"the hummingbird taking coffee with the ants..."

bonjour, mes amis! i write you with an easy heart and slight headache. thankfully i'm listening to a fine frenzy, so all is well really. today has been quite a lazy day with chores and errands sprinkled in every so often. it was snowing quite steadily throughout the day. i'm almost positive we're to 10-12 inches on the ground right now adding the new snow to the remaining snow from last weekend. looks-wise, it's quite beautiful to see everything dusted in snow. i suppose dusted isn't really the right word--perhaps i should have said coated with snow. you can see from the photo i shamelessly stole from my roommate that our neighborhood has a sort of whimsical quality. different colored gingerbread type houses line the streets with snow frosting on their edges.

work has been busy and whatnot. it seems as though my coffee intake has increased dramatically but my standards in the quality of the coffee itself has decreased immensely. instead of 1 cup of au bon pain coffee after lunch (or even, God help me, dunkin' donuts), i now gulp 3 or 4 cups of folgers instant just to get the jolt to continue working. i feel like a drug addict who has made the leap from marijuana to crack. it's almost embarassing. but honestly, i've been needing it. the pace at work has been upped so much that taking a lunch break seems like the wrong thing to do. it's good though. i'd much rather have this much work and get a lot of indesign knowledge than have to sit around surfing the internet for weeks on end.

yesterday was quite eventful if i do say so myself. julia and i took the t to kendall square where we blindly searched for kendall square cinema. after taking the long way and finally finding it, we sat down for revolutionary road, which was a very impressive film. if neither leo nor kate receive at least a nod for their performances, the oscars are offically a joke (as if they weren't already...). but seriously, go see it. it was incredible and heart breaking and makes you think about your life in ways you probably weren't ready for. after that, we hopped on the red line again to davis square, where we met alex and a group of designers/architects/college interns galore for some pulled pork sandwiches. they were quite good despite the million year wait we had to endure. boston was determined to show its southern knowledge with this barbeque place and it succeeded...despite the fact that the baked beans weren't really...baked beans. but whatev. it tried. post dinner, we walked literally 20 feet to a place called sacco's bowl haven, where we waited yet again to play some candlepin bowling. when finally, we got some lanes, we took part and it was hilariously amusing.


the balls were really small and it almost seemed like a game stuck between skee ball and bowling. but we had fun and the place itself was really cool. it looked like it was straight out of the 1930s, as you can see in the lovely picture of me brandishing my bowling ball. after two games, we had enough and headed out to central square where we went to an MIT bar as opposed to a club and had a few drinks. we stood outside for a little bit to grab a cab and the snow started falling really delicately. everyone had snowflakes stuck in their hair and it made us all look so otherwordly. it was just..pretty.

tomorrow julia and i are looking to grocery shopping and ice skating, although not in that particular order. kendall square has a big outdoor skating rink and it's not supposed to be sub zero tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be able to! now i think i'd like to finish going through some of my e-mails and maybe watch emma, since i've been having a craving for it all week. adieu!

bwah-stan

so here i am, taking a break from my seemingly forward moving life to update the masses. i'm living in a neighborhood that strikingly resembles sean penn's neighborhood in the movie mystic river. in fact, i'm almost certain it is that so-called neighborhood. julia and i are living with a married german couple in their lovely abode. so lovely, in fact, that we were scolded when a few drops of water landed on their revamped floor. it's alright though--we learned fast. and now we're settled to the point of comfort, so it's all good.

boston is obviously frigid in the winter and catching the bus is always a bit of a drag, but otherwise, we're getting back into the swing of the city. we've learned to wear tights underneath our jeans and that no matter how horrid you think you look bundled up to no avail, there is someone right next to you in even MORE layers. i've been pandering around in my snowboot galoshes without looking like a freak and to be honest, i think they're the best thing i own. it's like they were the original uggs or something.

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work's been pretty active. we've been slaving a bit over rebranding the newark museum, which is exciting. i get to experience a lot of different pieces and whatnot. i have to say working at minelli has made me really love print design more than i could even imagine. the details and care that go into typography and layout just really appeal to me and doing silly, tedious things like ragging and individual kerning actually gets me excited. you end up with a piece of design that has real care put into it and you know every single aspect was tailored specifically for it. i just shiver with delight over it!

so apparently we're supposed to get 6 inches of snow dumped on us tonight. and with that news inserted safely in my brain, i have decided to go out and partake in some candlepin bowling in good ol' davis square. on that note...au revoir (aardvark)!