christmas fun?

Juno 3 times , is defitnetly better than Juno the first time...
On christmas day michelle cooked me and luis christmas dinner..
i got hella full off potatoes...that's all i really want to eat for the rest of my life POTATOES!!!
I love love love marathons and i watched a few before dinner , Kimore Lee life on the Fab lane
is my new obsession. She is fucking crazy..talking to her kids asking them if they like her emerald ring or her chinchila coat...they are fucking 6 and she expects them to have opinions about that stuff..CRAZY
but i love it....
After dinner michelle wanted to see Juno which i had no objection against, but i did have an objection to the theatre that she wanted to see it in .
We went to the Art theatre in Long Beach which had the most uncomfortable chairs in the world ..i think my knees were up to my chest.. never going back there doesn't matter how indie and hipster it can be..i want to go to the mainstream theatres with the reclining seats!!!!


a few days ago there was a real awesome christmas party at annel's that consisted of good food and good conversation....
Luis at one point became obsessed with making apple cider which solidified him as king of the kitchen for the night.






Now on to christmas eve....











my little sister got 2 bags full of gifts and the first one she opened was priceless. It was this life size doll named Emily who you could make walk along with you (weird right?) Well this doll became the focal point for all the pictures i took that night.


She also had this problem with her skirt..no matter how you sat her down you could always see her underwear , and we wonder where kids get this stuff (we can't blame britney for everything).

I got some cool stuff...but like every christmas i spend most of it in my room waiting for the food..
im a grinch

my mini new york trip

i went to new york for technically 4 days...it was the fastest trip of my life..
eventhough my atlanta,ga trip to visit luis on warped tour a few years back
was basically the shortest trip of my life it lasted a day...)
I was hoping that being in new york during christmas time would put me in the christmas spirit, because all those who know me well know im a huge grinch.
That was a negative, but i did get to see everyone i wanted to see (including a certain band that played a certain show that was pretty awesome)
I rediscovered my love for new york food.
Whatever it is , i want it...
i could go on and on about these past four days
mostly about the cold and how im a pussy and can't deal but i wont .....
and i'll just let you enjoy these few pictures i have....

i wish i was asian

wonderful

birthday/disneyland/yogurtland...it's been awhile

You only turn 7 once right?

Why not celebrate it like your older sister celebrates almost every birthday (who cares if she's 24) Wednesday night our family decided to take my little sister for a pre-birthday celebration at our local chuck e. cheese little did we know that it was already being taken over by such a high number of kids that they could be considered a small village in africa, 780 kids were there for a fundraiser . YES 780 kids....this not including whoever else decided to stop by that night. I don't think i could ever imagine soo many kids cramped into such a small space. That wasn't even what pissed me off what really got me mad was the food...I ordered a chicken ciabatta i waited half an hour just to have them come to my table and tell me they ran out..then i waited another twenty minutes to be served something i didn't even wan to eat. It was pretty awesome (not)

I did hit up my traditional photobooth and this time i didn't have to fight any kids. what can i say i keep it classy....



Next day the celebration continued at Disneyland.

Luckily my family is like me and hates waiting in line. My first ride was the new nemo ride which was snoozeville TILL they got to the good stuff ..it was 3dish and so cute...defitnetly the longest ride in disneyland. After they decided they wanted to go to the haunted mansion, and me and shadi and i decided to get churros which made it impossible for us to get back in line , so we thought. Actually we learned a trick , say that you are looking for your friends in line and they let you go through the fastpass line . We ended up waiting infront of the haunted mansion for about 40 minutes where we had a disneyland worker who i affectionately named "shrimp" harass me and shadi about our churros then he just became creepy and decided he was going to be a dick. I think i almost slapped him and that was enough to keep him away . Hunger led us to california adventures where we ate some mexican food and were not harassed by the workers there so far california adventures has soo much over disneyland. Alcohol, Less rides that equal less people, a fake hollywood blvd, and mexican food.






We left there after to go pick up shadi's thanksgiving dinner at whole foods in tustin. Now here is the thing anytime me and shadi are out we seem to always have this NEED for frozen yogurt and i just start getting on my sidekick googling the closest pinkberry or more likely pinkberry rip off. I know that im just jumping on this bandwagon but really the taste of green tea yogurt with chocolate chips and mochi balls is enough to get anyone hooked. So far there are two locations that are suitable pinkberry replacements....

1st. Yogurtberry

This discovery came out of necessity while i waited for a show at the Wiltern to start and there was no Pinkberry in sight. A few weeks later i was waiting for another show at the Troubadour and came across another location. This place is the best because the green tea is just tart enough, an excellent pinkberry replica that doesn't even make you think of the original ..

2nd Yogurtworld

It seems that shows make me desperate for frozen yogurt because after a Kevin Devine show in San Diego i googled a frozen yogurt place , the only thing that came up was this coocky named place called yogurtworld and eventhough we were hesitate it was early and i was pretty much the most persistent person. When we got there it seemed like this cute little koreatown and it also looked like the place to be. Everyone was dressed up walking from the boba place to yogurtworld to some odd korean restaurant. There was a line that curbed all the way outside and it seemed to be some sort of self serve place ..i got my usual and it was only 2 bucks making me a complete yogurtworld believer too bad it's so far away....


Now that i went on that tangent, i googled something around the area of Tustin hoping that i would be just as good as all the other rip offs we tasted . A few minutes later i had got us directions to this place called Yogurtland , when we got there it was exactly like yogurtworld was . Self serve, weigh and pay so i thought it was going to be just as delicious as yogurtworld. NOT the yogurt wasn't even tart i felt like i was eating goldenspoon which is not a suitable pinkberry replacement. I do admit the more i ate the more i didn't hate it..but still not very good. Luckily right next door there was a hello kitty store that i forced shadi into (thank god i did) Not only was there hello kitty stuff in there but there were also Japanese photobooths.
You know those bright background , wig wearing , decorate your own picture photobooths. 28 dollars later me and shadi had wore 4 different wigs and 4 different hats and we were BEYOND happy about them.
adventures adventures...
i love run on sentences....

left over.

it started with a parking lot...



after the long drive....


after a few drinks...

after a great show.....


the end.

polaroids...

i lagged on scanning these so here is a few things i found and decided to scan.

{ new york}

there are a gazillion more of these but i love these pictures,
i miss coney island, catherine , and lexy a lot! (amongs other things, and people of course)
the time i spend in that city this summer and the memories i have of it are so near to my heart
i hope i can go back soon...
The coney island shot was taken after i decided that i had never been so i woke up one morning and took the train by myself there. It was a week day around 10 o'clock so it was basically deserted. I snapped the pic ate at nathans and then headed home, Me and Catherine took this polaroid at some random diner parking lot after the jesse lacey/kevin devine show in poughkeepsie, ny. We both had polaroids and because of this we were even further convinced we are the same person, the picture of lexy was taken at coney island when we headed there for the siren festival that i couldn't even stay for since i had work at 4 that day. We ate at nathan's where i bought Lexy a beer and she continued to get fucked up without me.







{vegas}
i love that me and shadi look drunk in that pic, i have never been good with self taken polaroid pics, the picture of kathy sleeping in the car on the way home is so gorgeous, and then that's shadi doing her makeup before we went out.






{last TRS show in LA august 2003}
I found this one and realized that i have known this kid longer than i thought.
So much has changed in the last four years and I'm just so happy for him and his
success. This was taken after the glasshouse show in pomona by my ex-bf (which is
why i was so uncomfortable) That show would be the last time i saw his band play.






{Luis' Birthday}

This night was full of ups and downs, but a lot of good food and good friends.
After poor Michelle was lying sick in a CVS pharmacy aisle , we bought her some
medicine and send her home to bed but before she left we snapped this shot.


{Victor and a thrift store}

This was taken a few weeks ago when Victor and I decided to take on every thrift store in my area. He tried on this sweater and i snapped this shot. He later ended up buying it but telling the clerk he found it in the kids section so he could get it at a cheaper price. What can i say this guy is classy.... sigh

vegas

I went to Vegas this past week..(to see brand new of course)
First there was a San Diego trip that was actually fun?
Dare i say.
BUT i hate hate hate san diego crowds, all they know how to do is talk and be obnoxious.
I get that people think i'm weird because i see the same band a gazillion times and that
maybe i do get a little defensive because of it but while jesse was playing coca-cola by himself
and everyone was talking and i just wanted to cry (dramatic i know) but i felt like we were at
an open mic night and there was someone onstage trying their best at getting this song out
and everyone was not just talking but fucking shouting shit over an acoustic song..
i almost punched the guy behind me..i thought that it was worth getting in a fight over..and i wasn't even drunk.

oh san diego why do we have such a love/hate relationship?

after the show we drove to temecula to pick up kathy then me and shadi stayed up and drove half way to las vegas. The funny thing is we left at 3:30 and thought we were being such troopers ..we listened to random shit while we drove , even had a "drunk" rendition of "fall from grace" by the get up kids...
Our anthem became "breaking up" by rilo kiley and somehow we decided we were going to watch the sunrise till we made it to 5 o' clock and found out (thanks to weather.com) that the sun was rising at 6:11 that morning so we threw in the towel and kathy and michelle had the driving shifts.

We got there around 9am couldn't check into the Palms till 12pm but we spotted the Sonics down the street and felt right at home (at least me and michelle did that is) We went to the Aladdin mall so i can check out their urban outfitters (alright) then we hit up H&M where i got a hat (typical) but by that time we were walking zombies. We headed to the hotel where we all proceeded to pass the fuck out . Waking up around 3ish so we can get our Buffet on.
Now if you know me you know that i love food. Me and food have a relationship and it gets pretty rocky sometimes but when it comes to buffets its the strongest of all loves. The Mgm buffet is the best , shadi and i discovered it on our previous trip to vegas. So for 30 dollars we munched on crab legs, lamb, and some mexican cuisine . By this time it was 6pm and i really wanted to check out mewithoutyou (only for the reason that i felt threatened to ) we planned the rest of the night accordingly to make it to their set. Michelle though back at the Palms had opened a tab and we took full advantage of that i took 4 shots of something, had a glass of jack daniels and a midori sour and i was ready for the show. We got inside and thought we were about to see mewithoutyou but we were beyond all reason disapointed when we saw Thrice setting up. Now here is the thing, i don't like thrice i think they put on a good show for those that do , but i really really really don't like their style of music. I don't think they are the worst band ever but if i don't have to see them play i'd be a lot happier. Thank God for the alcohol in my system because they were completely bearable. By the time Brand New was going to hit the stage i figured that the alcohol would of left my system WRONG...i was fucking drunk acting a fool , kind of funny , kind of not...all i remember is freaking out for "archers" which the night before in san diego was the best performance i have ever seen them do of it and rocking out like that would of made sense but for the vegas show...my "rocking" out skills defitnetly didn't fit the mood and i must of looked like an ass but fuck that ...i had fun.
they played well and i was beyond sad to see them go (i might of shed a tear cuz im lame)
it's really hard to get people to understand my whole thing with brand new...
but i love them , they are the only band i still go to see play and it's like a drug.
It gets me through the day ..it brings back soo many memories . It's almost like they
are an imprint of my past and they continue to be of the future. I've met a lot of people through that band, been to a lot of different places because of them, and somehow their music is still good and still completely worth seeing. And when it gets bad i'll stop but it's not about anything besides the music and the good friends i share it with. Trust me i don't want to have Jesse Lacey's baby or anything......

so now that im done with that rant...

We gambled a little after (i lost 40 dollars not awesome)
and then passed out sometime after 2 , woke up at 5am, when it was shadi's turn to drive and i was her wing(wo)man. Now this was probably the most enjoyable drive of my life!!! there was a lot of great music, lost of good laughs, some musicals not going to lie...but defitnetly the best time i've had in a car in awhile (wink wink) Now basically pavement "shady lane" will always remind me of this trip.
God more people need to be into Pavement!
There was an Arizona trip in the works but things didn't work out.
Sometimes real life just gets in the way

i have a lot on my mind.

but that will have to wait for another day.
i miss the days where i used to hide behind
a camera lense....
if you know where that girl is someone tell her
that im looking for her.

im allergic to cats

Lately i spend most of my time in long beach , having recently aquired a job

that is close to there and with Michelle's big move there i have more of a reason

to hang around.



I love that city actually having lived there as a younging (but not having any recollection of it_) I always knew that i would somehow end up back there. (even before it became "the new silverlake") The people there are chill, the housing seems to be a radical mixture of poor, vintage, and luxury that i really don't get, but the best part of Long Beach has to be....

Hole Mole!!!
i am beyond addicted to this little mexican food restaurant.
The prices are affordable , there are 81 cent refillable chips.
Their sopes are to die for and if you don't want to
eat too much you can always go for a .49 cent bean taco ....
This is really what i have surrendered to for the last 3 weeks.
I don't crave anything ever but Hole Mole.. there have been
days where i've had it twice in one day .
My order :

2 bean tacos
2 potato tacos
chips
..
sometimes i get
one carne asada sope
and
1 bean taco
and
1 potato taco
......................... you have to change it up sometimes ya know?

Someone needs to find out if they lace there food with coke because of how majorly addicted i am ( it is long beach)

Anyways besides hole mole..i've been spending lots of time with Michelle and in her apartment she has two loveable cats which would be fine if i wasn't allergic . But the first time i slept over i took two allergy pills and somehow still ended up not being able to breathe and spend the whole night with an AWFUL asthma attack. On my second stay i took the pill again and she vaccummed her entire room and her clothes (that were on her btw) and it was fine , light sneezing but fine. Now i just take a pill and hope for the best and you know what i think im becoming immune to those little fuckers..but im still not allowed to touch them because im scared of going to the emergency room but i do really want to play with them :(




today is Luis' birthday ....
so here is a picture to remind me of how much i love him...





happy birthday luis!