Are you interested in what I did this weekend?

Well, it's officially Summer here in Southern California - pay no mind to the fact that it's still April. It's been in the 90's here recently so I'm trading in the jeans for Summer dresses. Summer is definitely my favorite season, being that I hail from a part of a country that celebrates the season so extensively.

I spent the day at the beach yesterday - my first real beach day of the season. I've hung out with my family a few times at the beach already this year, but yesterday was a true beach day: laying out in the sun for hours, playing in the waves, and exploring tide pools. I would do that everyday if I could.

On Saturday was my nieces' fourth birthday party. You guessed correctly: I took a load of pictures, all of which you can view right here. I'm thinking about renaming this blog "Ode to Celeste & Elise" since most of my subject matter focuses on them. Anyway, it was a dinosaur themed birthday party and it was SO MUCH FUN (I mean, for kids, of course...). My sister organized a dinosaur egg hunt, for which she drew huge dinosaur footprints in chalk around the yard and hid eggs with mini dinosaur puzzles inside. My favorite part, however, was watching the children beat the crap out of a T-Rex pinata... but you be the judge:

(I love how when it's Charlie's (in the green shirt) turn, he hands his bag to Elise to hold and she just takes it without asking any questions.)

On Friday night was Mike's birthday (well, at midnight, at least). I had a fabulously fun time and I think he did too. A handful of friends met over at my apartment for a drink before we headed out. The best part about it was that each friend who was there came from a different walk of my life - they each showed up individually but we united to raise hell as one. I had Lyssa, my friend from childhood; Camilla, representing my high school years; Emily, from college in Colorado; Mike, from post-college friend of friends; and John, from LBC and you know what I mean ;). I loved so much to have all these different people convene for a celebratory night. And Mike is probably laughing as he's reading this, because the night was supposed to be about him (and it was!!) but it just happened to be all of MY friends.

So this post wasn't very insightful or anything, but that's what I've been up to! I'm reading Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut, which hasn't been too inspiring, despite how great I've always heard Vonnegut is. I've also been hiking nearly everyday, which IS inspiring, but renders me too exhausted to apply that inspiration to any form of creativity, go figure. Maybe I'll draw or write something soon that I can post.

Until then, tata!

Just a typical Friday night with the gals

C'mon ladies, you know where to find me tonight...

Shit Talkers

I must say, shit talkers are my favorite kind of talkers. This world is filled with an overabundance is boring talkers, slow talkers, fast talkers, incessant talkers, full-of-shit talkers, annoying voice/intonation talkers, interrupters, etc. And I recently realized that I don’t hang out with nearly enough shit talkers. This realization came to me when Dave, a friend from college who recently moved here, came to hang out last Friday night. Dave can be a shit talker, but I think it takes a certain environment to bring it out of him. Now, our friend Will, from college, was in town visiting and he can definitely shit talk. Additionally, three of Dave’s friends joined him for our Friday night excursions; all shit talkers.

But here’s the thing: you have to be the right kind of shit talker. You can’t just be an asshole – I mean downright unpleasant – that doesn’t work. If you want to be a good shit talker, you have to establish right away that not only are you prepared to dish out some shit, but you’re prepared to take it too. And also, that this talking shit is purely lighthearted and that you are essentially using it as a tool to become more comfortable with someone. Here’s what I mean. When I arrived at Emily’s house, where the cohorts were awaiting mass –eh hem- juice consumption, I was greeted almost immediately with shit talk. I was fine with this, I felt completely at ease. I even felt safe, somehow. Like whatever I said, no matter how outrageous, would be fine. And conversely, whatever was said to me, no matter how offensive, was fine too. Furthermore, the more witty banter I’m around, the better I am at coming up with my own… witty banter. Sure, that night most of the laughs were not a result of my dishing, but hey, I felt more on-point than ever! (hopefully I just felt that way and that wasn't really my life's moment of conversational glory thus far)

Basically, it’s all in the delivery. That’s where people go wrong. Oh, and you’ve got to be funny. If you’re not funny, forget it… you’re not getting any laughs. No, you’re getting vindictive glares.

So from now on I intend to surround myself with more shit talkers. I guess that’s the moral of my story(?).