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First and foremost, Motion City Soundtrack released a killer single this week called "Inside Out." I highly recommend that you listen to it and buy it. And by all means see it live because it will make you shiver with delight. Weird? I DON'T THINK SO.

P.S. The cover art is rad too!

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My new year's eve plans are SET.

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Pinterest helped me pick out my latest iPhone case. I pinned several while shopping and one of them garnered close to 100 repins, the one I'm now holding that photo above. It felt like a sign, and kind of like a vote. Now that I have a sweet case and I upgraded to iOS7, I feel like I have a brand new phone. This feeling will likely last until the new iPhones begin appearing...tomorrow.

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I think GIFs are the only thing getting me through Fantasy Football this year. I'm losing terribly and it's my singular solace. So far I've been posting a lot of cats and Seinfeld GIFs on the message boards. They are mostly sad reaction GIFs.

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I get listless sometimes without a word from you. And then 4:30 rolls around and my inbox goes from " " to (1) and for some reason 27 words are all I need to brighten up again. My productivity skyrockets.

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Last night I came home and made coconut chicken curry from scratch. It came out a bit bland, but I am going to rev up the spices next time! I suppose I write these things down here for posterity's sake. I have a serious aversion to non-professional photos of food, so you will not see any photos of my cooking projects. All I have for you are words, reader!

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Last night Jesse, myself, and a few friends went 'round to a new bar in the neighborhood. It's selling point was really the fact that it had prosecco on tap. This is the second bar this week I've seen that boasts this feature, and if this is a new trend, consider me ON BOARD.

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I think tonight I'm going on a movie date with myself, one of my favorite activities.

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Below, a digest of my weekend.

The husband delighted me with tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game on Friday. We rejoiced through most of the game and became friends with the only Sox fans sitting nearby--a man wearing a Nomar Garciaparra shirt and his young Sox-jersey clad son. We watched the father lean over to explain certain plays to the boy, and the boy learning to high-five with his baseball glove on.

It's the second time I was able to witness a Red Sox grand slam live - a most welcome sight at Yankees Stadium.

And now a comparison: this is a photo of me when we first arrived at the ballpark, excited to be at a game. Then there is a photo of Jesse and I (taken by the Garciaparra fan) after the game. When I'm over-excited, my smile shrinks my eyes to oblivion. Or perhaps it was all the beer?

When we arrived back in Brooklyn flush with pride (and beer) for our team, not even subway-replacing hellish shuttle buses could deplete our energy. We decided to walk home through the streets of Brooklyn. This photo encapsulates how great the scenic route on a Friday night in Brooklyn can be:

Saturday I traversed Brooklyn in the shuttles to meet up with friends, and because it was a terrible experience, I'd rather not even think about it again nor discuss it here.

But my friends are another story. I laughed so much throughout the day, usually with a glass of wine in hand. At one point we gathered at my friend Amber's lovely home and discussed new jobs and tree snakes and eyebrow shaping.

These two recently began new positions and they were comparing their respective acclimations here:

Then we went to a bar, and the ensuing fun and BFF'ing can be summarized in the quietest moment of the night:

I crawled into bed with a smile, fielded a call from a girlfriend with a boy problem, handed off sage advice I hope, and texted Jesse goodnight since he was still out with all my girls' better halves. This strategy works well; when we tell the guys we're having a ladies night, suddenly a dudes night is scheduled.

Today was an (at first) exciting day of football. However, my fantasy teams both languished and the Patriots were not looking too good. In other news, I re-shaped my eyebrows, or, rather attempted to re-shape my eyebrows and let's all hope for the best.

This week I hope for good news on all angles and a quieter week at work.

She's ripping wings off of butterflies.

My stellar weekend can be enumerated in various degrees of awesomeness --

On Friday I picked up Erica at work and we discussed our absolutely crazy work weeks, and decided we deserved an ice cream cake. As we were explaining our plans to her coworkers, somebody asked, "Oh, ice cream cake? Whose birthday is it?" Erica and I looked at each other, mouths agape. "It's nobody's birthday, sir. It's Friday night. We have a right to eat cake." On the way home from the grocery store with our little ice cream cake we would devour whole later that night: "I can't believe people don't realize the value of ice cream cake in non-celebratory situations. How can you only eat it when it's someone's birthday?? It's ice cream AND frosting - that in itself deserves celebration enough." Some people.

Ice cream cake consumption via the couch while we caught up on the seemingly infinite amount of television shows on the DVR.

Shows that are way better than Gossip Girl: 90210, Melrose Place, America's Next Top Model, and the video Erica and I made of us eating ice cream cake. Seriously. Erica and I were almost stoked watching  it this week because we thought a character finally told the truth. False. He reneged on it and lied in the end anyway. Seriously, everybody but Blair and Chuck should be killed off the show and new characters reinstated. I'd rather watch Annalyne McCord's annoying, awful acting on 90210 over another tv-screen full of Blake Lively's gaping cleavage, which deserves a whole other paycheck because sometimes it's the show's only draw for the masses.

How good is Mad Men this season? Best season yet, I'm calling it.

On Saturday, I managed to come out of my ice-cream-and-tv coma and Jesse arrived from Pittsburgh! Apparently Jake Gyllenhaal was on his flight, but I didn't hold it against him for not starting a life-long friendship with the blue-eyed actor - I was too happy he was home.

Erica and I then met up with Kells and Amber WHO NOW LIVES HERE and we dished the gossip, compared moments in our lives to rom coms which is now a lasting theme, watched a horrifying clip of the week on The Soup (I nearly threw up), expressed our disappointment in some people, and generally cracked up.

Met up with rad friends at Barcelona where Amber and I downed another Top Gun shot in commemoration of our September birthdays. It's absolutely marvelous to have Amber so close after many years, and Saturday night definitely brought together a bunch of great people I love catching up with.

I've had Paramore songs stuck in my head all weekend. Mostly "Brick by Boring Brick," "Looking Up," and "Where the Lines Overlap" from their latest album Brand New Eyes. It's a vast improvement on Riot! - which, I liked, but there were too many skipper songs on it. And the slower, acoustic songs are lovely and non-corny - I dig it!

On Sunday, the 410 trio prepped for FOOTBALL SUNDAY! We went to our usual bar for massive football consumption that included some great games for my fantasy players - and an intense, great Patriots game as they took down the Ravens! (Sorry, Katie.) Tonight I find out my own standings in my matchup with the Minnesota/Green Bay game -- go Green Bay! Don Driver! I hope the Minnesota defense sucks it! (Sorry, Galea.) Fantasy can get really heated, if you couldn't tell. [Note: I wrote most of this post yesterday - I can now tell you that I won this week, though I'm still second in the league simply by two points! ARG!]

I also am officially Jessica Johnson - social security card, driver's license, banks and bills all changed. SUCCESS. Erica witnessed my first credit card signature with the new name, as well.

Sunday night we went to the Fall Out Boy/Blink-182 show at Madison Square Garden. One of the best men at our wedding, Diaz, tours with Fall Out Boy. We had some great seats in the first row to the right of the stage. According to the performers, it was probably the last FOB show for a few years (a la Blink, No Doubt I'm guessing) and at the end Mark Hoppus came out on stage and shaved Pete Wentz's head while Diaz took over for bass on "Saturday." Blink-182 played another solid show, anchored by Barker's amazing flying and spinning drum solo in the encore.

Afterwards, we were in Tom DeLonge's dressing room with a bunch of people and Mischa Barton wandered in with a dazed smile. From observation alone, there really doesn't seem like there's a lot going on up there. Also spotted: John McEnroe, famed tirading tennis player, was a few seats behind us. And Chad Smith, the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, watched from the sound board and everybody mistook him for Will Ferrell. Literally, I did a twitter search and everyone thought Ferrell was in the audience. But I suppose they're easy to confuse:

Jesse caught up a bit with Mark Hoppus, who produced the forthcoming Motion City album, and then some of the crew and our friends headed to a bar for some more fun. At the end of the night, apartment 410 climbed in a cab and I made everyone early morning grilled cheeses to celebrate the end of a weekend - we didn't have any ice cream cake left.

I know I'll make sense of me.

The past week has been rather trying. But there's no sense in wallowing or recounting all those low points, and instead do what should always be done, and what I always try to do: the highlights. I am personally someone who can't take long periods around somebody who is negative, constantly complaining, or has a generally sour temperment. Life's too short is the adage, right?

Last Wednesday I recieved an impromptu text from Beth - of the now-defunct Bethis blog - and she was in New York! We met up for drinks after work, and then went out to sing karaoke into the evening. Why, yes, I sang "Just a Girl" by No Doubt, and Beth swears there's a picture of me one of her friends took, but I have yet to see it. It was a great evening, and I had a great time with Beth & Co. on an evening in which I had a lot of errands and chores planned. Score!

I've been reading the fantastic novel, White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I'm truly trying to savor it, and relish in the characters and story.

How hilarious was Thursday night's premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?

Erica and I decided to see Jennifer's Body. I like Diablo Cody, the writer, a lot but was certainly wary of the Megan Fox casting. And much to our surprise, we were thoroughly and pleasantly entertained, and Fox wasn't too shabby. I know, you're so surprised, too.

I painted my nails white. It's bringing the color back out in my fading tan - just saying.

Yesterday, Erica and I got up early and went to downtown Brooklyn's Target and I found some lovely pieces that compliment my shorter hair. I found a Anna-Sui-for-Target dress that would have looked dowdy with the long frizzy tentacles of my former hair, but looks downright chic and even fashionably goth with my new length. Plus, I'm trying to make scarves work - I've never been down with scarves or pashmina as part of my ensemble, though I always loved the look on friends or randoms that wore it. So I found two nice scarves to try that out. And, as you can see in the picture above, I'm trying one out today.

Fantasy Football, while in the big picture, was not a great week, had one shining moment: my first round pick, Chris Johnson #28, achieved 46 points for my team! (I'd rather not talk about Tom Brady or the Tennesse defense though...)

Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Emmys = great idea. Far more enjoyable than the Emmys have been in past years. Also, Jon Hamm.

This week? Maybe I'll finally get my Netflix DVDs (yeah they never came and are being re-shipped to me!). Erica's doing her thing on Tuesday night and I plan on joining the Trainwreck festivities! Plus, there could be some museum and/or book reading events to go to! We'll see...

I won't be dancing alone.

It's somewhat embarassing to say, but whenever Jesse leaves, it starts a countdown for the moment he is to return. This morning we woke up together and as I got ready for work, he packed for Minneapolis and then he walked me out to the street and we kissed and said goodbye for now. On the way to work I thought of when I'd next see him, in two weeks time, and realized that that precise day and those surrrounding it held a lot to look forward to.

In two weeks time, my best friend Amber will arrive in New York. She's moving here from Michigan, and that day I've been anticipating for weeks now (not to mention the years it was always to be part of her plan). We've been friends since middle school, as she also grew up in the military, and we reunited in our senior year of high school to become best friends. After that, we've seen each other as often as possible, along with Kelly whom we also went to high school with, and now she'll be HERE! Within reach at all times! A text away from a meet-up! How exciting.

In two weeks time, I will be turning twenty-six. Le two six. I'll be over my first twenty-five years of life, and diving headfirst into the next. Nothing much will truly change, I'm sure.

And yes, in two weeks time, Jesse will return for my birthday. His tour schedule has actually never allowed him to be with me on my birthday, so there is something different about this year, I suppose. Plus, we're married now. I asked for no gifts this year, but he has something up his sleeve apparently. Perhaps not a gift in the traditional sense, but he has asked me to block some time for him. If my schedule will allow...

So what to do for two weeks of anticipation? Well, I always have and cherish my Curbside girls, this city of New York in autumn, and the fifty-two books I plan on finishing this year. Add to this my continual attempt at organizing my life post-wedding, Erica inducting me into her Fantasy Football League, the new season of several television shows, and Rick so kindly gifting me and Jesse a Netflix subscription - well, I guess I'll be busy.

And you? What are you looking forward to in the rest of September?