you say insect, i say magic little beast

last week i met up with my sister and nephew in washington dc. though (and i knock on wood when i say this), i feel that new york city has been relatively kind to us this summer, my fair sister, accustomed to the freakishly mild weather in Northern California (I really have come to understand how unusually nice it is there compared to the rest of the country...), was drowning in the relative heat and humidity.

always the pollyanna, i periodically pointed out the beautiful side of the ugly east coast summer. i see these as little rewards for putting up with it. like leaving the house knowing you'll return after midnight, in a tank top, with no sweater. like an incredible, awe-for-nature-inducing thunder and lightning storm just went you think you'll simultaneously melt into a gelatinous puddle and spontaneously combust.

and then there are the fireflies. i understand that they are just insects. i understand that they light up to find their mates. yet none of this understanding changes the fact that they are 100% undeniably pure MAGIC. i remember the first one i saw. it was the 4th of july of 1997, my first summer on the east coast. of course i knew about fireflies, but they resided in that category of my brain labeled "exisiting only in the realm of books, television and movies". You know, mac n cheese and pizza behind the lunch line at school. That doesn't really happen except in sitcoms, does it? or halloween parties where every single person shows up in perfect and elaborate get-ups that could sell for $300 at a costume shop.

but there i was, sitting on the porch, and there came floating through lynn's yard, one of those mythical fairies, lighting up like a beacon. I squealed. I screamed. Suddenly they were everywhere. a veritable freakin' fairy garden. like maxfield parish must be lurking behind a bush around the corner. they may as well have been little unicorn/pegauses (pegasi?) flapping purple wings around.

and thus, i don't remember the fireworks. just the fairies.

Considering abbie is my sister and not only shares my exact dna, but also my environmental upbringing, i counted on her to have the exact same reaction. and how pleasing it was.

we toured the national monuments at sunset which led into twilight. as we walked away from lincoln's steps, past the expansive mall and into the pathways of trees and bushes, I knew they'd be there. i stopped abbie and put my hand on her shoulder to impart a great sense of drama. stay still and just LOOK over there! i whispered. and soon enough the squealing came. dozens of little fairies thanking us for putting up with the heat and humidity. our little consolation prizes.

our friendly tourguide, who'd been here for 30 years shook his head, laughing. he said, possibly to the bushes, possibly to the serious statue of lincoln, "....and these are grown women!"



oh! and i forgot to mention the glorious and spellbinding cicadas....

i'm totally fired. from my imaginary job as a graphic designer, i mean.

i'm sorry to be such a bad blogger. i have fun stuff planned for this summer, like this past weekend at miguel and alison's beach house on the jersey shore where i got to remember why i went to uc santa cruz where fraternities and sororities are ILLEGAL. seriously. they feel that strongly about it. and so, apparently, do i. i mean, don't get me wrong, it was uplifting to see that drunk guy 'pretend' to push his also inebriated girlfriend into the path of a car. oops, thank goodness for power brakes! but really, lest i sound ungrateful, the weekend was amazing. the ocean, divine. i was stressed that i forgot the power cord to my laptop, so i couldn't do my photoshop homework, but perhaps that enhanced the loveliness of the getaway.

i know there was a point to all this before i started ranting like a cranky 65 year old judge at his summer home...ah, and that was, i'm all booked up for weekends as though this is summer or something, yet my schedule does not really accommodate. work and school and homework and planning a wedding i will officiate. too much! long enough excuse for the patchy posting?

okay, so i had to throw my homework together today. let me just say that I AM NOT A DESIGNER. in that respect i am totally and completely alone in my class. so don't laugh at me. too much.
okay, you can laugh.

below, two option for a 're-design the new york times cook book' assignment. and a fun poll.

poll by twiigs.com

p.s. you can click on the cookbooks to make them bigger.

anyone for a halloween barbeque?

is anyone else concerned that we're well past the autumnal equinox and it was 88 degrees and humid yesterday? record setting. and not that it was just yesterday, but that summer hasn't waned in strength in all these post summer months. everyone walks around new york in their shorts and smiles that the weather is so pleasant and all i can think is, "this shit ain't right!".

poisonous summer

don't mean to sound down, but there's no getting around it. this summer sucks hard core. i can't even joke about it right now. hopefully i'll be able to find the humor in it and share it with you. or else i'll just whine. for now, my life is a baited, poisonous area. keep out. a little more dealing then off to vacation where i can pretend it doesn't exist. then come back and deal some more.

what's your name? who's your daddy? boom chick ah...

when i left new york it was rainy and cold. even though i was only in california for four days, i had a feeling that i would return to summer. and indeed, summer has arrived. hot hot hot today and a beautiful balmy night tonight (82 degrees at this 1:31am), which made for a lovely walk home in a tank top but for difficult sleeping without having visions of installing the a/c and then fighting over how often to use it. because except for those five minutes when i re-enter the house and i think i've been expedited to overheated hell, i generally am not a friend of air conditioning.
yes, the weather. expect to hear more of it. because in new york it's not polite conversation, it's very relevant bitching!