Tuesday, March 31, 2009

mondayTuesday

-i've been slacking here, i know. i've been trying to keep away from the computer, especially now that the weather is getting (relatively) nicer out and the urge to hibernate in my bed as soon as i get home from work is getting smaller and smaller.

-i worked from home yesterday. went and got my car checked out at the VW mechanic. thanks to their wifi, i could "work from home", legitimately. after a few hours i could actually go home and work at my desk. this is where the problems arise. food tempts me from the kitchen, daytime Law and Order reruns tempt me from the multiple tvs throughout the house, naps tempt me with the squishy down-filled couch. i took a few breaks to clean my (pigpen) room, do a couple loads of laundry (12 pairs of pants in one load?! energy efficient, i say!), and take Z-dawg for a much needed walk (it won't stop raining around here. rain depresses Z). i also made dinner (this weird purple rice, with sauteed onions, garlic, carrots, swiss chard, mixed together with some Sriracha and topped with a fried egg. kind of the poor man's Bee bim bap.)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

ocean, in and out of an aquarium


this wonderful, sunny weekend had sort of an ocean theme. we started off saturday morning by talking a leisurely walk around downtown boston, slowly making our way towards the ocean. lunch at a pub and window shopping in fanueil hall side-tracked us for a while. finally we made it toward the seaport right next to christopher columbus park. we sat on a bench and made friends with the ducks for a while. walked to the north end and then decided to hit up the Aquarium. who knew, my work ID gets me AND a guest in for free! i think mauricio was more excited than the hundreds of kids walking around inside. i'll post some photos later- he took a TON.

mauricio and i both thought the list of foods he consumed from 10 am to 10 pm was hilarious. here it is in list form:
coffee
orange juice
banana bread with cream cheese
vitamin water
fish chowder
onion rings
beer
black and white cookie
latte
rice with shrimp/veggie curry
beer
macaroon
jello shot
jello shot
seven layer cookie
toffee cookie
cookie pie
seven layer cookie
barf.barf.

sunday we had brunch at my parents' house. then headed to wingaersheek beach and recharged our batteries for a while. Z-dog had so much fun running thru the salty puddles and up and down and around all the huge rocks on the beach. we had so much fun, that was cut a little bit short by my little bitty bladder.





Tuesday, March 10, 2009

summer weekend

mother nature is a cruel, cruel bitch. the weekend here in Boston was so unbelievably gorgeous. i spent all the daylight hours outside, recharging my battery and getting a month's dose of vitamin D. i didnt want sunday to end. then monday came, in like a lion, with snowy storms and frigid weather. i'm glad i didnt waste my quarters on a car wash.

z spent the entire weekend with me in cambridge, based on the outside temperature.
i think she might have had a better weekend than us, which was damn near impossible. we did, after all, do her favorite thing in the world: take a nap on the grass outside in the sun.

the weekend, in list form:
(because i love lists so much, and because we did so much).
pictures to be added at a later date.

friday
-almost japanese dinner (ordered and left)
-teary, bleedy grandma (my nana got a nosebleed and my parents were out of town, so we came to her rescue)
-late night chinese food in malden (mmmm sweet potato sushi)

saturday
-diner bfast in newton (johnny's diner!)
-walk around newton centre
-armenian grocery store (Um, falafel balls?!)
-walk around Fresh Pond
-video games (i'm getting SO GOOD)
-walk to star market (it was dark and still like 60 degrees outside. it was a fun walk)
-falafel dinner
-baking cookies (choco-chip, mauricio's been eating them for bfast)

sunday
-scrambled egg brekkie, homemade muffins
-walk around the neighborhood
-trip to target, mill store (mauricio got awesome new upgrades for the apt. Is it wrong i get excited about someone else's new shower curtain?!)
-lunch outside at Cinderella's (mmm toasty veggie sub)
-walk around central (crazy people and a mean dog that was z's doppelganger!)
-grass lounging outside city hall

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

two on work

1. one of my favorite things about being to work early in the morning (around 730) is that i'm the first person to use my favorite toilet (2nd from the right). and what does that mean exactly? i get to put the lid down, knowing that it was freshly cleaned.

2. i have this really bad habit of unzipping my pants before i lock the door behind me when i'm at work. as in, i'm walking towards the toilet, unbuttoning my pants. woops! i do this at least three times a week.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

volcano face

my parents spent about five days in California last month, hopping from winery to winery and from spa to spa (they were traveling with my aunt and uncle from Long Island- these were typical vaca events for them, but not for my parents). in preparation, my mother MADE my father go get a mani and a pedi. this in itself is hilarious, if you've ever seen my father's (claw-like) feet.
my souvenir? a tub full of volcanic ash. californian volanic ash, nonetheless. i tried it out last week. it was so amusing, with big chunks falling off my face (onto my tshirt, hardwood stairs, bedroom floor, bathroom rug, dog). i was too impatient to let it dry completely.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

valentine's weekend

valentine's day weekend mauricio and i decided to venture into the unchartered territory of ... Vermont. in retrospect, we should've planned more and done some sort of outdoor recreational activity, like snow-shoeing or snowboarding. but we didnt. instead, we slept really really late, ate lots of meals in bed, took a tour of the Ben and Jerry's factory, did a lot of sight seeing, and spent too much time in a maple sugar gift shop.


we weren't really planning on doing anything super romantic, especially since it was like 11 degrees outside. so about a week before we left, i saw this post on my favorite website: Design Sponge's awesome v-day gift idea and i ran with it. i got all the supplies, i even made one for my favorite co-worker, Meghan! (i knew her v-day was going to involve having pizza and wine). it was perfect. and his reaction while he was opening it was perfect, too! i love DIY projects.

that weekend was also monumental for me, as it was Mauricio's introduction to the world of sweatpants. he's the kind of dude that comes home from work (at a ridiculously late hour, nonetheless!) and ... doesnt change into something more comfortable. he gets out of bed in the morning and ... pulls on a pair of jeans. i knew that if this relationship was going to work, he had to love sweatpants as much as i do. so, we hit up our local old navy (yes, even a cute little town like Burlington, VT, has an Old Navy) and he shelled out $25 on possibly the best first pair of sweatpants. comfy gray knit, wide ribbed waistband with a drawcord, nice wide leg, relaxed fit. i knew it was going to be love at first wear. and boy, it was.



wednesday night salmon





mauricio played chef wednesday night and cooked me a wonderful dinner: salmon and roasted potatoes with a simple side salad. he cooked the potatoes in a glass dish for about a half hour, just with some olive oil and s&p. after they were almost done, he added the salmon filets. they had garlic and cilantro on them. the potatoes and salmon got acquainted for about 20 minutes, and sat on my plate with some baby romaine with a sherry vinaigrette dressing. simple and easy and delicious.

february finale

when mauricio told me the date this morning, i thought he was lying. i'm still a little bit freaked that february slipped by so quickly, with it's 28 days of super warped speed time.



this weekend was a pretty typical winter weekend for j&m.

friday was spent having celebratory vodka and tonics (we were celebrating we made it thru the work week. or wait, maybe just I was celebrating?), then we headed over to check out a new (to us) restaurant, Highland Kitchen. things to note: definitely have the garlic mashed potatos. it was sort of southern cooking, with a hipster edge. also to note: wearing my huge gray balls around my neck attracts many unsolicited compliments.

saturday was rung in by a homemade breakfast of nutella smothered pancakes and fresh vermont maple syrup (from our trip to VT on valentine's weekend). YUM.
m. helped me organize things at my studio, since i'll be moving out in a couple months and am kind of freaked out at the masses of STUFF i have acquired over the years. we had a pretty great lunch at Not Your Average Joe's over in Metheun and spent some quality time in the Loop's strip mall (my favorite Gap store, Target, Home Depot). it was a great, semi-lazy day.
for dinner, i made a yummy risotto with shrimp, asparagrass and shiitake mushrooms.
we watched a crazy movie, "city of ember", starring mr. bill murray. and crashed relatively early.










sunday was another homemade brekkie, this time a "clean the fridge out" scramble of shiitakes and spinach, and roasted red potatoes with onion, garlic and cilantro. it was yummy. mo had a side of crusty bread- the heel. we finally used the Taza drinking chocolat, melted in the bottom of our Spanish rocket fuel.