10 on Tuesday

1. I think I've spent the entire last week not being sure what day of the week it is. I spent about half of the day today thinking it was Wednesday and the other half knowing it was Tuesday. It made sense last week when it was a 4-day work week, but there's no good explanation for it this week.

2. Last night when I packed my gym bag I didn't pack my sneakers. On Tuesdays there is a yoga class at 5:30, and I really love the instructor...since I was going to yoga I didn't need sneakers. I spent all day today wishing I had packed my sneakers because I really felt like running on the treadmill after work (what?! I know. Who actually wants to run on a treadmill?). The afternoon slowly ticked away, I headed to the gym, changed into my yoga clothes, and I went to sign in....and the woman working at the front desk told me that yoga was cancelled. And I couldn't run on the treadmill because I hadn't packed my sneakers.

3. The bright side is that I got home early enough and had time to make a real dinner, do the dishes, and clean up the kitchen. That was nice, especially since it doesn't happen very often now that I'm going to the gym after work.

4. If you haven't seen The Social Network, you should put it in your Netflix queue, hit Redbox, or do whatever you do to see DVDs these days. It's a good movie (hush Leyre, you're the only one in America that doesn't think so) - interesting story, well acted, well edited. Also, shot in Boston! Also also, who else thinks that when Trent Reznor was giving his Oscar acceptance speech, he should have told David Fincher that he wanted to thank him like an animal? Anyway, I recently came across The World Is Obsessed With Facbeook, a quick video that shows the scope of what Facebook has become, which seems so have a lot more impact when you know at least a little bit of the story of how it all got started. Which is why you should watch The Social Network if you haven't already.

5. I'm pretty sure I've talked about My Milk Toof before, but in case I haven't you need to check it out. It cracks me up on a regular basis. Also, there's a book coming out this month, which is super awesome. And for your viewing enjoyment and to get a taste of the awesomeness of Ickle and Lardee, watch this video that was put together for the book promo.

6. Barley is passed out in my lap right now. His front paws and head are draped over my right forearm, and he doesn't react at all when they move as I'm typing. He must be extra pooped, probably from the excitement of having a GIANT plastic shopping bag to play in/with/under for the last few days. The bag has been migrating from the hallway to the kitchen and back again, and sometimes when you walk be the bag all unsuspecting, a cat jumps out and scares the daylights out of you. Apparently scaring the crap out of me is awesome fun if you have four legs and a tail that won't stop twitching.

7. Today being March 1st, I'm really cutting it close with accomplishing stuff from my Winter To Do List! I've kept up the crock pot cooking, but I've been slacking off on everything else on the list. It's going to be a busy first few weeks of March!

8. Speaking of a busy March, the social calendar seems to have filled up faster this month than usual as well. Baby showers and birthday parties and friends in town, yikes! It should be fun, and I think I've managed to space things out enough to not end up completely worn out and overwhelmed.

9. The weather has been more tolerable lately, as well, which helps with the not being overwhelmed bit. I feel like the winter can't really be ending because we haven't had any extended cold snaps yet. There were only a few short spells of below zero days, and even those were few and far between. Is it really possible we'll escape a New England weather without me whining about wanting to move to a warmer climate?

10. Maybe the lesson learned this winter is to always buy an awesome new winter coat halfway through. I mean, how can you be grumpy when you get to put on a super cute, super warm coat with a faux fur trimmed hood every morning? Right? Or has someone been sneaking Prozac into my drinking water?

Rear View

I rarely ride on the last car of the T, but like any good prewalker I waited exactly where I needed to on the Central platform to get off exactly where I needed to at the Downtown Crossing platform in order to be nearest to the exit I wanted in order to minimize having to be outside for the walk to my destination...which lead to me sagging the seat at the very rear of the train, and having this view as we crossed the salt and pepper bridge.

Putting the 'Monotonous' in My Monotonous Life

The T platform, snow free but covered in sand. At least it's sunny!

Downtown Train

Tonight was girls night and after work I hopped on the train to head to Canton and meet Leyre at her place (where I was lucky enough to have dinner with the adorable Orly before we headed out).  It's funny spending more time in Canton again, after not doing much of that for a long time after my parents sold the house we grew up in there. Taking the train is a crazy twenty minute ride through memories from the last fifteen years. 

Riding along the Southwest Corridor Park reminds me of when Pete and I used to run together after work - we'd keep pace for the first mile or so, and then when I couldn't take it any more he would take off ahead of me, and pass me after he had turned around and I was still chugging along like the pokey runner I am. Passing through Hyde Park and Readville reminds me of trips to the pediatrician when I was little, and of dropping Jennifer off at a summer job she had in that building on the corner where the road turns 90 degrees...in a building that's being converted to condos now. 

The Route 128 Station...I can't even count all the memories that brings back. I remember when they redid the station and suddenly there were vending machines! With candy in them! That we could ride our bikes to! They had those creme filled caramels that start out rock hard and then end up gluing your mouth shut with their stickiness after a minute. I remember giving Whitters, Mails, and the rest of the "Down Under Up Over Tour" girls instructions to get off the train there when they were finally able to get out of New York City after 9/11 and they needed hugs and home cooked meals desperately. 

Fifteen years ago we were catching trains into Boston and hanging out at The Garage in Harvard Square because it was the cool thing to do. Now I'm riding the opposite direction, from my job in the financial district to my best friend's place, where her husband lets me in and we have dinner with her eighteen month old daughter before meeting up with another friend, who helped her husband put their four year old and eighteen month old to bed before meeting us for deliciously potent beverages and a movie.

Some times it's funny to think how much things have changed. Most times it's awesome to think about how some things have stayed the same, and how those awesome people are still in my life, and more awesome than ever.

On Broadway

We headed over to SoWa Open Market after lunch (pizza at Quincy's one and only Alumni Cafe), which means we got off the T at the Broadway stop. Which is one of my favorites, because every time I'm there I notice another one of these tiles that I hadn't noticed before, and because it has this amazing symmetry that makes for good pictures.

MBCR

I took the commuter rail out to Wellesley to cheer on the 3 Day walkers. They had okay weather to start the day, but got poured on in the afternoon. :(

Just

another rainy trolley ride.

Trolley

Rainy morning, riding the trolley.

LOVE these guys

Love love love. Yup. First of all, they were singing Crazy Love when I walked onto the platform, which is a song I love. Second of all, I totally have a crush on my stripey friend on the right! I would have planted myself in front of them until my train came if Pete hadn't been with me - it would have been worth not pre-walking.

Hilariously, after I took a few pictures and was walking away my stripey crush said "Will you post those somewhere? Like Flickr or something". Here it is...hope you guys find this and say hi!

Working on my night moves

I was headed downtown for a happy hour and playing with my camera while I waited for the train. What is that greenish light blob that shows up whenever I take night shots with my new lens?!

One of the blogs that I read regularly talked about tips for sticking with a photo a day project. It said that you should take one photo in the morning, because the day will get away from you and it may be the only picture you take. I did take another picture this day, but this is the one you get to see.

Experiencing Delays

I was rushing home from work to make it to a resident meeting for our apartment building, so when I caught an Ashmont train right when I stepped on the platform at South Station and then saw a trolley waiting as I came up the stairs at Ashmont I was happy with my T luck. And then the trolley tried to pull out of the station....to no avail. They kicked us off the trolley and then the trolley behind coupled to it and pushed it out while we all stood on the (freezing cold) platform. We could see the next three trolleys lined up on the tracks and at the next stop, but had to wait quite a while for dispatch to give them the okay to actually pull up to the station. 

I don't know how I've come to have such a zen approach to the T, but delays like this don't phase me. Everyone else on the platform grumbled, stomped their feet, made comments to each other about how they could see the next trolley and why wasn't it moving, or made calls on their cell to complain to someone at home about it. Me? I was happy reading my magazine, and then put it away for a bit to take some photos. You know this is significant because I was also standing in the freezing cold and I still wasn't complaining!

Needham Heights Local

I took the train out to Leyre's after work, and the pink receipt was there when I sat down. I stuck my ticket up and settled in to read my book. At some point the conductor came by and I know he collected tickets from the people across the aisle from me, but he never collected mine...so I snagged it on my way off the train so I can use it next time.

Late Night T Ride

I was across from this couple on the T on my way home from girls' night, and all I did was sit there and wish that Pete was with me so that I had a shoulder to lean and nap on.

Pete's so emo

Attention Red Line Passengers: Keep On Waiting

Just waiting for the train after Girls' Night Out.

Holy Thunderstorm, Batman!

I was woken up about 15 minutes before my alarm went off (which is at 6:40, for the curious) by thunder. Because one of the skylights in the loft is more or less over my head when I'm in bed, I just laid there thinking "but I don't hear any rain" and waiting for my alarm to go off. Then it started pouring rain, and it sounded like it was raining right on my head. It reminded me of when I slept on the top bunk in the old trailer and the sound the rain would make on the roof. I love the sound of it. I hate that I can't always stay in bed and listen to it. I think that on rainy days you shouldn't have to work, you should just curl up in bed and read or watch movies. Anyway, the thunderstorm peaked while I was getting ready for work, and luckily slowed down by the time I headed out the door, but this picture is looking through the roof of the bus stop.

The Wheels On The Bus

This is where I wait for the bus in the morning. Very exciting.

Salsa!

The music is really mariachi. If that's a genre of music. These guys are in the top ten list of "Things I Will Miss About Living In JP". Here they're playing at the Back Bay T stop, but their weekend gig is strolling around Acapulco's (NOT the chain - better!) Mexican Restaurant on Centre St in JP. YUM! Good food, yummy sangria, and adorable little old mariachi man. What more can you ask for?