Best Pre-Birthday Weekend

On Friday night, a vast and complicated consipiracy of acting, lies, trickery, and deceit lead me to my first ever Surprise Party (that is, first ever to be held in my honor) at Le Pere Pinard on Ludlow. All my NYC VIPs were there (save those exploring Europe), it was astounding. Well done, amigos. Thank you all.

Erin, Collin, Jeff, Liesel.


Emily, Orson, Sariah.


Michelle, Me, Karen, Jared.


Jared and Patricia. A vital Brooklyn connection was made.


After dinner some of us went and saw Year of the Dog. Don't let the trailer fool you, it isn't as lighthearted and cute as it seems. Things get crazy towards the end. The lesson: Don't like dogs. It will save you some trouble.

Saturday Night: Missionaries and bowling balls. This can only mean one thing...


Ward Bowling Night! Woooo!


I'll refrain from captioning all these pictures so that you'll never know whose names I don't recall.

























(most of those pictures were taken by Collin. Good work.)

After the bowling some of us went and saw a movie called Take at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was good (and when I say "good" I mean well made, but full of great intensity and you would not want to let your Mom see it because she would cry and cry). That said, I hope it finds its audience.

Well, it's 12:06 now, so it's my birthday and my Facebook wall is exloding into a flurry of well-wishing. It was a good Pre-Birthday weekend that I had, and I'm going to have quite the actual birthday. If you haven't already heard what I'm doing tonight, I won't tell you right now, because you wouldn't believe me. But it's going to be pretty dang cool.

Best Additional Coverage

Did you know that, when we went to see the Kaiser Chiefs, Greg rocked so hard that he barfed?


I wasn't going to post this picture until I saw that Greg was using it as his facebook profile picture.

Best It's Finally Here

After years of anticipation, Ashley 1st's 1st Record is coming out and tomorrow's the release party! It's the See and Be Seen event of the Spring.


Like the picture says, the party is at the Bitter End on Bleecker and it starts at 9pm.

Best Entrepreneurial Spirit

Kitty Kastle, now available on eBay.

Please, seriously. Click the link.

Best Birthday-Prologue

As you may or may not know (but better remember!) this Monday coming up is my Birthday. And not just any birthday, my Golden Birthday! (at last) My trip home to Chicago was partly a time to celebrate my birthday with my family. And that's what happened on Sunday evening. I had a birthday party, at my house, with those members of my family who were there.

See, I'm wearing a birthday crown. A golden birthday crown.


The candles are prepared.


Me before blowing them all out with a single breath. I am invincible!


And this is my Golden-Birthday associated loot:


Yes. Solid gold loafers.

Also amazing: All the milk in the house expires on my birthday!

Best Pair of Mexican Meals

Let me teach you about two great Mexican meals I've had in Chicago.

First, Saturday the family went to Las Fuentes. This was my second trip to Las Fuentes during my visit to Chicago. That's how beloved Las Fuentes is to us.

Greg and Emily.


Mom and Dad.


Some taquitos.


The nachos I dream of from New York.


The salsa that is king.


Pollo al Chipotle.


Then on Monday Mom and I visited Tio Luis, which the Chicago Tribune declared the home to the top tacos in Chicago. Best? Honestly, who knows. But definitely very good.



Mom.


Me (look how happy tacos make me! look how happy tacos ALWAYS make me!)


When the tacos came out, I felt that perhaps I had over-ordered.


We also had a gordita.


Truest words.

Best Brit-Poppin', Take Two

Friday night, Chicago. I catch my second Kaiser Chiefs concert in eight days.

The Venue: The Vic Theatre, where I saw my first concert (Cyclone Temple/New Bomb Turks/Mighty Mighty Bosstones) some thirteen or fourteen years ago (suddenly I can't remember if I was a junior or a senior.) Also, I hadn't been to the Vic since '95. Not much had changed.


The Company: Karlyn, my brother Greg, and Sarah (I'm deciding that she gets an 'h'). I don't know what happened to Greg's eyes here.


The First Opening Band: The Little Ones from Los Angeles. Honestly, not bad. I bet their records are good. Although I thought I had never heard of the Little Ones, I recogneized the last song they played ("Lovers Who Uncover") and later discoverd it in my iTunes library. I cannot explain this.


The Second Opening Band: The Walkmen. Kind of a score as far as opening bands go, as the Walkmen could probably headline a show at the Vic. My concertmates found them boring, I found them to be fine, enjoyable even (when they played songs I knew). However, once I saw the Walkmen at Webster Hall and they played 3 encores and it was not my favorite show. I much prefer an opening-slot sized set by these guys.


And then it was time for the Kaiser Chiefs, who were great fun, as usual. And since the Vic is much smaller than the Roseland and since we got there a lot earlier than last week, my pictures are a lot more middle-of-the-action than last time.






Peanut.


Look how hard Greg was rocking out! He looks like a hooligan!




Oh no, where's Ricky headed now?


Oh, just out to stand on the crowd, that's all.



So, yes. Another grand Kaiser Chiefs performance.