Last year's book post was an effective way of keeping track of what I've read, so I'm doing it again this year. Of course, my resolution to read "smarter" books is pretty quickly going out the window, but hey, reading is reading.

( Onward! )

I won a free personal training session today at the gym. Score! I'd been thinking about buying a session, but have been too cheap to do so. I know this is their way of trying to hard sell you into more, but you can't hard sell someone who has no money! Or you can, but it is not going to work on the girl.

NaNoWriMo update- 22K words, last night I banged out almost 3K in a frenzy of trying to get to my plot. I am really enjoying the process again this year, I really like the structure of having to get something done every day. Though that is also a bit of a curse, because I find myself needlessly drawing out some scenes that are utterly useless because I worry that I'll run out of story before I get to the 50,000 word mark. So there will be a lot of editing to do eventually. But tonight I have to commence with the actual adventure! portion of the story and cease wanking on about music. In my imagination, Neutral Milk Hotel has gotten back together.

Also- I am giddy like a little girl for New Moon.

Man. The one Mexican food place in Salem has closed, due to lack of business that can pretty much be blamed on the gigantic Tavern on the Square that moved in just down the block from it. It was tasty Mexican food, if a bit too overpriced, and it was a small local business. I hate to get all Davis Square-y "fresh local foods!" but damn, it saddens me to see a unique local business go under. That Mexican place was where we got lunch the day we closed on our house (is that right? maybe it was the day we looked at the house... it was something to do with buying the house), but we never went back, despite thinking "oh we should go back there sometime." It's not like Tavern on the Square is Bennigan's or anything, but Tavern is not part of the small & local vibe that really attracted us to Salem in the first place. And I'm worried, because reading comments in the Salem News (and I know, comments on newspaper articles on the internet are pretty much a wasteland), people are predicting that a couple other local bar/restaurants are close to going under, because of the new Tavern.

Oh my god, I totally feel like a taxpayer. I've never actually loved the city I've lived in before, but I feel such warm fuzzies for Salem, and I really want it to keep the attractions that made us move there. We definitely haven't been going out nearly as much as we used to these days, so I suppose we need to start spending our dinner & drinks money more wisely and spread it around to the places I want to see staying open (I will absolutely die if Gulu-Gulu closes). I also really need to make an effort to buy at the local bookstore, but I'll admit I'm extremely guilty of wanting what I want when I want it, and if it's not stocked at the Cornerstone, I go to Borders. And the Kindle is making even my Borders spending dwindle to peanuts.

God, I am hyped up on coffee and chatty today.

Woe. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures of our Halloween party. If anyone else took some pics, I'd love to see them (and possibly post them on facebook). thiswakingdream, I know you took some, but I don't know if they were digital.

Also, the Governor is talking about closing down the State House Library. This is seriously a really bad idea. How are people going to access legislative materials (historical and current)? Massachusetts is already beyond screwed up with its lack of transparency and acts that never get codified but are still good law, not having access to an organized depository of this information would make legal research in Mass. even more of a nightmare.

Edited to add: So the State Library website is kind of lame, but I want to point out how amazingly awesome the Mass. Trial Court Law Libraries' website is. Free document delivery?! I've already been using the hell out of their free HeinOnline, and that is icing on the cake. They also have free Lexis/Westlaw, but only in the libraries. Still, there are some amazing library resources available, and it makes me sad that so many people don't know about them. You can also get access to the Boston Public Library's databases online by doing a 2 second online registration.

NaNoWriMo: 1,000 words in. I think I found my voice, and I am expositioning like crazy, but I have a start! Yays. Still need at least 1,000 more words today, and I should do a bit more than that to build up a buffer. But I can take a break to do some dishes without feeling super guilty.

Oh my god. Cooking, cleaning, decorating, ahhhhh! I may run out of eggs. I am attempting to make breadsticks from scratch, with yeast. Things are getting crazy. Halloween in Salem is a responsibility!

What?!

Godamnit, why is the White House obsessed with Olympia Snowe? Republicans have no interest in being bi-partisan, why are the Democrats even bothering now? Argh.

You know, I knew from way back in the primaries that Obama is not leftist. Not really at all. Which makes my head explode even more when I read crap like this (sorry for the Salon ads that are required). Argh. This country is completely batshit insane when Obama is considered commie-pink-lefty.

That is all.

This book ("Soulless," by Gail Carriger) looks like it might hit a good reading nerve for lots of my friends. Described by the author's agent as "if Jane Austen were to write a Victorian Steampunk fantasy, this vampire/werewolf comedy of manners...". It lost me at steampunk, which I just personally abhor, but it otherwise sounds like a delightful romp.

Also, I caved and bought myself a Snuggie at Costco this weekend, after jealously watching how comfortable Drew is in his. And my god, is it comfortable. I feel like a sad American stereotype in my blanket with arms, but it is like being wrapped in a soft cloud of comfort. Perfect for watching dvds of some dude on PBS travel to Europe and stay in fancy hotels. How can I get that job?

NaNoWriMo is coming up in less than a week! Argh. I have competing story ideas in my head and am totally not sure what I want to focus on. I need to make a list of all the things I like to think about and pick just one or two (for instance, I am only allowed two of the following elements: time travel, spies, historical mysteries, Nick Hornby-esque music ramblings, ghosts, capers, 90s nostalgia). Actually, seeing that written out like that, I'm thinking that I could definitely write 50,000 words involving the badassery of all those things.

We had a really great weekend, suckiness of the HarvestFest in Salem aside (the company of friends was fabulous, it was just the crowds and the lack of enough proper food that was the problem). Salem is totally awesome right now, and not just because of the booths set up to give me delicious fried foods and hot apple cider. We are also in the home stretch of trying to get ready for an epic Halloween party. Or at least, it better be epic given the lengths I am going to on themed foods.

Finally, a brief tangent into tv: White Collar on USA is totally adorable. It does feel a bit like a show that's trying very hard for our approval, but that works ok for me. Funny, endearing, and caper-ific. I'm watching Skins from Netflix, and it is superb. British teenagers with loads of angst. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been striking out more than hitting these days, but I'm holding out hope they'll hit a mid-season stride.

Ugh. Home sick, feeling very pathetic.

So Rolling Stone has been running some really phenomenal journalism these days, care of Matt Taibbi. His latest article is great (well, great work, depressing to read through it and realize how totally screwed we are because our government is just completely beholden to corporations).

Holy crap you guys! I totally won $150 on my Mega Millions ticket last night. Woot. Now I can get a haircut and a new bag, both things I have needed for about half a year now and couldn't afford!

Huh. Lewiston, Maine features prominently on this week's This American Life. Oh, L-town, it's so endearing that you can be a poster child for what's wrong with health care in America.

And oh hey, we had a 3 day weekend. Which was busy. Friday night we had a visit with A-Dot. Saturday I went to a lovely bridal shower, and got back just in time for our next-door neighbors' annual neighborhood party. I was pretty nervous about it, because I don't do super well in crowds full of new people, but being the new kids on the block (you see what I did there?!), we had built-in conversation talking about our house and all the crap we've had to do with it. I was surprised by how our-age-ish our neighborhood actually is. Lots of couples with little kids. So it went much better than I'd worried about, and we chatted it up with a bunch of people. It's nice to know who your neighbors are, and makes our little area feel more homey. Sunday we went to a bbq at starflow and cosmicserpent's place- always delightful! Yesterday I spent most of my day being hassled (where the hell am I living that I can't find chipotle peppers in adobo sauces at any Stop & Shops?) (also: planting tulips is hard work!), but was de-hasslefied for a short beer break. Yay, beer! Also, we ventured into an Irish bar in Salem that I'd never been in before, and it was quite enjoyable. So yay, new bar discovery!

We went to an amazingly fun wedding in Maine this weekend. Consequently, I lost my entire Sunday to the throes of a mighty Boones Farm hangover. I seriously need to get a better internal "you are done drinking now" monitor. But the wedding was a blast- you can't go wrong with beer, bbq, good friends, a red bus with a busdriver who let us drink on board, and a dj that complied with my excited request for Everything I Do (I Do It For You). Good times.

On Friday last week our local bank handed out free cider and donuts at the commuter rail station. I really love living in Salem. There was a parade last Thursday to kick off October, and we caught most of it from the comfort of the Lobster Shanty, where we have now attained regular status. I am going to be happy about being a regular without giving too much thought to the shambley state of most of the other regulars.

Finally, I give props to cosmicserpent for recommending The Bugle, because this podcast is a fine way to spend half a commute.

Alright, it's 9:30 am on Yom Kippur, I have the day off, and have already been somewhat productive.

Cleaned up a bit after the very fun Bates Ladies, Etc. get together at our place yesterday. I am still craving apple cider donuts, those things are tasty.

Did some MTV pilates, made up a pot of smoked sausage & beans for lunches for the rest of the week, and have a load of laundry in the washer and the dryer. That's pretty decently productive.

On the list for the rest of the day: do some writing, learn some quantum mechanics, take a nap (this is serious business given the next item on the list), go see Sunny Day Real Estate with my brother tonight at HoB. Boo to there being a Sox game at Fenway tonight, though, I think we'll have to park around Gov't Center.

Also this weekend, enjoyed some amazing drinks at Eastern Standard and had a great time hanging out with folks. Yay, drinks! I do wish I had more money to be able to enjoy that place more often, but I like that for $20, plus tax & tip, it's possible to drag out 2 delicious drinks for quite a while.

Holy shit! Pavement! Touring! Pardon me while I flail around in glee for a moment.

I am totally going to attempt to buy some tickets for their first reunion show, in NYC, about a year from now.

You have no idea how very, very happy this news makes me. They're the one band of my all-time favorite bands that I never got a chance to see live.

I was going to rant about the dismal state of affairs in this country, but... I just don't have a good rant in me. I'm just so disgusted with everything that is going on these days, and would love for the wingnut righters to take just one day off so I can ignore them for a little while.

Instead of depresso ranting, I give you a blog that just made me lose it with giggles Crappy Taxidermy (I have only looked at 1.5 pages, I make no sfw promises and if you're squeamish about taxidermized animals then this is not for you. That said, it's friggin' hilarious.

Finally, I am beyond excited for tonight's live performance of The Nightman Cometh. Supposedly there will also be a showing of a season 5 episode and some other stuff. I just hope it gets out at a reasonable hour (i.e. before the Red Sox game ends).

There is a word I am trying to think of, and it's driving me crazy that I can't remember it. It's right on the tip of my tongue, and it's a word I use often enough that my inability to come up with it is giving me a serious case of the Mondays. If you can think of a word that starts with "p" and means something to the effect that information in a book (or website) can only be found there because it is information created by that publisher or author (think something like expensive Standard & Poors analyst reports and stuff like that)... I will give you a cookie.

In other news, we had a weekend, and it feels like it went by way too quickly. Friday night we went to Christopher's for a Metafilter meet-up. It was a huge group and the space was really cramped, but it was good people, good conversations, and lots of fun. Saturday we went up to Portland (The Lost Bear Bar, I think, which has a great beer selection) for a second meetup, which was also a ton of fun. I really like meeting new people. Yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day to do some walking for incandes_flower's work with the arthritis foundation.

This week's goal: get srzs bizness about writing. I do not want to get to NaNo time and be exactly where I am right now. Theoretically, if I can get enough of current story done before then, I can try to open up a whole new project for NaNo. But I have to get this story out of my head first. Of course, distracting me from this goal is shiny new television that's starting up now. Though I think only Thursday nights are really affected by this, as I have a full 2 hour block of brain cell killing tv to watch on Thursdays. And really, only one hour of it will actively kill brain cells (Vampire Diaries, I am looking at you). Yes, I will be watching Joel McHale on Community.

How is it September already?? I call shenanigans. Where did my summer of summerfun go?

So on Saturday for Drew's birthday celebrating we shuffled up through the rain to Portland to check out Novare Res, a belgian beer bar. That place is awesome. I can't wait to go back sometime, though I do wish I could pick it up and transport it down to Boston. It was so amazing that so many people braved the trek, we had a fantastic time and hope everyone else did, too!

So I'm currently reading this book and am so enthralled with it that I'll be sad when I've finished it (likely to be on the train ride home). Well written young adult dystopian future fiction. It feels so good to be reading a compelling book now, the last few I've read have been total duds. I need stuff that makes my time on the elliptical speed by!

Impromptu lunch with tenillypo has totally made my day! Yays.

Tonight: John Oliver! Tomorrow: Portland, Maine!

No offense to Teddy Kennedy, I got a bit verklempt upon hearing the news and our country has for sure lost a powerful senator, but damn am I not looking forward to my 20 minute trudge through the throngs of people lined up for the procession. From the waterfront to North Station... there is no way to avoid it. Blerg.

So our Home Depot project is, as far as we know right now, actually completed! We have a roof that we hope won’t leak, new siding on half the house that is not melted from car flames, and new gutters. Yays!

Of course, our joy at this development was tempered last night when, as we were enjoying the Daily Show and eating dinner, a frickin’ mouse scurried across our living room floor. OMG.

He’s kind of cute and wee, but we really don’t need a gross mouse messing with the bunnies (who look huge by comparison, even Beef Wellington looks like a giant compared to the mouse). So we went off to Home Depot to pick up a no-kill trap that I really hope works soon.

Also the front brakes on our car need a major repair. Can we please have just one week of no worries? Just one?

On the plus side, I'm loving the new gym in the morning habit. All I'm sacrificing is my puttering around on the internet time in the morning, and I get to make it home at a much more reasonable time. Today I might even have time to stop at Borders before heading home, with a stop at the Salem Farmers Market on the way.

Argh. Home Depot is making me apoplectic with rage.

I honestly don't understand what is so hard about doing the work they are contractually obligated to do, doing it correctly, and not breaking shit when they do it.

I am so seriously tired of yelling at them to make them do what they are supposed to. Today was supposed to be it, the last day. Yet, it is not.

In a way, this Washington Post op-ed makes me feel a little bit better about the state of current events. Also, it makes me feel worse, because clearly we are never going to be rid of the crazies.

Day 1 of this week's experiment in getting gym time over with before work went pretty well. Caught the 6:45 train to Boston, got into the gym around 7:25, easily got a half hour elliptical session done, showered, and managed to get into work about 10 minutes early. Yays! I think I can squeeze a 40 minute session in most days and get in just on time. Not really feeling super energized from the early morning workout, and am now ravenously hungry even though I ate breakfast before leaving home. But I think this could work as a habit! Which is good, because I'd much rather get home around 5:00 than 6:00, and this is the only way to make that happen.

This weekend was fabulous- engagement party for friends and an after-party that was low-key and very fun. Yesterday we hit the Winter Island beach with a few people, and it was totally awesome. Not super crowded, the ocean was only mildly scary, and there was much sun and relaxation. I was never a huge beach person, and tend to pack enough provisions and boredom fighting tools to last me a month in the wilderness, but I do enjoy sitting in sunshine whenever the sun deigns to show itself around here.

I want to go to here.

This and the "keep the government out of my Medicare" people make my head explode.

I don't really have much to say about the health care debate (though I use the word debate loosely) because it is just so common sense and so obvious that we need change, that I... just don't know what to say. Just today I had to reschedule an appointment for my yearly doctor appointment, the one I've been waiting months for, because the doctor is taking vacation on my previously scheduled appointment day. And that's relatively "gold plated" health care I've got. Nah, our system is just fine.

You know what's sad? Waking up at 6:30 am, reading the clock as 8:30 (I am blind), and thinking "oh crap, I've wasted my morning!" Then being relieved to know that I have two extra hours of morning.

I am an old person.

Huh. So This American Life (most recent podcast episode- "Fine Print"), blew my mind this morning.

All these years I'd thought that Van Halen's "no brown M&Ms" demand in their show riders was a possibly untrue example of crazy band diva demands. Not so! It actually is true that this demand was in their rider, but it was there simply so they could gauge how well the concert promoters at each venue read their contract. Apparently VH was one of the first bands to do super big productions on tour, and to tour smaller venues with their big shows. As such, they had huge, complicated contracts for every show, with lots of technical details about electricity and weight capacities and whatnot. So they put the M&M clause in the middle of the contract, and when they got to the venue for a show, if they saw any brown M&Ms in the green room, they knew they'd better double check everything before the show, because there was a good chance something could go seriously wrong.

Interesting!

The rest of the episode contained an extremely depressing story about how horrific the state of health insurance in our country is.

Also, Drew got us tickets to see a live show of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"'s musical episode!! Awesomecakes.

Alright, I did not believe everyone who told us this before, but Leverage is totally awesome. Coming from loving what I've seen of the British show Hustle (which is the show Leverage is based on), I was expecting it to be kind of CSI-boring. But it is funny and exciting and charming. Yay, new show! Oh, Netflix streaming on demand, you rule my world.

I am now officially super into True Blood. It is good, cheesy fun. And so dirty! Tara and Lafayette are the best. I am still hoping that Sam will turn into a WereDog.

Also, I am really enjoying Merlin. Though someone should have warned me about the giant cgi spiders in episode four! Holy crap.

It feels so nice to be home!

Alright, the Red Velvet Cupcakery in DC is amazing. Such good cupcakes!!! Excellent frosting, good frosting-cake ratio, cake was very moist (though could have been more cohesive).

Also, I know this will be hard to believe, but I finally made a conference friend! Ok, it was at a bar after the conference was done for the day, but still, I had actual conversation with a stranger! Now I am drinking in the hotel bar and am about to use my kindle as potential librarian friend bait.

Why are librarians so gung ho on second life?? I don't know anyone who actually uses it.

Just made $50 from Westlaw, so now I can afford to have dinner tonight! Yays. I'm actually spoiled for choice in microbreweries in the general convention center vicinity, which is good. If it were more bearable outside I'd be keen on wandering and exploring, but I can't deal with the outside for longer than 10 minutes. So now I'll visit a few more exhibition booths to enter to win monies and prizes, and then I will wander in search of cupcakes and beers.

Sorry for being Bloggy McPostalot, but I am lonsely here all by myself (and my hotel doesn't free wifi, so I have to get all my interneting out of my system at the convention center)

OMG. DC feels like a hot wet wool blanket.It is seriously gross, I think I will take our winters if it means being able to function in the summer without sweating gallons. Which is too bad, as I have always entertained the idea that someday we might move to DC, given that all my dream jobs are here, unattainable as they may be (White House librarian, Congressional research office researcher, librarian for a congressional committee...).

Last night I grabbed dinner (sangria and pizza!) with my sister in law, and then we walked around the city-- I finally saw the White House up close!

Today I have a packed schedule, including a "lunch meeting" with my catalog vendor, who is not actually providing lunch because they suck that bad. Now time to learn about web 2.0!

I am in DC! It is ungodly hot and humid, and my first librarian conference program was pretty boring. But the next promises to be more interesting, and I have been doing research on cupcakeries in DC, so I have to decide if I want to wander lost into Georgetown or Dupont Circle.

Had an excellent time socializing with folks this weekend, though while it's technically Sunday and still the weekend, I feel more like I'm at work. And hey, I think I will be getting paid overtime for being here today.

So I finally started watching True Blood (verrrrrry slowly, since I'm Netflixing it and only get 2 episodes on a disc. I really wish Netflix made everything available for stream-instantly).

My thoughts so far: Um, wow, Anna Paquin is seriously not a good actress. Unless maybe the books are so poorly written that she's actually doing an amazing character study or something? Hot mysterious vampire guy is hot and mysterious. It would be awesome to get some plot going (other than OMG-everyone-loves-Sookie and OMG-vampires-exist-here-is-a-pound-of-exposition). I am having major Twilight flashbacks, what with the mind reading and the potential for stalking... too bad there are no sparkles in this. The music in the show is terrible. Like, are they making it that bad on purpose? Not to mention the opening credits; I'm used to much more effort from HBO in its opening credits, these are so bad I thought I was watching Showtime. Nitpicking aside, I am enjoying it and will keep watching. It just makes me long for the days of HBO of yore, when we had Rome and The Wire and Oz.... there is a reason why we no longer bother to pay for HBO with our cable.

Also, this report from a teenager in England really disturbs me, if for no other reason than the line on page 3 that states most teenagers today have never bought a cd. Never?! *shakes fist at kids these days*

That just kind of blows my mind. And here I was listening to NPR this morning (via podcast) interviewing Mac and Laura from Merge on the 20th anniversary of Merge records, getting all nostalgic for the days when I would order vinyl albums straight from record labels. And when I got the latest news on music from listervs. I got my illicit copy of Belle & Sebastian's "Tigermilk" from someone on the indie-pop listserv way back in the day after If You're Feeling Sinister came out...

I can't say enough good things about this weekend. Yay! I spent most of my day off on Friday lazing around on the couch reading a a really good book. Then Drew and I went to Gulu-Gulu for a couple of beers, got a pizza, and lounged at home. Saturday was ms_ntropy's annual 4th of July pool party, and as a special bonus, we got to see the fabulous doplar all day! Sun! Fun! Yesterday Drew & I walked to Beverly, found some secret beaches that will definitely warrant repeat visits, and walked back to Salem to get lunch at a place on Pickering Wharf. It was a hale and hearty walk. By that I mean: my feet still kind of hurt from all that walking. But it was worth it to soak up some sunshine.

Because my brother totally rocks, we are going to see Sunny Day Real Estate (!!) at the House of Blues in Sept. Real emo!!!

Oh my god, this is so me.

Also, thanks to incandes_flower for burning onto a cd a mixtape I made for her in 2001. It is quite possibly the best mix I ever made. And now I remember how good Magnapop was.

Oh, and also, there may be hope yet for some of us with soul-crushing student loan burdens. I'm sketchy on the details, but it looks fairly promising.

Ok, one thing I do miss about living in Davis Square is When Pigs Fly bread. I have a mad hankering for their olive & hot pepper bread, and alas, there’s no way I’m going to get it. We do have an awesome bakery in Salem, but its hours are stupid and foil spontaneous after work bread purchases.

Ok, so getting into North Station an hour late was not the way I would have ideally started this day. My train had to push a disabled one most of the way. Also, the book I'm reading right now is scary and was totally freaking me out on the train ride.

This weekend was pretty amazing, though. I had a birthday and am now no longer a "fabulous 20 something." But lots of great company and good food makes that worthwhile. Yesterday I spent the day at Fenway with my dad. Of course, I got up to pee at exactly the start of the Red Sox's half of the 9th inning, and thus was in the ladies' when the game winning home run was hit. D'oh.

Now to start another week of work.

Is it just me, or does it feel like summer hasn't really started yet?

I need a new summery music album to usher in the season.

So last weekend Mr. & Mrs. thiswakingdream hosted an awesome murder mystery party. I am the worst actress and improviser ever, but I do love an excuse to wear a fancy dress and a wig. Fun times! I also take back most of my recent spate of Maine mocking, Maine is quite pretty when it's not raining.

Also, I can't believe my birthday is in less than a week. I will try to not whine about it too much. I'm a little disappointed because the one thing I really wanted to do for my birthday is not feasible due to the stupid Red Sox having a home game. Maybe later this summer I can drag people to Jake Ivories to get drunk and sing.

How are you all?

Huh. I just walked by Matt Lauer filming part of the Today show in front of Faneuil Hall.

I recently made the mistake of reading some particularly unfortunate books by Meg Cabot. Leaving aside my feminist problems with a character whose defining personality trait is her obsession with the averageness of the size of her pants, these things just were not well written.

Since I've been filling my brain with absolute garbage this year, I think it may be time for me to embark on a reading program. That list is bad ass. I am entertaining the idea of attempting to start a meetup.com book club group as motivation to actually attempt this list. Though being in charge of something like that would make me feel like I should have more of a clue about literature and stuff.

So my contract with Verizon is finally up, and I desperately need a new phone. One that I can, like, hear things on when I'm on the phone. And one that my big sausage fingers can text on without a lot of swearing and hitting the delete button a lot. I'd also like to have the Internets on my phone, but I'm not sure if I really want to spend the money on that.

I'm considering the iPhone or the Google phone, but there are also a lot of Blackberry/Sidekick things that look like they could potentially get the job done.

Question: Do you have a phone that does the internet? If so, what kind, and do you like it??

I think we are going to go to this totally kick ass haunted house tour next Friday (the 29th). Awesome!!!

I am considering whether this coming weekend might be a good time to explore this awesome book store. Or perhaps attempt some geocaching?

I am ready to get some Summer Fun underway!

Words I am very tired of hearing about our house:

"That doesn't look good"

"This would be illegal now"

"You had a home inspector?"

Holy freaking hell.

We had a pretty successfully awesome weekend.

Friday night we went to see Rob Riggle, Eugene Mirman, the Upright Citizen's Brigade, and a few others with starflow and cosmicserpent. Eugene Mirman never fails to entertain, and Rob Riggle was way funnier than I expected (I like to set my expectations low because otherwise I get a big Disappointment Face and get pouty).

Saturday I spent the day cleaning/running errands before the arrival of tenillypo and incandes_flower for Sparkletastic Twilight. Oh, Twilight, you never fail to entertain me. I did not have to set my expectations low for this because I knew it would be awesome.

Sunday had an awesome brunch with the aforementioned ladies and mrs_muffin and aquarianna6. Yay, brunch! Then Drew & I walked from our house to Marblehead, found a fun little bar in Marblehead where we had a couple beers, and then walked back to Salem. It was a lot of walking. It was too nice a day outside to not spend hours walking, though. I am getting excited to get out and do a lot of hiking this summer! I also want to explore interesting old timey stuff around New England. Summer fun! I insist on having summer fun this summer, last summer was lame.

So I recently discovered that Goodreads runs a ton of book giveaways. On a whim I entered for a few books that looked interesting, and lo! I won a free book. It arrived today, so it's totally legit. I just have to review it online once I'm done. Sweet!

Also, this article kind of supremely freaks me out.

I had a fabulous weekend. Finally! We are officially all moved in to the new place and officially totally out of Somerville. To celebrate, I just deleted all davis square related crap from my LiveJournal.

So Thursday night cayetana had the genius to set up some drinking at the Burren, and it was tons of fun. Just what we needed after an egregiously hard week of getting up at 4:30 am and doing lots of last minute moving/cleaning chores.

Friday Drew & I headed down to NYC on a late afternoon bus. We were not wowed by awesome on the Mega Bus this time, as the trip down took about 5.5 hours and involved lots of traffic and slowness. So we straggled into the city, checked into our hotel (a great find, too, on East Houston and much nicer than we'd expected from the price tag- the Gem Hotel), grabbed a couple slices of pizza, and went on our merry way to the Metafilter meet up. I maintained the perfect level of drunkenness, something I strive for on New York visits but rarely achieve (mostly I achieve "kill me now" hangovers that last the entire next day). Is it sad that this is an accomplishment? Anyway, we hung out with a ton of really interesting people, had lots of good conversation, and stayed out until 3 am. Woo!

Saturday we got up too early and obtained the cupcakes I have dreamt about for months from Sugar Sweet Sunshine. I actually now think the cupcakery in Beverly has cupcakes that are even better than the NY place. Trooped around the city in an exhausted haze, got lunch at Burgers & Cupcakes (I have a problem). B&C has changed ownership and changed both their burger recipes and their cupcakes recipes, and I sadly report that I'm not sure I'd recommend going back. Not as good as the last time we went there. After that we piled onto the bus and headed back to Beantown, where I arrived just in time to make it to dr_alycat's lovely and fantastic bridal shower. Fun times!

Yesterday we got a lot done on the unpacking front, and now have a living room cleared of boxes (not that the boxes are actually unpacked, mostly they've been shuffled up to the office and drawing room to be dealt with later). The kitchen is, like, half-unpacked at this point.