Lessons from the inside

Lesson of the day: just because someone is sitting inside of an information booth does not mean that she knows everything. Nor does it mean that she finds it funny, charming or entertaining when you ask random and absurd questions, even though she'll awkwardly laugh along because, hey, she's getting paid to sit there.

This weekend was BU's commencement weekend (congrats to the recent graduates, by the way!), which meant that, for me, it was a weekend of sitting at those special little red information booths up and down Comm Ave answering questions. All weekend. It was nice to be outside (even if I did get a little burnt!), and the people watching was good, but I'm so glad it's over. So much outside, so much smiling, lots of exhaustion, and ridiculous questions. The highlight was yesterday, when some father came to ask us what the winning Powerball numbers would be that night. We awkwardly laughed it off, and as he walked away, his son said "Dad, you're such a tool." Actually made my day.

Commencement was ridiculous, though. When you see/meet people's families you finally understand why they are the way they are... which is either great, entertaining, or both. There were SO many people here, it was crazy. Today, especially, because it was the all-university commencement (featuring Hillel's own Danny Bellin as the student speaker!).

Before that, though, we went to Weislow's graduation at the religion department. It was super small (about 16 graduates), and so all the graduates introduced everyone they brought, which was cute. Some pictures...

Josh, Weislow and Barney en route to commencement.

Champagne toast.

At Weislow's graduation.

And now they're all officially alumni and off to grad school next year. Crazy.

The best of both worlds

Cookie cake is incredibly underrated. And I think it’s entirely unfortunate because it’s basically the best of both worlds. The other night, on a whim, we baked a cookie cake to go along with our Thai food and Cold Stone cupcakes, and it was probably the best thing we ate. Granted, after a couple of hours of doing nothing but eating and watching chick flicks on television (thank you, ABC Family), appreciating the cookie cake was probably the furthest thing from our minds (much more immediate was the idea that we should probably never eat again). Still, though, they’re pretty fantastic. And it’s not the cookie cake’s fault that we have no self control. It just happens to be an enabler – a delicious one, at that. And for every once in a while, that’s just fine. I’d definitely choose it over the ice cream cupcakes we got from Cold Stone (which were not as exciting as I’d hoped), and probably over many other desserts. Except for bread pudding, but that’s an entirely different situation.

The wonderful cookie cake we made the other night.

It's a metaphor, fool

Today was like a montage of all the things I actually like in Minneapolis: food, friends, family and shopping. I started off with lunch at Crossroads with my mom, grandma, aunt and great aunt, which was basically like eating with a giant ego boost. Never at one meal have I been told so many times about my good skin, my great hair and how pretty I am. It was great, really. Especially because (as my mom pointed out), most of them are old - so they compliment me, forget they've done so, and do it again. Phenomenal!

I followed lunch with an afternoon with Krista, a friend from high school. I had my first experience at the Hopkins Antique Mall - my new favorite place ever, basically. They definitely don't have anything like it in Boston. They have literally everything - mannequins, telephones, postcards, shotglasses, furniture and (my favorite) jewelry. I left with three rings, a shotglass (with a bird on it - says "Just a Swallow," haha) and a necklace. For $10. Again, phenomenal. We went downtown and wandered the skyway for awhile. Tragically, everything in downtown Minneapolis closes around 5 or 6 because that's when all the businesspeople leave, but Target was still open! An hour of playing in Target (my other favorite place, also not in Boston) and then off to Pizza Luce - my favorite pizza place in Minneapolis, with good food and atmosphere. It's been a long time since I've been there and I forgot how close it is to what used to be the Quest - the venue of my high school years... lots of good memories in that area. We had a guy stop by our table to invite us to his show later - we would have gone if it weren't for the fact that it was 21+. Tragedy. He was very intent on letting us know that even though he was from Tennessee his music was definitely not country. I checked out his music though - it seems worthy of a listen. Because we couldn't go to his show, we drove around for awhile musically reminiscing with Say Anything, an awesome band whose old music I love fully and whose newest album was just unfortunate. We ended up at the Tea Garden - really good tea and a place I wouldn't mind being a regular, if it didn't mean living in Minnesota.

So maybe this place isn't so bad. It has its ups - my family, some good friends and some good times - but I think it's just a place to visit from now on. Being here for more than a month would probably drive me crazy.

So this is the new year...

Well, welcome to 2009! I rang in the new year in style - with good friends, new friends, homemade dinner, caviar and champagne. Classy, you know. And after a little sleep last night and significantly more sleep this afternoon, I've got positive thoughts and high hopes for this year. 2008 was good to me, excuse the nostalgia. I finished my freshman year of college, got contacts, started new relationships and ended some old ones, spent my last summer at Ramah Nyack, saw a few good concerts and did more shopping than I probably should have. This year looks full of opportunities, cliche as that sounds, and I really do look forward to it.
Ever since I saw them live my freshman year of high school, around this time I think of Death Cab fir Cutie's song "The New Year." Time appropriate and fitting, I suppose. There's a stanza that goes

I wish the world was flat like the old days, and I could travel just by folding the map. No more airplanes or speedtrains or freeways, there'd be no distance that could hold us back.

I think that that's, in a sense, my feelings for this year. In the past, I thought of it because a lot of my close friends, from camp and USY, lived further away. Now it's more about not being held back, not overthinking things - doing what I want this year. And it's going to be good. I hope.