My Real-Life Fairytale: Cinderella Style

Have you ever experienced the fulfillment of a dream that you never imagined in a million YEARS would come true? Have you ever had one of your intimate fantasies become reality?

Last night, I stepped into a fairytale…

My friend Luna won an open-bar party at a cute little pub outside of Georgetown. She and I headed down there around 10pm to claim our lovely gratis beverages. To my delight, my favorite Uncle, Mike, showed up too and took part in our fun-filled merriment :)

I was sipping my Bud Light and chatting away with Mike & Luna when it happened… I saw him… the gorgeous Irish boy in my reporting class that I’ve been secretly crushing on since the beginning of the semester. He is the definition, the very EPITOME of “my type.”

Out of sheer excitement and reflex, I shouted his name across the bar. He turned his head, flashed his heart-melting smile and started walking in my direction. After 3 months of admiring him from afar, I finally had an actual conversation with my favorite piece of eye-candy!

To make a long story short: The Irish boy, (let’s call him “Lucky Charms”), and his 3 adorable friends were my main form of entertainment for the rest of the night. I bonded quite well with one of them, (kiss, dance, hug, drink, kiss), but somehow got shifted in the crowd and started dancing with Lucky Charms! With one good song after another… our heads got closer, his smile got wider… and our lips were locked! (For quite some time, I might add :)

He got my number… but I'm not expecting a phone call. As I see it: it was one of those Cinderella nights. I am still in disbelief that the whole thing happened. I’ve been smiling to myself ever since :)

Leaf : Tree :: Moments : Forever

I love to read. Me = bookworm... (But I'm very critical: I expect my books to be well-written, attention-grabbing and memorable)... The book that I am currently reading is called "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss. So far, (I'm on pg. 53), I am thoroughly enjoying it :)

I came across a quote on pg. 45 that took my breath away. OK, it didn't take my breath away, but it was pretty damn cute. Cute enough for me to feel that need to share it with all of you...

"The sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti said that sometimes just to paint a head you have to give up the whole figure. To paint a leaf, you have to sacrifice the whole landscape. It might seem like you're limiting yourself at first, but after a while you realize that having a quarter-of-an-inch of something, you have a better chance of holding on to a certain feeling of the universe than if you pretended to be doing the whole sky."

I KNOW, RIGHT! You totally love it... (P.S. I was just informed that Zac Efron is hosting SNL this Saturday! I honestly haven't felt this excited since seeing HSM3 :)

Unsung Treasures: Little Drops of Joy

It's been kind of a rocky week for me. I'm not going to go into details because... 1) This isn't my diary, & 2)You aren't my freaking therapists... You are my loyal readers who visit my blog for fun, joy and sarcastic entertainment :)

Ergo, I'd like to introduce you to "Unsung Treasures: Little Drops of Joy"... a new permanent section of my blog that I'll mention everytime I come across a hidden/ underappreciated form of happiness, inspiration or sheer amusement.

Today's unsung treasure/little drop of joy... The beautiful spring flowers on AU's campus!

American University is a national arboretum, (meaning that it is nationally recognized for its sensational horticulture)... I am glad to know that my tuition money is going towards a good cause: Planting breath-taking flowers to adorn the university. I don't care if there aren't enough computers in the library. At least I can walk towards the Welcome Center and watch beautiful tulips blowing in the wind!... Here are some of the photos I took today around campus...

Observe & Report

I just got back from a press screening for a new movie called "Observe & Report," a college-humor comedy about a lazy mall-cop, (Seth Rogan), who tries to win the slutty love-of-his-life, (Anna Faris), by solving both a robbery and a sexual-assuault case before an egotistical private investigator, (Ray Liotta)...

Basically... "Mall Rats" + "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" + "Superbad" + "The Waterboy" = "Observe & Report"... it's shockingly obscene and painfully funny... But really, you've seen it all before: Seth Rogan is his typical hilarious self. Anna Faris is her typical hilarious self. The main characters curse a lot and do/say things that (hopefully) no human-being is stupid enough to do in real life.

Despite the fact that it rips-off four other well-known comedies, "Observe & Report" serves-up some pretty great scenes... The opening scene with the perverted mall-flasher will literally make you pee your pants. And the date scene between Rogan & Faris... WOW: hilarious!

The movie is funny... but you should definitely wait until it comes to DVD. Seth Rogan & Anna Faris will just have to wait :)

Books, Twilight, Joose, Candyland, Yale

It’s been about 2-3 days since my last post and there are several things I’d like to share with you all…

1) I read a book this week that changed my life: “He’s Just Not That Into You” by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, (it inspired the movie). It should be distributed to every woman at puberty as the ultimate relationship manual for understanding men. It’s an eye-opening guidebook that I wish I had read before diving into the world of dating 7 years ago. It would have saved me a lot of worthless heartbreak and unnecessary stress.

2) I went down to Williamsburg last night to visit my brother & some of my fellow Nicaragua travelers. The point of the visit was to attend a Twilight-themed party hosted by my good friend, Antonio Elias… (Yes, I said Twilight: Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, vampires, werewolves… an emo kid’s heaven!) Here is a direct quote from the e-mail invitation I received Friday morning:

Join us, for nothing is more enjoyable than man's most horrifying creation - the 2008 hit film starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. How will we survive the onslaught of divinity that is "Edward Cullen"? Simple - the Leister-Elias Twilight Drinking game - every time you want to KILL YOURSELF, or kill one of the actors, or Stephanie Meyer, DRINK!

3) During my W-burg visit I was introduced to a new beverage: “Joose”… A premium malt beverage with natural flavors, alcohol, caffeine, taurine, ginseng and certified colors. Sketched out? You should be! When the W&M kids get their party on with JOOSE, they are beyond drunk… they are “in the GRID”… (Whatever that means?)

4) After the Twilight party had ended, a couple of us crazy kids headed to another fun party… its theme: Candyland! Picture lots of bright colors, sweet treats and college kids dressed up as gummy bears, bubble-gum and Hershey kisses. The hosts even created a makeshift bar stocked with specially-made party drinks like skittle-vodka, jello-shots, peppermint-patty shots, lemon-drop shots and other clever concoctions. Party-goers sported candy necklaces, bracelets and even candy bras! What clever William & Mary students :)

5) Andrew has definitely decided to go to graduate school at Yale next year. Honestly: I was quite thrilled to hear his decision… My new plan is to visit him constantly until I meet a handsome, rich & intelligent Eli who will shower me with love… Hey: A girl’s gotta take advantage of her resources :)

A Lover's Manual

In addition to writing a book about my mother’s philosophies and wisdom, I hope to someday publish a manual for clueless men and women on how to romance the opposite sex through generous acts of love and kindness.

I am an action-oriented kind of gal… (NO, not the bungee-jumping sort of action… but the gift-gifting, thoughtful gestures, lean-on-me sort of action). In my clever romantic mind I’ve thought up hundreds of creative ways for any man or woman to let their special-someone know how special and appreciated they are. Here are some of the chapter titles I’ve been brainstorming…

1) Power Of The Pen
2) Horny? Get Corny!
3) Aphrodisiacs Are Overrated!
4) Think Small, Dream Big
5) Finding Inspiration: Tips for the Lazy
6) Leave Your Wallet At Home
7) Words Tell It All
8) What NOT To Do
9) Reading The Signs

I’m aiming for a release date sometime around 2015… Until then: good luck lovers!

Attack of the Devil Children!

The past 24 hours have been chock-full of adventure! I landed an amazing fall internship in New York City at a top-rated Magazine… I saw and talked to Beyonce coming out of a coffee shop in Dupont Circle… I bought roundtrip plane tickets to Rome for only $200… And most exciting/dramatic: I found out I’m pregnant!

OK… I hope that by now you realize where all of this is going… APRIL FOOLS! (None of the above statements are true)

I hate this Holiday… Who the hell invented “April Fools Day” anyway? My best April 1st memory was making creepy crawlers with THE Andrew Gerard Leister and hiding them stealthily around the house to traumatize our Mother. To our dismay… the jokes ended with long timeouts and no cookies in our school lunchboxes :(

The worst April Fools Day in the history of Leister April Fools took place sometime around 1995. The extended family had gathered at Grandma’s house for a mid-day brunch, (present at the meal were my crazy mischievous cousins)…One of us decided that it would be a good idea to play a little trick on Grandma and Papa… Already, BAD IDEA!

We snuck upstairs and started giggling to ourselves as we pulled all of their clothes out of their dressers and through them across the floor. We then took shampoo and baby powder and ran around the bedrooms sprinkling it across every piece of furniture. We even went so far as to put grandma’s bras in secret little hiding spots around the house… OH how clever we were!

WRONG! Our parents stepped in and ultimate groundings ensued… (after we spent hours cleaning up the mess)... It’s a great story to tell today, but at the time it was a definite P.L.D. (poor life decision)… ERGO: I am completely scarred from past April Fools. I have learned my lesson to only play tricks that don’t involve rubber spiders, sticky toiletries and grandma’s undergarments. Thank the Lord for verbal lies :)