Flo. Rida.

I am going to be here in two days:

Can. Not. Wait.

Whales.

Jon took me on a whale watch yesterday as an anniversary present after hearing me complain for years about how I'd always wanted to do one but could never convince anyone to go with me. The whale watch was sponsored by the New England Aquarium and took us out the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, which is a protected area of ocean north of the tip of Cape Cod.

We saw tons of dolphins and several humpback whales right up next to the boat...it was very cool. I even saw a dolphin jump out of the water and do a spin, like they do at Sea World. The pictures don't do the experience justice at all because we forgot the memory card for Jon's camera, so these are all cell phone pics:

Probably the best picture we have.

This is the tail of a humpback as it dove into the water. It was a really cool sight, but it just looks like a black dot here.

Whale.

Another whale.

The tell-tale plume that allowed us to spot the whales from a distance.

Lots of people on board...particularly really tall, European men who wouldn't move to let the children see the whales.

Jon eating, per usual.

Even though it was rainy and gross in Boston, it was a beautiful day out on the water.

Coming back into the city.

Image of the Custom House Tower, just because I thought it looked cool.

All in all, it was a fun experience...and allowed me to cross something off my bucket list, as Jon said.

Alot.

Funny article about grammar. (click here)

Clean.

I found this book at the house of the kids I was babysitting last night. It has all kinds of cool recipes (formulas?) for household cleaners, like laundry detergent and wood polish. A lot of them use some seriously hippie ingredients like essential oils, but I'd love to throw out (or, as the book suggests, bring to a local toxic waste disposal site) all of my Clorox and Windex and use natural ingredients to clean. The closest I've gotten so far is throwing used lemons into the disposal to clean it out and make the sink smell good...I highly recommend it.

Pretty.

I drove past this house yesterday on my way to babysitting in a nearby town...a rich town. The picture doesn't really do the house justice (especially because it was raining), but I'd like to live here.

Yum.

Usually I am able to resist donuts as I generally find them overwhelmingly sweet, but for some reason I am addicted to these sprinkle-covered balls of deliciousness from Dunkin. These are the "Spring Munchkins," but they essentially have the same ones throughout the year with different colors. I allow myself to get two on Friday mornings because, well, I deserve it :)

Clarification

Just so you guys know, the text below the pictures in the previous few posts are links. I need to change the font so that is more obvious...

Detention

My favorites are #3 and #9.

Awesome.

Great way to kill time.

Wine and Food Phun!

Having heard about the Phantom Gourmet Wine and Food Phest from a friend of Jon's, I enlisted the one person I know around here who would be willing to stuff her face with me, Devin, and headed into the Bayside Expo Center.

Devin!

What sounds like it could have been a classy affair (aside from the spelling of Phest) turned out to be a cluster beep of slightly overweight 20-something alcoholics standing in huge lines for mini pieces of Boston's tastiest treats and plastic shot glasses of random wines.

Despite the trashiness, we sampled some really delicious items.

(Note: please forgive the horrible quality of the pictures. It's hard to work with dim fluorescent lighting and I forgot about macro mode...)

We were handed this list when we got in...

We wanted to make it to every table but quickly discovered that it was easier to get the food than the wine and that, despite the size of the samples, we filled up quickly.

Some of the goodies:

Meatballs...yum.
No better combo than steak and giant fortune cookies.
This was called White Gazpacho and was essentially a cold, ground up mixture of almonds, garlic, olive oil...and some other stuff that I missed. It was a really interesting flavor but a little overwhelming on the garlic side...which is saying something coming from me.

Super delicious wedding cake. For some reason, Devin and I were the only ones making beelines for the dessert tables.

Lobster arancini - fried rice balls in lobster bisque.

Those of you who know me (which is all of you) know how much I hate seafood, particularly shellfish, but this was actually quite good. Probably because it was 99% cream and fried rice...

Cluster f at the Bayside Expo Center

Bread...of course.

Double fisting mini-wine.

The ultimate item was the meatballs scooped out of giant wheels of parmigiano reggiano. I know it looks repulsive but they were sooo yummy...maybe because I could eat a whole block of parm in one sitting.

Feeling fat and happy :)

Over It

I definitely believe that you have to experience a long winter in order to truly appreciate summer, but it's getting to the point here in Massachusetts where we have 1 nice day to every 20 gross days. Maybe it's old age, but I'm over it. I want to move to here: