Two Homes

I had one of the best birthdays that I have had in a long time, possibly all time. Although I suppose I stretched it a bit, since this time I counted the entire week from 13 February to 20 February as my birthday. 

It started on the 13th, with some good friends in New York. I'm not sure what it was about this year, but it was particularly good. My best friend came to town, and organized a surprise for me. She told me an acquaintance wanted to come for my birthday, a girl who I had met a few times. I had felt very honored that she would fly from DC for my birthday, since I did not know her very well. It turned out, when we went to the airport, that my other close friend from college, one of my best friends, was there! 

Despite the blizzard, the three of us drove to Boston, where we went to school. The highway was all right, but once we passed this toll booth, it was like we entered Narnia. Flakes began to fall, and snow was piled high on the side of the road. It was like some phantom toll booth that opened up to WINTER, the type of winter that Ned Stark kept warning was coming, except without the living dead. The snowfall had gone on for most of the day, but ended as we drove through. It had piled up though, and the road crunched beneath us. 

Through a dirty windshield, Boston University!

Cars were buried and the mounds of snow were over my head. As we pulled up to my friend's old apartment, we found her parking spot covered with over a foot of snow. As a Bostonian however, I didn't freak out, and I shoveled out our spot in less than 10 minutes. I was very proud of that, though I suppose I might have gotten rusty from living in NY--maybe a true Bostonian could have done it in 5. As we drove out however, we got stuck, and I had to shovel areas in front of the car while my friend drove us out. 

My old subway station

The three of us went back to our favorite places in college. There was a restaurant called Kayuga that my two friends worked at, and I had called in advance to make sure it was still running, and that the owners were there. Despite the freezing cold, we walked down Newbury street. We pretty much had all of Newbury street to ourselves, since no one else wanted to brave the cold. We trudged through the snow, the wind was made of ice as it hit our faces--it was like a very cold exfoliant, with bits of snow whipped up with the wind. From far away, it was beautiful--the wind would sweep up clouds of snow, and the white would swirl against the blue sky, as though someone was painting something in the air. 

Newbury Street

For lunch, we ate at Top of the Hub, a restaurant in the Prudential Center that overlooks the entire city. Boston was painted white, by the same force that gave us the show on Newbury street. We were lucky that the snow fell as we arrived, so we did not see the gunky gray slush that city snow inevitably turns to. A pipe happened to burst while we were there, so our lunch got delayed, but it wasn't so bad--we just enjoyed the view for an extra 30 minutes or so. 

The view from Top of the Hub

After returning from Boston, I flew to California to surprise my family Lunar New Year--my best friends came with me. My brother picked me up from the airport, and we surprised my parents. At first they did not notice because they were so busy getting ready for New Year's Eve dinner--the first to notice was my dog, who freaked out and started barking with excitement. In contrast with the cold in the east, San Francisco was glorious--crisp blue sky and sunshine. 

Golden Gate Bridge in February

We went through Muir Wood, and found a parking spot right in front of the park. It was a nice hike through the redwoods. My family has recently gotten into mushroom picking, which my mother calls "mushroom hunting," so they have become experts on types of mushrooms in the Bay Area. There is one type that looks like a little ball, and when poked, it releases spores in a puff, like a small yellow cloud. The woods were covered with shamrocks, so that the ground looked like it was carpeted with little green hearts. 

Redwoods

Sea of shamrocks

I went back to see the harbor seals. They lay on the beach with smiles on their faces, a few new pups since it is their calving season.  

Seal smiling

I was annoyed that my photo was "ruined" by a random couple that wouldn't move, but then as I took a few shots, and now that I look at the picture, I think their presence really makes the photo look nicer. I find myself feeling grateful again, for the people I have in my life, and excited for a new year to come.

The beach in February