2K14: bring it.

I love living in Philadelphia on the first day of a new year.

When we first moved here (as fresh faced babies), in 2004, I didn't know what I was getting into. Not as far as Philly (I had an idea of what that was), but more in regards to New Years.



2008, 2009, 2010, we threw some super-great ragers over at Beulah, with champagne fountains, countdowns, confetti cannons, loud music, people kissing, and everything. So fun. (Props to Marilyn and Sarah, each in their own way the best co-hosts).

Wasn't Beulah fun?
Fast forward: If you follow me on Instagram (also "doggieeyes" over there, if you're not) you've either watched or not watched some of my New Years Day round-ups.  Around 2010, I started "believing" in the Mummers in earnest. 

(If you don't know about it, I can't even really explain it. Mix f'real dudes, banjos, drag, liquor, sleeplessness, competitive drive, hometown pride, mardi gras, and umbrellas, always, lawlessness, hints of racism, carnival, bitter cold, and hangovers, silly string, party anthems, and olde timey traditions, elaborate costumes, and you've got an idea. If you really need to know you should try wikipedia or something, but I'm not sure how far that would get you.)  

All this stuff happens on New Years Day. Now that I'm an old person, this means taking it a little easier on New Year's Eve. I can do that!  

It's weird and it's wild. And you need to be in bed by 10:30.

And I'm really glad I've gotten to do it so many times.  This is my TENTH New Years in Philly, and I'm looking forward to it again tomorrow.



Ten more years? Maybe. Maybe not.


In any case: to my friends who venture out for another day of parties after a whole night of parties, to midnight kissees, to mummers, to Mayor Nutter (?), to Holly for brainstorming resolutions with me every year, to Brown who is maybe my best Mummer soldier, to everybody: Happy New Year. I like it. (Maybe some more on Resolutions later.)

field trip

This weekend JB and Ry took me to see my Philly Photo Day billboard. It's up in my old hood (5th and Oxford), near Crane Arts.

The rainbows look better IRL (both "IRL" in my own window, really, and "IRL" on the billboard, as opposed to a photo of a photo, if that makes sense.)

Thankfully, we were able to find an excellent parking spot for observation.

solutions

Some things I have done for my cat:

• paid for him to get awesome haircuts
• got him a kitten
• bought this cool A-frame birdhouse to hang outside his window
• bought suet, suet cage, to try to attract birds to birdhouse, in fact attracting all the fatty squirrels 

and finally

• covering suet in Franks to deter squirrels after reading that they hate spicy
• conceding that squirrels are going to eat it anyway, but really they're just as interesting to watch as birds

photoyolo

I subscribe to photoyolo, this super straightforward/cool photography project where you just get emailed one picture a day.

I get the daily picture sent to my hotmail, so it's not jammin' up my "real" inbox. Most days I open my yolo, some days I don't. It might be a phone pic of a dog doing a thing, or it might be this:

but they're usually worth opening and spending 3 seconds on. The simplicity of the whole project (including the website and their emails) was super appealing to me. You can sign up here if you're interested.