"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

Hey buddies...you still there?

Sorry for the crazy delay. Working is hard. I've also had some of my favorite people taking up my free time lately which I can't say I mind! Kyle finally showed up a few weeks ago, Becca and Ethan came to visit two weekends ago and Michelle and I payed tribute to 2009 last weekend. So I will try to start filling you in on what I've been up to!

We picked Becca and Ethan up Friday morning and after dropping off Ethan's sensible duffle bag and Becca's unnecessarily massive suitcase we walked through Harvard Yard and headed into the city.

You're my person.

We headed to Faneuil Hall where we ate at Dick's Last Resort which was so much fun! It's sort of like a slightly raunchier Ed Debevic's. Then we headed to the pier to see some Boston sights before going back to my place where Becca and Ethan passed out for awhile. 

That night we took the midwesterners to Cheers which brings the tally of times Kyle and I have been their to 14 billion which I am not complaining about because I will eat that Bacon Blue Burger every day of forever. Afterwards we walked through Boston Common which is one of my favorite places in Boston. I definitely want to spend more time there! There's also a place called frog pond there that you can wade in but I've yet to be there during "wading" hours which are something like 11:00-11:03. 

Wildly inappropriate statue. 

Saturday we headed to the Cape! 

We staying in Hyannis which is sort of near "the elbow."

We had such a great time here. It was honestly a lot like the little lake towns in Michigan. Lots of ice cream, cute little shops and beaches. Major differences being the amount of seafood and the amount of sea. 

Playing catch on the beach. The beaches here are SO rocky/seashelly. It's annoying. 

Really nasty sea critter of some sort that Becca and Ethan found. We later saw this in a gift shop so apparently we did not discover a new species-

Why anyone would ever want this is beyond me. 

"The best thing about having a sister is that I always have a friend."

The worst part about the Cape was the traffic. The way back was particularly awful. It was supposed to take about an hour and a half and ended up being closer to 4 hours. I wouldn't go back just for a night strictly because it wasn't worth the travel time. Luckily we did get back in time to do the sunset cruise in the city which was actually really awesome. It was crazy foggy which made the city look really cool but I'd like to go back when we could see a little better. 

Afterwards the boys had their final lobsters of the weekend at Tia's. We decided on a whim to go see if we could get any late tickets to the Red Sox/Yankees game. Unfortunately we were too late but Becca and Ethan still got to see Fenway and we made it back to pinkberry just before they closed which was a delightful ending to one of the best weekends ever. 

Lobstah!

Shrimp!

Aaaaand corn.

The giant Citgo sign by Fenway

Mmmmmm.

Come back soon you two. 

" Some days are for living. Others are for getting through."

Edit: I wrote this post a few weeks back and didn't publish it because I didn't want to be a downer. I decided that now that it's paired with a cheerful post about my awesome weekend I'll go ahead and post it in the spirit of sharing both the ups and the downs.

Some days suck. I always wait to blog until I'm in a really good mood because I don't think anyone wants to read about me whining. I know the last blog was all about my bad luck but I also chose to write it when I had things under control for the most part and was no longer totally freaking out, except due to insane caffeine. Anyway, I just feel like being realistic and saying that as much as I truly love Boston and in addition to all the amazing experiences I'm having, there are bad days here just like there are anywhere else. There are days where I really, really miss my family. There are days when I just get inside my head and dwell way too much on too many things. There are days when people lift me up and days when they let me down. And there are days when all of those things happen at once and perspective is a little hard to come by.

When I type things out then it gives me the chance to analyze it and think about how much worse things could be and to realize that I'm probably being dramatic but I've been saying "sorry I'm being dramatic" and "sorry I'm rambling" etc. etc. way too much and I think that once in awhile I just have to be dramatic and ramble. So that's what this is. I'm being dramatic and I'm rambling. And it might all be really annoying but fortunately I do not have you cornered in a room somewhere that doesn't allow a polite departure. You are free to exit at any point. Fortunately for the lucky few who do actually have to listen to me on such days, they are fairly rare.

I feel like I've been really anxious to make sense of every little thing, to have a clear, one sentence summary as to what I'm thinking/feeling/doing or why I'm thinking/feeling/doing it. As though if I can't completely justify why something makes me happy or sad then I shouldn't be feeling it and I'm irrational if I do. I think that's the wrong approach. I think if something is going to make me sad then fine. And if it's going to make me happy then fine.  I think I worry too much about what other people are going to think or say instead of acknowledging that people don't actually care that much about what I'm doing and the people that do care would have already run for the hills by now if they were going to so I think they're going to stick around. I also think I need to keep good old Eleanor Roosevelt, or El Ro as I call her, in mind when she said that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent because I'm not loving that feeling as of late.

I've been thinking a lot about who exactly I am compared to who I want to be. Could there possibly be a more dramatic and obnoxious sentence than that one? What I mean to say is that I have this idea of who I am in a friendship, family, relationship, as an employee etc etc and in some cases I've been struggling with whether or not the idea I have in my head is actually what I'm expressing and whether that means I need to change the way I'm acting or perhaps change the idea in my head. In the midst of determining that I can't figure out if I'm creating unrealistic expectations or doing myself a disservice by thinking they may be unrealistic.

I have no idea what the answer to any of this is. I don't know if I'll find any answers or if I'll just come to accept that life is far less black and white than I'd like it to be. I imagine I may find myself somewhere in the middle.

End dramatic ramble. I promise to blog about something fun next time. Thanks for listening. :-)

"Just because today is a terrible day doesn't mean tomorrow might not be the best day of your entire life. You just have to wake up and get there."

Let me start this blog with two disclaimers.
1. I am WOUND UP ANDIDON'TKNOWWHY.
2. In a previous post I stated "I will never get sick of this Adele song." That is SUCH a lie. I can't even begin to tell you how freaking sick of that song I am. I do not care if they could have had it all. However, I'll never get sick of her new song. Ever.

So let me tell you about the last two weeks, eh? Last Monday I was robbed. Yesterday my car died. Ok, nice chat!

No but really, I had some credit cards and my license taken from my purse at work last Monday. Totally sucked. Luckily I have an awesome Mom who helped me and is also good at understanding me when I'm hysterical. After the initial panic we were able to get everything pretty much taken care of. I'm still waiting on a driver's license so until then I get to use my passport. Fortunately its a really flattering photo.

In the meantime I realized there are zero Chase banks in the state of Massachusetts. Who would have thought? Not me. So this means that without any valid checks and no way of cashing my paychecks I found myself in a new pickle. I opened a new account with a bank here WHO SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS, DO NOT ROB ME. But it means waiting a few weeks for new checks, waiting 5 days for every check I deposit to clear for the first 30 days, etc. etc. FUN. I did get approved for a credit card with a credit limit that they should never have told me so apparently I have good credit for now. Hopefully that will come in handy if....

...I have to buy a new car. My sweet, sweet Geo is currently dead as a doornail in the driveway. Tricia has triple A and they're coming later to hopefully bring him back to life. Whether they are able to save him or not, I will probably at least start seriously looking for a new car because I have a feeling he is trying to tell me that he's not planning on being around much longer. *Sniff* Apparently car years are not the same as human years. Side note for anyone who may not have known this- do not waste your time and energy trying to push a car that will not shift out of park. It seems they're designed to not move while in park.

In all seriousness, other than some minor details like not being sure if my car works, technically driving illegally without my license, not really being able to access my money at the moment and it being  104 degrees outside things are good here! No really, I still love Boston. Love my roommates, love the city, love my window air conditioner, love the fact that there's a cupcake place 0.2 miles from my house and love that I have visitors coming soon!

"Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need."

The time has finally come! Time to show you my room! If you choose to also interpret this as the time having finally come for me to unpack the final box that was haunting me you would not be incorrect. First I'll show you some of the before pictures I took.

The beginning! Light blue walls, dark blue trim and dirty, smelly carpet.

There aren't any pictures of this but my dad and I spent the majority of the first day cleaning/shampooing the carpet. Unfortunately the girl who lived in my room before me had a very cute but very smelly dog. My dad was a huge help with the carpet and painting as well as helping me assemble a bunch of things! 

Here's a delicious photo of some of the things I vacuumed up.

Mmmmm.

Lots of holes to patch. You can also see the dark spots where there were things hanging before.

And the purple begins!

Just a really flattering picture for you all.

And here's the finished product! Sorry for the skinny, iphone shaped video. I also realize I say about 12 different things are the best things ever. 

"So just live, have wonderful times and make mistakes but never second guess where you've been, where you are, and most of all where you're going."

It has been almost a month since my dad and I hit the road for Boston so I thought I would take a look at the list of things I was hoping to accomplish when I left and see how it's coming. Here's my assessment of 1-5.

1. Figure out how to get out of my own head all the time.
• Eh. Depends on the day...
2. Be okay with being bored once in awhile.
•  Absolutely! I think that it has come as a sort of side-effect of living in a big city. I can't say I have been bored once since I've been here. It feels like there is constantly something to do so if I'm not doing anything it's probably because I'm exhausted or craving some Friends/Gilmore Girls action.
3. Learn new things.
• I wish I'd been a little bit more specific with myself on this one. I've certainly learned things like where I live...what borders Massachusetts (some...)...where the cheapest grocery store is...how much a drink costs in a Boston bar (I MISS THE CACTUS)...I can almost get to/from work without my gps...but I can't necessarily say I feel like I've accomplished this one yet. I'm not sure what it is that will make me feel like I have but perhaps I will know it when I learn it. 

I'm being honest...I'd never get Vermont.

  

     4.   Enjoy myself.

•  Yes, yes a million times yes! I really couldn't say the number of times I've just been smiling to myself. Whether it's remembering a place from my first trip here or just realizing what an awesome city I live in, I am definitely content more often than not. I think my post about walking is probably a testament to that. Side note: I also enjoyed an amazing bike ride today although there were slightly more near-death encounters than while walking. I see why most people wear helmets here.

Pictures from my bike ride today:

MIT from the bike path

My favorite view of the skyline

    5.   Find a church.

• I have tried out a few churches since I've been here and I found one I enjoy. They have a contemporary service which tends to have a younger crowd and I really like it. Love the music!  It's sort of an interesting process when looking for a church because it's difficult to decide what you don't like about a church versus what you just don't want to hear. There's not going to be a church that tells you that everything you decide to do is the right thing just because you want to do it. Believe it or not on very rare occasions I tend to mess up. Instead, I'm trying to find a church that makes me think and learn in a way that I connect with. Learning a lot!

Well there's the first half of the list! I'd say I'm very pleased. I don't know if I could love this city any more than I do.  SO glad I don't hate it because moving is a pain. in. the. butt.

"The best things in life are free. The second best are e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e."

Piece of mind is currently on sale at Target for $99.

Yesterday I bit the bullet and upgraded from my TomTom One. Yes, that's actually it's name- TomTom One. Because it really was the first one. I had been trying to avoid it with the idea that if I could get accustomed to the roads with my ancient friend then I wouldn't really need one anymore slash also sort of hoping that whenever I get a new car it might be fancy enough to have one built in.

Anyway, after yesterday's rant I decided it was time to consider upgrading from this bad boy:

To this city slickah:

Mmmmm...Hello, lovah.

I had to be at work at 9:00 today and considering it's taken me over an hour to get home during rush hour, I had no idea how bad it would be in the morning so I gave myself an hour and a half to be safe. I am thrilled to say that I took a 40 minute nap in the parking lot. It was glorious! I did not have to turn 17 times and I didn't hate my life once! On the way home the "traffic" feature wasn't as impressive and I ended sitting for a little while but still made it back in about an hour.

So all in all, if things continue on this path I will be a very happy girl!

"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead. "

I was talking to my grandma on the phone the other day and while I was telling her all about my new city she asked me if there was anything I didn't love about Boston and I definitely had an answer- my commute.

I'm not sure there is really an adequate way to describe it so I will attempt by giving you a sampling of the thoughts I have on an average day.

"Ok, maybe today won't be too bad.
OH MY GOSH, GPS TURN ON TURN ON I CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU.
Ok. We're ok. We're good.
OH MY GOSH, GPS FIND A FREAKING SIGNAL I CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU.
Ok. We're good.
Ugh. Who thought talk radio was a good idea.
Oh good, here's some music.
Ugh. Who thought Nickelback was a good idea.
I will never get sick of this Adele song.
WHICH ROAD DO I TURN ON? WHICH ONE WHICH ONE? OH. That one back there. Great. Aaaand we're turning around.
Here we go, back on track, this isn't so bad. Clipping along.
Well that was a speedy mile and a half. And we're stopped.
Okay lady, sure, make your own lane. WHAT IF WE ALL DID THAT?
No. No no no. Nonononononononononono I will not let you in. Your car is nicer than mine. Try it.
I wish these bikers would stop passing me.
I wonder if it'd be faster to bike to work.
How sweaty would I be after a 20 mile bike ride?
Are you allowed to bike on the highway?
Music by The Fray does not have an expiration date.
I never know what the heck The Fray is talking about.
Ah yes, buddy, lets slow down every time we pass a parked car.
Oh look at that, we're going five now. FIVE.
Ok, self, calm down. Things could be much worse. You are not dying.
Think positively.
I HATE TRAFFIC.
But it's BOSTON traffic. How cool is that?
Boston is so cool.
Dee dee dee life is good, I heart Boston.
WHY ARE WE STOPPING?
GREEN GREEN GREEN GREEN. GOOOOO IT'S GREEEEEEN.
I wonder how much of my life will be wasted sitting in traffic.
Do they still make books on tape?
Maybe I can learn a language while I commute.
Hmm what langauge would I like to learn...
YOU SAW THE LANE CLOSED SIGN THE SAME TIME I DID PAL. NOW YOU WAIT."

So you get the idea...