does the cold weather have you down too?

More than anything else, I think this move to Boston has made me realize how much I dislike winter. I love the first few snowfalls, cute coats and scarves, and cuddling up by the fire with a cup of coffee, but after a month or so a bad case of seasonal affective disorder sets in! I live for warm weather and am at my best when I can where dresses and sandals, eat outside, and spend time near the water. So summer please hurry up! Here are a few things that might cheer you up (they do for me!) while you anxiously await the change of season...

1. the Matador Network, http://www.matadornetwork.com/ - the most amazing collection of blogs, forums, pictures, ideas, news, you name it; all written by and for travelers.

2. online dress shopping - a cute new dress never fails to put a smile on my face. Here are a few I'm pretty sure I can't live without.

A.L.C. Dropped Waist Silk Dress

Amanda Uprichard Joan Dress

Geren Ford Raw Edge Shift Dress

3. listening to Brett Dennen

4. working out - I always seem to put off working out in the winter but it is actully really nice to sweat when you spend most of the day freezing. Plus it will make swim suit shopping a few weeks so much more enjoyable!

5. turn up the heat and open your windows - the fresh air and breeze will make it feel like spring!

6. head to the spa! If you're like me, your skin hasn't seen sunlight in over half a year and could desperately use some help. Get a facial/massage/mani/pedi. Anything to help that near opaque skin!

7. go somewhere. I am seriously considering booking myself a caribbean cruise - you can get amazing deals, and a few days in the sun would be AMAZING. http://www.cruisedeals.com/

If the world were a village...

If we could reduce the world's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

The village would have 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 from the USA and Canada, and 1 from the South Pacific
51 would be male, 49 would be female
82 would be non-white; 18 white
67 would be non-Christian; 33 would be Christian
80 would live in substandard housing
67 would be unable to read
50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation
33 would be without access to a safe water supply
39 would lack access to improved sanitation
24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76 that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)
7 people would have access to the Internet
1 would have a college education
1 would have HIV
2 would be near birth; 1 near death
5 would control 32% of the entire world's wealth; all 5 would be US citizens
33 would be receiving --and attempting to live on-- only 3% of the income of "the village"

I have always found this so amazing, reminder of just how lucky we all are.

lately...

It’s been over two weeks since I began the temp job at Cambridge Associates and I’m pretty sure part of my brain has already turned to mush. Okay it’s not that bad but I really hoped to be doing something a bit more stimulating after spending 4 years and a lot of money getting an accounting degree. The firm has had myself and two other temps work on data entry/clean up projects that they probably can’t get any of their full time employees to touch. While it is not the most ideal work, I have had fun working with the other two temps and bringing in money isn’t bad either. Plus Cambridge Associates is apparently a great company that I have been told will mean a lot when future employers see it on my resume. I found out today that they have more work for me and want me to stay through the end of February. Yayy?

Some things I have learned from my 'real world' experience:

1. 8:30am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday is a LONG time.
2. I apparently have to pay taxes like everyone else? I hope someone makes good use of that 1/4th of my paycheck, I really didn't want food or basic necessities anyway...
3. The average workplace is not like The Office.
4. I should have spent less time at the library (if possible) and not worried so much about all those A's - now that I have graduated, I was told it is no longer necessary to have my GPA on my resume. I'm leaving it on there anyway.
5. City living is not ideal for someone who gets motion sickness - it makes taking the subway very unpleasant at times.
6. I need to live someplace warm and sunny. All I do anymore is daydream about summer, dresses, sandals, walking outside without XX layers on... Remind me again why I decided to move to Boston?

North Shore, Boston - I finally made it out to see the water!

dance, sing, floss and travel.

I got some new yoga clothes the other day (lululemon: best yoga clothes out there for those of you interested; www.lululemon.com) and the bag was covered in awesome quotes... "dance, sing, floss and travel" being my favorite. What a great life motto. I think I've got all but the flossing down.

Now for the big news! I have a JOB starting tomorrow! I have been working with that temp agency I mentioned, went to a few interviews last week, and now I have a week long position starting tomorrow at Cambridge Associates; an international investment agency in downtown Boston. Not sure exactly what I will be doing but it pays and I am excited just to get out and finally start doing something with my life... hope to meet a few people too! Sounds like I may have a month long position at WilmerHale, a large law firm, starting right after this first position ends. YAYYY!

And another two day blizzard is headed to the northeast tomorrow - but that's almost expected at this point. It's been a whole 4 or 5 days since the last major storm! There is so much snow on the ground that the roads are shrinking to nothing, making it difficult for medical vehicles to get where they need to go. The city is talking about dumping the snow in the ocean??

a job? MAYBE??

I had my first interview today! I had applied for a few temporary positions through a temp agency called Beacon Hill Associates, played phone tag with them for about a week, and then finally got in for an interview this morning. I met with a woman who deals with temporary positions ranging from a day long to a couple of months and it went very well. She was super friendly, about my age actually, and she sounded like she would definitely be able to get me a few jobs lined up. I think temp positions will be great for me right now because they are probably not going to be my dream job but will still bring in money to pay rent while I search for what I really want to do. Plus the idea of committing to a 'real' job right now scares me. I'm not quite ready to be tied down for too long. I'm really hoping something comes out of the interview - It would be so great to start working and meeting people - do what I came here to do!

Pictures of the apartment are up - picasa album, right side of the page! I am clearly still getting settled in, and mid decorating but you will be able to get an idea of the place! It's starting to feel like home, and the the location could not be any better!

still alive...

Nothing too exciting to report from blustery Boston besides that I am already over this snowy, freezing, windy weather. A record breaking storm seems to blow in just about ever other day here. There is no place left for the snow to go - the mile high piles are going to be here til June. I look forward to the day when I don't have to pile on half my closet just to survive walking outside. On a positive note, it is pretty and I do enjoy sloshing around in my boots!

I am still working for my aunt, helping her pack and get ready for the big move to Zurich. Any free time I have I spend sitting at Panera (since I still don't have internet in my apartment) attempting to snatch up a job. To be completely truthful, I should be working a little harder on job applications. I seem to spend 25% of my time actually applying for jobs and the other 75% planning my next adventure. I pieced together an itinerary for a 10 day trip to Iceland this spring to see the aurora borealis and the hot springs - anyone want to join me? On the positive side, I have made contact with/joined the Boston Network for International Development, Boston Microfinance Club, and a few other non-profit networking type groups. Hopefully I will start attending events through those groups and at least meet people and learn something.

I also started doing Bikram yoga (hot yoga - series of poses) at a local studio and I love it! After attempting and failing to run outside a few times due to the extreme cold, I decided I needed some other way to stay in shape. I had always wanted to try Bikram and there is a great studio a few T stops from me. I've gone 3 days in a row now. It's fairly intense and you sweat buckets but I feel great afterwards. So hopefully I will keep going. I will need to whip out my exercise star chart again to keep me motivated.

In other news (this is a very me story) I drove to Maine in a blizzard earlier this week. What was supposed to be a scenic 2.5 hour drive to Lewiston, Maine for a mini Stellenbosch reunion with my friends Abbi, Rachel, and Rachel, ended up being a 5+ hour journey through zero visibility snows and icy roads. It was so cold that my windshield wipers froze over every 15 minutes or so forcing me to continually pull over to clear them off so that I could see out the window once again. At one point I had stopped in a random neighborhood off a random exit in New Hampshire to clear them off for the XX time, when I unknowingly dropped my phone in a snow drift. 15 minutes later as I pulled over to clear off the windshield wipers again, I realized I no longer had a cell phone. I did panic at this point and realized how very few numbers I know by heart - my own and home. Neither of which would have been any help at that moment. Anyway, it took me awhile but I was able to find that random New Hampshire neighborhood (I credit my favorite childhood game of Memory!) and after digging around in the snow, I found the phone. And it even worked! So I made it to Maine and had a great time catching up and reminiscing. I was risky (some called it stupid) enough to do the whole trip over again and drove back to Mass that evening. No accident. Still alive.

And I swear, pictures of the apartment are coming sooooon.