Friends.

I thought this post title was appropriate because that’s exactly what’s on my mind right now: friends, old and new. First of all, I want to thank all 6 of you who read my first post and responded with overwhelming feedback and support for my new born blog! Y’all are wonderful. And a special thanks to Kathleen, Hayley and Ashley, my very first followers : )

Being a seim-nomad, it’s hard for me to make friends. I have my good grade school friends in Louisville, my good college friends in Atlanta, my good random friends in New York City, and a few good friends sprinkled though out the country. All of these people have had ample time to get to know me. I’m not trying to say I’m not likable or standoffish or anything, it’s just that it takes awhile to get to know me, and it definitely takes awhile for me to open up. Because of this, it’s a slow process for me when it comes to making friends. I experience this everywhere I move. You can’t just go out to a bar to try and meet a new girlfriend. In fact, that’s kinda creepy. “Hey, you wanna be my friend?” Yeah, that’s weird. And it’s difficult for me to approach someone I don’t know, strike up a conversation and develop a spontaneous friendship.  I’m the type of person who would rather hang out by myself than spend time with people I’m not really interested in being friends with. I’m proud to say though, that in the past week I’ve made two friends! Those of you who know me well, which is everyone who’s reading at this point, know (and hopefully appreciate) how I go about making friends, and realize that making two friends in one week is record breaking! Friendship building for me is never forced. I prefer “quality over quantity” when it comes to my pals.

Lemme tell you about my new friends. First there’s Kaitlin. Our friendship blossomed in August during the first afternoon I spent in Boston.  Frank spent the entire day interviewing and I was left to explore the city alone. The afternoon began with a solo lunch where I was slightly over-served by the bartender, who probably felt sorry for me for being alone. She filled my glass of Chardonnay up to the brim (a personal pet-peeve), recommended the veggie burger and left me alone, for which I was grateful.  Afterward, I meandered down Newbury St. to LF, one of my favorite stores which I grew to love while living in New York City. This story may sound familiar to my dear friend Kathleen, who has actually spent a few tipsy hours with me in the NYC LF store…

Anyway, I walked in LF, Kaitlin struck up a conversation about who-knows-what, and instead of ignoring her or saying “I’ll let you know if I need anything,” my usual response to friendly sales people, I was genuinely interested in what she was saying. I think it was something about the Berklee musician performing on the street outside. She is just one of those people who strike you as so incredibly friendly and genuine that you can’t ignore her. Or I couldn’t at least. Turns out, she’s from New York and moved to Boston after college for a change of scenery. Somewhere between the trendy outfits she was dressing me in and us bonding over a phone call she received at work informing her of the robbery of her apartment and stolen lap top, we decided that if Frank got the job and I moved to Boston, we’d have to be best friends. Fast forward a few weeks. On Tuesday night we met for a drink at the Red Lantern, a trendy sushi joint in the Back Bay. I like her a lot, and think we’ll be good friends. She quit LF and is pursuing her true passion: marketing. Go Kaitlin!

Then there’s Amanda, my school friend. We got put into a pair on Tuesday during our first class of the semester because we picked the same folder color: green. Ooooh, how such seemingly insignificant choices can lead to a friendship…?  Oddly enough, she was born in Lexington, but moved around every few years because of her father’s job in schools. She’s a career changer, transitioning from leasing agent to elementary special needs teacher. Pretty awesome!

So, there you have it. Little miss Caroline’s just makin’ friends left and right. I’m sooo friendly!

Oh and speaking of friends, my very best man-friend arrived late last night. I worked hard yesterday getting stuff set up for him (getting his house keys, buying a dog bed for Lady and waiting for his new Tempurpedic bed to arrive). We unpacked a little and wandered over to a cute and convenient little French restaurant near his apartment: Le Petite Robert. Frank and I decided we would start ranking restaurants on a scale of Full plate to Empty plate. If a restaurant is the bomb and there’s nothing left on our plates when the bill arrives, then it gets the “Empty Plate” rating, which is obviously the best! If the food is pretty good or just okay, it gets somewhere in between full and empty, say “1/2 full plate,” for example. If the restaurant really sucks and we barely eat anything they bring us (which is rare for me), it gets a low and embarrassing “Full Plate” rating. This is ONLY based on food, not service. But atmosphere is always worth commenting on and rating. We’ll think about a rating system for atmosphere. I’ll get back to y’all on that one. Le Petite Robert was pretty good. I’d give it a ¾ full plate. It would have gotten much higher ratings had they not been out of “frites.” Who wants steak frites without the frites!? We split a bottle of wine and sat outside, deciding that outdoor seating is a pleasure and luxury we should take advantage of while we still can. I asked someone yesterday “when does it start getting cold here?” Dauntingly, their response was “tomorrow.” Ughh. Although that wasn’t literal, I know our days for outdoor strolling, dining, sitting and reading, etc are limited! Today I sat in the direct sunlight, toasting myself while reading for school. I’m gonna take soak it up while I can…

Some photos to come!

-csc