I'll send you my love on a wire.

That was my view for most of the weekend on Fire Island. Add that a great group of friends - Amber, Jaime, Kelly, Cara, Jon Cheese, and Jesse - and I think you know how fun my weekend was. I'd love to go into the details, but after uploading these photos, I think I'll let them speak for themselves.

Yeah, I think that's about right. Perhaps more details later. How was your weekend?

An easy girl to miss when you're gone.

You can rest assured I had a fabulous weekend, what with all that incessant blogging on Friday. Could you tell I just couldn't wait?! Well, I couldn't.

I went to Connecticut, to the lovely home of the Lester family - the place where my friend Jim grew up (if you can call what he does adult, with such post titles like this...). I usually post at the tumblr when traveling, so there are some pics up from the weekend. His parents, sister, and grandparents are the SWEETEST and treated us city hooligans with every nicety. Along with Jesse, Kelly, Amber, Jiscilla, Sam and Tyler - we lounged by the pool, played bocce ball, made margaritas, and ate lots and lots of grilled food and potato salad.

Amber and I began eating the potato salad around two in the afternoon and managed to consume the giant bowl in full by one am eastern standard time. We lamented eating it all after wanting more the next day.

The Lester family also initiated Jesse into a softball game and I love them dearly for they fashioned him just so for the activity:

Luckily, he didn't shame our good Johnson name and he did three very good things that included hitting a ball far and coming to home plate.

Tyler also made a great to-do about Jiscilla's impending birthday (TOMORROW! IT'S. TOMORROW.) and presented her, in a giant box layered with red and yellow tissue paper, A PLANE TICKET. To Austin! In November! WITH ME! Jiscilla and I shall be a'travelin' maids (what?) to visit our DEAREST friend CHRISTY!

Upon which I said, "Now you're like Kate."

Christy moved down south a couple of years ago, and while Jiscilla has had the good fortune to visit her, now I get to tag along as well! Oh, and we're topping off our Austin BFF Extravaganza Weekend (working title) with a rock show - aka the end of the Most Awesome Tour Ever (named that myself just now right here). Our dudes will be descending on Austin for the last date of their tour together, and if you haven't guessed yet, it's going to be so much fun!

I mean, you've heard A Great Big Pile of Leaves already, RIGHT? Thought so.

In other weekend news, Jim, Jesse, and Lisa (Jim's mom) pulled off a successful "Triple Scare" on Amber (and the rest of us, but mostly Amber) on Saturday night in which they hid behind trees or kitchen doors and jumped out at Amber (and us). There was a lot of screaming! Mostly by Amber.

Tonight I plan on extending my Jason Schwartzman Day by geeking out again with some friends to Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Also, SIDENOTE, two of my best friends have boyfs getting back from tours tonight, and I can't help but get all vicariously happy for them - I know how thrilling those days are! So congratulations to Erica and Kelly!!

PS If you liked that gray dress I sported last weekend, I bought it at Delia's and it's available online! (Though in-store I got a discount.)

How was your weekend?!

C'mon boys, make some noise!

Jesse and I spent a wonderful weekend in Rhode Island with baseball, a wedding, and our one year wedding anniversary. More details when I get to them (you wouldn't believe how tiring having fun is!), but for now, enjoy this playlist that Liz and I put together! I just downloaded the mix myself, and it RULES!

Liz, amazing music blogger that she is, always posts mixtapes on Mondays. They are all awesome. (You should really start reading her if you love music, too!) The last time I was in Philadelphia, we discussed music with her roommate, Pogo. He said he loved music that crescendo'd or spanned from soft to hard and back and whatnot. We present you: Build Ups & Break Downs.

01. Sign No More - Mumford & Sons
02. I Can Barely Breathe - Manchester Orchestra
03. Out Of My Way - Damone
04. Road to Joy - Bright Eyes
05. Up In Arms - Foo Fighters
06. Blood - The Middle East
07. Cosmic Love - Florence & the Machine
08. Welcome To The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
09. Konstantine - Something Corporate
10. Living Room - Tegan & Sara
11. Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World
12. Even If It Kills Me - Motion City Soundtrack
13. Say It Ain't So - Weezer
14. Dog Problems - The Format
15. Bend & Not Break - Dashboard Confessional
16. Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
17. Terrible Love - The National
18. Be Calm - fun.
19. Innocence - The Airborne Toxic Event
10. Learn To Share - A Great Big Pile of Leaves
21. Heroes - David Bowie
22. Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups
23. Motorcycle Drive By - Third Eye Blind
24. Me Vs. Madonna Vs. Elvis - Brand New
25. Exit Music (For a Film) - Radiohead

Download here! 

Take me out to the ballgame.

The weekend was a rousing success. For starters, I lived near or below that Citgo sign in Kenmore Square all four years of college at Boston University. I worked under it both as a Resident Assistant and as a cashier at Barnes and Noble. It sits atop a building close to Fenway Park, visible from the park, and always featured on the televised Red Sox games. So this weekend Jesse, me, Jim, and Jim's family (Lisa, Jim, and Amanda) went to see the Red Sox vs Phillies game at Fenway. We had great seats behind home plate, and luckily, underneath the overhang so we didn't get wet in the constant rain drizzle of the day.

Now, I've been to a few ballparks in my day, but Fenway always feels like home. No matter how much they add to it, it still feels old and historical - the scene to many a statistic, a legendary play, a heartbreaking play. A lot comes to mind just when you take a look around and see names like Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski in huge letters, or fans still sporting their Nomar Garciaparra tees. Even the roar of the crowd echoes nostalgia to all the other games I've been to. And Saturday's game added to the aura of Fenway in my mind: Daniel Nava, a player just sent up to the majors from the Paw Sox, came to his first at-bat for the Red Sox, and with the very first pitch, hit a grand slam. Only three other rookies in history have ever done the same, with only one other doing it with the first pitch. Jesse, Jim, me, and everyone in the stadium were on their feets yelling and clapping. I was trying to scream while choking down my cotton candy - this was my first time witnessing a grand slam live in the stadium!

I've had many memories at Red Sox games, and especially at Fenway Park. My Uncle Arthur was at this past Saturday's game as well, and told Jesse about the time he took me to a Red Sox vs Tampa Bay game back when I was in college. He had gotten us the "Steinbrenner Seats" right next to the opposing team's dugout - we had a superb view. And apparently Tampa Bay's second baseman was making eyes at me, which made my uncle very protective. Sometimes the memories aren't exactly statistical!

I'm pretty sure you can tell from the above picture, though, that I love baseball games, Red Sox games at Fenway park even more so, and especially Red Sox games at Fenway Park in which they beat the defending National League champions. Boom!

I'll send the weak ends down the drain.

I originally planned to update over the weekend, seeing as Liz and Meredith were visiting and I imagined a downtime or two in which we would take photobooth pictures and post silly things since we really are bloggin' friends.

However, it was hard to stop all the fun being had and relax - we were on the go each day of the weekend, with maybe an hour or two spent in the apartment besides sleep!

On Friday, Liz and Meredith made it to New York after a crazy afternoon of cancelled bus tickets and impending inclement weather in Philadelphia. However, we figured it out and they made it by train to Penn Station, where I picked them up and we instantly hugged and squealed. (Okay, maybe only I squealed - I wouldn't want to embarrass anybody but myself here!).

In these situations, you become acutely aware of how you might come across on your blog and how that differs in real life. For starters, you can't tell from my writing here that I am a particularly fast walker, especially in crowded areas in New York. Like Penn Station. And no matter how much I explain the "fast pace" of New York life, I probably forget to mention that I also up the ante in my own way. So, in my need to get out of Penn Station stat, Liz and Meredith followed me and dodged others with me on the way to the subway. They probably did that all weekend in certain crowded areas, so I'd just like to thank them for bearing with my pace!

When we got back to my apartment in Brooklyn, we went to my favourite neighborhood eatery/hangout/bar, Life Cafe, with Erica and Tyler and downed some Long Islands while conversing about everything. We returned to the apartment well-liquored and ready to sleep for the next day.

Which, by the way, included manicures - obviously!

I took them to my favourite mani/pedi salon, Lulu's, where a manicure is under ten bucks. We all love Essie colors, so Meredith went with Mint Candy Apple, Liz went with Looking for Love, and I went with my latest Essie purchase, Chinchilly!

I picked up Chinchilly on Friday (along with two other colors, eep! Issues!) because I was digging some ladies sporting the taupe shade lately, and I also got this little collage from Who What Wear in my inbox, and I wanted to try it out for myself -

Verdict? I love it. It's a classy neutral and I feel a bit sophisticated!

We then went to Top Shop, a store I'd never deigned to wander in due to its popularity and high traffic (remember when I said that thing about crowds?). Well, Saturday the place wasn't too bad and we got to wander. Honestly, I was unimpressed. There were a few standout pieces I would love to add to my wardrobe, but not at the price for the quality. Disappointment!

However, Amber joined us afterwards and dragged us to the first place that served food because she was starving. We ended up in an Asian pub. As in, Asian food in an Irish bar. Strange, indeed. The drinks were cheap and strong, and the food was rather bland, but we laughed about it for the majority of the time. Amber decided she needed us to forgive her for taking us there, so we went to the best cupcake place in the city, Crumbs! After downing our delectable desserts...

...We headed to a place in Manhattan I've heard much about, but never made plans to visit until that day: The Museum of Sex. Funny, informative, and wacky - I don't know what we expected, but we sure had fun! And we learned a lot. As in, there are people out there who are really into popping balloons. Just big ol' regular balloons. They like popping them. They really like it. Who knew?! We didn't.

That night, I took the ladies and a few friends to Kate's Joint, a great vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the East Village. We gobbled up the goods and readied ourselves for the rest of the night, because we were seeing Quentin Tarantino's classic, Reservoir Dogs at midnight on the big screen! So, coffee plus Baileys it was!

And we managed to stay awake through most of the movie and trudged through the apartment door at 3am, Liz and Meredith reaching for the futon and couch respectively and me to my bed. The girls had to leave early this morning in order to make their train back to Philadelphia, and it was sad to see them go! I truly had a great weekend and I can't wait for our next weekend of escapades which, as I made sure to tell Liz, will include many more pictures and probably a rocking-out-in-the-mirror moment to our most recently loved pop punk song.

UNTIL THEN!

Years of sweet resistance.

Last night, by the hand of a supremely nice human being (many thanks, Vinnie!), I was able to go to Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey for Motion City Soundtrack's acoustic in-store performance/interview hosted by Steven Smith. Quite a funny night, and I got to hang with Jesse one more time before the actual tour starts (this Saturday in Minneapolis!). I suppose that's what we do in our marriage: (ad)venture across state lines for one more hour, minute, second.

Yes - now he's gone again. It will only be for roughly (a rough?) two weeks, and then he comes back through New York for their local tour date - plus! - they will be on the Jimmy Fallon Show on February 2nd! Hurrah!

Anyone checking out MCS on tour? I've already been inquiring with Jesse as to which new songs they're playing...nothing is set in stone yet, but they've been practicing all the new stuff! What would you like to hear? I think I'm just ready for another album show for My Dinosaur Life! Start to finish! Let's go!

In other news, I've been doing well getting to the gym every morning before work! I shall say it again: hurrah!

And finally, I forgot Amber and I had taken these pictures with Photobooth last Saturday before we went out. It was quite a hilarious photo session, so I thought I'd share - just look at Amber...

We are silly. Who else to be silly with but your bestest friends?!

One-thousand...

Um, dear people reading this, NEWS ALERT: this is my ONE THOUSANDTH POST. I know. I KNOW. Wow. I'm not sure how to commemorate it, as I planned to just write the second half of my Chicago trip and then I saw that stat on my dashboard. Maybe I'll re-hash the site a bit? Expect that this week. After spending more than a year with everything purple because of the wedding, I'm done with it! Tried to Live Forever shall be revitalized! Or just the colors will change. TUNE IN FOR THE BIG (or small) REVEAL! And here is me excited to share this news:

He's always popping on my lap when I'm at the computer! What a ham.

Also, expect about ten posts this week, I'm not kidding, my drafts are a pilin' up!

However, I will try to epilogue my adventures in Chicago right now! Where was I?

Saturday night! Motion City was gearing up to play their album COMMIT THIS TO MEMORY! Me being me, I was beyond excited, and my friend Sam was even moreso. As Adam was to put it later: nobody deserved to be there more than Sam that night. Agreed!

I digress.

So when we got to Lincoln Hall, we ate a little dinner with Jesse, and I caught up with Josh's lovely wife Jill for a bit. Then we found our spots on the railing for some more Ultimate Fakebook show. I'm not going to lie, Justin and Matt were totally geeking out to UF; it's always fun to see the people who's music geeks you out geek out themselves. (Did that sentence make sense? I don't care.)

And so the band took the stage for Commit This and I started jumping up and down and singing along to "Attractive Today." Adam was rocking out as well, and by the third song in Sam appeared next to me as she was alongside some not-as-enthusiastic rockers previously and we jumped up and down and screamed together like wee girls and it was most fun. As I've learned from most concerts I've been to, it's always best to be next to someone who is as into the music as you are! In a related note, I dearly missed my friend Katie Brown during "Time Turned Fragile" as we both do a splendiferous job of imitating Tony's drum breakdown and segue into Jesse's keyboard part.

(Yes, I am really this nerdy and into my husband's band. Admitted.)

Afterwards, Sam and I were sweaty and exhilirated with the AMAZING live show. I'm not biased here when I say that MCS puts out a great live show; that's how I first discovered them! When we saw Jesse backstage, we were almost of equal sweat with him. That's gross, I know.

Jesse and some of us were quite famished so after the show we went to a BBQ wings place down the street from the venue. It was delicious, though I really hate wings (I ordered the pulled pork sandwich), and we had an uproarious meal.

"Uproarious," Jessica, really?

YES. Here's why: most everybody except for Adam and I ordered wings, which you can get in a range of probably twenty different flavors/degrees of hotness. Jesse ordered some wings that were the second to most hot flavor. He ate one and telling us about his body's trial in doing so - hot throat, sweating, eyes watering, etc. Sam, I believe, remarked on this description and tried half of one of the hot wings and then Jesse challenged her to eat the rest of it without drinking anything until we paid the bill and got to the next bar for $20. Sam agreed, and I don't know why it was so fascinating and hilarious, but it was. Sam took it like a trooper! She was sitting there as we finished off our beers, as the waitress charged the bill wrong and had to fix it, and for the ten-plus minute walk to the bar in which we got lost several times. She said when she opened her mouth in the cold she thought it would help with the burning feeling in her mouth, but it only made it worse. OWWWWW. BUT SAM MADE IT! We got to the bar, she drank some water, and a milk her boyfriend Jim had purchased for her, and honorably collected her $20.

Bets with hot sauce = far more entertaining than I thought possible. Congratulations, Sam! Bravo!

After a quick jaunt at the bar, we headed back to the hotel in our exhaustion. The next day, Sunday, I'd be flying back to New York, and I was a bit bummed...

HOWEVER, as we got up for the continental breakfast usual, and headed to a nearby sports bar to catch some football, I got an alert on my phone mere minutes before I hopped a cab to the airport: FLIGHT CANCELLED. Now, I had friends flying that day at 3pm and 5pm and 7:30pm. My flight was at 4. My flight, incidentally, was also the only one that was cancelled! What the what? Anyway. It ended up being a blessing in disguise as I got to spend the evening with Adam and Jesse and Jamie and a suprise visit from none other than Sarah who flew in from Detroit. LUFF.

And Motion City Soundtrack was playing EVEN IF IT KILLS ME, their last album and the one they were recording when I met Jesse. Barftime alert, but for real, I was so happy to be able to see them play that album! It's like a live show of my decade nearly - you know how everyone's spouting out these "best of the decade" lists?! All three of their albums would be on mine and they each were the soundtrack to some pretty great years and pivotal events in my life. I was especially looking forward to the band playing the last track, the title track, and I was not disappointed - though I'm a huge "Last Night" fan, hearing "Even If It Kills Me" live was beyond. It was the first time they'd ever played it live. And it was absolutely brilliant.

Jamie from Oh! How Lovely! got to enjoy her first Motion City show and Sarah from Sillygrrl was back! I'd last seen Sarah at Bamboozle two (wow, it was really two!) years ago for Motion City's set. It was fun to hang with the blog friends! I also got to see Ang one more time before I left, as she stopped by my hotel to say bye when my flight was still on time. What a gal!

After the show, Adam, Diaz, Jesse, and I headed to a diner across the street to satiate our appetite (I mean, I'm not bouncing around as much as Jesse, but I do feel tired after jumping and screaming after shows. Ha.) Then we went back to the hotel and I was pooped. POOPED. My flight had been rescheduled for the next morning, so I decided to stay in and sleep since I had to get up at 7am.

I honestly can't believe how jam-packed the weekend was with FUN!! I love my friends, I love Motion City, I love live shows, I love exploring and adventuring, and above all I love my husband. RAD. Two days after I got home, I was off to Massachusetts for Christmas with the family. But that is a story for another time!

Thank you for reading, readers. My 1000th is dedicated to you <3

Down the drain, down the drain.

I'm not the biggest fan of Los Angeles, but I love visiting. Jesse grew up in LA, so he knows the city pretty well.

I got in Thursday night - after many hours and two flights (in middle seats!) and serious jet lag. He picked me up from LAX and we fled to his apartment that he shares with Matt for their time in LA recording. The next morning I was up bright and early at 6am, and when Jesse eventually woke up we started our Friday at the studio and then shopping.

At one point, Jesse got a text from our friend Kristy who informed him that she had a cancellation in her schedule, and she wanted to know if I wanted a free facial! She works at a great skin care center that caters to celebrities - after the fabulous, fabulous, fabulous and my FIRST EVER facial, I saw the model Gisele in the waiting room. Quality, people, QUALITY. Felt pretty great walking out of there...and my skin is still beaming. YES!

(Kristy! And a couple of her friends. If you don't know already, Kristy = amazing.)

Afterwards, Jesse took me to a lively and delicious Latin American restaurant called D'Cache. We had way too much to eat that we couldn't dance when the musician got lively. We did open our mouths for the waiters pouring sangria in everybody's mouth, though.

On Saturday, Jesse and I had brunch with our friend Colin, who is one of my favourite people to talk about tv and movies with. (We're both huge Aaron Sorkin fans!) Then Jesse and I went shopping again and I found a perfect winter coat - orginally $400 marked down to $100. As well as a pretty dress. We went by a glasses shop and I think I need to get some cat-eye sunglasses for this summer. Of course...some variations can be a bit silly -

But I loved them! I didn't buy them. Mainly out of how much they cost, but also because Jesse thought I should get some less crazy ones. Sometimes we need a little crazy though, no?

Then Jesse took me on a drive along Mulholland Drive, and I got to see the sprawling city below. I'm not much of a touristy person - when I have visitors I'm not much for taking them around the town to see landmarks. It's actually quite annoying for me...and when I go sightseeing somewhere else, I tend to get bored. It's just the way I am, I suppose. But. I felt in the spirit on Saturday. Jesse took me around the curves and I told him stories and legends about old Hollywood and then I made him stop so we could get a picture. Very progressive behavior, let me tell you.

Jesse and I spent the evening with his father who was visiting from northern California, and some of their old friends from when they lived in LA. We had a long, five-hour dinner party where the conversation never stopped. Great times.

On Sunday, Jesse had arranged for their daily workout to take place at a beach in Santa Monica, so I could enjoy some sun and sea. It was quite fun for me and Lindsay, Justin's ladyfriend and fellow blogger, to sit back on our towel as we watched them exercise. Ah, but they did great! Jill was also in town, and she was brave enough to work out next to them!

When I e-mailed Kristy a while ago to tell her I was coming into town, I suggested we have a get-together in her and Dan's backyard like last year. Well, she went all out and it was a big pool party! And so, so, so much fun!!

We spent most of the day into the night in the hot tub or pool or poolside, all talking and cracking up and catching up. The definition of good times. Also, I won't explain this one, but....speedos:

Also, unfortunately, during the trip I only had so much time, and didn't get to hang out with some people - namely, my friend Erin, Joyce, and the Monty Are I boys who were playing the Knitting Factory on Sunday night. Next time, next time!!

Yesterday, Jesse and I went back to the studio and then had lunch with his dad before he drove me back to LAX. Obviously, saying bye is not fun. I don't get to see him for another three and a half weeks. ARG! But, so it goes.

After saying bye, I did get a little comfort from the fact that I flew home on business class - which I never have before. I was awkwardly figuring it out: when they came around before take-off with a tray of water, orange juice, and champagne, I reached for my wallet before realizing that it was free. Then I had several courses of a meal and a glass of wine during the flight. And my seat reclined way back and a foot rest popped up. Made the six hour flight much, much more comfortable.

Forgive me for gushing, but there were a lot of things that happened this weekend I might not get to try out again! :) The rest of the pictures (all taken on my iPhone) are up here - check them out!

Man how we used to tear apart this town.

Good morning!

I'm feeling good and refreshed after a weekend spent in Massachusetts with Jesse and my parents. The weather's getting better so I even put on heels today (as opposed to my winter flat boots). And since I'm wearing heels and a cute skirt/blouse outfit, I also decided to sport a little bit of red lipstick. It's always a good day with the red lipstick.

On Friday, I got out of work early and came home to find my father and Jesse ready to drive to Massachusetts! And though I spent half the trip squished into the backseat with some boxes (my shoulders, they were in pain), the trip wasn't too bad once I switched with Jesse to the front seat (mwahahaha). Then we had our traditional Friday night dinner at Zorba's, a great local pizza place. We always order the giant pizza, and we make it our goal to finish the entire thing. Now, I believe the first time I brought Jesse home, my dad ordered two giant pizzas, and Jesse, being the "new guy," had to finish the pizza that was left. And so began our wonderful tradition - through my dad's torture. [Sidenote: we talked about how THIS was a year ago Friday and how quickly a year passes!]

On Saturday I did the important stuff like laundry, and also continuing my parent's journey into the new love in my life - Friday Night Lights. Last time I was there we watched the second season, and I figured they should see the first season. Out of order, but still great! Seriously...I can't even get into how good this show is right now - it deserves it's own post - and I'll probably get to that when I complete the third season (which is airing right now).

I also helped my dad organize some stuff in the basement, which had the added bonus of finding my old Christopher Pike books! Seriously, I had every book of his I think. I STILL DO. I couldn't find the first Remember Me, which was the first book of his I read, but I did find The Last Vampire series, which I brought home because I can't wait to re-read it and compare to that other vampire series I read in the past few months. I think it will be fun to see the stuff I was reading in elementary, middle and high school (I read Remember Me in 5th grade, and I know I kept reading his books through to his adult books). Again, more on that when I get to it!

Jesse did some practicing for the upcoming MCS shows while I sorted through my adolesence in book-form. Then my mom and dad grilled up a great dinner on Saturday night, and my Tia Kim and cousin James joined us. We followed the smorgasbord with some Wii. So much Wii, that my mom and dad both had to give it a rest for fear of putting their arm muscles in jeopardy.

On Sunday we had a delicious brunch at Cracker Barrel (fried apples yum) and then went to do some food-related wedding stuffs. I KNOW: ALL I DID THIS WEEKEND WAS EAT.

And what did you do?

Well the birds have been freed from their cages.

The weekend ended too soon!

On Friday, my parents drove into town carrying a bevy of presents in the form of food and other household knick-knacks a girl like me doesn't realize I need until I receive it via my wonderful mother. The parental units settled into the couch and hung out with the blu-ray player and the cats to rest up, while Jesse, Erica, Sean, and I headed into Manhattan for Katie & Aileen's joint 25th Birthday Party at Hi-Fi.

Or so we thought. Upon descending into the L Train abyss, we were met with a challenge: the weekend train schedule due to L Train maintenance. How to overcome this challenge? PATIENCE. A LOT OF IT. I'M TALKING A GOOD HOUR OF IT. Which, I believe, we did with aplomb - by playing each other in backgammon on various iPhones.

Late into the evening, or really, morning, we finally arrived at Hi-Fi and entered to a bar full of friends. Aileen lives in San Diego and travels with the Plain White T's, so I hadn't seen her in forever! (Forever, in this instance, means last August at Warped Tour.) And Katie, though I hadn't seen her in maybe a day, well, she's still easy to miss in such a short while. It was a grand time, filled with catching up and birthday wishes. At one point, Keller, Erica, and I had a rousing discussion about books. NERDS. The lot of us.

The soiree also leads me to some advice for any single men out there. If you're at a bar or social event, DO NOT make a pass (see what I did there?) at a woman by telling her that she looks like she's not having any fun. Why would you do that? See, this hasn't happened just once. In my history of passes being made, this line has happened several times. First of all, looking like we're not having any fun is probably due to the fact that you just came up to us and said that. Second of all, if I'm not having any fun I would leave. Third of all, it's NOT a compliment in any way. If someone looks like they're not having fun, the first thing that comes to mind is a pout and an attitude (both somewhat unattractive qualities in a social setting). You're not making it any better. So please, anybody and everybody, if we weren't having fun, we'd have the power to leave if we so chose. Most of us - we're not stupid enough to hang out in a joint that's no fun, and we're also not stupid enough to fall for that line, which, I'm presuming, has never worked for the likes of you.

I digress.

On Saturday morning, bright and early, my mother made the household a wonderful breakfast. Then Erica, Kelly, my mother and I headed to New Jersey for a mission whose details I can't divulge in at this moment, suffice to say it went rather well. Jesse and my father hung out in Brooklyn while the women were away, and I don't really know what they were up to, but I'm assuming it was quite manly and involved burgers and/or various other meats like steak.

By the time we ladies returned from our journey, everybody had already had quite a full day. We decided to order pizza, nap, watch movies, and play games. That's what you call a relaxing and near-perfect Saturday night.

In the morning, we bid adieu to my parents, and went back to sleep for hours (the mark of a lovely Sunday). When we woke up, we decided to brave that damn L Train again to see The Wrestler. A compelling movie, for sure, and Rourke deserves all the hype about him. I'm slowly narrowing down the list of must-see films. I'm planning a movie-going extravaganza this coming weekend - if the L Train sees fit for such an excursion.

In other news, an old friend of Jesse's called in a favor last night and I tip-toed around the slew of musicians sleeping on our living room floor this morning.

And how was your weekend?

Let December glow in flames.

What a weekend. December is probably the busiest month ever; each moment of free time as of late is devoted to Christmas shopping or social engagements and, in my case, wedding planning.

Last week, most days after work I was doing one or the other. So when Friday rolled around I was pooped and crashed on the couch. And then Jiscilla showed up! Since moving outside of the city, I've missed that girl and was stoked when I heard she'd be in town! So the couch hangs continued with Jiscilla. Then the boys came over for the now-traditional Friday night poker game and I came in third to break even, but had pretty lousy hands all night.

I cherished my Saturday morning sleep-in, and then Jesse made Jiscilla, Erica, and I bacon-egg-cheese croissant sandwiches after his run (I know, so lucky). Then we took little Keanu for his last booster shot at the vets. We spent the rest of day checking off a lot of wedding planning whatnots, and then we played Jesse's new game obsession, Cribbage, and he taught me Backgammon.

I know. We sound like we're eighty years old. I promise we acted our age on Sunday.

I woke up early on Sunday morning and finished up some projects while letting Jesse sleep. Then I scheduled the rest of our day and promptly woke him up, ha. We got brunch, and then went to a movie, all in time to go to Standings to watch the Patriots game. Except something happened with the theaters and when we arrived at 1:57 for the 1:55 film, there was a huge line outside the theater. Very confusing. The movie (Rachel Getting Married) was running twenty minutes late, which totally irked me and my organized plans. ("A plan is just a list of things that don't happen.") So we didn't sit down in the theater until twenty-five minutes after the thing was supposed to start, thus, we were late to the football game and missed the first quarter. But that doesn't matter because we had a grand time drinking with our friends and watching the Pats WIN. YES!

Also, I swear it's like Panic! at the Disco hides in the corners of New York bars - Spencer, the drummer, was at Standings watching football. Or just talking to his managers, whatever. I highly doubt any football patronage from the likes of him. He wasn't wearing a jersey like the rest of us!

Afterwards, we wanted to continue our victory celebrations, and our reign of complete fun, that Erica, Jesse, Sean and I headed with Katie and Perry to their place a couple of blocks away. Now, pay attention here, cause Sean ran into a restaurant on the way and asked for a plastic fork, and Jesse picked up a discarded pizza box lying on the street. And then when we got to the apartment, Jesse made this:

What is this, you might ask?

This is a cribbage board Jesse constructed with promises of endless entertainment, that became less promising while Perry, Katie, Erica, and I began sipping sake and watching the Ravens game. The night continued with laughs and jests (seriously, I'm so eighty!) and then we went home to a couple of more games and glorious, glorious sleep.

Now it is Monday and it's a little less fun. How was your weekend?