i don't know why you were all expecting a newsletter yesterday when it was literally my birthday i had other priorities
i'msosorryit'llneverhappenagainireallydidn'tmeantoyellatallofyoui'mjust26nowandi'mtired
heLLO everyone!
What a weekend we all had celebrating St. Paddy’s Day and my birthday. It’s so kooky-crazy that those always fall on the same few days, huh? Science sure is beautiful.
Boy, oh boy am I sleepy today! 26 is exhausting! My back aches, my carpal tunnel is setting in, and the wind from the East River is blowing me onto Metropolitan Ave when I need to be on North 3rd. Life is tough in your later 20s — why did no one warn me?
Birthdays always feel so surreal for me. Even if I have a party, it doesn’t ever feel like a birthday party. I invited 25 people to go to a bar with a bowling alley, and all 25 showed up. And everyone was spread out. It was just a large hang. And it was nice, but I kept forgetting it was a birthday party! Next year, it’ll just be five of us at the Great Wolf Lodge. That feels right for 27.
I love having my birthday at the same time as St. Patrick’s Day. Having been quite the Irish dancer as a kid for 10 years (yes, a whole decade) made this holiday one of the greatest. Skipping school for the entire day to travel on a yellow school bus all over the city of Chicago so that we could go dance for hundreds of drunk people in every Irish pub we could find was truly a dream. Even for just a day or a weekend, this cultural stereotype was one to be proud of. St. Patrick’s Day will never be as good as it was when I was a wee little Irish dancer, but I’ll tell ya: when my friends and I chose an Irish pub in Williamsburg to start going to trivia nights, we eventually made that place our Abbey Pub (iykyk). It became our local bar that the owner and the bartenders knew was our spot, and it just so happened that it was an Irish pub, as well. With the smell of one and the portraits on the wall of one and the Smithwicks on tap, this is the closest I’ve gotten since dancing and since living abroad in Dublin to the feeling I had when I was younger hanging out in pubs (very underage — like 12 years underage). And now. I’m finally of age (26 to be exact), and I get to feel like the people in the bars who watched me dance my lil curly wig off and drink a bunch of Smithwicks (I threw up twice) and wear my most Irish shirt:
I love my Irish culture — it’s always so exciting to literally get sunburns from the full moon. Last week, my family had a huge Irish celebration that was continuing the tradition of my grandmother starting these parties. Just a bunch of dudes (pale people) bein’ guys (reminiscing on their heritage). What can get better than that? That’s where this photo comes from:
You can take the lassie out of the curly wig, but you can’t take the curly wig out of the lassie … ok, wait, that’s not what I meant.
On my actual birthday, I used two of my birthday gifts (a photoshoot kit from my dad and an espresso machine from my mom) to make my friends lattes and also use them to practice photo lighting — what can I say, this girl needs a side hustle. The gifts we ask for the older we get really do end up just being things we need, and yes, I needed an espresso machine. But the photoshoot kit makes telling people that I have the tools and the gear to get paid to take photos more true. Here are my first couple of practice photos while learning about lighting — Brenna and Owen, you should’ve known I was gonna use these:
And then my personal favorite:
Look familiar?
I think the lighting is already helping the photos, but I need so much practice … but paid practice … like, if any of you need some photos for music or comedy or yourself or your cat, I am available for hire. I have the tools and the gear now! It’s true.
So, all in all, a very good birthday. Very excited to test my life limits now that I’m off my mom’s insurance. 26 has already been so fun! Can’t wait for the next one — Great Wolf Lodge, here we come!
movie rec: do a Scream marathon!!
music rec: check out the Pitchfork Music Festival lineup and listen to them
video to watch:
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So long for now!
