So I just got an e-mail from the friend who is dog-sitting for me this week telling me that my dog is a shoplifter! My friend and her husband took their dog and my dog to a groomer/animal supply store on Saturday morning and while their dog was in the back getting her nails trimmed my dog was waiting in the front of the store with my friends. Suddenly my friend heard the cashier ask, "Are you going to pay cash for that?" and they looked down and saw that my dog had taken a pig ear out of a bin and was happily crunching away on it. My dog is a thief! I think that's hilarious. Actually, that's pretty smart of the shop to put the pig ears in a bin on the floor. How many accidental sales do you think they get that way?
My dog is staying with my friend right now because I'm staying at Penn's house this week. We went to New York over the weekend and we're going back to New York on Wednesday night so it just made more sense for me to stay at his place this week as opposed to going all the way back to my apartment for just three nights. So far, this trip has been a lot of fun. On Saturday morning we caught the train to New York and then embarked on a whole series of public transportation adventures that involved PATH trains and the New Jersey Light Rail and Hoboken, and eventually we made it to Liberty State Park for the All Points West music festival. It was a fun day. The weather was perfect: sunny and warm and breezy with almost no humidity. I had psyched myself up to either a) trudge around in sweltering heat and humidity or b) get rained on all day and I was determined to enjoy the concert anyway, so it was a nice surprise that the weather actually cooperated beautifully. Anyway, we went to the concert specifically to see Radiohead and The Roots, although we also got there in time to watch a few other sets. The Roots were great, they just seem like they're having so much fun together when they perform, and I'm a big fan of any band that incorporates a sousaphone. Radiohead was good, too, although it was a very mellow concert experience. All in all it was a fun day, and I'm glad we went.
We spent the night with Kiki on Saturday night so my best friend finally got to meet my boyfriend. I thought it went well. They're very different personality types, Kiki is very exuberant about everything and Penn tends to be pretty laid back, but judging from the time we spent together I think they're gonna get along just fine. I hope so, anyway!
Sunday was really nice. We all got up early on Sunday morning and went to a diner for omelets. Then Kiki had to go to work but Penn and I didn't have to catch our train until 3:00 so we strolled over to Central Park since somehow Penn had been to New York City four times before but had never been to the park. We had a really nice afternoon. We walked through the park for awhile and then decided to join all the sunbathers in Sheep Meadow. I stretched out and Penn used my stomach as a pillow and we napped like that for an hour or so, and it was sunny and warm and surprisingly quiet and just...idyllic. And then as we were starting to stretch and wake up, Penn rolled over and looked at me and said, "Guess what? I love you," and I told him I loved him, too, and that was the first time we've said that out loud to each other, although things have felt so right in this relationship that I could have said it awhile ago and meant it. The thing is, I knew he was feeling the same way I was so I waited, positive that he would say it soon enough. And he picked the perfect place and time to do it. When I think back to a couple of years ago when I thought that maybe I'd used up my one chance in life to fall in love with someone and we'd screwed it up, I just feel so lucky to be feeling like this again. It's different this time, of course, it's a different relationship. But it's better. I think it's that I know what is at stake this time, so it makes it all bigger. The fear is more because I know exactly how much this is going to hurt me if it ever ends, but the joy is also much greater, and so is the sense that this is exactly what was supposed to happen to me right now. The last time I fell in love it was good but also inconvenient for so many reasons (we were young, I was moving away, etc., etc.). This time, I feel like everything in my life lined up and put me here where I could meet this guy, and the fact that we even met in the first place is such a huge coincidence that I sort of feel like the universe is saying, "Of course this is exactly how it is supposed to be." Anyway. Enough about that. I'll get all sappy and there are some feelings I'd just rather keep to myself.
But yeah, it was a really good afternoon. After we left the park we walked over to FAO Schwartz and played with toys for half an hour. In the store they had these enormous sculptures made out of LEGOs. They were of Harry Potter and Star Wars characters and they were insanely complicated. I've never been so impressed with blocks in my life. Oh, and they also had a room of free-trade toys, including some drums made in Africa. Penn is a drummer so he decided to give me a brief lesson. We were definitely the loudest "kids" in the store for a while. It was fun!
Anyway, we'll be back in New York for more fun in a couple of day. Then it's off to Boston for a couple of nights, and I'm still trying to figure out what we should do with all the time when we're not at the wedding. I definitely want to do some sightseeing since I've never been to Boston before (or rather, I have, but I was only a year old so I don't recall anything about it) but it seems like there's just so much to do so trying to narrow it down is hard. Suggestions? (Briar, I'm talking to you!)
Now that we're back at Penn's I'm still having fun, other than the fact that he decided yesterday was the day to give me a heart attack. No, just kidding, it was actually a good night. But first we went to his mom's house for dinner and he was like, "Do you think you could have a one-on-one with my mom? I know she'd really appreciate that," and I said, "Okaaaaay" so he took off to his grandparents' rooms for a while and left me to fend for myself with his mom. Luckily she didn't ask me anything too scary. I was having visions of her asking about our sex life or if I have honorable intentions towards her baby boy or something like that, but the only slightly dicey question she asked was, "So, when you finish your degree are you planning to get a job around here?" Which is of course a thinly veiled way of asking, "Are you going to steal my son and potential grandbabies away to, say, Arizona?" I just said, "Well, I used to think I would go wherever there is a job, but of course it depends on what else is going on in my life at the time." Good, right? Anyway, after dinner Penn took me to a parking lot so I could practice driving his truck because I actually would like to learn to drive a stick shift, but then he made me drive us all the way home! That's, like, a fifteen minute drive! Through actual streets with stoplights and hills and OTHER CARS I COULD POTENTIALLY HIT. But I got us all the way home! And I only stalled three or four times! And I didn't kill us or anybody else! I was pretty proud of myself. The only problem is that now Penn seems to think I'm going to chauffeur him around town because he hates driving about as much as I do. Yeah. Not going to happen!
Alright, it's noon and I haven't even showered yet today. Time to at least pretend to do something productive with my life.
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3 comments:
I'm going to think on this and get back to you tonight. There really is a lot to see, but the city is so small, you could probably pick an activity and still manage to get in all of the sightseeing on the way to said activity.
Where is the wedding, and where are you staying?
So, Jason used to live in Waltham (I only think this is funny because he refers to it as the 'Tham, and he always says there's nothing to do there). Anyway, that completely irrelevant information aside, things to do in Boston:
You should definitely have dinner in the North End, although if it were me, personally, I would save it for Nov., because something about it being all cold makes the twinkly lights and the whole Little Italy feel seem a little bit more romantic. For expensive but delicious food, you could go to Giacomo's, but if you want something a little less pricey, you can walk around and look at menus - it's pretty hard to go wrong in the North End. Save room for desert so you can go to Mike's pastry afterwards (although, I'd actually go to Cafe Vittoria next door, but that's because I like their caffeinated beverages - more people will have heard of/ask you if you went to Mike's for a canoli).
You should walk around Faneuil hall and Quincy Market (Paul Revere's house is somewhere between there and the North End), but if you want to sightsee around the whole city what you should really do is get a trolley pass (this was Jason's suggestion, not mine, but it's making more sense as I type). There are Duck Tours, and those are cute, but they're kind of lame, you're stuck on the boat/busthing, and...it's called a duck tour. But trolley passes are about the same price, and if you stop somewhere like Faneuil Hall and decide you want to get off, you can always catch a later trolley (you'd want to make sure the tickets you buy are good all day, but they usually are). If you'd rather do a self guided tour, you could look into the Freedom Trail. I'm sure they have a map online, and there's a place at Boston Common that would probably have brochures.
Also, Jason and I both highly recommend the walk across the Mass Ave bridge. You could start at Harvard Square, walk around Harvard, then take the #1 Bus from Harvard Square to MIT. From MIT, you would walk across the river, and right across the river is access to the Esplanade, which is a really nice green area right along the river. If you keep going down Mass Ave, though, instead of down to the Esplanade, you will eventually hit Newbury Street, where all the uber expensive stores are (it's fun to walk down there and window shop, which is all I ever do on that street :). If you walk down Newbury to the end, you'll hit the Public Garden/Boston Common, and if you take a left out of the Garden (where the pond is), you'll be facing Beacon Hill. Charles Street has a lot of shops, although they're also on the higher end, like Newbury. This all might sound overwhelming, but if you're just walking instead of taking time to shop or run errands, it goes by really quickly. If you're at Charles Street during a meal time, go to Upper Crust for pizza. It's cheap by the slice, and it's the best thin crust pizza I've ever had.
You're also going to be a little closer to Davis Square from your hotel, so you could head there if you feel like BBQ. Red Bones - it's kind of a unique experience, and their BBQ Brisket sandwich is really something. Then there's some ice cream at JP Licks, although the movie theatre and food is really all Davis has to offer - no major tourist attractions.
Let me know when you'll be here in November. This weekend is crazy for me, but I'd be more than happy to take you to one or more of these places, and we could catch up, or just grab a drink.
P.S. I totally published that on my blog, first. Firefox Tab Fail.
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