i am Boston

I actually entered what I prefer in this quiz, figuring I'd go back afterwards and try to enter the things I thought were the most Boston-ish to see what the Boston result was like...but, even though I didn't choose "lobster" or "the Northeast", I still managed to "be" here! Nice.

You Are Boston

Both modern and old school, you never forget your roots. Well educated and a little snobby, you demand the best. And quite frankly, you think you are the best. Famous people from the Boston area: Conan O'Brien, Ben Affleck, New Kids on the Block

What American City Are You?

Thanks, Viv!

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Collapse AUTHOR: Jared Diamond
	TITLE: Feminism Without Borders AUTHOR: Chandra Talpade Mohanty

is it naptime yet?

According to NPR, today is National Napping Day. Yay! ...I just wish I were allowed to take advantage of it... Lots of experts tout the benefits of naps, citing studies that show that naps not only maintain the level of productivity (which usually drastically declines in the afternoon/after lunch hours), but they actually promote even more productivity. Bosses everywhere should be jumping on this bandwagon in droves, but it has yet to catch on. Sigh.

This weekend was pleansant although pretty busy...Friday night I went to a party waaay out in Somerville, at fellow activist's house - she just got a piano, and so much singing and playing of instruments occurred, which pleased me, as I love to listen to others sing and play guitar, piano, etc. It was a late night, though, so by the time I got back to the North End, Dan and I decided it wasn't worth trekking back out on the green line to go see JV. Oh, well - next time!

Saturday, I met DiRo for another delicious breakfast of mimosas and pumpkin pie pancakes (with ice cream!) at the Pour House. Yummy. I raced back from there to meet Bethany for a Haymarket run, where we picked up loads of fruits & veggies. Then Saturday turned into one of my favorite days ever, as I spent it with Danny in the kitchen - he was making his always-delicious tomato sauce, and I was cooking up a sweet potato pudding, but with our nice, big kitchen it was rare that we were in each other's way. We had some beers and spent the afternoon talking and singing along with Dan's iPod (that was hooked up to the stereo). Good times.

And, luckily, Bethany & Kevin showed up a little late for our dinner date, so we managed to get the pizzas done almost on time! We ran some errands to some of the great little speciality shops in the neighborhood, to pick up things like pepperoni and yeast (although I didn't get fast-rising yeast, as the package was in Italian, and my memory of musical notations had faded so much that I wasn't certain that "lento" meant "slow"...oops).

Dinner was really fun, though, and I do hope we do that again. Following the meal, we went to see Thank You For Smoking, which I had been looking forward to but was rather disappointed by - I had imagined the story very differently. Oh, well - it was amusing, at least. Cute story.

For some reason (blame Mitch Hedberg), I was up until 3 o'clock Sunday morning, so with the clocks set back, I only managed to get about 5 hours of sleep. Which is definitely catching up with me now - hence why I want that nap!!

Sunday afternoon was spent with Karen and Josh, and was such a blast! When they arrived in the city, we met up and wandered around the Quincy Market area, specifically Urban Outfitters (where both Karen & I bought awesome shirts!). Then we went to Borders (I picked up this book, which I'm excited to read) and on to Billy Tse's for a fantastic sushi dinner - yum! Great food, great company - great day. Thanks for the fun visit, Karen! :) Definitely come back soon.

And, now for the start of a somewhat busy week...I do hope to catch up on my sleep somewhere in here, though. For now, I think I need to go get me some caffeine. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Collapse AUTHOR: Jared Diamond
	TITLE: Feminism Without Borders AUTHOR: Chandra Talpade Mohanty

tea time

Okay...I knew there was a reason I avoid letting myself look at the Republic of Tea catalog, but while I was waiting for my program to compile, I broke down and paged through...and the list I made of all the teas I want to try from them reminded me why it's a really bad idea to let me anywhere near their product line:

• Cinnamon Plum (black)


• Raspberry Quince (black)


• Ginger Peach (black)


• Republic Green Chai (green, duh)


• Moroccan Mint (green)


• Wild Berry Plumb (green)


• Kiwi Pear (green)


• Honey Ginseng (green)


• Apple Blossom (green)


• Orange Spice (green)


• all of their white tea blends


• Yerba Mat‚ Latte


• Kid's Cuppa (decaf)


• ManKind Blueberry (green)


• Panda Berry (decaf)


• Pomegranate (green)


• all of their Sip for the Cure green tea blends


• Monkey-Picked Oolong (I don't even think I'd like that, I just love the idea of monkey tea! haha)


• Cranberry Blood Orange (black)


• Apricot (decaf)


• Tangerine Orange (green)

And to think, just a year or so ago, I didn't even like tea! Augh.

The worst problem is, I don't drink nearly enough tea for me to warrant purchasing any new ones. People already exclaim over my large tea collection every time they enter my kitchen. If I want to taste new teas, I gotta start drinking the ones I already have, to paraphrase what my mom used to say. :)

I better get drinking.

/me goes and makes herself a cup of Good Hope Vanilla

the yellow monster

I meant to post this (really blurry) picture of the baby-blanket-still-in-progress yesterday:


Please ignore the unevenness of the stitching...I was just getting the hang of the pattern. I've gotten much better since then. Really.

Ugh, as much as I love Stephanie and am enjoying making something for her baby, I'll be sooo excited when this blanket is done with. I am getting so tired of the same 4 rows. It's just such a big piece, with such (relatively) small yarn. Poor choice on my part, but at least (I hope) Steph will appreciate the effort.

Yesterday, I finally made it back to Mind's Eye Yarns for the weekly yarn-spinning group...I haven't spun anything in ages, though. I am really looking forward to the spinning wheel purchase that I hope will accompany my upcoming birthday! (Hint, hint...) It was nice to be back at the group, though, and while it was rather small last night, I enjoyed some pleasant conversation as I worked on the Yellow Monster (pictured above).

Afterwards, I met Bethany & SC at the Middle East while we waited for Lisa Housman's set at TT the Bear's, next door. She is so smiley & adorable! And just the sweetest thing. My sisters have known her for quite a while, so she's kind of like a family friend. Her songs are fun and her shows are really worth checking out.

But okay, enough from me for now - I need to go finish up some work. It looks like the weekend plans are filling up fast - I just hope I get some time to kick back & relax!

Enjoy the beautiful weather & upcoming weekend, everyone! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Collapse AUTHOR: Jared Diamond
	TITLE: Feminism Without Borders AUTHOR: Chandra Talpade Mohanty

is it Friday yet?

Sigh. I just really feel like this week has been dragging on! Let's get to the weekend, already!

I could definitely use the break. I only have a few, very nice things going on this weekend, which is lovely. Artsy party & Julian Velard for Friday night, dinner planned with my sister and her boyfriend (and Dan's cooking!) on Saturday, and Sunday, possibly breakfast with Jess (if not this weekend, SOON!), and maybe a knitting lesson for a few friends (but ack, I'm scared! I've never taught before!), and (I hope) a visit from Karen & Josh! Perhaps a few other things that are tentatively on the schedule, but mostly I hope to keep it a low-key weekend.

Last night, Dan and I attended something called the RSS Geek Dinner out in Harvard Square, which was unfortunately somewhat disappointing. When we got there, it felt like everyone already knew each other, so we met only a few people the entire time we were there. And -- this is a surprise, coming from me, but -- it wasn't geeky enough! I believe most of the people there were web geeks (which would make sense, with the "RSS" part), and they mostly talked business & numbers, not code. Ah, well. Guess those kinds of gatherings aren't quite our thing.

In other news, I am sad to hear that there will be no more Maytag repairman™, as the company has been bought out by Whirlpool. Ah, we must bid adieu to the commercials of my childhood as they slip away, one by one...

Not that I even watch TV anymore, though. So it's okay! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Collapse AUTHOR: Jared Diamond
	TITLE: Feminism Without Borders AUTHOR: Chandra Talpade Mohanty

in keeping with the vein of my last entry...

...I need a store like this near me. ASAP!

(And don't you just love the shirts?)

well, that wasn't so bad

So the taxman (well, woman) turned out to be not so bad...I trekked all the way over to the office only to spend about 10 minutes talking with the woman, who basically told me (after much deliberation) that I could file in CT, as everything of importance for me (voting & car registrations) were based in CT last year. I was about to have her continue on & help me fill out the forms, until I learned that she charged something like $125! So, I just decided to head home & do them on my own.

Unfortunately, that didn't turn out so well, either, but I'm halfway done, and intend to be done with them entirely in the next few days. I am (mostly) digging TurboTax online, though - for something so complicated & confusing, they really do make it almost bearable.

Yesterday I also finally managed to get through to the MA Public Health Commission...last Thursday I received a letter from them, asking me to call them because I had been diagnosed (remember that bacteria that knocked me out for a week, after Japan?) with Campylobacteriosis (I so just guessed on the spelling of that, and I was totally right! nice), which I guess is a very common digestive tract infection. They just mostly wanted to talk to me about what I did (if I worked in food service, daycare, or nursing) and whether there was any chance I had spread it around. Basically, they want to cut an outbreak off at the pass - or at least be aware of its origins if it does actually get far. The woman I spoke with was very pleasant though, and we chatted for quite a while as I gave her all the information about the hotels we stayed in & flights we took (I was surprised at how much I remembered off the top of my head!).


Yesterday night, Kelley came over & we all had a lovely dinner, complete with a fabulous ice wine Kelley picked out, and followed by a large selection of desserts (we had both picked some up!) - including the humungous (& delicious!) cupcakes pictured above. Seriously, they had sooo much frosting - and I am normally a frosting whore. The fact that I couldn't even finish my cupcake was rather disturbing to me...but, yum! :)

Okay, back to work for now! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Collapse AUTHOR: Jared Diamond
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starry fingers

Yesterday, Bethany & I went to Charles Street so that she could pick up a dress from the drycleaner, and so I could pop in next door at The Beauty Mark, which sells Garnish jewelry. The woman who owns the shop put in a special order for this ring for me, which I'm terribly excited for! She said should arrive within the next week. Yay!
Afterwards, Dan & I went for a quick run to the nearby Golden Goose grocery store, to pick up ingredients we needed for an African sweet potato & red bean stew (we're having Kelley over for dinner tonight!), and for Dan's fantastic tomato sauce (to be used later on this week along with the maiden voyage of his "new" -- Christmas present -- pizza stone). This morning I started the stew, and I absolutely love the smells of the Crock Pot growing more potent throughout the day...yum.

This afternoon, I get to go see a tax consultant about filing this year, as I'm terribly confused as to which state I need to file in...I work in CT (and therefore I'd guess I earn money there, and pay taxes there), but I lived in NY until July of 2005, and opened bank accounts both in NY and in MA. So, ack. It's all quite a mess. My main concern is that I won't have all of the paperwork I need for my meeting, and I'll have to go back for a second consultation...which I'd guess they wouldn't even be able to fit in before April 15, as tax time is fast approaching!!

Arg, I hate money. But boy, do I love food. And the smells of slow-cooking stew are making me hungry. Time to go eat my Panini Express leftovers! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Collapse AUTHOR: Jared Diamond
	TITLE: Feminism Without Borders AUTHOR: Chandra Talpade Mohanty