Foggy Smokey Air and the Red Line T

Woke up today and ran some errands before the cookout. It was foggy, but also smokey (which I knew the minute I stepped outside thanks to growing up in Southern California and all the wild fires we had out there). The air quality was awful making my allergies even worse. Thankfully I was indoors most of the day, but I tell ya, the smoke is traveling all the way from wildfires in Quebec and I was surprised to find that out, thinking there was a fire from somewhere local.

I should have tried taking a picture of the haze in the city, but opted for this Red Line T platform. It just hasn't been my luck riding the T this holiday weekend. Here I am switching from the Green Line to the Red Line to go to the cookout, carrying 12 ears of corn, tequila, limes, watermelon, a bag of ice and my famous apple pie. We all get on the next T and we sit there b/c the last cab of the T is having door problems, so people can't get out. Meanwhile, all the others cabs are packed with people piling in, the doors close and then they open, they close... we sit (err stand) like packed sardines with no AC. They open the doors... it's been like 5 minutes, my bag of ice is going to be a bag of waster pretty soon. They close there doors again, and then they finally make us all unload the T and take that one out of service after finally getting the doors to open in the last cab so people could get out. So, folks, this is what part of the platform looked like after we all filed out of the T and waited for the next one, where we all piled back in like sardines. Today's 30 minute trip turned into nearly a 60 minute trip, but I didn't lose my keys!! And the cookout was good - I had 3 margaritas plus a glass of wine. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Just Another Quiet Sunday

It took me awhile to find a Catholic church to call mine. Not that there's a shortage of Catholic churches (I mean this is Boston after all) it was just hard finding one easy to get to and that felt like "home". When I moved to Brookline, I found St. Mary's, which is about a 20 minute walk from my apartment. I enjoy walking to and from church, as it gives me some "me" time not to mention some exercise. I wish I could show you the inside of this church, it reminds me of churches I saw in Ireland and Rome, but it felt funny trying to sneak a photo on my cell phone while in church today, so I opted for one of the front of the church as I left mass.

A typical Sunday for me is: wake up, eat breakfast while looking through the store ads, walk to the 11:30 am mass, walk to the grocery store(s) and then head home where I spend the rest of the day cleaning, cooking, making lunches for the work week, preparing my work outfits and packing my gym bag. I enjoy taking Sunday as a "me" day. I feel more relaxed and it helps me kick off the week.

After my crazy day yesterday, I opted to stay in after going to church and grabbing some items for tomorrow's cookout. Today was a major cleaning day, I organized and cleaned everything so hopefully my life will start running smoothly and I wont feel so absentminded all the time :) I was on my feet all day long and ended it with a nice relaxing bubble bath and a glass of Relax Riesling. What a perfect way to end the day and start the new week.

Keys

Well my first full day into my second year in Boston was an adventure. Last night I went out with my best friends to dance and celebrate my 1 year anniversary in Boston. So, it was a late night. I somehow managed to get up at 10am (didn't go to bed until 3:30am) and headed out to the Haymarket for some produce. That's when I knew this would be an interesting day. There are 14 stops on the T before getting to Haymarket. At more than 8 stops the T stalled and had to be restarted... making the 30 minute trip turn into a 45-55 minute trip. But I had my book so I was fine. I finally get to Haymarket and buy my produce, then hop on the T to go to the Christmas Tree Shops to pick up a cute outdoor doormat with flip flops on them. Then I walk to Kohls (15 minute walk) to exchange a purse I bought last weekend b/c it broke. I then hop a bus and transfer to another bus to go to Costco (10 minute trip). It is at Costco that I buy TP, liquid laundry detergent, EVOO, Fiber One bars, milk, cheese, tofu, and Country Time lemonade. It's hot, muggy, in the high 70's and somewhat cloudy. I then hop the bus, hop on the T, transfer to my line and read my book on the 45 minute ride back. We get above ground and it's raining... not just sprinkles, but a downpour. I'm like great! I have to carry all my crap in the rain. So I get off and manage to carry all my stuff while getting a shower, which actually was refreshing and washed all the sunscreen and sweat off of me.

I get to my door and I but all my stuff down and go for my keys. Keys that should be in my backpack pocket. Keys that aren't in any of my backpack pockets, nor any of my bags nor purse. Roommate's gone for the weekend, neighbors upstairs aren't home. I lost my keys. I start to panic and then decide to call Kohls to see if the purse I had returned has the keys in there. YES! Thank god the purse was broken, otherwise they probably would have put the purse back on the sales floor and someone could have purchased it and walked off with not only my apartment keys but also my office key, (which probably would have left me sitting on the front steps eating 2 pounds of cheese and 1 gallon of milk until my neighbors got home). So, I know where my keys are, but there is no way I am going to haul all my stuff back on the T and bus for 2 more hours (round-trip time) plus I had milk, cheese and tofu that needed to be refrigerator pronto. Many people are out of town this weekend, but thankfully one of my friends 2 stops down from me was home. I dropped all of my stuff (I'm like a freakin' mule) off at her place and headed back out 17 stops plus a bus ride to go get my keys, before turning back around for a bus ride and 19 stops back to my apartment... this time keys in hand!

This isn't the first time these keys have given me problems. Just a couple weeks ago I left them in my office drawer, thus locking myself out of my apartment (and then my office). So, that is why on my first day as a Second Year Bostonian transplant, I chose my keys as my blog photo.

Needless to say tonight I opened my bottle of "Relax" Riesling and am hoping to sleep like a baby!