Dear World,

I seriously just walked into the living room and Joe is standing in the dark, rapping every word to Rapper’s Delight with his new Yankee Candle lit (Dune Grass) and Stinky is sitting on the floor in front of him, observing. Can someone come hang out with us, please?! I should probably add the only reason I came out of the bedroom was to add The Office Season 4 to my Netflix instant play queue (just finished 3! again!) so I could watch it as I organized my closet and planned new projects for my heaps of yarn and drank my pinot noir. Crap.

Love, Ashley

FINALLY! I am seeing Devendra Banhart live for the first time tonight. He is playing at Terminal 5 in Midtown. I have been waiting for this moment since Nate first gifted me Niño Rojo and fell in love with “Little Yellow Spider” .. anyone else going?

family, boats, beach, friends, pools, yes, yes, yes.

it’s wonderful that I feel so welcome at Joe’s parents house. Mandy came over there while Joe picked up a shift at a local seafood market to make a little moola.

it is so ridiculously hot out, we could only manage to play boardgames and drink strawberry piña coladas. vanessa and ben joined us.

i also found time to save an injured squirrel i saw from the window.  he was in the middle of the road and his left eye was infected.  he couldn’t stop running in circles and cars were FLYING down the road.  an older man stopped to help me, and we managed to manuever him out of traffic and put a box over him.  i called the animal control shelter and they came an hour later.  poor little guy.

It’s a beautiful Friday evening here in Brooklyn. I worked all day (5:30am-3:00pm) and came home and planned on walking across the street and reading in the park. After eating lunch I decided to nap. I couldn’t fall asleep so instead I have been sitting here watching TV and wishing I could go to Jersey now but I know the traffic is out of control (thanks fb statuses) so I am either going to wait until 11 tonight or go super early in the morning. Joe is at the Scottie Pippen induction (he saw Scottie and Dennis Rodman walk in!) so driving alone is not going to be fun, I’ll see him in Jersey tomorrow.

There are so many productive things I could be doing right now- knitting, starting my quilt, painting the radiator in the living room (copper!), re-upholstering our kitchen chairs or even putting away all the clean (thanks joe) dishes from dinner last night. Instead I am watching Seinfeld, creeping all over the internet and guzzling fresh brewed iced tea like a maniac. In the midst of my solo relaxation routine, the house shakes. Stinky goes nuts and I hear children screaming. For a split second I thought something bad happened then I realized all my neighbors and their children are having somuchfun in the courtyard of our buildings. It’s so cute. I’m a creep and took a photo. I really envy all of the surrounding buildings and their rooftop gardens. Also, envy people with people to hang out with on an evening like this. At least I have Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer to keep me company for now.

Things we were talking about possibly doing this afternoon

• Going to the Met
• Going to the Moma
• Going to Brooklyn Museum
• Going to Bronx Zoo
• Going to Coney Island
• Going to Home Depot
• Finding & buying a juicer

Things we did

• Watched a few episodes of The Office
• Ate a chocolate croissant & drank coffee
• Gave one another massages .. ver nize
• Took an hour nap
• Andrew stopped by, hung for a bit
• Showered
• Planned dinner
• Shopped for dinner
• Made dinner

Talk about a change of plans, eh? The second version of this day def works better for me. We actually ate dinner while it was still light out (new for us) and are currently drinking a pick six we picked up at Bier Kraft a few days ago. Good day and honestly, I’m ready to say goodnight. I don’t know if I will make it to ten to watch The Situation and Snookie wild out. We shall see. Joe heads up to Massachusetts tomorrow evening to see Scottie Pippen’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. How exciting! He is going with his Dad and they have been planning it for months. He has been a huge Chicago Bulls fan his entire life and even though he is acting so chill about it I know he is going to feel so humbled to be there to see his favorite athlete be inducted. Well, I think I am officially in a food coma from that meal. So good.

my dad came up this past weekend to see Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings perform at Prospect Park.  this was our first time seeing her live.. and, WHOA.
honestly, hands down one of the best live shows i’ve ever seen.

this lady oozes funk.

the night was beautiful, company was good & they KILLED it.   if you aren’t already listening to this band on the regular, i’d get to it. sooner rather than later.

funny story.
as we all walked out the door to head out it shut behind us and joe looks at me.

“i dont have a key”
neither did i.

do you know what joe did? he climbed the hanging ladder on the back of our building.  a hanging, rusty, crusty, climbing ladder.

when he got to the second floor, he climbed into the bathroom window.
we live on the third floor.
not our bathroom. he climbed back out.

the ladder on the third floor does not align with our window, so joe had to jump OVER and IN the window.  i just picture him with dangling legs outside the window.
i was obviously not there, because i would have been hysterically crying/screaming/probably just calling a locksmith.
when he came through the window, he took the blinds with him. then, met up with us.  wildness.