some moments

Instead of a running stream of consciousness recalling the events of my past weekend I am going to bullet point some lovely moments from the past week/weekend. This is a better representation of my mindset anyway as I have let go of my obsessive list making of places to travel to for a focus on the defining experiences that I am having.

- Last Thursday I attended the first meeting of the Zimmerman House docents (a Frank Lloyd Wright house that the museum owns and docent means a tour guide) as the house's tour season is starting this week. It was delightfully akin to a meeting of Ten Chimney docents and made me long for home a wee bit. This feeling was strengthened 10 fold while I was cleaning up and chatting with one docent in particular. She asked if I have ever been to Spring Green (Frank Lloyd Wright's birthplace) and since I know quite a few people from there and have indeed spent some time there, I started peppering her with questions of the places I know to see if she had been there too. Of all the places I mentioned, the one she had been to was an amazing breakfast place called The General Store. We exclaimed over how delicious the food is and how lovely Spring Green is. I must say it was not until this interaction that I realized how much I miss Wisconsin.

- Friday I went out to dinner in the North End of Boston with the brother and his girlfriend to a place called Picolla Venezia. I remember the name because Eric kept saying it in a high pitched Italian all the way there in excitement to go back. He didn't over hype it-it was truly a perfect Italian place for dinner. Warm, dimly lit, walls covered in pictures and the BEST part was the violin and accordion player that walked around. I know-totally wonderful.

- Saturday we went on the Freedom Trail walk and it was lead by not 1 but 2 colonial dressed men because our guide was in training and he didn't do half bad. It was really interesting/a tad awkward at times as he stumbled over his words an forgot a few facts (he said "2 if by land and 1 if by sea" the his shadow guide called out from the back "strike that, reverse it!" hilarious). I loved it aka I love going on walking tours and learning facts about a city.

-During the tour it got wicked cold out so when the tour ended we hoofed it to a restaurant called Zoup. It was literally the best meal I have had in Boston. We got a giant bowl of tomato bisque soup and I got a grilled cheese sandwich made of 4 difference kinds of cheeses. It was the perfect cold weather comfort meal, warming me all the way to my fingertips.

-That night we curled up in sweatshirts in front of Bridesmaid the movie and laughed our faces off.

-Sunday we chilled out until I went to Boston and before I got on the bus I went to a coffee shop to grab coffee and a croissant to eat in the park. I may or may not have written this before, so I'm just going to say it again-I love just sitting in parks and drinking coffee on a peaceful Sunday morning. It offers great people watching and is just wonderful :)

lazy mornings

This weekend was one of lazy mornings filled with wonderful people and coffee. Always lots and lots of coffee.

Friday night I went to Portsmouth and got dinner with Jane before we went to the Hunger Games. LOVED it although we did have 30 minutes of previews. Then the next day we walked to the Friendly Toast i.e. the best brunch place in the world. Then I drove back to Manchester to finish making the champagne cupcakes that I was taking to a girl from the museum's bday party that night. That's right champagne cupcakes-look it up and make them. They are heaven. I actually thought all I had to do was add more powdered sugar to the frosting and then frost the cupcakes but when I was making the frosting a few days previous I started without realizing I didn't have enough powdered sugar and then I may have dumped a bit too much champagne into the mix. Anyway I actually had to start the frosting over. Then I went and ate dinner at the my supervisor's supervisors (Leah) house (the maple syrup people from last weekend) since they were driving me to the party. Also her husband (Martin) loves german hip hop music and once he found out that I too like it and had a whole cd he wanted it. This resulted in us driving to the party in Concord blasting said music. But the best moment of the drive was when we left. Martin slammed on the gas while pulling out of the driveway so we pealed out of there in a roar of engine and squeal of tires with Leah shouting "We have a babysitter, wooooo!!" (they have a 3 year old). It was outstanding!

So the party-it was lovely. We took a field trip to the bday girl's house because she talks about how shitty is all the time and how skunks live underneath it and well we just had to witness it. I honestly couldn't believe it was real. First of all it is enormous-if I knew anything about square footage I would put out a number that is obscenely large and very impressive. It is like two regular sized 2 bedroom sized homes put together PLUS there is a full size barn attached to the back with real horse stalls in it. And it is in a regular neighborhood. It's completely crazy. Also the entire place is in a state of decrepit disrepair. Most rooms don't have dry wall, everything is crooked and it is just a disaster, but it was built in the 1800s so it is really old and beautiful if someone could devote years and thousands of dollars to fixing it.

Anyway the party was fun. Then today I went again to Leah and Martin's house from which we walked to this great bakery about 2 miles away and got lunch/heavenly desserts and lazed about drinking coffee. Then we walked back and their 3 year old was on a ridiculous sugar high. She was running ahead continuously yelling "I'm running slow!!!!!" then stopping turning and telling us to freeze and then running again. It was hilarious!

That is all. I am spending the rest of the day skyping and watching movies. This is why being out of school is so friggin wonderful-I have actual free time in which I have literally no obligations or things to do. Well there are things to do but it's stupid stuff like laundry and dishes and researching grad schools. I just can't get over the blissful lack of papers/studying/business text books/flashcards. Love it.