film: exit through the gift shop

exit through the gift shop is a wonderful, wonderful film!  this kept me occupied on the elliptical for a full 90 minutes, which is NOT an easy feat.  it makes me want to become a street artist.  i don't know what my signature piece would be though.  every street artist has a trademark style.  it's available on netflix. if you haven't seen it, i highly recommend it. you can watch the extended trailer here.

now accepting netflix suggestions... anyone?

bucket list: summer travel

the summertime is travel time.  since i have a monday-through-friday, 9-to-5 job, i can't jet off around the world for months on end (as much as i would loveee to do that!)  instead, i must settle for weekend trips in places that my wonderfully amazing friends live; they offer me a spot their lovely couches for nothing but laughs and snuggles in return.  oh the life broke post-grad...  but i am definitely not complaining.  these trips are fucking awesome!

summer 2014 weekend trips:
1. martha's vineyard, MA
2. burlington, vt
3. Philadelphia, pa
4. atlantic city, nj
5. baltimore, md
6. new york, ny
7. montreal, ca
8. washington d.c.

do you have any fun trips planned for this summer?

If I type it, it must be true

the let's-get-healthy project

On this 27th day in the month of May in the year of 2014:
I, Ani, vow to become the healthiest version of myself.
No magic cleanses. No miracle pills. No lame excuses.
Just good old fashioned diet and exercise mixed with hard work.
I can do this, and I will do this.

Signed (in the forthcoming blood, sweat, and tears),
Ani

That is all.

happy memorial day

happy memorial day everybody!

(photo taken at the Korean War monument in washington dc)

happiness is a three-day weekend

cheers to white pants, standstill traffic, and overcrowded beaches! that's right, it's memorial day weekend aka the unofficial start of summer. per tradition, i'm scrambling to make plans while coming to terms with the fact that last year's summer clothes are two sizes too small. what are you up to this weekend?

10 german words with no english equivalent.  currently feeling: torschlusspanik.

this is why i love sophia vergara.

how i feel about cancelled plans.

lol... alec baldwin's preschool report card.

considered buying canned unicorn meat, but then i read the reviews and thought twice.

excuses, excuses, excuses

reasons i didn't start a blog sooner:

• all the good names were taken.
• i don't have a fancy schmancy camera and i'm too poor to afford photoshop.
• sometimes my thoughts are too dark for the frilly and light-hearted world of blogging.
• sometimes my thoughts are too superficial for the smart and noteworthy world of blogging.
• everything that's worth writing about has already been written about at least 10 different ways. if i read one more article about embracing your twenties, i'm going to pull my eyebrows out (just kidding, i love those articles! keep 'em coming)
• writer's block leads to random content. exhibit a: this post that you're reading right now.
• would it be distracting if i use all lowercase letters? ...but i like lowercase letters.
• choosing a theme is difficult for an indecisive soul like myself. lifestyle? preppy? weight loss? food? fashion? travel? #toomanychoices
• i'm a perfectionist and rarely satisfied with anything i do/create.
• and of course, the dreaded... what if people don't like me!?

oh! and another major dilemma: how do people find time for blogging? it's like a full-time job... except i can't add it to my resume ...and i don't get paid. the struggle is real.

but first, let me take a selfie

before i add any additional posts, i should probably put a face behind the blog. at first, i liked the dark-and-mysterious vibe of anonymity (a big part of me wanted to stay anon) but then my narcissistic side advised otherwise. so here i am.

without further ado... i present to you... me, Ani! in all my frizzy-hair-and-90's-turtleneck glory.

// EDIT: // selfie has been removed - i decided that i prefer to be dark-and-mysterious. hence, i have decided to slip back into the wonderful world of internet anonymity.

#allaboutme

• i have a 22-pound cat named lilo, she's a maine coon.
• i am addicted to coffee; it is my heroin.
• i'm an infj on the myer-briggs scale.
• i have a bachelor's degree in economics.
• i spent a full semester in melbourne, australia. my dreams were in an australian accent. yes, it was wonderful.
• i'm a libra (and have the same birthday as eminem).
• i am german, english, Irish  Portuguese, dominican, french moroccan, and cuban. people always ask.
• i was born and raised in new england.
• i love listening to national public radio (npr) and freakonomics podcasts.

do we have anything in common?

mind vom

i haven't been able to sleep lately.
i also haven't had the desire to write.

my mind is busy,
but it's not full.

my brain is on scan mode;
trying to find a thought worth settling on.

Nothing seems to be good enough.
will try again tomorrow.

(photo by Ariel Chiesa via curate 1k)

beach reads: before the silver screen

summer is just around the corner, yay! memorial day weekend marks the beginning of cookouts, bonfires, and trips to the cape.  it also marks the start of beach season, which means beach reading; my inner-nerd is over the moon with excitement.  this summer, my personal reading list consists of books that are due to hit theaters before the clock strikes 2015.

three reasons you should read the book before seeing the movie:

1. the book is usually always better than the movie
2. to avoid surprises (confession: i read the spoilers first)
3. to be one step ahead of that annoying friend that always brags about reading the book first and then points out every single detail that was different*

*disclaimer: do not be that annoying friend that always brags about reading the book first and then points out every single detail that was different

mockingjay by suzanne collins  -  watch the trailer  -  buy the book

the giver by louis lowry  -  watch the trailer  -  buy the book

gone girl by gillian flynn  -  watch the trailer  -  buy the book

the fault in our stars by john green  -  watch the trailer  -  buy the book

what's on your reading list?

welcome to my corner of the internet

hi my name is ani and i'm a blog-aholic.  just kidding! i'm new to the blog-o-sphere, and i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing with my life this blog.  but despite my cluelesness and blatant insecurities that are thinly veiled by self-depricating attempts at humor, i'm pretty cool once you get to know me.  i swear! be my friend?

oh god, this post is starting to reek of desperation. i'm having flashbacks to my first day at a new middle school three months into 7th grade.  wire glasses, frizzy hair, and acne, oh my!

i digress...

the whole point of this post is to beg ask for blogging tips from the experts*  leave your words of wisdom in the comments below and i will be forever grateful. thanks in advance!

*the experts = you! aka anyone who: currently has a blog, use to have a blog, plans on having a blog, reads blogs for fun, knows how to read, and/or is currently breathing.

my early-life crisis

i feel like i am in a constant state "crisis." whether it's from reading nietzsche (existential crisis), watching the news (financial crisis), or questioning my life choices (quarter-life crisis), my mind can get a bit, um, imaginative.

when i saw the article titled my early-life crisis, I couldn't resist. i'm such a sucker for gen y, self-help articles.

however What i found was not a cliche guide to navigating your twenties.  what i found was so much better.  what i found was creative, witty and laugh-out-loud funny.

i've sent it to friends, co-workers, and family.  and now little blog, i'm sharing it with you.  if you haven't already, go read it. right this second. it will bring a smile to your face.

(Photograph by Jessica Peterson via the new yorker)

a versus blogging

in an attempt to be proactive, i've created a list of things that i need to work on.  these topics will appear in most, if not all, of my posts.  after all, this is a lifestyle blog. and yes, a = me...

a vs. the world

a vs. finances

a vs. fashion

a vs. friends
a vs. weight

a vs. family

a vs. travel

a vs. goals

a vs. likes

a vs. food

a vs. boys

a vs. music

a vs. dreams

a vs. thoughts

a vs. a

a vs. life

a vs. ?

i feel like i'm in one of the most difficult stages of my life right now [ed. note: i'm pretty sure 99% of the population says this, regardless of age, gender or status in life].

as a twenty-something college graduate, i realize that there is a whole world of possibility out there. now if i could only get my shit together.  because right now, it is not together; not professionally, not socially, and definitely not financially. it's kinda, sorta freaking me out.

coming up with a blog name is hard to do

over the past month i kept a list of potential blog names on the back of receipts, in the notes section of my iphone, and on random memo pads at work.  other title considerations for this space included, but were not limited to:

• not another twenty-something blog
• my life as mrs. netflix
• caffeine-fueled ramblings
• ani versus life
• lifestyle of the broke and the obscure
• make mine a double
• how to fake it in the real world
• a girl and her coffee: a love story
• #nevergrowingup
• does this blog make me look fat?
• insert explicative here
• cat lady in training
• nutella is a food group
• do they have this in black?
• generation double-u tee eff
• overweight & underemployed
• Freshman at life
• crumbs in my bed
• do it for the blog post
• all this happened, more or less

so yeah, after all that time brainstorming and trying to come up with a title that screamed read-me-i'm-witty-funny-and-cool, i decided to keep it simple. and that, my friends, is how the ani project was born.

i'm curious: where did you get the inspiration for your blog title?  what were some alternatives that didn't quite make the cut?

new kid on the blog

okay, i did it. i started a blog.

now what? when do people start commenting and telling me how cool/witty/relatable i am?  where can i get my hands on that cool stuff that the "real bloggers" always seem to be giving away? and how long until the sponsors start rolling in so i can quit my day job?

haha kidding! i know better than that. word on the street is that blogging is no joke; it's not easy being seen, and blog-fame is rare. oh well, looks like it's time to put on my serious writer disguise and get to work.  someone bring me black coffee, a pack of marlboro reds, and my moleskin notebook with the dog eared pages. this blog isn't going to write itself.

and while you're here, you mind as well make yourself useful.  introduce yourself in the comments.  where is your blogging home? i'd love to stop by for some good-natured banter and pleasantries. after all, us internet-dwellers have to stick together :)