To 18 Year Old Kristen

So, here we are. I finished up my short time in Boston. The thought that I will be in London so soon is incredibly surreal - despite all the planning I'm doing of where I should buy groceries, what my daily work schedule will be, planning for programs, I can't believe it's actually happening.

While I wait for it to actually happen I had a FABULOUS last weekend in Boston. My college roommate is in Boston for law school, and another fabulous college friend of ours just happened to be visiting the last weekend I was there. Cue stuffing ourselves at Indian restaurants, deciding where we want to live when we all move in to the same giant house together, and sleepover!

During our massive, approximately seven hour gab fest (and this was after I had seen Lauren for lunch earlier that day), I think the conversation that stuck most with me was what we would tell our freshmen year selves.

These guys! (Also, I spent a REALLY long time trying to find the perfect picture of the three of us, which doesn't exist because we apparently took pictures in every combination but, and then the perfect one that captured Lauren's personality. I mostly failed although I did see one gem that in 2007 I tagged "Looooopy Lauren flying a kite!" She's perfect.)

I decided I wanted to go back to freshman year, grab little Kristen by the shoulders, and say "CALM DOWN. Relax. Enjoy. It all works out." Then we talked about what we wanted to tell our middle school selves, and I realized I wanted to say the same thing - just relax! It's fine!

This is something I really need to remember. I tend to, how shall we say, worry about things more than I should (although I think I've gotten much better). But hopefully present-day Kristen can realize that it's all going to work out fine - there might be some heartache and difficulties on the journey, but in retrospect, it's a breeze. I was mulling over that the morning after our sleepover (!) when I checked Postsecret and saw a secret that read something like, "I think my future self is telling me not to worry so much!" Um, how appropriate is that? IT'S A SIGN. It all works out.

Rewarding Introspection with... a "Beach Attempt"

So besides the amazing revelations I enjoyed as a result of my wonderful friends, we also decided to go to a beach! This shocked us all, but Boston is apparently close to the water? And that means beaches?

This is how our day went: we arrive at the beach (Revere Beach - apparently the country's first public beach! who knew!) and immediately find perfect, free, street parking - L didn't even have to parallel park, she could just pull in. And it was ON THE BEACH. She and I spend literally about five minutes marveling over how perfect that was, to find FREE EASY parking at the beach, as we all walk into the sand.

The second our blanket hits the sand, it starts to rain. OF COURSE. So we gather up our stuff and contemplate running to a cafe ... and it stops raining. We cautiously sit back down, go in the water, come back to sunbathe. It starts raining. It stops raining. By the third time we were like YUUPPP!!!! We're done.

So instead, we GORGED ourselves on a huge lunch/dinner at an Indian restaurant and walked it off in the surrounding neighborhood, where we decided we should all live. And it was good.

                

So, that is the end. Of Boston, that is. A great and good city, one I still do hope to move to one day, made better by the amazing old friends I could see and the amazing new friends I've been able to make.

As for now... Mrs. Landingham! What's next?

[EDIT] Can't believe I forgot a cat! To make up for it, here's one of Annie looking really stupid (but still majestic):