Caution

Well, I wasn’t hit on the head with falling ice, but I did have a brilliant idea hit me today, only when I went to try it out, I got electrocuted. This isn’t the first time I’ve been electrocuted in my apartment. Last week I went to plug my phone in to charge and got a jolt and threw the cord down. Today, I thought, why can’t I connect my TV antenna to a cable splitter like I did when I had a cable box and be able to watch TV in the living room and bedroom? This would certainly solve my no signal issue in the living room since the antenna would be kept in my room where I get quite a few stations. So, I started to connect the cables and splitters (I really need one more female part to connect 2 cords and probably need to replace my fraying wire) but I used what I had and right before I could plug the last cord into my splitter and back of my bedroom TV I had so much electrical charge that my entire body started to feel the electricity. Which is so odd seeing the antenna does not have a power supply. It’s really weird feeling this way. Maybe I will buy a better cord and a female connector and try it again, since after doing some internet research I read that you can connect multiple TVs up to an antenna. Anyway, I will watch for falling ice and take caution when walking around buildings and will make sure when I play electrician or cable girl, to wear rubber soled shoes and have a dry head of hair :) I mean, that is one of the things that scares me living alone...if I did get electrocuted and hurt really bad, no one would find me until it was too late.

New Week

A new week means more goals to set. Each week I've been adding something to improve my health. First, there was the banning alcohol for a month- which is going well. Then, there was "walk 5 miles (not counting any miles walked at the gym or the walking I do on my normal commute)". Last week, I added "do yoga 3 times" to the 5 miles and no alcohol. This week, I'm adding hooping to the list. I will hoop at least 5 days this week. Setting these little goals one week at a time allows me to incorporate them into my daily routine without much trouble. And, by putting these goals out there, I'm forcing myself to stick to them.

I woke up to a winter wonderland, which made me smile. It's white and pretty out, and walking around Fenway today was so peaceful and relaxing. I honestly can't wait until spring (and baseball season!) but the snow is still pretty and I'll take it over rain.

Photo: "The Teammates" (Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Ted Williams) covered in snow at Fenway Park.

Sowing Some Seeds

One thing I miss about being home in Cali is the huge backyard and gardening. As an April baby born under Taurus, I'm an earth girl. I love to dig, sow, weed and water, and I enjoy watching the plants grow and produce fruit and veggies. Someday I might try to get one of those plots in the Fenway Victory Garden, but until then, I am starting my gardening in an egg carton. When spring finally comes and the weather is better, I will replant what I've started indoors into the pots/containers I have bought for the patio. In my egg carton are tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, lavender, kale, 2 types of lettuce and some flowers. I am a little worried about planting the vine plants b/c those needs space, but I'll figure things out as the plants get bigger. Since this is my first time trying to plant a "garden" in Boston, I'm not sure how successful it'll be, but I'm optimistic that come late spring/early summer, I'll have some of my very own fruits and veggies to pick and eat right off my patio. It's funny how doing something as little as sowing seeds relaxes me and puts me in a happy mood. I can't wait for the seedlings to sprout and watch my egg carton come to life with green plants!

Rain -> Snow

Today I left for work in the rain and came home in the snow. Got to love this New England weather. Let me tell ya, I would rather it snow than rain bc you don’t get soaked with the snow, and you don't come in looking like you swam in. You can’t really capture weather with still photos, so I shot a video while waiting for the bus tonight in the snow.

Wine Cellar

Tonight I went to The Wine Cellar to use up my buywithme coupon which expires next week. My coworker and I just had cheese and chocolate fondue and I am stuffed! It's a very tiny (and intimate) restaurant located a short walk from the T and bus stops. I love fondue and was fine with my water and coffee, proving I really don't need an alcoholic beverage whenever I eat out (which is what all the people I've met out here do- they always drink at least one glass of whatever at dinner). I would much rather dine at my favorite place in all of Boston, The Melting Pot. Not only do they have larger portions, but the give you more than just bread and potatoes to dip into the cheese. The chocolate dessert was fine...delicious and had enough variety of fruits and other tasty desserts to dip with. Unfortunately, I chose to go when I couldn't drink wine (funny considering it's a wine restaurant) but I'm not really a wine aficionado anyway. If I did have wine, my review of the wine wouldn't really tell you much other than if I liked it or not (and honestly who really cares? lol). Now I'm going to chill and see if I can get through the remake of Alice in Wonderland. Happy Thursday!

Lemmings

My second day in a row walking more than halfway home. The bus was really late today and it was faster walking to Coolidge Corner then hopping on the T to get to my apartment. The weather is ok and it stays lighter longer now, so I really don't mind walking the 15-20 minutes from work. It is helping me with my pledge I've set to walk 5 miles outside of the gym and not counting my normal commute (which is a half mile to and from the bus stop and my office). If one takes the time to just observe, it's amazing what you see. It's not as apparent in this photo, but we are like lemmings. From the minute we cross Longwood/Brookline Ave we practically walk in a single file line down Longwood Ave towards Brookline. Some people will pass while crossing the street to get ahead of the crowd. Some, stuck behind people slower than them (like me) try to pass when we can, but it's never easy when you really only have enough room b/t the melting banks and the mud or walls for one person to walk and when you have people coming at you, it makes it difficult to pass. It's like following the leader, watching the person in front of you's feet so you don't trip over the curb, step on the ice or get wet from the puddle. Today a guy tried to pass an old man with a cane- both walking towards me. I took note and I stopped seeing that the passer was walking in my lane, but the old guy walked a bit too fast and the passer a bit to slow, and while I was stopped the passer knocked into my bag and cut the old guy off. Less damage done than if it were a car situation, but it's amazing what humans do when you take the time to just observe.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Tonight I saw yet another musical and got lost walking there. Some things never change, I have a GPS and get lost when I drive, I have a phone with GPS on it and I get lost while walking to destinations. I ended up walking four blocks out of my way in the opposite direction, through Chinatown and finally arrived at the Boston Opera House with time to spare (I guess there's a good reason I always allow myself more time than Google Maps says I should need). Anyway, back to the show. One of my favorite Disney movies growing up was Mary Poppins. There was just something about the music and magic. I bet it was from that movie that I developed the whole cleaning is fun thing, something I still enjoy doing as an adult. I also think she inspired me to be a "fun" nanny/babysitter. The Broadway performance was much like the movie and I still was like "how did she pull that lamp, plant, bedding, etc. out of that bag!? I now have "Lets go fly a Kite" stuck in my head and have been trying to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" correctly since they did that number in the show. I can't wait for the movie to be released from the Disney vault b/c I really want to add Mary Poppins to my movie collection. Only in Boston would I be able to see as many live shows as I have this past year. I think this is my last one for awhile.