For those of you who are dying to know, i did go to that French speaking meet-up, and had a great time. I might not have thought the world of the facilitator, but everyone else was very nice. I also am solidly intermediate, which is reassuring. i know i'm not fluent, and that's fine. But i am certainly profficient, and people thought so. I'll definitely go again. The language came flooding back to me while i was somewhat immersed in it.

This is all very good, because daN and i are going to Paris in February! (we bought the tickets BEFORE my car finally passed away... that's another story. Anyone know of a good used car that handles well in the winter that doesn't have more than 50,000 mi on it and is under $10,000?)... so we have our plane tickets, and now all we have to get is somewhere to stay... :) but maybe we can also proffer daN's aunt Carol's help.

I was hoping to go up to Maine this weekend, but being carless and not feeling like dealing with the logistics of leaving work early to barely catch a bus just wasn't quite appealing after the week i had. Additionally, there were just too many other things i wanted to do around here this weekend, and it's already been fun. last night Q and Alex and I went out to the Cambridge Brewery to have a couple of beers, and BOY is that place good! I LOVE BREWERIES. i love that it's made right there, and it tastes so fresh... mmmm... and the food seemed really tasty too. daN and i will have to go there sometime to eat some real food. the saddest thing about being here without daN is that he is unreachable, working at the fair, and that does take some getting used to. i miss him, and i teared up crawling into bed last night without him. and this morning, that half of the bed looked like no one had slept in it, except that i had obviously reached over to snuggle him because the corner and the pillow were ruffled. not the first time we've been apart, but still sad.

At any rate, the rest of the day looks action-packed - Q and Alex and I will be going to the Italian Market and hanging out for a spell in Cafe Vittoria in the North End. I fell in love with the North End again the other night when daN and I took advantage of a gift certificate to Rabia's (a great Italian ristorante) that Matt got for doing some design work for them (but never got to use, so he passed it on to us.). Thursday night we realized we didn't have any food, nor did we want to venture to the grocery store in my derelict car before eating. We got all dressed up pretty and hopped on the green line to Haymarket, and joined another world in the North End. Rabia's had an astounding collection of vegetarian options, all for $14 a plate!, and there was also a good selection of seafood and meat dishes. The prices were comparable to Cafe Miranda, which is good for me and daN. Tasty enough to make it feel like a special occasion, not so expensive that we couldn't swing it on occasion. Fortunately, we got to test the waters first. It was DELICIOUS. I got broccoli and asparagus over penne pasta with a lemon cream sauce that was all dowsed in fresh parmesan and sprinkles of pepper, oh LORD! it was so good. the wine there was excellent. daN couldn't get over how good his chicken parmagianna was, and the service had perfected the art of making eye contact to check on you without rushing you. The evening was topped with a coconut gellato so rich it was almost flaky. It came served in half a coconut shell that floated on a plate of swirled chocolate and raspberry sauces. Of course, the accompanying espresso was so good it was almost creamy. The perfect combination. We had a lovely evening. We needed one, too.

I'll stop blathering at you, and then i should hop in the shower and get started on this lovely day of mine. Lyrica will be coming by, after all, to make stew with me tonite before she heads back out to Sudbury where she is housesitting. Tomorrow shall be the day of sitting in coffee shops and writing my personal statement(s). This shall be a good weekend after all.