The last bits to love before 2010

Eggnog lattes without accompanying papers to write.



New job interview suit.



A clean slate of snow for the ducks in Boston Common. (And for me.)

November, my last full month as a grad student...

has been more busy than photographed...December is only hours away and I have but one measly picture of me reading away on one of these November nights. (And, it is an accident that I am even in this picture as Sumanth was taking pictures of our new furniture arrangement and I just happened to be there.) In two weeks, when I have turned in the last of all of these looming papers, I will make up for this lame post with lots of things to love about December, namely my new freedom!

Oh, October!

Dear me. This month has been so tightly packed that I almost missed documenting it here. Almost.

Amidst the larger issues that have been consuming me--beginning to wrap up school, learning (how very much time and energy it takes) to grade student papers, and applying for jobs, (not to mention flying to Chicago to meet my newest nephew!), these are three things that have made me very happy this month:

I ran into Sumanth on the T. It was bound to happen sometime, and after nearly two years here now, it has. I was coming from studying downtown with a friend, and Sumanth was coming from stopping at the post office after work. The train car that I was in was packed full, rush hour full, and I was fiddling with my ipod and I looked up and there was Sumanth's bright, superman-blue sweatshirt right in the middle of so many crazed commuters.



My mom came to visit and we found this sculpture of a horse that her art teacher eyes recognized from far away. She said, "Is that a Deborah Butterfield horse?" "No," I said, "just some horse." Sure enough, when we walked up to it, we read the plaque; my mom was right about the sculptor, and the horse's name is Henri. Now I think of her wonderful visit every time I see him.





I have found a new coffee shop. This is a picture from the outside. I go and get an americano in a purple mug and one of these brioche and it reminds me of the coffee shops I went to in france. The fall leaves look beautiful from its windows even when the sky is gray.

Three Things--So Far--To Love About September

Miniature produce from the farmer's market.


Corduroy.


The view of the changing leaves from my favorite spot in the library.

Three Things To Love About August, (a quiet return to the world of blogging)

Green, grassy destinations. (This was taken at the Rhode Island state house across from the hotel in Providence where we stayed for our anniversary.)



Long, sunny mornings to get quiet work done at our kitchen table.


Bookshelves full of books awaiting the first days of classes.

(more frequent updates to come.)

Three Things to Love about March

Picturebooks galore! This is a sample page of my own experiment in picturebook creation...thinking about shapes and colors turned out to be more fun than I thought and dealing with a gluestick far, far less fun.



Shelf City...This tiny, handmade village is a birthday gift from Sumanth. The eensy houses remind me of the dollhouse exhibit at the museum of fine arts this winter that I loved so much. I rearrange them from time to time, while imagining the tiny ovens and rugs that must be inside...From the looks of this picture, I should spend less time imagining and more time cleaning my windowsill, yuck.



Bread from Clear Flour Bakery. It is our newest and possibly best Boston discovery. If anyone wants me to send some morning buns from here let me know, they are a Clear Flour specialty.

Three Things to Love about February

Early Valentine vases (with itsy bitsy fresh flowers. aren't tiny ones so sweet?)



Melting snow (which I went for a jog through the other day and wound up feeling like a bumbling, melting snowman with each step because my feet couldn't find a hard place to land.)



Children's books galore (the semester is in full swing and last weekend I got to visit the library that houses the personal correspondence of the author of this dear book.)

Things to love about January

Steamy peppermint tea on frosty mornings



Blue skies on snowy days (this is where I get off of the train in the mornings)



New winter boots with fuzzy insides

There is, of course, an accompanying list of things to hate about January--which would include: weather forecasts like this morning's that declare "Northeast Misery", umbrellas that blow inside out during a freezing rain storm, and waiting for the T to come with windblown groceries in hand, but I won't include photographs of them:)

Snowy South End Buttery

First, a few words about the pictures Sumanth posted on Tuesday night (he's not as big on explanations). The Christmas tree salad was a yummy, tree-shaped concoction he came up with in about five minutes after he asked my mom if she had any extra salad ingredients around the house and she gave him tomatoes, feta cheese, an avacado and an onion. The jalepenos and oreos were both for appetizers he made for Jodi's family when they came over--he stuffed the jalepenos with cream cheese and wrapped them with bacon and he ground the oreos up to make crusts for mini-chese cakes. Yep, his love for cooking is ever growing and yielded him many chef-related Christmas presents including a ravioli stamp and multiple thermometers.



This is a picture of the bakery we went to today to use a Christmas gift certificate on cupcakes and coffee. It was in the south end, this neighborhood full of little stores that have signs that say, "Please don't let the dog out, when you open the door." The funny thing is that the shops are all boutique-y and full of small glass vases and spoons and ornaments and the dogs in them are HUGE Saint Bernards and it is so sweet to see them moseying around among all of the glassware miniatures, not breaking a thing. The funnier thing is that it awoke in me a desire for a pet. A desire where there is usually repulsion and which I haven't had since I was about 9 years old and wanted a mouse to keep in my pocket. It will probably pass soon, especially because we can't comfortably house a Saint Bernard in our 650 sq. feet, even if he/she was miraculously trained.