Little musings

Im going to try & be concise (yet thorough) bc i feel like i’ve gotten nothing accomplished today. Here goes.

(1) Monday was rachel’s birthday, so we went right out for drinks after work, to a place called ‘bin 18', a wine bar, which was in a nice open loft-like space, very airy, with a 2-for-1 wine deal and had such a good time that by the time we left, i got convinced into coming over for dinner at ashley & anton’s house... anton made us tuna, which was delicious at the time, but proceeded to wake me up every other hour in the middle of the night with stomach cramps. At first i thought i was being paranoid, but apparently the same thing happened to ashley. This kind of a Monday evening ensures the rest of the week will be super long...

(2) Tuesday night i reignited my passion for popcorn. This resulted in way too much garlic powder being sprinkled on the kernals and insane garlic breath for the next 20 hours. thus, one of those rare moments that i was happy to be sleeping alone.

(3) running on the beach! Im back at it. It has resulted in hurt knees, a weird swollen tendon on the side of my left leg, and a slightly-swollen right ankle. Wtf. Maybe i had the right idea taking a break?

(4) we have a new coworker! She started Monday & has been quite pleasant thus far. However, if i have to hear new haven being referenced one more time during lunch, i might die. Note to self: never let children attend yale in any capacity.

(5) last night i ate & drank like a russian. We had our inaugeral night of "eating adventures" which involved a group of us going out to an ethnic dinner in the miami-area; anton hosted this one, and picked a random russian spot inside a motel (literally) way north on the beach. He ordered all the food for us, which was surprisingly good: pickled vegetables; an amazing salad with cucumber, tomato, yogurt cheese and walnuts; blintzes (some mushroom, others with ground beef); cheese-oozing out of filo-dough; pilaf; yogurt soup with dill, radish, and potato; borsht; lamb, chicken and sausage skewers; and a random assortment of russian cookies for desert. We were a rowdy loud table of 7 or 8, and there were only 2 or 3 other tables of diners in the place; our waitresses were dressed in some kind of festive-russian-folk-clothing, and we were supplying the entertainment for the whole place, drinking wine, beer, and a fermented-yeast non-alcoholic drink (it looked like beer but smelled intensely like fresh bread and was slightly carbonated). Eventually we started on the mls of vodka. Yes, ml. As in a mili litre. Like you would know how much that is? No, nor did we. So we would order them 300 ml at a time, everyone would do shots, and we’d get another round. In a carafe. Anton would have us all push our shot glasses into the center, and we would toast and sling back (except for those unlucky designated drivers). At some point i thought i could keep up with anton, which was a mistake, being that he is both a man, bigger than me, and half russian.

Towards the end of the night, rachel & i were talking and not paying attention to anyone else, and suddenly realized we were the only people left at the table. Everyone else got up and had left. So instead of thinking, "wow, time to sober up!", I proceeded to throw back the last vodka shot. Although we briefly stopped by sandbar, it was mostly to pee, order beers, and then not drink them, and then i was dropped off at home where i proceeded to responsibly set my alarm for my morning drs appt, pour myself a glass of water, and go into the bathroom, where i promptly pulled all the towels off the racks, made a little hampster nest, and fell asleep on the floor. I woke up an hour or so later, ready to go to bed. Totally, totally insane. So, in fact, this is a wonderful place for me to tell this story after patty’s incredibly sweet missive below about my accomplishments: even if sometimes i sound like an alcoholic, i am simply a girl who was trapped in a library for 3 straight yrs and is celebrating her ultimate freedom.

(6) the best part? I somehow managed to get to the drs office this morning, and spent the next 2.5 hrs waiting to actually *see* the doctor while watching an insane show on national geographic tv about americans who were dropped to live in ALASKA and camp their way out; an amazing reality show. Highly recommend. I could have sat there alllll day.

(7) second best part? At some point during our eating adventures at the russian restaurant, one of the other participants, spencer, invited us all on his boat for tomorrow! Hooray! Unfortch we leave early in the morning; but its completely and utterly worth it to spend the day on the water with friends. I know, i know. Rough life...

xoxoxo