last post as savannah ann(ah)

because i'm not longer there! but i did want to post some pictures of the trip back to beantown. so here you go :) please understand that this is an abbreviated version of the trip!

a beach day after we were done packing in savannah. we went to tybee island:


then bright and early on saturday morning, we headed for asheville, nc.


then on to gettysburg, pa, to stay with my old friend marc from my syracuse days :)


on the way from gettysburg to boston, we stopped and had lunch in princeton, nj, with beth!


and then home... it was a good trip and nice to see friends on the way. it made living in savannah worthwhile ;)

home at last!

well, i've made it!  back to boston, that is.  i'm still getting moved in though, and it seems like it's going to take a bit of time because there is no room for me in my old house.  sigh...

on our way from savannah to boston, we stopped for a great dinner at the laughing seed cafe in asheville, nc; we visited an old syracuse friend who is now a visiting professor in the religion department at gettysburg college in gettysburg, pa; we had lunch with beth in princeton, nj; and then had frozen pizza on the return to boston!  i'll post pictures of my last day in savannah and the trip once i get a little more settled here.

work is so far going well.  it's very low-key, but it's going to be a daunting task.  i am the only librarian there.  there are others who work in the library, but they are not librarians.  so i am faced with getting the place to run a little smoother.  my co-worker is so excited to have me there to standardize things!  i hope i live up to his expectations.  but they seem like a good group of people so far.  

i guess i can now get rid of savannah ann(ah) though.  you may now call me bostoniANN :)

soggy cookie

that should be the name of a band...

but really, it was what i ate this afternoon in the midst of a chocolate craving. and it was NOT good! i went to panera (which i totally have a thing against, because their stuff is never very good and too preservative/pre-made tasting...). i wanted a chocolate chip cookie. i like my cookies with nice crunchy bottoms. mmm... crunchy-bottomed cookie...

BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I GOT!

it was soggy, doughy, and undercooked. yuck. panera's cookie ruined my day :(

homeward bound

i have to be honest--i don't feel bad or really sad about leaving savannah one bit. this has been a very trying time for me, both professionally and personally. i am really looking forward to going home and being with my husband full time! imagine that!

however, i have met wonderful people here. these people are truly great and i hope we keep in touch. i can't wait to host them in boston or meet them somewhere in between for some fun times. and if i didn't take this job, i wouldn't have met them. i wish them all the best in savannah and beyond! so if you're one of those people, just know that i will miss you :( but that my door in boston is always open to you!

4 days of work this week, and then a day to wrap up and i'm gone.

onward, ho!

last bookclub

on saturday morning, i attended my very last bookclub here in savannah. it was a warm day, so we decided to have a brunch picnic in forsyth park. we had read the book troll: a love story, which we all greatly enjoyed and decided it was our favorite book. it was very strange, but i definitely recommend it. here's jessica and kirsten:


and here i am with jennifer and kelly.

while we were there, a group of scad students came through the park dressed like faries. we don't know why, but here they are playing around in the trees and being photographed:


it was a really lovely morning, despite the horrible humidity. luckily, it rained the rest of the weekend!

i will really miss this group of ladies. we read some interesting stuff, and they're all just great people. i hope they continue to send me their reading list :) in any case, i told them that they'll miss me because there will be no one to bring "strange" food to our get-togethers. kirsten says i always bring what she likes to call "yankee food." she's kidding, of course, but she's right. i've brought dried canteloupe to one meeting and for brunch i brought boiled eggs and smoked oysters. my food is never very popular at our gatherings. they'll miss picking on me, for sure :)

pimento cheese

yesterday, i had the (dis)pleasure of trying, for the first time, that southern delicacy known as pimento cheese. i didn't like it, but stephanie assured me that what i had was not very good. i'm convinced that this is something i would normally love! i mean, it's cheese, pimentos, and some mayo and spices. put on sandwiches or use as a dip on other snacks. i mean, it sounds great! so because stephanie talked about how much she liked it, i have researched pimento cheese and found some good recipes. bostonians, watch out!

from npr
from a site called the kitchn

enjoy!

a whirlwind!

that's what it's been for the past almost week, as i frantically make all my plans and arrangements for returning to boston. i've set up my power and internet being disconnected and contacted friends and hotels to see them on our way. lee has bought an airline ticket, rented a car, and contacted the landlord. we're almost done!

to make our trip pleasant, we're traveling only 5 hours the first day and staying in lovely asheville, nc. my friend jessica just went there, and you can see her pictures on her blog, "the savannian." it made me jealous, so that's what we're going to do :) then, we'll head about 8 hours north to gettysburg, pa to visit marc who is a professor at gettysburg college. so we're going from antebellum south, to hippie south, to civil war battle ground. seems all pretty fitting. then from marc's, we'll go through princeton, nj, to see beth and have lunch. then on to boston!

i'm going with beth on this one: it's always darkest before the dawn...

apparently, all i had to do is have a nervous breakdown. it's all settled. my last day at scad is may 28. lee and i will leave savannah on may 30. i will return to boston on june 2, just in time to start my new job on june 3. you have all been great to listen to my panic attacks!

yesterday, i officially accepted an offer to be the new reference librarian at the mary baker eddy library. i can't wait :)

i can't wait to go home, but...

i'm scared!

this is a shitty economy and i'm electing to leave a job that i have for, well, none. i'm not into savannah, and my job is the worst one i've ever had but still... AM I CRAZY?

i'm getting worried because not even the boston public library is hiring. i've applied for the 3 (count them...) 3 jobs that i'm qualified for and have had no luck so far. but i also know that if i'm not home in june, i won't be able to interview for jobs in boston. any academic jobs will post over the summer and i need to be in town if i want a chance. i don't have the vacation time to go between savannah and boston. nor do i have the money to do so. plus, lee needs to go see his mom more often and he surely won't be spending more of his vacation time on me. this all sucks...

new earrings

i made these today and can't wait to wear them :)

relaxing on tybee island

well, i didn't get to go to the beach exactly. there was something called "orange crush" happening there today. but, my friend jennifer is from tybee island and so we drove out to her parents' house and hung out on the dock, enjoying the sunshine, some cute dogs, and the beautiful salt marsh scenery. it was extremely relaxing and quite beautiful weather. throw in some good books and a little lunch and you have a perfect day!

sidewalk arts festival

every year, scad sponsors the sidewalk arts festival. students and others compete in chalk drawing on the sidewalks throughout forsyth park. the festival was actually yesterday, but jessica and i both forgot our cameras. but that's actually not a bad thing. the festival was terribly crowded with people trying to look and see what everyone was chalking. but the art is on the sidewalk, so everyone was walking in between the art. it was so crowded, we never would have been able to get any decent pictures anyway. so i went back today and took pictures of the art all done. here are some of my favorites.

i think this one was the best work i saw there.


cute! goldfish and koi were a popular theme.


the ubiquitous obama...


finding nemo was playing in forsyth park that night, so i think this was pretty creative. it might have made some children cry :)


nice juxtaposition of a cartoon geisha next to the girl with a pearl earring.


also, while i was riding around the park, i noticed some people in civil war dress. it seems that the monument in the middle of forsyth park is the confederate soldiers memorial. so all these women were dressed in black hoop-skirt dresses (and it was quite warm for that today!) and there were also soldiers and cannons in the park. oh, and plenty of rebel flags. can't forget those. but here's some pictures of the crowd milling around.

it's been beautiful this weekend, although yesterday was far too hot for me. i really wanted to go to the beach, but that fell through. i have no way of getting there, and the person who was going to go with me to visit her parents out there changed her plans. that's okay. maybe another day. it will sure be hot enough here for it until the day i leave!

craziness

i haven't been writing for a while, huh... well, sadly, my mental life is a shambles! i'm waiting to hear back from the interviews i've done in boston, which is making me terribly irritable. sorry all, i'm kind of superstitious about interviews and job karma and all that. and i feel like already too many people know about what i'm going through with these 2 interviews, and that's why i'm not hearing anything back from anyone. when i get anything--even a rejection--i'll talk about them...

also, i'm having a hard time dealing with our family problems. lee's mother is sick and i'm not there and i don't know yet when i'm going to be there and i feel like i'm really far away and there's too much going on but i can't do anything about it.

and finally, there's my new boss at work. she's nice, and that's about as far as i can go. she does have an art background, but she's never used it and it doesn't apply to anything taught at scad. i feel like if she never sinks, she'll never swim. she relies on me for way too much stuff--but she's my boss! but i feel like her boss. she's also never managed anything or anyone before, so i also feel like the boss there. i may not have library management experience, but i have 3 years of other management experience. this woman runs almost everything by me, or just plain doesn't know what she's doing or what's going on. she's also a drama queen and a terrible chatty patty who won't shut up! i feel like i can't get anything done in my office. this job has truly driven me to drink. it's a good thing that i don't buy alcohol for just myself at home...

dc pictures

day 1

the capitol upon arrival at dc's union station


minerva in the library of congress. you pass her on your way to see the lovely reading room--which as a tourist you are not allowed to enter, only to view from a sound proof box looking down over it. so sad.


the sweets we ate at the american indian smithsonian museum. we had savory food from the lovely food court as well... but here is the indian pudding, which i don't think i liked, and the mesquite cookies (complete with pine nuts). YUM!


day 2

the national cathedral


thou shalt not enter!


after a super tasty lunch with miriam in durgan park.


at the tidal basin for cherry blossom viewing with 2 million of our closest friends! it was not really fun...


the national portrait gallery


walking to dinner in our neighborhood, we passed a building that said it was syracuse university's paul something building. so here is su in dc. note the orange flag.


dessert! a three layer mousse cake at l'ocolat cafe. i'm drooling as i type!


day 3

at the national zoo. i really like the petting zoo area because my favorite animals are goats and sheep, followed then by the capybara, which i did not see... ;(


after the zoo, we sat on the porch of the inn and had our leftovers from the previous night's dinner. it was a lovely little spot.


then off to the train station to boston, by way of the national gallery. i have officially (as if it weren't official before) seen more i.m. pei buildings than any other architect. it doesn't hurt that he did the rock hall in cleveland and the everson art museum in syracuse--both places i've lived. otherwise, i've seen buildings of his in paris, japan, dc, and other places throughout the country and the world.


and the fountain across the way, in front of the rest of the national gallery.


a great trip over all :)

dc and btown

it's been a crazy time recently, with a new boss that won't shut her yap, family illnesses, job interviews, and a trip to dc.

last weekend, lee and i met in the middle and met in dc. i hadn't been there since i was 13 years old! we stayed at a cute place called adam's inn in a great neighborhood with a lot of fantastic ethnic food. we ate turkish and el salvadorian, went to a great chocolate cafe, and had decent pizza and pasta while listening to live jazz--all in the same neighborhood!

what's nice about dc is the amount of free things there are to do there. once i arrived--it's a long story, but lee and i were supposed to arrive within 45 minutes of each other on friday morning, but my train hit a car on the way...--we went straight to the capitol building and supreme court. we didn't wait to go inside, but got some nice pictures. then we went to the library of congress. YAY! the exhibits were fantastic, but the tour was terrible. just go for the exhibits.

day 2 we walked from the inn to the national cathedral. it was beautiful. and a perfect morning to walk there--although it was a longer walk than we expected. afterward, we went to durgin park and had lunch with miriam. it was sooo good to see her :) and lunch was very delicious. i had butternut squash ravioli. after lunch, lee and i headed down to the tidal basin for cherry blossom viewing, but it was too crowded to be enjoyable. so we left and walked up through the japanese street fair. not very japanese... just some karaoke and some kids dressed as manga characters. but then we went to the national portrait gallery, and it was really fantastic.

on sunday morning before we left, we woke up and walked down to the national zoo. it was a beautiful day for the zoo :) the only bummer was that i couldn't find the capybara in the amazonia exhibit. the capybara is my favorite animal. it is the largest rodent in the world, so it always makes me think of the ROUS (rodent of unusual size) from the princess bride. except it's cute. note below:


after the zoo, we went back to the inn to gather our stuff and slowly made our way to the train station via the national gallery, where i saw a beautiful illuminated manuscript exhibit.

all in all, it was a very fun weekend. i will write more on the rest of my trip later and will also post the pictures from dc. but alas, i haven't downloaded them off my camera yet!

favorite cafe no more!

on friday night, bookclub met once again. there were 5 of us and we met at gallery espresso to talk about "the bride price" by buchi emecheta. it was an okay book. i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it. it was a slow starter, and you don't care about the main character until about 70 pages before the end. then all this stuff happens and you get really into the book. then it ends and you wish the the whole book was like that...

anyway, we ordered the cheese board, some wine, pita chips, cakes, cookies and were happily munching and talking away. by the end of our "meal," some people over next to us were very unhappy and looking at the floor. that's when we found out that there was an apparently large palmetto bug (aka COCKROACH) scurrying across the floor just a little way from us. i hate cockroaches...

one palmetto bug under some rugs and furniture in a cafe might be something to overlook down here in savannah. (you see now how i've become a little desensitized to the idea of them). you see, they are outdoor cockroaches, not the same at all as the ones we have up north. they do not infest so-called dirty places. they come inside through cracks in the walls or around doors, mainly looking for water. in fact, most everyone around the cockroach just watched it scurry away--no one even tried to kill it. they were just laughing about it. the upset people just moved their seats to the other side of the cafe. the problem comes next... when jessica said about 10 minutes later "um, maybe i shouldn't tell you what i just saw."

the ceiling of gallery espresso is made of wood beams. there was a guy across the way from us, with his girlfriend on his laptop. jessica said one fell off the ceiling onto his head. he brushed it off. jessica told us that, and we all got up and went to sit outside. and as we were bussing our stuff up to the front, jessica said she saw it sitting on his bag! oh no! so the problem was that there were multiple cockroaches and that they were brazen enough to be around people and in the light. this all means that they probably do have a palmetto bug problem--that the cafe is not sealed well from the outside and that they don't spray for them or something. i will never go back there again! i felt so dirty and creepy!

but our next book is "special topics in calamity physics." and i hear it's quite good, so i'm looking forward to that.

bookbinding and bbqs

this weekend i had a pretty busy saturday. jessica and i had signed up to take a basic bookbinding class through scad's community education. in the class, we made a book from scratch and learned a pretty basic sewing technique to secure pages to the book board. it was really a lot of fun. but kind of discouraging, too! the woman who taught the class graduated from scad several years ago from the fibers program. she now works for scad in several capacities--and when she demo'ed how to do the book, it took her about 20 minutes to a half hour. but the class was given about 5 hours to do our own books! someday, maybe i'll be able to do this book in a short amount of time!

i think i'll use mine to save all the beautiful cards and letters i've received from friends and family while i've been down here. lee will be sending along some pretty yellow envelopes from home for me to glue into the pages for some of the postcards, and i'll figure out how to put the rest in as i go. jessica and i are going to try to get together and make another book soon so we don't forget how. when i get back to boston, maybe i'll show some of you how to make these :)

then later saturday evening, hunt had a bbq at his house. his brother and sister-in-law are in town from boston for the weekend, and it was a good excuse to get some co-workers together, i suppose. i made car bomb cupcakes, in honor of st. patrick's week in savannah. thanks for the spring-time cupcake stencils, lee!


i've got to find a way to get more filling in the inside though. i spent a lot of time hollowing these suckers out, and this was all the filling i got. i think the crumb kind of sinks back into the holes after you make them. but i need more filling! how do they do it with jelly donuts?

it was actually chilly last night, too, so hunt and his brother had to get the chiminea going. then we all sat around in a 1-foot radius from the thing and stayed warm. well, at least we were cozy :)

and a good time was had by all, i think.