Multitasking

Things have been kind of crazy as of late so I have to apologize to my dozen or so followers for slacking. The blog had to take a backseat for a little while, but I'm back and in full swing. Because my calendar has been so chock full o' stuff, I've had to get a little creative in order to fit everything in.

Last weekend a close friend of mine and I had a yard sale. As everyone knows I'm moving in a few short weeks and the leftover college dorm craptastic stuff I've been using as a supplement to actual adult furnishings just won't fit into the Vibe. And even if it did, I don't like any of it enough to bring it 3,000 miles with me. As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure and both my friend and I had a fairly large number of the other man's treasures just waiting to be carried away. A lot of people argue that having a yard sale is a waste of a perfectly good Saturday morning. Here's what I learned from the exercise. 1. It's way less miserable to pack up boxes of stuff you don't want and carry them out of your home when the activity is not immediately followed by carrying all the stuff out of your home that you DO want. AKA, moving day becomes significantly less miserable when preceded by a yard sale. 2. You get an excellent workout carrying those boxes up and down stairs which means that's an hour on Saturday afternoon you gain back by not having to go to the gym (2 if you count the commute). 3. If you do said yard sale with a good friend the majority of the time translates into hanging out with someone you care about, which you'd probably be doing on a Saturday anyway. 4. You MAKE money as opposed to paying the garbage man to haul it away or giving it away for free. By my calculations I invested all of 1 extra hour (spent setting up) of my valuable time and I made some sweet moolah. So, to recap this particular multitasking event allowed me to check a dreaded chore off my list, fit in an excellent cardio workout , spend some quality time with a close friend, and make some fast cash. All in about 5 hours. Multitasking, I love you.

If You’re Out on the Road…

In a few short weeks I’ll be making the drive west and a teensy little part of me is starting to feel a little anxious about, as Carole puts it “feeling lonely and so cold”. Though I don’t know about the cold part, the lonely, I am sure will come. And while I am oh-so-excited to ditch the wind and the snow, the friends and family I’m leaving behind are not so easily dismissed. For seven years, this town has been my home and choosing this cross-country endeavor was not something I entered into lightly.

This weekend I started packing and with each passing box I had to pause and take notice as I sifted through the memories of college and my first few “grownup” years. The parties, birthdays, graduations and weddings have passed all too quickly. I feel like it’s been a lifetime since I moved here. I grew up here. I found a second family here. I’ve built a life here. And now I’m starting from scratch again, or nearly so.

I know that moving doesn’t mean I’ll never see anyone on the east coast again but it will mean some bonds will be broken and some will be weakened. Weekly phone calls and emails will turn into monthly. Visits will wane as time marches on and eventually so many of the relationships I value now will be reduced to a name on a Christmas card. I would be a fool to believe otherwise. That’s okay though, because the bonds that do stand the test of time and distance will be the stronger for it. Parties and birthdays and graduations and weddings will still mean something. And when I say “an old friend of mine” I’ll mean someone I’m picking up from the airport or just wrote a letter to, not just a person I used to know. In time I’ll come to know those friends as the ones I share my successes and failures with, and the ones I offer my congratulations and condolences to. For those friends, thank you in advance. My great adventure west will have its ups and downs and I know you’ll be the ones who share the good times and help me through the bad. And in return, I’ll be ready with a shoulder to lean on or a glass to toast. All you have to do is call my name and I’ll be there.

Update on the Automobile

So, I don't have pictures of my actual car as it is currently sitting in my family's driveway far far away from the streets of South Boston where cars get banged, dented, broken into and generally eaten by the pothole infested terrain and hooliganery (not a word? it is now) of the neighborhood. But this is what it looks like. She's cute right? Definitely not the BMW I was hoping for but I had to make something about this move responsible and practical.


Just this morning on the Today show there was a segment about living "below your means". Something Americans aren't particularly good at. Frugal families were polled and one of the common budgetary restrictions was purchasing vehicles with manual transmissions. Apparently you can save approximately $30,000 over the lifespan of the vehicle in both fuel economy and reduced cost in repairs. Whatever stress I had regarding learning how to drive stick has been washed away with visions of European trips, designer handbags and four star meals I'm going to be able to afford all because of a few manipulable gears.



I have not as yet come up with a name for my car. Suggestions anyone???

Planes, Trains and (Finally) Automobiles

For the last seven years I have been, more or less, sans vehicular unit. To get around Boston I take the train or the bus, or I use the feet God gave me and I walk. When I want to visit family I shuttle myself out to Logan Airport and I fly. And that’s great. It’s great for my health, great for the environment and, on average, great for my wallet. Here’s the problem though, it’s pretty damn wretched for my psychological well being. Oh sure it sounds just peachy. How convenient to just hop a bus or a train. Umm, it’s not. I’ve spent more time standing in the elements waiting for public transit than I care to recall. And remember you’re sharing that bus or train with every walk of life. The high school squealers are obnoxious. Team Jacob? Team Edward? Justin Beaber? I don’t care!! Only dogs can hear you now. The cell phone talkers are just plain inconsiderate. That rash you’ve got? I don’t need to know about it. Baby mama drama? Text someone about it. And the smelly people, dear God the smelly people. I want so badly to carry travel sized deodorant and a can of Lysol. “Excuse me sir *spray spray spray*. That’s for now”. Hand him the deodorant. “That’s for later”. Wrangle them up and package them in a big metal box and that’s my commute to and from wherever it is I’m going. So you can imagine my elation when I purchased a car for the big move west. It’s nothing glamorous, a 2006 Pontiac Vibe. It’s a stick shift so I don’t actually know how to drive it yet but I know that when I do it will take me wherever I want to go when I want to go there. The only thing I’ll be listening to will be the songs I choose off my iPod and the only thing it will smell like is the coconut scented air freshener I’m planning on buyingJ

The Date is Set!

It’s Official, I’ll be starting the drive west to sunny Californ-I-A on September 12th. I don’t have a job out there. I don’t have an apartment. And no, for the thousandth time, I am not moving out there because of a boyfriend. I’m not the type of girl who uproots her life, says goodbye to a home she’s loved and schleps all her worldly possessions to the other end of the country for some dude. If you know me, you know that. Some of my closest friends and family have expressed some concern over my seemingly unfounded desire to transplant myself. Some people need an explanation as to why I decided to go. Here it is: I’m 25 years old and I can. What better reason is there? When else in my life will I be able to just pick up and move simply because I want to try something new? I’m excited and I’m scared and I’m anxious to get started on a new chapter in my life. I do love the life I’ve built in Boston and I’ll miss it more than I know, I’m sure, but it’s time to go somewhere different. Meet new people, try new things. I’m looking forward to seeing where that takes me and knowing the people and places I find along the way.

Sunday Brunch

Brunch might be my favorite meal to enjoy out and about in this town. Partly because you can find cheap eats in an otherwise very pricy environment (Masa on Tremont is my favorite) partly because I can justify the big meal because it's one of only two, and partly because Bostonians do brunch so very well.

The South End is the place to be of a Saturday or Sunday late morning/early afternoon. The socialites of the city are dressed down but not dressed poorly. Boat shoes and khakis replace suits. Sandals replace stillettos, and everyone's hair is let down. So, it's casual, but it's still Boston, it still has class.

Whether it be french, spanish or classic American, eggs taste better when enjoyed with linens. Grapefruit juice seems fresher in a champagne glass and a freshly baked cinnamon roll smells sweeter with the clinking of other patrons' silverware and the bustle of the sidewalk playing in the background. Brunch in this town is decadent and boisterous. The twenty and thirty somethings recap their previous night's excursions. The forty and fifty somethings recap the previous week on the stock market. The sixty and seventy somethings enjoy private conversations in corner booths but all come for good food, great conversation and a fabulous environment.

Trendy Bar Trend

I think of myself as a fairly sociable individual and in a town like mine this means hitting up the "trendy bars" for birthdays, cocktail hours and the occassional last minute suggestion. Oh the trendy bar phenomenon. I don't know who thought up taking a five dollar martini, splashing something pink in it, adding an exotic garnish of unknown origin and charging fifteen bucks for it but they're a genius and I wish I'd thought of it first. Women and men alike flock to the martini bar, the hotel bar, the newest of the new establishments to over pay and over dress at, mostly, over rated locations. And the only saving grace that keeps your bank account somewhat in check is the insufferably long wait to get back to the bar, at which point you must expell all the charms you can muster to catch the tender's attention.

I must admit I do so love to get "gussied up" and the lavish expense at what are admittedly some pretty snazzy digs seems a good enough reason to don a cocktail dress with some killer heals and a few shiny baubles. Still, as the evening unfolds my dogs start to bark, my wallet starts to empty and I begin to forget why we opted for swank over simplicity. As I tally the many local watering holes I'd prefer at the moment I can't help but wonder if the whole scene isn't just a little bit foolish. Best case scenario I'll have some good stories for the years to come, big picture I think it's all part of the ride of the urban twenty-something and I take it with a grain of salt, preferrably on the rim of a cocktail glass!

P.S. The photo is one of myself and some very fun-loving co-workers at Alibi, one of the trendiest of trendy bars found in Beantown.

Roomates, the Necessary (?) Evil

As a single twenty-something woman with a moderate income it's hard to justify shelling out a small fortune for a cramped studio (keyword "cozy" in most realtors' ads) when the option to take on roomates and split bills is so readily available and socially acceptable. There's someone to come home to. Someone to chat with. A second opnion on the outfit you're wearing or the guy you're seeing. On paper it seems logical. Sadly, as they say, the devil is in the details and it's the little inconveniences that seem to pile up and make me want to rent out one of those submersion tanks indefinitely. They eat your food, drink your wine and forget to pay their share of cable. They're too messy, or they're neat freaks and either way you spend way more time than than any sane person should worrying about a mug in the kitchen sink. I know I'm no picnic but I consider myself a relatively reasonable and level-headed individual and lately I've been shocked at how hard it is to find another like-minded person with which to co-habitate.



I think beyond the inconvenience of dealing with the domestic issues brought on by someone I have no emotional connection with is the frustration that I live in a world where this is, more or less, necessary. We live in a dual income society. Plainly put if I do not have a husband to shell out half the rent, I have to find randos or else wave goodbye to my savings account which my frugal mind simply can't accept. Hello Rock, have you met my friend Hard Place? RA's should have pulled us aside and warned us about this predicament during freshman orientation. "All the girls who plan on staying single after college, form a line over here and make sure you buddy up with each other because you're screwed out of a roomate when your other friends marry young." A heads up would have been nice. I'm not saying I begrudge my wedded friends, I'm just saying this whole pairing off thing seems to be working against me and I wish the system was a little easier to maneuver.



In the fall I will likely bite the bullet and rent a "spacious" studio or a one bedroom apartment. It will be smaller, more expensive and I'll have to down trade to basic cable but at least I'll know the bills are paid on time and the only mug in the sink is mine.

In the Beginning...

... there was a girl who got all blog happy and decided to start two blogs at once. One for her crusade against malnutrition in America (http://commoncentsonaplate.blogspot.com) And one for, well... everything else.

So welcome to my personal blog, friends, family, and people that have really boring jobs but no internet resitrictions.

On a scale of 1-10 I'd say the interest level of my life is about a 4 but lately I've been really busy and I've got a few moderately interesting adventures coming up that I want to be able to share with everyone, but don't have the time or the minutes on my cell phone plan to call y'all up and give an update. I thought this would be a good way to keep everyone in the loop. So, stay tuned...cause interesting stuff is coming...soonish.