Weekend

Meet us at Filene's Basement she said. Just take the redline and get off at downtown crossing and you can't miss it she said. Just follow the signs till you get to us she said.

So i got on the redline. I made it to downtown crossing. I emerged from the subway into the sunlight and looked around.

There were no signs that said Filene's Basement anywhere. If you know me, you know how much i hate asking for directions. If you know me, you know that i get lost even if i have lived in a place for over 10 years. If you know me, you know that i'm distracted quite easily and usually by something shiny.

And if you don't know me by noooooow. You will never never never knoooow meeeeee.

Ahem.

So i went for a walk and somehow ended up in the theater district and china town. The Opera House was impressive and i stood there staring up at it in the middle of the street like a tourist. Until the screech of tires and the honking of horns clued me in to watch out just as the taxi ran me over. Okay so that part didn't happen. But the Opera House is very pretty.

I kept walking until i noticed more and more people with shopping bags. I noticed one man with a bag that said Filene's and began to tail him. I kept perhaps a car length behind him for at least 3 blocks before he noticed he was being shadowed. Every time he would turn to look back at me i would quickly have my face turned away reading the numbers on the buildings and mumbling to myself. He walked faster. And so did I. The man had nearly broken into a noticeable jog before i took pity and veered away towards another street. I certainly didn't want to scare him enough that he would confront me, lol.

I finally found Filene's and wandered inside only to encounter a mad house. The store was pretty much boiling over. They were have a huge blow out on name brand stuff from 50 -70% percent off. It was crazyness. I ended up buying some jumbo size Ralph Lauren Pillows for 4 bucks and a set of silver satin sheets. Why satin sheets? Well there's something really sleazy about satin sheets that has always appealed to me, lol. I would have bought red ones but that would have been a bit much don't you think? So i bought a set for 8 dollars.

Alicia and her friend needed to try on some clothing and because they had handed me a few dresses to try on as well i accompanied them. As we meandered towards the fitting rooms they told me that coming to Filene's and trying on clothes is an /experience/. I laughed and asked "why, is the fitting room communal"?

Oh my God they were! We walked into a large room that already held a large group of scantily clad and unclad women. The walls had mirrors all around and because many of the mirrors were warped one has to go from mirror to mirror to get an accurate view of what they are wearing. Or hell, ask the random girl standing behind you. Or in front of you. Or beside you.

Now, i'm not a prude. And most of my body consciousness has left me after that first horrific experience at boot camp. So i can strip down in locker rooms and whatnot just fine and i've taken group showers. So this should be no big deal eh?

It was amazing how difficult taking my shirt off was just to try on a simple dress. After a few minutes i was fine and could try on the other things normally and give my opinion on a dress to the girl standing behind me even.

Should i go back and try things on i'll be okay with it now that i know.

Oh dear

I do have an update but am too tired to give today's events the attention it deserves.

A short teaser:

I walked into a dressing room to find 20 other women already there half naked and trying on their own clothing.

*wince*

Stay Tuned

Wandering

I decided that i had to go to Borders. Yes, there may be a bookstore on every corner here but i was longing for my days as a corporate tool and i really wanted to be able to walk into the store and be able to move into any section i wanted without asking for help or reading signs.

So i walked from work to the subway and jumped onto the red line. 5 stops later i disembarked and transfered onto the green line. The green line let me off in front of the Boston Public Library. Which is GLORIOUS! I wish i had my camera. It was so pretty.
Copley Square also had one of the prettiest churches i've seen. There was also a Kahlil Gibran memorial that i liked which read : "It was in my heart to help a little because i was helped much."

i found Borders. I bought a book. And retraced my steps home without getting lost.

Amazing i know. :)

Now that i can successfully manuever the green and red lines i still need to hit the orange, blue, and silver. Well not so much the orange line. I hear people get shot there. But only between the hours of 3 and 5pm. ;)

Mmm

I have had an INTENSE craving for mozzarella sticks for a few weeks now. Unfortunately, the only ones i can find here are the TGIF brand and they're pretty lame. So Alicia made some from scratch today. So good!

You can find the recipe (by Giada) used here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_27923,00.html

The sticks were so good in fact that i have forgiven Alicia for being a chocolate fascist. My habit of keeping candy bars in the fridge horrify her beyond measure.

mmm chocolate and cheese sticks

Busy busy busy

So much has happened but sadly i have not had a chance to sit down and tell you any of it!

So:

I got locked into my bedroom the other night. The door does not close completely and i may have tried a bit too hard to push that thing shut so when it closed it closed HARD.

I did not discover that fact until the middle of the night when i desperately needed to use the bathroom and the door would not open no matter how fierce like i was struggling with it. At that point i became rather obsessed with the need to JUST GET OUT but i couldn't and so there i was trapped and hardly able to breathe. My throat literally closed up and i couldnt even scream for help. This worries me. What if get ATTACKED and i can't scream?

Anyways. It was late and Alicia and Rich had retired for the evening. The doors are pretty solid so they didnt hear me struggling at all. I picked up my cell phone and called them but got no answer. (I later learned they were franctic tearing up the room trying to find the ringing phone.) The phone not working put me into total panic mode and i threw myself against the door and started banging on it crying to be let out. Alicia finally emerged from her bedroom and said

"Lyan, um are you okay?"
"Help meeeeeeeee," i whispered as i slid down the door's frame.

She rammed into the door numerous times until it finally swung open. All i could do was stand there, breathing heavily and on the verge of hysterical tears.

And she? Well the wench broke into laughter and went back to bed.

And then the next morning proceeded to tell EVERYONE IN BOSTON how i had gotten locked in the room.

She threatens me with that nowadays if i get too obnoxious.

Hmph. The nerve.

We Moved!

Or rather Alicia and Rich have moved and since i seem to have become a fixture in the house (like a lamp lol) i went with them. Its a great location out in Davis Square. I got hungry for some chocolate earlier and i went outside, walked for 30 seconds, went into a store, bought my chocolate, and 45 seconds later i was sittng on the floor with my laptop and my chocolate. Fantastico! In other moving news i have a meeting with some potential roommates tomorrow night. The apartment is also located in Davis and its abut a 3 minute walk from where im currently sleeping. I hope everything works out okay since im getting used to this area. Theres a bookshop on every corner! Awesomeness.

Also, the couch does not fit in the house so its currently standing up in the hallway blocking traffic. We literally squish ourselves past it trying to get thru. Alicia finally gave up and sat in the hallway.

I Did NOT Eat That Pretzel

I really didn't despite what some of you may think. >.<

I did however eat an excellent hamburger today. Alicia dragged me over to Bartley's which is apparently a very famous Cambridge institution. Its cramped, noisy, no bathroom, and they only accept cash. I loved it! There are like 50 different hamburgers you can order and all of them are named after politicians or celebrities. I ate a Professor Sparks classy burger. Its a terriyaki burger with grilled pineapple and a huge mound of onion rings on the side. According to Alicia, Professor Sparks is one of the most respected teachers at Harvard and is usually very well dressed and sports a rather elegant cane as he traverses the campus. There is also a burger called The Republican and is the most expensive one on the menu at 13 bucks. lol so funny. Alicia ordered a drink called the Elvis and that turned out to be a frappe composed of peanut butter banana and chocolate. Its the King of Milkshakes.

We went off to see Harry Potter 5 tonight in a party of about 17. Four of us had to guard an entire row of seats as we waited for everyone to show up. It got ugly. After all that the movie turned out to be disappointing. Oh well.

OH! I got paid tonight! My first paycheck with the Harvard seal and everything!

O.o

I've been walking around with a rock in my boot. So i finally took off my shoe to take out the rock...and it was a pretzel! How did a pretzel get in my shoe? Nobody here has been eating pretzels. So i ate the pretzel. It was tasty.

What?

Noir

After work today i tagged along with Alicia and two of her friends to the Noir Bar at The Charles Hotel. The bar boasts signature drinks and cocktails along with cheap and tasty appetizers. I had a suspiciously pink drink called a Stardust. It consisted of bacardi rum, parfait amour and fresh lemon, and was served with a sugared rim. I also had a fantastic BLT sandwich with some kind of really spicy chipotle mayonnaise. Mmmm.

But the best part of the afternoon was that for the first time ever i was not asked for ID.

Hmm. So either that means the bar is slacking off in its duties of keeping youngsters off the booze or i just looked really really old today...

Bad Catholic's Guide To Good Living

I have been going to church! I have gone to Mass every week since i've left home. Sure i've only been away from Florida for 2 weeks but hey its something isn't it. The first week here Alicia and Rich accompanied me to St. Lukes. We were very unimpressed. This sunday Alicia and i headed to a late service at St. Clement's Eucharist Shrine. Its absolutely gorgeous. The Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine is pretty and imposing but ultimately i don't find it as appealing as St. Clement's. Theres just something about walking down the city street with cars and building and people rushing past and then out of nowhere the Church appears. Awesome. I'm sure there are better shrines out there. Maybe i'll seek them out and decide which i like best. In fact i think i shall march myself down to the Harvard Divinity School and see if they need anyone to travel around inspecting the churches and blogging about them. Anyways, we went to Mass and it was pretty fantastic. Afterwards we walked down to a cafe to eat and bantered back and forth about religion and the other churches in the area we were going to try out. A guy heard us discussing the differences between religious services up here and what im used to down south and joined in. He recommended that we try a chapel at Boston College for Easter Mass. I think next week we're going to the St. Francis Chapel inside the Prudentil Center. A Roman Catholic chapel run by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary inside a mall. How cool is that?

Yargh

I am trying to write a few different cover letters. They are not going well. Oh look American Psycho is on tv! *gets distracted*

Happy Rebel's Day

Because my grandpa yelled at me for not posting in days; here is my 4th of July entry just for him...

Abuelo,

The holiday began innocently enough. We woke early and wandered down to the Esplanade, miles and miles of biking/walking whatever trails that hug the Charles River. The area was fairly empty when we got there but would soon be filling up as more people camped out for the fireworks display. Alicia and i slept for 2 hours by the water's edge which i must confess creeped me out. I was convinced that sitting too near that water was just inviting an alligator to jump out and drag me in. You can take the girl out of Florida but you can't take the Florida out of the girl.

We were eventually joined by a slew of Alicia's friends and others. They're an amusing bunch. I played Set (a card game) with Rich for awhile but the wind picked up and blew one of my vards into the river! Luckily a girl sitting near by dove for it and managed to grab it before it got too soaked. We decided to pack the game up after that, no telling where the cards would go next time.

I went for a walk and ended up in Chinatown and the theater district! It was pretty empty since everyone was either at the river or hiding from the rain that had started up. Also, no worrying, i did not wander into Chinatown by myself. There were other people with me. :)

When we made it back to the esplanade the rain was starting to pick up. We packed up our tent and walked to the nearest movie theater where we watched Transformers instead. The others were talking about how it had been some time since they had missed seeing fireworks. Me on the other hand, i dont care about the fireworks. We usually just watch them through the trees from the direction of the lakefront. I did miss lighting cheap snakey fireworks from Walmart with Cory and Cheo though. And burning smiley faces into cardboard. :(

Lots of love,

Lyannie

Stranded at the drive-in...

... branded a fooool. What will the kids saaaay? Monday at schooooool. As soon as we drove into the area that damn song from Grease began running through my head non-stop. The drive in we went to was located in the middle of nowhere called Mendon. We drove for maybe an hour or so, im not sure, but long enough for Alicia to get fidgety. She really doesnt like to drive at all lol. We pulled into a small parking area to wait for more people to show before continuing into the movie and the building right behind us was a dance club called THE OUTER LIMITS. i loved that show when i was younger. Twas muy creepy. After the rest of the party arrived we moved onwards towards a wooded area that opened into a clearing. It was the perfect spot for a drive in! Or a horror movie. The kind where Jason or some other slasher type killer roams the trees on the edge of the light looking for pretty blonde teenagers involved in illicit activities. Luckily, none of us are blonde. Or teens. Or involved in illicit activities.

Speaking of illicit activities! If a commenter starts anonymously posting that I'm seducing grad students, using rent money on tattoos, and generally causing a ruckus that would be Alicia's doing! I haven't done any of that. Yet. ;)

We ended up watching Ratatouille which was pretty fantastic. The last movie i saw at a drive in was Backdraft in 1991! So there i was on a Saturday night freezing my butt off surrounded by Harvard, MIT, and maybe other schools Master and PHD students watching cartoons. Awesome. lol

The cold, however, was not awesome. i had a light sweater on but it was not enough for my poor Floridian body which just shivered harder when it noticed that the notherners were getting cold too. I spent the movie sitting on the hood of the car, huddled against Alicia and stealing the warmth from her body. She was wrapped in a thin blanket pulled from the trunk of someone else's car and Rich had retreated to the inside of the car.

It was a great night. We had even gone to Mass earlier and while the church itself is beautiful the priest was not very impressive. Maybe we caught him on an off day.