An Introduction to Wayland Square

I took full advantage of today being Saturday and slept until 11:30am. My mother will probably roll her eyes when she reads this, her favorite saying being "You can sleep when you're dead." I don't often sleep so late and now that it is late in the evening I'm remembering why: I feel like I wasted the day. So the best way to make myself feel accomplished is to go over the few things that I did get done today.

After finally dragging my butt out of bed and picking up the house (accomplishment #1) I got dressed (accomplishment #2) and was about to walk out the door to tool around some stores when T arrived home from his work out. What luck! Switching gears, I put on my winter boots and warm weather gear and we took Ed to Blackstone to run around with the other pups in some fresh powder (accomplishment #3). It was very cold here this afternoon but there were still plenty of people out and about because the roads weren't bad. After a couple times around the park, my toes were sufficiently frozen so we packed it up.

Snow hasn't quite come through the trees at this point. 

Freezing our butts off at Blackstone. Snow on the lense. 

Once in the car, T noted that he was having his once-a-year craving for hot chocolate which I was totally on board with because I too am more of a coffee person and only want hot chocolate if the occasion calls for it. Having been through this section of town a few times now, I knew that Wayland Square was very close and that there was a good chance we would find a small java stop over there that made hot chocolate. Wayland Square is a small section of PVD on the East Side. Shops of note include an adorable pet store called Plaid and Stripe, a bookstore by the name of Paper Nautilus Books, and a trendy specialty olive oil store called The Olive Tap among others. I need to plan a full day of exploration in Wayland Square. We got a parking spot very quickly in front of L'Artisan Cafe & Bakery. Upon entering there was a short line and a huge case of pastries as well as a wall of pre-made lunch items including salads, sandwiches, and soft drinks. It appears that they also had gift baskets for purchase comprised of small artisan items like chocolate and coffee. I order a White Hot Chocolate, delicious, and T got a Gingerbread Latte which really stole the spot light (accomplishment #4). That thing was amazing. It was actually like drinking a gingerbread man. They were a little understaffed so the drinks took longer than they should have but it gave us time to sit on the couches in the picture window and look through the local papers. I imagine this is probably a great spot for working individuals on the East Side to breeze through for lunch or sit down to eat while they type emails. I'd go back for the Gingerbread Latte. 

Now that we're home, Edison is all tuckered out and I've been inspired to whip up some actual gingerbread men (accomplishment #5) so the dough is currently chilling in the fridge. The snow continues to drift by the windows and I'm not complaining. Keep it comin'. 

Curled up in his chair.