Planning For NashVegas

It's going to snow today in Boston. Typical. Right when the Ground Hog sees his shadow to let us know Spring is on the way, Boston laughs "Ha, ha, ha, here's some 20 degree weather and some snow". I guess we are not getting out of winter as quickly as we thought.

I'm heading to Nashville in 15 days for a half professional/half fun 5 day trip with my future legal advisor  Alexa Millinger (apparently I called her Alex in a past article and so this is my apology for that editorial error). I'm going to watch her debate on something called a Moot Court. I thought it sounded like a noise a cow makes but nope... it's a real thing.

Nashville, thankfully, does not see snow very often and has much more mild temperatures in February. I'm excited to wear a sundress again and hang up my down-coat for the weekend.

If a cowboy and a showgirl had a baby, it would be Nashville. Nashville has the performance sparkle of Las Vegas mixed with the country twang of the deep South. As an acoustic bluegrass lover, I know I'll find lots of things to love about this quaint city. I also enjoy American Redneck Food (read: fried and buttered proteins). I have a feeling I'll fit right in.

Here is what I will be doing in Nashville.

I want to listen to music at the Bluebird Cafe and hopefully spot this hunky guy working the sound board:

I'll shop for boots at this bootery:

For carbohydrate loading before my tourist days, I need to have these pancakes: 

...and devour one of these plates of hefty BBQ delight:

I have to go here because it's Nashville and Walk the Line was my favorite movie 7 years ago:

I'm getting a drink at one of these bars:

...and learning how to line dance at a saloon like in the new footloose movie:

I'm going to walk around Printers Alley and find this sign: 

and snap pictures of this city-scape so I can instagram it for y'all (<-- I'm getting a hang of the lingo already). 

Top 10 Things I Miss About Summer

This wonky winter weather is starting to turn me into a real Grinch.  Yesterday I came to work in rainy 50 degree weather and returned home with a harsh 30 degree wind whipping in my face.  In all seriousness how am I supposed to dress for this weather? Most days I don't know if it's going to snow, rain, or sleet. Whenever I see the sun outside, I always sprint to get my coat so I can chase the UV rays for the five minutes they are accessible each week in the winter. I, for one, am getting FED UP with the temperature vacillation. One minute it's chilly, next minute it's mind-numbing cold, next minute the sun's out for 3.5 seconds. Just stop.

I really miss summer. I know this is not a unique epithet. We all miss summer. In the words of one of my best friends "Winter's only fun for like the day you go skiing and that's it." Truth. If skiing didn't exist no one would live in Wyoming. What the hell would people do out there?

Top 10 Things I Miss About Summer:

1.) Leaving my house with wet hair. Before I take a shower in the winter, I debate how much time I'll have before leaving the house. If the answer is anything less than an hour then I'm probably not taking a shower because I don't want icicles growing on my head.

2.) Rolling my windows down. I'm choking on musty heat fumes and dust from my heater. I need some fresh air. Sometimes I feel like the dogs in the window on the streets of South Boston waiting for their owners to come home and walk them. I am that dog from November-March. It's so sad. I just need to stick my head of the window on a warm sunny day.

3.) Outdoor concerts. There's nothing like attending an outdoor concert on a huge field of greenery. I can get bad ADD at indoor concerts. Outside there's so much more room for wandering, exploring, and practicing cartwheels.

4.) Flippy Floppies.   I need to be where these sandals are right now. There's so much freedom in flip-flops. In a half-second you can kick them off and be barefoot.  There is nothing veiling you from the earth beneath your feet but a thin rubber layer. It's poetic. Like Moses in the desert. I think it's the way we were all meant to ambulate.

5.) Ice Cream. I want to be able to eat something cold without running to fetch my fleece blanket and wool socks. Hot chocolate is just no substitute for ice cream or froyo.

6.) Biking. I am tired of enclosed transportation. Me and my bicycle would like to travel out in the open again. It's athletic. I'm turning into a motorized vehicle blob from taking buses and trains and cars everywhere. I need to stretch my legs and build muscle again.

7.) Sundresses. I enjoy the galvanization of frolicking from place to place pant-less. Also dresses are a complete outfit. There is so much less thought put into dressing oneself. Step 1: Put on dress; Step 2: Grab flippy-floppies and go.

8.) Barbecuing. Hot dogs and wings are just better off the grill. There's something social about bbq'ing where it brings people together like a thanksgiving dinner. The agenda on a Sunday afternoon could be sitting around the barbecue with a deck of cards. It's a beautiful thing.

9.) Iced Coffee. The ever non-winning battle I have with my hot coffee to stay hot in the winter is tedious and exhausting. Iced Coffee is easier to drink and consume.

10.) Friends. I really miss hanging out with my friends. In reality people are more lazy in the winter. Winter is when we hibernate. We are more productive at work, but less productive at our hobbies and our social lives. The reason so many great colleges and Ivy League schools set up shop in New England is because of this meteorology productivity factor.  Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton and Columbia are up here for a reason. You think if Harvard was in Miami, it would be the best college America? Doubt it. Everyone would be at the beach, not inside their dorm rooms inventing Facebook.   

Likewise, this problem extends beyond college and seeps into adult-life. It's so much more likely that if I call my girlfriends for an impromptu after work drink that they'll come if the date is July 15th and not February 15th. It's just a fact of life.

Mari Vanna Creates Old Russia In America

I'm obsessed with all things Russian. I have no explanation for this. I'm not Russian. I hate pickled and over-mayonnaised food.  I dislike gray skies and mind-numbing cold. Yet, still I find myself with a deep intrigue for Russian cities, culture, and art. I even took Russian Language in college. What have I used this basic Russian for? Aside from getting the Slavic maintenance man at my office to hang and fix things for free не очень (not much).

Imagine my delight  visiting D.C. two weeks ago with my girlfriends, when we stumbled upon a hip Russian bar and bistro called Mari Vanna.  It's very hard for Russian places to become "hip" in the US because Russia isn't one of the countries we'd consider trendy or modern. I've seen very few Slavic themed clubs or restaurants probably because of the stigma that Russia is simply not "fun". Mari Vanna has sought to overthrow this American misconception and has opened chains of its restaurant in Moscow, St. Petersburg, NYC and London.

According to our hostess, Mari Vanna was a Russian lady who opened her kitchen to travelers and cooked them authentic Russian cuisine. In that vain, Mari Vanna was created with the idea of making people feel as if they were in a bonafide kitchen in the middle of St. Petersburg. Everything in the restaurant feels and looks as if it could be found in any eatery in Moscow, right down to the bathrooms which play creepy Slavic music from an old radio above the toilet. Even the wash-basins appear to be from when the USSR was still in tact.

The bartender was welcoming though I may have soiled that relationship with my clumsy broken Russian. He let us sample all six of the different infused-vodka that were sitting in jugs behind the bar. The fruit flavors were delicious, but I have to say some vodka flavors should not be attempted. The Oatmeal infusion tasted like vodka poured on Quaker oats.

Lighting Fixture that holds wine bottles

Menu on a slab of wood with a spoon attached

Oatmeal, Raspberry and Honey infused-vodka

Bathroom water basin

Non-Russian Ladies enjoying the Russian traditions

Upon leaving, the hostess gave us a lot of Russian candy and, what she claims, is a key to the restaurant. I sincerely hope this key actually will open the doors to Mari Vanna as I will attempt it for throwing a secret Russian Vodka Party in D.C. one of these days. You are all on the invite list.

Free Swag

Inauguration: Homecoming Weekend for GW Alumni

I found myself pretty busy with work and school applications in 2012 so I plan to make up for it this year by travelling A LOT. A little glimpse into my plans, my trips will include Nashville, Chicago (again!), Rio Di Janiero, Buenos Aires, and Charlotte.

This weekend starts the travelling bonanza in a place I used to call home for four years, Washington D.C.  I will be travelling to D.C. to attend the second Inauguration of Obama. Being there the first time, you'd think I wouldn't need to go for round two, but alas, it is not really the actual Inauguration that I'm going for (sorry Barack). 

Inauguration weekend is to D.C. what Mardi Gras is to New Orleans, minus the beads and the flashing people.   Bars stay opened until 4 or 5 am. People wander around outside the monuments hoping to attend  free concerts that feature artists like Beyonce. There's Inaugural Balls all over the city where people get dressed up in prom attire and dance the night away. When I went to GW, four years ago (wow I'm getting old), our Inaugural ball was at the Omni Shoreham and was made up of various rooms with a different themed ambiance in every room. There was a DJ playing top 40 hits in a room with strobe lights, a Frank Sinatra band in an exquisite ballroom, a casual folk band in a room with vegetable crudites and pigs in a blanket...  And for GW students, this experience is what I imagine homecoming football games must be like to Boston College or University of Texas. Politics was our home-sport and we got to watch the first string politicians play every day.

Here's some pictures of Inauguration from January 2009.

Waiting for the Inauguration Concert to commence

It was so cold that day, the reflecting pool was frozen

Attentive crowd freezing their butts off on Inauguration Day January 2009 

I wish I had a picture of Obama to place with these pictures but from where I was standing he was not even visible except on the mega-screen. The millions of people that got there at 5 am. were all miles in front of me blocking my view. Not even to see the president sworn in will I get up that early. I did have some great company Inauguration weekend...

The Single Ladies

I will be spending Inauguration with the same trio of "single ladies" from four years ago. Sometimes I get nostalgic looking at these photos, and then I notice the ugly green gloves and white hat I'm wearing and the nostalgia fades.

Words On Standardized Tests That No One Uses In Real Life

I imagine there is someone over at Electronic Testing Services (or the Devil as I like to refer to them as) who sits around with a gigantic Oxford English Dictionary, one with a brown leather cover and gold tipped pages,  picking the most obscure words possible to put on the GRE. I'm convinced that most of these words no one has actually ever used.  I know this because I was an English and Writing major and I have never grazed eyes on these words. I thought a few of them might be made up but OH NO they are actually all real words that sit in some catalog of unused vocabulary meant to make you cry when you see them in a timed testing situation.

I thought I'd share them with you so you can feel the full weight of how ridiculous some of these words actually are.

Pusillanimous
Seriously. Try pronouncing it right now. You don't know this word. It means cowardly animal. It's supposed to be synonymous with craven but ...it's just so many syllables. I like to think of the cowardly lion when I think of this word. I should really staple this picture to my word list.

The Cowardly Lion is afraid of big words

Ochlocracy
Definition: government ruled by the mob. Unless you're discussing Scarface or the Godfather, this word is just not useful at all. As I'm writing this blog, there are red squiggly lines under "ochlocracy" because spell-check doesn't even recognize it and as far as I'm concerned, spell-check is the authority on whether a word is usable or not.

Pacino only speaks money

Chimerical
Definition: being or related to a Chimera. Oh, right a Chimera.... "What the hell is a chimera?".  A chimera is a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail. It's supposed to really mean "being imagined but not realistic". If you happen to read Greek mythology, and remember all the terms from it, and are able to deduce that this word is actually referring to a fire-breathing female monster myth...  then maybe you'll get this question correct.

Yup, there's pictures to prove it's a real thing

Pulchritudinous
Definition: very beautiful. Sounds like a mix between pulpit and attitude or polka and rude. If someone said this to me unprompted with the definition, I'd probably take it as an insult. It's actually from 15th century English. So I'm sure someone from ETS dug it up and thought "AHA I bet they've never heard this one before".

Zephyr
Definition: a gentle breeze. Only way you know this word is if you know the led zeppelin song where it's mentioned that one time.  But I have been actively using it for months much to the dismay of everyone around me who are fed up with my over-pretentious vocabulary.

That must be a zephyr blowing through his hair

Metonymy
Definition: The substitution of the name for an attribute or adjunct for that thing meant. Ex: "Clackers" as referring to business women in heels; "Suits" as referring to high level executives.  I think it's just the "nymy" at the end that confuses me. Sounds like the middle of the alphabet when someone is trying to get through m and n in a drunk slur. Drunk slur... All this word will ever be to me.

Sanguinary
Definition: Bloody. Don't google image this term. I just did and it was disturbing. This word, I only know, because it was used in MacBeth and I took a lot of Shakespeare classes in college... and it's as nerdy as it sounds.

Nice use of the visual  of "sanguinary"

Great thing about this post is now I actually know all these words after taking the time to detail them. I'm sure fate will wipe them from any test I will ever see because that's just the GRE's way...

Sweet Tunes for Traveling...

I'm currently reading "A Visit From the Goon Squad" (if you haven't read it you freaking should it won like the Pulitzer Prize and stuff). It's about two people that work at a record label and their past lives and how all of it intertwines with music.

Now I'm inundated with all these thoughts of music and it's relationship to travel. There's nothing that goes better with a long car ride than a radio station playing your favorite jam. I really love listening to music when I travel. Most of the time I'll spend hours on a bus, train, or airplane ride just mellowing out to a new playlist on my I-pod and staring out the window watching the distances go by between where I've been and where I'm going. I have at least one song that brings back memories from every trip I've been on. It's a musical scrapbook of my adventures.

Anyways, I digress,  I made you all a playlist on Spotify because I just felt like you'd all enjoy some tunes:

Small Traveler Makes You A Sweet Playlist

1. Gary Clark Jr. – Bright Lights
2. The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider 
3. Joni Mitchell – California
4. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Come See About Me
5. The Avett Brothers – The Weight of Lies
6. Sheryl Crow – Everyday Is A Winding Road
7. The Lumineers – Flowers in Your Hair
8. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – Paris (Ooh La La)
9. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Buffalo Soldier
10. Canned Heat – On The Road Again
11. Fitz and The Tantrums – Winds of Change
12. Phish – Back On The Train   (if you don't have 9 minutes to devote to a live recording of phish... feel free to skip)

I really wanted to include this song but thought you'd all disown me  Miley Cyrus – Party In The U.S.A. but let's not pretend you don't think this is the best.road.trip.song.ever.

Thanks Hostelling International USA for the Free Swag

Sometimes I get so caught up in studying for the GRE, shooing mice out of my apartment... and oh yeah working that full-time job I currently have, that I forget to participate in my hobbies.  This blog, being my favorite hobby, has just been sitting here, untouched for too long. I realize there's times where an ascetic strict self-discipline is in order.  I have to focus on the less fun things to move up in the world, but it doesn't mean I don't miss writing (fun-writing not graduate school essay writing, ew), and all the general splendor of travelling.

Today I got something in the mail that ignited a spark in my heart--- and reminded me how much I LOVE to go on vacation.

These sweet free overnight passes are courtesy of Hostelling International USA. I've never actually stayed in a hostel in the states so I'm pretty damn excited. Most likely I won't be using these until next July as I'd like to experience the sunbathing weather that only hits New England for a brief 10 days in the middle of summer... just kidding... it's more like 12 days. But the anticipation of a vacation is enough for me for now. I can almost feel the gentle beach zephyr brushing through my hair.

Who wants to be my plus one??

Fun Things To Do In Chicago

Oh goodness it's been a long time since I blogged. I'm sorry for anyone who enjoyed reading my posts. All my writing energy is being burned studying for the GRE, writing MBA applications and attending networking events... sorry reader, are you asleep yet?

My next trip will be with my girlfriends to CHICAGO. My friends asked me to scout out hotels for our stay so instead of doing that (sorry Deepa and Alex I'll get to it...) I decided to write a fun itinerary of cool stuff to do and see. I've never been but in the reading I've done about it... here are the things you have to do when you travel to Chicago.

1.) John Hancock Tower: 
If you live in Boston, you are probably very confused by this, as I was. But there is actually another Hancock tower in Chicago. Apparently this one is cooler than ours in Boston, because there is an observatory on top where you can see the whole city. And I thought the Hancock towers were just finance meccas. Well I was wrong.

2.) The BEAN:
This is probably the only thing I care about seeing when I'm in Chicago. Mostly because I want to instagram funny pictures of my body getting wider and smaller and weirder at various angles. But also because, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or the Statue of Liberty in NYC, it's the one landmark in Chicago purely made to trap tourists as it has no actual function other than to be aesthetic and fun.

3.) Lincoln Park Zoo:
If there's a chance for me to see a monkey anywhere, I'm taking it.

4.) Wrigley Field:
Another amazing opportunity for me to wear a baseball cap and instagram myself eating a hotdog. They also have poppy seeds on their hot dog buns in Chicago. Wild.

5.) Topolobampo: 
Topolobampo is a Mexican restaurant in Chicago that's supposed to be really amazing. Mostly I want to go because the Obamas recommend it and I want to show my support for the democratic party in the election month by eating like Barack.

6.) Sears Tower Ledge:
I've decided to face my fear of heights and go out onto the ledge of the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower in Chicago. There is a clear ledge that overlooks the streets and city below. Since I have a deathly fear of being over 10 feet in the air, I'll probably need a Xanax to go sit out there. I feel the rush of a panic attack coming on already.

... I mean seriously don't you just want to scoop this kid up before he falls off! The maternal instincts in my are almost jumping through the computer.

Things I Think I'll Be Too Old for at 25

I'm going to be 25 years old in about a month. Even though I feel like 25 sounds older than my internal age (which I gauge to be still around 21-22), I do realize there are some things that I'm starting to grow out of.

Here are some things that I think I'll be too old for on my birthday this year.

1. Hard alcohol that comes out of a plastic bottle. Glass bottles are a definite mark of maturity. The more expensive looking the bottle=the more classy the lady.
2. Doing laundry only once a month. I learned this lesson the other day when I waited 5 weeks to do laundry, stuck too much in the machine, and it overflowed. 
3. Having drunk pictures tagged of myself on Facebook. The demographic of people viewing my Facebook has changed from people that want to party with me to people might want to employ me. Tag wisely.
4. Calling men my age "boys". I'd say at 25, anatomically speaking, they are fully grown men, even if they don't act like it.
5. Stuffed toys in the bed. Bye bye beanie babies. We had some good times.
6. Forgoing the use of sunscreen. Burning leads to wrinkles. 
7. Getting a belly-button piercing. I don't think I need to explain this one.
8. Shopping in the Junior Department. I've officially grown out of a size extra large at Abercrombie junior.
9. "Grinding" on the dance floor. There are some things you just shouldn't do in public as a grown up.  Rubbing up on strangers to the beat of "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love Again" is on that list.
10. Wearing baggy sweatpants outside.This rule also applies to pajama pants.
11. Not exercising. My metabolism is slowing down by the minute.
12. Eating take out food more than two nights a week. I read somewhere that every adult should know how to cook five main dishes. Might be time to start grocery shopping...
13. Showing up to a party without bringing something. Even a $3 bottle of Charles Shaw from Trader Joe's is an acceptable host gift. As you get older, the price of wine slowly increases. By 30, I'll bring a $20 bottle of wine. By 35, a $30-$40 bottle. By 45, Veuve Cliquot.
14. Putting high school on my resume. Since I've both graduated from college and have had a job, I think my employers are apt enough to assume I've had some sort of rudimentary education. 
15. Bean Bag Chairs. Unless I'm reliving Woodstock in the back of a VW van.
16. Not having drinks to offer guests. See above rules: grocery shopping and buying classy liquor.
17. Crying in public. Unless I get fired. In which case, I will weep where ever I feel like it.
18. Sleeping on a floor. I already think I'm too old for this. 
19. Pictures without frames. I think it might be time to stop scotch-taping things to the walls upgrade to a plastic frame from Target.
20. Eating Ramen Noodles. The signature meal of college-hood. I think the cutting-ribbon moment of my childhood to adult-life was graduating from Ramen to Progressso soup.

Why Is Travelling So Addicting?

Hello travel readers! I just took a three month hiatus from travel blogging while I diligently studied for the GRE. Trust me it was just as boring as it sounds.

I really wanted to write about something personal for my first article back so I decided to reach deeper than the proverbial travel tips and top 5s to get at the sadder side of being a travel lover. And the simple question that keeps plaguing my current daily life is this:

Why is travelling so addicting? 

As you well know, my last out of country trip was a 10 day road trip through Costa Rica. Upon returning from a vacation of playing with monkeys and swimming in the ocean, I have now gotten back on the routine treadmill of working weekdays. Weekdays that seem to be moving but going nowhere all at the same time. There is a certain staleness to my everyday life that's only lucid when I've been removed from it. It's not that life itself is dull and undesirable, it's that when I leave it for a brief week I find myself accustoming to the new place I'm in. I start eating the funky cheeses, smelling strange smells, swaying to the local music... and my brain, in its adaptability, starts slowing down time. It wants to roll every new thing on its tongue and grasp the newness. It wants to remember the fishy smell of the beach after sundown and the pant of the howler monkeys in the trees during sunrise.


I read an article once that explained to me that when the brain is in a routine, it speeds up time. It has no need to relearn the path from your house to your job. It doesn't need to pay attention to Microsoft Excel sheet after Microsoft Excel sheet. Your brain turns on autopilot. But when the brain is on vacation, it starts to absorb new things. All of a sudden, you start to notice the tropical trees and the bright green color their leaves turn in the sun. I never look at the leaves in Boston. I've seen them and my brain no longer cares to take in reused information. Vacationing is like turning your senses into a baby once again. When you were an infant and saw your first balloon or box of brightly colored crayons, you were allured by them. Your senses were open to learning. You wanted to put every crayon in your mouth to see what wax tasted like. I think that's what travelling to a new place is like. It's about reminding your brain how to use it's senses again.

Monkeys, Sloths, and Other Cute Animals

Wow readers, it's been a long time since my last post. I was in Costa Rica for a LONG time and then upon return I had work to do for my job (you know, the one that pays me). But now here we are: you, me, and a full post about travel recaps from Costa Rica.

I'd like to start my travel updates by paying homage to a rescue center in Puerto Viejo called the Jaguar Rescue Center.  Visiting the center stirred a strange maternal instinct inside me, prompting dreams about adopting howler monkeys and building a lily pad pond for frogs in my backyard. 

Below is a list of my favorite animals from the center:

Cayman (shown below) are pretty shy. I think his cheeks are turning pink as I'm taking his picture. Our tour guide informed us that though closely resembling it's alligator cousin, they do not have the same instinct to attack humans. One way to tell the difference between to two is to approach it and if it chases you it's an alligator but if it leaves you alone it's a Cayman. I'm not sure how I feel about those odds.

Antisocial

This little frog is apparently covered in poison. It's ok to touch with hands but you can't get any of his outer goo in your mouth or on your eyes.

Girl I was poison

Sloths are the laziest animals in the jungle. They move so slow that I don't understand how they have not been triumphed over by some hungrier faster animal. I honestly think that the purpose of this animal was to induce snuggling from critters of the earth. I've never seen an animal that has made me want to hug it so badly. Pictured below is a baby sloth who had his two toes clenching a volunteer. Let's face it, sloth baby has hypnotized her with his cuddly magic.

Wanna be Gerber baby

Ok now let's get to the good stuff, the monkeys. For all of you who know me personally, you know about my deep seeded desire to own a monkey. I even have a "Monkey Portraits" calendar in my office. So when I heard there was a place where I could PLAY with real MONKEYS... I was there faster than you can say "banana boat".

The center had an abundance of howler monkey's that have been rescued from many places. One guide told us that a girl was keeping one for a pet and making her friends pay to have their picture taken with him at school. Probably the coolest job I've ever heard of.

Every day these rescued monkeys are taken on a picnic in the jungle with the volunteers. At the picnic, they are released into the jungle to socialize with other howler monkeys. If they decide to stay in the jungle with the wild monkeys they are released but if they decide to come back to the center after the picnic then they go back. Apparently monkeys won't stay in the wild until they've bonded into a clan of their own. I find this sweet and human like. We are also social creatures that build our lives around community.
I guess my main question is how I get invited to these monkey picnics. I would bring my own bananas and everything.

Three's company

New accesory

Will the real howler monkey please stand up?

Who you lookin' at?