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