Happenings.

 Chocolate-dipped cannoli and luscious lemon squares from Mike's Pastry swim in and out of my thoughts at work, which is why I was excited the other night when some girls from my ward invited me to join them to eat pastries on the wharf after dark. We shared some good old-fashioned girl time, talking about cute boys and cuter clothes, and I felt happy. I'm far more comfortable here these days; I guess it just took a month of being semi-lonely to make friends and feel good about my life on this coast.

Even though the Fourth of July fell on a Sunday this year, I get today, Monday off from work. :-) Normally, this would mean I'd have to have another one of my Themed Days. Themed Days are how I've planned to see everything in Boston. They're little day trips I take all by myself, punctuated by delicious food and awesome sightseeing. For example, last weekend I had Seafood and Science Day. I visited the Museum of Science and saw an IMAX about Saudi Arabia, and I had lunch at Legal Seafoods. Still on the agenda is Sports Day, where I visit Fenway Park and the Prudential Center and have lunch at the #1 sports bar in America; History Day, where I walk the Freedom Trail and have lunch somewhere historic; Fish Day, when I visit the aquarium and eat lots of fish; Ocean Day, when I will hopefully visit the beach; etc. But today I opted to sleep in, shell out for vegetarian crepes for brunch, and read the day away in the iconic Harvard Book Shop.

My Fourth of July weekend has been wonderfully exhausting. On Saturday, a Harvard student in my ward was baptized, so after the service we partied it up with a huge barbecue--marinated chicken, hamburgers, and particularly succulent beef hot dogs--and an intense game of Slip and Slide Wiffle Ball through the sprinklers (one rule: slide into every base). My team won, and I even caught someone out on the last pitch of the game! Sunday, the Fourth, consisted of church and then a picnic by the Charles River with friends from the ward. We staked out a spot to watch the fireworks five hours before they started and watched them light up the Boston skyline with twenty thousand other spectators on the Esplanade. I wandered off the packed subway platform at 1 AM, the smeared red and blue star on my face outshined only by my smile.

Living here is like being on vacation all the time, and, of course, the best part of any vacation is the food. I've eaten everything from vegan butternut squash flatbread pizza to soft crab cakes, portabello mushroom "hamburgers," nutella and soy milkshakes, mounds of apple crisp, ginger ice cream, thick lamb kurma, minty Indian rice pudding, sugary sweet cupcakes, shots of cream cheese frosting, whole mangoes, and homemade granola bars. The other night I visited a local "improvisational grill" where you could fill a bowl (unlimited times) with anything you like (I chose calamari, shrimp, salmon, onions, bell peppers, bow tie pasta, garlic, pineapple, and cilantro), choose a sauce combination (I chose marinara and teriyaki), and bring the whole thing up to the central grilling station to be sizzled up right in front of you. Talk about delicious.