Late night in an airport...

It's about 10:00 pm, and I'm waiting to board my flight back to Boston. I just had a fantastic weekend with some of the best friends a girl can have, which I happily finished off with a cookie monster "adult milkshake." I mean, it really could not have been any better!

So now I'm sitting here with my laptop on Philly's free wireless, and I'm getting drowsy. I'm also noticing that there's barely anyone here, despite the kiosk telling me that the flight was overbooked. In other words... people watching is not an option. So, I figured I'd start typing, and hopefully end up somewhere by the time I get called to board my flight.

I think I'd like to talk about friendship. Kelley, Rach, and Brad are some of my absolute best friends, and spending time with them started making me think about other friends that I've made around the country. I've got friends I love from every city I've ever inhabited, and the best of them all have very similar qualities. Seeing as I'm embarking on building new friendships as we speak, perhaps this is will be a good reminder for me, in addition to being flattering to all you who read this.

So, here's what makes my friends fantastic...

- First of all, they're just fantastically interesting people. My friends happen to be really tops when it comes to people who are making use of the time they're given. Hearing their stories and sharing in their experiences brings such fabulous color into my life.

- My friends support my eccentricities. Sure, everyone thinks that my feelings towards the mixing of brown and black accessories is ridiculous, but I'm passionate about it, so they let me hoot and holler. They also know that sometimes I have to dance, sometimes I have to sing, and sometimes they might want to walk 20 feet behind me. Sure, they might hide behind a corner while I do whatever it is I want to do... but they let me do it, because it makes me happy.

- We can meet up after months or even years apart, and it doesn't screw up our rhythm one bit. Sure, we might have to clarify stories a bit, and our priorities might have changed a bit, but good times will still be had, just like always. (This one's a bit cliche, but I say that's just because it's quintessential to a great friendship.)

- If I'm interested, they're interested. At least for a little while. If I'm excited about something and want to share, my friends will listen. If it's crude, they'll ask for an abbreviated version, if it's uncomfortable, they'll last as long as they can, and if it's nerdy... well, they'll probably love it! Most important part is that they'll at least try to be interested, because it means something to me.

- They know that at the end of the day, we're friends no matter what. Little spat? We'll get over it. Awkward situation? We'll figure out how to get comfortable again. One of us is an idiot? We'll apologize till we're blue in the face, and do everything we can to fix it.

- If one of us is hurting, the other one is hurting. My friends and I have been known to have contagious crying. There have been meltdowns from thousands of miles away, because one of us has hit a rough patch that no one ever deserves to hit. It might mean that sometimes we're carrying a little more baggage than just our own, but it also means that when one of us is happy, the other one is just as happy!

- We can spend hours doing barely anything, and still have an amazing time.

- They deal with my obsession with hugs. Even my friends who aren't down with too much physical contact will give in every once in a while and let me give them a hug.

- They call me out on my shit. Sometimes my "spoiled" is showing, sometimes I'm fooling myself, and sometimes I'm just being a selfish b*tch. If I'm wrong, they let me know, and I'm much the better for it.

- They are honest to me - no if, ands, or buts. Good friends know that being a little brutal now is better than the mess that can result later. Clothes and boys are the most often tasks requiring honesty, but the possibilities for when I need their honest opinion have truly proven to be infinite.

- They see things in me that I may not see in myself.

I can only hope that I'm as good of a friend back to you all.

Love,
Katie

I WISH I had said this...

"Sometimes, you can kiss someone, and you're like: 'Wow, this is the best thing that has ever happened to my mouth. I love it!' But then sometimes you kiss someone and you're like: 'Get your FACE away from my FACE. Remove your face from mine, and back slowly out of the door. Never text me again.'"

FANTASTIC!!! Tommy Johnagin is a genius, and the whole set was awesome. 

WATCH IT!!!

Katie

You know you need sleep when...

You're gchatting with your friend Kelley, who is currently at her shore house (which you will be visiting starting this afternoon!!!), and you say: "Oh, wait. You probably don't have internet there, do you?"

WOW.

Love,
Katie

The ultimate girl crush

I've got a photo of Marilyn Monroe on my wall. She's sitting biting her pinky nail and balancing cigarette holder perched between her pointer and index finger. Her hair is in that amazing curly bob that she was known for. No matter what pose I've seen her in, this will always be my favorite. It's the only one where she looks like she isn't "turning it on" for the camera. I imagine it's one where the photographer caught her in between posed shots, and managed to capture the sensuality that is all her own, not the sexuality harnessed and churned out by the Hollywood machine.


I've always been attracted to Marilyn, or at least the myth that is Marilyn Monroe. It's never been her story necessarily, for we all know that ended tragically, nor was it her on screen characters per se. There's just always been something about her presence. Unlike other movie stars, who generally make me covet one thing or another about them, Marilyn always seems to invoke a sense of peace in me. She's beauty and sensuality without the guilt in a sense, and despite the fact that she was certainly preened in many ways to become man's ideal, she was in no way cookie-cutter. Some of her most risqué outfits were worn during her more curvaceous periods, and when you see her in them, you're instantly blown away by the confidence radiating from every inch of her body. Whether she truly felt that beautiful at her core or not, it's always been a reminder to me that confidence is the sexiest thing a woman can wear, and that's been a motto I've lived by for quite a long and happy time now.


Anyway, I've been thinking of this particularly today because I found a quote from the Blond Bombshell herself:


I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control, and at times hard to handle, but if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.


This quote made me fall even more deeply in love with Marilyn, because it reminded me of something that I've said over and over again, and yet haven't quite stuck with in practice. A man who deserves you is a man that realizes that the good comes with the bad, and as long as the good outweighs the bad, it's worth the effort. (Let us remember that this quote does not give you the right to be a crazy bitch, just the right to be yourself in all your many shades.) And a girl who knows her worth should feel comfortable being herself all of the time, since anyone worth a second thought is going to know just what you have to offer. 


But, like I said... when it comes to practicing this nugget of wisdom, I often fall short. Most recently I've been trying to figure out how to have a discussion with a boy about what exactly it is that we're doing. I'm not asking to be his girlfriend by any stretch of the imagination, but knowing whether or not we're seeing other people would probably be a healthy thing to know. (I mean, if he's seeing other girls, you bet your ass I'm going to start letting guys have my number!) Yet, as I've been thinking about bringing it up, I've been coming up with all of the different ways I can say it to sound the least clingy, make it less "serious," and give him the most amount of options (read: outs) possible for response. So, when I read this quote, I remembered something. A man worth my time is not someone who gives me attitude over the simple question of, "Hey, are we sleeping with each other exclusively?"I mean... it's a simple and very important question. I'm not flooding his phone with calls and texts. I'm not getting jealous over this, that, and the other thing. I'm merely asking a question in hopes of a frank answer. When it comes to the crazy scale that I'm capable of... that other girls are capable of??? It's nothing. 


So, I encourage myself and you girls (You know what? Guys too! Just switch the genders around.) to listen to Marilyn. You are what you are, if you're my friends I can promise you that you're not bat-shit crazy, and you deserve to have someone that lets you be exactly what you are. So, have the uncomfortable talks, relax about whether or not you have been the one instigating all the texts, and know that someone walking away is a blessing, because it saved you from wasting your time on someone who doesn't deserve any of it.


I also encourage you to read all of these quotes. You'd be surprised how many wonderful things she had to say, and each and every one of them has the possibility of being just the thing you need to get you where you want to go.


Marilyn Monroe's Pearls of Wisdom


Love,
Katie

Oh honey... no

This woman was sitting right behind me on the bus today. (Hence the sneak-attack, odd-angle photo.) At first I thought it was terrible extensions, but now that I'm looking at it more closely, I think she walked out of a hair cut about 1/2 way through. Maybe she cut the front, and she's waiting for a friend to cut the back. I'm not positive, but I know this is wrong. Oh. So. Wrong.

Love,Katie

Oh man... Fantastic!!!

I had a fantastic 4th of July, folks! Just super! I got to play on an adult slip n' slide (by adult... I mean larger and more conducive to girls with developed chests... not "adult" as in XXX). I ate a delicious cheeseburger that I grilled all by myself. I lost at corn-hole (also not XXX), but managed to keep in good spirits about it. After easily finding a parking spot with my friends, which is unheard of in the Back Bay on the 4th, we watched a 15 min long fireworks show from my rooftop while drinking sangria. We crossed rooftops and made friends with our wealthy neighbors who treated us to patron and a whole host of other high quality liquors on their ice luge. And then, at the end of the night, Antonina and I drunkenly watched the Nadal and Berdych final... by the way, has anyone else noticed the large difference in size between Nadal's left and right forearm??? It's outrageous!!!

I hope you all had as much fun as I did, here's a video to give you an idea of some of the silliness!!!

slip n' slide!!!! Watch till the end, and you'll get to see me being adorably inappropriate, as per usual.

Love,
Katie

Edible Flowers!!!

Look how amazing these cupcakes are!!!! I'm seriously considering a cupcake tattoo, and something with a fantastic flower icing might just be the ticket!

Love,
Katie