Storm's a comin'...

Well, the plan to go to NYC this weekend has been slightly altered. I'm going to DC instead, which should be just as much fun. The change was partly due to the fact that the tropical storm that was in Flordia is moving up the coast and is supposed to get here by Sat. (Ash didn't want to see NY in the rain) but now it looks like it's going to land right on DC for the weekend. Oh well, at least I get to hang out with Ashlee and see the beautiful capitol. Who cares about a little rain? Not me!

So lots of changes have been hapening at work this week, it's kind of crazy... Five people have left, for various reasons, in the last week! I'm the only full time technician now. Really this just means it's going to be a little more lonely in the lab (especially Fridays when I'm the only one there...) but lukily it doesn't mean I'm going to be doing like three people's jobs. Things might get backed up though! We'll see how things pan out over the next few weeks! Anyway, just to give everyone an idea, this is the beautiful building I work in, Widener Library.

This is what you see when you come down all those steps, Memorial Church:

I sometimes sit near this Chinese sculpture and eat lunch. How pretty:

Anyway, that's where I work and hopefully next week I'll have some awesome pictures of my fun trip to DC! I can't wait!

"I sail! I'm a sailer!!"

I went sailing on Sat. with my friend Lee down on the Charles river. It was such a gorgeous day, which was amazing since it rained all day Friday and has been raining since 1 this afternoon as well! I think it's because Boston loves me... Anyway, sailing is really fun. So is quoting all the sailing movies you can think of while sailing. Like, "That's what a ship is, but what a ship means..." anyone, anyone?? And of course, the ever immortal lines of my subject from "What About Bob?". Good times. And guess what? I got to actually sail the boat. I learned all the fancy jargon, but promptly forgot it, so don't ask me what I actually learned how to do, but it involved turning into and away from the wind and making the boat skim on it's side, which is a lot of fun. So here are some pictures, because really, that's what this blog is all about.
This is a picture from the dock, looking at the Longfellow Bridge:

This is on the boat, looking over the bow(? is that right?). That's the jib mast in the front and the main sail above, with some nice Boston skyline in the background.

This is Jenny taking her turn sailing the boat. It takes a lot of concentration.

Another great view of Boston:

Here we are back near the dock, waiting for the motor boat to come get us. Fun times!!

So what I'm really excited for is that next weekend, for labor day, I'm going to meet my good friend and old roommate, Ashlee Cutler (who now lives in DC), in New York City!! Wahooo!! We are going to have such a blast, seriously, I'm so freaking excited, you don't even know. Well some people might know, since I've been talking about it non-stop for the last week. I'm going to go out and buy a book about NYC just so I know all there is to do and can choose and plan accordingly. Yay for planning. It's good because it's keeping my mind off the fact that next week all my family will be in Utah for my little brothers entrance into the MTC without me. I'm kind of bummed I won't be there with them. Even though there's so many fun things to do in Boston, I've still been homesick every now and then because I miss hanging out with my family (and all my old friends too). So I'm going to have some fun in NYC, and it will be all good. I'm planning on taking the Fung Wah Bus, which is only $15!! You can't even buy gas for that cheap to get to NYC! It's gonna be great. We're going to stay with my cousin Ally Hale, so that will be fun to hang out with her too. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun to share.

Fun with Food

On Sunday night, the old roommate who's spot I took, Brooke, came back to Boston with her now-husband. (That sounds wrong, what I mean to say, is that now she's married, she wasn't before.) Anyway, they came to pick up her things that were stored in the basement this summer and we made breakfast for dinner together with my other roommate Liz. It was fun and an almost complete meal (we were missing some bacon). Anyway, Brooke's husband, Jake got creative at the end and built a tower out of our dinner. Very impressive.

Can he add a fork and a knife to this tower??!


Oops, looks like not!


More fun with food came tonight, as I got to join some friends at a fabulous restaurant for Restaurant Week. We ate at a really fun place called Mantra, which is supposedly French/Indian fusion. I say yummy!
The only thing to complain about was the cut of meat in my top sirloin. For the place, and the price, I was surprised at how poor it was. Mine had a huge tendon in it and was very fatty and grisly. But the sauce on it was very good and flavorful. For the appetizer I had the Cold Tomato and Cucumber Soup, for the entree, the Top Sirloin with mashed potatoes and capers sauce, and for desert my friend and I shared the two options, Creme Brulee and Mango Ice Cream. Very tasty and in a really great ambiance. The company was what made it great.
This is a place I would normally not have been able to eat at, so I enjoyed it. Except for the two-way mirror in the bathroom. That was a little disconcerting. Anyway, fun with food all around.
And the fun's not up yet. On Thursday, I'm going to lunch with my co-workers since so many people are leaving since the summer is ending, and then I'll get a great meal that night from my good friend Kurt (who really is a gourmet and I can't wait, I told him to go wild, so this should be interesting), and THEN, if you can believe I could possibly squeeze more good food into this week, Riva (who I went with tonight, and who happens to be a chef) and I are going to make Vegetable Napoleon and have people over for a desert pot luck and to watch documentaries. Fun times!! Wow, I really am going to eat my way through Boston!!

Fun on the Common

So lately I've been hanging out down on Boston Common a lot. It's a fun place, especially during the summer becuase that's where Shakespeare on the Common takes place! They have free performances and other fun stuff going on all summer long. I was down there four times in one week! Crazy fun, I know! Here's some pictures from some good times.

We saw two different performances of the Landmark Orchestra on the same stage as the Shakespeare play. Here we are hanging out.

And here's the view I had when I laid back for a second to enjoy the sounds and the stars.


Also in that week I saw "The Taming of the Shrew" TWICE! It was really good. I missed the first part the first time, so of course I had to go back and the whole thing was excellent. The stage was amazing, it was supposed to be set in "Bostonia" in the North End, or little Italy, during the 50's. My cousin Kelly was the costume intern and I have to say, it looked so great! Here's a not so great, but the best I got, shot of the stage during the wedding scene. Such a fun play. Anyway, it's been some fun times this summer. I mean, what could be more fun than great entertainment out of doors??! Seriously!

I've been busy...

Check out what else I've been up to with my bookbinding. Lots of new stuff. I've been teaching a friend from work (and then yesterday a friend from church) some bookbinding. It's been fun, but I wish I had all my equipment out here, and a larger space to work in. Oh well. At least I got a free paper cutter from work! Whoo Hoo!

Sooo much to share

Ok, so here's some more catch up! Pictures from my visit to Salem with Brandon. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun exploring this quaint little town. October is definitely the time to come here, so I'll be coming back then for sure!

The good ship "Friendship". The Maritime Festival was going on so we got to go on board for free.

Before that, we had checked out the Peabody-Essex Museum, which is really excellent. Such great collections and the building itself was beautiful.



We also went on a shortened trolley tour, with a funny tour guide who told us lots of interesting tidbits about the area, and I actually saw the "House of the Seven Gables" of the Nathaniel Hawthorne fame! It was a fun day!

Last weekend, a small group of us headed out to western Mass to Six Flags Amusement Park. It was such a fun, if not long day. The lines were a little on the long side, but we had a great time and rode some really great rides. We also ate some ridiculously expensive lunch, but hey, what are you gonna do?
Here were are before, all excited to get into the park. Preston is sad cause he's not on a roller coaster yet...

And here's everyone after, obviously Preston thinks he's still on a rollercoaster.

Here we have Liz crashed on the couch as well and I think this shows what Preston was really feeling...

We had rented a Zip Car which was a lot of fun and a really great idea, since gas and insurance was included. That way all five of us fit comfortably!

I'm hoping to get back before the season ends, but we'll see...

Finally!

I have cable internet at home, hooked up to my computer, which is going to make blogging so much easier! Thought I think I might not be getting as much sleep in the future... so many fun things to do with the internet! Anyway, to catch you all up since it's been a while since I've posted this is what I've been up to!

These are pictures I took with my awesome photographer friend Tim. He's really good and showed me how to take some amazing photos, just see for yourself!
Pretty rays of light.
Check out the bug in the background.
More rays.
Can you see all the dragonflies?
Look a deer!!
Rushing water.
Using Tim's camera I was able to get some really cool shots of the water where it's all misty and white, the trick is a longer exposure. Very cool.

Ok......GO!!

You need to stop what you're doing right now (obviously reading my fabulous blog) and watch this video. Seriously, it's the coolest thing I've ever seen! OK Go, is my new favorite band!!!

See wasn't that fun? Hilarious! Brilliant! Amazing! Have you ever seen anything quite as cool??! I don't think so! Well, just in case, check out their other video, which is aslo fabulous.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program:

This weekend I went to Salem with Brandon. We visited the Peabody-Essex Museum, went on board a cool ship and saw the House of the Seven Gables! It was fun. We didn't do any of the "witch" stuff, but I'm thinking we're deffinately going to have to come back here around Halloween. This is the place to be, aparently!

Monday was another fine night on Boston Common listening to classical music, which was great again. There was an awesome guitar player that was unbelievable. It was a fun night. This weekend we have plans to go to Six Flags New England, which I am way excited about. I can't wait to ride some rollercoasters!! It's gonna be awesome! Anyway, sorry this is kind of random. Life is busy as always! I'll have to upload the pictures from this last week another time as I've left my camera at home. But hopefully the great videos above will make up for the lack of pictures for now!

Sweet Mother who birthed me...

It's my Mom's birthday today:

Happy Birthday Mom!

I miss you lots and love you tons!

It's a blogging frenzy!

First off, a shout out to my good friend Becky Felt:
!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
And also to my sister and brother-in-law, Happy Anniversary yesterday!

Wow, I've been on a blogging kick this week! People aren't going to be able to keep up! But in an effort to share all the fun things I've done since coming to Boston, I figure now is as good a time as any to do it, while there's not too much going on.

I guess I didn't really explain in the last post what I actually did in New York City. It was kind of a random spontaneous adventure on my part. My friend Marie was going to participate in a mass social experiment called the MP3 experiment with a group called Impov Everywhere. It turned out to be sooo much fun! It was held in Central Park and there were around 400 people who participated. To find out more about exactly what we did, check out the website. It was seriously so much fun!
Before getting to central park we took a tour of the U.N. Building which was very informative. After the MP3 Exp. we met up with Marie's friends who live in NYC, Jared and Yancy. They had tickets to a fireside at the Manhattan Stake Center/Temple that Gladys Knight was putting on which was really fun. After some great gospel music, we walked around times square for a bit, where I bought an "I *heart* NY" t-shirt. Then it was off to get the car since we had to pick it up before 9. Then came the really really ridiculously good BBQ.... yummmm.... So that's the short abreviated version. We left at 7 in the morning and got home a 2 am! It was a long day, but totally fun and very worth it.

The weekend after NY, it was a rainy day and we'd planned on going to the Cape, but becuase of the weather we went to Ikea and Nantasket instead. That was fun and random and here's some pics from that.


Richard on the rainy beach testing out the water. Yes, it was cold...


The lady-bug I found crawling on a rock.

Celebrity Sighting!

Wow. All I can say is I'm either a little too into pop culture, or just another vulture who gobbles up anything celebrity related, but I saw Jennifer Garner last night outside the ward building where we go to church and am probably way too excited about it. I was only in a car after all, it's not like I talked with her... Anyway, we were looking for parking to head to FHE and Kyle, who was driving, almost hit her!! She was crossing the street right in front of our car and Violet, her new baby was with her. I'm still giddy just thinking about it! I know, I know, it's lame, but I was excited. I knew they (meaning Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck with their new daughter, Violet) had bought a house at the end of the little park in front of our church building, but I had yet to have a sighting! Ok, I'm a major dork. For those of you who don't know who any of the above are, here's some info.

Anyway, last night we enjoyed some great classical music in the Boston Common park. It was a gorgeous night filled with good friends and good music. Very fun. They played on the stage that the Commonweath Shakespeare Company uses for their Shakespeare in the Park productions. This year their doing "The Taming of the Shrew" and my cousin Kelly is the costume asisstant! I can't wait to see it as I've heard it's really good. The stage is very impressive anyway! My aunt is coming into town sometime soon and I'm going to go with them when they see it. Apparently we'll get VIP seating... sounds good to me!

On with the randomness, here's some more pictures from what I've been up to since coming to Boston...

From my trip to New York City:

The Manhattan Temple

Times Square

Spider Man in Times Square

We ate at this really yummy BBQ place near Harlem called Dinosaur Barbeque. Do you see a trend forming?? Jared, Mike and Marie.


And last, but not least, this is for you Lizzie. I ate some cinnamon ice cream here today after lunch. Yummy!!