New England Vacation

I'm back---I know, try and contain your excitement. I know you missed me so. I have much to report. I will try and post this today, but work is weird, it's always hard after taking a day off and then having a four day weekend. We'll see how it goes. Not sure how everything will play out. Let the recap begin!

But real fast: Ken Lay died this morning of a heart attack---christ.

Friday:
Work was pretty busy on Friday. My friend Stephen at work was giving me a hard time about taking the Fung Wah bus to Boston. He was like---"it's so ghetto, you are going to sit next to some fat woman eating McDonalds or some skinny gross Chinese man slurping noodles the entire time." First of all, that was not how it was at all. It was a perfectly normal bus ride with nothing out of the ordinary at all. Also, it was effing 15 dollars. Can't beat that. The only issue was that it took a while to get out of the city, but that was to be expected since it was a holiday weekend. I didn't care. I had magazines and my iPod. Once I got to Boston, I called Leah, she told me to take the "T" which for all you Boston virgins like myself, is their subway. More on this later.* I met her at a CVS with her friend, who is now my friend---brenda. Then we went to Nelson's house. It was a pretty nice pad. We listening to Tribe and played Beer Pong. Leah and I were on a team and we pretty much dominated both games. If my dominated I mean, we won, but only b/c the other two teams had at least one horrid player on them. No offense Brenda or that weird girl in the green halter top. So----it was great. But around 12:30 we were all really tired and went back to Leah's.

Saturday:
Leah and I woke up sort of late. We had planned on going to the beach with Brenda and this girl Jess. We got a late start, something that wouldn't affect us until later on in the afternoon. We packed our bags, pulled on our bikini's and headed out. Boston traffic was crappy. It took us forever to get to the beach. Then, once we got there---we had to park in this town called Ipswitch. We then had to wait for a shuttle. I had to pee really really badly, so I walked over to this abandoned car repair store to "see if they had a restroom I could use." When really the whole time I knew I was going to just pee behind the building. The effing shuttlebus took forever. We got to the beach, walked a ways to find a place that wasn't infested with kids and annoying people. We laid out for a few hours left of daylight. Just kidding, I got a little sun. Yeah, no burn. Phew. We began to drive home and we stopped to eat because we were all effing starving. It was glorious.

Salem: What an adventure! I get chills just thinking about the Crucible and "I can't do it Mr. Danforth!" Anyway---On our way back from the beach we took the scenic route and stopped in Salem. I wanted to see spirits and the witch things. :) I'm a loser, I know. Brenda had been there before and told us that if you take pictures and there are spirits there---they will show up on your camera as "orbs". I immediately became obsessed with taking pictures of everything just so I could see and orb or a disgruntled spirit. Anyway----of course I took pictures of like everything---doors, windows, signs, graves. Nothing. No orbs. :( After the orb-hunting expedition, we came across a graveyard. Graveyards are cool---I mean, old ones are cool, new graves aren't that cool. I wasn't scared. They were from the 1700-1800s. Anyway, we were meandering around the graveyard and looking at them. Then we noticed these two guys like with a camera and talking seriously about the graves and everything. Me, being my inquisitive self began a conversation:

Me: So, are you guys from Salem?
Them: No, we just come up here every weekend to do paranormal research.
Me: Really? Like spirits and ghosts? Can you show me where to find orbs?
Them: Yeah, but Salem is some shit, most of it is like tourism and BS.
Me: (disappointed) So I won't be able to take a picture of orbs?
Them: No, not here really, but I can show you some I took?
Me: (excited) Really? Oh---let me see!
*shows me freaky pictures of orbs---I get freaked out*
Guy with tattoos: Yeah, there was this old insane aslym where they used to burn people alive and I became obsessed with it----like I used to crawl into the incinerator and collect bones. I also used to sleep there becuase I was obsessed with it. Then they tore it down.
Me: (freaked out) That's great. er-----um. I think we should go.
Boston Accent guy: Well we have a website, you should check it out.
Brenda: Ok, i'll write it down.
Guy with tattoos: There was also this one time where I was in this jail (although it could have been that same insane aslyum) and I heard a little girl crying like so loud and then I saw a pool of blood on the floor and then it disappeared one second later.
Me: Yeah, that's great. I really don't believe in this stuff. We are going to leave now. Cya. Thanks.

After that---we took pictures of the Witch Trials memorial and drove back to Boston.

Later that night we met up with Lindsay and Derek at Tia's this "kickass" place in Boston. It reminded me of the waterfront in Georgetown. Oh right---Matt Barker was there too---totally blast from the past. I was in a weird mood. I had fun for about 70% of the time, then I became moody Lauren and wanted to go home at around 1:30.

Sunday:
Leah and I woke up leisurely, and then went to breakfast/lunch at the SouthEnd Buttery. It was YUMMY!!! Then we took a stroll, and if my stroll I mean we walked for the entire day, around downtown Boston. We walked up and down Newbury street wandering in and out of shops. We spent appx. an hour in Victoria's Secret trying on bras. I got the Ipex one, and I'm super excited about it---you can make all these different strap combinations and so I can actually wear different types of shirts from now on! Then we got tired and stopped in Trident Booksellers for a snack. I got a cranberry spritizer and Leah got this like drink with all these random fruits and veggies in it. It was green and she said it tasted like salad. I will also vouch for this----it tasted like salad. Oh, and we got sweet potato fries. I paid and left my debit card there--like an asshole. It was annoying. I didn't realize this until we went to Cambridge and were eating dinner at this place called "Grendels Den". They had this dollar menu that was quite impressive. We all pigged out on it along with two pitchers of Sangria. :) Delish.

Monday:
Today was the busiest day of them all---Leah and I woke up CRAZY early---well, for vacation and headed down to Providence to meet my friend Mark and his girlfriend. We get to their apt. at like 9---and then we head off to the beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we laid out for a good three hours. Then, around 2---we left to grab some fish and chips at Aunt Carrie's, the BOMB place. It was amazing and just enough so that I was full and also

Then we headed off to the Marina to get on the boat---it was so cute. It was a really nice sailboat. It was me, Leah, Mark, Adele, Mark's sister Karen and his dad. We had picked up clam chowder before hand and clam cakes and we had a case full of beer. We were pretty much set. We sailed for a few hours, shooting the shit and then we rode up to the big Mansion from "Meet Joe Black". It was pretty cool. Then we started to sail back into the harbor where the fireworks were going to go off---they were so great! We had this like panoramic view of all the different towns that were having shows that night. :) It was incredible. Then we docked and drove to Coldstone. It was amazingly delicious. The only bad thing was that Leah and I had to drive back to Boston at like 1am.

Tuesday:
We woke up relatively early (read: 10am) and walked back to that Trident place so I could claim my debit card. Then, we walked around aimlessly to try and find an internet cafe so I could buy my bus ticket back to NYC on the Fung Wah. We finally found one--walked through the Boston Commons and visited Jess who we had dinner with on Sunday night. Then pretty much we grabbed a slice of pizza at Upper Crust and rushed home so I could make it to the bus station on time.

Back in NYC---I hung out and changed with Michael then we walked over to Michelle's for a party and fireworks watching on her roof. Quality Michael bonding time and also quality Casey flitrting via text message.

I want to buy a red gingham halter top dress for CK's wedding. Someone help me find a cute affordable one.

*Lauren's Thoughts on the "T": As many of you know, I live in New York City, the greatest city in the world. I will be the first person to admit that I have officially become a New York snob when it comes to everyday things, like accessibility, convienence, and transportation. I love the busses and subway for the most part and it can get you almost anywhere in Manhattan was facility. Admitting this, I still have some legitimate issues with the way the "T" is run. Some serious issues are as follows:

It closes at 12:30am. WTF. I know that last call is at like 1am in Boston, as opposed to the 4am closing time in NYC but they should AT LEAST make it close AFTER last call so that people can get home who are poor and can't afford a cab.

1. There is no uniform way to pay. There are tokens. Great! I love tokens, it's like Philadelphia---I love Philly and I don't mind tokens. There is also this thing called "Charlie Pass". It's names after the Charles river. Yes, I know---very cute. You can buy this one where you put money on it and it gets debited everytime you use it---like NYC. And also you can buy a monthly pass, also like NYC. However, not ALL the places take that "debit" Charlie pass, so you get screwed when you are at a tokens only station. THere are no signs about which stations take the Charlie pass and which only take tokens. Stupid Stupid.
2. The stops are far apart. Like---I know Boston is more "suburban" than other cities, but it is annoying that if you miss your stop you can't really get out and walk back. The stops are way too far apart. I understand this reasoning, but it's still annoying, b/c I missed a stop and was subsequently annoyed at this.
3. The trains come once every 30 minutes. This is ridiculous. Boston's excuse is, "Well, we are a commuting city. They come more often during rush hour". Fine. I believe you Boston, but still---there are people that need to take it on the weekends and don't want to wait an hour for the flipping train!
4. People talk to you on the train. I don't like this. I am very outgoing and will offer directions to people that look lost. But you have to look REALLY lost so I don't seem like a jack ass when I offer up my help. But people kept asking ME directions and stuff. Like I looked like I knew where I was going? No way dude?! There was also people who just wanted to start talking to me. And no, not to pick me up, just to like "chat". What's up with that Boston?!
5. The busses are on a different like---system then the "T". For example, in NYC you have a Metrocard that you can use on busses and subways. In BOSTON----you can't use your stupid Charlie Pass on busses, only the lame trains and this one ghetto "silver line". Does this make sense? I bet it has to do with Unions. Either way---it's annoying.

Rug Burn Update: I have a scab that is healing quite nicely and I don't think I'm going to have a scar. I am, however, obsessed with picking at it.

I'm too tired to write anymore about what is going on today. Sorry.

Happy Hump Day!

Love, Lauren

P.S My crush on Casey continues and is still going strong. In case you all thought it was just a fickle fling. :)