Happy Happy Jacs

Well…today is the one and only Jacs birthday and I figured I needed to address how seriously amazing this girl is. I could do my typical, I love this bitch, and some sappy snappy shiz but I’m gonna take a different route with some tops.

Top Five Reasons why she is awesome
1. She is the loudest burper you will ever meet
2. She will eat all your food…and then hers (take notice of order)
3. She will drink tap water from just about everywhere including Mexico
4. She will rally at any time…regardless of situation.
5. She will slam back New England clam chowder straight from the pot at 4am. And then throw it up immediately.

Top Ten Mems
1. Darwin Deez….no words
2. Foster the People…
Mark Foster “so what do you girls do?”
Jackie “we are waitresses”
Me “we are? Wait, I’m not a waitress. I’m a social worker”
Jackie “oh yea, I’m a speech therapist. Shit”
3. It’s your first day with your new leg, eh?
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr…stage skeletons, complete sweaty mess, unforgettable laughs
5. New York…”if your liquor store doesn’t carry balls vodka, tell em to get some”
6. Meeting brothers who were looking to score some dates and some…well drugs. Sorry, it’s not typical we throw back lines on a Wednesday night, or ever for that matter.
7. Sabrina’s brunch…two hour waits and amazing acoustic performances
8. Sitting by the water, talking about life.
9. Mo Money No Problems.
10. Watching some girl take pictures of herself for hours in the park. Feeling embarrassed for her stupidness.


Top 15 reasons why you want to be her friend
1. She will tell you she loves you every time she sees you
2. She will help you realize the important things in life.
3. She will remind you how precious life really is.
4. She will show you what it means to be strong.
5. She will teach you about white rooms.
6. She will inspire you.
7. She will remind you to be non-judgmental.
8. She will always be there, regardless of when she is needed.
9. She will give you a mani/pedi whenever you want.
10. She will listen and listen and listen.
11. She will teach you about compassion.
12. She will always remember important dates, events, and things going on in your life.
13. She will help you laugh when laughs are needed
14. She will remind you that no one is perfect. And every one is insecure about something.
15. She will be the best friend you could ever ask for.

Okay…I do just have to say however, that I cannot be more thankful to know Jackie. To know her story. To experience life with her every day. To realize what it’s like to be loved, really loved. I have been blessed with one of the best friends a girl could ask for. My life would absolutely positively not be the same without her.

…I’m done…No really…I’m done…

Looking forward to tonight :)

Birthday Earthday Celebration NYC

Total Weekend Craziness…

Friday: Hopped on the good ol’ Bolt Bus for an amazing quick but smelly ride to NYC. Arrived at Nick and Dana’s in the Upper East Side only to grab our first slice of many of Go 99 pizza. 99cents and awesome! Stopped by the liquor store to grab some pre-game goods…Balls Vodka? Absolutely. “If your liquor store doesn’t carry Balls…well…tell them to get some.” Clerk totally talked us into this vodka and of course the name grabbed our attention. Can I say puke and rally? Regardless, it did the trick.




After a slight girly fit of wardrobe annoyances and overly hot hairstyling we were on our way. First stop, I don’t know, I would call it Poop Bar. I swear, farts follow Jackie and I just to every concert we go to. And even though I think farts are absolutely hilarious, it’s a little strange that we are constantly surrounded by the nastiest farters everywhere we go. This bar however took this phenomenon to a whole different level. Upon entering the bar we were informed that the bathrooms were closed due to clogged toilets. Nick had to actually leave the bar to find a bathroom. Within 30 minutes in this joint we noticed the floor was alarmingly wet. I started to make a joke that the bathroom was overflowing into the bar. Joke…yea…no this shit was real. Poop and toilet water was flowing everywhere. Fortunately, I was on a smoke break when they announce the bar needed to be evacuated. Gross, just gross.






Moved on to the next joint, which was much cleaner to say the least. Ordered my first vodka and club only to receive it sans the vodka. I mean come on, do people really think you can’t taste that there is no vodka in your drink? I dunno, but luckily the bartender did not even fight me on the fact he forgot to include the most important ingredient. Ass. Overall good time at this spot, but time to move to the dance floor.



Hit up the next bar which was supposed to have a good DJ. This dude was the absolute worst DJ I have ever heard. I am sorry…please never play Kings of Leon on a dance floor. Magic will not happen. Dana asked the DJ to play a song at one point and he commented that he likes to stick to his shitty music to piss off all the people who made fun of him in high school. Get over it assfuck…you suck. High School was like 15 years ago. I can’t believe they even paid this guy.
Headed out to the streets after this douche annoyed us enough only to have the most hilarious half hour ‘go home or hit up late night’ talk ever. After realizing it was just about 4 am we decided slice #2 at GO 99 was a much better idea to end our, what was supposed to be, very low key night. At this point, there is not much more I can remember.




Saturday:

Woke up grabbed some goods from the grocery store for our day load at Central Park. It was a beautiful day and we were ready to grab some Shake Shack and enjoy the weather. Shake Shack Portobello Burger…simply amazing. Filled with enough cheese I have decided to give it up for a little while. Overload to say the least, but oh so good.





The rest of the day in the park consisted dodging the sun, jumping rope, playing twister, eating fruit, and preparing for the night ahead of us. No cell phone service in Central Park caused Nick a major dinner planning set back. Not to mention, not many places were down with taking a 15 person reservation day of on a Saturday night. Maybe in Philly…Not in New York. However, we all benefited from this in the end. Tacombi NYC @ Fonda Nolita probably has the most delicious tacos ever made. I mean, what can be better than ordering tacos from an old VW bus? Highly recommend this joint.

Next we headed over to the Bowery Ballroom for Gordon Voidwell and BearHands. Gordon Voidwell was amazing. I absolutely loved the vibe of this show. I was not so much interested in BearHands so I decided to rest my busted ankle at the bar during the show. Curing my pain with many many drinks was a very good idea at this point, since we had not even hit the dance floor yet.



After the show we headed over to Von which was so much fun. We danced our asses off for hours. At one point I dodged a fight, due to my much more mature nature these days, which makes me very very proud. I just don’t have time for all that nonsense any more…girls are bitches, what can you do? Met the coolest bartender in the world, with the most incredible afro ever. I asked her for an Amstel and a water and not understanding my ridiculous (I guess?) Philly accent she had no idea what I was asking for. Finally after like saying, water 1000 times, she got the point…and loved me from that point on. She told me that peeps from Philly were her favorite, and from that point forward, my drinks were free. Score! After this, night was blurred. Mark’s attempt to slam back basically a whole GO 99 pie along with two Stromboli swirls is pretty much all I remember.

Sunday:

Woke up and decided my attempt to catch an earlier bus back than scheduled was not going to work in my favor. Felt kinda bad about missing the day with my pops but I am sure he understood. Decided that since I was staying, I could grab lunch with one of my favorite people in the whole world, Kerry Lynn.

Threw back some beers and tofu at Szechuan Gourmet all while spending just about three hours catching up. Talking with Ker always makes me feel so good. She is the perfect reminder that being where I am at in life is just perfect. Plans for Arcadia National Park and Cambodia are in the works. Hopefully, travel dates and plans can coincide with my schedule.

Overall, the weekend was amazing. Nick and Dana are probably the best hosts ever. It’s always nice to feel welcome in a home away from home. Madame is pretty awesome too; a courtship between her and Jose is the making. Birthday celebrations for Jackie continue this week…stay tuned.

LMW

look up.
look out.
look down.
look in.
regardless.
i know you're there.

one

Ready. Set. Erase.

Burn my thoughts
Empty the page
New Endings
Old mistakes
All the wouldas
Couldas
Should have beens
Are gone.
Absent.
Lost.
Erased.

If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?
~Eihei Dogen

Happy Birfs Al

So today marks the birth of one of my favoritist (yea thats a word) people in the whole wide world. I met Allison about 9 months ago through my good friend Jackie (her roommate) and I instantly knew that we would become life long friends. At first we just spent weekends together loading up on pre-bar shots, uncomfortable cab rides, sweaty dance floors, and late night munchies. It was not until we started taking our regular Schuykill walks that I really got to know Al. This I cannot be more thankful for.

Allison is one of the most confident people that I know and I appreciate that she is (unfortunately) younger than me, but so much more aware of herself. She is just so extremely beautiful inside and out. There is never a time I am with her that I don't leave feeling that I deserve nothing but the best, and nothing short of it. She has taught me to feel what you feel, and not be ashamed of anything that makes your heart beat.

Along with being extremely confident I would say that she is absolutely positively one of the most genuine people that I know. There's no bullshit. She tells it like it is, treats you with respect, and makes you feel loved all in one. I know I can always count on Al for an honest opinion and a genuine answer. I love her for that.

I look forward to the rest of our years together. My experience so far, in Philadelphia, would not have been remotely the same without getting to know Allison. I am more than thankful to have met her and to have gained such an incredible friend, and roommate from afar.

All the mushy loveyness aside, I just love.love.love this bitch. She is awesome. If you don't know her...do everything in your power to do so. Promise it will be worth it.

Happy Happy Happy Births Allison!! I can't wait to celebrate your day with you tonight. Fuck the heat...here's to you lovey.

il bel far niente

The tattoo on my forearm...il bel far niente...the italian expression meaning "the beauty of doing nothing," is constantly questioned especially by people who don't know me at all. Sometimes when asked what it means I make up something ridiculous just to get a reaction. However, when I do tell people what it actually means, typically their response is "oh how depressing." How depressing, really? To a pessimist of course. To me...not so much.

The beauty of doing nothing is really the space between all the hustle and bustle of life. Learning to appreciate the down time with your family and friends, the time spent doing "nothing" is what is really important to me. These are the moments that matter.

I know a lot of people who spend so much of their time focused on money, money, career, career, you know, the American way, and I just can't understand why. What for? None of it matters. In the end, what will career focused success and money bring you? Absolutely nothing. Nothing but more desire to desire more. It never ends.

I decided a couple of years ago that I will not fall into this typical way of living and I will measure my success through my relationships with people and my experience in life. This to me is what truly matters because ultimately it will shape you into the person that you were meant to become. All the doing "nothing" will help create opportunities for me to understand what is important, and therefore in turn, what is NOT.

This may not be the way everyone thinks, and I completely appreciate that, however, this works for me. This is what makes me happy, and what helps me to realize that in the end ((whatever the end is)) I will have spent my time enjoying doing nothing. Nothing else matters. It never will. Not to me. Nor to anyone else willing to take a step back and really see, really feel, life as it is.


“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~Maya Angelou.