Popular! You're gonna be pop-u-lar!

I must say, after seeing "Wicked", I must go and watch "The Wizard of Oz". What an amazing show! I think it's my favorite show I've seen and would totally see it again. Before the show, while waiting for another friend to join us, my coworker and I had a blast people watching. The demographics were interesting. The males are there because of their wives or kids or because their girlfriends dragged them. You could tell which ones were dragged because they were the ones who were checking out all the ladies as they walked by. (Which there were tons more females than males in this group.) Then you had the pregnant ones, and then the girls who got all dressed up wearing heels they could barely walk in. You had the young couple, not too far into their relationship, where you know the girl bought that new date dress just to wear for this night. Oh, and we mustn't forget the red shirt guy whose flip flops were too small for him, who came walking up the side walk, walking like he was the shit and knew it... he wasn't going to the show, but part of the fun was just observing the sea of people before the show. I highly recommend "Wicked". I can't say much about it without blowing it, but it was amazing. I even turned my phone off and didn't turn it back on until I was walking out of the theater. Can you believe it? I went 3 whole hours without my phone, without posting on Facebook, without chatting through gchat! Some people around me who heard me say this cracked up. But it's so true!! I'm so happy I live in Boston. I could not see as many shows in SD as I have seen here; the traffic alone and the travel time to see shows back home (especially if they didn't come to San Diego and had to go to L.A.) kept me from seeing many of the shows I wanted to see. I'm glad I'm able to see so many Broadway shows here in Boston, it reminds me of growing up watching numerous stage productions. It's part of me that I have missed. Next up "Mary Poppins". Oh, I can't wait!

Labor Day

I'm trying to remember what I did this time last year and I think I was settling in to my apartment over Labor Day weekend, which fell a little earlier last year. This weekend has moved so slowly, it is amazing how much time one has when not running around to various events. I finished an entire book and the last half of another, and started another book today! Today I made sourdough Belgian waffles and mimosas for breakfast. A half bottle of champagne for breakfast started the holiday off right. I didn't have much to do so I hit up my favorite store for an exchange and some little items and that was it! I didn't do the whole shop til I drop thing and came home to cook and bake some goodies for this week. I watched "The Back-Up Plan" thanks to 1st Monday of the month Redbox freebie, and really liked it. I've done yoga 2 days in a row now and it's kicking my butt, but I'm gonna stick to it. My favorite time of year is approaching and I have some dresses I want to get into :) Looking forward to the first day back to school. No more casual dress and flip flops, but I'm actually looking forward to dressing up in my new heels and maybe having some cute boys do double takes when I walk by ;) Fresh school year = fresh start and I am welcoming it with open arms. 2010-2011 is going to be a great year :)

Reflections

To everything (turn, turn, turn)/ There is a season (turn, turn, turn). The sun was warm, but the air had the autumn crisp to it. It's September. School is back in session. Starbucks has their Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Oktoberfest and Pumpkin beers are coming out. The leaves are starting to turn, turn, turn. It's no longer Summer. Today I bought some donuts at DD and a coffee at Starbucks and planted myself in front of my friends TV and got hooked on "Dexter" and "The Tudors". Thank goodness I don't have TV, cuz I might just never leave my apartment again! It is nice having down days, with nothing planned. The perfect time to reflect...

I came to Boston hoping to land me a fine New Englander with the accent, however, now I'm beginning to think that the boys who possess that particular accent are the uneducated, alcoholic, smoking, and rude males I want nothing to do with. So, I am retracting that part of my "why I moved to Boston" statement. :)

The T has some interesting characters, like this black lady last night on the T who was probably in her 30s. She sat down next to me and had a backpack on and every time she moved, she would hit me with it bc it was still on her back. She didn't even seem to care or notice that she kept whacking me with it. She was carrying a doll, like the kind a 3 year old can't depart from without throwing a fit. She then started talking gibberish to these guys who looked like they just came from a Red Sox game. As she exited the T, she kept tapping one of the guys on the back who reacted by said "please don't touch me". She probably has some mental disorder, like many of the Boston interesting T characters, but it's still entertaining.

Dear want-to-be Vegas Lounge singer that rotates from T station to T station. You may earn some money as it is now, but you'd probably make more if you didn't seem to shout into the microphone making it nearly impossible to make out the Motown songs you're trying to sing while having the soundtrack blast from the stereo speakers as loud as you do. Just sayin'

Cambridge reminds me of the last time of NYC... once I got there, I couldn't wait to leave! Too much going on and I fell claustrophobic every time I'm in Harvard Square.

A pretty girl walking into an empty Dunkin Donuts shop where a lonely male worker sits behind the counter, will get a dozen donuts discounted (as I did today).

In California, there is a Starbucks on every corner. In Boston, not only is there a Dunkin Donuts on every corner, there are also bars in every other business space.

New Englander's hunker down come wintertime. Me, I become alive wanting to go out and have fun, while they all want to hibernate.

All these negative feelings from this time last year are creeping up in my body, all I can do is smile and try holding it together. I have the means and motive to make better memories for this year!

I still can't believe that I am living on my own, thousands of miles away from where I grew up, away from my family and friends. Every day feels like a dream, a dream I don't want to want to end.

Relaxing

Today was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long while. Started off sleeping in before getting ready for my massage in Cambridge. After the massage I went over to my BBFF's place to take care of her dog and chilled in her apartment where I watched some TV and kept the dog company. I then came back to my apartment and curled up on the couch to read book one of my new favorite book series "Rizzoli and Isles", which has been turned into a TV show on TNT named "Rizzoli and Isles" and is about Boston Homicide division and takes place in the city. Though, reading the books kind of freaks me out b/c it talks about murders taking place in Boston (fictional perhaps, but we all know things like what is written actually do happen in real life). I had forgotten what it's like to sit on a couch, with peace and quiet and just get lost in a book. I see myself doing quite a lot of this as the weather gets colder :) I also met up with a friend today and caught up, having dinner in Allston. Not the nicest part of Boston (but certainly not the worst either). This photo I was trying to show how different that area is compared to my neck of the woods, but at the twilight hour, it's kind of hard to see much. We had Thai food at Brown Sugar, which was really nice on the inside. The food was ok, but then again with most Asian dishes, I'm pretty limited to what I can eat and it's not always exciting. I spent the rest of the evening talking for an hour with my BFF in Cali since it had been a week since we really had a chance to catch up with everything going on with my mom visiting and the time difference. I also watched Tudors thanks to Netflix on Wii and completed my dog sitting duties for the night. That day went by slowly, which was nice. I didn't have to be anywhere at any given time except for my much needed massage. I look forward to more weekends where I have no plans and take time to relax.

Day Off

Well, ok... I did go into work today and did about an hours worth of work, but it was pretty much a day off. My last day to wear shorts, t-shirt and flip flops because school starts back up next week so it's back to business. My coworker and I headed to the Savant Project for lunch and learned that the server who is always there is from Cali. He was great so I tipped well. They just put in a new draft, a pumpkin beer. Yum! It was light and refreshing and I am so happy that the Fall beers are coming out! We were lucky that it didn't rain until after we left since we were sitting out on their patio. It has been raining off and on for a bit thanks to Earl. After leaving the cool AC office building (basically after lunch time) I sweated my ass off organizing all my files and records in my file box at home. Of course, I've been wanting to make some crunchy granola so I turned the oven on to do so. Of course, I had my AC blowing and the kitchen fan on, so it wasn't so bad in the kitchen, but unfortunately I think I burnt the granola just a bit. Oh well, I'll still eat it, it tastes amazing right out of the freezer with blueberries with milk. Of course it could be also that I substituted wheat bran for the oat bran the recipe called for, so maybe it's supposed to taste the way it does and looks darker than last time I made it b/c oat and wheat bran are slightly different colors?? Oh well. Now I don't know what to do with myself. I might go to the gym and take a Zumba class in an hour since I told myself that this month I need to start focusing on my health. So, after Zumba, I'll be all ready for a movie and bed. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day; I'm getting my monthly massage and treating myself to Finales :)

Hot and Steamy

Another hot day in Boston. 91° here right now, kind of hoping Earl will do something to cool us down! I wore shorts today at work and took spin class during my lunch break. It feels so good getting back in the saddle! I got off work early and had me some ice cream around dinner time before hitting the grocery stores. I met up with a friend down the street at Trader Joe's, then ran into another gal in the neighborhood club at the Brookline Farmers Market (should have taken a photo of that for tonight's blog!). We then walked up to my place, ordered Chinese food and crossed the street and ate at my place. It was fun catching up and doing this impromptu dinner, I guess things like this happen when you don't have every night of the week booked with events... which is something I'm trying not to do this month. Yesterday the girls next to me in the other building moved out and I believe it was their internet that I was using in my bedroom, so I am slightly bummed about that, however, right now I am using some other internet that seems to be working ok, so I am going to hold off a bit longer before deciding what to do. I also called Sprint again regarding my freakin' dropped calls (getting worse) and they said that the towers are supposed to be worked on starting today, so I'm giving it another week before calling them back. I really hate not having signal in my apartment... though I can get text messages and internet on my phone inside (go figure). So tonight, I'm turning on the AC, watching another episode of NCIS and going to bed early.

This photo was taken of a building walking with the girls tonight, it is on the opposite side of Beacon so I don't usually walk past it... they have pretty cool looking windows and those condos look expensive...if only the angle was a little better.

September 1st

Can you spot a moving truck?

Boy, I didn't realize what a mess September 1st is. In Boston, it is move in day. I counted 13 moving trucks this morning as people along the street moved in and out of their apartments. The E line (above ground near work) was delayed and stopped service outbound at Brigham Circle b/c of all of the moving trucks blocking the lanes. It's crazy how bad traffic is because of all the students and young professionals moving in and out today (they weren't lucky enough to move in early like some over this past weekend). What a nightmare it is on the streets today. It is also a new month, a fresh start. Time to start remembering to take my vitamins daily, do my morning yoga and start prepping my body for winter by doing my BAT exercises (things that target my butt, abs and thighs). I'm quite optimistic about September. Even though I need to save money and really stick to my budget so I can get ahead for my rent payments, I'm doing my best to plan some fun yet cheap events. Work is really light, bosses are out this week, so I am taking advantage of it by catching up on my TV shows, planning events and just taking it easy while chilling in the AC building. I'm thinking of baking some scones so I can start having tea time at work in the afternoons. Don't laugh, tea has some great health benefits, and that is what I am focusing on this month! Good Health and Well Being.