bring on the bikes!

yesterday was the FIRST day this year i got on my bike!
i was afraid that she'd seen her last days after being left outside all winter, but i took her to a bmx specialty shop in our neighborhood and the friendly guy there lubed her up and gave her some air and she's fit as a fiddle! the rust was just superficial, so she's really fine to ride again. alex and i rode into central square last night for dinner and it was a GREAT feeling to be so mobile again! despite the low 40s and snow predicted, i'm going to ride again this morning. i've got a day long training for this 'big sister' program from 10-4. i can't imagine what kind of training they have planned for an entire day - but hopefully it will be fun and the other 'big sisters' might be nice. we shall see.

what is your bike? what makes you happy? hope you can ride it today!!

a southern treat

chapel hill north carolina is quite possibly one of the cutest little towns i've seen in ages. today is the first day of spring and it's definitely here - cherry blossoms budding, green leaves sprouting in the trees that line the street, and the smell of freshly cut lawns. everything is so slow here, in a peaceful way. the people are so friendly, helpful and loyal to the community. speaking with a student today, she told me that 85% of admissions to UNC chapel hill come from north carolina. (she said when they meet someone from out of state their first thought is always 'wow, you must be REALLY smart').

i was walking down the street, looking at the rows and rows of antebellum houses (now frat houses), the manicured gardens, local bars and boutique shops wondering whether i could live in a small town like this. i think i probably could. but on the way back up the same street, on the other side, i couldn't help wondering if i'd get bored here after awhile. would it be like living with the stepford wives? what kind of music passes through chapel hill? would they have museums with monet? and what about theatre?

funny how i rate a city with 'culture' if it has museums, theatre, music. let me think about the last time i was in a museum, saw a play or caught some music. well, i suppose i've seen live music recently - but haven't steped into a theatre or gallery in months (years?)

i think though (and realizing it more and more with time) - that the best thing a city can have going for it is the people. i can go without a museum ... but it's tough to go without good people!

and drink green beer we did ...

after the blizzard we weathered on friday, saturday was a relatively nice day in boston, albeit cold. i took the girls to a few local bars, had a few mojitos, dirty girlscouts, green beers, and magners ciders. sounds like a lot, but over the course of ten hours (and that with a plate of calamari, onion rings, and peshwari nan) - made for a relatively safe evening. although i must admit, my stomach was growling around 3am, wishing i'd left the last onion ring on the plate.

washed that all down with coffee and eggs benedict the next morning at a south end diner and now i am officially on a detox until i can fit back into my favorite jeans.

i am in north carolina and believe me - not a good place to begin a detox. i've had two all-you-can-eat buffets (salad, of course) and a steak dinner. it's hard to detox when people are showing you around campus and around their town. you can hardly refuse southern hospitality. (clearly the people at the next table with five empty plates ready for second, third, fourth and fifth trips to the buffet felt the same).

for some reason, i couldn't get to sleep until 4am last night - having to wake at 7 today - so i am utterly exhausted, and hoping i'm making sense to the students i'm interviewing. 4 more to go and i'm outta here and on my way to chapel hill where i'll collapse at the best western for the night. i ended up tossing and turning - thinking about FAR too much - watching a crap movie with antonio banderas teaching some innercity kids how to dance the tango, attempting to work, and punching the pillow against the wall trying to get rid of some nervous energy. no idea where this came from.

maybe the hollandaise, the steak, the buttery mashed potatos, the onion rings, the green beer, the pizza, the coffee .... and everything else i've been cramming down my throat the last few days.

bring on the salads.

(but don't hold the cheese, ranch, eggs, bacon bits, olives and croutons)

does that count on a detox???
it does in north carolina!

spoke WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too soon

and now there are 12 inches of snow on the ground.
RIDICULOUS.
actually, today is the good day - the first day - where it's easy to walk because it's crunchy. tomorrow it will be icy and slushy and grey and yucky. and tomorrow is st patrick's day - though i doubt the snow will put a damper on it.

my cousin is in town from michigan and was planning a girls weekend with 5 of her friends - but sadly, because of this storm, only 2 of the 5 have made it thus far. and it's unlikely the weather will permit the others to land tomorrow. so they've got two hotel rooms between 3 girls. we spent the afternoon on a pub crawl - starting at cheers - where everybody knows your name (a must for visitors) - and then down charles street, ducking in and out of bars to stay warm.

and tomorrow we're going to do it all again.
happy st paddy's day.
drink your green beer.

no more tantrums

i slipped and fell flat on my back last week when it was raining and snowing and the streets were full of ice and dirty slush. i was furious. i HATE boston and this stupid weather this SUCKS - i shouted to the passing cars as i threw my umbrella down. i picked it back up two seconds later when (of course) i needed it to shield me from the rain. but i was soaked anyway, so it didn't really make a difference.

that was last week.

today i walked to work in the beautiful sunshine and the gorgeous 50+ degree weather, through kendall square and along the banks of the charles with the boston skyline in full view. and today, boston is wonderful. it would have taken me about 35 minutes on the train, and instead, took me 45 minutes to walk. bring on the spring!

happy wednesday

music at the middle east ...

i was out last night with a few girls from work and went to see some live music. i've not done that in awhile, in fact, it's become quite far removed from my reality of late - so it was nice to get out and hear some new stuff. the first band, the mystery tramps were great. they looked about twelve, and honestly couldn't have been more than 18 - but they had such energy about them. and their tunes were so varied for such young musicians. ska to rock, pop to bossanova. you could just tell that they were on the cusp of a very fun decade. and their moms were bopping around in the front row, the dad's in the back with their arms folded and feet tapping. it reminded me of early chlorine gigs.

the second band, much and the mires, were a bit more like your dad's garage band, playing songs you know you've heard before, even though they claim to be originals.

and the last band, the figgs, were great. i guess they've been going awhile - clearly they were very tight - and their songs were fun and catchy. probably worthy of a purchase next time i'm on amazon. i guess they play with graham parker when he tours.

it was one of those nights i could have easily stayed home and watched a video on the couch, but was glad i made the effort to hear some new music.

in other news, we bought a vacuum and a blender yesterday (exciting) with some best buy vouchers we'd gotten by signing up for comcast. i also took alex back to the place i ate last weekend (shabu-zen) with the girls. i don't think i mentioned it in my blog - it's a japanese restaurant shabu shabu style ... where you get steaming hot pots of broth on a stove in front of you and you dip your meats and vegetables and cook them yourself before you eat them. DELICIOUS and quite possibly my new favorite restaurant in boston. we also had seaweed salad, dumplings, and boiled fish paste. sounds gross but it's absolutely amazing. i think i could eat their every night, except for the sodium from all the soy sauce.

speaking of eating out, we were all set to go out to red lobster yesterday, when we realized that the closest one to us is 93 miles away in connecticut. we've been joking since last spring that we were going to go to a red lobster for the lobster-fest that we continually see advertised on TV with fresh cracked lobster practically bouncing out of the frying pan into bowls of melted butter the color of dandylions. sadly, that dream won't become a reality until our next road trip. there are FAR better places to get lobster in boston, without a doubt, but there's something disgustingly hilarious about our fascination with red lobster, so we'll get there one day.

the weather seems to be turning, which is nice. going from the single to the double digits, thankfully. january was quite possibly the worst time to relocate to boston - and i'm anxious for the spring and summer. i feel i've paid my dues already - bring on the warm weather.

ok, enough. happy sunday

it's 6 degrees in boston!

and the wind is whipping outside the window.
this house shakes every so often, like the earthquakes i remember from california.

i was at the gym last night in a kickboxing class. most of the girls were red with sweat and exhaustion. i was positively green from being so WHITE and not having any color in my face. bring on the spring i say! sadly my bike has been left outside in the cold the entire winter, so it's rusted and will probably cost more to replace the chains than to buy a new one. i don't know WHY i didn't put her away, but now it would just be too little too late.

more when my fingers aren't so numb with cold. (kidding - we have heat in the house!)

it's casual friday

such a funny term - every day is pretty much casual for me. thankfully. and the days that i work from home will be even more casual. sweats and t-shirts. that's the life! i've negotiated working from home if i need to, a few days/week from now on. it's really a necessity since i share an open plan office with two other people and occasionally need to make private calls. but nice that it's officially recognized as OK.

nothing urgent to share, so i thought i'd share a few random thoughts or things i've picked up this week:

* i seem to always end up at the end of the line, so to speak, when it comes to public transportation. brixton, elephant and now lechmere. something continues to draw me to the parts of town that are not quite as fancy as the rest.

* the automatic millionaire book tells me to save an hour of my wages per day (2 hours if you're starting late) ... try working that out for yourself and see if you could manage.

* i just read this week that you should only condition the ENDS of your hair, instead of starting with the scalp. oil be gone!

* the fancy 'taste of thai' cup of soups are actually very good.

* mixing nutmeg into a tomato sauce sometimes works (and sometimes doesn't)

ok. that's all for me today!

happy weekend!