🦋✌ afterwords

spoilers ahead ~

this puzzle was fun to make, some of my favorite entries were 25-Across, 15-Down, 29-Down, 34-Across, and 2-Down

25-Across:  BUTTERFLYKISS

i first learned what a butterfly kiss was from reading "the baby-sitters club" books by ann m. martin when i was younger. it was hilarious to me

15-Down:  STARLING

here's a picture of a starling cloud, they're also called murmurations

29-Down:  LAYLA

"layla and majnun" is a poem by nizami ganjavi about an old story of a pair of lovers. i have heard alot of references to them growing up in pakistani/indian movies/shows and songs. maybe i'll read the poem one day.

34-Across:  ANDYS

this was originally clued as a grouping of two names, but after erik agard's feedback i looked further into it and found out about the children's book by james warhola and thought it was really sweet. 

i learned andy warhol had 26 cats ! 25 of them were named sam 

2-Down: SHIATSU

shiatsu is a japanese massage. it means "finger pressure". it was derived from anma which is a form of massage historically practiced by blind people in japan. i'm not sure but i think that alot of blind people practice shiatsu as well.