Day 307: Footy

The guys on our team took a break from grading to play some football. This is Craig, Kristen, and Sloan. Brindha and I were the cheerleaders.

Day 306: Litter from Sloan

A senior grader named Sloan sat next to me and felt the need to throw the seals from the exam books on the floor between us. Litterer!

Day 305: Correction tape

The bane of my existence...correction tape that doesn't really work.

Day 304: C-ville

And so it begins...the week in Charlottesville starts out on Saturday at Fellini's. It was great to see all my old friends and meet new ones too.

Day 303: Boston Harbor

Had a lovely trip to Boston! We even had a bit of time between meetings to catch some rays at the harbor.

Oh no....

Yep, it finally happened. I forgot my photo today. The worst part was, I didn't forget as I'd been thinking of things to photograph all day in Boston. But I didn't remember to actually take out the camera and shoot the photo until 12:09 AM the next day. Ah, well, life goes on.

Day 302: A present

Okay, not really. But books are always presents for me. This one was so old and fragile that it was wrapped in paper for protection. I had to request it from the archives and when I picked it up, I was very surprised to receive this package. It's good so far!

Day 301: Vinnie's

Another day, another variation of Vincent. My latest swing haunt is Vinnie's Jump and Jive in Middletown. I'd known about it for a while now but had never gone. The stars aligned and I put in an appearance. Finally, the lindy I'd been looking for! Loads of good dancers, very appreciative and friendly leads, and decent music. I happily came home with the tired and bruised feet I always used to get after a hard night of dancing. I'll be back to Vinnie's when I return from my travels!

Day 300: Softball

We had our department's annual softball game today. We didn't think the rain would hold off but other than a couple light showers, things went pretty well. I was on Vinny's team...please don't ask me why 'hit' is in quotes as I really don't know.

Day 299: Solomon Douglas Trio

Tonight at swing dancing, the Solomon Douglas trio played for us. There was quite a turnout and people stayed all the way until the end at midnight. This photo doesn't even show the man himself, Solomon Douglas, as he was playing keyboards to the left of the drums and bass.

Day 298: Squirrel in Sterling

We went to the library for a big check-out of books for me to read while I'm traveling and look who was in my favorite reading room? He was frozen like this for about 5 minutes while I kept taking photos.

Day 297: Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem

My dad clued me in to the fact that Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem were playing at the Arts and Ideas festival today, so we went to check it out. They are a folk band that we were introduced to as one of the members is the son of a childhood friend of my dad's. He is on the right playing guitar. This is the second time I've seen them play and I realized I like their music a lot.

Day 296: Desi yogurt

When we were at the Indian grocery store last week, we picked up some 'desi' yogurt. Desi is a sort of slang term that refers to Indian or South Asian in general. I'm not sure what makes this yogurt 'desi', to be honest. It was good, though!

Day 295: The Anchor

This is a local dive that I walk past every so often when I'm around town. It is basically what we'd call an 'old man's pub' in the UK. I think it would be great fun to have a drink here sometime, so whenever someone ventures to visit me, we will be checking this place out.

Day 294: Owl

Hmm. This is what greeted me at the front desk in my office building today. I am frightened of it.

Day 293: Guest bedroom

The new guest room has a bed, lamp, nightstand, rug, desk. It's nice! (Please excuse the unironed duvet cover.) My sister-in-law will have a place to sleep when she visits next month now. I'm well pleased about it and am hoping my brother-in-law doesn't see this as he had to sleep on the floor in a room filled with moving boxes when he came to stay.

Day 292: They Might Be...

Giants! The International Festival of Arts & Ideas kicked off this weekend and They Might Be Giants were the headlining act. Luckily the weather cleared up just in time for a great turnout. We saw a lot of people we knew which was fun. There were loads of people on the green and the show was much fun.

Day 291: Amherst College

We took a road trip out to visit Dr. P's alma mater Amherst College and the towns in the Pioneer Valley. It was a lovely warm day and everything looked pretty and peaceful. We had lunch in Northampton and then took a long walk around campus. We also stopped in South Amherst at the farm store and got scones, jam, and fudge. Successful trip all around!

Day 290: Happy hour

A swift one (or two) after work...we usually don't get George out for a drink, so we had to take advantage of his evening off.

Day 289: Radio City

Had more meetings in the big city so I was up at 5AM to catch a 6:23 AM train. Gray day today here in New York. I'm looking forward to summer arriving sometime soon!

Day 288: New couch

I rushed home from the office and what did I see? My new couch! Yay! It's a little bit more plush than I remember at the store, but it's still a keeper. I envision lots of naps taking place here in my future.

Day 287: Entertaining chez nous

A number of our friends are going out of town for the summer so we are trying to get together with them before they all head off. We had Aditi and Ashwini over for dinner as they leave tomorrow for three months in India. I'm jealous of them.

Day 286: Lunch on the water

We had such nice weather that we couldn't resist going to lunch at a posh restaurant on the water. It was a bit chilly outside but I sat near the sun so I could warm up a bit. It was lovely!

Day 285: New chairs

We have been scouring Craigslist for furniture and finally found two vintage chairs. A girl who just moved in right down the street had posted them for sale and we walked over and decided to take them home with us. I love them! Not sure where exactly they will go, but I think they will fit in somewhere.

Day 284: First strawberry

We finally have a ripe strawberry in the garden! There was one other but it looked like the birds had been eating it so we left it. This one was delicious.

Day 283: National Donut Day

Today is National Donut Day! Dunkin Donuts is giving away a free donut if you buy a drink. My usually-quite-sensible boss bought a drink and refused the free donut when it was offered to him! I couldn't believe it when I heard this so we all went to DD to get donuts (and my boss redeemed himself by getting one for our assistant). Here are my and my colleague's donuts (chocolate glazed with sprinkles and Boston cream).

Day 282: For my dad

Who wanted a photo of the house with the rhododendron bush so he could see how it looked. Pretty! The bird's nest was in the bush just to the left side of the porch. :(

Day 281: GCT

Another trip through Grand Central Terminal, this time traveling to New Haven. We've spent a lot of time going in and out of here over the past few days. I'm back down to the city again next week too.

Day 280: Back to the city

I had business in the city and wanted to say goodbye to my cousin and his family who are going back to India after two months in the US. We took the train down and went over to their apartment. My cousin was out to dinner with his colleagues so we went to Greenwich Village with his wife, sister-in-law, and the two boys to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner. It was great - all veg and many dishes were made with mock meat. We really enjoyed it!

Day 279: Smores

We were invited to some friends' home for a veg barbecue so headed over there after work. We ended up having to get another grill because it took a while for the coals to get hot enough to cook the vegetables! Once we got the fire going, it all went smoothly. And for dessert, we made smores! We had to explain them to some of the non-Americans among us, though.