A New Find

Even all the way from Portland Courtney is looking out for me and introduced me to this new bakery in Orem called The Chocolate.

It's in an old house with chairs, couches, and tables set up all over. It's the perfect place to enjoy a treat and the company of your friends.

A New Word

Word: samesies

Definition: members of the same sex

Example: I wanted you to write my songs because someone told me you also like samesies.

Courtesy of: Mikhaela Yvonne Maricich of The Blow

Reason: In case you've become bored of the typical terms like "gay" or "homosexual."

Rain Rain Go Away

Feel free to come any day that is not my only day to explore Boston. No Freedom Trail for me. Here is the view from my hotel room. Notice the miserable weather.
There is a Trader Joe's near the hotel, so I picked up a couple of things to take home.
If you're lucky I'll invite you over for dinner in the near future.

A Boston cream pie in cupcake form. I couldn't leave the city without having one.

I Know Why I Don't Live in Boston

Because living in a city where you must depend on

public transport even in crappy weather sucks. Danielle and I were committed to venturing out despite

the torrential rainstorm. We ate at a little pizzeria in the

Beacon Hill area called Figs. I ordered a pizza with fig and

prosciutto--it was delicious. I took an occasional peak out

from under my umbrella at the beautiful rowhouses

as we hurried along through the streets.

Here we are competing at the negotiation competition.

(Just to prove we were doing conference stuff during the day).

Why Don't I Live in Boston?

Today we competed in a negotiation competition. We had 2 negotiations back to back that took a total of 3 hours, but we made it to the final round tomorrow. We attended an interesting plenary session for which I was grateful to have a seat in the front row. Ask me about it because I don't think it would come out right in a short blog post. Let's just say it involved reverse discrimination.

But, once again, the only pictures I have involve food. We headed to Boston's North End for some Italian. Giacomo's. The. Best. Italian. I've. Ever. Had. Fried calamari for an appetizer. Housemade fusilli, lumps of lobster, and shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce. We're going back tomorrow and Sunday.

Here I am in the subway with a sampling of cannolis we brought back to the hotel.

I Ate My Way Through My First Day in Boston

Although I had some fabulous food today, the highlight was actually the morning's service project. We went to an inner-city middle school and talked with students about the census. Then we passed out leaflets in the surrounding neighborhood. I am strangely excited for the upcoming census (look for the survey in your mailbox in the coming week) and was thrilled to feel like I got to play a small part in helping raise awareness of its importance. 10 questions in 10 minutes. Take the time to fill it out and mail it in. We then stopped for lunch. Danielle and I (and a few lucky tag-alongs) chose Wagamama. It was the first stop on a sizeable list of culinary recommendations we have accumulated. We have a lot to get through, and we are taking the job quite seriously.

Then we stopped at JP Licks for ice cream. (Harvard is in the background).

Then we did some more convention stuff.

Then we had clam chowder and crab cakes for dinner at Legal Seafood.

The evening ended with hot chocolate from Burdick. It was made from dark chocolate and was the best hot chocolate I have EVER experienced.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

To celebrate yet another winter snowstorm, we went for ice cream.

I recently bought this antique desk for my room.