For my birthday

So I turned 29 on Saturday, July 30. And apart from not feeling anywhere close to 30, William decided that for my birthday I was going to get a big surprise. Now, about me, I love scary things; I watch the ghost hunting stories and anything about hauntings. I mostly own horror movies and will primarily only rent horror movies. Since we moved to Massachusettes there are a few things I really wanted to do but know that William would not. I wanted to go to Salem and go on a witch and ghost tour and I want to go to the Lizzie Borden house. Figuring that these things would never happen because my boyfriend is always Scullying me, Saturday was a big surprise. We took the Haunted Footsteps tour. It was a blast!

Before the tour, since it ran at night we went to dinner at the Lyceum, where Bell made his first long distance phone call and long distance charges and phone cards were then created. We also went through a wax museum that spat us out in the middle of the Salem mall. Looking for a restroom we passed the Salem's Vintage Photography Shop and somehow we ended up asking to be dressed like witches.







The day was so perfect, I was upset that my birthday came to an end; but I guess it had to. Once again my boyfriend showed me that he is the most thoughtful and attentive person in the world, no matter how much he wants to protect his street cred.

A smile for Monday

a few things to listen to

The Record Store: The Brunettes
Between the Lines: Sambassadeur
Movie Ending Romance: Math and Physics Club
Is This It: Royal City
On A Ship To Bangladesh: Three Mile Pilot
They Won't Let me Run: John Vanderslice
In This Home on Ice: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

keeping warm in Cambridge

My first sweater, or cardigan... whatever it is. I've been wearing it non-stop since I finished it, summer is going to be ending here in Massachusettes soon so I better get cracking on another wooly sweater.

Rocking the move

just a peak at what will be rocking inour ears this weekend while we move into our very first house. Damn that sounds weird, I'm going to own a house; when did I grow up?

Cozied up

I recognize my dorkdom, yes I now that I have turned into a dreaded crafting nerd; but I still listen to punk, so I am still holding onto the small bit of dignity I have left since my foray into revenge of the nerds.

But anyway... this is a knitting cozy... it keeps my knitting needles... Cozy. So this is my superfantastic wink to the martini drinking, lounge swinging cool cats of the 1960's.

Sew-phisticated

I sewed my very first dress yesterday with the help of a friend here in our appartment complex. Shawnna is a clothing designer and is marketing her stuff to quite a few stores. So if you see the label "Phatty Cake" that would be her.

She may be a shapless dress, but for a first time sew, it was the perfect thing to try. I enjoy the knitting a bit more since there is less cleanup afterwards. I may even try to knit this dress for the cold climate here in Mass.

Poncho Poncho

Newest knit from the Taylor couch. This is my first poncho. It's a bit like a cup of coffee isn't it? I kinda want a cup-a-joe with it.

Our New Home

So, A few weeks to go before we officially close on our first house. We took a nice trip into Cambridge, getting lost of course to see the place again. And for your viewing pleasure, I took some photos of it. It's not large, but boy is it set up! First is the entrance to the building.



This is where we enter (no, it's not the cute green stairs with the flowers) It's a gated entrance below the 107 building number, and those windows are from the living room.



This is the entrance lobby to get to our condo, this is where the mingling and the mail getting happens. But the charm of this building is just... perfect.



The entrance to our condo, lucky number 3. It opens to a cute hallway then branches to the rooms from there.





The kitchen on the gods. Brushed chrome everything. New washer, fridge, stove and granite counter tops.





But this is why I wanted the place. JUST LOOK AT THIS BATHROOM! Granite from floor to ceiling (yes, granite is on the ceiling!) spa tub, I don't know how many shower heads there are but with a tub like that, you will never see me again.





Our balcony, which is a fire escape that descends to a small back yard green space. Look at the brick! It's beautiful. and there's a bed room and living room and dining area too, but these are just some snippets of the main features that sold us on this place.

The strike

Italy is known for their stikes. Everyone is on strike, it's amazing that anything ever gets done. The strike is what made me want to leave Italy. Our last day we are dropped off at the airport, finally we are going home... broke. BAM a strike is being set up outside the airport, first we are cheering for them... then we see that our flight is cancelled and I have never wanted a dozen eggs so badly in my life. After being told by Air France (always said in a snooty manner) that they can do nothing for us except give us a new ticket on a totally different airline, in a totally different airport, in a totally different part of Italy, on a totally different day! No, they wouldn't pay for the bus to the train station, from the train station to Milan (3 hours away), from Milan to the bus to the new airport (1 hour away), nor would they cover the hotel cost. What cheesy pricks! I hate you Air France, you unhelpful snooty wankers! So after a full day of traveling in a different country, not knowing the lay of the land or the language we finally got to the airport to make sure Air France didn't mess with us by making up new plane tickets in order to get rid of us and keep our money. Our tickets were real at least, now for the hotel. Turns out that there are only 2 hotels near this airport. We choose the cheaper of the 2 (cheaper in euros that is, in US dollars it's not a cheap hotel) We sweat all night long in a falsly advertised air conditioned hotel and wake up and the butt-crack of dawn. I step outside to see the place we have been dumped (darn you Air France). I wake up to the most beautiful town I have ever seen. It was this rustic, old world farm town. No tourists, no crowds, no constant buzz of the scooters and street vendors, just a peacful dawn on a truely beautiful place. In the distance stands a duomo (church) in the town center, old houses with metal shades and flower boxes. If I would ever go back to Italy, I would learn the language, and stay in this town, Arragio I believe it was called.

Now for something wacky

Italy is full of stuff I have never seen before. In a meat deli there was a display to draw in the business. This display consisted of stuffed pigs in old world costumes sitting around a table eating a meal consisting of their fellow pig brothers.



Another bit of the wacky are the automobiles. Florence is made up of streets smaller than the width of J.Lo's back side. All roads are one way and are cluttered with tourists, scooters and cars. The only way to survive is to find the smallest car possible. Enter the Smart Car. Now this is perfect! Who really needs an SUV when you can have the space efficiency of the Smart Car. Bigger is not better!



Italy feeds you a lot, a millions courses in a meal. One night out at Il Latini, the meat dish is offered to us. Will jumps at the chance to get rabbit. So we're eating and he shows me his rabbit, he's playing with it's legs making it dance, then he opens thumper up to give me an anatomy lesson. Now, as a vegetarian, I don't know all that much about meat, but aren't you supposed to take the insides outside? There were kidneys still in the ex-fluffy bunny. KIDNEYS, all attached and everything to the rest of it's organs. Dear god, that's just not right, I don't care where you're from!

First day in Italy

After a million hour flight in coach where the leg room does not exist, we arrived in Florence Italy. There are a few things about Italy that I was confused by. First It is hot as balls there and you MUST drink water, a lot of water. But do not make the mistake that I first made, and that would be to purchase water with gas. Now, being a silly American, I prefer my water without flatulence.



Well, after the water mistake we took in the gelatos, which is just really good ice cream. Really really good ice cream.



Then before we passed out from jet lag we took in a sight or 2. This has to be the only beautiful place in Florence. And wouldn't you know it, I don't know what this place is called.

The first post in a long time

I've been out of the blogging scene, not like what I write people read, but whatever. Well let me start with my first house. My boyfriend and I have moved to Mass. and we are going to be first time homeowners in about a month. So we celebrated in our favorite sandwich shop in Cambridge.

The dino that ate Boston

Dino Cookie
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

So here we are again in Cambridge to look at condos to buy and while we stopped to have lunch when the the dreaded Dino Cookie that ate Boston came upon us (at the price of $4) and started with his shenanegans. We fought bravely agains the Dino.



My boyfriend trembled with fear, you can see it in his eyes, Tyra might say he's fierce, but she has no idea of what she is saying. After searching through all possible scenarios I found the weakness of Dino Cookie. Apparently he is made entirly of sugar icing and ginger bread, there was only one thing I could do.



I ate him. I started with his head then worked my way down. He put fear in the hearts of many, but fear no more, I have taken care of the situation. You may lunch extra carelessly again.

Drinkin in the hotel

Drinkin in the hotel
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

So, the day is over and we got ourselves some beverages, you can't have a huge hotel room without liquor. Just watching Brit & Kev show, not feeling anything from the white russians except for the yummy goodness that they bring. So me and my hottie cruised around Woburn Mass. looking for a restaurant. Woburn, not a place I want to live, so we have another town off the list. Tomorrow, we are excited about another day of being grown-ups looking for a house, and not just looking at places pretending we could buy them, you know, the way we go into stores and try on stuff we won't buy only to look at ourselves and at what we would look like if money was no option. I think Will is drunk, he just licked all over my face like a dog. and on that note, I have to wipe my self down from his slobber.

Boston or Bust Part 2

Best sandwich
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

handsome boy with sandwich
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

Our second time in Boston, but his time we drove. Not always the best idea. From Northern Virginia to Boston is a few more hours than I really care to count, and my butt is a bit upset about being sat on for that amount of time. So after driving ALL of Monday, we wake up very early Tuesday for our first homebuyers tour. Not as long as I was hoping it to be, not as many places as I was hoping to see and nothing was in our price range or taste. So thank's Kevin the Coldwell Banker guy for really asking us about what we wanted before wasting all of our time. So after this tour we stop for the yummiest sandwiches offered at Hi Rise bread shop... mmmm... I will love them long time. and then to make sure that these 2 days in Boston and 2 days driving (back and forth) are just that meaningless, I desperately need a very long nap. This is the nap that I have just woken from.

Duck Tours
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

I haven't been on one yet, but I hear the duck tours are to die for, the bus actually turns into a boat and sets sail.

Purple Rain

Prince
Originally uploaded by Frankiepancakes.

My second completely knitted doll to date. I'm thinking I should do this for a living. As you can see this is Prince from his Purple Rain cover. He was a gift to my friend Jessica since I am moving several states away and will no longer be able to join her and Suzy for OC night. I was a bit sad to part with this little guy, he turned out so well from his frilly collar and over sized lapel to his huge head of hair. I am proud of him and will gladly take orders. You can also see my other doll Joey Ramone here I wanna be knitted

Lose my number

Okay, so Friday was my last day at work. Much celebration and jumping around. But the new designer is...um...well good luck. so far he has had to call me at home no less than 4 times a day to ask me questions about such difficult things as...tabs. Oh come on! Are you kidding me? I have turned my phone off, this is just rediculous! I had to learn this crap on my own! I can not do this kids job for him, this is why he was hired, to do my job for me. I refuse to turn the phone on for fear of how many times he has called today. I don't work there, does he understand this?

I just had a weird memory today

I just remembered while I was in the bathroom, back to the days of my youth, like really back there, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 years max. I remembered that I hated the sound of the toilet flushing, I thought it was so loud. I used to use one hand and cover my left ear and press my shoulder up to the right ear and use my right hand to flush. I think the reason I thought of this was I was trying to see if I locked the bathroom door here at work. I didn't want to be walked in on. This was where my memory came back to me. In elementry school we had a toilet in the classroom in a tiny watercloset. One day a boy walked in on me using my flushing technique in full activation. Even though I looked like a moron, this boy who's name I do not remember so we will call him Gus, ran into the class to tell everyone that he saw me using the toilet. So I guess I was not the moron in this case as it was apparent to me that flushing and peeing are two completely different things, Gus was not clued into this fact. But regardless I had to spend the rest of the day defending my honor and my bathroom activities.

Gus, you bastard.

Boston or bust

I haven't posted for a while, the amount of work I had to do just blew up, then we got the call. My boyfriend had his last day of work last week and has been looking around for another job, one that would hopefully take us away from the suburbs of Virginia. Nothing happening in that department and he was about to take a job locally when he was contacted by Raytheon in Massachusetts. They expedited his interview so he wouldn;t accept another offer before talking with them, they bought both of us plane tickets, a rental care and a hotel, we paid for nothing. He had his interview on Monday and after a five and some hour long interview they extended him a job offer with an incredible relocation packet. We spent 3 days in Boston and fell in love with it. I handed in my two weeks notice on Wednesday when we got back and thus begins our new journey. One involving packing and finding a place to live. I can't help but think that we don't have enough time for all of this and that most people have months where we have only weeks to do this. But I have the Boston bug and expect our travel to be one of pain and joy.