Music Mondays, Round 2

Weekend recap coming soon; enjoy your Music Monday for now and I will update when I can!

Current obsessions:

Mumford & Sons, "Little Lion Man"


M&S with "Awake Your Soul" Live


For the times when you want to yell along in your car:


30 Seconds to Mars aka Jared Leto's band with "This is War"


Old News:

MGMT's "Time to Pretend"


Glasvegas with "Geraldine"


Passion Pit (out of Boston!!) with "Little Secrets"


Love you alllll, and be back soon!

XOXO - Christine

I Love Bill Simmons

Via the hilarious sportswriter's @CelticsChants Twitter account:

Love it.

Have fun tonight my bunnies!

XOXO - Christine

Best. Discovery. Ever.

This just made my already-awesome-even-though-I'm-exhausted-and-still-hungover-from-last-night day!!

Behold the glory that is daytripsociety!

Is it possible to be in love with a website? Because I'm pretty sure I am...

FYI, the following items are on the table as potential future bday/christmas/you-are-awesome gifts:

A fictional graphic novel about Bigfoot's life, from his perspective? Yes please!
Serving tray.Nautical plates.LOVE these.

Made from a recycled sail.



Definitely could have used these today.

Anyway, that's it for now friendlies, can't wait to update you all tomorrow about whatever shenanigans we get into tonight!

XOXO - Christine

"I want to deboard your crazy train..."

This is mother effing hilarious: (Via HNTDO)

How to Dump Online: Email

Subject Line: I’ve Notified Law Enforcement Good Memories

Dear Tabitha,

I’ve been doing a lot of heavy drinking thinking, and I want to deboard your crazy train don’t think we should keep seeing each other. I really like your apartment you and I’m obviously very attracted to your roommate you, and in a lot ways I am baffled as to how you manage to function daily on even the most basic level we match well, but I just can’t see myself watching you pick lint off your sweater and eat it again staying in a relationship here.

It’s a very specific general feeling, more based on the incident where you shoved the prongs of a fork under your thumbnail until it bled without comment where I am in my life. It’s easy hard to explain, and I guess I needed my recent vacation to hide from you figure things out, but I really feel like it wouldn’t be fair to keep boning seeing you after i found the dead racoons in your freezer if that’s the way I’m leaning. I feel like if I don’t make this decision now, my life will be at risk in the very near future we’d both get more and more emotionally invested, and yet I’d still feel like I’d need to probably move out of state leave, and then it would be much worse for my physical safety.

Just to be clear, this has everything nothing to do with everything anything you did or definitely did didn’t do. You’ve caused my very soul to shudder been great in all ways, and I really did recoil in disgust enjoy getting to know you. Believe me this was a prudent not an easy decision to make, and it’s not one I made without first securing an order of protection lightly either.

I wish you were locked up the best - you’re on your way to a 72 hour involuntary psych hold brilliant, every idea you have is born of some deeply seeded psychosis pure genius! You’re beyond drug therapy hilarious yet curiously allowed to roam free sensitive, tolerably attractive cute yet bangable sexy also. And you could win gold in the crazier than a sh*thouse rat contest kissing olympics. Please don’t call me hate me, and I hope you are very far away very soon understand.

I’ve already changed my name, Best of luck to you in all that you do,

-Formerly Max Smith

Also via hownottodateonline.com....

This looks like approximately 30% of my Match.com interactions. Like this one. Remember?

Lazy-eye: NICE LEGGS

Me: Great pick up line...not creepy at all. P.S. No thanks.

Lazy-eye: miss picky on the internet? LMAO

Me: The last thing I need in my life is a 41-year old man who doesn't understand the proper usage of capitalization. They're called standards, and, shocker, I have them; in fact, most girls my age do. Good luck finding a 21-year old "4 FRIENDSHIP AND SOMETHING REALLY COOL."

Good times.

Happy almost Friday!!

XOXO - Christine

Music Monday Update

Because I forgot to write about The Big Pink, but couldn't wait until next Monday to share my love for their song "Dominos."



And "Too Fake" from Hockey, via JDubs. I told you my man friends were good for something!



Seriously heart you all.

XOXO - Christine

New Feature = Music Mondays!!

Welcome to your very first Music Monday my friends! Those of you who know me personally know that I have extremely eclectic taste in music. The playlist I'm currently listening to is a mix of dirty rap, country, love songs that alternately make me smile slash want to die inside, and, of course, Vampire Weekend. In addition to loving a variety of music, I also tend to discover certain songs before everyone else catches on to how great they are, like La Roux's "Bulletproof," which I've loved since it came out last year, but is only now getting major radio play.

In that spirit, I'm going to start posting music recommendations and videos each Monday for your viewing/listening pleasure. Some of it will be brand spankin' new, some will be old school, and all of it will be awesome in one way or another. I'm basically going to post whatever I've been awkwardly blasting as I zoom around the city with my windows rolled down, and I hope you love it as much as I do!

Enjoy....

This week, I'm recommending 16 songs that have been in heavy rotation on my itunes. Just because it's been gorgeous out lately, I'll begin with Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk," off their self-titled 2008 album, and "Cousins" and "Giving up the Gun" from their most recent album, "Contra." See "Cousins" below:



If you love Vampire Weekend like I do, then you'll probably also enjoy Pheonix's "1901" and Gyptain's "Hold You," which is my top cruising-around-the-city song at the moment. You should also check out Black Kids, specifically "I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance with You," anything by MGMT, and if you must, Sleigh Bells, though I think they're a bit overrated at the moment. Here is Pheonix, live on Letterman:



Bob Sinclair's "World, Hold On," might do the trick for you as well, but I have to be honest and say that I much preferred his smash hit, "Love Generation," which was the theme song to my senior year of college. Alright, fuck it, I'm offically endorsing "Love Generation" over "World, Hold On," but I'm too lazy to change the playlist, so....deal.



Moving right along....if you're a country music lover, then I'm probably not telling you anything new when I recommend the Zac Brown Band's "Toes," but summer is upon us and I couldn't resist adding it to the playlist. On the country front, I've also been loving "Gimme That Girl" by Joe Nichols, the same guy responsible for "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off." Compare and contrast below:





If you're a fan of the hot mess that is Ke$ha, then you'll love her latest singles, "Take it Off" and "Your Love is My Drug." Favorite line? "So I got a question, do you want to have a slumber party in my basement; do I make your heart beat like an 808 drum; is my love your drug?"



If you're in the mood for hip hop, then definitely check out "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" by the comeback kid, Lloyd Banks. Best line? "She always ready, to give me that Becky. Last time it was so good I almost crashed my Bentley." I like to think that I'm up on the latest lingo, but what the fuck is a Becky? A new name for a blow jay? So strange.



I can't not mention "Airplanes" by B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams from Paramore, because it's just so damn good for shouting along (or interperetively dancing) to in the car.



On that note....I'm still pissed that I never bought tickets to this year's SummerJam. Perhaps a little Jason Derulo will cheer me up?



Yup...that definitely did the trick!

Next up we have Trey Songz, with "Neighbors Know My Name," which should be added to everyone's sex mixes ASAP. The video is hot, but involves a tub of milk, which is just a tad too awk, even for this blog.

My final recommendations are best suited for those times when you're either crazy happy and want to fully embrace it, or for the times when shit is so bad that you just need to wallow for a while. Enter Colbie Callait with the epically depressing "I Never Told You."



And Angel Taylor, with the slightly more cheerful, "Like You Do."



Whew, that was a lot. Next week I'll probably only be recommending a few new songs, but I figured I'd start Music Mondays with a bang. I hope you guys enjoyed my random assortment of songs and I'll be back soon!

XOXO - Christine

Life is good today....

So.....I officially have my masters degree. Yay me. In order to celebrate, I am going to get rip-roaring drunk tonight and try not to make any inappropriate phone calls or make out with any half-black gangster wannabes at the bar. Because, you know, that's never the goal.

In that spirit, here is a verbatim conversation that Anna and I just had regarding this weekend:

Anna: I don't want to go out.
Me: That's fine, but do you want me to throw some champ on ice for you?
Anna: But why? I don't want to go out.
Me: Well, I dunno, I mean, I'm crushing PBRs...
Anna: Why?
Me: I don't know, because I had a long week, the Bruins are on, and I need to celebrate getting my masters...?
Anna: Wait, but I thought we were going out tomorrow night!?
Me: Yeah, I'm going out both nights. Summer Christine is back baby!
Anna: Oh god...OOOH GOD.

And in honor of these momentous occasions (graduating; return of fun me) I give you the Zac Brown Band, because this how I feel right now, minus the fact that the Bruins and the Flyers are currently tied.

Love the PBR shout-out! Hope you all have magically awkward and/or hilariously fun Friday nights!!

XOXO - Christine

KCSCougar is a Genius Animator

Please enjoy Lady Gaga's little monsters...


Leno and Conan...


The Real Housewives of NYC...


And my all-time faves, the Real Housewives of New Jersey...


XOXO - Christine

The Break-Up Breakdown

Heyyyyy friends!

I hope everyone had as wild a weekend as I did...but that's probably not where I should begin, now is it? I know you're all just dyyyying to hear about my love life, especially since I went dark for a week without any word on the Jim situation.

So, where're we at, you ask? Short answer: In a much better place. Long answer: Brace yourself, it's complicated.

When I last left you friendlies, I hadn't heard from Jim since the break-up phone call heard 'round the bar, and was fully preparing myself for the inevitable vanishing act to follow. Thankfully, he finally contacted me later that night (via text) to say that he'd definitely like to meet up mid-week to talk things out and that he'd call me the following day.

Wednesday night rolled around, and after the longest day of all time, I made the drive over to his house. We went upstairs to talk, and I think we were both glad that we'd had a few days to think things through. He apologized for telling me on Friday night that we had "no chemistry" and said that he had been angry with me for posting La Roux's "Bulletproof" video on facebook, because it seemed to be directed entirely at him. I admitted that we had moved to fast; spent too much time together from the beginning. I said I was sorry for letting us get into a rut so soon, and explained that I hadn't been giving him my best me.

In the end, we decided to take a no contact break for 2-3 weeks, and then we can go from there. My fear is that he'll throw himself back into the dating game, meet another girl, and do the exact same thing to her in his quest to get over the hurt from his last break-up. I told him as much, and that my hope is that we'll both take this time to regroup. I need to get back to being my normal, fun, non-stressed self, and he needs to get over his ex-girlfriend and back to a place where he's ready to open up again.

Post-talk, I ventured downstairs where I bumped into his parents, who I'd really gotten to know during our brief courtship. I felt as though they deserved a proper goodbye, so I told them that we were taking a break, and that I didn't know if I'd be back. I thanked them for having me in their home, at which point they both bear hugged me while his dad called me "kiddo" and his mom patted my back and said, "we'll see, we'll see!" Definitely a bit of a bittersweet moment.

Jim walked me out, gave me a big hug, and said that drunk texts and dials would be forgiven, which is good for everyone since we both made that mistake this past weekend.

Speaking of the weekend...I had a wild time on Saturday night when a big group of us went out for Ali's birthday party at JTree.

For those of you who haven't been, it's a sports bar type of situation upstairs, with a sketchy sketch sketch dancefloor downstairs. We began the night on the upper level, where I actually ran into The Cop, before moving to the club level below as the night wore on.

I took down my fair share of Coors Lights and managed to black out pretty hard, but not before dancing around a pole and taking 1,000 awkward photos with my friends, including a very classy kitchen floor photo shoot with Kate.

It was definitely nice to get crazy and let loose with my friends after being so lame for all of January and February, and I feel like I'm getting back to being myself more and more every day. So, we shall see...until then, I love you all and I will be back here blogging again soon!

XOXO - Christine

"Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth..."

Cannot describe my love for this song with words, so here's the video:

This song, and pretty much anything by Vampire Weekend, immediately transports me to my lake house, where I'm surrounded by water, sun, and friends, and am generally loving life. What I'm trying to say is that it would be basically impossible for this song to not put a smile on my face.

Speaking of Vampire Weekend, I was listening to "Oxford Comma" for the thousandth time the other week and my mind was BLOWN by a lyrical revelation. Ready for it? Skip to 1:41 to hear the slickest Lil' Jon shout out ever (no "YEAAAHHH, OKAAYYY" here).

Incredible, right? In case you missed it, the song goes: "First it's to the window, then it's to the wall; Lil' Jon, he always tells the truth..." Too funny that it took me well over two years to notice haha.

Anyway lovers, I hope you've all had wonderful weeks and I will be posting a break-up/life update later tonight or tomorrow!

XOXO - Christine

(603): Soooo, I was just dumped. Via Phone. At Grand Canal. As a violinist was walking by serenading people. FML.

Well hello there friends! I haven't seen you in what, a month now? I apologize for disappearing without warning, but I desperately needed a month off to get my life together and figure out where things were going with the new boy I mentioned last time. And where did things wind up going? Say it with me now...fuckin' NOWHERE. (For the full effect, read that Bobby-style, with less bitterness and a lil more Boondock Saints.)

Yes friends, that's right, I was unceremoniously dumped this past Friday night in pretty spectacular fashion.

Which brings us to Friday night...

I got home from school around 7 and prepped myself to rage with Ali, Natasha, and Flores down at The Landing. When I finally arrived, the place (a roped in area on the aquarium pier) was packed with people I know. I immediately began double (okay, triple) fisting and having a blast with Dave, Greg, CJ, Boston Dave, Dan, Evan, Sean, Justin, Ali, Natas, Flo, and about a dozen other friends and friends of friends.

As the night went on, the group thinned out and eventually it was down to about ten of us, who decided to make the trek over to Grand Canal. Not sure if you guys remember iPhonegate 2009, but the point is that horrible things usually happen to me at Grand Canal, but I love it regardless. We began walking over, but then Dan decided that "private equity doesn't walk, private equity cabs it," so we wound up squeezing 7 of us into a cab, at which point I heard Jim's ominous ringtone (the beginning to "Shipping up the Boston").

I picked up and told him that I'd call him back when I got to the bar, which I then did from the patio out back. We talked for a half an hour or so and the conversation went from him telling me to go have fun with my friends, to me asking him what was wrong, to us breaking up and me crying at the bar. The part that makes this hilarious? Try the fact that the street violinist from my neighborhood walked by at this very moment to serenade all of the drunk couples. It was a dramatic moment fit for Lifetime, and I couldn't stop laughcrying because of it. And then...I hung up the phone, went back into the bar with a brave face on, accepted pity drinks and hugs, and danced my face off.

Post-Grand Canal, a bunch of people came back to my apartment to hang out and play some beirut until 4:30 or so. Dan and I teamed up to take on Boston Dave and his lady friend, and I honestly had the best beirut game of my life, sinking nearly every shot and finally winning it for us when we were down to one cup each and they'd hit our cup. One bounce shot later and we were clearly the champions. The night finally ended when Boston Dave broke a kitchen chair and the cold champagne ran dry.

The next morning, I talked to my best friend from high school, Catherine, for an hour or so and she gave me some really excellent perspective on the situation. Based on what I'd told her about this new relationship, it was clear to her that I liked him, but that the intensity of my liking was magnified by how well he treated me, since I haven't had that in a very, very long time. I've done a lot of thinking, and I recognize that she's absolutely right. Do I like him as a person? Absolutely. Did I cry when he ended things? Definitely. Was I mourning the loss of the constant affection as much as I was sad about him choosing to remove himself from my life? Yes, for certain, and that was the point she really drove home for me.

Anyway, midday tears and phone convos done, I Derby'd myself up and headed over to Toppers to meet my friends. If you recall, last year I actually went to the Derby and had the most amazing/awkward time of my life. This year was no different, minus the fact that instead of blacking out and awkwardly hitting on Greg, I was semi-sober and had to keep tabs on his drunk ass so he wouldn't die in the streets of Boston. Natasha wound up buying a spectacular Derby hat and we made our way over to Game On. The weather was gorgeous (somehow better than it was in Louisville itself), and we had a blast. Natasha even managed to win a prize when she bet on SuperSaver, the winning horse! It was a great time...until Ali almost choked some girl out for being a bitch. Oh Ali and her rage...

After Game On, we mosied over to Kings to meet up with Goob and Karen (Koob) for his old roomie's bday party. During said moseying, Ali was still bent out of shape about the girl in the ugly orange dress and kept threatening to serve her Boston tap water as revenge (for those of you who aren't from here, we had a massive water main break and we're not supposed to drink the water, Mexico-style). Everyone was dragging a bit while we were there, so the girls and I wound up leaving. Ali and Lauren peaced out and Natasha and I went on the longest walking tour of Charlestown ever to meet Greg at Tavern on the Water.

When we showed up, Greg was in rare form (not so rare for him) and looked like a very preppy and yet disheveled homeless man, a trend that should soon catch on and be known as "laid off day trader." He convinced us to head back to my building to hang out with the boys upstairs, which we then did. A beer later, and we were on our way to Good Life, with an incredibly racist, youtube sensation aspiring cabbie at the wheel.

Here, our group split up because several of us looked inside at the clientele and couldn't justify paying $20 a head to hang with pure sketchiness. Off to Bell we went, where Natasha "knows people" and was able to get us in without a cover, complete with an escort through the kitchen and up the back stairwell. Finally, the night was coming to a close when I got a call from BDubs. We wound up hanging out and he managed to not pee in any inappropriate locales, so that was a huge bonus.

So, in summation of my weekend:

- Friday was a shitshow (it always is when Dan and Dave are in the mix) and I still managed to have the time -and best beirut game- of my life, despite being dumped pretty spectacularly.

- Saturday night involved Game On, Kings, Tavern on the Water, my apt, Good Life, and Bell. Saturday night also involved BDubs, Greg, and many of my other favorite people. Good time = guaranteed, lack of clean water in Boston be damned.

- Today shall be full of golf (or more appropriately "whiffs" in my case) and a BBQ at Karen's in Southie. Do I have a lot of school work to do? Yes. Will it get done? Eventually. But for now, I just need to hang out with my friends and get back to being my normal, happy, single self.

So, that's where I'm at. I just want to give a huge thank you to my friends who were there for me this weekend and who stayed up with me both nights so I wouldn't have to be alone in my apartment while Kate's in Ireland. I already know that I will be fine, but that doesn't make this, or the prospect of getting back out there, any easier, especially after the awful year I've had dating-wise. Love you all, and I will be a more diligent blogger going forward now that I'm almost done with school. Okay, time for me to go lace up my golf shoes and hit the driving range with Karen, Goob, and Natas...have a wonderful Sunday afternoon everyone!

XOXO - Christine