long weekend.

In Chi-town for the weekend!!

best. joke. ever.

Q: What's brown and sticky?


A: A stick.



I seriously laughed until I cried from that one. Still giggling. Pure genius.

note to self.

Don't try to fix your bed (which involves lifting and moving your mattress and box spring) by yourself. It's silly. You end up with box spring indentations along your back and you're in a hell of a lot of pain the next day. I would recommend enlisting the help of roommates or manly neighbors if needed.

obsession.

I have had tomato basil soup for at least one meal every day of the past 7. I think that makes me officially addicted. Is it possible to get a lycopene overdose? Someone help me. I can't stop!

goals.

So back in the days of yore (ie. college) my good girlfriends and I would have a meeting (usually around a dinner/brunch table or a game of Kings) to discuss the semester/break's goals for one another. The goals ran the gamut: hooking up with particular guys or in particular places, wearing certain things, or doing other ridiculous things on campus. I'm proud to say that I fulfilled all but one of my goals, as I am just not the kind of girl who would wear sweats to class. Even if my bffs want me to. But I will dance on top of the low-key campus bar (twice), hook up with a particular guy within 24 hours of the goal being set, and meet someone from craigslist (a post-college goal).

So even though I'm not surrounded by my besties, I've still decided on a couple of fall goals for myself, to be completed by the first day of winter. They're not nearly as salacious or interesting as the ones that my mind-constantly-in-gutter friends could come up with, but still, here they are:

1) Perfect the cat-eye:

2) Rock the cuffed jeans with saddle shoes. Make it my "signature."

3) Find a new job to LOVE.

4) Take more pictures. Lots more.

5) Survive October. It's going to be the craziest month of all time.

6) Bake something directly from a pumpkin (I've done it before, but I want to try something other than a pie).

7) Hit the 200 mark for yelp reviews.

I'm sure I'll add more (at least mentally) as time goes on, but this is it for now. It's out there, in the open, and expect all of you to hold me to it.

daily randoms.

Today has been so incredibly busy I just don't know what to do with myself. The Dinner planning is in full force and all of my procrastination is totally catching up with me. Ooops. Still, I have been neglecting this blog like wo so I figured I'd at least take 10 minutes out and write a bit. You lucky dogs, you!

1) The high stress levels at work may be due to the fact that my headphones broke. About 2 weeks ago I came into the office to find that one of the earbuds had been decapitated! I couldn't even find the little bud anywhere. Poor guy. Now there's just some copper wiring hanging out from one of the extensions, but the other earbud picked up the pace and I was still able to jam out. Then this morning rolled along and the little man just gave up... he couldn't do it anymore without his companion. I know he died of a broken heart, but it was piss poor timing. I really could have used some tunes today. I guess I'll just have to wait until I fly again and can steal another cheap-ass set from the plane. Luckily I still have my earphones for my iPod. Otherwise we'd be in REAL trouble.

2) Last night I baked a cake for Read's bday and I decided on a super scrumptious cookies and cream cake. This necessitated me buying Oreos, which I don't think I've done in about 8 years or so. Well, kids, they've changed!! No, no, not the precious cookies inside... the packaging! It's incredible. The plastic on the top peels back, revealing all 3 rows of cookie goodness at one time. It's genius, really. Changed the way I look at Oreos.

3) Dance party Saturday night at Chief Ike's. You need to be there. I'm not kidding.

Quote of the day: "dude, whatever. you know lebowski may be the greatest movie of all time. that would be like making fun of someone for being a fan of the sistine chapel."

the winds of change.

I love transitional seasons. Fall is starting to arrive in DC: you can feel it in the air and I it makes me so happy every time I go outside. Even though it's supposed to get back up in the 80's next week (eww) I have officially made the switch to fall. I've packed up my seersuckers and white jeans and pulled out my cotton scarves and "real" shoes. I've got my fall manicure, changed from my aquamarine ring to my favorite garnet, and put away my summer perfume in exchange for my more musky fall scent. Even though I've always lived in a pretty mild climate (forgetting those 4 years in evil, evil, cold Ohio), I relish the four seasons and their distinct qualities. I like to change things from season to season: it's like welcoming back old friends. Despite my love for all of these changes, my most favorite thing about the fall has got to be the pumpkin.

exactly 2 months from today...

... Project Runway Season 4 begins.

Thank. The. Lord.

funny funny.

Ok, I know this is totally random but for some reason I thought about this sketch today and just about cracked up. I saw him at the Roost (my college's on-campus bar)(yeah, we were stuck in Ohio so they gave us a bar) and had never heard the sketch before and cried my eyes out the entire time. I remember Kyle and I, sitting in the front row, not being able to catch our breath. Hysterical. One of my favorite college memories. Now he's performing in DC for $42 a ticket. I miss college.

Even more funny is that apparently about two weeks ago my Dad just walked into the living room, uttered "hooottttt pocckkkkkettt" and walked out. Yeah, my family is weird like that.



ps. is it Friday yet?

genius.

My new business venture: El Pollo Rico, downtown DC. I would make MILLIONS.

More to come later (maybe today, maybe tomorrow) on VA vs. DC. It's been a hot topic among my crew lately. Obviously, DC wins, so why does VA get the Rico??

i fear i'm getting old.

Dear MTV:

What has happened to you, old friend? I mean, I know that you've been going downhill for the past few years. Even though we've all complained about the lack of actual music on "Music Television," you still haven't changed your programming and have in fact become far worse than we could have ever imagined. The bad reality programming, constant product placement, and lack of knowledge about anything that should/could be actually considered music has become painful to watch. At first I chalked my disgust with you up to the fact that I was getting older and was less and less into mainstream music. Looking back, I wonder if my shift into the more indie scene was a direct result of your shittiness. I believe that you are, at least in part, to blame for pop music's deterioration into such mindless drivel. It was once cool to watch TRL and hang out at MTV Spring Break. Not so much anymore. Pop music used to be good. Even the stuff that wasn't good was at least entertaining and the "singers" could perform the shit out of it. For example, see below:



And that brings me to the main point of this letter: last night's VMA show. It was, in a word, pathetic. While I could spend the remainder of this letter railing solely on Britney's performance, I know that it is not your fault. Sure, you should have known that she would have flopped, but I imagine that you were looking for the ratings and figured that Britney would be the best bet for an opener. Fine. I can deal with you wanting to exploit her.

My main beef with the awards show was the horrible production. It was complete amateur hour: microphones weren't turned on, people didn't know what they were doing, cameramen and stagehands were running around like crazy, and people weren't introduced properly. An absolute shitshow. You've been running this show since 1984 and you'd think y'all would have it together by now. Apparently not.

Furthermore, this wasn't much of an awards show. According to my count, there were only 5 or 6 awards passed out all evening-- pretty worthless. Far too much time was dedicated to stopping in on the random "parties" taking place throughout the hotel. All in all, not a cool idea. Following Kanye around a packed VIP room is not my idea of good television. The absence of many of the awards simply supports your obvious drift from presenting music videos as an art form. You added lame-ass categories like "Quadruple Threat" and "Monster Single" and took away actual art awards like Best Direction, Choreography, Editing, and the Video Vanguard Award. Finally, the graphic/light display that was used on the stage, between commercial breaks, and to present the nominees was absolutely mindboggling. I would not be surprised if people broke into seizures after watching those for a mere 10 seconds.

In essence, this was a deplorable year for your award show and I hope you sincerely "kick it up a notch" for the movie awards and next year's VMAs. I know that you're network is struggling and you've made it obvious to everyone why. Start playing videos again. Invest in some more classic design work. Get the artists back on your side. I'm all for new things, but sometimes it's best to go back to the basics.

We've had some good times together, friend. I want you back. The old you.

xoxo,
Kiki

happy september!

Now that the summer is "officially" over (although you wouldn't know it by the temperature outside) I can honestly say that it flew by. I'm not sure if that was due to the fact that I didn't ever leave DC or that there were none of the major changes that summer usually brings, but whatever it was, I'm shocked that we're already heading in to fall.

My first and last summer vacay in South Carolina this past weekend was definitely needed, and I must admit that I'm feeling pretty refreshed. Although it rained for three solid days, I still had a good time. It was a nice feeling to be bored and it was great to spend so much "QT" with the 'rents. By Sunday night I was admittedly going a little stir crazy. The island where I vacation is absolutely tiny and doesn't offer much in the way of non-outdoor entertainment. After finishing my book and watching epic movies (Gone with the Wind and Sound of Music in the same day), I was ready for some major beach action. Luckily, I woke up Monday morning and opened my shutters to see this:

Glorious. I quickly threw on a tank top and my running shorts, grabbed the parents and the dog, jumped in the golf cart, and headed to the beach. Even super early, the beach was pretty crowded (for Fripp Island standards) and Tabby was able to meet lots of other dogs... even if they didn't want to meet her. There really is nothing happier to see than a dog running at full tilt down the shoreline. I spent the rest of Monday in the sun: my pale-ass Irish skin is not too happy with me right now... but my mom kept telling me I looked like "the white meat of a chicken" so I was determined to take full advantage of those UV rays.

Despite the rain, the trip to god-awful Hilton Head, and the utterly dissapointing meal at Hominy Grill, it was still a great weekend. It's a little hard for me to not enjoy a weekend at Fripp: it's my home, but at the beach. It doesn't get much better than that.

Plus, the ultra-luxe-extra-soft pillowtop mattress that I made my parents get for my bedroom down there is just about the most incredible thing I've ever experienced.