i'm back! and departing again swiftly tomorrow for lancaster to see BWNK!'s fam and camp with friends, so before i leave, let me tell you what i did while i was gone:

BWNK! and i got back to brooklyn about 3:15 this afternoon after an 8 hour and 45 minute drive from Acadia National Forest!
it all started last Sunday when we left Brooklyn with our sites set on Portland, ME (not MA, thanks lucy!)
highlights of portland included a cheap motel, ice cream at beal's where my coworker kate used to work, and the best beer i have ever had. it was called vacationland and it's a summer ale from a place called gritty mcduff's.
yum!

i highly recommend it to anyone who ever makes their way up to portland; the onion petals were also delicous. oh did i mention accidently biking on a highway and over an unlit bridge at night to get back to said motel from downtown portland? whoops...

( monday = BRIDGES! ROCKPORT! and OFF-TRAIL HIKES! oh my! )


( Tuesday is sponsored by the letter B! it featured bike rides, beavers, bar harbor and the bubble! )



( Wednesday featured possible food poisoning and some time on the western half of mount desert island; it had a lighthouses, a fire houses, and my favorite hike. )

my thoughts on day 3 without a shower


and i must say after all that, and not showering for three days till just moments ago, i have never felt so clean in all my life!

bike news: my poor calves! so in case yall hadn't heard i'm trying to be all good at biking and shizzzz so maybe i can tour a bit this summer.
options include a leg of a cross country with some friends or touring the mountains with my folks,
SO a while back BWNK! and i decided we'd attempt a ride from philly to lancaster when we visited his family for easter, essentially i'm supposed to be riding 60 miles friday (if all goes to plan) SO to prep for that we decided to go on a long bike ride this weekend SO saturday (april 4th) we rode from the burg through queens over the queensboro bridge, up the east side, then over the third ave bridge to the bronx where we rode in circles all over getting lost but really just logging more time on teh bikes, eventually wondering back south and crossed the triboro (RFK?) bridge to randall's island ( where the bike i was riding tried to kill me, ) through randalls island then over the triboro again this time to queens from where we made on way back ot the neighb and enjoyed well deserved and VERY delicious sandwiches at boneshakers where i actually brought my bike in for once cause i felt like i kinda earned the right to that day.
i ALSO rode 15+ miles yesterday during a combo bar crawl/trip to midtown to see a coworkers play

work news: i got a very sweet (but still shitty) rejection letter from CENYC. i'm not going to lie, i was upset and cried more than i'm proud of, but then i bucked up and rode my ass off. off to the hopeless search to find a job half that perfect for me, le sigh.

social life: after the long bike ride saturday i took the subway to laura zeis' bacon robots birthday party which was delightful! sunday i went to jenn delavega's for brunch and birthday bar crawl which i left for a bit to go to midtown to see my coworker kate's AWESOME play, negative space, and finally returned back to the burg for the end of jenn's bar crawl which featured awesome dancing to brazilian beats at black betty towards the end of the night

broken bodies: last but not least, i keep waking up at like 8am and not being able to get back to sleep, so that means i've ridden 45-50 miles, stayed up till the wee hours of the morning partying the last two night and only gotten like 3-4 hours of sleep to help me recover #fml

they'd have to ask you to do your own stunts cause nobody, nobody, nobody could pull off the same shit as you and turn out alright.

View Larger Map

i just found out the route i take to work everyday, well except when i have morning meetings with customers, so let's say 4 days a week is  a little less than 8 miles long. i ride that twice a day. four days a week and assorted other weekend and friend rides. i easily ride over 60 miles a week. just typing that makes me feel impressive.
i mean yeah i still eat over-sized meals and unhealthy snacks easily 8 or more times a day and drink copious amounts but hey, gotta protect my american heritage somehow, right?

yeah i know this might count as bragging but whatever i thought it was exciting
and whenever something exciting happens we all know my kneejerk reaction is to write about it in my lj

also, since i haven't posted pictures yet, look how cute our new baby is!

 
his name is samson and he ROCKS!

Hello all my friends out there in LJ world. I have a favor to ask you. I'm hoping to accomplish a neato little dyi project this week in the city, but! I don't have a sewing machine. oh, quelle horreur! you say on this, the day of bastille. how can i aid my dearest comrade? well, if you have a sewing machine, you can comment on this very entry to schedule a time for me to come over and us it; i'll only need say an hour or so, and maybe perhaps a little assistance. i will warn all sewing-machine-owning-comrades that i plan on sewing some pretty heavy duty materials, so a good sewing machine or industrial needle may come in handy (i have no problem purchasing my own if you think it necessary).
i could really use some help guys, if you have a sewing machine, PLEASE let me know!


also, my lovely rommate, brenda, and i wanna go touring around a new place on our bikes this weekend. we were thinking of bringing food/tent and maybe going upstate somewhere but were also considering boston, philly, or dc.
any suggestions?
offers for couches we could sleep on?

**sidenote: i'm rockin some hardcaore cramps, but it feels like they're in my kidneys. weird?

so yesterday  sometime between coming home from work and 8:30 when i was leaving the house for the elf power show, someone  stole the front tire to my new (to me) really nice bike.


yeah where-ever you are FUCK YOU!!!!!!

that was the only graduation present i received and i was SO happy about it.
obviously i can't afford an equally nice replacement tire right now, which is okay i suppose because i went to ryan's to get my old beater back and after a quick refill of the tires, the rear one proceeded to blow after moving about three feet. so i took off the front tire, walked from there to here and now i'm going to see if it'll work with my new bike (probably not).

yeah, so i managed to go from two functioning bikes to zero in less than 24 hours. boo
at least the beater will be easy to fix (just a new tube)

so yesterday I fixed a flat on my bike myself for the first time.
part of me wants to be all like wooot! yeah! but it was so easy. seriously easy. even intuitive.
so that made me think, why didn't i just try to fix it myself the first time i got a flat?
i think it's has to do with the mystification of manly things as a woman.


that reminds me, i also need to learn how as well as file my taxes.
any takers?

for some reason this  comes up on google images when you search "daniele broked it"
as i type this on my broken laptop.

point is the screen on my phone is broken, as if the fucked up battery was not enough or the gears and seat on my bike being broken too. oh yeah, and my earphones broke today too, oof.
so if you try to text me i will not receive it. hell i may not even be able to get calls. i guess i need to break down and get a new phone.....
and i finally had enough money for my tattoo too.

that's me.

i had a busy and wet friday that led straight into parent weekend for me.
i felt obligated to spend all weekend with my mom. not that i don't love her but i really needed that time this weekend to rest and do homework. oh but family style thai was fun! thanks kids
then HAD to clean house and read tons after i got home from taking her to the airport at 10pm, oof!
woke up early. more reading. work where i had to tons of model building for my green design class to do. then class from 3:30-9pm. at the comp lab now printing more reading which needs to be done for class tomorrow which will be followed by more work which has been heavy lately since students are back and we only have half the amount of workers we're supposed too. boo.

i haven't had five minutes to relax.
so so so tired. too too too much to do.

really wish i had a few days to just stay home lay in bed, cook, read, and ride around a bit if i felt motivated. oh and to top it all off i didn't ride this morning since i was snowing pretty hard near me so i don't even have endorphins or the cool air across my face to pick me up

what i'm doing right now. you may not. you probably are not, but! nonetheless

I"M LISTENING TO MY BRAND SPANKING NEWW GORGEOUS RECORD PLAYER!!!!
and it is awesome. the first song rachel and i put on was rod n' reel by the besties and we sat and jumped around the kitchen and it was glorious! i can't explain how happy i am today. it's gorgeous out and i get to spend my day outside pretty much as much as i want with my job (not to mention my coworker carrie is amazing and i love her and we have so much fun joking around and goofing off all day at work)  and i've been riding my bike tons and despite some whining (poor BWNK! he took me to harlem on my bike for the first time!) i feel great. my coincidental-i-suppose-it's-a new years resolution (?) is to really get it touch with my body. listening to it and what makes it happy. i've been doing this the past couple of days and it's crazy the difference it makes! i ride tons and eat so much better. (my inspiration was days of war, nights of love which i'm reading and almost done with, it interrupted my reading of visions of cody which i still really need to finish!) also that book is so comforting to me and i love a lot of the ideas in it even if it is a bit simplistic at times.
oh! and i saw ravens and chimes last night and although it was a short set, it was lovely and the band that played before them, the art of shooting, was great too.

ahhhhhhh, life is so so so so so so so so good!
oh! and stevie wonder sounds really fucking good on vinyl.

so i've now completed 4 of my 10 days in denver; the trip so far has been mellow and slightly below expectation.
all my denver friends are out of town, but at least my two best friends come in town tomorrow, praise jesus!
i love my parents but today has made me realize why our adult relationship works so well. i almost never see them for more than 2 or 3 days at a time, if that. going on day four with no friends to break up the parents/child time, it's been a little rough. 
also rough is being home so much with little to do and a lot of food-gifts so i've been eating a little too much, oof, the holidays.

but! onto the hot spicy commodity fetishism i know you've all been waiting for; special notables are:
free tickets to sweeney todd!                                                                                         and new moccasins
                       
sweeney todd was great but bien sure the second we left the theater both my parents were all like "did it really have to be so gorey?"
yes for fuck's sake YES! i tried to explain why to be true to sondhiem the disgusting spectacle had to be juxtaposed by his gorgeous melodic score. i also mentioned how freakin poetic the last scene with todd/barker and lucy dead in the pieta pose with all the religous/salvation associations was cause it really really was. they listened but didn't really believe me until! my mom read this article in the denver post, and was all, "oh look honey the lady in the paper said the same thing as you" uh yeah.
vindication was mine! oh and then my dad got really into the history of sweeney todd and actually taught me some new things!

also i finished the sirens of titan which i borrowed from mr very very nice guy via BWNK! i'm moving onto visions of cody once i finish this post and maybe watch a movie. i also have visited two thrift stores so far. i picked up two pair of cool wool socks, FIVE skirts, one boys button up shirt, one flannel, a pair of boots, some VWthing-ugly* snow boots/hi-tops, two necklaces, one broken watch, and a big ring. at the arc but my trip got cut off by a snow storm so another stop by is necessary. also stopped by an old high school haunt, American Vogue (the other thrift store) which is going out of business *tear* and was only able to find one dress, but it's so lovely! 40s wiggle cut, woven silk, aquamarine and black cocktail dress! for only $11. also picked up two other pairs of thick wool socks at REI with my dad.

only things left to do are find a charity online i can donate to on my parents behalf as their christmas gifts and then onto party times with my friends, more thrifting, pool, bowling, another book after visions of cody, and finding a date deserving of my awesome new dress!\

also anyone who missed matchless last tuesday missed seeing the infamous bike messenger! 


also those who did show up: i'm really sorry if i didn't spend enough time with you! having my face glued tp some dude's when friends are about is not cool. but! some notes about the infamous bike messenger: 1) i don't know how old he is 2) he looks young and i would say fairly attractive 3) that said, he's already made an indie film and toured europe with it, lived in stolckholm and some other european city for year each 4) he's a bike messenger with lots of tattoos, mrow! 5) acted really into me, but! could just be a dude trying to get laid 6) he talked a lot about fixing/building me a new bike!
okay enough talk of men and other things, i love and miss you all babies!

looking forward to new years eve parties with the cultural impresario!
speaking of which, there is a besties' party at 79 lorimer that the whole gang should stop by or end up at!

*that would be me, walking on sunshine*

List of things that were making me sad 4 days ago that have resolved themselves:
1) Wriggled my way into an AMAZING environmental risk and society class to replace my former dream class that was cancelled at the last minute and was momentarily ruining my academic/work schedule.
2) Repaired Bike! and rode it to work/school the past three days managing to avoid the subway altogether!
3) Got paid! and got my dad to send me some money for books lab fees etc. (dang-namb financial dependency!)
4) Found out repairing broken door will only cost me $225, instead of estimated $600, WOOT!
5) Mr. Very Very Nice Guy was super cool and not awkward or sulky when we hung out Tuesday even though it was obvious things were not  going to be romantic/sexual between us. Mr. Very Very Nice Guy really is the best person on earth and I want us to be bff forever!
6) I also went grocery shopping two nights ago and have been planning out/preparing my meals! which means I'm eating better, but I still have A LOT of room for improvement.


SO, in con-cloo-shun, i am going out for a night of moderated drinking somewhere in w'burg or lower-slope (after homemade dinner and mean girls with my favorite ladies) tonight and would love for you, yes YOU! to come out and be with me.

there are some of you i haven't seen in a while, and i miss you.
you know who you are (esp those of you who get lovely late night texts and ignore them! *tear*)

hopefully less of the former, more of the latter

first things first: i fixed the back tire on my bike yesterday and got to ride it for the first time in like two weeks!!!
it kind of made me the happiest girl on earth.

secondly, for this week and the next. i will only be working 20 hours a week! so if anyone wants to see me, now is a good time since i'll be playing the role of academic recluse after that (and i can't fucking wait)

lastly, agatha m cole has/is returning to the city! and asheesh is just steps behind!
they will have wonderful expedition-to-in-ja!-stories to tell, love to give, and an incredibly lowered tolerance for alcohol.
i will have music to play and dance moves to bust, hopefully you will too!

the only question is: what time works for everyone to have a welcome back dance party (hopefully at jill's)? seriously guys, leave a fucking comment!!! and just say what times and days are usually best for you. and don't think this doesn't apply to you. if you're reading this, it does!

so boys are weird, officially.

but i've decided to stop thinking about them and just enjoy myself, you know, just go with the flow.
i've always thought of myself as a laid back person. i like thinking of myself as a laid back person
and i refuse to let dudes twist me into some scary neurotic person!

(although it doesn make for a cute teddy bear)

ahh, now that that is taken care of, let's recap, shall we?

wed - 4th of july in fancy-shmancy chelsea builing with jill, david, and his parents featuring free food and booz. i heart hillary and kurt so much. i also talk too much

thurs - work , then picked up csa featuring call from cute boy #2 then home for my first "night in" in forever. downloaded SO much good new music. pls do yourself a favor and check out D.A.N.C.E by justice, if you haven't already

friday - work, then david's for the end of doctor who season three and a music appreciation session. i can't believe there's no more episodes just sitting waiting for me. i've feel like i've lost a close friend, but a friend who will soon be replaced by old doctor who which david promised me he netflixed (ps david there better be some doctor who waiting for me tuesday night!!!) then i headed to bethany's for the chromeo show, and although i ended up skipping out on the show bethany did not fail to dissappoint in a gold lame leotard, green athletic hot pants, and blue metallic sweatband. only bethany could do that and make it lovable! i ended a night with a quick jaunt to riffiffi's where i had a headache, smoked a lot, waited outside a lot, and got hit on by sleezy jersey guys, but got to hang out with some nice ladies.

sat - woke up all sad and boo hoo. talked to david who gave me a much-needed if slightly stinging metaphorical bitch-slap, so i picked myself up finished kerouac's visions of gerard, listened to some weezer, and dusted off the old bike and walked it down to R&A to fill up the very flat tires. was elated to discover how easy riding is with properly filled tires!!! rode to the grand army plaza greenmarket bought berries then rode the whole loop around prospect park then over to the 7th ave flea market and then to see katherine and then home. showered and relaxed then rode over to guerilla coffee and drank an iced coffee and began reading the great shark hunt (so much fun, while simultaneously so frightening). then rode over to brooklyn museum, getting lost along the way and met up with jill. we got greasy chinese and sat out on someone's stoop to eat then headed back to the musuem for first saturday's! where we danced our pants off with the most beautiful, most brooklyn crowd of people ever! then i rode my bike to to jill's place but beat her there, so rode over to K&M for a night of drinking and powerpop. got to see my doppleganger again and lots of other beautiful, wonderful people before heading home with jesse so i wouldn't have to ride my bike home till the next morning.

sun - rode bike home. lazed around and got food. recieved a very unexpected call from cute boy #1, but decided not to make anything of it cause i was sick of freaking out. met up with cute boy #2 at the arab-american heritage festival in prospect park and hung out till 8 or so and left akwardly but with plans to hang out soon. rode my bike around greenwood cemetary then headed home for a quick browse on the series of tubes and a rare chat with my absentee roomate. then headed out to manhattan for a quick drink and rooftop dangle with jill, rachel, sabrina, and her friend ezra

mon - couldn't drag ass out of bed this morning and thus was 15 minutes late to work, meh.

**SORRY ABOUT SUPERLONG POSTNESS**