"Summer has come and passed, the innocent can never last. Wake me up when September ends." ~green day

I haven't posted in awhile and I know I have so much to write about, but I've forgotten most of it.

I had a friend stay with me about a week ago (or was it two weeks?). Another friend was visiting the city from Italy. It was great to be able to spend time with them. I love having visitors. I got to feel like a tourist for a short bit of time. We went to the Guggenheim and we saw the movie Manhattan on a big screen in Central Park and we watched the Emmys in my tiny apartment and it was a really great weekend.

Crumbs:

Manhattan in Manhattan:

Cosmos:

Emmys:

I ushered at the off-Broadway play Trust recently. It has the most amazing cast (Sutton Foster, Bobby Cannavale, Ari Graynor, and Zach Braff) so you'd think it would have to be amazing. Unfortunately you'd think wrong.

I love that the Broadway season is heating up. I'm seeing some shows in the near future and I'll report back on them. I also have tickets to some concerts that are coming up soon (The Gaslight Anthem, The Hold Steady, The Avett Brothers, Frightened Rabbit), so be on the lookout for goodies from those. I need fun things to keep me sane during the school year.

One good thing about having kittens is that they've made me take better care of my apartment. I have to keep it clean and neat because of them. I hate doing the work to make it happen, but I love having a clean apartment. I just did a ton of laundry, vacuumed, and straightened up and my apartment and it's so nice to be able to relax in it now.

Jasper was sick for awhile and I was worried about him, but he's gotten better. He was down to 1.6 pounds (that's really, really, tiny, and it's especially worrisome because he weighed two pounds three days earlier). He's gained weight, though, and he's much more playful. Both kittens have colds, and their coughs are pretty scary too, but they should get over them soon. I love them so much. Casey is a maniac, and it's adorable. He has so much energy. He loves running around the apartment, starting on the bed and sprinting onto the couch and then into the kitchen and back to the bed again. He also loves chasing his tail. He fell into the toilet yesterday (he actually leaped into the toilet, not realizing I had just flushed it and therefore hadn't put the seat down yet). With him around it's impossible to get bored. Jasper is more cuddly; he climbs onto my lap whenever I'm sitting on the couch and loves to stick his nose in my nostrils. They both do that, actually. I sleep flat on my stomach, and they've both fallen asleep on my back. They also like sleeping on my pillow, right next to my head.

I had a great birthday on Saturday. Nic took me to the movies and we saw The American. I love Anton Corbijn. Of course he's best known as a music photographer, shooting U2 for decades; he's done amazing work for them. I was really excited to see him try his hand at directing, and I was not disappointed. Every shot in the movie is just gorgeous. It's visually stunning. The cinematography was definitely the best part about it, and I was completely fine with that. The story was very predictable (at least to me), but I didn't even care. I did like George Clooney's performance. And it made me want to go to Italy.

That evening I went and spent the night with my cousin Bess. She worked hard to make a cake for me, and it was great to spend time with her. We watched movies and relaxed and I always love being over there.

Yesterday my friend Roseann took me out for the best fries in the city and it was good to see her. We hung out for six hours and didn't run out of things to talk about. That's always how it is with her; we can't have a phone conversation that lasts less than an hour. I'm going to miss her at school this year.

I go back to school tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see how it'll be different this year. We lost a lot of teachers with whom I'm close. I do still have friends there, though, and it will be good to see them.

Tomorrow night Nic and I are going to the U.S. Open, and I'm excited about that. My family used to go every year, and I miss that. I don't even care who plays tomorrow night; just the thrill of being there will be enough.

I'll leave you with a couple shots of the babies.