Adults in the Summer Time

It's especially fun to be grown up this month. I just finished takning the AICP exam (American Institute of Certified Planners). It's the culmination of a masters degree and a few years of professional experience. And...It's more letters after my name! (Well, I get the test results in August). It was nice when A called it the equivalent of the P.E. for my career. Don't tell the planners, but I don't think it even compares to the rigorous exam that engineers take. Anyway, it was a momentous day for both A and I as professional adults. While I was answering multiple choice questions for post name letters, A was on his first business golf outing! Yup, swingin' at little white balls and shmoozing with the clients, just like a big boy! Sometimes, this being an adult stuff is kinda fun!

In celebration of no traveling for work, and no studying for exams, A and I have continued to enjoy adventures. We took ourselves for a quick camping trip last weekend to Otter River Campground in northern central MA and hiked Mt. Monadnock (the most hiked mountain in the country). We both suffered from sore legs, but had a great time climbing. It felt great to be out in the fresh air working up a sweat alongside great views of the New England scenery.

This past weekend we continued our fun with a trip to Hull, MA. We visited the local kite store and purchased some kites! We hung out on the beach for the afternoon flying Opie and Boxer (our kites). Opie (the tie-dyed octopus) flew really well! Boxer (the pyramid shaped box style kite) needed a little help getting into the air. We clipped Boxer onto Opie's line and let Opie take him up! We felt quite proud of our solution.

We're enjoying the start of summer and looking forward to many more mountain/camping/hiking/beach adventures!

Springtime in Boston

Did I mention how much I love Boston in the springtime? The tulips in the public garding are beginning to bloom! The weather is warm, perfect for walking! I hope that today represents a typical spring / early summer day for us. This afternoon I walked from work, through the public garden, down Newbury street and stopped in for a haircut with my favorite stylist. After that I walked up to Kenmore (with all the Red Sox fans), and straight on through to Coolidge Corner. Nope, no tix to the game for me. At Coolidge Corner, I stopped in at Trader Joes and picked up some spinach (for salad), ground beef (for burgers) and foccacini bread (also for the burgers). I walked from TJ's up over the hill, saw some beautiful cherry trees along the way, to home where A was waiting with the charcoal and the grill! We grilled up some yummy burgers (using a meat rub for flavor in the patties), and sat on the porch enjoying the nice weather. We had spinach salads with cranberries, pecans, and goat cheese (the Britta Special). A nice breeze mixed in with the heat from the coals felt wonderful!

I love springtime in Boston. According to mapmyrun.com the walk I did this evening was 5.03 miles! Now, I'm going to online school to study for the AICP exam.....

Boston Weather (again)

Just when I get sick of it, it changes to something gloriously fun! I arrived back in Beantown from Louisiana at lunchtime today. It felt like a warm, yet crisp, spring day. The sun was shining and I didn't need a jacket!

I reflected on how much fun the weather cycle is. At the end of Fall, I looked forward to snow and the beautiful winter that New England brings. The fun of wearing pink snowboots and shoveling snow is welcome after the leaves have fallen and things begin to look dreary. A few weeks ago, I was begging for winter to end and today, Spring has sprung! I will enjoy the beautiful flowers and the perfect walking/running weather. Then, it will get hot! and I'll look forward to the cool days of Autumn. Ahhh, the seasons of New England. I truly enjoy them.

Why is it that I think of GREAT April fool's jokes in December, but can never remember them when it's time to use them?

Happy April Fool's Day!

The tulips are starting to sprout out of the ground in the Public Garden! Cherry trees are blossoming in DC!

I'm ready

I'm ready for spring. Conveniently, according to the calendar, it has arrived! To celebrate the first night of spring we ceremoniously removed the electric blanket from the bed. Yup, a momentous occasion.

I've given up on scarves and gloves completely, but am still wearing a winter hat outside. This morning, I walked by the little fish pond in front of a house in our neighborhood and noticed it had a nice layer of ICE over it, so the temps are still cool.

But, I have hopes that it will actually feel like spring sometime soon because last week it felt like spring in DC. Just last Saturday, I was strolling the monuments in the sun wearing short sleeves. Here in Beantown, I'm looking forward to the tulips in the Public Garden!

SNOW!

Enjoying a beautiful snow storm today! (of course, those people who drove cars this morning, are not so happy..., but me with my pink snow boots and no pressing need to drive am loving the weather!)

With the expected 6 - 8 inches, I'm planning to resurrect Fred.

Giving & Gaming

A and I gave blood Friday evening! It felt good. Not the needle prick, per se, but knowing that I was helping someone. I hadn't given blood since I was back in Sacramento. It's such a simple thing (not for everyone, I understand) that doesn't take much time, that I can do regularly to help people in need. The fun part of our experience was that the blood drive was on the campus of MIT in the student center. We reminisced of our college days. A was amazed that there's a whole university of engineers right next to his work. The blood taker lady did a good job. No bruising!

Our weekend following was nice and mellow. We purchased a new strategy board game for our collection. It took us 3 hours to set up and read the instructions for Axis & Allies. We took a break after that for lunch and a walk. We played into the wee hours of the night. I had some lucky roll of the dice and the Axis powers were conquering victory cities right and left!

Weather and Movies

I love New England weather! We awoke yesterday to a warm sunny morning and by lunch time it was pouring. Last night we were visited by snow squalls and gusty wind. This morning it was frigid and dry! So cold that the fallen snow blows around like dust. Speaking of dust, we watched the movie Stardust this weekend. Great flick! A says it reminded him of The Princess Bride. The only thing I remember about that movie is that the orthodontist invited all of his clients to see it at the theater. I thought it was a weird thing for the orthodontist to do for us, but I remember liking the movie!

We also watched The Namesake. The movie makers changed a few things from the book, but overall it was well done.

SNOW!

We awoke to beautiful snowflakes falling daintily from the sky this morning. We got to walk in the falling snow to the train. It's so much fun to experience the beautiful snowflakes. So far, nothing is sticking in the City...

oh where oh where do I begin? It's been so long and so much has happened.

First, I suppose, I'll mention that a co-worker of mine passed away this morning. He was struggling with pancreatic cancer. He deserves first mention today. He'll be missed.

Second, I've been reading the newspaper! We subscribed to the NY Times and it's so much fun to read. I'm rootin' for Hillary all the way. It's fun to keep tabs on what's going on. I also enjoy the business section and all the random things I learn such as problems with elephants in downtown areas of third world countries. The police don't want to enforce the "elephants aren't allowed here rule" because they'll be stuck with trying to control the elephant. So the elephant owners just ride around on their elephants selling peanuts to people to feed their elephant. Meanwhile cars, storefronts, and the bustle of people milling about are all disturbed by the ginormous elephants. ( I do love elephants, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if one were sniffing the vegetable stand I was shopping at.)

Third, Life's been busy! When is it not? After the last post, I jetted out to CA to spend a weekend with Sis. We celebrated her 25th (*wink) birthday with a trip to the Monterey Bay Acquarium, birthday cake, a cultural day in San Francisco, and a dinner of Fun Fondue. Family, friends, cake, chocolate fondue, and otters! What more can one ask for?

I left birthday weekend for a two day business trip and have been playing "catch up" ever since.

A and I are having fun discussing our life plans, politics, and of course wedding celebration details.

The weather has turned to rain for now..but I think I heard Al Roker say something about snow. Someday, Fred will be resurrected, I'm sure.

For now, I leave you with this quote I read somewhere:
"People may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel".

sad news

Fred (the snowman, remember? You have to remember Fred!) is dead. He melted away a few days ago. Now the weather is FRIGID. My buttocks froze and fell off on my walk to work. I do not know where they are.

The rain is melting away my beautiful winter wonderland.

a compelling argument

The Boston Now is one of those daily newspapers passed out around town. It competes with the Metro (the other daily newspaper). Anyway, makers of the Boston Now and the Metro feel that their circulation is higher if they hire people to stand at the train stops and busy corners to literally hand out the free paper. I guess people are more likely to take it from someone who is shoving it at them, than to open the box and get one for themselves. (I don't usually read them, A picks one up out of the box every morning for the sudoku puzzles).

When I get to Park Street, and I walk through Downtown Crossing, there's one gentlemen who's always calling out "Boston Now. Get your Boston Now. Have a cup of coffee and sit down with your Boston Now. Boston Now." His voice has become a morning comfort, if you will, part of the routine.

Today, he had quite a compelling argument: "Boston Now. $1,000 can be yours. Just pick up a Boston Now. Find the clues. Solve the clues. $1,000 is yours. Take the day off work."

I almost took him up on the offer.

Winter Wonderland

This morning I took off for the T walking through the Winter Wonderland of whatever that street is that I walk down every morning. (no, I don't know it's name, and no, there's no sign)

It was absolutely gorgeous with literally two inches of snow covering each tree branch. The whole street was flocked in white. I thought I'd seen flocked trees, but these are FLOCKED! As I was admiring the beauty of the snow covered trees and appreciating the clear sidewalks, I noticed that I was walking right next to a giant fallen tree. Right there on the side of the road, an enormous tree had fallen (from the weight of the beautiful snow?). I stood there gaulking for a few minutes at the enormity of the tree which I hadn't noticed because I was looking forward and up. Who know a winter wonderland could be so dangerous?

Living Snowman

Winter is back! Saturday was the most perfect autumn day, sunny, crisp, and warm. I enjoyed a run around the reservoir. Yes, for those of you keeping track, it was my first run of the year, and my first run since the half marathon in September! The run felt great. I'm feeling rather sore now, but the run was fun. he he ...fun run...





This morning we awoke to THUNDER SNOW! An estimated foot of snow is falling as I write this. It's been falling at a rate of 1.5 inches per hour. There were about 3 inches when I shoveled this morning. Meet Fred:

I built him when my shoveling duties were done and am eager to see what he looks like after a full day of snow has fallen over him. I'm hoping he grows! (living snowman?)

On the walk to the train, in the falling snow, I thought to myself: "Gee, if I could dedicate my life to art, today would be a perfect day for a project entitled 'The Living Snowman'. This project would involve myself, dressed in my warm parka, snow pants, hat, scarf, mittens, and boots. I would stand outside on the front lawn very still, for as long as I could, letting the snow pile up on me and around me. The idea being that I would eventually look like a snow man! I'd need someone to come by periodically and take pictures of my progress for my portfolio. Perhaps install a straw mechanism so that person could also feed me hot chocolate."

Here's hoping that the snow brings out your creativity too!

Happy New Year!!

2008 is officially underway! This is the year A and I get married!! We are full steam ahead on celebration planning and looking forward to the month of September.

This year began with a bang. We strolled around First Night Boston on New Year's Eve. We caught the parade, the 7pm "family" fireworks, and the ice sculptures scattered throughout the city. One was of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves! Of all the years I'm in town to appreciate the ice sculptures, I thought it was very kind of them to include my favorite fairy tale. I grew up a huge fan of the Disney Dopey character. How could one not love him? He dressed in green and purple and he's adorable! (just like me)

We were actually home by 10:30 pm and rang in the New Year watching the rest of Boston's celebration and the Times Square ball drop on TV from the comfort of our warm couch. New Year's day we relaxed...read magazines, books, played a game of scrabble, and watched some Netflix. It was a great day!

Since then, we have both been working hard including long hours and some weekend time. We did fit in a snow tubing adventure with some of A's work buddies. We'd never been before (almost no one in the group had). It was a blast! We went to Nashoba Valley, right here in Massachusetts, just north of Boston! There were dedicated lanes (like water slides) that we hopped in an innertube (with a hard plastic bottom closing the hole) and went WEEEE all the way down the hill. We spun around, slid side to side up the edges, and glided at the bottom until we stopped. I did a lot of WEEEE -ing. We even went down as doubles and threesomes. A and I figured out that we had maximum momentum as a twosome compared to linking our tubes with a total of four people. This is what happens when you snow tube with engineers. They calculate the most efficient means of getting everyone up the hill (via a rope pull) and down the hill (via the sledding lanes) and repeating the fun. We finished the day with some hot chocolate and hot dogs before moving on to Jasper White's Summer Shack to celebrate the snow tubing organizer's birthday (Janice). All in all it was a great day!

In more recent news, A had his wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday and is doing very well recovering. He calls himself the fourth chipmunk, but I think he looks cute! We are having a challenge to identify (and diversify his diet) many different kinds of non-chunky soups.

We hope your New Year is happy and fun!