Live and Let List

25 by 25 1. Go to Vegas 2. Get a Brazilian wax 3. Become financially stable and responsible 4. Get a tattoo 5. Do a walk for a cause 6. Get back into shape by going to the gym regularly 7. Try out for So You Think You Can Dance 8. Learn a new language 9. Ask out a complete stranger 10. Travel to a 4th continent 11. Volunteer and/or work for a non-profit 12. Read 20 new books, including one in Spanish 13. Grow my hair past my shoulders 14. Go to Mardi Gras 15. Take my family out to a nice dinner 16. Go on a blind date 17. Become a fitness instructor 18. Straddle the Mason-Dixon line 19. Attend a rally/protest 20. Learn about wine 21. Splurge on an expensive accessory 22. Choreograph a dance piece for a person or group 23. Perfect a Spanish recipe 24. Date someone exclusively 25. Start a blog with a unique angle

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some advice for the ladies (and fabulous men)

DO NOT, under any circumstances, wear a romper to an all-day drinking event.

that is all.

back in the states tomoorrow, can`t wait to tell you about my vacay :) 

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dc and dance=two of my favorite things :)

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I'm surprised this doesn't apply to me, but I will gladly be taking off the next two weeks for trouble-making in europe thank you very much! I however won't be surprised if I have hangovers on all of my vacation days.

talk to you guys tomorrow before I embark on my journey across the pond and steal some spoiled rich kid's ipad because I have the attention span of that same, insufferable kid when on planes.

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an adorable italian gramma finds herself in some random boozin' music festival, and joins in.

I hope to be this cool when I'm old. in the meantime I'm gonna bust out some of her moves on the dance floor tonight because it's friday!!!

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<3 this place. if you're in the dupont circle area with some free time, pop in here, buy a new book, and read a few chapters while trying one of their draft beers at the bar. it's one of my favorite post-work activities :)

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it's raining in the district and I managed to get this soaked even with an umbrella.

rain makes me sad. girl talk makes me happy (even though this picture scares me).

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maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. maybe they need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them.

Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City (the series)

I might be an annoying "sex and the city" junkie, but some of the shit she says is just too good. 

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obnoxious dc tourists aren't so bad after all

this weekend, DC was crawling with tourists in town for the Cherry Blossom festivities, causing long lines, never-ending traffic, and my dislike for people in general to rise. on Saturday after a quick shopping trip in Georgetown, we tried to go to baked and wired for an afternoon snack, but the line was out the door, and comparable to what one normally sees outside of georgetown cupcake (which is highly overrated in my opinion; funfetti cupcakes from the box "take the cake" in my eyes). we then stumbled upon j.chocolatier, which has this adorable sign in its window:

a very quaint and teeny place with limited seating, we were in and out within 5 minutes. I ordered a brazilian coffee and split two soft but flourless cookies with my girls, which made for a delicious and relaxing break from the constant chaos that is M street.

Sunday brunch after a night of drinking is always a must, so we decided to try something new. being hungover and driving through the streets of DC isn't the best idea, especially after I tried to turn the wrong way onto a one-way street and sorta side-swiped a cyclist in the process...who is totally fine btw. we tried to go to Level One for a fabulous brunch whose menu offers things like "Ahhh Freak Out! French Toast" and "Dancing Queen Caesar BLT Wrap", but once again those good-for-nothin tourists caused the wait time to be almost 2 HOURS. NO THANK  YOU. so we headed down 17th street and decided on floriana, which (lucky for us) just started serving a brunch menu the day before. offering mostly omelets, which they cleverly named "floriomelets" on their menu, and a few classic italian dishes, I quickly became a fan when they brought us freshly-squeezed orange juice and a croissant/muffin basket with orange-infused butter and homemade blueberry marmalade. my omelet wasn't so bad either :)

tourists still suck, but I suppose they are responsible for my new cafe and dining experiences this weekend. whatever, I'm still taking all the credit.

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one of my homegirls works at national geographic and sent me this link about Expedition Week, which starts on Sunday! I then regressed back to childhood by playing the Expedition Game all morning at work. and by gushing over this precious baby tiger. check it out!

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"if I'm dying and my doctors break into song, y'all better sue everybody in that bitch."

my older sister, while simultaneously watching the grey's anatomy musical episode and g-chatting each other about how uncomfortable it's making us. 

seriously, every time someone starts singing I've screamed NOOOO at the television. what the fuck grey's anatomy, you now have me wanting to chug my red wine straight from the bottle then break it over top of my head. 

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""if you at a strip club and the sun is out, you got some problems.""

Chris Rock, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcKejwO1upQ

a few of my bro co-workers went to the strip club around the corner for lunch, and tried to convince me to join. I admit I've been to said club, but at a normal, late-night hour of the day and once already intoxicated. it was just my luck when they accidentally overcharged my credit card by 80 dollars for ordering a few beers, and I had to ask my dad for help on disputing the charges and getting my money back.

though it could make for an interesting blog post, I'm just not sure I'm in the mood to have a side of titties with my lunch, or to run into the partners of the firm I work for.

maybe next time, fellas.

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flight001:

la mezquita, córdoba, spain

love this blog, especially when it posts pictures of places I've been to :)

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leavin on a jet plane

wahhh sorry I haven't posted in a while, friends! I've been having writer's block, otherwise known as ALKASJDFJ I'M GOING BACK TO SPAIN IN 2 WEEKS FOR VACATION AND I CAN'T THINK OR SEE STRAIGHT AND WHAT'S MY NAME AGAIN? for those of you who don't know, I've lived in spain a couple times (most recently for a year that I will not, under any circumstances, tell my possibly non-existent future children with javier bardem about) and even though it may not be the coolest country in the world, it's MY favorite country in the world, at least to live in. something about the spanish way of life just speaks to me, and I feel just as comfortable, if not more, being there as I do here in amerrikah. so why not write about the only thing stuck in my head (which thankfully is not "friday" by rebecca black)?

before I get into that, however, I wanna fill you all in on my progress on the 25 by 25 since I haven't talked about it in a while. after all this blog is supposed to dedicate half of its time to my laughable attempt to be ready to grow up once I turn a quarter century (look to your right for reference).

#2: bought a groupon for a brazilian wax, and will need at least another year (or until it expires) to mentally prepare myself to allow a random woman to practically violate me. the shit girls go through! #3: I forgot it costs money to go on vacation. #6: I've been going to the gym at least 3 times a week lately, though I still feel like this #11: a local food bank has me doing outreach to social service organizations, winning! #12: it's taken me approximately 5 months to finish the same book, which happens to be the 2nd one I started after my 25 by 25 was created. LOL I LOVE TO READ #16: even boys I've never even met suck. my co-worker gave my information to a friend of his to set us up on a date, and he contacted me to suggest we get together after he got back from his London vacay. well, homeboy has been back for at least 2 weeks so I texted him something polite against my will, and STILL NOTHING. his number=deleted. though it probably didn't help my case that I told him to have a "bloody good time" in london. shit. #25: I still haven't quite gotten the hang of blogging but I think it's slowly coming along, so I hope all of you beautiful people stay with me and keep reading :)

NOW for some things I might be able to knock off the list while in spain: #4: who knows, maybe I'll come back with some tiny spanish-inspired ink on my body that I will probably regret later on in my ridiculous life. #10: flights to morocco are $30 from spain. 30 FRIGGIN DOLLARS. and still one of the only safe countries in northern africa to travel to right now. done and done. I will sing this classic song en route. #12: 2 weeks of laid-back vacay will give me plenty of time to [pretend to] read, with the help, I don't care about your band..., or one of anthony bourdain's godly accounts #20: I would literally bathe in spanish wine I love that shit so much, but that might cause some problems for my hygiene so I'll just visit a few wineries instead #23: one word: PAELLA. I know it's going to take me years to get the recipe right, but don't you just want to dive right into that?  gimme that scallop NOW

other than that, all I can't wait to do is give my friends mil besos, visit my little munchkins at the school I taught english at, get rowdy in a bar as I watch barca kick madrid's ass in the copa del rey final, stay out dancing until 9am, and eat myself into a cute little spanish food coma.

WE WE WE SO EXCITED

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"when the teacher says you can choose your own partners."

I miss elementary school and the days when running circles around the same tree occupied you for hours.

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SO gorgeous.