More Christmas Miracles!

**Photo: Paul Warchol**

Great news! I found out last week that I got a job at the Special Collections Lab at Harvard! I'm going to start working at the Weissman Preservation Center in January and I can't wait. This is going to be an amazing learning experience because I'll be working with rare books, and learning more advanced conservation techniques. The WPC is housed in a brand new building with an amazing state-of-the-art lab. I'm moving out of the dungeon of Widener and into the light! The lab is on the fourth floor of this building, and even has skylights that move during the day to follow the sun. Pretty high-tech! I just had to share the good news. It's really made my MONTH!

I hope everyone else is having a great Christmas Season! I'll hopefully be posting again before I go home for Christmas, but you can bet there will be some cute baby pictures on here soon!! Until then, Happy Holidays!

It's a Thanksgiving & Christmas Miracle!

I'm managing to post within a month of my last one! Better, wouldn't you say? Well, I did give you a little preview at the end of my last post about what I'd be up to next, so I thought I'd fill you all in.

We had our YSA Holiday Gala on the 17th. Yeah, a little early if you ask me, but these couple of months get packed so I think they wanted to just get it over with.

The fun part for me was dressing up and going out to eat with a dinner group before. We went and got Indian at the Bombay Club. It was fun, and yummy, but can I just complain for a sec about the ratios out here sometimes? There were about 10 girls and 2 guys at dinner. And one of those guys was late, so for a while it was just one. And he's dating someone. So yeah, I'm glad I have lots of good girl friends out here, cause that's pretty much all there is.

Anyway! We went on to the dance, but the music was so lame! I have to say, I'm really glad I got the DJ I did for the Ed Conf. dance cause it was awesome. I don't know who the DJ was for the Gala, but it stunk. It started out all 80's music, which some of you will know I am NOT a fan of. Plus there was a slow song after every other song. I have already mentioned the problem here about the ratio, so you can just imagine me becoming a wallflower or running off the bathroom every 4 minutes. Then we went into the Techno part where they played clubbing techno music for 20 mins. Kill me now! But guess what was after that? Latin music! For another 20 minutes! Now if it was swing, that might be a little more fun, but doing a basic cha-cha for twenty minutes, again because of the ratio thing, without a partner, is not fun. So basically I was trying to dance and have a good time but just couldn't get into it. So finally Trisha, Mike and I left to go find some Hot Chocolate. What we found was the flavor bar at the "Sev" (7-11) which was delicious. We made it back to the dance in time to see the music was finally something danceable, so we got a little in before it ended. All in all, not the best night ever, but I did look pretty fantastic if I do say so myself. Here are the two pictures I took. Yep, I'm lame.

Mike and Trisha

Me and my roomie Lora

Next was supposed to be the Thanksgiving Road Trip. But that got cancelled. I was super bummed, but I ended up going with my other roomies up to New Hampshire to Lora's brother's house. The food was amazing! Plus they have the cutest kids. It was a relaxing day, we just ate, talked and played some games.

On Friday the quest for the perfect winter coat was finally completed! Check it out:

I was feeling a little like Goldilocks after mail ordering two coats, the first which was WAY too big, but said it was a Small, and the second, which although it fit, was a little too long and comfy and basically made me look like I was wearing a sleeping bag. So I finally found one that's Just Right! Plus it was cheaper and more flattering. So now I am warm and chic!

I also went and saw "Enchanted", which I think my expectations were too high for. I'd read some really good reviews, but it was only so-so. Still fun and good, but not the best thing I've seen this year.

Other things I've been up to. I've been doing some bookbinding in my free time, check out some journals I made for our Service Auction.



They all sold for around $25 each! Yay! Plus, I made the pink one for me. I'm not going to let myself write in it until I have filled up my last one. I have so many blank or half filled journals it's crazy. I don't really need more, but this paper was so perfect, I couldn't resist! So I'm writing in my journal again, which is good, since you know how much I blog here.

Lastly, I will leave you with some pictures of my fabulous room.

Most of these were taken right after I got everything set up and moved in, so my desk and stuff is a little messy. Sorry. But the pillows I made just a month ago. I think they turned out really cute! The I fabric I used was going to be a quilt, but I didn't think I'd ever get around to it, and it was just too perfect not to use! I still need to finish my roller shades, I'm putting fabric on those too, but I have to clamp it down to do it and now that it's cold, who know's when that will get done. Also did you notice my little earring holder? It's a picture frame with window screen material stapled to the back, so I can slip my earrings onto it. I have a lot and it's just perfect! Anyway, I love my yellow walls and little window cubbies. They are perfect for my lamps. Also I will have to post a picture of my rug, cause it's super cute, but you can't see it.

Also, I did you see the "Princess Bed"?! Judith Girls, I knew you'd enjoy that! I have a HUGE queen size bed, that I put up on big cinder blocks for more storage underneath! I love it, but I think I'm going to need a stool to start getting up on it soon. When I'd injured my hip, it was a real pain. Plus, I don't have a nightstand that's tall enough... Oh well, I have TONS of ROOM! It's bliss. And makes me feel like this:

Maybe sometime soon I'll take some pics of the other rooms I painted. It's pretty colorful up on the 3rd floor here. I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I can't believe it's almost December! Wow! I'm going HOME for Christmas and can't wait!

Finally an update!

Ok, my apologies for taking so long to post again. It's been busy (story of my life) and my camera has been dead, but I finally have updates, so although this might take a while, I've had lots of requests for updates. So here you go. This is how much I love you.

First up was the "Season 4 Office Premiere Party" that I had for the first episode of NBC's "The Office". Except for a couple of technical difficulties it was a hit. Tons of people came and some of us even dressed up as our favorite characters. I got a bunch of themed goodies from the Target dollar section and even successfully put a stapler in Jello (although I forgot to get a picture)!
Jim (Ben), Madge from the Warehouse (Cary), Pam (me) and Angela (Holly)!

Next was the annual ward campout to Sharon VT. I forgot to take pictures, lame I know, but it was beautiful, although cold. I slept in a cabin this year, so much better. We went to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory which was delicious and fun, then to the Von Trapp family Lodge and to an apple cider press. We had campfires with s'mores and singing and then had sacrament meeting outside. It was a lot of fun.

The big event of October that I've been working on as part of the committee for the last several months was the YSA Education Conference. Elder Holland came and spoke and it was so amazing! I was a complete mess of stress since I was in charge of the main event of Sat. night, the Black & White Ball at the Massachusetts State House and also the Sunday Service, but it all turned out well. Because of the stressing and running around I had no time or presence of mind to get pictures! I am bummed because it looked great, but my friend Tim, who is a photographer took tons and has promised to post them, so when he does I'll be sure to put up the link. We had a live jazz band that was a huge success and had a dessert bar. Everyone looked great decked out in their semi-formal black and white. The best part of the weekend was when I got to meet Elder Holland and his wife Patricia, they were so sweet. Sister Holland gave me a hug and thanked me for all I had done. I also got to sing for him since I put together a small group number for the Sunday Service and that was amazing too. It was a wonderful experience that I'll never forget.

Next up is our Halloween Party! This was a lot of fun, but after the Ed Conf and Halloween I'm definitely done party planning for a while! It can be stressful! But it's usually worth it, as it was this year. Our house is perfect for a Halloween party, so it became the Haunted Mansion, complete with "scary Butler" in the front hall! We had a little dance party upstairs afterward and it was a blast, check out some of the pics:

Cleopatra (me), Alice (Abby), The Geisha (Lora), Crazy Dr. Nicole, and Lisa the Stepford Wife.
Me and Nicole
Adam in Nicole's wig and crazy sun glasses... very scary!
Our orange wall worked great as a pumpkin! Don't worry, it doesn't usually look this orange.
"Crazy Alice"
Dance Party!!


And finally the grand finale! Last night we had an event that weeks of preparation went into! The Pride and Prejudice Ball! For the last few weeks we've been meeting with a group in the gym and learning dances from Jane Austen movies! And amazingly it turned out to be such a great night! So many people participated and we were only short a few guys! It was a huge success and so much fun to learn the old dances. I finally was able to make a Jane Austen dress (which I think turned out pretty well for my first one) and it was great to dress up and dance in a fancy room at Harvard. Here's more pics from that event:

Ben and I at home before the event. Doesn't his cravat look great? I did that too.
Christina, Holly and I at the beginning of the dance.
Dancing with Ben
Another lovely Austen dress made by Shauna's Mom!
Dancing a waltz
The Men!

And the lovely ladies in costume. There were more girls but not all in period garb.
Seriously it was such a fun night! We had a live orchestra play for the 4 P&P dances we learned and it was almost as good as being in a movie! I'm glad there were more people than just myself interested in doing something like this. Maybe it will become a tradition!

Ok, so I hope you're happy with that for now! Coming up in the future: the Holiday Gala this next Sat. with dinner groups beforehand, Thanksgiving in Maryland/DC (I'm excited to go to Baltimore!) and then Christmas in Alaska with the babies! I can't wait! Also, I'm waiting to hear about a job I interviewed for last week at the Rare Book lab at Harvard. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Super Summer Post

It's been an amazing summer for me. So many fun times I didn't have much time to blog about them! I'll try to squeeze everything in here now, but I'll never be able to do it all justice. I really should try to be better about this.

Anyway, onto the fun-ness!

First up we have the Friday Night Movie Extravaganza! This entailed 3 weekends in a row where my friends Anna, Amy and various others depending on the week went to dinner then a movie on Friday night, followed by ice creams at McDonalds. First we saw Hairspray, next week we saw Becoming Jane and then finally Stardust. Let me just say they just kept getting better with every week! I loved Becoming Jane, but Stardust is definitely my new favorite movie Of All Time.


Now for picture time!

This is a little slide show of the road trip I took over Labor Day weekend to Pennsylvania with my friends Ben, Holly, Aaron and Lindsey. It was a lot of fun! We left Sat. morning and drove to Philadelphia saw all the sights there including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's House, basically some of the oldest parts of Philly. My favorite part was Elfreck's Alley, which is the oldest occupied residential street in the US! All the houses were so cute and quaint! We stayed outside of Philly that night and then went to church the next day on our way to Gettysburg. We stopped on that drive in Amish Country, specifically, Intercourse, PA. Had some good laughs about that one. We got to Gettysburg, walked around the cemetery and saw a lot of memorials and some of the battlefields. My favorite part was that night we went on a Walking Ghost Tour where we got to use electronic "ghost finders". Our guide had a lot of good stories. On Monday we woke up and walked around Gettysburg a bit more then ate at "The Gingerbread Man", where it turns out Mary (my sister-in-law) worked when she lived there for a summer! Then we were on our way to Hershey, PA! Pretty much Heaven in my book! We went on a "tour" of the factory, which was really just a "choclified Disney ride". Delicious! Then it was back to Boston for just a day before heading out on my next trip!

I left on Wed. after getting back from Philly to visit my sister in Monterey, CA. It took forever to get there and they lost my luggage but at least the tickets were free thanks to Sky Miles! Plus on the way I had a quick layover in SLC and got to meet Jack! Christian and Mary came to the airport with Jack so I could see them! It was so fun getting to chat and see what a cutie-pie he is! Definitely not enough time, but at least I won't have to wait until Christmas now. He was little, sleepy sack of potatoes and I wanted to eat him up! I can't wait until we're altogether for Christmas.

When I finally made it to Cali Lizzie and Kirsten met me at the airport. The dogs went crazy of course when I came in. They remembered me! We had fun sleeping in, getting pastries at all the best bakeries, playing with Kirsten and watching movies. It was a low key trip, but that's what I wanted. We did go up to San Francisco on Sat. with Stuart and had fun walking all over China Town, Little Italy and Pier 39. On Monday before I left we visited the Monterey Aquarium which was really fun. I of course loved the Jelly Fish (anyone remember my Jelly Fish costume from a couple years ago?). Kirsten was so much fun and is such a happy little baby! She wakes up talking and smiles all day. The only not so fun times were when she got tired of her car seat on the long trip to San Fran. Who knew those little lungs could scream so loud? I taught her a couple new tricks, like standing up from a sitting position (it kind of helps that she likes her legs to be stick straight) and she did take her first bottle from me (for a little bit). She also started rolling over just before I left, she's such a smartie. I can't wait to see her again in a couple months! It will be especially fun to see Jack and Kirsten together!

Overall it was a fun end of the summer! And I've been up to a lot since then too. Too much to recount really. I'm super busy right now helping plan the Education Conference. It's going to be awesome. I'm in charge of the Black and White Ball at the State House on the second night. I'm really starting to stress out though, so I probably won't be posting much before then. But hopefully I'll post next week about the Ward Campout this weekend. We're going back to Sharron VT. Remember last year? It promises to be another fun adventure! See you soon!

In preparation and in honor of tomorrow night!

It's gonna be good!!

Summer Update!

I've decided to stop apologizing for the lack of posts. I feel guilty, but obviously not even those feelings of guilt have changed the amount I actually get on here. I'm pretty sure you're sick of hearing me say I'm going to try to be better and then not. So I've decided I'll blog when I can or when I feel like it and that will be that! Sorry to disappoint, but aren't blogs about the blogger anyway? I'll just tell myself it means I'm not very self centered (yeah right). Anyway, if you are still curious about what I've been up to this summer, here's a glimpse!

A couple weekends ago I went with a big group of friends to Palmyra New York for the Hill Cummorah Pageant! It was a long and tiring trip but very much worth it. Other than Sharon VT last Sept. it was my first visit to a church history site! My favorite part was the Sacred Grove, even though I got really sick afterward from lack of sleep and food. It was beautiful and peaceful and I can't believe it's still there! The Pageant was also really great. Not at all what I was expecting, it had more dancing and less dialogue, but I really enjoyed it. Even despite being rained on while enjoying it.

Our camping group:Erica, Cameron, John, Laura, Kylee, Lora, me, Ben and Jared!!

This is from the Smith Family Log Cabin. In this room is where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith during the night. It was great to visit all these sacred sites.

This is the fireplace in the Smith Frame House where the gold plates were hidden for a time from a mob. Later they kept them in the box on the dresser in the room below.


The Sacred Grove was such a peaceful, beautiful place.


The weekend after that was Harry Potter craziness!! I can't believe that book 7 is finally here! I got a huge group of friends together for the book release party that they had in Harvard Sq. There were so many people it was crazy! I finally dressed up, and I wasn't the only one. In fact, every person in our group dressed up! I made Gryffindor Quidditch Team T-Shirts for people the night before and they turned out great. Check 'em out! We ate good food, listened to some interesting "Wizard Rock" and then got in line for the release. Natalie, Mike and I waited for an hour outside the store, then stormed the doors with the rest of the crowd and managed to make it in around 37th into the store, where we waited another hour and half until they started selling the book at midnight! By 12:04 I had two copies in hand (one for a friend who couldn't wait in line... I'm nice like that) and we were greeted by a huge crowed outside the store taking our pictures and cheering! It was amazing. I read until 4 in the morning then got up on Sat. and read all day and finished Sunday night at 7! I can't believe it's all over. Overall I enjoyed the book. I was disappointed by the Epilogue, I wanted more info, but Jo's been pretty good about answering questions now that everything is over. I'm thinking about planning a "Support Potter Party" in honor of the end, just as a last hurrah and for people to come talk about the final book, I'll be sure to keep people informed if it happens!


At dinner with Ben, Nicole, Lora, Jared, Angela, Anna, Riva, Cameron, Natalie and Mike!

Hey look! It's Luna and Ginny! Well, almost. Natalie poses with me as I try my best "Looney" Lovegood look.

Trisha dressed as Professor Sprout (she's a Hufflepuff), her cousin was Ginny and Anglea was Cho Chang! The concert was going on behind us, tons of fun!

And here we have the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team: Harry, I mean, Mike, Adam, Cameron, Jared, Ben with Natalie and Lora! Everybody loved the shirts.

On to other fun adventures this summer! This last week was great. On Tuesday I attended "Shakespeare on the Common" the free play they do every year on Boston Common. This year was my favorite, "A Mid Summer Night's Dream". The performance was pretty good overall. Not as good as last year though. Apparently they lost of a lot of funding, so they only did a week and it was a much simpler stage and costuming. The fairy scenes were very... interesting. They danced and sang to techno music and wore really crazy neon spandex feathery costumes. Yeah, interesting. The play within the play at the end was my favorite part, and not just cause that was my part in H.S., it was really clever what they did with it. It had me laughing so hard I couldn't breath!

Here are those psychedelic fairies!

I also saw two movies last week, but I think I'll save it for a movie review post! Ya'll come back soon, ya hear!?

More Updates...

So here are the picture I linked you to, but falied to tell you about from my last post! Forgiveness is a virtue, people!

I'll start off with the 4th of July which was a total blast because 3 of my old roommates from Salt Lake came to visit me! The 4th is amazing in Boston anyway, but it was extra special spending time with my friends and showing them the city I've grown to love over the last year...

The night before they all came in I went to the dress rehearsal of the "Boston Pops Extravaganza" which is a 4th of July tradition. It's easier to get into the concert on the 3rd. We had a huge group from the ward there and had a blast.
With Ben, Leah and Toni.


Then on the morning of the 4th Ben and I picked up Becky and Shannon from the airport and we headed right out to have some fun!
Here we are waiting for the T. Ashlee met up with us later at the Old State House, where we heard the reading of the Declaration of Independence from the same place it was first read in 1776!
The Old State House

Then we walked down to Fanueil Hall and then followed the Freedom Trail through the North End for a bit before heading to a BBQ.

Later that night we met up with a big group to watch the fireworks on the Charles River. It was raining most of the night and getting home was crazy, but the show was a-MA-zing!

Shan and Beck keeping dry under an umbrella and looking patriotic!


Man, we did so much in just a few days that everything is blurring together! We went to a baseball game at Fenway which finally converted me into a baseball fan. I even bought a hat! We ate tons of good food and went shopping. One day we took a trip up to Salem, where we saw some of the witch trial sites with Ben.

This is part of the memorial to the people who were killed during the "Salem Witch Trials".


Me and a fearsome pirate outside of the Pirate Museum. If only I'd had my pirate wench costume...

We headed to the beach next. It was a little overcast, so just Ben got in the water, but we had fun walking along the beach and playing in the waves.

Ben, Becky and Shan chilling on the beach.

The water was beautiful in the almost setting sun.

We perched up on the lifeguards chair for a bit.

Here we are in front of John Harvard's statue after taking a tour of the Library where I work. Thanks again for coming girls! I had so much fun. I hope this inspires others to come visit, or for you to come back again soon! I love showing people the sites!

Other stuff I've been up to:

I went to the midnight showing of "Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix" with a few friends. It was well worth being dead tired the next day! July was the month of Potter for me!

This is from a trip to North Bennet Street School to visit the violin shop with my friend David. He's an amazing violinist who's learning how to make them. Such an intricate process! It made me think of Grandpa Hancock and was so cool see everything and remember him. My new goal is to learn to play the violin, especially since Grandma decided to give me Grandpa's violin. I can't even say how grateful and thrilled I am.
David, the violin maestro.

Laura and Michelle contemplating the shop.

Simply beautiful.

So here's a funny story for you. I started listening to this band a little while ago called "The Click Five". After reading an article saying they lived in Watertown (my little town outside of Boston) I said, hey, that's cool. I wonder if they're any good. Turns out I'd heard them before and I was an instant fan. But wait, the story doesn't stop there, at this time I'd also been looking for housing with 4 friends and we'd had no luck. Until my roommate Lora found this place near where we live now that was big and beautiful. And guess who was living there? Yep, "Click Five". I will admit, this sent me into overdrive with my "admiration" for the band. Maybe getting the chance to look into a rock star's closet is what did it. Anyway, I found some fellow enthusiasts and we went to a free lunch time concert they played in Boston a few weeks ago. We tried to meet them afterward, but they got called away to sign some autographs. Plans to make them cookies before they moved out fell through (luckily) so we weren't able to embarrass ourselves too much. I wish I could have asked Ethan to sign my room or something before he moved out...
Being a groupie at the concert.
Ethan the bassist.
So here the stalker tendencies come out. I'm pretty sure the room I'm getting belonged to Ethan here, because of some family pictures on his dresser. How cool is that? I hope they come back to visit some time... I'm such a nerd.

Well, that's the update for now. Sorry for killing your computer with all the pictures! But I believe in the mantra that a picture is worth a thousand words! At least a thousand of mine...