Foundry on Elm

Dinner out Foundry on Elm. What a crazy day. Work is driving me nuts and I'm not sure how much I can take, but am glad I get along with my coworker who knows the situation and I can vent to. Tonight we headed out to Somerville for dinner. Foundry on Elm is a nice place and after watching Kitchen Nightmares last night, I have a better appreciation for the restaurant industry. I had a delicious entree, stuffed acorn squash. For the appetizer we shared cod fritters which were very tasty. For dessert, I was going to get the lava cake, but opted for something new, blood orange tart. So delicious and rich thanks to the meringue topping. The place was rather on the dark side and felt like an old person as I squinted and moved the menu closer and farther away so I could see. You could dine in casual wear or dressy without feeling under or over dressed. Prices weren't bad for the quality/quantity of the food. Lorien tested, Lorien approved :)

Winter, Spring or... Fall??

Today was a busy day. I woke up at 7:30 but was able to get myself to sleep a little longer. I woke up super sore and I'm pretty sure it was from my 6 days straight of working out last week. I made it to church today before hitting the gym for an hour. I walked to bowling and I couldn't really tell which season it was. It was 59° out, but overcast. There were leaves all over the place and that wet leaf fall smell was in the air, and yet there are still snowbanks all around the city. I guess these leaves must have been from last fall (even though we didn't get any major snow until the end of December before Christmas) and just got buried under the snow which is finally melting. I was having an off day today at bowling. I really sucked, but thankfully everyone else stepped up so we won the match. The sucking didn't stop there either... playing 4 games of pool and I lost each one (and mostly b/c I knocked the 8 ball in when I still had balls on the table...oops). Good news though... today I walked over 5 miles so that weekly goal has been met, anything else this week walking wise is a bonus :)

Professional Mousetrap

What a day! First, I woke up early and escorted the exterminator into all the units of my apartment building (minus 1 who was not home). I got to meet people on both sides of the building, which is nice b/c after living in this apartment for about a year and a half, I only knew the people next door and the girls above me. It was weird being in the girl's apartment b/c I notice the ex roommate gave a lot of her stuff to them. Not a fan of them, but it was weird seeing her stuff up there after it once cluttered my apartment. 3 traps with bait were set in every apartment as well as the basement and shop below. Some holes were filled with steel wool or foam and maintenance guy will have to go into a couple apartments to plug larger holes with wood and screws. I am beat, running up and down all the stairs today. We should be mouse free in about 3-4 months. I did go out for a few hours to walk around the Public Gardens and Newbury Street before spending almost 3 hours in the Borders on Boylston (which is closing) only to walk out with 2 Little Golden books for my niece and nephew. So disappointed b/c I couldn't find the books I wanted or any good calligraphy books. I must say, the weather was gorgeous today, sunny most of the time and at 55° I didn't have to wear a coat, gloves or hat! Now off to bed as I can barely keep my eyes open.

Kiss Me

It's not too often that I get headaches, but today I got one at work. Now, normal people would go for the Excedrin or Advil, but I think I've proven to ya'll that I'm not exactly normal :) What do I do? I go through my list:
1. Have I had any coffee today? It could be a caffeine headache, so drink a cup or...
2. When did I last eat? It could be that I need food, if I am not starving myself...
3. Sugar...have I had any sugar?

This is how I chose to grab the Hershey's Kiss on steroids rather than some pain pills. This giant kiss did help get rid of my headache, but while working out tonight I noticed some tightness in the usual areas of my neck and shoulders, so I am pretty sure the headache was not 100% caused by low sugar, but from tension... I'm no MD, but doing whatever it takes to help cure something without resulting to drugs is the best way to go.

Shoe Drawer @ Work

So I mentioned my drawer full of shoes at work to my best friend and she laughed at me. In San Diego, I would have a car, where I would drive in flip flops (despite drivers ed emphasizing how it was unsafe to drive barefoot or with flip flops) and then change into my heels when I parked and went into the office. In Boston, I don't have a car and carry everything to work, so after last winter where I was tired of carrying 2 pairs of shoes to work (gym and work shoes), I decide to store my work shoes in one of my large desk drawers. It started out as just 2 pairs, but now I have nearly all my work/dress shoes here. This morning when I got in and took my gym shoes off, I had a hard time finding the match to my brown flats this morning, but found it burried in the back of the drawer. Meanwhile my boss was standing at my desk talking to me and felt a little embarassed for having this drawer, but it works for me! One less thing to worry about packing in my gym bag every night, even if I do feel like Mister Rogers- taking off my shoes and putting on my work flats every morning as part of my routine [while "won't you be my neighbor" plays in my head].

3 Blind Mice

Today I called an exterminator and was told they could do my unit but there is no warranty on it, they encourage having the entire building done since mice run in between walls. So I got the info and decided to text the guy who uses my parking spot ever so often on the 3rd floor. I asked if they have mice, they do. When I got home from work, went to the 2nd floor and of course they don't but they have 2 cats. I left a note for unit 3 b/c I was told they have called and nothing seems to get done. One of the girls up there called me and I went up to meet her and she told me that they always have mice in the winter (which leads me to believe that we didn't have this problem last year b/c the roommate had a cat). I was told an "exterminator" came out and just set snap traps (something I've been doing) and made a comment that they could do the glue traps but "white people don't like those". From what I gathered, this "exterminator" was one of the maintenance guys people he knows... which in English means, half ass no credentials exterminator. So, clearly the guy who is supposed to fix things up doesn't do shit and so after talking to the neighbors I called the landlord to tell them that I wanted to discuss what I found out and that we should really do the entire building and that I would be more than happy to coordinate with everyone a time to get it done (and to think the maintenance guy gets to live here for free b/c he's supposed to do stuff like this! I should get a few hundred knocked off my rent!)

I have never met anyone from the 3rd floor unit, and who would have thought the mice would give me the reason to meet them. They also have the mice on their counters and stove and so far not in their cabinets... weird. And whenever they mention it to the maintenance guy he's like "yeah, I know, my cat caught 2"...well, then get real EXTERMINATORS out here! The lady I spoke with at the exterminator company said we could call the Board of Health and then they would have no choice but to fix this problem... but I'll hold that card in my hand and play it if necessary. And for those keeping track...it has been 1 week since I last caught a mouse and last saw any signs of mice...if history repeats itself, I should catch one tomorrow or at least find signs of their presence.

Resolutions

After reading The Happiness Project, I have the inspiration to continue working on goals and making resolutions for myself. Part of the author's process was creating commandments for herself and working on resolutions each month, while trying to keep the previous months resolutions. So here are some the things I'm going to continue (and start) working on in March.

Be Lorien
Drink green tea daily
Shower daily (yes, I skip a day every now and then, esp when I'm not going anywhere, but I feel so much better even after a quick jump in the tub)
Spend out (basically, use what I buy, stop saving for another time)
Smile
Walk 5 miles a week
Practice yoga 3 times a week
Lock door after closing the door [photo above is of the door I tend to forget to lock]
Take off my shoes when I enter my apartment
Do a little bit every day
Drink water
Take a few moments each day to be like a kid (like coloring, or dancing around the apt. or even hula hooping, jumping in a puddle)
Make time
Forget the past
Stay in touch by sending notes, cards, letters the old-fashioned way