This is Manny. Manny is one of my coworkers. This morning Manny comes into the office and asks if anyone has a camera. Paul responds "dude, this is the 21st century, do you not have a smartphone?" I hold up my iPhone and Manny requests that I take a head shot for him.
Manny says such things as:
“Sorry, I was talking on mute and it was actually a quite enjoyable experience.”
and
Manny: I was an awful person this morning. I was one of the last people to get on the bus into Boston and-
Adanna: You cut off a pregnant lady and her kid.
Manny: No she wasn’t pregnant, but she had a kid in a carriage.
Emily: A what?
Manny: A carriage. I was working the angles and if I let her get in front of me I would have had to have let 4 other people pass so I had to cut her off.
Happy Thursday from ConnectEDU!
**Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.**
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Things are getting busier (is that even possible???) as the weather gets warmer... I guess people are dusting off the hibernation of winter :) Today has been a good/busy/fulfilling week, and here are the pictures to prove it!
One of these things is not like the others...(can you spot it?) I went out to dinner this week with some friends at Tasca, a tapas restaurant in Brighton. Brighton is forrrrrrrrevvvvvvvvverrrrrrrr away from where I live, but it was running a special for $5 per plate AND $5 pitchers of sangria AND $5 bottles of wine - who could pass that up??? Since I got there a bit early, I decided to check out a local market while I waited and discovered some fun food items...
Home baked pastries - I was very tempted to get one, but didn't want to spoil my dinner
What's this you say? Plastic drawers in a market? Let's take a closer look...
CANDY! A wall of CANDY
No idea what these were...
I had never seen an 85th birthday card before and it cracked me up!
First up: Salt cod and potato fritters served with lemon and fried parsley
Next - my *favorite* of the evening: Herbed goat cheese empanadas served on a roasted red pepper relish
Next we have good ol' Patatas Bravas - nowhere close to being as good as Tres Gatos, but they were good enough
And lastly...Cured Spanish ham and shaved Manchego cheese served with tomato toasted crostinis - by this point I was so stuffed I could only eat the ham (awww shucks, no greens for Emily)
After work on Thursday I went out with my coworker Vanessa and we stopped at Sonsie's on Newbury and tried a Key Lime Martini - DELICIOUS
After our month EP meeting a group of us went over to Katy's roof deck for drinks and enjoyed the absolutely *gorgeous* weather (80+ degrees that day). This convinced me that when I finally settle down I WILL have a roof deck.
View of the city :)
Can't get enough of it!
Enjoying some beer pong on the deck
We later migrated to BHP (Beacon Hill Pub) for drinks and arcade games. This place is the Boston version of Goodfellows Bar in Chapel Hill - a dive bar/hole-in-the-wall joint that's kind of grungy but is still fun. Drinks are cheap here and it's a chill place to hang out
On my walk to work Friday morning I came across this bumper sticker - it became my motto for the day :)
YAY SPRING!!!!!!!
I decided to go on a little adventure over lunch on Friday and walked to Sam L'agrassa's for a sandwich. This place has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives - one of my favorite food shows - so I had to go see what all the fuss was about.
Freshly made sandwich meats greeted me - oh my gosh I'm salivating....
I opted for the Russian Corned Beef Combo with a fresh-made pickle and potato salad. The meat...oh that pastrami...I've never had anything like it.
Friday night I went out with CJ - it was time to get our dance on!
All dressed up :)
I got photobombed!!!!
Let's try this again...
Silly faces haha
Saturday I went out to a seminar in the morning, a film festival that afternoon, Koreana for kimchee pancakes for dinner, and happened upon Lyndell's Bakery on the way home. Had to stop in for dessert and I split this tiramisu with Hilary and it was AMAZING.
The trees are blooming! This makes me infinitely happy :)
I watched Fork Over Knives (promoting a plant-based diet) and decided that while I might not be able to completely give up my red meat and dairy items, I can start cutting back on them a bit. So I went for a completely veggie menu for this week.
Along with my typical frittata, whole wheat toast, and strawberries for breakfast, I'll be having minestrone soup, couscous with golden raisins and asparagus topped with chia seeds, and cucumber and tomato salad with chickpeas and feta and red onions for lunch. Oh and dark chocolate bites for dessert. Mmmmmmmm :)
On this list for this week - working out 3 times, meeting with the trainer, finishing the 2nd Hunger Games book, potluck (and making non-dairy cornbread to take with me), and karaoke with the girls...oh yeah, and that thing I call my day job ;-)
The weather is getting more and more beautiful! I'm currently sitting in my living room with the windows open because it's 70 degrees outside (don't worry, I went outside already!) and I'm watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" (famous people in the food industry talking about their favorite foods and where to get them). This episode is about best foods in New Orleans - I've never been super drawn to visiting New Orleans, but after seeing this episode it's now on the list! To get information about this show (and start your own list of places to visit just for the food) go here. Ok, on to this week's photos!
Madeline discovered these adorable mugs at Anthropologie (you can buy them here) and had gotten me one for work...so I had to go back and get one for home too! While there, I came across my absolute *favorite* candle, which I had first discovered on my first ever trip to Anthropologie while on senior year spring break in L.A. Every time I light it or see it, it takes me back to that trip. The scent is French Cade and Lavender and reminds me of a neutral men's cologne. They rotate the scents so you can't always count on walking in and being able to buy it, but you can find it on Amazon.
These coasters remind me of Chessa - she bought them when we were on our spring break trip.
My 'home' mug. I also got a new perfume, Oiseau - Woman in Yellow. An old roommate of mine had had it and I always liked the scent, and remembered to smell it again while I was at Anthropologie. It's light and floral and makes me feel really pretty :)
The weather is getting steadily nicer and the lines to the food trucks are getting steadily longer...
I came across this sketch while using http://www.stumbleupon.com/, one of my favorite time-wasting/procrastinating sites. Picture = so true. ;-)
I get to have a phone date with Sheila tonight! She was so excited about our date she sent me a picture of herself jumping for joy. I reciprocated, of course :)
Oh. NO. CJ (one of the execs at work) recently discovered a milkshake machine in the building. There's a freezer with these cups with different milkshake flavors. You select your favorite flavor, insert in the milkshake machine, and select your milkshake thickness (thin, regular, or thick). Push the 'go' button and VOILA - you have a milkshake for $3.87. Located 15 floors below me. Anytime I want. Oh no....
I met up with CJ, Lisa, Tara, and Hilary for dinner at King and I on Charles Street. I'd never been there but had heard good things. I opted for 2 appetizers over an entree (so I could try more) and was quite pleased with my decision. This app:
Golden Crowns
Crispy rice cups, filled with chicken and shrimp, served with cucumber salad.
With flash...
Both were DELICIOUS. This app:
Roti with Curried Chicken:
Thai Pancake and a bowl of chicken in curry sauce.
After dinner, we went to the movies to see 21 Jump Street. The trailer looked reeeeeeeeally stupid and my expectations weren't high at all, but I was quite pleasantly surprised! I laughed the *entire* movie - I don't think 10 minutes went by without a good belly laugh. You can watch the trailer below, but don't be fooled at how stupid it looks - this is a really funny movie.
Ze trailer
I LOVE SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing crocuses makes me oh so happy :)
They're just so darn cheerful!
I steered clear of downtown yesterday (on St. Patty's day) but had to head out for the infamous St. Patty's Parade. There were hordes of people in green...
Darth Vader and the Emperor made an appearance (surrounded by storm troopers, not pictured)
No parade is complete without horses...and these were doing that weird prancey thing where they walk really fast and pick their hooves up high. Looks cool, must be super uncomfortable for the poor horses.
St. Patrick!
Weeeeeeeird (but cool looking) carriage
Poor little kids on it look beat and could barely wave anymore.
Who ya gonna call?!
All decked out in full gear.
Who knew there was a huge society of Ghost Busters?
This lady looked like she was about 5' nothing and 80 years old...but she was marching right along keeping everyone in time!
After reading all the atrocious articles about 'pink slime' I'm officially convince I need to do the bulk of my shopping at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. More expensive? Yes. Peace of mind knowing you're not eating goo drenched in ammonia and produce covered in pesticides? Worth it.
I've recently rediscovered my love of bagpipes. It's even gone so far as me making a Spotify playlist of bagpipe music. Ashamed? Not a bit!
All-in-all, it's been a great weekend! The weather was beautiful, I got to go outside and enjoy it and meet up with friends... Today was super awesome - I started it out with a mocha and everything bagel with chive cream cheese from Diesel Cafe (my *favorite*), got out in the sunshine and saw the parade and met up with my friend Loren, went grocery shopping and treated myself to dinner from the Whole Foods buffet (kimchee chicken, garlic green beans, couscous salad, and creamy red potato salad), aaaaaaand cooked breakfast and lunch for 4 days of work! (BIG THANK YOU TO MOM AND DAD for making and sending me homemade spaghetti sauce!!!!!!!!! I'm salivating as I think of the four days of spaghetti lunches I get this week.) I'm making progress at work, have a bunch of social plans this week, and have been getting back into working out (I went 3 times last week, woo-hoo!). I think I'm going to buy a bike and start cycling now that the weather is nice. Sunshine and warm weather makes everything better!
Ok, now to go clean my room (which is a wreck) and finish up the last little tidbits before the workweek. :)
