holy smokes.

the giantess with a height complex has FINALLY gotten a pair of heels! AND red lipstick! hallelujah! two items on my necessary-for-life list ive been a-hankerin for, but havent gotten the balls to actually purchase. well hellooooo new me (or at least taller, brighter me)

(you know, because you need to know how they look with a skirt AND jeans. its a girl thing.)

earth day. a day to be a day to unabashedly champion environmentalism. recycle. drink from reusable water bottles. recite michael pollan. shake your hemp adorned fist at 'the man.' so....like every other day in my life.

well, there was at least one major difference-free concert on the mall! i ventured down to the national mall with miss allie rose to enjoy some free music and stock up on some free swag (pencils, keychains). though the whole notion of mass producing MORE electronic trinkets and paper flyers and plastic waste at an ENVIRONMENTAL festival is beyond me.

while we did miss passion pit, sting and john legend, we did catch the roots "and friends," playing with joss stone, booker t, mavis staples, patrick stump (from FALLOUT BOY?! an ironic skinny hipster kid belting out the blues with the roots...wot??)

now i know what youre thinking. earth day is supposed to be about the EARTH right, not free music! trust me, i do enough ranting and raving about the earth (or ocean) on a daily basis (as any of my friends or family are painfully aware of), its nice to just sit back and ENJOY sometimes. and enjoy i did! perfect weather, lovely company, great tunes and a sort so communal quasi environmentalism. happy as a clam :)

chin chin, toastmasters!

a coworked dragged me along to this month's 'toastmasters' meeting. practicing my speaking abilities in public...necessary? probably. enjoyable? definitely not. willingly spending my lunchtime speaking on random topics in front of my much older, much wiser, MUCH more experienced peers? definitely not what i had in mind walking into work that morning. but sure enough, when 11:45 rolled around we made our way across the street and through an unnecessarily involved security process (seriously? NOAA? do they really anticipate fishery data espionage???)

as we stepped into the room, already 15 minutes late, every set of eyes swiveled up to meet my downturned gaze. we quietly slid into two seats by the door hoping to avoid notice, only to be immediately moved around and repositioned to an almost comically loud shuffling of food, bags and person. slinking motions, avoiding direct eye contact and i was already failing at this 'strong public presence' thing!

by the grace of god, moses, AND allah i wasnt called upon to answer the open 'table topic' question of the day. i quietly noshed away on my lunch while taking in the various presentations, carefully training my eyes on the agenda sheet every time a question was posed. by the time 12:45 rolled around, i let out a giant sigh of relief in having escaped potential public embarrassment (and potential notoriety).

while i see the merit in going to toastmasters, i dont exactly see the sanity. the anxiety, heart palpitations, and excessive sweating might just outweigh the benefits of giving a riveting speech. thanks but no thanks, ill leave the mastering of the toasts to the professionals, and work on mastering my drinking to the toasts.

a weekend of adventuring and indulging-walking and eating our way across the big apple

resting the ol' dogs in bryant park. alas, no tim gunn sighting

after i had artfully arranged the self timer, mid-countdown a family offered to take the picture for us (top)

pommes frites (a mere 2 blocks after our lunch bellow)! accompanied by a dizzying menu of homemade sauces...roasted eggplant, pineapple, garlic, curry, PESTO!

VEGAN red velvet, helloooo non dairy deliciousness

pensive in the village

ahahaha i totally would...

awash in a sea of tulips

cheesy tourist photo indulgence

installation art? in a church...? oh new york

FYI: for a great view of the statue of liberty and manhattan skyline, the staten island ferry is FREE.

barbie cam strikes again!

UGH! look at that black smog! shame on you new york

hostel 99! our harlem hideaway

death by chocolate. or in the very least near nausea. we rolled out of max brenners 100% overloaded on chocolate (ME! too much chocolate! i never thought id see the day)

brooklyn heights! deceptively cheery despite the biting wind

i couldnt resist

oh hey. there we are in central park

trump towers atrium: coffee shop, MOZZARELLA bar, dress-like-your-favorite-anime-character-for-adult-women convention (with matching dolls)

you know that one person you know youre bound to run into because they live in the same city? the run-in you hope to avoid, but know will happen because life is like that (but secretly hope WILL happen so you can tell all your friends)? i had my 'incident' this weekend.

quick, relatively painless, but oh so awkward. knew her back in college, had a bit of a sordid past. like a moth to a flame, i couldnt avoid the occasional facebook stalk to see what she was up to. lo and behold i find out she ALSO moved to dc, ALSO working at an environmental NGO. hhmmmmmm. mostly i just go about my business not really thinking about it, but every so often i wonder, staring at the masses of unfamiliar faces on the metro or walking down the street, if ill ever see her again. what would i say? what would she say? on a scale of 1-10, how awkward would it be?

last sunday, a particularly lovely day otherwise marked by a trip to my local farmers market, took a turn for the awkward. mid sentence i looked across the street, and saw her waiting at the other end of the crosswalk. no heart palpitations, no beads of sweat, just a kind of resignation that i had to say something. and it would be weird.

we passed eachother. i wasnt sure if she was playing coy or truly hadnt seen me, but i was going in for the kill. like pulling off a bandaid. i called out her name, quick and breezy. she looked up, gave me an "oh hi" in that lets-pretend-were-still-friends-and-make-plans-to-coffee-together-even-though-we-both-know-thats-not-happening kind of high pitched tone. to avoid actual conversation (and not get runover) i responded with the obvious. "were in the crosswalk." she shrugged. and that was that. we both turned our respective directions and walked away.

a little anticlimactic, no?

at the risk of losing any ounce of coolness i may have once possessed, i have never been prouder to call myself a Finn, or a LOTR fan:

"The Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, enjoys enormous and enduring impact on Finnish art, culture and national identity. A new exhibition at the Finnish Embassy introduces a world of mythological tales which also inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to create characters of his own. The story is told through large scale prints of important Finnish Kalevala art, photograph, thematically illuminating videos, films, and rock videos.

“The Finnish legends greatly affected me.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings

(DAMN STRAIGHT!)

THE KALEVALA is a compilation of orally transmitted folk poetry collected and transcribed by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian singers between the 1820s and the 1840s. The tales of the Kalevala describe great events in mythical ancient history. The magnificent cosmic drama opens with the creation of the world and the first human being. As it ends, the god who created the world is obliged to depart from it, leaving behind for future generations only his musical instrument, the kantele, and a child.

THE KALEVALA was first published in 1835 and continues to enjoy an enormous and ongoing impact on Finnish art, culture, and national identity. The epic has inspired artists in many disciplines, from the visual arts to opera, comic strips, heavy rock, poetry, prose, drama, and dance. The Kalevala has been translated into 61 languages – more than any other work of Finnish literature.

THE KALEVALA has also been a model for other epics around the world. For example, in 1855, imitating the metre and style of the Kalevala, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote The Song of Hiawatha based on Native American Indian legends."

like the good finn i am, i read the kalevala. the first part. the first chapter. OK I OWN IT. but i HAVE seen the extended version of all 3 LOTR movies. and the extras. thats gotta count for something? (other than making me a ginormous dork)

oh to be pale and pasty.

and freckly. a friend once described my complexion as 'a glass of milk with cookie crumbs.' while somewhat odd at first take, on second thought not too shabby. milk? good. cookies? good. together? gooooood.

now thanks to my embarrassing lack of suncreen this past weekend, im STILL pale (always), more freckly, AND sunburnt.

make that strawberry milk with cookie crumbs...

failure. complete failure.

stepping off the elevator, i started rummaging around my purse for keys while balancing my waterbottle, sweater, bag and mail. amidst all the hullabaloo i decided i had to check my phone that instant, god forbid i miss a text or call. seeing as i only have 2 hands and questionable agility, i subsequently DROPPED fancy new phone on the floor. cursing silently, i bend over to pick it up to see my screen lined with neon green. not good. i tried turning on and off the screen. the black screen of death. definitely not good. in a state of utter denial, i grabbed my keys and headed out to the nearest verizon store in hopes that i was missing some quick fix move, or at the very worst get a replacement. despite my somewhat involved story of getting accosted on the bus to win the sympathy vote, despite my best puppy dog eyes, there was nothing to be done. new phone? dead. screen cracked. options? nothing. buy a new one, RETAIL price. and we all know thats sure as hell's not happening...

Verizon: 1

Me: 0

* side note: to be fair, i did drop the phone on carpet. if it couldnt handle a little tumble like that, i was bound to break it eventually given my clumsy track record (or so i keep telling myself...)

so its back to old faithful, my ancient cave man slide chocolate. while she may not be internet saavy, sleek or capable of much else besides calling and texting, she stood by my side these past few years. she took me through my formative college years, she was there when i came back from traveling the world, and she was there, now, to pick me up when i needed her most.

i raise my glass to you, old faithful. live long and prosper.

i just mailed in my official acceptance letter to AU! grad school here i come!