#1. 10 monitors for 3 people. weird.

#2. breakfast burrito for you, strawberry banana smoothie for me

#3. a peak outside my kitchen window.  not too shabby

#4. boston marathon bombing memorial before Boylston opened again

#5. last day with my mom, drinking good beer at the iron monkey

#6. so... i discovered brow color. where have i BEEN!?

#7. new 'hood.  with a big steep hill.  next fall my calves won't even be able to fit into fat-calf boots.

#8. i want that hideaway. if only i had a few million dollars.

#9. mom got artsy-fartsy at the bar

#10. lenny and his soufflé experiment.  not a spec left of mine. you would have licked your dish too

#11. asparagus soup from a beautiful mess.  this will be a staple in my away-from-mr-p-diet.

#12. Tehehe. rice and nori pandas at the sushi counter at whole foods.

#13. I've seen Christmas lights in trees, and i see cherry blossoms.  but lights IN the blossoms!? (sigh)

cheers to the weekend!  

today is my friday, heading to see a beautiful friend marry her one and only this weekend in sunny California!  first stop, though, is the happiest place on earth :)

when i first started working in boston, i didn't like it.  like, at all.  all i could think about was how much it wasn't like new york city or jersey city.  but i was living in a hotel, eating at au bon pain for practically every meal, working late, and seeing only 1 city block (except for the 1 night i decided to venture into the business-y part of the north end, where everything was shut down by 9pm when i started my walk.

 

this week i started staying in a REAL apartment, in a very cool neighborhood about a mile from the office.  i get to walk through the public garden every day, i see runners, lovebirds, other professionals like me walking home... it's such a change.

 

 

 

 

 

let's talk about lovebirds though.  i think 90% of the people in the park last night were couples that were either holding hands, snuggling on a bench, kissing, singing to each other, on double date...

 

(ew, gross! get a room!)

 

actually, i felt the exact opposite.  it was refreshing to see so many people so in love!  i can't help but smile when i see these cuties.  maybe it was the weather, maybe it was because i was walking home at a decent hour, maybe it was because i had just got in a good 3-mile run, maybe it was because i am excited to go back home to mr p this weekend.... whatever it was, my walk home was just nice last night.

 

boston, you're growing on me.

slowly, but surely.

 

cheers.

 



it's no secret that there were unexpected events at the boston marathon today.

 

my heart goes out to those affected by the explosions....

 

todays' race is such a joyful holiday for boston... yet this year, and probably the next few years will be plagued by the memories of today's tragedy.

 

for the past few months i've spent my mondays through fridays in boston at an office just a few blocks from the explosion.  last thursday, though, i decided to stick around NJ for today and changed my train to tuesday (tomorrow) instead of monday. there are days that i walk down to the finish line area for lunch.  if i had gone to boston today, the train would have dropped me off 2 blocks from where the explosion happened.

 

thankfully i was not also caught up in the mess...

 

it's a crazy world we live in...

 

when are these things ever going to end?

 

j&h

- finally a date night.  Hamilton Inn

- a little birthday surprise message for mr p

- party in the east village

- only way to tolerate my hair after working 12+ hours

 

- I rag on Boston a lot, but I "guess" it does have it's cool spots.

- former whaling capital of the world, (hopefully) future offshore energy hub.

- reasons I come home every weekend... mr p is SO good to me.

- see note above... mama noodles with an egg cracked in the broth

 

- soon-to-be new 'hood' in boston.

- homemade cheesecake with lemon curd and hazelnut crust. best. cheesecake. ever.

- someone made a new friend... may or may not have thought about sneaking the lil furball home with me.

- this tree is probably blooming beautiful blooms right now. I wouldn't know, it's in my backyard. at home.

 

- when the swiss miss goes IN the hot coffee, it's one of "those" days.

- trying to pretend it' nice in boston. it's not. but it was nice in nyc when I left yesterday morning. good thing I didn't have to go outside to go to the hotel....

 

it's friday!!!  what are your plans for the weekend??

 

cheers.

this scene is becoming my new "normal".

there's something comforting about going to penn station every week, seeing those famous city lights at 5:45am, and being in a crowd of people every time.  this city literally has millions of people walking the streets everyday, but there's something calming and cozy about seeing familiar faces every time i walk up to the departure board (even though i don't know them, i just see the same people every week, apparently in the same boat of doing the work-week boston commute).

at the same time, this feeling is scary...

do i want to feel at ease? i love everything about my life in jersey city. should i feel sad the entire time that i'm in boston so i don't ever get that feeling of contentment or happiness of being away from home? what will that bring? will it improve my quality of life if i truly try to be happy each week while i'm away? or will it feel like i'm pulling happiness out of "home" bucket and putting it into a "boston" bucket? why do i feel guilty when i have one night every now and then when i get to leave work "early" at 7pm to have a fun dinner and a drink with a friend? it's like i have this mindset that i'm not supposed to be happy while i'm away from everything and everyone that i love.

maybe you think i've gone completely crazy, but until you truly "travel" for work, being on the road 5 days a week (or more) you might not understand. "traveling for work" is a novelty until it becomes "normal"... and then you don't know how you're supposed to feel.

life is confusing sometimes.

but right now, i can say that i make the most of my small amount of time at home, trying to squeeze in as much quality time with mr p and friends, and i'm going to ride out this journey.  

of course "the grass could always be greener," but hey, sometimes this whole "taking chances" thing means making sacrifices. i'm just happy i'm able to take this chance of a lifetime while i'm still young and don't have kids, but i still have great support from friends, family, and most of all, mr p....

cheers.

it's been so long since i've posted it feels weird...

 

here's the scoop, though.

 

as you know, i'm not your typical blogger.

i'm not a stay-at-home mom or wife, i'm not a teacher, i don't work in admin, i'm don't work in fashion, photography, or any other creative field. i'm an engineer, and i never JUST work 8-5.  though blogging is fun, and i truly enjoy doing it, work has just taken over lately. topics i write about rarely coincide with work, and because work takes 100% of my focus, sometimes it's hard to shift that focus to being creative (or at least push it into the non-nerd zone...).  normally i write or edit photos on my lunch break, it's nice to kick back and take a break from my normal engineer stuff (and hey, i don't get paid for lunch anyways, might as well take advantage of what's supposed to be free time)

 

right now, though, things are different. life is different. up until about the end of january, i worked 8-6ish, went to kickboxing with mr p every night we didn't have something else going on (like dinner with friends, happy hour, concerts, whatever we felt like doing) and although life was rather routine, i pretty much loved every second of it.  i normally got in a good workout, i normally saw my friends several times a week, mr p normally cooked a 5-star meal for me, i always got to snuggle with mr p at night, and i normally had time to blog.

 

now i'm getting up at 4am on mondays to catch the 5:29am train to manhattan (lets get real, i RUN to the train because i'm always running late) just so i can catch my 6:20am train to boston. i work long hours, sometimes skipping lunch or dinner just because i want to get as many work things done as possible, get back to my hotel at 9pm or 10pm, stay up late because i can't just fall askeep right away, get too little sleep, push through the week not going to kickboxing, eating out every meal because i'm staying in a hotel, pick up the afternoon train back to manhattan getting home by 8:30pm if i'm lucky.  most of all though, and, i'm missing mr p, my friends, and my life back in jersey city.

 

it's exhausting.

 

and i'm less than 2 months in. i've got a long haul to go. hopefully i will get a better grasp on how to better live this less-than-ideal life, but for now, all i can say is that it sort of sucks.  i realize that all successful people in the corporate world make some sacrifices.  i guess i can just be thankful that my time for making these sacrifices is before i have kids.  i'm thankful that i have a partner that, who obviously thinks it also sucks that i'm gone during the week, supports me and knows that taking this step in my career is a smart move.

 

(i know, all you hear is blah blah blah, life sucks, blach blah blah)

 

that's not entirely the case, i still see mr p and friends on the weekends, i still get to eat mr p's awesome food, and i still know how to have fun (my pounding head was reminding me of that on saturday morning) .....

 

 

....including drinking my first guinness for st patrick's day (mr p was so proud :P)

 

it's all going to just take some getting-used-to...

the world's not ending....

and i'll make it through :)

 

cheers.

 

#1  leftovers from ohio steal our tastebuds

 

#2  finally a view from a hotel in boston that doesn't face other hotel windows that are 10 feet away

 

#3  v-day flowers in the office from another man... don't fret. ALL the ladies on the third floor get flower on valentine's day.  there's a whopping 5 of us, so it doesn't exactly break the bank

 

#4  flashback to high school. i rocked that girl-tux-with-a-bowtie-and-underboob-to-floor-length-skirt that we had to wear for concert band

 

#5  i'm surprised i didn't get any comments on my outfit when i walked into work in this outfit.  supppper-jenn, so the rescue!

 

#6  regal entry to our less-than-$100-per-night hotel we snagged in downtown boston (that has a gym better than the one mr p used to PAY to go to)  ...see me for the deets.

 

#7  only non-work photo i took on my trip to the UK.  pretty much sums up my trip.  nothing exciting outside of work, and not a single memorable meal.  note to travelers: don't go to the UK for food.

 

#8  my favorite way to spend a saturday morning... good coffee, good food, next to mr p.

 

#9  our friend had people over to eat this awesome cake he made from scratch (the mousse-ish frosting too!) and i accidentally turned his apartment into an oscar party (oops!)...  pretty sure i could eat that cake everyday though... no... scratch that... i'll eat the homemade ice cream everyday... no... that would be bad... but so good...

 

#10  i've only ever found 1 place that has tamarind sorbet and tamarind slushies.  lucky me i live right across the street from it ;)

 

 

....spending another lonely night in boston.  at least i discovered the gym in the hotel tonight.  now i know the novelty of building a tv INTO the treadmill.  no excuse to NOT go, and you get to watch your favorite show!  tonight i caught a random episode of two broke girls... GOSH that show has some raunchy jokes!!

 

cheers!