viale outing

i'm excited because i finally made it to a new restaurant. i checked out viale with the swede and the boat engineer. we pretty much tried everything on the cocktail list (minus a hot toddy) and then had some small bites. i tried a mezcal/beer cocktail that wasn't too smokey buho mezcal); also tried a scotch cocktail that was good (pig's nose scotch). i tried a cocktail with denizen rum that was delicious. it was their white rum, which is much less funky than their aged rum. the boat engineer had an amazing cocktail with oloroso, green chartreuse, and lime. and my favorite of the evening was the 1919; rittenhouse rye, old monk rum, punt e mes, and benedictine. we just got some small bites: a cheese plate, fried polenta, roasted beets, some pasta. it was a good night.

the boat engineer and i continued the night and stopped by curley's. we did a lot of experimenting. i had a drink with batavia arrack that didn't suck, which is kind of amazing to me. anyway, hopefully i can continue checking out at least one new place a month on thursdays. we shall see!

bars/restaurants i need to check out!

-alden and harlow
-bastille kitchen
-belly wine bar
-besito mexican (MAYBE)
-brass union
-cafe art science
-canary square
-clio
-fairstead kitchen
-giulia
-kirkland tap and trotter (6/17/15)
-la brasa
-loco taqueria and oyster bar
-loyal nine (7/1/15)
-myers and chang
-ostra
-puritan and company (7/1/15)
-ribelle
-sarma

-select oyster bar
-spoke wine bar

-sycamore
-tres gatos
-viale (2/19/15)
-westbridge

and if/when they open
-brewer's fork (3/1/15)
-townsman

places that weren't on my list:
-sams (8/5/15)
-hojoko (8/19/15)

update #2

surprise, surprise, i have not been keeping up as i should. i don't even know what i have been doing for the last 3 (ahem, 4) months.

i know i have been sad a lot and completely unmotivated to do anything. which sucks. but i should focus on what i have been able to accomplish.

i voted. woot. sadly, i don't think many of my candidates ended up winning.

without even really focusing on it, i have been able to do karaoke monthly. twice at highland and once (maybe twice) at abigails.

i kind of fell into a monthly wine tasting with one of my regulars. i've made it to 2 out of the 4 so far. the first being bubbly and the second being cabernet sauvignons from around the world. the next one up is syrahs, so i will keep that on my radar.

i was able to make it home to colorado and arizona for christmas, thanks to the boat engineer's mom buying our plane tickets. it was stressful seeing family and things were kind of crazy, but i guess that's to be expected. on a more positive note, i refrained from drinking starbucks while i was away, so yay! also went ice skating with my nephew (despite it being a disaster). checked out a pretty awesome restaurant with my aunt and unlce, called argyle. it has an amazing whiskey list and the food was delicious. i got a pedicure and manicure with my aunt while in colorado, but it's definitely time for another.

boat engineer took my car in to get fixed and the oil changed, etc. but now it's been a few weeks since i have driven it, so i'm sure that's not good for it. and now we have like a million feet of snow, so i doubt i'll be driving it in the near future. ugh.

the diner holiday party happened, but before that my yang and i went to barcelona wine bar, their new spot in the south end. had some delicious cheese and wine.

the work log definitely faltered at the end of the year, but i've been pretty good about keeping up with it in the new year.

i reapplied for healthcare. woo hoo. that kind of feels like the biggest win of all so far.....

things to concentrate on:
-tickets to florida
-tickets/hotels for kickball wedding
-START DOING YOGA!
-do some stretching, do some dancing
-update my passport
-check out alden and harlow or viale
-postcross in february
-apply for dental insurance
-join the y
-schedule a facial and massage (this should not be a chore....)


things on the horizon:
-ne trip for the late winter/early spring
-check out csas for the spring
-taxes (blech)

update #1

so i've done a few things, maintenance as i like to call it for the things that need to be done on  fairly regular basis.

-i danced, somewhat drunkenly with a friend after we got home from work. she was feeling bummed; i have been feeling down lately, so what's the best way to get that out of your system? dance like a fool. but i'm definitely out of shape and couldn't dance for that long. hopefully things will improve if i do it semi-often.

-i stretched before going to bed. once. maybe that will become a nightly thing.....

-i hit up karaoke at the courtside with my old karaoke buddy who is moving away. it was kind of bittersweet because we've grown apart a bit, but it's nice when you can just fall back in to fun. i sang culture club's karma chameleon, pretty poorly, but whatever.

-got a couple of goals with one outing. my sister's wedding was 2 weekends ago (the start of this quest) and it was in gloucester. we went up early to catch lunch downtown, which is where we discovered cape ann's brewpub (new bar for the month). the food was decent for pub grub and we were able to try a sampler of all the beers they had on tap. walked a bit along the waterfront and then checked out hammond castle because that's where the wedding was. it would have been nice to do a beach walk, but it was kind of cold out so we didn't (that and we were kind of pressed for time).

-i also realized it's been a while since i've been to a starbucks, and that i have 4 good local cafes that i regularly pass in my travels, so i should clearly be able to avoid coffee from a chain. until the boat engineer and i were talking and he brought up the fact that sometimes a starbucks is the only place still open when we are traveling. so i decided that i'm adding a caveat to my no starbucks for a year thing, and that is it doesn't count if i'm traveling because sometimes there is no local, non chain option. and starbucks isn't the worst chain coffee place out there, so c'est la vie. but i'm really going to try not to go to one at all....

-donated to the breast cancer research foundation. so that's one down, two to go.

things i need to do before the week is over:

-dance some more
-laundry (the duvet and one load of clothes for sure)
-read like crazy, or at least regularly.
-buy christmas tickets home
-update work log

things to be on the radar:

-oil change
-yoga
-date night
-acupuncture
-wine tasting
-pedicure
-paper journal