I've complained here a few times about terrible customer service (WaMu, I'm looking at you: WaMu sucks is one of the top search phrases that brings people to my blog) so I thought it would be only fair to post some good customer service experiences.

I'd been eyeing this sweatshirt from Supermaggie for quite awhile, so when I noticed they were having a sale, and I needed a new hoodie, I ordered one. It arrived a bit over a week later, wrapped in tissue paper that was sealed with flower stickers. My order included a hand-written, personal thank you on a beautiful card that the company had designed. It was such fantastic packaging that it improved the order, I think. The quality of the prints is great, and the hoodie is super cute and cozy.

I also recently bought some dresses from Shabby Apple. They're an online dress company that makes cute dresses that are actually work appropriate. Because of my narrow shoulders, I frequently find that most dresses are too low cut to wear to work unless I wear a tank top under them. Which is fine and all, but I like wearing dresses in hot weather because they're cool, and wearing a tank defeats the purpose. Anyways, the point is, Shabby Apple's dresses are designed to not be too low cut to wear to work yet still be cute and not frumpy. So, I ordered a few things to try on. When my order arrived (very quickly), one dress fit perfectly, one was a size too big, and one just fit weird. It was a cute dress, but I couldn't tell if it was the wrong size or the wrong style for my body type. I emailed the company the next day to ask their advice, and they were so responsive--I got a reply within an hour of their office opening, and the person asked me a ton of questions about how the dress fit, what sizes I wear for other clothes, etc. Part of the problem was that the dress gaped in the back and she even offered to measure the dress to make sure it hadn't been cut wrong. Ultimately I decided to return it because it just wasn't quite right on me, and she offered to refund me, give me store credit, exchange the dress for another one, or send another size. I am super impressed with this level of service and will definitely be ordering again. AND they donate 5% of their dress sales to a microcredit organization for women in India, where many of the dresses are made.

I know rants can be more entertaining posts, but this is the kind of service that means I'll be ordering from these companies again, and it makes me want to tell my friends about them as well.

The infrared camera at the Boston Museum of Science says so. Look how cold my nose and hand are! (Blue=coldest, white=warmest, red=mid-range.)

Oh right! I have a blog!

A couple of weeks ago, Dave and I went out to Mt Auburn Cemetery. It might sound a little morbid, but it's actually one of the most beautiful places I've been in Boston. It was founded in 1831 as the first large-scale designed landscape open to the public in the United States, and it's credited with beginning the American public parks and gardens movement. Many famous people, including Buckminster Fuller, Isabella Stewart Gardener, Mary Baker Eddy, and Julia Ward Howe are buried there. It's 174 acres of trees, flowers, and birds, and it's one of the most peaceful places I've ever been. Amazingly, it's still in use today as a non-denominational burying ground, open to people of all economic levels.

I have a set on Flickr, but here are a few of my favorites:

A Civil War memorial:

This was really interesting. It appeared to be an empty plot, but apparently it's full. The Scots' Charitable Society is the oldest non-profit in the US and was founded in 1657 to assist with the burial of indigent Scottish immigrants, primarily indentured workers. They now provide academic scholarships and financial assistance to people in need.

Just a nice view:

After a pretty tough day, I walked out of my office to this.

I've been spending a lot more time outside now that it's finally spring! More time outside means less time at the computer...since my last post, I've:

• Turned 31, and celebrated with a fantastic dinner at Craigie on Main; beautiful tulips from my aunt and uncle; and special fancypants coffee imported from San Francisco by my brother.
  
• Had a mini-reunion in Washington DC with several friends, hosted by the always-wonderful-hosts Kristen & Frank
  
• Visited the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens in DC, thanks to Hilary (pictures on Flickr)
  
• Hosted an Easter egg hunt for a certain toddler (and some interfering cats)
  
• Attended part of MIT's European Short Film Festival
  
• Experimented with an exciting new innovation in pie: rhubarb hand pies
  
• Gotten outside whenever possible!
  

I'll be back sometime this week with a 31 things to do before I turn 32 list, in honor of my most recent birthday!

Dave built the most awesome bookcase ever. I finally have space to hold all my books (well, except for my public health books, children's books, and a selection of my non-fiction, which are in another bookcase), plus room to grow. It's wonderful to have a custom-built bookcase that fits perfectly in the corner, and it's almost as wonderful to finally have finished unpacking! It looks even better when you're not seeing the flash reflection, but you get the idea.

Also, the cats like it.

This week I'm guestblogging over at No Apathy Allowed while Mandi is traveling. Check it out!

Dave and I had a few people over last night to celebrate Pi(e) Day. Pi(e) Day can only be properly celebrated with lots of pie. We had lots of homemade pizza by Dave, including margerita, pepperoni, roasted garlic & ricotta, artichoke & sundried tomato, and pesto mozzarella mushroom, and I made apple pie and chocolate pudding pie. The chocolate pudding pie was a recipe invented by my friend Sonny, and it was awesome. The apple pie looked perfect, but for some reason the apples came out a little underbaked, so it wasn't my best pie ever. Next year! Or, maybe next week.

Read more about Pi Day on Wikipedia.

See lots of photos of our pie and pizza making on Flickr.

Eat some leftover pie: our house!

I know, I've been terrible about posting anything this month. What can I say....February is a hellish time of year, in which all I do is complain about the never-ending winter and hibernate, and worship my new fake-sunlight lamp. It is now, according to the calendar, March, but it's also snowing and we are forcasted to receive another 8-16 inches over the next day. Yes, I know I was excited about the snow back in December, but that was before we'd gotten 17 feet of it. I'm seriously considering moving to...somewhere else. Anywhere else, as long as it's warmer.

Enough about that. See, I haven't posted in weeks because really that's all I've had to say, well, that and funny cat pictures, and how much of that would it take for everyone to stop reading my blog forever? Not very long at all.

The one exciting thing that did happen this month was that my brother's girlfriend Shannon's dance company, zoe|juniper, came to Boston to perform at the Institute for Contemporary Art. We got to see one of the performances of the piece, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't, and it was amazing. I don't think I've seen a dance performance since college, so it was an unusual treat. The performance combines modern dance with video work and music and it's beautiful and weird and creepy all at the same time. We also had the chance to talk about the performance with Shannon afterwards, and hearing about the piece from one of the dancers added a lot to my understanding and thoughts.

Here's a clip of a section I liked; there are lots more on youtube:

We're switching site hosts!

This is just a test post to see how it all looks. Pardon any site weirdness for the next day or so.

Dave and I joined a Winter CSA a few weeks ago, and it's been awesome. It's all organic produce from farms on the East Coast (including a citrus farm down in Florida), collected and boxed by a farm out in Western MA. Every Wednesday we pick up an 8-10lb box of fruits and vegetables. The photo is last week's box; this week (no pictures) we got eggplant, kale, green beans, onions, sweet potatoes, apples, cherry tomatoes, rutabagas, yellow summer squash, lettuce, and a green pepper. We both enjoy opening the box and seeing what we get every week; I can definitely see how some people might not be into the surprise of figuring out what you're going to cook for the next week, but we find it fun. We've already tried a new vegetable (celeric; we both really liked it) and discovered that we like parsnips a lot more than we thought. Also, the produce is in much better shape and is much more affordable than the grocery store in our neighborhood. We've signed up for a different CSA for next summer, which starts in June. I can't wait for all that wonderful summer produce....I had a little taste of spring earlier this week when it hit 47 degrees for a day and I seriously can't wait. Especially on nights like tonight, when it's zero degrees.

And since this is totally turning into a food blog, it's time to talk about coffee! Dave and I have given up on finding good coffee beans around here that sells for less than a dollar an once, no joke, so we ordered a bunch of coffee beans from our Brooklyn fave, Gorilla. It's even better than I remembered, and it's less expensive, even to have it shipped! Good coffee definitely makes it easier to get out of the house on a frigid February morning; it's probably the only thing that makes that even possible.