Eating Lobstah

 About two weeks ago I needed a vacation and I needed it BADLY.  I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, trying to memorize herbal formulas in between science experiments, when

SMACK

The feeling hit me in the face.  

I couldn't focus, I couldn't remember a thing, and no matter how much coffee I drank, it was not helping the situation. 

I g-chatted my boyfriend Pat to say something along the lines of, "If I don't go on vacation soon I'm going to die!" (I'm not melodramatic at all) Thankfully, he agreed.  Within an hour of my vacation crisis we had a weekend picked, a hotel booked, and the semblance of a plan to go to Portland, Maine.

Portland was the ideal spot for an impromptu vacation.  It's only about a two hour drive from Boston, but feels completely different.  We wandered through local artisan shops, visited breweries, and found the best lobster roll place on the planet called The Lobster Shack at Two Lights.  The lobster roll was amazing, but the truly impressive thing was the location.  The restaurant is perched just above a beach with (you guessed it) a lighthouse on either side.  We ate outside on red picnic tables, the most picturesque waves crashing up onto rocks all around us, and nothing but the lobster shack and the ocean in sight. As we were standing in line to order, I commented on how the view could convince me to move to Maine.  The woman in line in front of us turned around to tell us she said the same thing 20 years ago, moved to Maine, and never looked back.  THAT'S how beautiful this place is.  It changes people's lives.

Om nom nom

So beautiful

Seriously SO beautiful!!

Dear Hurricane Sandy, I Never Liked That Billboard Anyway.

As I'm sure you all know, yesterday hurricane Sandy made her debut in Boston.  I feel so incredibly lucky that the only real damage around my apartment was the not-so-graceful wind removal of a billboard I haven't liked since day 1. 

Hey Sandy! Thanks for watching out for me, girl!

I spent the day just drinking hot chocolate, studying, and making shepherd's pie.

There is no better beverage for a gloomy hurricane day

  I'm not even embarrassed to admit that my boyfriend and I finished this whole thing before the hurricane was over

Post Sandy, we have bright, beautiful sunshine

Banana Bread

I went to the farmer's market a week or so ago and, since it was the end of the day, most of the vendors were PUSHING their produce.  

25 cents for a perfectly ripe avocado? SOLD!

The banana man was no exception.  He was standing in front of his stand animatedly pushing his bananas toward people and yelling "Bananas! One dollar!!" 

Now I needed bananas, and they looked pretty good, so I asked how many bananas one could hope to obtain for a dollar.  

"As many bananas as you want.  One dollar!"

WHAT?!?!?

"So I could have ALL the bananas on this stand for one dollar if I wanted?"

(Vendor looking me up and down) "Are you going to EAT that many bananas?"

Touche banana vendor, touche.

I didn't take home all the bananas but, true to form, my eyes were bigger than my stomach.  Brown spots came, and around Friday I was left a small pile of about-to-rot ripe bananas. So I made banana bread (duh).  Best possible way to deal with overripe bananas.

An Update On Life

The last three months have been an absolute whirlwind! Summer's end, per usual, was extremely bitter sweet.  I said goodbye to two of my best friends (and roommates for the past three years) as they went off to pursue their dreams in LA and Bangkok, but I also basically won the lottery.

I found.........wait for it, you're never going to believe it.........

A one bedroom apartment in downtown Boston that I can afford...with a washer and dryer in unit...and a walk in closet...and the view you see above outside my bedroom window in the morning.

What's that you say?  It's not possible?

It is because I live there!!!!!!

After I got the apartment, I came to the realization (a little late) that I was actually, not joking, going to live alone.  This was probably the most terrifying realization I've ever had.  Obviously, my first fear was that I would adopt 15 cats and live out my days like this:

But that fear quickly gave way to my second (primary) fear of becoming some reincarnation of Bridget Jones's Diary, laying around in flannel pajamas and sobbing while singing "All By Myself" on repeat.

Surprisingly, neither of these happened (yet).

Instead I feel empowered and grown up.  I get a little thrill every time someone asks me who I live with and I get to answer "myself." Not at my parent's, not with roommates, not with my boyfriend, just me.  The shoes on my feet? I bought them.  The clothes I'm wearing?  I bought them.  The house I live in? I bought rent it.

I feel like Beyonce would be proud, and in the end, isn't that what we're all striving for?