what about the working women?

i haven't included a substantive update lately, but life post-semester is relatively relaxed - for once! it's a strange and freeing sensation to be in what we might call the "real" world after so many months and hours wrapped in all things architectural (or, even more specific, all things studio): studioness. now there's a bit more time to walk at a leisurely pace and explore this place called boston and cambridge, which i've only glimpsed in brief spurts since the fall when i first arrived in new england.

last week was my first working at the Green Development Center of the LISC, a program within this national non-profit with their boston office located just where the back bay meets the south end. i'm finding more and more during my lunchtime explorations what a great neighborhood this is - one direction the shops and hotels of boylston and newbury, the other direction the victorian rowhouses and sidewalk cafes of the south end.

the work has also been interesting and pretty different from the type i've done in the past at architectural firms. my organization works in community development (such a broad term), helping neighborhoods become more sustainable (also a broad term) - mostly in the economic and social sense, but now moving to address building practices, which is where i come in to lend some technical expertise (to me, "expertise") towards research, education, and overall advocacy for green building (and to get people to stop using the word "green" so liberally).

on the side, i'm also trying to figure out the fun things to do in boston over the summer and found this design guide put together by the blog design*sponge. it's pretty heavy on the home furnishings side of things, but seems like a fun start for exploration.

and...for other random things occupying me, i'm in the process of preparing for a 2 week workshop in mallorca, which requires steel toe work boots. FRUSTRATING process! this cat-and-mouse chase just sends the wrong message about women and construction... but now i'm off to investigate the ONE store in the public transit-accessible boston area that might actually have a pair.

wish me luck.