i like america and america likes me.

now that we have that clear, let's move on.

 last tuesday grace and i went to the boston athenaeum for a tour. plus side of the tour = it is the only way to get inside the building if you are not a member. we saw beautiful rooms and a third of george washington's personal library and a million books and even a bust statue of satan. down side of the tour = they did not allow pictures and the tour guide, bless his heart, was uber boring.   

i love how the city still has christmas lights everywhere and i especially liked it this night with the snow/rain and reflection in all the puddles. 

i forget all the time that i have multiple ways of communicating with people and rarely ever skype or use face time but this day i did! it was fun to see all my arizona girls and brother. 

wednesday afternoon = chiiiiina town

as soon as i got there i was overwhelmed with familiarity. the smells, the produce, the sounds, the chinese people and language everywhere. it was wonderful.

 the first bread shop i went into took me right back to my mission. it looked identical to the bread shops that were all over taiwan and i immediately started scanning each type of bread to find the bread i was obsessed with my first few transfers (this bread just might correlate with getting chubbier during that time). bnotd, i found it! i hadn't eaten that "crisp sweet butter bun" (as it is apparently called in english) for two years. two years!! to make this moment even better i realized this was a taiwanese bakery and i had a lovely conversation with a taiwanese woman. as i was leaving i could hear her telling the other women that i had been a missionary and them saying how they couldn't believe how good my chinese was. for the record my chinese is not that good, they are just the sweetest and most complimentary people. i miss their kindness. 

 i loved seeing all of the jade jewelry, random asian trinkets, beautiful scrolls, and idols. 

 i also loved making a new friend in the frozen food section of the grocery store. she is from hong kong and i loved talking to her and being in everyones way for 20 minutes. aaand i liked being the only non-asian person in the place. it felt just like old times. 

 one new attraction at harvard would be this baby ice rink they decided to make. really, it is tiny. i liked everything about it but appreciated them blasting justin bieber music most. 

 dave goes to scouts wednesday nights so grace ate some weird costco meal while i played it safe and had some leftovers. we spent the night chatting and watching things i think? i don't really remember but i enjoy grace's company and feel really happy she lives here. 

thursday morning i went to check out where i would be living the next 6 weeks. the place i will be permanently isn't available till march 1st so finding a place to sublet for six weeks with other lds girls was nothing short of a miracle. the only sad part is that it is kind of far away and maybe you can tell by how many people were left on the subway by the time we got to my stop? 

 i started feeling kind of nervous about this living far away thing (far meaning like 30 minutes outside of cambridge) but seeing this sign made me so happy that i didn't even care anymore. who could pass up living in a neighborhood with elderly crossing signs? not this girl. 

almost every time i've gone on the subway thus far i have had this view. pretty isn't it? 

once again i was alone. maybe the subway was having an off day?

two things i will never get sick of. christmas wreaths still up and statues of men everywhere.

thursday night i got to go to the boston temple! guys. you have to go there, it is so pretty! when i walked into the celestial room my jaw dropped. not even kidding. 

 friday morning will be a blog post of it's own because this post was getting really long. friday night i went to dinner with grace and dave to the friendly toast. all the hipsters raved about it on yelp and my roommate loved it so we went to see what all the fuss was about. i just got french toast because everything i wanted was too spicy and there were too many choices to find something else. it was good frech toast, but i felt like a cop out.

probably my favorite mural i've seen yet

 after going to every red box in cambridge to rent moneyball, i opted out on movie night and decided to just go home because i wasn't feeling well. i could feel myself getting sick and since it began snowing i decided to just take it easy to help my body fight off whatever was happening inside of it. the next 24 hours were spent listening to jb pandora station while simultaneously playing temple run (for the record i am NOT a gamer, this is the only game on my phone, and brynne already knows i blame her completely for getting me to download it). 

aaaand having a law and order svu marathon. i used to be repulsed by this show but somehow i now can't get enough of it. i mean it still makes me sick sometimes and i feel stressed to turn the lights off at night and feel super paranoid but i just have to know who the perp is and how they figure it out!!! law and order, temple run, i went to trader joes yesterday, what is next? hi! i'm megan. i end up liking all the things i judge other people for liking and i'm a hypocrite. 

anyway. mid marathon my mission friend allison came over! you know you have found yourself a good friend when you tell them you are watching law and order svu while resting all day and they ask if they can join you. 

sunday morning was my time to not actually live in that place anymore. my two weeks were up! i was really sad about this because i loved the apartment, location, and roommate kelly. 

 but i got everything out of there before heading to church to be kind to the girl who actually lives there. it was really nice of her to sublet it to me, i don't think i would have come to boston so quickly otherwise. and here is a brightside, i felt a lot better on sunday! 24 hour lazy fest worked like a charm.

 i was happy to see the snow actually stayed around for awhile

 and to find a shortcut to church! 

 i have nothing to say about these but felt compelled to put them in this post

 look at these two new friends! you can tell from their expressions that they are a treat. we sat and talked sunday evening for awhile and i feel so grateful that i've already met really wonderful people who i actually really like being around. maybe it is just me but at times that feels hard to come by.

grace and dave were nice and invited me to dinner and then i got the pleasure of watching dave try to fly his helicopter while all of us felt so stressed for the fragile thing the whole time. 

THEN

 grace talked me into making this little bootie and i really did it! i didn't do it correctly (hence the improv baby x's over the top) but i actually kind of like how it turned out and was proud to actually get through one. yes, i said one. maybe i'll do the other one another day, i didn't want to out do myself!

and to end the week with a bang old friend luke and new friend/wife julie stopped by! behind our fake smiles is genuine happiness for this joyous friendship reunion. 

and in closing let's all remember that one time the building across from the church had snow on the ground and berries on the tree and it looked magical. okay bye!