the happy list, "tea and blankets on a sunday morning" edition.

well, last night was silly.  there was whiskey.  i'm watching sex and the city reruns from the dependable couch fort and i'm thisclose to ordering new moon ondemand before throwing on rumpled jeans and going to dinner with dan, nick and los before hitting up the beach house show at the paradise tonight.  sunday afternoon, it could be love.

anyways, here's a brief update/latest incarnation of the happy list.

- one of my career goals as an aspiring journalist?  write a story for The Boston Globe.  what happened last tuesday? a feature i wrote ran in the Boston Globe's arts & entertainment section.  as i knew i would be in austin covering SXSW for the Dig anyway, i pitched an article to the Globe's A&E editor and he took my story.  result: a two page 1,000-odd word feature on notable sets by boston talent at SXSW.  the response to the article was so encouraging and overwhelming and to everyone who commented, called, texted, emailed, or simply pressed the thumbs-up "like" button on facebook, thank you.  i'm such a lucky person.  i'm going to post a bunch of my favorite photos snapped by the insatiable jess hodge and mikey basu, who are two of the most talented and professional photographers i've ever had the pleasure of working with, but in the mean time here are two silly ones of me in austin -

there was a cupcake truck.  the girl gave us free cupcakes because we ran across the street and grabbed a red bull for her when she was in need.  red velvet elicits this reaction from me, always.  (also: the chocolate cupcake to the left, covered in cream cheese frosting, was dubbed "the michael jackson." omg.)

this one was snapped by mikey in between shows.  i was sitting down for maybe like 30 seconds throughout our entire time at SXSW and he caught me.

- last night, one of my favorite local bands (and three of my favorite people in general), static of the gods, had a FANTASTIC cd release show at tt's.  it's really something special when you get to know a band, and you follow 'em for a bit, and you become friends, and you write about 'em a couple of times, and they put out a CD that's just absolutely amazing and that you can't wait to burn a copy of for everyone you've ever met.  knowledge machine is such a great album.  if you haven't picked it up yet, do so asap. jen, ben and mike, you guys were so amazing last night!  and thanks for the falafel palace pit stop and the ride home :)

- i made quinoa for the first time last night.  GREAT SUCCESS.  i went grocery shopping at wilson's farm yesterday, as i've been doing for the past month or so, and to say i came home with a bounty of goodness would be fact.  the quinoa, fresh spinach, fresh goat cheese, organic baby brussel sprouts, fresh blackberries, farm fresh milk, farm fresh eggs... foooooodgazm.

- los' birthday is next friday!  there will be funfetti and togas and kickball and people eating funfetti while wearing togas and schooling each other in kickball.  can't friggin' wait.

- i'm so excited about future pieces i'll be working on over the next three months.  there are such exciting things in store.  it's nice to have something to look forward to :)

soooo there you have it.  gotta brew another cup of tea and make some delicious food and watch rpatz be all sparkly and whatnot.

X H


ps:  oh hey!  i launched my website.  sort of.  it's in the "coming soon" stage right now.  major thanks to the lovely jsutt and her design savvy :) - http://www.hilaryjanehughes.com/

¡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 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

fall's almost done...

i have a bit of writing to do before bed so i won't say much, but can we just talk about this tree that i saw while out causing a ruckus last night?

in other news, november is one of those months of new beginnings that i'm kind of excited to say goodbye to, if only because december means london, christmas and new year's eve. so many things to look forward toooo....

happy halloween! i was riveting (i hope.)

so, there you have it: i was rosie the riveter for halloween after i opted to scrap being a flapper for the second year in a row. [i do love my purple fringe-all-over dapper flapper dress, though.] i spent the night dancing around like a maniac with dear friends and the only casualty of the evening was my blackberry which went swimming around 3am but luckily my pal justin fished it out of the NASTY puddle it had landed in and it miraculously survived the submersion. dear blackberry: thank you for making waterproof phones, even if they're supposedly not waterproof. that thing rang COMPLETELY UNDERWATER and it lit up so we could find it. for that, i am grateful.

november's kicking off to a ridiculously busy start: in addition to the piles of transcripts/interviews i have to sift through, my mom's putting the finishing touches on building her dream house up in maine and we just took on a HUMONGOUS account at work so i'll be here 8-6 all week, pretty much. i'm taking a break to post these photos/muse for a bit to give my brain time to energize and look at stuff that isn't drafts/articles/google analytics/research research research. i promise i miss and love all of you and i'm sorry for being so absent lately. october was insanity; november will be better by default, i'm sure, but dressing up as a feminist icon was a nice way to end my month.

so is anyone else counting down to thanksgiving? because stuffing, mashed potatoes and apple pie would make me ridiculously happy right now...

xx h

ps: i've got some major reviews coming up. judy jetson hair, i'm comin' for you.

my friends may keep me out too late on a school night, but they keep me sane.

chief, smitty and ace at great scott, 9/12

so the lovely and talented ryan rose weaver (who's not only an established, dedicated foodie but now also our Tastes guru over at TeaParty Boston) wrote this on her blog last night and it makes me feel all kinds of wonderful:

What this means is that instead of working on service pieces, guides, features, etc. in a strictly technical sense, my hope is that this fall, me and my people are going to make some art together. We are going to riff. We are going to ad lib. We are going to graffiti our words across the Internet and hope that someone wanders along and likes what they see. We will do it because we are compelled to point out the genius of the people who are creating things in this city in the same way that bees are compelled to make honey, that birds are compelled to sing, that Jessica Simpson is compelled to soldier on doing whatever it is that she does despite all those "mom jeans" comments. We do it because we must create -- not because we must create something we can "monetize."

ryan, you're not in the picture above, which is silly, but you're so great. and everyone involved with TPB is so great. and everything that ryan just wrote is the complete and articulate and better-phrased summary of everything i love about my friends and what i do.

thanks, ryan. you just made a gloomy morning severely lacking in the caffeine department so much better.

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:

something cheery to brighten your rainy tuesday [edit: wednesday. fail.]

this unrelenting rainy nastiness has GOT TO QUIT. this week has been AWFUL so far [edit: i'm over it, the whole thing. no need to spread the negativity.]

so to make myself feel better and to hopefully spread some joy this morning:
i give you baby kevin in a clown suit.

it toootally worked and made you laugh at your desk, didn't it.

thanks/sorry kev. and plz find those yellow chucks in your size [now.]

in other news: the band formerly known as "baker" is wonderful and TPB had the privilege of catching up with them at shay's last night, so good. the somerville jazz and blues festival is tomorrow at the armory and you should totally go. saturday is going to be FANTASTIC as TPB will be downstairs at the middle east covering taxpayer, thick as thieves, the good north, the information and barnicle. and sunday is lake street dive.

c'mon, wednesday. just make it 5:15 so i can catch my train home, go to dali or punjabi dhaba with preston for a long anticipated lady date, and then passsss out so that thursday can be here already. i heard a rumor that the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow. i'll believe it when i see it.

what my memorial day looked like:

yesterday, ten or so of my favorite people came over and we made margaritas, deviled eggs and a massive, MASSIVE pile of rib eyes and filets.  and then we ate and imbibed and vogue-offed with my neighbors and all their lovely friends on my roof until well after the sun went down.

as always, photos provided by the lovely gab.

happy summer, everybody :)

¡coming soon!

so, we're onto something big, kids.

http://www.teapartyboston.com/

keep it on the refresh for the next couple of weeks, as our official launch is approaching and we want to make sure you get in on the local music exclusives/late night dance floor photo shoots/gilly impressions.

[these photos were snapped by gab at the magic magic/hallelujah the hills show at the middle east friday night.  both bands were phenomenal, go check them out immediately.]

¡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.

impromptu springy wednesday to-do list.

SPRIIIIING.  these tulips were shot in the naschmarkt of vienna during slovak attak '07.  everyone should be looking at flowers in SOME capacity today.

+ eat something?  i have absolutely nothing to eat in this house except for fruit, easter candy and greek yogurt, so it looks like i'm going to have to go grocery shopping after the gym today.  i would rather be doing breakfast at the biscuit but i've been really lazy regarding my fitness, so strawberries, honey and greek yogurt it is.

+ gym gym gym gym gym.  i've been so good for the past month! i don't want to break my every-other-day streak TOO badly, even though it's been three full days since my last workout.  whatever. i walked to and from harvard yesterday and that's a full 40 minutes, that's something, right? haaa.

+ get on mah BIKE!!! i bought a u-lock yesterday! i'm in business!  i still have to borrow mikey's tire pump because mine are compleeetely flat, but after that i am a biking fiend.  (please keep your fingers crossed that i don't meet my demise on somerville ave/elm street/mass ave.  pleeease.)

+ clean. seriously.  i can't find my camera and i have a feeling that it's hiding in the mound of clothes that's accumulated atop my giant blue chair in my bedroom.  i have the charger and the battery, just not the camera.  wtf.  i'm hoooping that it's not lost because i can't afford to drop a couple hundred bucks on a point-and-shoot right now, and i really can't drop a few hundred bucks on a gorgeous beauty like jessie's new toy, as much as i want a sick ass camera of my very own.  so, long story short, today will be the day that i sweep, dust, fold, wipe down, brush up, and vacuum my apartment... until that little canon bastard is found. 

+ make some new playlists.  i've acquired some new tuneage as of late, including the shout out louds, lake street dive, the love language and a bunch of other bands that i've either seen lately or heard great things about.  i'm getting sick of my usual "sunny" and "springy" playlists and i'm getting tired of my longstanding iTunes favorites.  any recommendations, music-savvy friends?

+ do something green.  it's earth day, people!  go do something good for the environment!  chances are my green activities for the day will consist of choosing to walk everywhere as opposed to taking public transportation and i'll most likely bring my own bags to the grocery store, but for those of you heading out of town in the near future, check out andrea's list of green travel ideas over at the cheapflights.com blog.   give it a click and while you're there check out a few of my old travel guides, haha.  (i wrote a particularly riveting one on reykjavik, so check that out if you're still going through with that crazy icelandic weekend adventure, marc.)

+ cook dinner.  i've been eating out entirely too much lately.  for some reason i feel like experimenting with pork chops or something. we'll see.  i should be eating more brown rice instead of french bread.  that's just a sidenote.

what're you guys up to today?  anyone feel like drinkin' beers and playing guitar on my roof later?

HAHA more wine riot.

courtesy of the second glass' photobooth at wine riot: jessie, ryan and me.

in other news, my sinuses need to not exist or they need to back the fuck off.  stop ruining my life, nose.

NOOOOOOO

i am a very grumpy hil right now.

it's marathon monday, and instead of wearing my sweet new sweatband and tube socks and slapping runners high-fives along beacon street today, i am home, on my couch, wearing my sweet new sweatband and making tea and sippin' on chicken soup instead of cold brewskis and sulking while watching benson and stabler bust the bad guys on Law & Order: SVU.  i have a sunburn,  a runny nose and an awful sore throat.  long story short? hil is not joining the throngs of revelers and her friends in back bay/brookline today.  hil is moping and sniffling and chowing down tylenol and airborne and not enjoying herself.

these pictures from wine riot/mcalister drive/the mcalister drive afterparty extravaganza that jessie snapped with her gorgeous new camera the other night do make me feel better, however:

"wino forever" fake tatz at wine riot. yessss.

these mustachioed glasses will remain prized possessions in my apartment forever.  so ludicrous. hahaha.

our friends are like suuuuuuch dreamy rockstars.  here's christoph rockin' out.

and here's me and jessie after a round or two of beer pong.  if there was a "lolhipsterz" blog, i wouldn't be surprised if this made it with a big ol' "SWOOP BANGZ OM NOM NOM" on it.

so yeah.  go drink cheap beer and work on your fitness for me on marathon monday on my behalf, all you lucky bastards out there who don't have awful head colds.

the night that funfetti devoured my kitchen/we devoured funfetti: Los' 23rd.

get ready for some surrrrrious cupcake porn.

SO DOMESTIC.  jessie is so vogue.

kevin felt the need to document our frosting/sprinkles process because we were kiiind of into it.

to quote marcy: "these cupcakes look like fairies pooped all over 'em."

if los was a cupcake she would look like this.

i missed the "be sexy!" memo.  ah well. kj's into it.

sadly, there aren't many photos of the birthday girl - there was a pretty massive turnout and she was bouncing around to say hi to all the party goers, but i was able to snag a quality shot of the four of us before the night ended:

and a shot of me and the newest member of the 23 club.

happy birthday los :)

what's on tabs this weekend: bishop allen tonight at the middle east, brunch at deep ellum at some point, the sea monsters, of course, and a long, bloody, drawn-out battle between me and my frosting-covered kitchen floor. I WILL CLEAN THIS APARTMENT! I WILL!

"she left those white boys/back in lexington"

walking home from inman today i passed someone's front stoop and saw theeese little babies.

crocuses! crocii? (good question, jessie.)

anyways, point being, it's finally finally finally finally officially spring.  no more snow, please, o benevolent new england weather gods.

i know everyone's been going bonkers over passion pit and after seeing them in action downstairs at the middle east a few weeks ago i can understand why... but, honestly, i feel like bodega girls stand a shot at overshadowing the hub's resident favorite when it comes to keeping hipsters on the dance floor.   last night was the second wednesday i've spent shakin' it at middlesex to the tunes of bodega girls and jessie came with me this time around.  we weren't there for the whole show, but we made it for the majority of their set and stuck around for the dance party that ensued after the live portion of the program ended.  bodega girls get major points in my book because they actually stick around and dance WITH their fans after their shows, and their "drink, dance, fuck and be merry" attitude is friggin' great.

anyways, here's the music video for my favorite track of theirs, she's into black guys.  bodega girls' next show in the area isn't until may 1st when they play harper's ferry over on brighton ave, but they're playing at the iron horse in north hampton if all you kids out in amherst feel like gettin' down on a school night.

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.