'Tis the season!

Valentine's day is next weekend. Cute, I know. In honor of this joyous occasion, Avanti South (which may or may not be where I work) is offering $20 blowouts Saturday and Sunday so you can look FINE for your VALENTINE! (Yes, that just happened... No, I don't want to talk about it).



Anyway, if you're in the Boston area and have hair long enough to necessitate a wash, blow and style, give us a call! 617.485.1003. I promise, you'll leave looking fabulous!

It's completely my fault, but still...

I use my college email address to get Facebook updates and the IndieBound newsletter, not to send the blueprints for overseas attacks or instructions on how to prepare the next chemical weapon, so why, after four years of having the same username and password, was I asked to choose a new one? And not just choose a new password, but drastically change it to be something that can no longer be recognized as an actual word?

Look, every time my school emails me, especially now that I'm no longer an actual student, I ignore it. I don't care about the poetry reading in the back of the bookstore or about the boy who won a dance scholarship or whatever. And whenever the mail is tagged by the school as important, it usually isn't, so forgive me for not taking their emails seriously.



Moral of the story, I failed to change my password in the alloted time, and am now locked out from my email. You may be asking, "But if you only use it to get Fb updates, then what does it matter?" Well, I lied. I have a few friends who email me at that address and suddenly I am paralyzed with fear that they're all sending me news of wedding bells, concert tickets and/or party invitations.

Guess I have a date with IT this afternoon because I have to make an actual appearance on campus to get this thing sorted out. So thank you, dear college, for making my life more complicated. I'm glad you care so much about my email protection, but I'd rather you spend my tuition money on something else, like actually getting the correct course books stocked in the library.

OKBYE!

My friends are pretty talented

Tonight, I saw Arletta perform at Great Scott. My friend Naomi plays the violin and occasionally the tambourine and egg-shaker in the band and she's too thoroughly wonderful for me to describe her greatness. A couple friends and I have made it a point to become Arletta groupies. We sway in sync to the music and sing along when we know the words. They're great and I encourage you, dear reader, to take an interest in them as well. Not because they're young and want to be famous but because they're confident men and woman (Naomi's the only female) who are established in life and find fulfillment in coming together to create great music. I like what they do, and hope you do too.

Snow!

I'm something of an insomniac and frequently wake for the hours between 3:30 and 6:00 AM. Usually it's a drag, but when it's snowing I don't mind. There's something particular to snow that makes the light coming through the window soft and beautiful, even when it's the middle of the night at there's not a lot of it. Right now, it's a joy to lay awake in its glow.

What's in a name?

Long before every Katie, Kathy and Kaitlyn (with all their variant spellings) in the world opted to go by Kate (generally this happened their freshmen year of college) I proudly bore the name. I've always liked my name, and just as you feel a swell of affection for people you see on the train reading a book you love, I feel an affinity with most people named Kate. Unless, of course, they turn out to be a total psycho in which case there's a good chance they used to be called Katie or Kathy or Kaitlyn.

I was just talking with a friend online who asked, "Have you ever looked up your name in urbandictionary.com? mine has several definitions but the one I like is "to pull a christa is to do something stupid and still look great while doing it." (Just FYI: though Christa does in fact always look great, she rarely does anything stupid.)

Of course I'd never looked up my name in the Urban Dictionary, a site I generally stay away from seeing as the layout is ugly and I've always associated it with the lowest forms of vulgar expression. Regardless, Christa is the dearest of friends so I proceeded to look up my name and was pleasently surprised to find that all the definitions for Kate are completely true! My three favorites are:

1. A girl's name for the coolest person you will ever meet.

2.

1. One syllable of pure ecstacy. In ancient times, uttering 'Kate' would often cause massive public orgies.
2. Used to compliment someone on their ridiculous good-looks.
3. Indicative of high fashion sense.

3. One of the best friends you will ever meet. Kate is hilarious. She is completely random and will say whatever is on her mind whenever she wants. She doesn't care what you have to say about her, she'll just brush it away and go on with her life. She will always listen to what you have to say and always help you out no matter what is going on. Even if she hasn't gone through what you're experiencing, she will still give her best advice. Kate is by far the best girl you can ever become friends with.

And that, dear readers, is the complete truth written from the fingers of the Urban Dictionary gods!

Now I'm curious, what does Urban Dictionary say about YOUR name?

Lykke Li, I Like

Sometimes she freaks me out a little, particularly when she sounds like a whispering child who's up to no good, but usually I am completely charmed by Swedish musician Lykke Li. Simple lyrics and straight forward instrumental loops join forces to run through my head for days on end. In particular I've been plagued by her song Little Bit and like a bad case of the hiccups I've been off-and-on humming it all day.



I think I'm a little bit in love with the man wearing shorts and suspenders while gyrating like a sexy lunatic in the background.

Perpetual Weekends

I live in a state of constant weekend. One day I will probably have a career that will necessitate that I stay in on weeknights and generally behave myself, but presently I'm free to sit at bars talking books and movies and Lady GaGa all night and then sleep until 9:00 (or later...) the next morning. It's almost gotten to the point where I don't know what people do if they stay in for the evening- watch TV, I suppose?

Anyway, last night I had a decadent evening at Ken Oringer's fantastic sashimi bar, Uni in the Eliot Hotel. A good friend of mine is moving to San Francisco and we took advantage of the occasion to feast like kings on our usual seaweed salad, tomato water martinis (they sound weird, but they're actually delicious and, surprisingly, non-alcoholic), vegetable tempura, roasted peppers and a plethora of other delicious foods, the names of which I'm uncertain. Generally I enjoy making decisions for myself, but when I'm at a good restaurant or am in the company of people whose palates I trust, I like my food to be ordered on my behalf. By practicing this method of ordering, I'm exposed to delicious meals that I never would have tried on my own, opting instead for something uncomplicated and familiar. Because my friend is a former employee of Uni we were sent plates of fresh chef-creations including thin strips of raw octopus partially cooked in a hot sesame oil that were just as good as they were beautiful. I just love that, having a chef decide what to feed me! Overall it was a fantastic Sunday night and I'm lucky to be able to sit and drink wine with good friends until midnight rather than tuck myself into bed and set my alarm.

Life, I love you!