Slow Club's "Christmas TV"

Because today is Christmas Eve (!!!), I figured it was the appropriate time to write about the most adorable, saddest, most perfect Christmas song EVER. It's "Christmas TV" by Slow Club, and I listen to it all year because it is just that precious. I think that I listened to it on repeat for at least half of my flight home on Friday, and I've been listening to it a ton since I've been home, too. Every line of this song is full of Christmas adorableness and perfection, especially where it goes, It's okay that I pray/ that you will miss your flight/ and have to stay with me another night. If that doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you have no heart or soul or feelings and you are probably a robot or something.

Anyway, I have to go do laundry and finish making/wrapping my Christmas presents, so here is a cute little video of Slow Club singing "Christmas TV" inside a cute little gazebo-thing!



Love, Jillian

My New Necklace & A Bulldog Puppy!

I went to the Seaside Bazaar in Encinitas (I will make a post about it someday) with my sister today, and pretty much finished my Christmas shopping! I went to the same woman I always buy jewelry from, and found two really great antique pieces. I bought them both, and of course, one of them was for myself. Mine is a pietra dura necklace, check it out:


I can't write about the other one here because it is a present, but it is also super cute and totally worthy of being included in this post. Oh, well! I feel like all I've been doing since I've been home is sleeping, eating, knitting, and putting gas in people's cars. It's pretty sweet. And between doing those things, I found this adorable video of a tiny little puppy that is so little it doesn't even know how to walk yet!



Love, Jillian

Home is Cute

I got home last night after being gone since August, and it is even better than I imagined! There are so many reasons why being home is amazing, and everyone is probably sick of hearing about how much I love San Diego, but I can't help it!

This is what I wore to run errands today:



This is what I saw out my car window:




I hope everyone on the East Coast is enjoying the snow. And now I am going to go eat tamales for dinner!

Love, Jillian

Spirit Animal Break!

Because I am about to die/fall asleep while re-reading the same play for the millionth time, I thought it would be a great time for an update. Jillian's post reminded me of how much I've been thinking about what animal I would be. I finally figured it out. A CHINCHILLA, DUH. Jillian is a chipmunk cos she is tiny and cute and sometimes has these weird spurts of energy where she decides it is okay to attack me. There are always chipmunks outside of my house and they are really precious and sometimes they just lose it. But even though we are basically the same person, my spirit animal just isn't a chipmunk. I am not that teeny tiny and cute. Instead, I am totally a chinchilla. I am still really fuzzy and soft and precious but not like Jillian. If I were a chinchilla, I'd attack/bother other chinchillas like this:


Seriously. Jillian knows how good I am at bothering people. For weeks now I've been bugging Jillian about this. "Jillian, am I a baby pig? or a lion? or what about a calf? what about a duck? can I be a pony? No?" I think she was ready to kill me. Good thing today while looking at pictures on my computer to distract me, I realized, I AM A CHINCHILLA. Actually, right now, I feel like this chinchilla:


TRAPPED! Chinchilla's love to sleep during the day, just like me! And they are funny and round and have little noses. I have a weirdly round face and a tiny nose! I also know that a lot chinchillas can't stay still. I am so bad at staying still sometimes. Like sometimes we will be laying around in Jillian's bed and I will just feel the need to tap things or move around and I just can't help it. I knew someone who had a chinchilla and they said that they are super moody sometimes and just sort of sulk but then just want to run around. I am basically like that.


Have you guys ever seen a chinchilla take a dust bath? CUTEST THING EVER. Go look it up on youtube! I will admit, I do nothing that can compare to how cute that is. Oh and chinchillas are so lucky cos they never have to write 20 page papers about Rosario Castellanos or stay up all night in a library. Okay, as much as I want to just think about what everyone's spirit animal is, I'm pretty sure it's time to go back to doing work. But later I'm gonna go curl up in bed and I'll feel like a happy chinchilla for a few hours.

Love, María

Finals Are Not Cute, Baby Chipmunks Are

Hey, guys, it's finals week! Obviously everyone is going insane and is super stressed-out, and María and I are no exception. We just had to kick some freshmen out of our carrels in the library, and they even had the nerve to roll their eyes at us and the one who was in mine just tried (and failed) to stare me down while I was fixing my chair so that I am no longer stuck in her butt imprint. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know that my evil-eye is powerful enough to make people instantaneously burst into tears (true story). But once we go home for break (Friday!!!!!!), I'm sure that we will stop being so cranky and regular posting will resume. Until then, here are some pictures of a sleeping baby chipmunk to tide you over:



María thinks that baby chipmunks are my spirit animal, and this is probably exactly what I will look like as soon as I get on the plane on Friday. I plan on passing out before takeoff and not waking up until Saturday except for when I need to switch planes and get my luggage and eat delicious food when I get home. Hopefully we will still be alive at the end of the week, and now María and I are going to play a little game in the library called "How Much Work Can You Get Done Before The Sun Comes Up Or You Lose Consciousness?!!"

Love, Jillian

Sweaters

Now that it's gotten cold and finals are eating up my life, I've been getting out all of my sweaters and hoping that they'll make me feel better. I have tons of sweaters. TONS. But I always buy more and more because they are one of my favorite things. I have all sorts of sweaters. I have super cute sweaters, and super hideous sweaters, super soft sweaters and super weird itchy ones. And do I love them all the same? Mostly.



That's me attempting to show you the buttons on my sweater. I totally failed, but oh well, I tried! This sweater has been in my closet at home forever. I kept forgetting I had it so I wouldn't bring it back. It was with a bunch of other sweaters that I never ever wear and totally forgot I had. The other day I pulled it out because I haven't done laundry in awhile so I had no real clothes left. Then I realized how much I love this sweater because of the buttons! They are gold and they have lions on them! I will admit though, that it's not very flattering and makes me look sort of strange and boxy and there aren't many thing I can wear it with. But I think it looks nice with my floral dresses because I love florals so much and should probably write a whole blogpost about that. I wore this sweater on Saturday night and our friend told me I looked like Emily Gilmore. Yikes! I don't care though because I still think it's a pretty awesome sweater. Plus I was also told I look like a lemur that night so I'm not sure what to think. Later, I thought I'd lost one of the buttons but luckily I found it. It was probably the best part of the night. My life isn't very exciting.


This sweater is currently snuggled between a bunch of Jillian's super soft clothes in one of her drawers. I basically assume all her clothes are really soft, and I don't have a real explanation for that. Isn't it precious? It is! It's full of bows and when I wear it I feel like I look like a present. Once, last year I think, I wore it while also wearing a bow in my hair. It was a little much, but I couldn't help it. I got this sweater at the Bryn Mawr Hospital thrift shop back when Caroline and I used to go in there to waste time almost every week. It fits me kind of funny so I rarely wear it. Plus, I feel like It needs to be paired with pants and I rarely wear pants. It looks much nicer on Jillian. She actually made it her profile picture for awhile, with the caption "coople sweater" Cute! Okay, that's just another really creepy fake Korean Drama term we've come up with to feed our addiction. Well, mostly just mine and Melissa's. When I went home for Thanksgiving break I left it for Jillian so that she wouldn't miss me so terribly. Sick, right? She's also the only other person who has ever worn it, except for the time Allegra tried it on and quickly took it off. When I die she gets the sweater but she has to share it with my little sister.


My very favorite sweater is this super old United Colors of Benetton pullover. It's really kind of shapeless and hideous and sometimes feels kind of scratchy cos it's so old. But, it is my very favorite. It used to be my mom's back when she was a teenager. My grandfather, who by the way is one of my very favorite people ever, went to Germany when she was younger and he brought her back the sweater. When I was younger, I remember my mom would wear it all the time, but little by little she stopped wearing it. She loves it so much though, which is why she kept it tucked away in her closet. Now, I had my eyes on this thing since forever ago. So, when I came back to college sophomore year, I tried to find a way to get my mom to give it to me. You have to understand that my mom knows better than anyone how clumsy and horrible I am, and she's seen me lose/break/destroy things since I could move. So, I knew that she wouldn't just give me the sweater because I wanted it. Instead of asking directly, I sort of suggested she give it to me since she never wore it. And then, I snuck into her closet right before getting in the car for the super fun 13 hour drive and stuck it in my suitcase. By the time she noticed I was feeling pretty pleased whenever I opened my closet but still way too guilty to wear it. When we finally talked on the phone about it she told me I could keep it but that if anything ever happened to it she would kill me. I now guard it with my life and just this year told Jillian she is the only person in the world besides my sister who can ever touch it.

Ah! I love sweaters. All of the ones I own. Like this red cardigan that was $9 and has a weird hole in it but looks really cute with dresses. And my cashmere sweater that has the worst neckline but is so super soft that I don't care at all. Or this old man sweater that I bought a size too big and stretches out after you wear it and it looks like I'm wearing a sack. Ummmm. Sweaters are just so great. I know that Jillian has a bunch of favorite sweaters and I bet everyone else does too. Okay, now I need to go back to my real life where I have to finish a 20 page Spanish paper. This is basically as long as that paper. Ah!

Love, María

Airports

Right now I am "working" at the cafe. But a week from today, I will be waking up in my big, comfy bed at home! And even though I have to write a huge paper and a smaller paper and my thesis proposal before then, I am still in a good mood pretty much all the time because I know that at the end of this week, I will be wearing t-shirts (without like four more layers of clothes on top of them) and eating delicious food and playing with Chelsea and sleeping a lot. I am definitely excited to go to the airport on Friday.


I have always really loved airports for some reason. I know a lot of people hate them because there is a lot of waiting and sitting around involved, but even that isn't enough to make me not love them. I just feel like whenever you go to the airport, it is a good thing. Either you are going to the airport to go somewhere exciting, or to go home, or to pick up someone who is visiting you, or to drop off someone who was visiting you (because, let's face it, by the end of a whole week with whoever is visiting you, you are probably a little sick of them), and so every time you go to the airport, it is cute and happy and fun!

I guess probably a lot of why I like airports and airplanes is because my grandpa loves them so much. I seem to have inherited his obsessions with chocolate and ketchup, so I probably got the airplane one, too. Plus, even when I was a kid and I hated my middle name, I still would always tell myself that it wasn't so bad because it's Amelia, and Amelia Earhart was pretty awesome.

I don't know how else to explain it, something about airports just makes me really happy. I love this one airport in Texas (Dallas?) because it has a monorail, and I still have to admit that Charles de Gaulle in Paris is really pretty, even though I am still bitter over when I got stuck there for twenty-four hours. On my way home on Friday, I have a layover in Las Vegas, and I always end up in this terminal that basically has a wall of windows and you can see the entirety of the Strip while you're waiting, and even though the Philly is a disaster, I kind of like it because everyone always hates it and is lost and confused, but I've finally figured it out and that makes me feel special. My freshman year, I went to Boston for part of my fall break in October, and landing in Boston was probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen. There were so many trees and it was right at that time when they are all like bright orange and yellow and so pretty.


Of course, my favorite airport of all is San Diego (surprise!). It is just so tiny and precious, and when you take off and land, you fly right out over the ocean and if you have a window seat on the right side of the plane (I can never remember which side), you get the most amazing, perfect views. I always like having a window seat, especially when I am landing in San Diego, because then I can look out the window and look for my favorite places, like Balboa Park! And then, when you finally step outside at the airport it just smells like San Diego and that is wonderful. It's like ocean-y and flower-y and plant-y and I-don't-know-what-else-but-it-makes-me-happy and I am so ready for Friday afternoon when I take off and get to go home to seventy-degree weather and sunshine!

Love, Jillian

Party Dresses

I feel like lately all of my blog posts are kind of about cute things, but mostly just reveal how absolutely insane I am. This is definitely going to be another one of those posts, because it is mostly about how I create weird little personas/characters/lives in my head, and then spend a lot of time imagining what secretary-me or housewife-me or career-woman-me (my mom put this idea in my head because she kept telling me over the summer that she sees nothing wrong with never getting married and having children, and instead having a career and lots of disposable income for clothes) would wear.

So I don't even know when this started, but at some point in my life before high school I somehow became convinced that being an adult and being married meant that all of your weekends between Thanksgiving and New Year's were spent going to fancy holiday parties that required you to wear fancy dresses and fancy updos and your husband to wear nice suits and cute, knit ties. This may have something to do with the fact that for most of middle school I babysat for the same family and one of the parents was the CEO or CFO (I don't remember) of this big hospital and that is basically what they did every weekend of the holiday season.

Because of this and my pathological need to create a wardrobe for all sorts of weird, impossible, future versions of myself, I always get distracted by PARTY DRESSES when I am doing my Christmas shopping for everyone else. And, every year, I find one perfect party dress and stalk it and spend a whole month imagining how I would do my hair and what shoes I would wear and how cute the holiday parties would be! Anyway, this is this year's obsession-dress:


Luckily it is already sold out in my size, so I will not be tempted to buy it. I always end up buying a ton of things for myself while I am doing my Christmas shopping. Today I bought a dress for my sister for Christmas, and I also bought two shirts and a skirt for myself. But by doing that, I spent enough money to get free shipping AND I had a coupon that got me 10% off everything. And when I bought my mom's Christmas present, I bought myself a shirt that was on super-sale. Obviously, I have a problem. I have even already planned out exactly what I am going to buy with all of the Christmas money I get from my relatives every year. Sick (in both senses). I am going to stop now before my computer dies and I reveal any more craziness.

Love, Jillian

Cursis Melodías

I can't sleep. I just keep being up all night and tired all day. This has been happening for weeks now. My body probably hates me. Tonight, I tried moving things around in my room, brushing my hair, changing my sheets even though I did that 2 days ago. Nothing works! Then, I spent a long time sewing buttons onto my skirt and wondering when I'm gonna finally fall asleep. And then, seven minutes ago, I found this:


Oh, Natalia! She is so precious. We went out for brunch and it was really delicious and now that I think about it, I had approximately 7 cups of coffee all day which is why I can't sleep now. Anyway, on the way back from brunch, I was telling Jillian and Melissa about how my sister's name was gonna be Natalia and then ended up being Mariana at the last minute because my grandfather told my mother that he knew too many ugly/mean people named Natalia. Hahaha, that sounds horrible and is totally not the only reason.

Anyway, "Cursis Melodías" is definitely one of my favorite Natalia songs. And isn't the video cute? Of course it is because she's just really super cute. I just want tons of Mexican girl cuteness, but apparently I just didn't get it. I guess I can just write these silly blog posts instead. Fun.

Love, María

Snow!

It is snowing!! Today is the first day it's snowed this school year, and obviously snow is totally adorable and Flower Farm-worthy. Especially this snow. Yesterday the weather forecast said that it was supposed to snow overnight, but that it was supposed to be that weird, slushy, snow/rain mix stuff. There was a little of that this morning, but now it has turned into big, fluffy, perfect snow!


I always get really excited about snow, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I live in California. When we lived in Delaware, my mom and I would always get really excited for snow days, and she would get up at like four in the morning to listen to the radio and see if her school or my school or Jocelyn's school would be closed. Then she would call all of my friends' parents to tell them that there was no school, and they would always make fun of her for being so excited about it (she's from New Jersey, so snow shouldn't have been new or exciting or anything) and for calling them that early in the morning.

Apparently, this is hereditary, because ever since I've been at Bryn Mawr, I basically do the same thing. What usually happens is my mom will call me and tell me that we are supposed to be getting a lot of snow, and if I think it's going to be enough snow that we will have a snow day, I will go to bed early without doing any of my homework, and then I will wake up at four in the morning (this happens on its own, I don't even set an alarm) and look outside and check my email to see if Mike Hill has sent out an email saying that the buses aren't running and class is canceled. Then, I text all of my friends and go back to sleep.

This is why I always arrange my dorm room so that my bed is next to the window, even though all of the dorms I've lived in are really old, so the windows are really poorly insulated and it is always really cold right next to them. It is totally worth it, though, because nothing is better than going to sleep when you know it is going to snow or it's just started snowing, and then waking up in the morning and having everything be covered in snow.


Also, this whole snow-thing has made me think that I am psychic. Normally we don't get snow that actually sticks until I am home for winter break or the beginning of spring semester, but this past week I haven't been able to stop listening to "Snow Days," and even when it was sunny and nice out the other day, I kept thinking about snow. Probably because it is December and almost Christmas time and I love snow so much!

Love, Jillian

Lento

Unlike Jillian, I am not in a really great mood. That's because my email hates me. Plus, I've been freaking out about my life and work and aaaaahhhh. That's why I've been listening to Julieta all morning. "Lento" will always be such a great song. Seriously. You should also go here and check out the Julieta Venegas remix of "Bestia" which is just so good.


Hopefully I'll finish a real post soon. Until then, I'm gonna just try not to die.

Love, María

Sunny Days & Good Moods!

I am in such a good mood today because it is so sunny and nice out! It is that perfect kind of fall weather when it is chilly enough for a sweater and a scarf and a light jacket (if you are me, anyway--I guess normal people would wear only one of those since it's like almost 60 degrees out), but it is sunny like summer. María hates when it is sunny, but it makes me so happy because I always miss the sun when I am not in California and I have to use my fake-sun lamp thing in my dorm room to make myself feel better.


When it is sunny out, I feel better about everything. Like right now, I am in the library and I just came back from Haverford, and even being packed into the Blue Bus wasn't enough to ruin my good mood. Plus, my carrel in the library is in this room where two of the walls are giant windows, so even though I am sitting here doing research for my huge term paper, I am still in the sun and I am still happy! The sun has even made me actually LIKE writing this paper! Even though it was mean to me and made me pull and all-nighter Tuesday night, I am currently really nerdily enjoying reading entire books just to find two useful quotes and over-analyzing fourteenth-century Italian literature.

On top of that, I am listening to this really adorable playlist I made of all of the songs that I want to listen to when I am driving on the 101/any road with an ocean view at home in sixteen days! These are some of the adorable songs on my playlist:

I guess this post isn't really about any one cute thing in particular, but I think it still works. Being in a good mood just makes everything super-cute!

Love, Jillian

Heading Back to the Midwest

I am about to walk over to the train station so that I can make it to the airport on time and fly back home. I haven't been back to Chicago since August! I am sad that my headphones broke last night because now I'll have to survive being on the plane without them. Lulz. It's not that long of a flight, I can do it!

Here are some of the songs I wish I could be listening to on the plane:






Since I'll be at home for awhile, and sadly we don't really celebrate Thanksgiving, I'm gonna try to make cute posts about things to pass the time. I mean, something cute has to happen, right? Maybe.

Love, María

Tu vida en 65'

This movie is both cute and incredibly sad. And I am totally serious about the incredibly sad part. In fact, I asked Jillian to watch this with me earlier this semester and when we were done crying in the Rock living room, I was sure that she was going to stop being my friend for asking her to watch it. This summer, I made my little sister Mariana watch it and she just kept saying "This is so sad, Marifer, so sad" Well, at least I warned you!


The movie is all about Dani and Ana, Dani's really precious friends, and love and sadness and coincidences and everything being connected. This sounds almost exactly like when I was describing Los amantes del círculo polar, but Allegra says this is sad but at least cuter than Los amantes del círculo polar so I guess that's a good thing. Oh, plus it's set in Barcelona! How precious. Barcelona is adorable all on it's own even without really cute/sad things happening. It reminds me of how much I want to learn Catalan, but can only say please and thank you. I also really like the version of "Por qué te vas" that Javier Álvarez does. It's so perfect. I could listen to it all day.


Everyone in this movie is so cute! The trailer just reminded me about how there's this whole thing with watching laundry in the washing machine, it sounds weird, but it's really cute. I just ordered this movie from the library so that I can watch it again sometime in between going crazy and going home for Thanksgiving. Sometimes I think it is just an excuse to cry, but there are also parts in the movie when everything is so precious that I am not crying because I'm sad. Hah, I'm starting to sound kinda crazy, but I just want someone to ask me to watch the washing machine with them.


I'm really excited to go home because I haven't seen my family since August and I really need a break from Bryn Mawr. I don't usually go home for Thanksgiving, since we don't really celebrate it, but I'm excited to be going home this year. I am also really excited to force my mom to make me pozole and chilaquiles and to eat a real hot dog. Sometimes I remember how much easier it is to live in Chicago than it is to live near Philadelphia. And even though there are Mexican people in Philadelphia, it's just not the same. At phonathon we had to call someone's parents who live in Los Angeles, and they were so cute and Mexican and I got to speak to them in Spanish. Speaking of things in Spanish, last night, Jillian and I were talking to some guy who was like "give me any Spanish word and I will turn it into reggaetón" and it was really strange/funny but then became really annoying. Wow, I totally just remembered that happened as I was typing that. I need to get more sleep.

This post was supposed to take 20 minutes and has now taken me almost an hour. I lose at life.

Love, María

Pumpkin Pie (w/ Encinitas Obsessing)

My most favorite dessert ever is probably pumpkin pie. It is super adorable, and the fact that it is a seasonal food makes it even better, because I feel like foods are more special and cute when you can't just have them whenever you want.

María knows how strongly I feel about pumpkin pie, and that is why she bought me one a few weeks ago when I really didn't want to go to my one class, and then used it to force me to go. She even bought me whipped cream, because she knows that I cannot eat pumpkin pie without it! And then we ended up eating basically the whole thing with spoons after I came back from drinking in my friend's room after work on a Thursday night, and I kept yelling about how I wished pumpkin pie was a dude so that I could marry it or something.


Basically everything about pumpkin pie reminds me of awesome things. It smells like cloves and happiness, and reminds me of Thanksgiving, which is one of my favorite holidays because of ALL THE FOOD. Pretty much every holiday we celebrate in my house is more for the food than for any other reason. I'm pretty sure the only reason we celebrate Easter is because that is when we eat ham and "cheesy potatoes," and I know that the only reason we celebrate St. Patrick's Day is because of the corned beef, since no one in my family is even remotely Irish.

And then when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of being at home, which I have been really obsessed with lately. Normally I am okay with only going home over winter break and spring break, but this year I have been having really intense and vivid dreams that I am driving down 101 or that I am at the beach. On Thursday night, I had a dream that I was going north on the 5, then I got off at Manchester and went west so that I was on that road where you go through this tiny neighborhood and as you come up the hill and around the corner and it turns into Vulcan Ave. (Encinitas people, you know exactly what I am talking about), you are basically smacked in the face the most intense ocean view, and in my dream it was sunny and the ocean was super-blue and perfect. And then I woke up in my dorm room and I was not pleased.

I think that the reason I want to go home so badly is because I (hopefully?) won't be going home for longer than a few weeks this summer to go to Jocelyn's graduation, since I don't think I'm going to find a job in Encinitas and I don't particularly want to move back in with my parents. Plus, the other weekend one of the guys in a band that played at Haverford was from La Jolla, and we talked for forever about how perfect San Diego is and how much we miss being able to use San Diego slang and still be understood, and then I was talking to him about how I will probably end up on the east coast and I will probably never get to go home and be lazy and eat Pannikin and In-N-Out and go to the beach every day for a full four months ever again!


Luckily, I can still kind of pretend that I am at home by sitting in my room (or the cafe, like I am right now) and listening to Best Coast. María is going to write a post about her someday, and after my friend Bee sent me one of her songs, I made María give me all of the Best Coast that she has, because I needed it because it basically sounds like California is coming out of my speakers.

Also, since this post has already become a post about how much I love California, I might as well mention something else really cute and happy about it. Lately, people have been randomly telling me that I seem like I am from California, or that I am exactly like what they imagine people from California would be like, and I have to say that nothing could possibly make me happier. I'm sure that there are negative things that come with being California-y, but for some reason hearing that makes me feel the same amount of good-ness as if someone told you that you were the most perfect, adorable, attractive, amazing person to ever exist. Actually, that would probably make me really uncomfortable, but I think everyone gets what I mean?

So, in conclusion: pumpkin pie is awesome and adorable and perfect, and I really really miss the ENC.

Love, Jillian

Yo no te pido la luna

This weekend I'll make a real post about Javiera Mena. For now, just watch this video. It's almost as cute as Belanova's "Baila Mi Corazón" Just almost though. The song is really cute too, it's all about wanting to just love someone. And even though it's a cover, Javiera Mena makes it way more precious.


Anyway, I'm too tired to make a whole post but this video is so cute, and I am in love with this song. It's not even 7:30 yet and I'm already thinking of going to bed, my life is so exciting! The truth is that this is mostly just because Jillian has work tonight and my life is really empty without her. Hah.

Love, María

Hedgehogs

I kind of just realized exactly how long it's been since I last made a post here. Oops! Marìa's been on top of her Flower Farm game, though, so it's not too bad. In my defense, I have been too busy staying up late to see meteor showers, being a supermodel, drinking giant cups of coffee, doing Italian department things, checking out tons and tons of library books and piling them up on my carrel, reading about medieval Christian numerology, picking my thesis topic (AH!), and listening to obscene amounts of The Magnetic Fields and Best Coast to really have time to sit down and write a blog post. But today I have time! I was planning on sleeping late since I went to bed at three, but apparently my body only wants five hours of sleep after last night's three hours of sleep and I am wide awake.

Some time last week, Marìa and I were talking about how I haven't made a post in forever, and then I told her that I wanted my next post to be about hedgehogs! Hedgehogs are precious, and I wish that I could have one as a pet, but they are illegal in both of the states that I live in. Isn't that sad?! But, look, aren't they so precious that you just can't even think of being sad?


I don't have any cute stories about hedgehogs, nor do I know anyone who actually has one, but Marìa was telling me about how her friend had a hedgehog that used to lick lotion off of your hands and put it on itself. How adorable is that?!


If hedgehogs weren't illegal in Pennsylvania, I would totally get one and keep it in my dorm room. It would be the most spoiled hedgehog ever, because Marìa and I would probably just sit in my room all day and never go to class and play with it and pet it and give it little hedgehog treats! I guess it's a good thing that we can't have one, because then I would probably fail all of my classes. But at least I would have a precious hedgehog to make me feel better!

Love, Jillian

A Little Weekend Update

Things I've (re)learned this weekend:
1. I am a brat.
2. I miss tamales almost as much as I miss my family.
3. I want a pony.
4. This video is cute: http://www.videotapas.net/html/2_lonely_drifter_karen.html
5. I like this song.
6. I wanna have a farm party where we dress up as cute farm animals and we can make these:

&
(From Bakerella)
7. Iced Lattes taste better if Jillian makes them for me.
8. I suck at being on time for work.

Love, María

Post Post

This week has just been strange. Actually the past 3/4 weeks have just been really strange. I think it's around that time of year when you suddenly begin to realize you are really unprepared for life but are also past the point of caring. Not good. Jillian, Melissa, and I have really just lost it. This was really confirmed last night around 1 am when we were all sitting in Melissa's room making absolutely no sense. So, instead of really dealing with all this, I am here making a post about our friend's band. Sounds good to me.

I suck at writing things so I just stole this from their Myspace: "Post Post is an indie rock band comprised of four college juniors who met and formed at Bryn Mawr College, an all-women's liberal arts college outside Philadelphia (they wouldn't let Kevin in, he had to go to Haverford instead)" Post Post started right here at Bryn Mawr! Kewl. Seriously though, nothing good happens in this place. I'm joking, sort of. Anyway, we know Michelle cos she works at the café with Jillian, and is pretty darn cute. That's why I first started listening to this band. I once told Michelle and told her I would never pay $5 for her music, I was lying. Really, I'm just a really mean person and like to make jokes like that.


Anyway, last night, I tried to get Michelle to tell me secrets about Post Post. She sort of refused at first and only told me that I should write that she is the cutest member of the band and that the other members are only sort of cute. Not true, guys. I have seen their band and they are all pretty cute and cool. I was once Marissa's Spanish TA and even then I could tell she was way cooler than me.

So I always come up with really funny ways to describe the music that I like. I'm sure you've seen all those made up words in my posts. I tried to think of a way to describe Post Post and I am going to have to use heartachey again. But that's why I really like their music, it is really heartachey and it's that music that you start searching for when you're like sixteen and you realize you have feelings and then you just need stuff like that once in awhile. That's what it's like for me. Oh, plus did you see that picture of them eating breakfast foods? We love breakfast/brunch.


I've been listening to Post Post a lot so that I could have something to say to you guys other than "O hai, they're kewl" and I'm glad I did that. They released their EP Meta Meta in September, and even though it only has 5 songs, it is really easy to listen to it for like 3 hours. I am telling you this from experience. When Jillian first bought it, we listened to it in her room over and over.

I just asked Jillian what her favorite song is, and it's actually not on the EP but you can go listen to it over at their Myspace, it's called "Architects." My favorite song changes all the time. I will say, that "Say When" gets stuck in my head the most. We both really like "Bones" and even though I used to skip listening to "The Auction (Part II)" I now really like it, especially the beginning. "Wolf" just makes me want to cry. A lot. Their songs are like really sad and heartachey words with almost rough music behind them, inside them, something like that, yeah. And all those lyrics that are so good and so sad work really well with the music and Michelle's tiny voice that sometimes gets so loud and is almost like yelling. Yikes.

We're going to go see them play a show tonight at Pilam and if you're reading this and are in Philly, you should totally go too! I am excited because we keep missing them plus they are playing with Pants Yell! who are one of my favorite bands right now. So, yeah check 'em out.

While telling me little secrets last night, Michelle told me that she's come up with a 13 track album concept that would just be 13 tracks about one person with an architecture/skeletons/bones theme. I told her it sounded very sad, but very precious. And that's the kind of thing Jillian and I really love, and what Flower Farm is all about.

Love, María

Pink Couch Sessions

Pink is my very favorite color. I've been meaning to paint my room peach/pink since I got back but I haven't gotten around to it. And I just really love it so much. So, when someone mentioned the Pink Couch Sessions, I couldn't help but be really curious about how cute they might be. I've written about Black Cab Sessions on here, and this is basically the same thing, except that instead of riding around in a cab, these guys are playing on a pink couch! Cute. Now, I will admit that these videos would be way cuter if I got to pick the pink couch, but whatever, this works.

This is the first one I watched, and I'm glad I did because it was actually really cute and that's why I kept looking at more videos. Actually, that first one is still definitely one of the most adorable ones. I also really like this Nana Grizol session because that song is really sort of precious. The one with just Madeline singing is also super cute. This Wild Moccasins song is called "Fruit Tea"and that's pretty precious. Really, it is. Plus I want that girl's hair and I watched this one three times so that must mean I liked it. Oh, and look at this one! It's Vivian Girls. Everyone loves them. I went to see them last year with Caroline in Philadelphia and even though I hated almost everyone there, I liked it.

Heathers - Waiter from If You Make It on Vimeo.

My very favorite has to be that Heathers one, probably just because I think those girls are super cute, and when I saw they were on here I got really excited.

Hm. Oh, this song made me laugh just because of it's title, since I feel like that's all I do this semester. Bleh. This Best Friends Forever session is probably less cute, but still one of the ones I really like. Now, this might make me a horrible person, but for some reason this one really makes me laugh. I can't explain why. This one, with Defiance, Ohio is pretty impressive just because there are so many people!

Another really cute one is this one with Watercolor Paintings. Isn't she cute? She is. I wish my brother and I could start a cute little band. He would never do that. Hah. Hmmmm. What else. Oh yeah, this song isn't bad or anything but it is one of my favorites to watch just because of all those faces they make. The Pink Couch Session with Grandfather Clock is just really depressing. Seriously. Maybe, that's just me.

Okay, so basically I spent most of yesterday avoiding life and sleeping and watching these videos in between. And even though that was a pretty bad idea, because now all I want to do is sleep, it was also a good idea because it gave me something to write a post about. Except, I'm pretty sure this is a pretty horrible post because I can't really tell you everything about all of them so I just sound like I'm babbling. You should probably just watch them for yourself. You don't even have to go crazy like me and watch all of them in one day! Plus, maybe they aren't all the cutest things ever, but c'mon, some of those were pretty cute. I just want to start my cute little band, guys. And I want a pink couch. A cute one. And people can come play nice songs on it. Aw. Too bad instead I need to edit my paper, send emails, do laundry and figure out my life. Yeah, that's just not as cute.

Love, María

For Keeps

For Keeps is one of my favorite albums ever. It is the album I want to fall asleep to all the time and every time I take a nap I play it. It's so good for a million reasons. I love The Field Mice, I really do. And I thought about writing a post just about them, but I think it's better if I break it down a little more.

I like it even if it's the last Field Mice album. It isn't the fuzzed out pop that first made me love them, it isn't all those perfect songs on Emma's House, but it is still pretty fucking perfect. And I can't say that it's my favorite Field Mice album because that would be a lie, since I can never choose my favorite anything, but I am really in love with it.

A month ago my friend Maggie asked me for some Field Mice stuff while we were at Burger Friday. Apparently, I am really weird about giving people my music because I thought it was a good idea to only give Maggie Emma's House and For Keeps even though I definitely have more of their stuff. The thing is that we trade music almost every Burger Friday, and I figured I could just give her more later. I didn't realize how sort of terrible and selfish that ended up coming off as. I am just really silly. Anyway, I will say that I'm glad I gave her this album first because I really love it so much and I knew she'd really love it.

My favorite song on the album is "And Before the First Kiss" which is kind of predictable. It has such a great Field Mice title, and is so horribly depressing, I think. But it is also really sweet and don't you want to listen to a song that is both really sweet and really sad? I do. There's also "Think of These Things" which I like because I think everyone has sort of felt that way about someone. And it sounds really horrible to just say, but sounds less terrifying in a pop song. Also, can we talk about how perfect Annemari Davies is on these songs? Her voice is so good. It's perfect in "Five Moments" which starts off the album, but it's just as good on "Willow" which has such a heartbreaking little chorus. And when she sings "When I said them I meant them" I know I've been listening to this song that's about to be over but is still about to make me cry. "Tilting At the Windmills" is a really good track that makes me feel a little scared in the best kind of way. "This Is Not Here" has typical Field Mice lyrics that are all about lovelovelove and being sadsadsad. Oh my. The last song on the album, "Freezing Point" is loud and noisy and makes me feel a little better about all the sappy songs I just listened to.

This album sounds so sad! And it really is so I'm not gonna lie to you and say it's not. But wait, there's "Coach Station Reunion" and that song is just so very cute that it makes me smile a little through the rest of the album. "Smiles and kisses there will be, tomorrow/I'll hold you tight, I'll look into your eyes" UM, HOW CUTE IS THAT? Pretty cute, right? Plus it's all about being really excited to see someone, and that is so precious!

I know that the album was re-released in 2005 with extra singles on it, but as much as I want new Field Mice songs, I like the way it works with just these ten. If you want to listen to a bunch of sappy sweet pop songs this is perfect. If you don't, then I don't have very many suggestions for you.

Love, María

jj

I really like everything that jj has released so far. Lately, I'd been listening to a lot of the same stuff, but before last week, before I decided to only listen to Spanish pop music, I'd been listening to a lot of jj.

So since jj is so ultra-mysterious and everyone has already made a blogpost about them, I've been trying to figure out what I am gonna say. Here it is, I like them all the time, I like everything by them, I like them, like them, like them, a lot lot lot. Wow, that "sentence" was way more annoying than I thought it would be.

I think I first realized jj existed because they're on Sincerely Yours, and I love a lot of the music that comes from that label/Gothenburg in general. Everyone fell in love with Air France earlier this year/last year, but I just wasn't so into that. I really love their other labelmates, the Honeydrips, and well, at some point, I think we all sort of fell in love with The Tough Alliance. But I don't think I really fell in love with all of Sincerely Yours, until I found jj.

My favorite song on jj n° 2 is definitely "are you still in vallda?" just because of how perfectly sad it is. It just makes me feel like I can have a really good cry and be really peaceful. Isn't that strange? Maybe that's how I feel about the whole album. A lot of people have complained that they are too spacey or that they sound too much like TTA and Air France but just not as good. I don't agree. I like how spacey and empty and achey everything sounds. "ecstasy" is a lot of people's favorite song, and even though it's not mine, I still like every bit of it. I love "me & dean" where it's like "if you tell it to my heart/where would you start/with a truth we shared/or the lies that drove us apart" How could you not love that? I have been listening to "things will never be the same" over and over again, and that is much less spacey, but still really great. "my love" makes me feel kind of like I am listening to a Taken by Trees track, and that's not a bad thing. "masterplan" is very TTA, I won't deny that. "from africa to málaga" is another song that almost makes me cry, "my hopes and dreams" makes me a little anxious and I'm not really sure why. I am just so in love with jj, and I have been for awhile.I also really like jj n° 1, but I can never choose which I like more "my swag, my life" or "my life, my swag"

Everyone always wants to find out who is actually a part of this project, but I honestly don't care. I just want to keep listening.

Love, María

Tuca Tuca

Because I am sad that my pilates class got canceled, and because I need to do something to take my attention away from the giant and terrifying bug that is currently smashed under one of my favorite shoes that I am afraid to move (the whole story is too terrifying for this blog and made me freak out in a way that is reminiscent of the time that my dog chased a squirrel into my house), I am going to make a post about this adorable video for a song I already kind of wrote about!

In my Pink Martini post, I mentioned that one of their songs in Italian was this precious song called "Tuca Tuca." Well, at that point, I had only really listened to it once or twice, and I hadn't really listened to the lyrics or fully appreciated its adorableness. But now I have! I did a little bit of research, and found that it is actually a cover of a Raffaella Carrà song with the same name and there is a dance that goes with it! Basically, the song is about a dance that was made up to go with the song (confusing).

Doing the "Tuca Tuca" ("Toca Toca" in standard Italian, or "Touch Touch" in English) dance requires you kind of tap the person you're dancing with on their knees, waist, shoulders, and face, and it is supposed to mimic the way you would kind of randomly touch someone that you have a crush on. But, wait, it is even more precious with the lyrics. Basically what the chorus says about the dance is, "It's called 'Tuca Tuca'--I made it up myself so that I could tell you that I like you!" ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST SWEETEST MOST ADORABLE THING EVER?! I obviously think so. Watch Raffaella sing/dance "Tuca Tuca," and see for yourself!



Love, Jillian

The Honeydrips

I've been trying to finish up a post about another Sincerely Yours band for awhile now, but I thought writing this post would be easier.



I've loved The Honeydrips since I first heard the song "(Lack of) Love Will Tear Us Apart" because it really is that good. I am prone to playing one song over and over if I like it, which annoys a lot of people. I can't help it. According to iTunes, I've already played it 24 times just today. Sick.

The Honeydrips is Mikael Carlsson's solo project. That first song I heard by him has Hanna on vocals and that's part of why I like it so much. The album Here Comes the Future was released in 2007. That's forever ago! I didn't find it until sometime early last year. He's on Gothenburg's Sincerely Yours label, which most people know of because of TTA or Air France. Sometimes, I think I might like the Honeydrips better, seriously.

I've seen this album described as a little St. Etienne and a little like the Field Mice. But it is just so perfect for listening to all the time that I love it. I think that "I Wouldn't Know What to Do" always ends up being my favorite song on the album. I can't help it. I also really like "Wait for the Grief to Come" There's also a song that's not on the album, "Åh Karolin" which I really like. Normally, I have tons to say about the things I post on here. But I really don't know what else to say other than I think you should just go listen to the album. Seriously.

Love, María

Pink Martini & Splendor in the Grass

A few days ago, Pink Martini's new album Splendor in the Grass came out, and I finally bought it! Of course, it is super precious in the same way that everything by Pink Martini is.


I remember when someone bought my dad Hang on Little Tomato when I was in high school and I immediately fell in love with all of the cheesy, showy, over-the-top-ness of all of their songs. I don't know how else to describe their music. It is kind of jazzy, kind of lounge-y, kind of film-noir-y amazingness in a bunch of different languages, which just makes it extra cute! It always makes me happy to listen to music that isn't in English, especially when I can understand it! Even before I learned Italian, "Una Notte a Napoli" was one of my favorite songs of theirs, and even though I don't know Japanese or Croatian, I really love "Kikuchiyo to Mohshimasu" and "U Plavu Zoru."


I am listening to Splendor in the Grass right now, and it is definitely everything I could possibly want/expect from a Pink Martini album. "Ninna Nanna" and "Tuca Tuca" are in Italian (!!!), and the title track is just extra perfect. "Ou est ma tete?" is also precious, and if I keep going, I will probably just end up listing every song on the album.

Now it is time for me to finish my reading that I didn't finish because I fell asleep in the middle of it last night, and then I have to go to my meeting at the Career Development Office so that I can maybe be in Minneapolis in January (I will freeze to death, I am insane)!

Love, Jillian

Hey Jude

I know I haven't posted in a while because I have been too busy avoiding homework and acting like an idiot at Halloween parties, so I am going to post a precious video to tide everyone over until I have time to make a real post! It is basically the most precious thing ever. A small child + a guitar + "Hey Jude" = an incredibly cute video! You have to watch the whole thing, though, because when the kid gets to the part of the song that goes "better, better, better," it is SO CUTE and hilarious.



Love, Jillian

Día de los Muertos

Halloween is over guys! But wait, Día de los Muertos has just begun! Okay, I kept asking Jillian if it was okay for me to even write this post, and we decided it is. Because I really like Día de los Muertos. I can't wait until I have my own apartment so that I can make real ofrendas for my grandfather and my great grandparents every year. I'm not joking, I really love them.


So here's a little list of things I love about Día de los muertos. I love the little sugary calaveritas. They are so cute and when I was little we'd always get some and I was a little afraid of eating them. I don't really like the way they taste because I don't love sweet things, but I still think they are precious.


Of course I love ofrendas, I just said so. But seriously, they are so beautiful. In Chicago, we used to go on field trips to the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, which is now called the National Museum of Mexican Art, to go look at ofrendas. They were amazing, seriously. We never really made ofrendas but my mother made one when I was around ten. It was tiny but really pretty, and it's just such a nice idea. It's more than just about looking nice, it's the whole thought behind it. It's such a nice tradition, I just really love it.


Pan de Muertos, I really like it. I don't know what else to say about it except that when I was little I thought it was made from the bones of the dead and so I was scared to eat it. When I quickly realized that wasn't the case, I was all about eating it. It's bread, I love bread. Period.


I also really love cempásuchil. They are such pretty flowers! They are orange and yellowish and just so nice. They're marigolds, and I think they are some of my favorite flowers. When I was little I also thought that cempásuchil was the same as flor de calabaza, which are squash blossoms. I got really scared because cempásuchil was associated with Day of the Dead and I thought it was creepy that we were eating that. Again, I was wrong, and this made me really happy. Because I love squash blossom soup and squash blossom quesadillas so much that I would've been a really sad kid if I couldn't eat them anymore.

I could probably keep going with all the things I love about this holiday, but I won't. I will say that my mom used to read me this book about Day of the Dead when I was little and it was one of my favorites. I like the idea of writing little poems for people, and going to the cemetery to visit their graves, and it's just all so pretty, really. And I don't know if people really understand it a lot of the time, and I was afraid of making this post because I didn't want people to think I was saying it was just some silly little holiday that was cute, because it's not.

I almost made an ofrenda this year but I didn't think I had anywhere to put it. Maybe I'll just light some candles tomorrow night though. We'll see. Día de los muertos is always a little sad, but it also makes me smile.

Love, María

2NE1

Hey guys, it's HALLOWEEN! Kewl. I am really not very excited because I don't have a real costume. But, if I could be anything for Halloween, I'd want to be CL from 2NE1. Seriously. I love this band. All I listened to while writing my really horrible Spanish Senior Sem paper last week was 2NE1. I love K-Pop! Okay, maybe I just love select K-Pop.

But, guys, these girls are so cute! Seriously. Jillian wrote about their song "Lollipop" but there are so many other gems on that album. So basically these 4 girls just make some of the cutest songs ever. They are upbeat and catchy and sometimes they have really intense lyrics that I can't actually understand until I watch videos with subtitles. Maybe I should start learning Korean.


All the girls in 2NE1 are super cute, but CL is definitely my favorite. When I first watched the video for "Lollipop" I thought Bom was my favorite because she always wear the cutesiest things but CL is so sassy. That's why I know I like CL best. She can also speak Japanese, Korean, French and English fluently! She is so cute but still super sassy and I wish I were her and not just for Halloween. Melissa really likes MinJi, and I can't deny how super precious she is. She's also only 15! I wish I had been in a cool girl group when I was 15! They all wear super precious things that only look super precious because they're the ones wearing them. Dara is the only person who could pull off that weird hairstyle from the "Lollipop" video, and only CL could wear a weird leotard paired with a vest and tights and look cool. Seriously though, yesterday, our friend Michelle taught us the word for cute in Korean and if I could remember what it was I would use it to describe 2NE1.


I really like all the songs on their mini-album. Plus, I wish I lived in Korea so that I could've bought the actual album because it comes in this really cool case. I've been listening to their songs over and over to see if I can choose favorites, but it is really hard. I originally wanted the album so that I could listen to "Lollipop" but after I got it, I realized that there are so many other good songs on it. "I Don't Care" has really upsetting lyrics, but it is such a good song. Plus, since I can't actually understand Korean, I don't have to pay attention to how sad they are all the time. "Fire" is SO good. Plus they do this really cute dance in the videos for the song. I also really like "Let's Go Party" but I guess my least favorite is "In the Club" It's just not as good. I'm still not sure how I feel about "Stay Together" but I'm gonna keep listening to it and figure it out.

Basically, this mini-album is really good and I can't wait until they release a full-length album next year. I know that I love twee and indie pop but lately I can't listen to it all the time because sometimes those songs are really cute but also really heartbreaking. So I just keep listening to 2NE1 because it is just catchy and I can think about how cute they are and don't have to deal with understanding how sad the lyrics are. That sounds kinda stupid, but it's not! Anyway, I have been at Haffner for way too long now. I think it's time to end this post and finally leave.

Love, María