hands up and touch the sky

See you next year, summer. I'm a little sad to see you go, but I'll be glad to see 90+ degree days leave us. It's been pretty laid back, but a lot of stuff snuck in there -- the best kind of summer I think.

Summer 2012 tally:
- 2 weddings (with #3 coming up in a few weeks!)
- 4 Lou Malnati's pizza parties
- 5 concerts in Prospect Park (Laura Marling; Ghostface Killah; Childish Gambino/Danny Brown/SchoolboyQ; Wilco; Wild Flag)
- many first times including a trip to LA, hanging out in Jersey City, standing up in a friend's wedding, swimming at a NYC beach (the Rockaways!), and going to a bachelorette party (this is that scary part of our 20's where there's some kind of snowball and everyone gets married, isn't it?)
- a visit from two of my favvvvvorite people ever
- plus, 12 weeks of fresh summer vegetables (CSA!) and subsequent super delicious stuff being made
- this also just might be known as the summer of the frozen zombie fishbowl...we had a few too many.

I have no way to quantify the number of times I actually listened to Starships, but it's way more than what I recorded on last.fm. It definitely wound up being my song of the summer. I tried my hardest to avoid Call Me Maybe, but it was totally inescapable, particularly watching any sort of Olympics swimming coverage. yikes.

bring on it on, fall -- I have a sweater and some new shoes I'd love to wear. thanks. ::cue exit music::

we wake up with the sun in our eyes

Photo diary of my first trip to LA this past weekend, for my friends' wedding in Long Beach. Lots of beautiful weather and touristy fun. Back in New York now, it's been raining/misting for two days, which is making me super miss California!

things move fast around here

The time has come: my friends are starting to get married. I went to my first non-family/family-friend wedding this weekend in Columbus, OH. Despite some travel woes (flight to Chicago delayed 90 minutes! first flight to Columbus canceled!) we barely made it to Ohio for the rehearsal dinner on Saturday night. As we rushed to get dressed and ran downstairs in the hotel, we came around the corner to see the bride- and groom-to-be making their way there, too. We met Elliot for the first time (so sweet!) and reunited with Alissa (gorgeous, as per usual). It was a mini-college reunion of sorts, meeting some newer friends along the way who told their own stories of the progression of Alissa and Elliot's movie-like relationship.

the bride-to-be at the rehearsal dinner! she never stopped smiling all weekend 

 rehearsal dinner outfit shots with my wedding weekend roomies

The wedding was beautiful -- as was their bridal party (talk about good genes in those families!) -- and the reception was a blast. We felt honored to be a part of their celebration and see the beginning of what I'm sure will be a wonderful life together. It felt funny at first to attend a wedding where I had never met the groom, but I was quick to understand and see how well they fit together.

The wedding and reception were at the Franklin Park Conservatory. The space and the decor were perfect! We all loved her berry and sage green color scheme, and the earthy elements they spread throughout: the sticks under the wedding cake, rocks with your name for place cards, and the lantern center pieces.

The signing of the ketubah and the ceremony under the chuppah were full of smiles and meaningful glances. I loved watching her parents during the ceremony - they looked so happy and proud!

circling the groom - the point at which I started to get teary-eyed 

first dance to Stand By Me 

with Alissa! Congrats, again!!

the pretty little patter of a seaboard town

Just about one week ago I was heading off to Newport, RI with team T.E.A.M. (tiffany, eve, ana, and [myself]) for the Newport Folk Festival. Our drive was never too traffic-y (thanks, John!) and our hotel was kind of ridiculously oversized for the 4 of us.

On the surface, Newport is a really typical waterside vacation spot. All the buildings have the same look and feel and themes, but what sets Newport apart is its insanely prep-bro visitors. It's like being smacked in the face with a Ralph Lauren catalog. Despite the almost pathetically stupid things that some of the drunk dudes on the street said to us, the town was cute and I'm sorry we couldn't spend more daylight time walking around. Rather, our day on Saturday was spent out at Ft. Adams State Park for the festival, which was a beautiful location and delightfully breezy. We ate and drank and possibly got too much sun exposure. It was fantastic.

Musical highlights of my day included Gogol Bordello, Delta Spirit, and the Decemberists. Colin Meloy (jokingly?) mocked the "party flotillas" out in the water catching the concert for free (or rather, for the price of already having a boat you can sit on all day). We missed Earl Scruggs because we were eating hotdogs (necessary). We also sat in the shade tent during Gillian Welch and I let her gorgeous voice lull me into an almost-sleep.

Sunday we attempted to visit the Breakers before heading back to NYC, but were very sad to find out that it costs $19 a pop to get in. We walked past a lot of the mansions, though, and I have grand dreams (probably to never be realized) of living seaside now.

my life as a Vanderbilt (ha!) #gpoy