how to have a romantic picnic dinner in the city....

step 1 have a terribly long and annoying week. hello monday:

step 2 decide tofu is something neither one of you want deal with on a friday night.

step 3 mix a{n accidentally super strong} "to go drink."

step 4 walk up a giant hill to your favorite carryout place, aka one that hasn't made you sick and isn't chipotle {yes, i could eat burritos for the rest of my life}.

step 5 head to the liquor store next door, grab a couple of beverages and forget to snag two extra paper bags.

step 6 wander over to the neighborhood "commons," which in your opinion has far too much concrete to be seriously considered a park.

step 7 find a spot to sit in the park, which also happens to be across from the courthouse.

step 8 wrap his tallboy {hehe} in said extra paper bag, then pour yours into your now empty sippy cup {wow, where'd my drink go? i must've been pretty thirsty....}.

step 9 open up all of the containers and chow down. start off trying to be lady-like, then realize most of your options are basically finger food {or have handles!} and forgo using real utensils.

step 10 give your fiancé sad puppy eyes when he starts to use pita bread to scoop with {hello cross-contamination....and jealousy}.

step 11 laugh at your fiancé when he admits that 3 yrs ago {to the week} he was on vacation and freaking out to his girl BFF about this new cute girl he met.

step 12 kiss, canoodle, giggle and be obnoxiously romantic and cute.

step 13 stand up to leave, and realize how much youve had to drink, oops.

step 14 then insist that ice cream will make you less wobbly for the walk home. down the giant hill.

the end.
 

my view: july 2014

i drive and park other peoples cars all over boston for a living....you would think that i could park greg's truck in our neighborhood #longbedtrucksinthecityarestupid // finished up some custom wedding bow ties // leaning tower of eggshells while making breakfast for dinner // {actually} relaxing at the beach, only drinkies and vitamin d consumption were involved // gettin crazy mixing strawberry and banana italian ice // second year attending the vermont brewers fest, glutenberg i missed you :( // well, that's how i got my flowers home

snacking on: italian ice

it's been hot and sweaty and gross here in boston {not that i'm complaining} and to to help quell the cranky beast i become, i've been dipping into some local Richie's Super Premium Italian Ice. and ermahgerd it's delicious. seriously, super amazingly delicious.

the label insists it's healthy {ummm i dunno about that} but it is dairy-free {wooohooo!} and comes in a ton of yummy flavors. done, done, and done. {intiate crazy, goofy happy dance}

i can definitely vouch for the blue vanilla, watermelon, cherry, and banana.  this last grocery trip i picked up mango, strawberry, blue raspberry and coconut cream to try.  i'm sure i won't be disappointed.

the problem is, it's hard to make my handy dandy portion control trick stick.....it really only works if you limit yourself to ONE rocks-glass per sitting. meh, i guess things could be worse.

doing: july 2014

taking selfies in the bathroom at baseball games

riding my bike to work every day :O

napping when i get home

drinking lots and lots of water

showering 3 times a day {ugh, so sweaty}

listening to podcasts

eating soo many salads {some by choice, mostly by necessity}

rearranging the bedroom for optimal overnight air circulation

making breakfast for dinner

relaxing on the back porch in the evenings

organizing my pintrest boards {#productiveprocrastination}

counting down to the bffs wedding

maintaining my tan from mexico

working on 10 {million} things at once

thinking about adding weights back to my workouts

considering yoga instead

what do i listen to?

well that just depends on what i'm doing. or how i'm feeling. or where i am. and even then, who knows what's already stuck in my head.... but lately here are my fav sources of audio entertainment:

Dave & Chuck the Freak~ an awesome morning show from detroit that i've been listening to for YEARS now. they mix 13 year old boy humor with weird internet findings and no person or topic is safe. it's semi-embarrassing to admit that i am a huge fan. caution though, they may be technically radio friendly, but probably not appropriate for work, or your grandma....

Freakonomics Radio~ data mixed with pop culture. they talk about anything from business and crime to economics and competitive eating. covering what they like to call *the hidden side of everything.* not as nerdy as it seems, and super interesting.

After the Jump~ grace bonney from the ever-so-famous {in the blog world} design*sponge talks with {and about} artists, designers, makers, and all sorts of other stuff in the creative community. i've developed quite the pavlovian response to this series.... after the jump=time to go running.

Elise Gets Crafty: she covers lots of small biz and blog stuff. her style is pretty low key and honest, and her blog is awesome. huge fan of this gal, i just want to be her bfffffff {i promise i'm not a creeper, lol}

what's more american than apple pie....?

baseball!! monday, mid-afternoon greg sends me an instant message at work and asks if i want to go to a red sox game. silly question.  because his bff has some extra tickets from work. free tickets? double silly question. i haven't been to fenway park since my 3rd day living in boston:

you know, back when gluten and i were still friends. 

so we hop on the T, make our way down to fenway, and meet justin at the gate. i didn't even glance at the ticket i was handed, i was focused on making it through the purse check with my water bottle and gf backup snacks intact. next thing i know, we take a sharp left and up the nearest set of stairs we go.....shit.

we were headed for the suites, and i wore jorts...whoops....

yep, those were the faces we made once we opened the door. 

there was quite the snack selection: pizza and chicken fingers and ceasar salad and all kinds of beer and baseball hat sundaes....

 as usual, i ended up with an eclectic mix: chips&salsa, popcorn, chardonay, and a hat full of reeses pieces...

realistically, that sounds like a single-girl-dinner kinda night

as the night cooled down, we opened the giant window, and i finally paid attention to the game.

i may have been watching it through the bottom of my wine glass though :D

we talked about how cool it would be to have seats on the green monsta {to the right of greg's face}

as we were leaving, we stumbled upon this gem, and i'm kinda jealous i didn't hop in {but was also genuinely concerned greg would drive off in it}

finally, we made it back to the T, and i sat on the back stairs for the ride home. in my jorts. with my smuggled  tin of that stale, weird, but oh so delicious movie theater/ball park popcorn. with this knee level view from the green line:

hello july 2014

june was the last quiet month for a while {heaven help hermit me}, with the annual 4th of july lake house extravaganza, weddingpalosa 2014 kicking off at the end of the month {aka 6 long distance weddings in 2 months, aka, that's why we opted for a 2015 wedding}, and lots of other things to get done in between, i'm gonna keep this months list pretty simple:

> soo have you checked out my etsy shop yet?!?!? right now it's looking pretty sparse {boo}, but after a recent trip to the fabric store, i've got lots of fun fabrics to work with. check this post out for more details and a special coupon {woohooo!} update: well i did get some new stuff stitched, photos of it all, a few things actually listed in the shop, and more of the preppy collection ready to go!

> we're not gonna talk about how i'm having issues with the jeepy and am stubbornly ignoring it. once again, we're gonna focus on how i only live 1.5 miles from work and i shouldn't be driving anyways.  it takes me just as long to ride my bike as it does to drive, and i get equally as sweaty walking home in the afternoon, so i might as well speed up the process. update: the jeepy's going in next week, and i've enjoyed riding my bike around town this month.

> every couple of years my mom and her hubby request a new set of renaissance faire garb, made by yours truly. this seems simple enough, and after making 3 sets you'd think i'd be more realistic with the timeline. so in all reality, i'll be super pumped if this is the only thing that actually gets done this month. update: ummm, nope, not yet, sorry :(

> i finished june with 21.3 miles, and with how busy this month is, 25 miles is gonna be super hard to do if i skip runs when i'm outta town.  so i guess i'd better pack my runnin gear {and not stay up too late drinking :/ } update: i started working on longer runs, which meant fewer runs, but i still ran around the same {small} block until i hit the last tenth of a mile i needed to finish, yay!