Before: We're getting walls !

One week until it's complete.
The view from my bed.
Stoked !

Yay !

this is for real.

they also have the #16 overall album in the country.

For Erica.

Your crush on a city bus.

Dad and Mom !

They came to New York for some birthday funz !

Jiscilla.

At the begininning of the night she was showing us her underpants before she even took a sip of Erica's famous Liquid Daggers (ssecret Curbside recipe).

And then she passed out when the real fun began.

Hahahaha

Fun !

Great time at dinner with my girls ! They're the best.

Then we headed to Christy's sleepover style and they totes got me
birthday hats and fun stuffs !

Came home.

Made you feel close.

I can't wait for the "many more."

Thank you.

Fank you fah coming to mah...

Erica gave me my present last night at 11:57...she couldn't wait. Tig ol' Hello Kitty!!! Coworkers took me out to a delectable lunch. I nerded out and took a picture of it.

Chats with you in Scotland bring out my smile.

Thank you for all the well wishes, friends.

Didn't want to go all out this year...just want to hang out. Quiet
dinner...a geeky sleepover with my girls. Couldn't want anything more.

Well, that was the fastest year of my life.

Happy Birthday Jonah !

http://www.jonahbayer.org

Simply couldn't do six.

So he got me a plane ticket.

Two weeks !

Seven.

you're my favorite, too.

Just another night...

Except when you surprise call me from England.
I haven't heard your voice since Saturday.
...which is what you said.

And then I can't stop smiling the rest of the night.

Do like hearts.

I spend my lunches reading jezebel and emailing my girls. Today I had
sushi and I picked these up. They are delicious.

Sidenote: My Grandma's nickname for me was Heart.

-- via hiptop

Falling, yes I am falling.

Currently obsessed with Across the Universe. I'd pay $11 just to see the bowling scene where Jude sings "I've Just Seen a Face" again. What is it about male musical leads when they smile while they sing?

See also: Ewan MacGregor's "Elephant Love Song Medley" in Moulin Rouge.

Six weeks.

He's off to the UK.

And I feel good about this. He'll be back soon.

He's all mine, and I'm all smiles.

I'm coming clean.

I'm at the Motion City Soundtrack signing at Looney Tunes in Long Island. All the proceeds are a benefit for the record store, which recently burned down.

Jesse called me at work, and lo and behold I could get off early! I literally ran to Penn Station and crumpled into his arms panting on the train. Just in time.

I hovered between the two aisles of the collector toy store while they signed. Also, a 12-year-old boy had an iPhone. Jealz. Somebody brought pixie stix. Jesse proceeded to throw them at me. Long drive in the van back to Brooklyn.

He's gone tomorrow and I've got to get every bit out of the few hours left.

Six weeks is a long time.

I climb the walls for oxygen.

Yesterday's whirlwind of getting back from the airport at 2 am, waking up at 7 am for work, then off to Best Buy to buy as many copies as I could of Even If It Kills Me, then heading in my heels to the Knitting Factory for Motion City's secret show...nearly made me pass out.

But, like every other time I'm rushing around exhausted, it's usually worth it.

I actually stepped back into my hectic New York life, after the slower paced easiness of the West Coast quite easily. I do love this city, and its pace. It felt good to be on the smelly subway and walking from work to lunch to downtown. And in heels!

I was a little out of place in my plaid pencil skirt, heels, and white oxford button-up at the show, but I still sang and danced and dogdged moshers in the back with Erica.

Backstage, apparently Jesse had told Justin my thoughts on my favorite EIIKM song, "Last Night," and Justin came up to me and goes, "You figured it out! You figured out 'Last Night.'" I obviously revved into usual awkward nerdform and say, "Really? I thought that was it! It's actually my most-played song on my iPod." I am not cool at all. But I was pretty proud of myself for understanding the song and getting confirmation.

It's probably one of my most favorite songs ever. Just saying.

Getting home to curl up with him was my favorite part of the day, of course. He can make exhaustion feel delicious.

Go ahead, barf.

Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me !

It's September 18th! Even If It Kills Me finally hits stores!

Motion City Soundtrack has been one of my favorite bands since first witnessing their live show nearly five years ago. During college you could usually find me bouncing around getting ready for class to the pop beats of "The Future Freaks Me Out" on their first release, I Am the Movie. I fell even more in love with their second album, Commit This to Memory, where I found their signature dark themes covered in sugary music from "Make Out Kids" to "Hold Me Down."

Today, their third, and in my opinion, their best, album comes out - Even If It Kills Me. Their progression from IATM to CTTM to EIIKM is seamless: each album has evolved to the next logical level without being predictable or mediocre. It's most definitely MCS, but full of surprises. Like their other albums, Justin Pierre's lyrics are cause for repeat listens ("Last Night"), the synth keeps me jumping on my bed ("Fell In Love Without You"), and the songs were produced by greats Ric Ocasek ("This is for Real") and Adam Schlesinger & Eli Janney ("Antonia"). I can't even go into how much I love this album.

Please buy it today!

It's true.

My favorite part was seeing all the places you'd lived.

All your friends.

And all the things that made you you.

Great moments from Fun Week 2007.

• Walked into JFK Saturday morning a little bit early, and found Maureen wandering around the wing. We were on the same flight! She needed to get her nails done, so we went to an in-airport spa and I got my first massage. It was pretty sweet.
• I flipped my phone open at the wedding to text Stacy, Diaz's girlfriend, and he got really weirded out.
• I wanted to dance so badly, but Jesse adamantly refused. Luckily, a girl named Jennifer came off the dance floor twice to drag me onto it, seeing as I was probably looking forlornly at all the shaking booties. Jesse came to his senses and finally danced. I like doing the twist with him and when he spins me on the dance floor.
• Claudio doing Michael Jackson.
• Maureen holding one glass of water and one glass of wine - "gotta keep it even so I don't get too out of control!"
• The french toast at the Triple Rock was...not good, though my eyes feasted upon it.
• In St. Louis, Jesse made Jason and I watch the FlavaFlav Roast twice in one day.
• I think I heard Jesse's iPhone schpiel about five millions times. A speech which included, "I can play nintendo games - on my iPhone."
• Brendan playing Threes.
• Do like: Del Taco, In-n-Out burgers.
• Jesse running up to me at the airport: "Tara Reid's over there - you wanna go see her?!" Me: "Ew, no!" Jesse: "I thought you watched her show all the time?" Me = confused: "Tara Reid???" Jesse: "Oh. Um...no...Tyra! Tyra Banks!" Only my boyfriend confuses Tara Reid with TYRA BANKS. [She's tall, skinny, gorgeous - obviously.]
• Sitting in LAX watching 30 Rock, which I'd bought to watch with Jesse since he hadn't seen it yet, and then Jesse going, "That guy with the hat from the show - he's standing right over there!" Me looking up: "And that's Tina Fey right next to him - WITH HER EMMY WHICH SHE JUST WON LAST NIGHT." Again, my boyfriend needs to sharpen his skills.
• Another example, Jesse: "I saw a guy I know I've seen in something before...he's tall, rough, a real man's man." Me: "That's it? That's all I have to guess from your description?" After about thirty minutes of 120 questions, Jesse may or may not have seen Christian Bale.
• At JFK, after our flight on which Tina Fey & her Emmy were on, we were standing next to her at baggage claim when Jesse goes: "Tina Fey has an iPhone, I have an iPhone." Cue eye roll.

Santa Barbara is gorgeous.

Our view from the lovely & quaint & glamorous Montecito Inn.

We tried to get the beach beyond the tennis courts that set the scene at the first part of Dan & Kristy's wedding reception. It was so gorgeous! Mmm....raspberry chamagne.

I'm sad the iPhone couldn't capture the beach.

We drove up the coast to Santa Barbara, surveying the lovely coastline and arriving to the Montecito Inn, where Dan & Kristy were already lounging poolside, and we basically threw on our suits and joined them. I can't describe how incredible it felt to relax in the pool for a couple of hours, get to know Dan & Kristy and their friends & family, and just take in the perfect vacation weather.

I thanked Jesse for the glorious week by taking him out to a somewhat swanky Italian restaurant and we gorged on a delectable dinner and ravenous conversation that still hadn't ceased, despite having spent every minute of the last seven days together. We went to another bar for drinks with the wedding party and he beat me quite easily at fooseball. It was the first time I had ever played!

The wedding was beautiful. After the elegant ceremony, everyone went outside for a champagne reception and the cliff overlooked the coast. Inside, there was a live band and course after course of delicious food. Jesse refused to save me on the dance floor when another gentleman tried to take my hand, and he's still laughing about it. He caught the garter, bragged about it.

We made it back to the room for some poker...our last night of vacation...and I lost. A lot. That game always evens out. I think he was just casing me all week. Figures.

Stop the car.

I enjoy being super-nerdy with you. Immensely.

LA.

George Clooney, maybe a legend someday, but for now, all I wanted to see was Bette Davis' impressions. If you haven't seen "All About Eve" you should be slapped in the face. Hard.

Relaxing at the Roosevelt. A long week of traveling will tire you out.

In the lobby I heard a voice, looked up and saw Bradley Whitford. Whattup weird, fakey crush.

We celebrated my impending 24th birthday with a vegan dinner, since he'll be in the UK on the 28th. Then we tried to go see Across the Universe, but the effort was futile and we grabbed some beers and headed to Tony's for dvd fun.

I enjoyed the comforts of Tony's apartment much more than the pretentious bars and restaurants LA had to offer. I should say the places; I should say the people.

In New York I think you can disappear into the dark recesses of dimly lit restaurants or bars, you can disappear in the crowds on the sidewalks at any time of day, and nobody really gives a crap who you are. In LA, every time the door jingled all faces were up, ready to scrutinize anyone who walked in. I got quickly sick of it.

But Jesse promises if we had spent more time in North Hollywood, and less around the tourist-y downtown and Roosevelt, I would've seen its charm. Maybe one day.

San Diego.

I do like San Diego. We only spent a day, but we went to a diner for brunch, checked out the Atticus offices, played with dogs on the beach, swam in the cold waves for a few minutes, and went Mexican for dinner. Then Brendan, Katie, Shannen, Jesse and I went to a bar and played dice. Shannen took us for all we had. But we battled back. Do like threes. Check out Brendan and his Guiness:

And there was enough time to play poker in bed after.
I think we've played poker every day of this trip. And on the airplanes.
I've been winning.

City museum.

Jesse trapped me in the tower at St. Louis' City Museum.
And then he rescued me. :)

PUGS.

Jesse's friends A&A have PUGS !!!

We played.