dear world,
i have been bumming around the eastern seaboard. for real. bumming.
Here’s the thing with me….I have so many half-formed goals and potential projects and best intentions rolling around in my head that I spend all my time ruminating and none of my time achieving. It’s kind of stupid. I hope to end this trend, beginning with this blog post. (!)
So as I might have mentioned before, my ideal vacation/life consists of a long, long time in one city, wandering aimlessly and photographing every blade of grass to have ever graced the sidewalk cracks. It drives most people crazy. Jane, however, my constant companion in Boston, has lovingly put up with this nonsense…so I have a few hopefully decent photographs to show for myself. I have been feeling pretty photographically uninspired though lately…I’m hoping the right mood strikes again soon.
In the meantime, let me sum up the past week or two’s activities…
1. Hot yoga. There are plenty of introductory specials on classes to be found online…but the sweating/melting is pretty brutal.
2. Scouring Groupon/Buywithme/LivingSocial for deals and usually being too cheap to purchase them. Except for the yoga deals, somehow (see #1).
3. Street musicians, particularly in the subway and in Harvard Square. The electric cellist/drummer duo in aviators has held a special sway over Jane and I…
4. Café after coffee shop after café after café. Diesel (Davis Square), the Thinking Cup (Park Line), 1369 (Central and Inman Square), Peet’s (Brookline and Harvard Square) even though it’s kind of a chain, and the new Starbucks in Harvard Square (even though it’s definitely a chain) are excellent places to start.
5. Haymarket on the weekend for dirt-cheap produce. Prices are marked down mostly because it’s all overstock from city supermarkets that will go bad very quickly, but if you look closely you can get some decent fruits and vegetables. The Middle Eastern shops up here also carry a sick array of ethnic products. (Thank you Talia and Yousef for your tour of this gem 
)
6. Leisure reading, for the first time in SUCH a long time. Used bookstores abound in Coolidge Corner and Harvard Square. As you might have guessed, shops in the latter are likely to carry rarer and more academic texts.
7. Allston. I don’t think I’ve quite nailed down the character here…it’s college-y and hipster and super-sketch all rolled into one. Sunset Grill & Tap (a massive selection of beers), Silhouette (pool and popcorn!), and Wonderbar (daaaancinnggggg) were all fun in their own way last week.
8. The North End, essentially Little Italy. Come during a sports game! There were Bruins fans everywhere during our visit (understandably, as Boston had just launched into the Stanley Cup Finals) and the “Believe” logo had been stenciled into every store window. Jane and I showed up during the Champions League final and parked ourselves in front of Caffe Paradiso with at least 50 other cheap/thrilled fans craning their necks from the pavement. The Man U vs. Barca frenzy made me feel like I was back in Europe again.
9. The North End at any time: Ignore the massive line at Mike’s Pastry and edge your way to any counter, even the ones at the sides. Catch a sparkling Italian eye and recite your entire group’s order for efficiency’s sake….they’ll expertly package your pastries with string pulled from the ceiling (sweet system) and you’ll fork over a very fair sum of cash. Cash! Cash only.
There’s also this really interesting homemade pasta shop (DePasquale’s?)…they have a lot of frozen vegetarian selections, among other things.
10. The Green line before and after a Red Sox game. It is red, white and blue ridiculous. Get off the T at Kenmore, St. Mary’s St., or Fenway to get in a little deeper on the action.
10 rounds it off nicely. I don’t want to jump too far into the realm of productivity on Day 1…that just sets the bar crazy high and then it’s easy to give up and get crazy lazy….what a mess.
Things I’m saving for later:
$1 tapas!
an amalgam of sushi options
SAILING (which we have yet to do)
The Liberty Hotel
newbury street – designer consignment shops and $15 cocktails
MIT
riding the train over the Charles
free ferry with 7-day T pass!
SAILING!!!!!
my job hunt/interview experiences
VEGGIE PLANET/club passim/VEGGIE PLANET/clover is good too
Maybe I’m being a little hard on myself on the lack of achievement…I’ve actually read a good number of book jackets and ordered quite a few excellent cappuccinos. Hopefully that counts for something.
