ho hey—tuesday

Apparently, I have over-thought and spent way too much money on all my past birthday parties and get-togethers—this is clearly all you need for a good time: suspenders, flickering lights, a couple of banjos, and confetti.

summer of 01...?

One of the not so wonderful things about going to DePaul is being on the quarter system.  This means that instead of semesters, I have three ten week periods of classes during the year and then a summer break.  This also means that summer break comes around the second week of June—almost more than a month later than some of normal scheduled schools get out.

My friend Jackie is therefore at home, with nothing better to do than rifle through old pictures and sent this to me the other night:

Precious I know. Right now, I want nothing more than to have carefree, Girl Scout-activity-filled, goggle-wearing, rainbow-suit clad, running-through-all-sprinklers-in-sight, bucket-hat summers.  Let's hurry up and get this over with, finals.

up on the rooftop

It's finally above 50 degrees in Chicago! Which—besides breaking out the skirts, sunglasses, and summer shandies—means picnics of epic proportions.  Last night, we had a brief one on our rooftop deck. Cut short by the incoming rain, we enjoyed paninis, Coronas, and root beer floats.

Maybe we'll get a grill and some rope lights this summer to have a proper 500 Days of Summer rooftop bash. 

And maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt will show up.

an ode to my mother

Happy Mother's Day!
[Okay, I legitimately thought this published on Sunday. So we're just having this be a little belated.]

A quick tribute to Karen, the woman that gave me life. Here are some of my favorite moments/memories with her:

1) The time I was sick and missed the premiere of Cheaper By the Dozen (the remake) with all of my friends.  Mom made me stay home but popped popcorn and rented the Lucille Ball version of the movie. (I would later discover this is the far superior version anyway).

2) The year she wore this for Halloween. To her work.

3) The year I had my birthday party on April Fool's Day and she made an Angel Food cake with cotton balls.  She laughed and videoed me as I unknowingly consumed several bites, trying to understand why everyone was laughing.

4) Every year after my birthday, we'd go on a shopping spree together with all my acquired birthday cash. I'm terribly indecisive—there's no way a full day of tween wardrobe shopping could have been fun for her.  But she always pretended to be excited—our tradition of California Pizza Kitchen probably played a large part in that...

5) The other day when I was texting her in Starbucks about a cute guy sitting at the table next to me:

She always knows what to say (or not say).

Thank you, mom. Love you.