These are Mary's Hands...

Run-on sentence of the day: These are Mary's hands that she covered in purple paint and drizzled with yellow so that she could put her hand-prints on the wall of our building's game room which was being painted by people's hand-prints to raise money and awareness for Relay for Life which is sponsored by the American Cancer society. Try saying that ten times fast.

The Times

Not the most exciting picture, but a nice one. This is the side of the New York Times Company building, which is right across the street from Port Authority.

More Classy Shoes

Although Mama D has some very classy shoes, these bowling shoes might just be classier. Today was the NYU Seniors Bowling event, and these are the shoes worn by the equally classy people in my bowling group. A good time was had by all, and the shoes weren't too uncomfortable, either. I actually managed one score over 100, which is pretty good for me, and had a good time with old friends as well as people I had just met.

''I Bet This Is Mary's Diary!''

I think the look on my suitemate Kelly's face says it all on finding this little black notebook on my roommate Mary's bed.=

Rough Game

This picture was taken last weekend while Mike and Dave (guys I knew from high school) were visiting. This old Gameboy console was on display at the Nintendo Store and was apparently a Gulf War survivor--it sounds odd to call the Gameboy a survivor, doesn't it?

Reading Room

The main reading room at the New York Public Library. Whenever I walk in here, I'm reminded of the opening scenes of Ghostbusters. That probably makes me a silly person. And I'm ok with that.

Electric Fountain

Some call it art, some call it metal, some call it really really big. It's the new art installment at Rockefeller Center, and it's meant to imitate the look of a real water fountain.

Dave Does Teatime

Dave, visiting New York City, decides to take a moment out for some tea on the sidewalk near Rockefeller Square. Look at how daintily he holds the tea cup.

Balto!

These little kids posed on the statue of Balto in Central Park. Apparently Balto was a good dog, although I'm not sure what exactly he did.

Construction Workers

While my friends Mike and Dave were in town from Milwaukee we saw these guys doing work at the Times Square station.

''We'll only make you pay 10 dollars, but you have to clap''

So both of the C(h)ristina's dragged me out to see this band called Locksley at the Mercury Lounge, which is this tiny little venue on the Lower East Side. This band might just be a new favorite of mine because they happen to sound like the bastard children of the Beatles and Jet. If those two bands ever made musical babies. An additional fun fact: they grew up in Madison-with the drummer looking like a veritable hipster woodsman in tight jeans and a plaid shirt. This pic is of their bassist, Jordan, who's in high school and skipped school to play the show. =

Vacation Recap

Another photo essay, courtesy of the vacation to Hawaii I'm still jetlagging from. To make the pictures full size, just click on them.

A philosopher's chair...rarely sat in but often pondered.


My step-dad Chris enjoying a sunset at the beach.

Obligatory sunset picture number 2

My step-grandmother Susan refusing to sit correctly

A Bare Looking Tree

A Beach View

A Sea Turtle swimming away from me (I probably looked scary. Figures.)

The Big Island: just a bunch of lava rocks, connected to some trees, sitting on the ocean.

More Beachy goodness.

Attack of the radishes! (Mom loves restaurants with big plates and small portions of brightly colored food. This particular restaurant had lotus root on the menu, which is pretty ridiculous if you think about it.)

A couple enjoying the surf and turf on the seaside at the afore-mentioned fancy restaurant.

One last sunset picture...

I mostly took this picture to prove that the Big Island is mostly not beaches, but looks like this...almost like some parts of California....

...or like this, with fields upon fields of lava rocks. The white rock you see is a tradition: people write their names and messages with the white rocks so they are visible from the highway. I'm not positive, but I think it's partly for good luck, and partly so people can advertise that they've been here.

A view from the mountainside down to the sea at Susan's house. Off to the left are where I saw the sheep, and down to the right were some cows. Felt kind of like I wasn't in Hawaii.

Mom's creme brulee, which she cooked for Chris' family one night...anything Mom cooks deserves a picture.

An avocado tree in the orchard at Chris' parents' house...

And a baby avocado, on the tree. I wonder what it dreams of being when it grows up. A regular avocado? Or does it have pipedreams of being, say, a grapefruit?

Not quite all the way to the orchard, Chris' parents have a lawn made of not-native grass. It is as thick and plush as shag carpeting, people. My very pale foot is here, sinking into the cushy blades.

A view from the highway of the wind turbines down by the sea.


Butterfly close-up. I'm not going to lie, I chased this thing for a good 20 minutes before it would settle down and stay put long enough for me to get close to it.

And lastly, Sheep!

Mom at sunset

It was my last day in Hawaii today and mom, Chris, and I walked down to the beach at sunset. Note her stylish hat.=

More Lounging

While this guy seems to have mastered the art of looking absolutely dead, he's actually just sunbathing. I find this to be absolutely awesome (I have a weird fascination with sea turtles). =

Sunset

Mom and I sneaked away to eat dinner tonight at Tommy Bahama's. The sunset was almost as good as the crab bisque we had for dinner. =

Lounging

Hawaiin Hillside

Here's the view from my step-grandparents house up on a hill on the Big Island. It's a little surreal visiting them; they have their own orchard and their next-door neighbors own sheep and two cows. =

Mama D has classy shoes

Not only is she an excellent chef, but she has impeccable fashion sense. Not the best Hawaii picture, but it was cloudy here when I arrived earlier this evening.=

Bad Day for Spitzer

Today New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned after being tied to a high class and expensive prostitution ring. The news was all about it today, and even these papers on the side of a lunch cart were helping ring in his demise.

This is the first picture I've posted from my cell phone, and it's not that bad. Expect spiffy but lower quality photos like this for the next week, as I'm off on vacation tomorrow morning. Sunshine and sunburns, here I come!

Mariko

A funny name for a funny girl in a funny hat!

Pimp My Ride

Way cooler than racing stripes, spinners, or tinted windows...

Happy Birthday, here's a Fist of Fury

Today was Christina's (not to be confused with Cristina) Birthday. Here's a shot of what we got her: a statue version of one of her favorite comic book characters. We chowed down at Olive Garden and chatted about the upcoming X-Men beginnings movies as well as the article in this week's Entertainment Weekly about who they would cast in the upcoming Justice League movie. A good time all around.

Midterms

In the spirit of procrastination and photo essays, today I present what I was actually doing while I should have been writing my honors thesis project:

Shopped with Cristina,

And watched her get stuck in a shirt,

Bought some snacks and a new comic book,

Had an aperitif to calm my nerves (and polished off that bag of chocolate chips),

Surfed YouTube for 2 hours,

And am still here, stressed out, because nothing's done.

Evidence of an Obsession

My roommates and I saw "Across the Universe" on Monday, and have been singing the music ever since. After my roommate Mary left for home for the weekend (Haverford, PA) I found these lyrics taped up in our closet. She gets cute points for this. Also crazy obsessive points.