Providence is better than Flint and Detroit!!

I SHOULD be celebrating that right?? Umm...no. According to Forbes, my hometown is rated #10 on the 10 most miserable cities in the United States. The fact that we rate better than Flint, MI and Detroit, MI doesn't surprise me as we haven't had a major auto company abandon our city leaving thousands jobless, and well, Detroit is just commonly known to be dangerous, right?

I have to say that I was partly happy to see how horribly Providence rated. Its just not my favorite place to live. Granted, I haven't lived many places, other than Providence I've lived in Boston. As far as cities go, I've visited Chicago, NYC, Hartford (how was Hartford NOT on this list of terrible 10?!?!), Baltimore, Bethesda, Washington D.C. and obviously Boston/Cambridge. Perhaps its my lack of travel experience, but I've always considered Boston to be my favorite city. Even while I was a pre-teen. This feeling still holds true today, and it grew stronger after living and going to college in Boston for 2 years. Two glorious years - to return to the ever underwhelming "city" of Providence. I continually miss "Bahstons" streets, parks, shops, and public travel system. (imagine, a bus filled with students and business folk - and the bus doesn't smell like human waste! its a bit of a difference from Providence's buses filled with the homeless or underpaid and somehow the bus always has the lovely odor of, well, piss.)

Boston, how I love thee. Someday I hope to return.

Much to my dismay Chicago was #6 on the worst cities. Its such a shame because when I went on spring break there in 2006, it seemed like such an amazing place. But yeah, not exactly a spring break hot spot. My plane was delayed due to heavy snowfall on the day we were to depart.

Read the article here:
America's Most Miserable Cities

Heart Day Re-Cap

A re-cap of my Valentine's Day evening would look like this:

• Brian picks me up at work at 5pm.
• He drives me to my mysterious surprise dinner reservation, and its at Red Stripe!
• The restaurant was empty when we first sat down, and within the half hour it got SUPER packed. I started with a bowl of roasted tomato soup (super good!) and for dinner I ate the lavender chicken and Brian had the coq au vin. I had a merlot and Brian had a beer. Our drinks and all our food came in perfect timing, but once we got our meals we were kinda forgotten about. We wanted to order dessert (they had a heart shaped chocolate cake served with a raspberry sorbet!!) but by the time the waiter actually gave us the dessert menus and finally came back (all of which took forever) we realized we just didn't have the time to order the dessert we wanted! It was 7pm and we had to get to Somerville!
• We got some hot chocolate at the Starbucks across the street so we had something warm to drink for the ride up to my next Valentine's surprise.
• We drive up to Somerville, MA to go to the Somerville Theatre where the Magnetic Fields are playing!!!! Brian got amazing seats, not very far from the stage. During the wonderfully acoustic mellow performance Claudia and Steven joked about how the songs were so depressing and (to quote Claudia) "I bet you all thought it would be so sweet to take your loved one to see the Magnetic Fields on Valentine's. Instead, you're all probably going to go home and break up and one of you will be stuck out in the cold". haha. A bit dramatic, but it was humorous to see a band play songs of love and loss on Valentine's. Claudia and Steven joked back and forth and the whole set seemed very intimate (with how the band interacted with each other and the audience). It was an absolutely amazing Valentine's day gift!
  
• We then drove home and I fell asleep in the car.
  

So there's the recap. It was both fun and memorable. :)

Three Cheers For........Valentines Day?!?!?!?!

I am admittedly one of those people that loves Valentine's Day. This never used to be - but in recent years I have discovered why this Hallmark-made-holiday is so special. In years past I didn't have any REAL reason to enjoy Valentine's Day. I was either single, or in a relationship that didn't matter enough to want to "celebrate the love". It was always just another day - but more annoying because of all the hearts and flowers and cupids and couples that were out holding hands and kissing. UGH.

So why now? Why like this "holiday" NOW? One reason - Brian. After meeting him, I've realized why this silly holiday was even made up. Its a day to really slow down and pay attention to all that your loved one does for you. Brian and I are always so busy and we have such opposite schedules, that this one day is a good reminder to really show each other how much we love one another. Its a great day to really just focus on each other and do something romantic and special.

The above comic is one I commissioned Matthew Reidsma (his daily diary strip is High Maintenance Machine) to draw for me. Why am I giving Brian a "MONKEY" shirt? Because he's wanted one ever since we saw this add in the movie theatre:


I framed the comic, wrapped it up, and gave it to Brian this morning. As he was unwrapping it, he recognized who the artist was....but it took a moment before a little light went off in his eyes and he realized that he was in the comic! He was so excited!!

So far Brian left a card in the shower for me to find this morning....which was a great surprise! I went back to the bedroom to give him a hug and he was still sleepy, but smirking when he saw me walk back in the room. Before I left for work he had left a CD for me on my bag. I opened it up and it said "Happy Valentine's Day - will you be mine?" and it was a super adorable mixed CD filled with music by Donovan, Say Hi To Your Mom, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake, The Monkees, etc. I'm listening to it at work while I write this. I'm excited to get out of work today because Brian mentioned that he has dinner reservations somewhere and after dinner he has tickets to a show of some kind....I can't wait to see what he has planned! He's being so sweet and thoughtful, I am so happy I'm marrying him.

Squirrel Wars

My friend Andrew sent me this picture because he thought it would be good for my blog - - how right he was! I don't want to make my blog about squirrels....but the occasional cute/ridiculous squirrel picture cannot be avoided.

So begins my life as a "blogger"....

I have decided to finally set up one of the blog things and begin to document photos, vacations, interesting things that happen, or just general thoughts. I guess I could do the same on my myspace.....but, well, I guess this is just something different.