The next project!

In case you haven't yet figured it out, my second 365 project is located here.

Day 365: Vegas at night

We started the day (and by started, I mean 12:01 AM) at the bar at the top of THEhotel. Gorgeous view of the strip. I thought it was a fitting last post on my 365!

Day 364: Good times

Now this is the type of chip I like to see.

Day 363: A room with a view

The view from our hotel room was of the gorgeous pools at Mandalay Bay...much quality time was spent here!

Day 362: Empty flight

The flight to Vegas from Washington DC was SO empty that I had an entire row of six seats to myself. And I wasn't the only one. I think there were maybe 15 people total on the plane. Even the flight attendant commented that she hadn't seen a flight this empty in years.

Day 361: The new kids come for dinner

As it's the start of a new academic year, the new post-docs and fellows have arrived and are settling in. This is the position S was in just a year ago. How far he's come since then! Remembering the confusion and chaos of that time, we invited Vani and Tariq over for a homecooked Indian meal. It was also Ganesh Chaturthi, so we thought it would be good to celebrate a bit. I think everyone would agree the night was very successful.

Day 360: Dinner with David

Our friend David was in town, so he came by and hung out with us for a bit before he had to head off to a wedding reception in the afternoon. The reception ended sort of early, so he gave us a call and he came back over to our place. We had a few drinks (he claims I got him a bit drunk with my newfound knack for making gimlets) and then went for dinner. He stayed the night as well. I love having unexpected guests!

Day 359: An unexpected pleasure

I completely didn't expect a postcard from the Mediterranean, but I was quite pleased to get one! I love receiving postcards. That's a hint, by the way!

Day 358: What's wrong with this picture?

Could it be that there's a mattress in the living room? We've had a heat wave over the past week and finally I couldn't bear to go into the hot bedroom to sleep (we only have A/C in the living room). So we moved the guest room's mattress in the living room. It was a mini sleepover!

Day 357: City Hall

I walk by City Hall on most days when I'm on my way back home from work.

Day 356: More Madness

Another sick day at home. Good thing we renewed the Season 2 Mad Men DVD so I had something to do. Here is the gorgeous John Slattery playing Roger Sterling.

Day 355: Sick day

I was sick enough that I needed to stay home from the office. I don't get sick very often, so it was a bit surprising. This was my view looking down from the couch, which is where I stationed myself for most of the day.

Day 354: New York's gone mad

A bit of a crazy decision, but S and I drove out to New York to attend the premiere of Mad Men in Times Square. It was very cool and despite us both being under the weather, I'm glad we did it. We even saw Bryan Batt, who plays the fabulous Salvatore, on stage!

Day 353: Mira blatantly disobeys the rules

Mira and I drove out to the outlet mall and were fondly remembering the last time we went shopping. We spent about 30 minutes at a cookware store sampling the dips. Here is Mira recreating that experience by refusing to use tongs.

Day 352: Gimlet preparation

In celebration of Mira's arrival and the impending premiere of Season 3 of Mad Men, we purchased the ingredients to make gimlets. My first attempt was a success!

Day 351: My hair is still long

A friend asked if my hair was still long following the recent hair cut. I said yes, because I thought it still was. I confirmed this in the mirror of a dressing room.

Day 350: Couldn't have said it better myself

So appropriate that I spotted this just after I'd left the library with books in hand! I'm checking out this artist's shop and may have to purchase a few things...

Day 349: The original Frank Pepe

We all went to Frank Pepe for some original New Haven apizza. Pepe's is arguably the most famous pizza place around, and for pretty good reason. It was founded in 1925 and uses only coal fires in brick ovens to create the goodness that is apizza. The Wiki says:

"Pepe's is a busy establishment, and New Havenites will cheerfully wait in line outside the restaurant for hours in all kinds of weather. Having to wait to be seated is almost as much of a New Haven tradition as the pizza itself."

Other than a minor quibble (we're called New Haveners, not New Havenites!), this is quite accurate. We waited for about 40 minutes outside in line. It was worth it, though!

Day 348: Specs, goggles, or sunglasses

I think I lost a pair of my sunglasses when we were on holiday in Cape Cod a couple weeks ago, so now all I have are my old pair. They're the exact same brand/model as the newer ones, but they're scratched up and not as nice. Plus I've lost the original case, so they're housed in this one I got from the opticians near my uncle's home in Bombay.

Day 347: Finished puzzle

Over the weekend we finished the puzzle I'd bought in Northampton on the day we met Laura. It's very pretty. I don't want to take it apart just yet so for now it's occupying the coffee table.

Day 346: To the sea

We took the parents out to Hammonasset for a picnic on the beach. No swimming but we did get a fair amount of sun. It was a lovely day weather-wise.

Day 345: Notes at Noon

On certain Fridays in the summer, there are bands playing in the courtyard near my office. We walked over to see one today. They were pretty good.

Day 344: Close up

More digital macro fun...this time in black and white.

Day 343: A sign I never thought I'd see

Spotted at the grocery store. Heelys!? What has this world come to?

Day 342: Time for a hair cut

My super cool boss gets his hair cut just around the corner from our office, so I thought I'd give it a go as I hadn't found any place great for my hair yet in New Haven. I should have guessed that a salon that's kitted out in gorgeous vintage stuff would be my kind of place. Holly is my new local hairdresser!

Day 341: The B&B

Our lovely vegetarian b&b. We were so sad to leave! Gorgeous house, beautiful surroundings, and friendly people. Couldn't ask for more, really.

Day 340: Cape Cinema

We drove up to the very tip of Cape Cod and visited Provincetown, and then drove back down for dinner and a movie. The Cape Cinema was built in 1930 and was restored over 20 years ago. It's got a gorgeous old proscenium stage with a red curtain, suede seats covered in white cloth, and a vaulted ceiling with a mural of the heavens painted on it.

Day 339: Glass blowing

The first stop on our mini-vacation was Sandwich, which is the oldest town on Cape Cod. It was a lovely little place. We visited the Sandwich Glass Museum, where we watched a demonstration of glass blowing. The girl made a mug and here she is attaching glass onto the side to make a handle. Unfortunately the cup broke at the very end. But it was cool anyway.

Day 338: What a surprise, it's raining again

It's pouring yet again here! We have had very little summer at all. I hope the weather's better this weekend.

Day 337: Evil seagulls

Every day that I take the shuttle to work, I walk by this empty lot. For some reason, a huge flock of seagulls has taken up residence in the lot and they are always there, squawking and flying about. They're really disgusting. My coworker Mark thinks they come here because it's like their own private beach. I can't wait until something gets built in this lot!

Day 336: New Haven Fire Department

My apartment is pretty close to a firehouse which I never really thought much about until Sotomayor was nominated for the Supreme Court.

Day 335: Boston Stock Exchange

Quick trip to Boston and I had an hour before my meeting, so I took a walk around the hotel. It was really hot but I did see a few nice things, such as the Stock Exchange.

Day 334: Cake at Claire's

I had been craving a cupcake and a friend suggested I get some Lithuanian coffee cake at Claire's. It's one of their specialties and I'd not had a chance to try it, so we did after lunch. Good. Very good.

Day 333: Adam manning the door

A number of us volunteered to help out at CTLX, which involved mostly setting up, cleaning up, or sitting at the door checking registrations. At the exchange, there were two late night dance sessions from 1AM - 5AM. I wisely did not volunteer for those shifts, but poor Adam got stuck watching the door from 2AM - 3AM. He told me he had to stand up for the entire hour or he'd fall asleep. So here is Adam demonstrating his door monitoring technique midway through the shift.

Day 332: Dancing in Beinecke Plaza

CTLX (Connecticut Lindy Exchange) started on Friday, July 24 and today we had outdoor dancing in Beinecke Plaza on campus. Luckily the rain held off and we had a hot and sunny three hours of lindy. Here are two of my favorite dancers, Mai and Aaron, with the cool Calder sculpture in the background. (That sculpture always reminds me of Chicago.)

Day 331: Little hobo

On the way home from work (and on the way to the first night of Connecticut Lindy Exchange!), I thought I'd stop in at the vintage store (see Day 171) just to see if there was anything I might want to get for the weekend. I found a cute summer blouse for only $6, and it was presented to me in this little bundle on a stick. I was thrilled and carried it home on my shoulder. On our way out of another shop, a guy asked, 'Running away from home?' Hee!

Day 330: I'm going to Paris

Booked the flights yesterday and today I booked the Eurostar from London to Paris. I'm beyond excited!

Day 329: Rain, rain, rain

Last night it absolutely poured and it didn't really let up until this morning.

Day 328: Future swing dancer

Hmm...a baby at dancing?? This is Kaylee, and she is the daughter of the coordinators of my dance class in Middletown. Every Tuesday, Kaylee gets set up in her playpen on the edge of the dance floor and watches us dance. She participates sometimes as well, and she also is the recipient of loads of attention from all the dancers (including me!).

Day 327: Finally, we've got tomatoes

We've been anxiously waiting for our garden to produce something other than basil, and now we've finally got some tomatoes that are starting to turn red. Sadly not much else worked, other than one lonely zucchini plant that we're hoping will produce something. Of course these are the landlord's tomato plants, rather than ours. Maybe next year!

Day 326: Hartford

We took a trip out to Middletown to visit the Hindu temple, and then had a few hours to spare before Y's flight, so we went to Hartford. This is the Capitol building. I think I've been to three state capitols now, plus Washington DC.

Day 325: Lindy bomb!

Today was a lindy bomb at the farmer's market in Wooster Square. Yale Swing & Blues organized it and I turned out for it despite being exhausted from the night before. It was brill! Here is a not-so-great photo of Chris and Clare doing a lift. Can't wait until more dancing tomorrow.

Day 324: A visit to the Anchor

We had a friend over for dinner, and then we got a call from another friend who was out and about in New Haven. We decided at the last minute to head out and meet her and her friends, and they were at a bar called Richter's. We had a drink there (Smithwick's on tap! I introduced my sister-in-law to it.) and then headed to the Anchor. As I said in Day 295, the Anchor is a bit of a legendary dive bar in New Haven that I've been wanting to visit. Just today at work, someone suggested we go there tonight, and so we did! It was exactly as I thought it would be too.

Day 323: Rubbish

Our next door neighbors have had a new tenant move in, and in the process of getting ready, they decided to clean out their garage and basement. Great. But that means we have been living with this lovely mountain range of rubbish in front of their house for the past few days. People have even been coming by to pick through it! I have fingers crossed that this is going to be picked up today.

Day 322: Yashica's here!

My sister-in-law Yashica arrived this evening after a long trip from the west coast. We took her to dinner as it was her birthday! We went to the weird sushi place and ordered way too much sushi, but it was fun. We told our server we couldn't even fathom dessert, but he didn't listen to us and brought her ice cream with a birthday candle in it. The servers all sang happy birthday to her as well.

Day 321: Lunch from the carts

It was warm and sunny, so we grabbed lunch from the carts. Every weekday the local restaurants set up food carts around campus at lunchtime for the employees and students. Here are George and Mark walking back towards me after having bought some lunch.

Day 320: New painting at Claire's

I met S for lunch at Claire's today and we noticed they've put new paintings up. This is a nice one of the Green. Much more appropriate than the snowy one I posted on Day 162.

Day 319: Butter tea with L&J

Today we took a trip up to Northampton to meet my friend Laura and her fiance John who live in Scotland and were visiting. We went to a Tibetan restaurant for lunch. Laura and I were adventurous and tried the butter tea. It was NOT nice.

Day 318: Home again with a dosa

I had a brilliant trip to Philly and got back to New Haven hungry for some Indian food. So S and I went to Thali Too for some chaat. I had a dosa...yum.

Day 317: The Liberty Bell

On my mini-trip to Philly, we had to see some of the historic sites. So we went to visit the Liberty Bell. I'm sure I've seen it before when I was a kid, but I can't remember it. So I'm glad we went.

Day 316: View from train

NYC skyline on the way from New Haven to Philadelphia. I'm taking a last minute mini city break!