weekendo perfecto

gorgeous weather + blogger meetup + karaoke domination + late night taco bell + bike-fixing (sorta) + rooftop birthday partying + sweaty dance party + puppies + pride + band post pride + sidewalk sangria + lots of friends for every moment of all that madness = weekend perfection.

its just really sad when weekends like that have to end. but its a short week and we have the whole summer ahead of us. even though its ughhhh july in a few hours? life, pleeeeease slow down.

aaaand now here's a sample of the loveliness...
(you should know where to find the rest by now :)

FACE off

erin showing some of this domination i was talking about...

cheers to the birthday girl in the rooftop (shout it out)

josh and me

a few of my lovely friends

josh and dave. his hair grew overnight...

floats y'allllllll

babygurl: theme of pride

is it thursday at 5pm yet?  

GPOYW

sweaty iphone portrait edition:

trying to unpack my life into my new home and get settled in before the busy weekend rapidly arrives. i've been successfully avoiding the boxes for hours now... so i guess its time i actually get my butt in gear.

ooooooor what's that? you wanna chat on the phone? wanna get ice cream? wanna go for a walk? oh cool, i'm not doing anything. gimme a call ;)

its official

i'm a home owner.
i didn't wanted to jinx it before it was real. cause trust me, its been a bumpy ride. but its over. i signed the papers on monday and well, its mine. and i'm moving sunday. talk about a whirlwind. ugh adulthood is scary and exciting.

on top of that, i have an action-packed parents weekend to attend to. 6 adults, a few sibilings, a cubs indians game, definitely some karaoke, mass quantities of food and undoubtedly, coors light. hopefully the weather cooperates. if not, chicago is going to drown soon.

next time we talk, i'll be settling in my new place and new stage of my life. whoa.

cheers to the weekend. yes, i am starting mine now...

GPOYW: lorain county edition

dave and i grew up 15 miles from each other. 25 years later, we met in chicago thanks to his lovely wife. we get things. like the pain of being a cleveland fan, the necessity of taking a million pictures (although his are much, much more gorgeous these days - thanks to his new toy) and how you should pretty much never swim in lake erie - unless you're safely on a BOAT miles away from shore.

my kinda cartoon

baby put on that party dress

Oh my my, oh hell yes...
the weekend has arrived.

anyone else hear party bells in their ears? perhaps angels frolicking in the clouds? or maybe just visions of rainbows, puppies, and butterflies!?? no? ;)

yeahhhhh i don't quite know what's gotten into me today, but i couldn't be more excited for today's gift that is friday.

tonight begins the celebration with birthday wishes, friends from afar and bar packages. tomorrow is the 3rd annual - paradise of the midwest summer porch party. its also our final bash.

yep, as of next week the separation of the roommate trio begins. its a bittersweet reality. i'm keeping my fingers crossed for mother nature to play nice. we've really had plenty of cold and rain this week. couldn't you just be a doll and give us a dry saturday? please, for me? for our last hurrah on our amazing back porch? we have flip cup to play and a keg to kill after all.

can't wait to play. hey, there might even be another incident like the one on the right. lets just say, that was a keg stand with a show...

a spectatcal of broken lights

i was a pretty lucky kid. each summer we'd go on a family vacation...always somewhere new and there was always something new to see. so sure, i've seen some cool things in my day. some i should have appreciated more - but hell, i was 12 and mostly just interested in boogy-boarding in the ocean, antagonizing my siblings and playing putt-putt. oh and where we were going to eat. <-- okay that part hasn't changed.

so while i may have not understood/cared to be bothered by new sights and activities as a teenager, i completely get it now.

however, i tend to visit a certain somewhere (cough cough, vegas) more than others. so lately, i've tried to mix things up. see new things - try new food - take a few steps out of my comfort zone. our last trip was definitely one for the record books. we did all sorts of new things, but my absolute favorite was our visit to the neon museum.

what's that you may ask?
well its the one place all the old massive vegas neon signs go to rest - a boneyard, if you will. they lay in a dusty fenced in lot on the side of a highway on the "bad side of town." it will be undoubtedly hot as hell, but your enthusiastic tour guide will do everything in their power to make sure you learn as much as you can about these old treasures. trust me, the long cab ride from the strip is absolutely worth the experience.

i took a ridiculous amount of photos and was completely entralled with everything my eyes gazed upon during that 60 minute tour. below are a few of my fave shots, but don't worry - you can find the whole set here.

the silver slipper - the first of these beauties to be refurbished and displayed on the las vegas blvd median. 

clever. we didn't even notice it spelled something till we were 100s of feet from it.  its truely incredible how big these pieces of sign are.

the old treasure island skull. the first time i came to vegas, that was without question my fave hotel.  the pirate ship fight was awesome.  anyone remember that?

sin city indeed.

liiiiiights - lights

remember the CSI when there was a dead guy found on this W? yeah i don't really either, but that's the story she was telling. clever little murderer. also - do you know what those poles are for?  i got the gold star for answering that right.

i think this was my fave

this wizard threw out gold coins and the animation could be seen for miles

told you those signs were massive

love this place!  cannot wait to go back in a few years and see how far they've come.

GPOYW - take 2

this is what change looks like version:
just in case we aren't facebook friends or you don't follow me twitter - tonight i cut my bangs. i realize its hair and not *really* that big of a deal - but i just so happen to feel like i look like a completely different person. i keep catching glances of myself in the mirror and have to take another look. oh yeah, that's me. i'm still there. just, ughhh, with less forehead...

mom was completely taken back on the phone. my sister "couldn't even believe that was me" and a long time friend screamed. so i don't think i'm being biased in saying, its quite a different look.

change is a pretty big theme in my life right now. however, this time i'm choosing to embrace it instead of shutter at the thought. i've never been very good at adjusting... too sentimental - too comfortable - too consistent. but life doesn't work like that and this past month/month in a half has been the biggest reminder ever. my middle name has been stress and there have often been days when i've simply had a "bad attitude."

but its summer (minus that 50 degree weather) and now that my head is now above water, i think i'm finally getting a grip on things.

bring on the weekend - bring on the sunshine - and bring on the change.

GPOYW

shadow & found street art version

banged?

i haven't had bangs since 4th grade. but they are wildly in style - i see these cute haircuts every where - and hell, maybe its time for a change?

here's my inspiration:



isn't she just adorable?
i like to pretend we have the same type of hair - thick, pretty curly, with a mind of its own. i'm sure it would be a little more work, but could be really cute? ooooor they i could look even younger, hate them with a passion and curse at myself for weeks on end.

eeeeeek.
should i do it?

funny cause its true

have i mentioned how much i love my friends?

God (jesus@heaven.com) has sent you a card from someecards.com!

God to me

GPOYW

improv karaoke in the street style.
that's right. the monitor was broke and we were testing out a new jam. thank goodness we are professionals and nailed it with the remix version that just so happened to sample our signature duet.
--

belfest marks the official beginning to my summer. crazy people in the street, signature dance moves and the first back porch shot gun - among much, much more.

its been one hell of a month. i'd love to tell you about it when my head stops spinning...

till then, come oooooon heat wave!