] sing with peter loring and the good time band around 10, or if you want to see jessie shaking a tambourine like a maniac with christoph and the boys, come by precinct around 10. dance dance pahtee timez for EVERYONE!

tim burton career retrospective at the MoMA: so far awaaay!

from The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories, Tim Burton, 2009. Found at the MoMA's exhibition page.

the lovely miss jules brought this my attention via fbook this morning and I CAN'T WAIT FOR NOVEMBER. i love tim burton so much it hurts sometimes and the moma is probably one of my favorite museums in the world [second only to reina sofia in madrid and la MALBA in buenos aires.] i really can't wait to see this. the MoMA's exhibit on tim burton's work will run from November 22, 2009 through August of 2010: for those of you who plan on visiting the MoMA before this trip or feel like checking out the museum anyways (which i strongly encourage you to do should you be in new york anytime soon), keep in mind that the museum is closed each tuesday and that it's free to get in each and every friday night between the hours of 4 and 8pm.

(and in all seriousness, this "i haven't been to new york in aaaages i should come for a visit!" thing really needs to stop and i just need to suck it up, buy a bus ticket and head down to my home away from home for a little bit. my weeks have been filling up SO FAST these days, what with TPB events and concerts and photo shoots and interviews and, uh, work... yeah. i'm not sleeping very much. i'm okay with that in the best of ways.)

where hil can be found this week: coolidge corner tonight, my bed tomorrow, passion pit/harlem shakes thursday at the 'dise, hopefully going to see "the hangover" friday and then up to the homestead for my stepsister's graduation party saturday, all before making it back to the 'ville for mcalister drive's jailhouse residency at precinct on saturday night, and then sunday it's the antlers at the middle east upstairs and then the sea monsters, as usual, on sunday night. WHEW. busy girl she is, this hil.

and ps, new england: quit it with this rain. seriously. i'm wearing a sweater, scarf and beanie to work today. it's halfway through june. knock it off.

huminahuminahumina.

i've been a huge fan of the latest annie liebovitz louis vuitton ads.  my favorite until recently was the keith richards one, which shows the rolling stones' lead guitarist exhausted in his hotel room with a cup o' tea resting atop his vuitton guitar case... and then i picked up the april issue of esquire at the out of town news stand in harvard square yesterday and found THIS on the back cover of the magazine:

image courtesy of the insider.

i feel like if hemingway were still with us he'd put down the scotch for a second and tip his hat to liebovitz and say "good show, old girl."  and then he'd call sean connery, schedule a hunting trip and ask him where he got that carry-on. 

happy things.

hi!

i just posted this on los' fbook wall.  i figured i'd share the love with you, too.

as much as i want to write about how spontaneous and awesome it was to run to the back of the somerville theatre last night to greet U2 after their super secret surprise show, i'm too tired right now. i have no idea why, either, seeing as i got plenty of sleep last night. (ok not really but i got more than 7 hours, i think, so i shouldn't complain.)  in lieu of talking about how much i love bono and how genuinely happy he seemed to see the crowd who had come out just to say hi, i'm going to write a happy list.

THINGS THAT MAKE HIL A HAPPY CAMPER! (in no particular order):

+coffee and ginormous chocolate chip cookies from 1369.  mikey and i hit up 1369 after a fantastic visit to the ICA (see below) and the cappuccino i had was one of the best caffeinated concoctions i've downed in awhile.  (i usually consume between 4-6 shots of espresso a day, so this is big.) 

+the interlock mini skirt from american apparel.  i have it in black and eggplant and i wish it were springier outside so that i could wear either one with leggings and cute little flats and not have to worry about getting said cute little flats all muddy and gross.

+"back to the future": i own the complete trilogy and watched the first installment while awaiting the arrival of marcy, chris and andrew before our bono sighting.  los and i are thinking of going as marty and doc next year for halloween, but only if this brilliant plan falls through.  (jessie i know what you're thinking but I ALREADY HAVE THE PURPLE SKIRT AND THE GLASSES OK!)

+shepard fairey.  i went to his show at the ICA today and found it to be inspiring and humbling and it made me wanna go home and create something.  the arrangement of the exhibit was exquisite, the presentation was superb, and i absolutely plan on taking advantage of the free ticket i scored sometime next week.  his guns and roses poster is now prominently displayed in my kitchen.

+i love the sartorialist and it's one of the first blogs i check when i wake up in the morning, and i've bookmarked this photo since its original posting on february 13th.  i want a bright blue scarf!  i want a grey blazer with colorful, almost unnoticeable details! (i want the girl version, however, seeing as i am not an extremely tan italian man...)

+buenos aires.  this time last year los and i were prepping and packing for a weeklong stay in my second home.  to say that it was incredible, that whole returning-to-my-favorite-city-for-the-first-time-since-leaving-it-with-my-best-friend-in-tow thing, would be a gross understatement.  some favorite shots from our trip to buenos aires in march of 2008:

los hanging out in the hammock at our hostel in palermo.

we got to catch up with tony, one of my good friends who i had studied with while living in buenos aires in 2006, and this was the view from the roof of his apartment building on charcas.

the graffiti and street art that plasters the walls of capital federal is amazing, and this was one of the many murals we spotted on the entrance to a restaurant in palermo.

i stayed out with a bunch of newfound friends 'til dawn my last night in BsAs and was able to snap this shot while walking home that morning.  sunrise on rio de la plata? this doesn't even begin to do it justice.

so, anyways!  that's the march 12th edition of the happy list.  what's making you smile today, ladies and gents?

-H!L.

independent love, grand, and a sunday afternoon in pictures.

(photo snapped by yours truly while walking down somerville ave. this morning.)

get ready for some reeeeeeeal local love, right here.

somerville: bear my children.  i love you so very much.  today, heather came and met me at my humble abode and we walked down to union square in hopes of securing a much coveted table at the neighborhood for brunch.  we weren't surprised to see a crowd of at LEAST 15 hopeful brunchers standing outside on the sidewalk waiting for a table at union square's popular breakfast spot, and opted to keep walking in order to find a calmer meal at a less crowded joint.  

enter: the independent.  i was at the indo a couple of nights ago with the fellas, but i had no idea that they offered up a tasty brunch on sunday afternoons.  i mentioned that the drinks were great, heather was sold, and we stepped inside.

i'm just gonna put it out there: the beehive has NOTHIN' on the independent for sunday brunch, and i love the beehive. a lot.  the independent's brunch menu is incredibly affordable, eclectic, and serves up ample portions.  the drinks are exceptional:  i had the earl grey manhattan (jessie, you would've swooned), which consisted of jim beam that's been steeping in earl grey tea, honey liqueur, bitters and a splash of lemon, and heather was enamored with her classic bloody mary.  here's the two concoctions pictured below:

we both ordered the french toast, which was iggy's brioche prepped with orange zest and served up beneath a cloud of whipped cream and legit maple syrup, and we split a side of the frites and garlic aioli.  i'm kind of a french toast freak, and seriously, this was the best french toast of my liiiiiiife. just LOOK at it.

i think it goes without saying that we didn't finish everything, but we left the independent completely, utterly and head over heels in love with the establishment.  somervillains: forget sound bites, the broken yolk, and dare i say it, the neighborhood for sunday morning brunch.  the independent is where it's at if you want fancy schmancy food on the cheap and drinks that taste as good as they look.

on the way back to my apartment we passed by grand, which is my favorite neighborhood shopping stop to date.  i was just planning on look shopping while heather browsed through the witty screen-printed t-shirts and black and white photo prints, but i couldn't resist picking up these beauties before heading home:

they're shellacked lace earrings made by cursive.  i'm a sucker for bright jewelry and these babies match my mood perfectly at present.

leaving grand, i couldn't help but snap a shot of the store's outside wall on the corner of washington street.

reason for this photo:  i need to get to the ICA stat so that i can check out the shepard faerey supply and demand exhibit.  i know, i know, faerey's  now iconic billboard/street propaganda will be on display in town until halfway through august, but i'm totally that cool kid who waits until the last minute to see shows and collections and frequently forget about them until they've long since departed (the ansel adams photo exhibit at the mfa in 2005 being a perfect example of that. le sad.)  the ICA is free on thursdays and the museum is open 'til 9.  who's down?

tonight: dinner in allston rock city with this little one and then off to precinct for my weekly dose of sea monsters and pints of allagash. 

color, japan, and more "I WANT SPRING" musings.

last july, i bought a roundtrip ticket on a whim and took off to visit a friend living in tokyo.  for two weeks, i spent my days exploring japan's teeming metropolis on foot and stumbled upon countless galleries, museums, bookstores and boutiques that were exploding with vibrant, bold colors.  i left tokyo for a weekend and visited the country's cultural capital, kyoto, and found that the same shades embraced by japan's creative elite could be found in the shinto shrines residing in kyoto's alleys.  i love looking at the following two photos side by side because i think that they're a perfect pair for their harmonious hues and contextual differences.  the chains of paper cranes pictured below were photographed in downtown kyoto off the beaten path: we had gone for a walk down the street from our hostel and stumbled across a tiny shrine set back a block or two from the city's main drag, and i was entranced by these meticulously crafted ropes that seem as though they were strung together by Technicolor.  the second photograph is of me at the front doors of design festa, an artist's collective in harajuku, which housed some of the most bizarre and inspiring sculptures, textiles and murals that i've ever seen.

(above: chains of paper cranes, shinto shrine, kyoto, japan.)

(above: hil at the front doors of the design festa gallery in harajuku, tokyo, japan.)

sitting here and looking back at these snapshots, i realize that what i'm looking forward to most about the melting of winter is the blooming, bursting nature of boston in the springtime.  the pastel shells of the candy easter eggs at the grocery store down the street make do for now, but i'm seriously counting days until i can shake this snowy lethargy and embrace the newfound energy that'll come blowing into town about a month from now.  i get that march comes in like a lion and out like a lamb and all that, but c'maaaahn.  i want brilliant shades in my life on a daily basis like they were when i was in tokyo; until then, i'll look at these pictures and paint my own and wait for the thaw.

on impulse purchases:

ok, so someone needs to come over and cut my credit card up into teeny tiny little pieces.  i've been desperately seeking different outlets for my creativity since acquiring all this newfound free time post-layoff, and i finally went out last week, bought a hammer, and decided to attack the white, naked walls of my apartment.  jessie and i have been spending the past couple of sunday afternoons painting, so i had a few canvases i wanted to tack up in my living room in addition to the slew of framed postcards and photographs i've got hanging around.   i don't have any "before" pictures, but here's a look at my humble abode in its current, more aesthetically pleasing state:

first, a shot of the boudoir:

and some [blurry, sorry] shots of the living room:

and then, after i put the hammer down and the picture hooks away, i. couldn't. stop.

the pictures looked great and everything and painting was fun, but i wanted more. i wanted new chairs! i wanted a bookshelf for the cookbooks i don't have in my kitchen! i wanted a standing coat hanger and another dresser for the bedroom and more paintings!  so, what did hil do, ladies and gentlemen? like a crazy person, she stopped into that adorable little antiques & restoration haven down the street from her apartment and she bought THIS:

a gigantic, hil-sized map of south america.

I DON'T HAVE A JOB AT PRESENT.  WHY AM I DROPPING CASH ON A MASSIVE MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA WHEN I COULD BE SPENDING IT ON FOOD OR INTERVIEW CLOTHES OR I DON'T KNOW SAVING IT.  RAHHHHH.

(i would be lying, however, if i said i wasn't obsessed with it.  it's pretty great. the bookcase underneath it was part of the purchase as well and i got both for a fantastic price but STILLLL i shouldn't be doing that i know better ugh.)