dreams unwind, love's a state of mind

oh man - my head hurts, my feet stink, and i don't love jesus. that's what ten seabreezes will do to you. i need to cut back on teh drinking. but this week is not the week.

i dreamt the night before last that i kissed george clooney. we were frolicking at the beach, there were lots of other people there, but then it came down to me and george swimming and there was a part where we were under clear water, being tossed in the waves together. now, i don't normally fancy george clooney, but i v. distinctly remember being like i can get this if i want it and, 'it'd be pretty nifty to say i kissed 'the sexiest man alive'. so i did. while upside down underwater. now i just have to figure out what george represents, b/c clearly my subconscious thinks i can get it - although i would also venture to say that it thinks i don't really want it. hmmm. must ruminate on this one.

had company open bar last night at 230 fifth - gorgeous rooftop deck, beautiful night - it was great. had way too much to drink (see above) but it was fun. now must go to work and be hungover. clearly dragonfruit vitamin water is in order.

currently obsessed with keith urban's 'told you so'. download if you have not heard. gonna be one of those disconnected days . . . .

send asprin and something to wear - ouch!

you can't mention 'barley' in a graduation speech

<--- not my sister but my boss's dog in the '96 ad composite (yes, THAT boss)

it has been awhile. sometimes it takes me a long time to absorb everything and process it. i would like to start with a thought - in this facebook generation, should you cut out the updating/fb when you get married? i mean haven't you achieved the ultimate - and i think you know what i'm talking about. no, not sex, but achieved the most desired status of all fb updates? relationship status = married? so it's kind of like beating king koopa in mario bros - everything else is a little anticlimactic.

this weekend i thought a lot about endings and beginnings. not b/c i wanted to. but b/c 3200 people is WAY too many to have graduating at one time and we sat and listened to irrelevant graduation speeches for several hours. i also was forced to be tortured on a bus for 5 hours. plenty of time for reminiscing. yes, you guessed it, i ventured to cornell for my sister's graduation.

kicked the weekend off in grand fashion by waking up at 7:30 on sat morning. this was a problem b/c the train left at 7:15. sigh. and i wasn't even out raging - i was asleep in bed at 10:30. i couldn't stay up til 11 to watch house. now that's pathetic.

happily there was a bus leaving for ithaca at 8:30 and i was on it. we stopped in scranton, pa - the city of lights apparently - and i arrived in ithaca at 2:30 - starving, disgruntled, and mad at my dumb cell phone for not going off.

ithaca, for those of you who have not been there, is quite lovely. strangely, it is far more remote than htown (though try as i might i've never been able to get on a bus straight to hanover from nyc) but there is much more there. and there really are gorges everywhere - bridges and running, rushing water, it's beautiful. or maybe i'm just starved for trees and grass in the concrete jungle. it was also about 10 degrees cooler than the city currently is. pick me.

enjoyed seeing the fam - we ate dinner at the restaurant on the point that is right by the cornell boat house and crew race course. i maintain that the cornell rowing course is the greatest home team advantage in the ivy league - but that is a separate issue. saw the grandparents, and the parentals and the sibs -lovely lovely. cornell is also high up on a hill - so there's sweeping, panoramic views in all directions. ah upstate ny.

sunday's graduation was just tedious. the president spoke and used the word 'barley' in his speech about world poverty. why is it so difficult for graduation speakers to say something simple and meaningful? the keynote at the hotel school graduation gave us a brief history of confucious. to borrow from monty python, 'excuse me but this is irrelevant?' as my dad said: 'i spent a lot of time and energy and money getting my kids INTO college. it's pretty much a given that they'll leave at some point.' and of course, ran into tyler lavine '05 - his sis is an '07 in the hotel school as well. i KNEW i couldn't go anywhere without running into d people.

stayed over last night with my sister who lived in collegetown - which is basically like a combo of frat row and the abcd's in terms of proximity to other college students for hanging out in buildings that are not dorms, and frats in terms of the falling down state of the buildings. looks like it would be a good time though - was regretting slightly never going to visit - esp since i didn't get inside one of the frats. they have these gorgeous, huge greek houses all over campus - was hoping to see the infamous squash court inside psi u but it was not to be. had a refreshing dip in the infamous gorges - but no frat party. ah well. hung out and drank 40s at various locales in collegetown last night - and then i caught a train back to nyc from albany. a delightful get away.

last wknd was at green key - mulley came over for the occasion - a secret i was in charge of keeping and boy was it hard. i blew it in the eleventh hour while giving directions to boxa on how to get from jfk to my apt. ah well. the aforementioned boxa came, and we drove up to campus for a brief but eventful 23 hours on campus - for which it rained for about 21. still, nice to be on campus again before the '07s leave in a week or two. feeling rather nostalgic for them - how long til this weird feeling of having to leave wears off?

i also looked up my boss in the ad '96 composite. i refer you to my fb album for more of that, but featured here is his dog that he later told me ran across east wheelock st and got hit by a car. that sort of put a damper on our convos, but we exchanged some lovely and timely texts once i found him in the composite. a brother came in wondering why five girls were milling around in the tv room and we told him why and he left us along. recognized it as folly i suppose. :-P

also attended the yanks-red sox baseball game on tuesday with ally thanks to mulley - where we put up with some 'skankees' and i was told i needed a pedicure. i'll get right on it. also saw pirates of the carribean 3 - 3 hours of pure entertainment. i hear good things about shrek 3 as well, but have yet to see that.

my dad cracked the archives this weekend, something he rarely ever does, and told us that the last time he went to a red sox game he was dating this d '77's sister who went to bodowin and she apparently looked around and said, 'wouldn't it be great if everyone in this stadium was our best friend?', at which point she dropped out of the running to be mrs. lyon as my dad and her sister exchanged stunned and incredulous looks. there's nothing my dad (and my mom obvi) hate more than liberalism. this weekend was a lot for them to swallow.

so it's monday, i'm all messed up on the days. ceppos is coming down on friday - v. excited to have her in the city, and me, steger and her will be representing d in my coworker's beer olympics on saturday. the plan is to drink non-stop from fri night through til sunday morning. that way we won't get hungover!

it is hotter than blazes here in nyc - this does not bode well for the summer or the electric bill - eeeeek! and so it commences

send fast cars and freedom

visual dna

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seven simple ways to wear plaid

oh my - the last few days have been filled with shenanigans. lots to report so i will try to remember it all.

first - was woken up at 1:45 last night by my cell phone ringing. turns out it was cody and ceppos calling to tell me that my brother was leaving sd with celeste's little sister in sd to go hook up. apparently he is now going to the sd formal. while this weirds me out a bit, i also sort of feel that things have come full circle, and all is right in the world. sadly, will not see ceppos on campus for green key festivities b/c she is going to sholten's wedding in chicago. how the times have changed.

my brother also called me at work on tuesday to ask me about formals - where they were, what occured and when they ended. i was like, 'you called me at work to ask me THIS???' clearly the bro has some serious game.

speaking of games (like that transition?) went to the met's game on tuesday - they lost terribly to the chicago cubs, but it was a beautiful warm windy night - about 80 degrees - we had great seats, cold beer and good company. diane kim came along - was delightful to chat and catch up with her. a v. enjoyable and nyc past time. i def like shea stadium better than yankee stadium - they let you drink! and i am, of course, a fan of any activity where you can do this outside . . . ;-P

sunday was delightful and sunny also - i tanned with ally in her backyard in brooklyn and read real simple and had mike's hard lemonade. the day turned into a bklyn borough day when laurak called to say that she and sadie were on their way in from stamford to play kickball in the park in williamsburg. i rode on the g train over (a much better experience than the last time i rode it with mulley when i had to go to the bathroom and complained the entire hour ride home. yes - it is possible to ride the subway for an hour and still be within 3 miles of your apt in nyc. sick) and played some kickball in flip flops. this outdoor activity turned into a rallying call for outside drinking - so impromptu margaritas and chips and salsa were made and we all sat around outside drinking and discussing green key plans. this turned into dinner, which steph and viv cooked up, delicious chicken enchiladas - and we all went home buzzed, full and happy that we had kicked off green key a week in advance. laurak will be up for the festivites.

boxa is flying in tomorrow night to start the celebrations - v. excited to see her. having a little fiesta tomorrow night to see the nyc folks, and hopefully heading to 'coyote ugly' post as am obsessed with 'the ultimate coyote ugly search' on cmt and it has me crazing girls dancing on bars and margaritas. stay tuned. we'll be driving up to campus on sat am for a brief but jam packed trip that i am rather looking forward to. huyett will not be there b/c of her bro's graduation - am sad to hear that - but am sure she will be down to visit nyc again v. soon.

in other news, have decided that drunk itunes shopping is the new drunk dialing is the new drunk blitzing. however it is unclear which of the three is more detrimental to one's psyched. in two of the cases, one wakes up more than likely humiliated and regretful. in the other case, one wakes up broke when they realize they purchased 50 dollars worth of 'depeche mode' on impulse when they got home from the bar. discuss amongst yourselves.

the kitten goes back tonight - he is currently sitting on my lap and i think i will miss him v. much. perhaps i should get another to replace him. who needs boys when you have a cat?

just saw a shirt walking home that had a picture of a jager shotglass and said 'hourly minimum wage? gone.' ouch.

send self-call shirt and things to have coalitions against

cat lady

i can definately see how old unmarried women become attached to their cats and own like 10 million of them. having coffee (the other cat's name is doughnut. i find this hysterical) around has been nice - like a constant companion. last night he sat on the couch with me while i ate gelato and watched 'what not to wear' (hi steger)

yesterday at work was kind of interesting. we have all-hands lunches every friday which turn into something that is kind of like a cafeteria in high school - it puts everyone on a level playing field and allows strange conversation topics to come up. anyway, yesterday's lunch revolved primarily around the sophie b hawkins song, "damn. i wish i was your lover" - which was then subsequently brought up many times throughout the afternoon and the video was viewed many times as well.

we also had the office masters putting tourney - i am sad to say i did terribly, earning a 'wtf'* on my first round and a '1' on the second. my boss goes 'lyon, you spend way too much time in this office to be earning wtfs.' must practice here. if putting skills are how we get respect in the office then i guess mine need to be improved. =)

the other rumor in the office is that we are all going to go to la in june. i find this very hard to believe - it seems like a lot of money to send 50 employees to the west coast - that would be the ultimate 'off-site' but it's not my money and i would certainly not say no. a senior vp said she'd put money on it - so stay tuned.

currently obsessed with some music - besides 'diwiwyl' i mean - ceppos sent me 'give it to me' by timbaland - listened to it like 20 times at work yesterday. also obsessively watching the christina aguliera 'candyman' video. don't really like the song - but having watched the video like 10 million times it's kind of growing on me. it's really a dirty song if you listen to the lyrics . . . ;-P



usual suspect news: laurak took the mcats yesterday - she is relieved to be done and excited to hang out again now that she does not have to study all the time. she is still hoping to make it up to green key but that remains to be seen. and sunday is diana's bday - so blitz and wish her a good one. mother's day is also sunday - call your mom.

word is the rope swing is up in htown - perhaps that will be in order. tee hee hee. or def jumping in the river late night. =)

send ideas for bfast and kitchen decorating ideas


*contrary to popular belief this does not stand for 'wicked totally fabulous' but instead something along the lines of 'wtf mate'. yeah.

interesting

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What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

the birds and the bees

gee wilakers - spring really is the time for people to get engaged at a furious rate. i just found out in as official a way as one can find these things out (read: fb) that my ex bf from hs is now engaged. i've been in relationships with 4 guys thus far that are worth counting. 2 of those are, until last week, engaged and married, and that was okay, well not okay but possible to get my head around b/c they were both seniors when i dated them, ie much older than me and on separate life tracks. this news of the guy who is my age is v. unsettling mainly b/c he is my age. and it's weird to think of someone that once loved you loving someone else enough to want to make a life with them. don't get me wrong, that was ages ago and i am quite happy where i am and what i am doing, but it's weird. i guess all you can hope for in these situations is to feel an overwhelming sense of relief that it is not you they are marrying.

have been having issues with self tanner. in the past have stayed away from it b/c of the horror stories one reads about in cosmo of streaks and orangatang arms and such, but my roomate gave me a tube so i tried it. it is as treacherous as everyone says. realized in the elevator today as was already dressed in a skirt that my efforts to follow directions and 'avoid knees, elbows and ankles' had not, as i had hoped, triumphantly fooled people into thinking i jet off to the carribean for the wknd, but at had in fact meant that the tops of my feet were v. white and my legs were v. orange. my palm is also alarmingly stained orange. v. weird. also, i think i am having an allergic reaction to the dye in some parts but i can't tell b/c everythign is orange and i kind of look sunburned. i might have to lay off the self tanner for a few days - haha.

today my boss asked me if i've been busy lately and i was like - no. and he responded, 'i'm sorry'. it was a little weird admitting to my boss that i've been fritzing my time at work away by comparison online shopping, obsessively stalking air fares, and peer pressuring people into doing things that i want, but it's the truth of the matter. and it was even weirder that he apologized for it. i suppose soon enough will be swamped with work, but for now, if anyone's considering a big purchase let me know and i will do some research on your behalf. =)

send good wedding present ideas and singleton support groups

that song stuck in your head

chances are that song stuck in your head is the result of a commercial. for example, i was just sitting here in bed, doing the ny magazine xword puzzle, gchatting with laurak and watching lord of the rings the two towers and they keep playing a dodge avenger commercial that has a song that i couldn't place, but couldn't lose either. thankfully, there's adtunes.com to help you out of that tight space (turns out the song is 'smoke on the water' by deep purple) check it out.

a side note about lotr - personally i find the parts with frodo, sam and gollum to be the dullest part, and this not solely b/c i am drooling all over legolas. all the exciting stuff happens with the rest of the fellowship - not the rocks and gravel of frodo's grim existence. also, was just saying to laurak that i think that the part where gandalf comes back as gandalf the white is sort of a cop out and is also mainly why i'll feel okay if jk rowling really has killed off dumbledore* bringing characters back from the dead is really lame.

also, was listening to my cape radio station today as i like to do on the wknds (sunday afternoon buffett buffet at noon!) and heard this talk-up promo:

need cash for the important things in life? like beer?

thought that was brilliant and was kind of reminiscient of the 'omg i'm so WASTED' promo that 99 rock used to do. according to the program director, the guy that they used to send the promos to used to get high and then record the promos b/c they would always come back with totally random things that they had not sent to him to say, but they were funny so they went with it. i think if i still had the radio station i would incorporate the 'important things/beer' promo in the show - then again that might be an violation of the faa. unclear.

let's rock

*oops! if you haven't read harry potter by now it's your own fault and you might as well get on the same page as everyone else. stop acting indignet and as if we've told you whether you're having a boy or a girl ala friends and ross.

what winks and fucks like a tiger?

wink ;-)

that is the best pick up line i know. well that and the pirate pick up line that huyett's brother has brilliently invented. here is the worst pick up line i have ever heard: "we have a bet that you're either irish or jewish. which are you?" to which my response was - are you kidding me? here is a pick up line i haven't decided about yet - 'are you ellen pomepeo' (ie meredith from gray's anatomy). i know i've been having a convo with someone about this recently who thinks i look like her - can't remember who it is right now - but whoever you are, if you're reading this, you just got a big point in your favor. =)

when it comes to pick up lines i have sort of mixed feelings. something i was reading was saying that the best pick up line of all is 'hi'. ie - all you have to do is go up and break the ice and take it from there. personally, i will generally give a guy who comes up to me and starts talking whether with or without a pick up line the time of day. they've got the guts to come up and talk to you - they get points for that. but in the case of the irish/jewish thing it was like, in the words of' billy madison', 'i award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul'

i should point out here that i do not generally get pick up lines at all. not sure what i've been doing when i've been going out but it certainly hasn't been chatting up boys. maybe i should take a page from my own book and get out there and say 'hi'. why let them come to me when i can choose and then go to them? must work on this.

anyway, that's a long intro to my friday night. at approximately 5:45 pm my coworker told me he had tickets to the yankees game and asked me if i wanted them. had plans with taylor, so i called and she was up for it, so we took an EXTREMELY crowded 4 train to the bronx. these tix were sort of a mixed bag - they were in the bleachers. on the one hand - we were so close to the field we could see johnny damon. on the other hand, the bleachers were as dry as the crew team in may, which my coworker neglected to tell us. we were sorely under-pregamed. it was sort of exciting to be sitting there - heckling with the rowdy new yorkers. thanks to the sox in the city girls i had a rudimentary familiarity with some of the peeps which helped. we were also sitting next to die hard fans who could discuss how damon's inabilty to catch and throw was made up for by his batting average which more than justified his outrageous salary. or something. but to be quite honest, the yanks were playing so terribly. in the fifth inning alone seattle scored 8 runs, which did make it more exciting in terms of action - less sitting around waiting for something to happen - but much less thrilling in that it was clear seattle was walking all over the yanks and we might as well leave - which we did at the 6th inning. however, can now cross off 'yankees game' on my list of nyc things to do (said list is long). we also randomly ran into k boise while purchasing hot dogs and pretzels - sometimes nyc is so SMALL.

had brunch yesterday morning with robin and brogiin which was FABULOUS. had not seen robin in forever - she started a new job back in feb working for a non-profit in dc and commutes back and forth a fair amount as she was just made interim director. she is much happier with work now, and the boy is planning on moving up to the city in sept - so they'll be looking for an apt together and hopefully sticking around the big apple for awhile to come. brogiin is also doing well and looking fabulous - but she is bored bored bored with la and wants to move back to nyc for her year before law school. she and i walked around grammercy and chelsea so she could get a feel for the neighborhoods and hopefully we will see her back this way v. soon.

one final topic of discussion before laundry and dish washing commences - subway grates on the sidewalk. normally, do not notice them b/c i wear flats to walk to work in the morning (i walk about 20 minutes each way each day) and then changes to heels at the office, but when i go out to meet clients or am going to get lunch, the subway grates in the sidewalk are TRECHEROUS! guys don't realize this b/c they wear flats all the time, but there is v. little that is as embarresing as getting one's shoe caught in the sidewalk grate. and unless you're a girl, am fairly certain you don't realize exactly how much of the sidewalk is grate. so guys, do us girls a favor, and think about it - if you're walking with a girl and she's weaving back and forth from your left to your right side, chances are she's trying to keep up with you without falling into the trap of the sidewalk. so lend a helping hand, and take the grate side for yourself. thanks.

send summer back (i wasn't aware it ever left - hardy hardy har) and a maid

the corner grocery store

can't believe i'm saying this, but i do believe that flirting with the check out guys at trader joe's while doing my weekly grocery shopping has become the sole interaction i have with cute guys around my age. and not even in a i'm 'looking for a bf' scenario. in a 'it's fun to flirt' one. last fri night was talking to some guy while we were out and the next day everyone wanted to know who it was, etc. and i had to say - i don't know for two reasons: 1. i was so drunk i couldn't see straight to see if he was cute and 2. i didn't really care who he was it was just fun to flirt and banter. this is a v. sad state of affairs.

i think i might keep my coworker's friend's cat for a week! provided my other roomate agrees. it would be super fun to have a cat around. =) will keep my fingers crossed.

not sure if i mentioned this, but my sister got a job in boston working for the company that manages fenway park. if you're nice and take her out and show her the fun bars she might even get you tix to the sox. and if you know of anyone looking for a roomate please let me know and i'll pass it along. another great reason to go visiting in the land of dirty water - though i think you beantown folks def owe me a trip to nyc. =)

current favorite word is 'fierce' - a fabulous replacement for 'aggressive' as perpetuared by alpha chi senior year - courtesy of my coworker when describing my new oversized sunglasses. on a related note, but of no bearing on the aforementioned coworker i swear, why isn't my office more like grey's anatomy with everyone falling all over themselves to hook up the second someone walks through the door? is my office abnormal for this? i've been there almost 3 months and haven't been propositioned once. to be fair, many of my coworkers are married, but to take a random example of, say, my aformentioned coworker, he's not as far as i know and you know - asking questions is a good way of finding things out if you know what i mean. however, i think i went wrong by thinking that grey's anatomy is an accurate reflection of life. what i really want to know, though, is why hasn't meredith had the kids over to play pong? what kind of d alum is shonda rimes? bet she was an awk rando as an undergrad*. ;-P

send sunny days sweeping the clouds away and places to kick it like tae bo


*this accusatory statement has zero basis in fact

never can say goodbye

that was the name of an article that my grandfather sent me about the attachment that d alums have to the school. in yet another illustration of that truth, i am suddenly social pariah b/c i am not taking off days from work to go up for green key.

okay, pariah is slight exaggeration - but i sure have gotten a lot of incredulous, 'you're not?' responses when i mention that i think it's time for me to move on from spending blacked out nights on campus in the name of reliving the glory days and cramming in as much pong as possible to make up for the fact there is none in nyc to mature pursuits like wine tastings and bridge. or perhaps they realize that i am all talk and no action whatsoever.

i wasn't going to go up and then boxa twisted my arm and forced me to agree. so at least i'm putting in an appearance at all. and last year i took off TWO days for the occasion - shouldn't they carry over? i understand the magic that is green key as well as any d alum - but spring has to stop equaling lawn parties and beer at some point! alright - who am i kidding. i'm not taking days off b/c i have to go to an offsite that friday. and i did consider trying to get out of it. i am fairly certain this is currently happening at offices across corporate america. d young (and prob some old too) alums are taking off work to go pretend their jobs and apts don't exist in the land of eternal youth and no consequences. i wonder if it's enough to affect business for the day - maybe even the stock market. more realistically, i should not drink iced coffee at 4 in the afternoon - note the time on this post.

played tennis again last night, filling in for tay tay on the consulting team. randomly ended up meeting a d '99 who was on the other team - also doing interactive advertising, also living in chelsea. she gave me a ride home - a novel experience in nyc. i think we're going to try and grab coffee or something - she seems to have useful stuff to share on what's good and bad in this space.

more music thoughts - been discussing it a lot with my coworkers and was thinking about what your music collection says about you as i was downloading album artwork tonight. sure there are the basic classics that everyone has - 'billy jean', journey, dmb - but it's the deep cuts, the obscure artists that really start to characterize you. was charged with the task of putting together a cd that showed the 'range' of my music collection - i am interested to see if this kid gives it the stamp of approval.

in other news - today (wed) is megh's birthday - a happy bday shout out to him. welcome to your mid-20s. elise is in boston this wknd to look for an apt/house to move into - v. exciting, and brogiin is here in nyc this wknd as well - hoping to get brunch with her and robin on sunday if at all possible.

other things on the horizon - parrothead club of nyc meeting tomorrow - weather permitting - we're aiming for a rooftop bar. heading out to my sister's graduation in ithica over memorial day wknd. i can think of several other things i would rather be doing (or places i would rather be to be fair) on memorial day - but have not spent much time at c other than slope day soph year (we weren't participating. we were trying to find the dining hall the day before our crew race. the timing was rather poor on that one) and dropping my sister off for school her soph year in the pouring rain. thus, will be an adventure and interesting experience. stay tuned.

think that's all i got for now kids. hope everyone said 'rabbit rabbit' this morning in honor of the new month. time to get cozy like a bear.

send polka dots and moonbeams