Supreme instants.

I got a new dress for Laura's wedding. Much better.
And Coffee Oreo ice cream.
And there is this emotional dog saga.
And the beers were flat when my friend came over.
And Beatrice the puppy destroyed a beanie cow.
And now the beanie toxic beans are littering our porch.

And I cannot sleep lately...

And today was a stupidly long work day.
And how many day-old bagels?
And pounds of red peppers?
And colors of tortellini?
Inventory.

And I was actually going to go to a ballet class at 7.
Intermediate even.
(How frightening.)
And then there were too many brownies to count.


And now I have a new bottle of wine.

And I just purchased a superbly fantastic album by Descemer Bueno. Sort of latin reggae/rap/world/dance greatness.
And I heard from Tara and miss her
and she texts me "smile babe and stay positive. u're an achiever
and all that patience that i so admire-"gd things come to those those who wait"...

And she is happy and laughing after Cabaret in London...

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At least I have the day off tomorrow.

Greenbean and couscous salad with blue cheese and almonds

I went to the Trader Joe's and bought ingredients that formed this salad. Yum.

1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tsps tumeric
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
a handful of cherry tomatoes, or 2 equivalent diced beefstake etc tomatoes
1/4 cup dry roasted unsalted almonds
1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cucumber diced
1 lb whole fresh green beans
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1/2 tablespoon fresh chopped mint
4 oz crumbled blue cheese

Boil 1 cup water with olive oil. Add couscous , cover and remove from heat. Stir in tumeric, curry powder and ginger. Fluff with fork and let cool.

Boil 2 cups water, add green beans and blanch for 3 mins. Drain and rinse under cold water to prevent from continuing to cook.

Add all ingredients, stir, chill and serve.

Rafting photos

Ray brought his camera rafting and sent me these:


Ray and I, standing over the accomplished river:
Don't I look like a professional?

I wish I could sing the blues.

Wet smudgy people standing in doorways looked at me like I was a fool walking in the downpour on the way home from work, laughing blissfully. True, the damp coffee stink of me was somewhat distasteful, but luckily no one was getting too close. Now I smell of old coffee and wet dog, which is unsurprisingly, not a winning combination. I feel quite refreshed though.

Jack the wonderdog is much less wonderful today. We are having a bit of a lover's quarrel. He bit my friend last night. Right in the face. Bad dog! Bad! Friend says he is ok and dog has been spoken to harshly, punishing himself allnight much more than I could ever punish him myself. Still, biting people's faces is not ok. (Unless it is done in a loving manner, which in this case, it was not. Bad Bad Dog)

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I am enrolled in a TESOL course for the end of August but am beginning to have the inclination to put it off until next month. It seems I should have a clear idea of where and when I want to leave. And if I want to teach at all. Too bad I am not one of those smart, skilled people who can easily gain employment in foreign countries because of my numerous technical or medical skills. Too bad I am not independently wealthy. Too bad I am not something other than a starry eyes wanderer whose short skill list includes making a decent latte, arranging food in pretty ways and bonding with dogs.

With September looming a few short weeks away I am feeling the need to figure out a plan for myself. A new job, a new place, a new trip. I need to know something is going to change in the fall to ensure that I do not have a mid-autumn freak out at the first signs of frost.

Its that time of day

Where the light is perfect and I have a beer and a book and my favorite dog at my feet. I am sitting on my sister's porch and there is a breeze and I am happy.

To the lighthouse...

Feeling slightly calmer with some food in my belly and a book by my side and the night so soft on my lovely green infused porch. But I am wondering, where have all the moths gone? So light here, and not even a small gray winged beast has fluttered by me....?

Sleep deprivation

" So what do you do for fun?"
"Uhhh, mostly I like to sleep."

I had much more caffeine than any other injested substance today. My delicious iced double soy latte at 6:45pm is having serious side effects. I have to be at work in too few hours and am seriously grumpy when I am deprived of my favorite past time.
Watch out world.

So I'm A

Dreamer-escape artist-back to basics-love bug according to my visual DNA.

One more cup of coffee for the road....

Soccer in the Plaza:

Grenada:




Hola! I am blogging all the way from the sunny brown earth of Playa del Coco, Costa Rica. I've had a hugely relaxing and fun trip to some of the centralist of the Central American countries. Though highly unfortunate that I didn't get to see any other parts of Nicaragua I was hugely impressed with Grenada. I had been looking forward to the city and had heard travellers tell of its colorful colonial splendor, but I had expected something perhaps slightly more bedraggled and run down. But Grenada was lovely and clean with testy street dogs, smiley old men and charming children. We encountered very few tourists and spent our days mostly wandering through the brightly painted neighborhoods, taking pictures and stopping occassionally for coffee or beer(Victoria = muy bueno) The coffee was incredible too. I am kicking myself for not buying any to bring back, as it tasted much better than the Costa Rican coffee I've experienced while here.

The central plaza, Grenada:

Cute Girl jumping a fire hydrant:Colorful Grenada:


On Thursday we took a taxi for about $3 to Puerto Asese and submitted ourselves to one of the three or four skippers that approached us. We then walked a quarter of a mile down a pleasant jungly path while parrots and butterlies flew about and monkey's howled in the distance. We eventually came to a boat and puttered off, going slowly through the warm calm waters, passing Nico childrenlaughing and splashing.There are over 2000 people that live on the hundreds of tiny islands off the coast, fishing and farming and rowing their children to the one main school. It would be a highly isolated, though extremely peaceful way of life. I am sad to report that I did not see any sharks or crocodiles. Our guide told us they were not in that area of the lake. Bummer.

An island:

Friday we made the long journey back through the border. Though we are probably two hours from Grenada itself, the trip home took at least six or seven hours. When we got the border, the two earlier busses were still waiting to have their luggage examined by the "customs" officials. By the time they got to ours the officials looked pretty bored with their task, took one look at us and looked at us waved us by. On the way back our bus was stopped twice by police to inspect passports, I am guessing in attempts to cut down on illigal Nicaraguan workers in Costa Rica. The word is the $9 a day they can make working 13 hour days in Costa Rica is better than anything they can find in their own country.
Now I am enjoying a day mostly by myself. Mike left early this morning to fly home to NH so it is just Charlie and I for the next day.I've done nothing today other than take a long walk, swim in the ocean, swim in the pool, take a nap and read. Now I am drinking a Pilsen and hoping to find a nice spot to watch the sunset. Tomorrow though I am planning on doing something slightly more adventurous, white water rafting in two person inflatable canoes with a few people I met down here.
I am a bit burnt, but at least I know if get lost in the night I can use the blinding whiteness of my boobs to help guide me home. Safety first, my friends.

I think this is the male. He was the loud one. (Howler Monkey):

Playa del Coco in the morning:


Another amazing Costa Rican sunset:

So I checked my bag....

And didn't put up much of a fight because I was running late, there was a really long line, and it was 5:30 in the morning. And so, they lost my bag. Well, it is not lost technically, just in Dallas.
But I am in Coco and it is beauitiful. Our Nicaragua plans are pushed back a day or two, depending on the status of my luggage. I think we may forego San Juan and head directly to Grenada.
I am off to the beach though. Life is good!

"For here or to go?"

I am surprisingly grumpy for a girl who is officially on vacation. I don't have to pour a single cup of coffee or answer the same ridiculous questions while grinning an idiot for nine whole days, and yet I can't seem to sift through my dark mood to find the splendidness in it. It will come, though I am guessing at this point not until I am sipping my first cold Imperial on the beaches of Playa del Coco tomorrow evening.

I am sleep deprived and a 4 am wake up call is not a sunny remedy to the problem at hand. I left packing to the last possible moment,and already I am aware of the fact that I have forgotten to purchase Dramamine, which is my life force on most trips and has saved me in some highly unpleasant experiences, and I am extremely frustrated that I cannot find my iPod charger! Also I haven't flown since the " war on liquids", and swear to our dear gods above to throw a tantrum should they take my 4 oz bottle of contact solution from me.

I will NOT check my bag!

In packing however, I have realized that the next best thing to traveling to an equatorial location to actually being there is packing for an equatorial location. Anyone with some degree of skin pigment can survive with a few tank tops, a swim suit and flip flops. Meg likes to remember the "hottest day of our lives" in Costa Rica last year, followed a few weeks later by "the coldest night of our lives" in Peru. I remember her being really hot and me finding myself pretty uncomfortable, but more than the Costa Rican heat, the cold of the Salcantay Trail is what is burned into my mind. Warmer climates suit me.(The weather report actually does not look all that dissimilar to Boston weather for the coming week; upper 80 degree days and scattered thunderstorms.)

I fly into Liberia, CR tomorrow afternoon. Mike has manipulated his friends into picking me up and we will drive from there the half hour or so to Coco. Monday morning we are planning on taking a public bus and from Liberia to San Juan Del Sur, (this is when dramamine and iPods come in extremely handy), hopefully entering Nicaragua without too much difficulty. San Juan, from my understanding is a 'quaint fishing village'... host to surfers and turtles. I am hoping to see a few of each up close. :)

From there we'd like to make it up to Grenada, and possibly one of the islands in Lake Cocibalco. Apparently this lake contains fresh water sharks that enjoy eating human flesh. These may be rumors and hopefully I will live to prove them false.

I am curious to see what this trip does for me... whether it satiates my wanderlust or brings it forth with new vigor. I am liking life in Boston right now, though know with the first blustery frost of the fall I will be wondering how I could ever write such a thing. It has been great being close to my family, especially with the upcoming wedding, but the word on the street is that there is a relocation deal in progress for the newlyweds. Colorado will be their new home and with them they will take half of my family, and more importantly their amazing dog Jack.

The WonderDog!:

I need to quickly harvest some new friends and family members to keep me happy here and replace all the friends I am losing!

And perhaps I am. The coffee house has opened its arms to me recently and I am finding solace in its embrace. I may need to facilitate a move to Cambridge in the next few months. As much as I adore Brookline and our many trees, old ladies and Jewish babes, Cambridge has an edge, funkiness and community feeling that even clean air cannot quite compete with.
That and also simply, the boys in Cambridge are a lot cuter.

Still funny...

I just checked out Mike's blog, and in its fancy new format (I like the old format better Mike) we see the full view of the infamous R2D2 experience. I think I am still owed 13 bucks.

art

I went to the ICA with Abbey and very much enjoyed the Philip Lorca diCorcia exhibit. Check it out, Bostonians.
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I was asked today if I ever thought of working with children. Because I could relate to them so well.

I am going to believe that he meant it as a compliment.
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Sometimes I forget where a single letter is on a keyboard, if I am not writing continuously.
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I saw a woman, carrying a dog, as though it was a human baby. I was descending into the subway at Courthouse station. The woman was wearing a red shirt. She looked completely normal in that she was not someone that would catch your eye.. just another young mother. Except that her baby was a dog.

And I am a freaky dog person. But this was weird.
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What if you didn't like Miles Davis? Would you still like yourself?

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Arrogance and Confidence are closely related. (sexy)
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Buona notte, blog world.

Books and Music

By the way,

I Highly recommend

A Thousand Splendid Suns, the knew book by Khaled Hosseini. I read it in two days and loved every word.

As well as The Cinematic Orchestra's new album, Ma Fleur, specifically the song To Build A Home.

Staff meetings

I know I will never come close to being a great manager. I've had really excellent managers. Megan at North Beach Outfitters, and of course Adam in Milford top the list. I've had really horrible managers... the 19 year old Cliff, Emily and her really long explanations of the mundane... Anyway, I am aware of what it takes to manage well, and know that I don't have most of the qualities. I hate confrontation for one, and I am often laid back to a fault. Managing effectively takes a diligence and attention to details that, quite frankly, I can find a bit dull. I do however take great pride in certain things and have found that I can be encouraging and a positive voice in trying situations. These traits can be used successfully on a so-called "management team".
At any rate, tonight we had a staff meeting. Few people dislike meetings more than I do. I will grumble, bitch, moan, cry, and grumble some more whenever one is scheduled for me. I hate them. But I do understand that they can sometimes be worthwhile. We need to be on one page and we need to be able to voice our individual and collectiove frustrations, blah blah blah.
The thing that I love most about my job is the customers, and I know our customers love us just as much. Tonight we handed out cards to our 'regulars' asking if they would mind writing something nice about an individual staff person, or as a whole. I pictured this task taking days to complete. I imagined some awkward looks and put-out groans. Amazingly, we distributed enough cards for each staff person to get at least one within a few minutes. I was overwhelmed with how thankful customers were to be able to thank us. The things they wrote were beautiful, encouraging, thoughtful and funny. I knew the idea was a bit cheesy, but that it would probably be appreciated by even the toughest of our crew. I think in the end, it was.

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Worst customers of the day:
The yoga crew. You have expanded this week, some sort of suburban-guru yoganite convention group with sweaty purple mats. You ask 8,000 questions, never listen to the answers, treat us like we are termites and then leave us with your trash. I hate you and your soy-chai drinking, danskin cropped yoga pants wearing, calorie counting, cheese avoiding, pigtailed, shavasana loving faces.

Favorite customer of the day:
Jessica.

Intentions

I had the grand intentions of writing a truly memorable entry about my truly fabulous weekend. That was before I called my mom back, drank a few glasses of wine and ate my leftover Choo Chee Curry with tofu from Rod Dee, quite cold, as we do not have a microwave but with added hot sauce to mask that gross "fridge" flavor... followed by stale leftover SmartFood that Julie left at the lake house, for dessert.

So, I unfortunately have lost ability of my senses in this meal/wine induced state to write anything of substance. So it is, we must be fueled by substance to create. And so I will leave you one interested blog subscriber with a few photos of my oh-so-fabulous NH-Lakes-Region getaway sponsored by the one and only 1369 Coffee House.

Friday, our dock:


Grandmaster Moose:





Indoor archery:



Two of my favorite people: (Bryan and Meg)


And the man who shares my bed more than any other...:



And it must be said that my thoughts drifted over the course of the weekend to all of those I love and have loved. I thought of how Chico would enjoy the serenity, and how Tara would be able to reminisce about the NZ similarities, and how I wish she had seen New England in its 'glory state'. I thought of Leigh and her appreciation of everything and Chris and his love of the wilderness.I thought of Tim and how badly I wanted him there and how much I knew it would never happen. I thought of Melissa and her aversion to camping, and yet how much she would enjoy a lakeside getaway, complete with kitchen, shower and cleanliness. I thought of Laura and and Andy and their happy love. I thought of Jack, their beautiful dog (and my amazing soul mate.) I thought of Chrissy and Adam and Mom and Dad, and the Matts and how I do/will miss them. I thought of Mike's big adventure and my adventures to come.
I thought of my crushes.
My new friends.
My admiration for those of you who have chosen a life because it is the life you want, not because it is the life that was easiest.

In short, the weekend, the time with friends and away from all friends made me realize things I had sometimes take for granted ;like how lucky I am, and how completely surrounded with beauty we all are.

heatmeservemeeatmechillmeheatmeservemeeatmechillme

I love the sound of ice in glasses, especially between quiet moments of conversation. Those conversations where you give too much away and wonder if they've noticed.

I love the smell of basil on my hands and underneath my fingernails.

I love the taste of garlic on my breath. Even if no one else does.

I love really sharp pencils and liquid blue pens.

I love rainfall. Even on the fourth of July.

I love recipe hunting.

I love the smell of old books.

I love clever banter and masked flirtation.

I love the smell of distant cigarettes and bars of soap because it reminds me of love.

Books and such...

I just finished The In-Betweeen World of Vikram Lall . and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I often find books at work that catch my eye, but after a few pages put them down. This was interesting and a lucky find. I have a bad habit of speed-reading through the last pages of a book that I enjoy. I don't want it to end and yet know the end is coming, and so I practically skim every last word in anticipation for something profound.Usually by the final sentence my heart is racing and I am exhausted, but fulfilled.
Tomorrow is the fourth of July. I have no plans other than to go to work and avoid large crowds. I hopefully will manage to drink a beer or two, and ooh and ahh at least a little bit at a few colorful explosions in the sky. I have never felt very American, and this year is no exception, though it has been fun to reminice about my past few years of July Fourths, in Peru, Costa Rica and Northern Ireland. A true patriot indeed.

Feeling groovy...

So I pulled it off. I think I have now officially entered an area of adulthood that I had yet to comprehend. I hosted, successfully(i think), a wedding shower. Up until this point, I had never been to a wedding shower, never mind been privy to the planning process. Turns out it is not so different than hosting a party for ones friends, or oneself (as I did this year for my birthday), though less booze and better food seem to part of the wedding shower equation. And no, we did not play any bride-related games.
I've grown up in a family that has always thrown good parties. I can taste our Christmas's, Thanksgivings and Graduations with a brief mention of the occasion. My mom, aunts and uncles are all amazing cooks and in true Italian tradition I have been raised to appreciate fresh foods and beautiful presentation. I hopefully have gained some of their knowledge along the way and if not at least have a lot of fun trying. As I wrote, erased, and rewrote menus I truly enjoyed the process sifting through my family's collective food memories and pestering my family and friends for ideas and recipes. I was so lucky to have these same family and friends to help prep, grill, carry, consume and clean up. And on top of all of this it was a perfectly beautiful, not-too-hot, blue skied summer day.
It was in fact not until today that it hit me that my only sister, my most fantastically perfect only sister , is happily soon to be wed to an equally fantastic and perfect husband. Sometimes the beauty of that is too much. It took a lot of willpower for me to [barely] keep it together at the shower. I can't imagine what I will be like at the wedding. It is truly unique to be witness to such a special and kind love. Couples get married every day, but there is a difference when the couple is really in sync and right on.
I'd like to thank all of our friends and family that came today. Laura is lucky to have such people supporting her, and I am so glad that she has you all in her life.