Charleston, South Carolina

Clockwise from top left:
Unmilked Mexican coffee
Shadowy Vines in the Battery
Folly tidepool
School Spirit on King Street

Quiet moments are often what I remember most when I travel.
Quiet moments can find you on the busiest, loudest street of New York when the enormous magesty and agitating lights overwhelm the nosie and the people and suddenly you are alone and it's silent. It's quite cinematic.

In some places, however, quiet moments come easily. This was true of Charleston, where it felt as if the city was resting after a few hundred years of Revolutionary and Civil battles. In Charleston, there were small quiet streets that cornered into cobblestones and porches and graveyards of Spanish moss. There were empty porches you could imagine yourself sitting on with a tall glass of grits (HA! you thought I was going to say iced tea there, didn't you?). There was a small coffee shop with delicious Mexican coffee into which I stirred copious amounts of whole milk. Sitting there every morning, looking over our itinerary of past, present and future pie, markets, strolls and collard greens, I felt I was in a familiar place. That solitary and quiet place that is familiar to traveling.

Hey Yo This Beat is Bananas

Doesn't that look like a Pirate boat? I took it in Venice with the smell of weed from the drum circle wafting in the air. I saw a two headed turtle at the freak show there too. Kind of a weird place, Venice Beach. Kind of amazing actually. Even though there were all kinds of dogs and people walking around, babydoll heads buried in the sand, men dancing on trash cans and teenage couples giving you goofy smiles as you caught them passing a joint back and forth, it all seemed so peaceful. Maybe it was the sun going down and the big waves (they were seriously big, you can't really tell in the picture) drowning out some of the noise, but the vibe of Venice Beach is completely different from Los Angeles itself and it was refreshing.

Anyways, I have a lot of pictures I took out in LA, but haven't had the time to sort through and edit them (or in the very least, turn them into JPGs-it happens a lot, sorry). Adding this class into my schedule took away a lot of my watching The Wire/going to Trader Joe's/reading and general down-time. I love Thursdays, it's usually the first time during the week I can actually relax. I'm always hesitant to plan anything because there's nothing I look forward to more than a few shows lined up and a recipe in hand. Tonight, I'm going to try and pan fry chickpeas and convince myself tofu is delicious. Good luck, right?

The Santa Monica Pier

One of the more interesting things about being in Los Angeles was seeing the names of places I'd always heard stacked and layered on top of eachother. Santa Monica above Muscle Beach, which is in Venice Beach and if you drive East towards Hollywood, you pass through Beverly Hills and Bel Air and if you look to the right, there's Rodeo Drive.

The Santa Monica Pier, however, was not one of the things I had ever heard of, which was surprising because it was a complete clusterfuck of tourist traps. Yet, I loved it.
Oh come on, you've gotta do the touristy things at least once. Like getting a Star Map...which we did. I might have a photo of Monica posing in front of Fergie's mailbox just before we passed Josh Duhamel in his black pick-up truck.
That somewhat embarassing confession aside, the Santa Monica Pier was pretty incredible. We went out on the Pier and bought over-priced sodas, we took a romantic ride on the Ferris Wheel looking down at the sprawling beach and over-saturated pier and we ate lunch on a lifeguard stand with a couple who would (could?) not. stop. making out. We thought about Marissa Cooper and her lifeguard stand/sanctuary and how she would go there to cry when Ryan (or Jimmy) punched someone, but I guess Jimmy Cooper was usually getting punched. And yeah, later, we watched the OC.

So pretty much all those things you expected me to do in LA?

I did them.

LA Weather

You've got to be kidding me.

I am so sick of wearing tights with my dresses and skirts and I was looking forward to/in need of a little skin+direct sunlight bonding this weekend while I'm in California. Grrrr especially at a 60% chance of precipitation Tuesday when I was going to bike around Venice Beach.

Alas.

At least I've still got Monica and the hopes of seeing Zac Efron.

New York iPhone

The bus hub

A purple stained hand

The gentleman eating his noodles

Unhappy in pecan pie


The westest christmas tree in New York

New York

I put a few photos from New York up on my flickr. This second photo was taken by Drew. It's one of my favorites from the trip, go figure.

iPhone fun to follow when I have nothing to do at work.

let the wild rumpus begin.

palm canyon reminded me of the land of the wild things.

which just so happens to be a great fall movie
(don't listen to anyone who said it was bad)

ps. i have a flickr.

Palm Springs, CA

from dc to dallas to palm springs to dallas to st. louis and back to dc.
palm springs. i think the heat makes the people there crazy, they are eccentric and gay and colorful and in a world of their own.

we stayed in a retro hotel in the middle of a desert down the street from liberace's house. most of palm springs is built on an indian reservation and we were very close to palm canyon.

an ancient friendship bracelet ceremony:

palm canyon

arizona through a few filters:

a few facts: our room was constantly stocked with champagne, red velvet cake, water and cheese balls. palms don't sweat in the desert. i'm going to tell people american indians made my new moccasins. at one point on the trip, i found myself laying on my stomach with a lady knee-walking on my back, this is apparently what they call a massage. people don't usually get rufied at the village pub, but they might. i have a free ticket to anywhere.

watermelon park

we mountain women went camping last weekend, this was our kingdom.

after marking our territory by erecting a tent and throwing menacing looks at various campers coyotes as we drank pbr in the middle of the river, we feasted on hot dogs.

then we had a nap.

but when the flames of our camp fire made the stars flicker out, we knew it was growing dangerous at watermelon park...and also that it was s'more time.

if you crave more daring stories of our trip to almost West Virginia, well i'm sorry but the rest will have to stay in the park with the skins. only they know truly what happened that night.

camera: sandbridge

it's 12:41 on a friday night. my shirt smells like the best chicken nuggets you've ever had and here's a little bit of the summer with my family.

black and white section:

end of black and white section

if you can't tell i was really lazy about taking pictures and all these were taken on the same night, probably within 20 minutes of each other<-is that one word or two, i googled it and even google didn't know? please reference "about me" if you think that's a stupid question.

iphone: sandbridge

every day my uncle john would get down to the beach really early and set up an umbrella and a chair (this uncle also happens to make the best bloody marys)
i love getting to the beach before 9am when it's calm and the only other people out are walking their dogs.
the sun isn't blazing and you actually feel like you can concentrate on your book.
this is also one of the best times to see dolphins; my family has an obsession with dolphins. we are on 24/7 dolphin alert and whenever they are seen on the horizon you can bet someone is rushing to get the kyack into the ocean. my dad likes to mock this and send out false dolphin calls.
this summer was a little different because i couldn't take the whole week of vacation. luckily i was there long enough for pumpkin muffins, the annual delinquent oyster and beer lunch, a tan (suburn), a ping-pong whipping, and a visit to my grandparents house in virginia beach.

i'm going to put up the few pictures i took on my camera soon and i sincerely hope that this is the last of my posts that reflects the summer. (fallllll. where are you? i'm tired of turning the AC up and shutting myself in my room so i can wear sweaters and listen to iron & wine!)

Philadelphia

pat's cheesesteak

this weekend karmaa took a little trip to philly. if me referring to my friends as karmaa or the fact that i call it philly makes you want to vomit in your mouth a little, well, it is what it is.

it was kind of a whirlwind trip and a good amount of it was spent at udel. thrrrrrowback. megan and i got there a bit early and had sushi and margarita pizza while waiting out dark skies, lightning and a storm to kick off the summer.

in (finally) getting to philly, we took a cab to old city and went to national mechanics and lucy's hat shoppe. national mechanics had solitary lightbulbs hanging everywhere, a great draft beer list and venus fly trap terrariums. lucy's hat shoppe was essentially a dance party.

the next day we walked around and explored the city for a few hours and even saw the liberty bell (through the glass). here are some pictures from the trip.

we ran into terrible traffic on the way home saturday afternoon, so while alli entertained me with bruce springsteen impressions, ashley did this:

we eventually made it back to fairfax and alli literally cried when we told her we'd go with her to get beer, guacamole and a plate of beef at uncle julio's. negro modelo is goooooood.

Jamaica

i honestly didn't even get that tan.