Bella Boston

Costume Blog

2011-03-26T00:25:00.000-04:00

In case you didn't see, I started a new costume blog here on blogger. I like the layout better than LiveJournal so this is where most of my updates will be! I will probably make my posts on LJ friends only, so start following me here if you're not on LJ or add me as a friend! :)

Check me out!

Oh, and I will try to be better about updating this blog as well. I have been woefully remiss. So why not start now!

Tomorrow I am going to my first meeting of my new book club. We read "Peace Like a River" and if you haven't read it, you should. I loved it! I didn't think I would, but I'm glad to be wrong. I also quite enjoyed the "western-y" bits, which is one reason I thought I wouldn't like it. Anyway, should be a good discussion tomorrow, I will have to share if it's interesting.

Other books I've read lately that I love: "Ender's Game"!! Why had I not read this before? Oh man, I got totally sucked in. I think I finished it in about 4 days, which for me is fast, especially as these were weekdays. I really should start one of the sequels or something, but I'm worried they won't be as good. If you've read any of them, which should I do? Are they worth it?

And since I seem to be on a roll, I also read "Matched", which I also really liked. If you liked "Hunger Games" you might find this kind of similar. I thought it was a clever idea and it's going to be a series, so more to come! Always a good thing. :)

Oh yeah, I saw the new Jane Eyre movie. I'll have to give you my thoughts on that soon...

Happy Birthday Jane!

2010-12-16T10:24:00.005-05:00

Today is Jane Austen's Birthday! She's turning 235! In honor of the occasion I will share pictures of the lovely first edition of Sense and Sensibility which I've been privileged to work on over the last month here at Harvard.

Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811, and was her first published work! Pride and Prejudice came next in 1813. If you want to know more about Jane Austen's life, I highly suggest reading Becoming Jane Austen, which was a great biography that the movie was based on.

The copy I worked on is still in it's original covers, though the colors have faded. The labels used to be pink! It is quite rare to find copies in the original covers because they were usually a temporary binding, wealthier people who bought it would later have it rebound to match their library.

This copy is used by professors who bring their students to see rare, classic books at the library.

Showing part of the new box I made to house the three volumes.

The green of the covers was a very hard color to replicate! I spent about 6 hours just trying to get it right!

And a little about how and what I did to them...
I wish I had before pictures to show! I did a lot of these little fills!
In process photos:

To repair losses to the cover paper, I first traced the missing piece on thin plastic (mylar) laid over the book.

I then cut the shapes out of Japanese tissue that I toned to match the color of the original paper, on the light box (both in white, the first layer, and then the green top layer).

The piece cut out.

I then applied it to the book using wheat starch paste...

folding the edges under to cover the edges of the board too.

I later went back and further toned the paper to match with chalk pastels on the book, so the repairs disappeared even more!

This was such a fun project for me to work on. Really a dream come true, considering how big of an Austen fan I am!

Happy Birthday Jane! As I've been working on this book, I like to think of how you must have felt holding your first ever published novel! A treat for both me and you, I'm sure!

No, I'm not dead!

2010-12-14T14:16:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the silence! I know it's been forever since I've posted real content.

I have been up to a few things. I colored my hair before thanksgiving... I am now a redhead!

I love it, and it seems everyone else does as well!

I also visited half my family for Thanksgiving, and got to spend some quality time with these cuties:

And I've been getting my house in the holiday spirit with Christmas decorations!

I bought a pink tree!! I love it.

Our more traditional, though smaller, tree.

And yesterday I won third place in my works Gingerbread decorating contest!

Merry Christmas!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm back!

2010-08-11T23:07:00.002-04:00

I had a great vacation both with family and costume friends.

I will post pictures soon, but unfortunately my camera and my computer are having a fight right now.

And the computer is winning.

So we'll all just have to wait.

For now, how do you like my new layout? I think it's kind of fun.

No longer good society

2010-07-30T11:17:00.006-04:00

I just had to share this video. Some of you may have seen it, but, well, you'll know why I love it.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to fly to Alaska for my brothers wedding! And then I'm going to a costuming conference in California, so lots of fun photos and updates to come!

Costuming Madness in Newport

2010-06-28T12:25:00.007-04:00

It's been forever I know! I've been a bit busy, and also probably avoiding an announcement of the end of my last relationship a couple months ago. See how I'm just skimming over that? But I'm back to post about my fun weekend! It's official. I'm obsessed with costuming. But you probably already figured that out, didn't you? So that's what I've mostly been doing in my free time from work, church and my social life. And here are the most recent results!

I also posted these photos on my costume blog so sorry if you read both!

So my costuming group, The New England Costumers, went to Newport Rhode Island this weekend to tour the mansions in Bustle Era dresses/fashion! It was a lot of fun and the weather could not have been better for us. We got lucky as it had been threatening to rain the day before, but the morning of, it was clear skies and not too warm! Well, 75, but it could have been worse! We had a very leisurely, unhurried day, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves immensely! We toured the Breakers and Marble House and we're already making plans to go back so we can see a Fashion exhibit at Rosecliff, which was closed this weekend because of a flower show.

These "cottages" were amazing! And we spent the day dreaming up our own versions of our ideal mansions. We also were stopped repeatedly with requests for pictures or to just know why we were dressed up! It was a fun day!

Overlooking the sea.

Jenni, Gloria, Zarabeth and me (and Mike behind the camera...)

In front of the Chinese Tea House

Diet Coke toast with Jenni!

And the ubiquitous shoe shot. :)

More of my pictures can be found here.

If you want to read more about my outfit and how I made it, check out my costume blog!

The summer is just getting started, so hopefully I'll have more to post soon! But yes, a lot of it is going to be costume related! :)

I love these gals!

2010-03-11T15:08:00.003-05:00

Soon to be reunited again this weekend for Barbara's Bridal Shower!

So exciting!

(Pictures from Nicole's birthday dinner almost a year ago)

Time to play catch up!

2010-02-19T09:35:00.001-05:00

Also titled:

Why I've been missing

I've been a little distracted for the past several weeks.

His name is Dan.

He makes me smile.

Unfortunately {or fortunately, for me, who lives in freezing cold Boston}

he lives in Arizona.

Which is where we took this picture.

Yep, it's true, this is not what Boston looks like in February.

We actually met at Christmas in Washington DC.

I was visiting my cousin and he was home to see his family.

He stopped me in church and we had our first date that night!

Since then he's been out to visit me,

and I've been out to visit him.

We've just been having a lot of fun!

Wow, I feel like I'm writing a poem or something. Sorry about that.

Anyway, here's a photo recap of the last few visits together.

This is actually what Boston looks like in January.
Dan braved the cold and came to visit me in Boston.

Here we are with John Harvard.

We also went to an indoor waterpark for my roommate Lisa's Birthday party which was a lot of fun! {OK, so maybe there are some places that are warm in New England in the winter!}

This was also in Boston, out in Lexington. Again, it was pretty cold!

Well, we're not in Boston anymore!

Last weekend we checked out Goldfield which is an old mining/ghost town. It was pretty touristy. But the weather is just great in AZ this time of year! It was beautiful and sunny!

The sun was really hurting my eyes. And I didn't really need the coat, but I guess I am more of a true Arizonian at heart, because 65 really is still kinda cold... :)

We went to see Mary Poppins at the Gammage Theater at ASU which was so much fun! If you can you have to see it, it's one of the best musicals I've ever seen {well, other than Wicked, but that's hard to top}!

Since Sunday was Valentine's Day we made a special meal:

Heart Shaped Turkey Meatloaf Patties with Herb Smashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Green Beans with Lemon Butter and Toasted Almonds.

It was delicious! Thanks Rachel Ray! :)

Here we are sitting down to our meal.

I forgot to get pictures of the desserts! We had Dan's family Peanut Butter Pie {which was so, so good!} and chocolate dipped strawberries.

It's nice to have a Valentine!

Happy February everyone! I promise I'll try to be better about posting!

More Costuming Fun

2010-01-11T15:08:00.005-05:00

Sorry for not being better about posting! I had a great Christmas break, but didn't get to see any of my immediate family so no fun pics of the kiddos, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!

Last weekend I attended an 18th Century "Twelfth Night Ball" in Sudbury, MA in a 300 year old inn with my costuming group! We had a blast drinking punch, watching the contra-dancing (doing a bit myself) and feeling like we were living back in revolutionary times!

Pictures, of course, with more here!

With Sarah and Jenni, enjoying the punch:

My first contra-dance:

Gloria and Mike:

I did both our hair before the ball:

It never takes long for Sarah and Jenni to start some kind of fight! (Just for fun, of course)

More of the dancing:

It was a really fun event, I got to know everyone better, we met some new friends, I ran into a co-worker who I didn't know did re-enactments, and we made more costuming plans so that's always a good thing!

I promise to have a non-costuming post up soon, but lately that's all I've been up to really!

Happy New Year, by the way!

Regency Tea Pictures

2009-12-19T23:11:00.004-05:00

Finally, I have something to post about! This is a cross post from my costume blog, check it out:

Today's event was so much fun! Let's get right to it, shall we?

The whole group! Well, minus Mike, so....

Gloria and Mike, the perfect Regency couple!

Shoe shot! My pink suede flats matched perfectly.

And now for some shots at home:

The Muff in all it's glory!

Action shot from the back where you can see more details (and a mess in the background)

A side view of the bonnet.

So unfortunately I didn't have time to put the buttons on the sides of the jacket, but other than that it all came together with literally half an hour for me to get ready, which was really cutting it short! But I got there! And the tea was lovely, the food was great {there was clotted cream! my favorite!}, I had so much fun meeting everyone and the tour was really amazing too! So so fun and it got me so excited for even more events! I've found my people! :)

If you want to see more details about getting the whole look together, you can see more posts over here!

Costume Blog

2009-11-24T15:27:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!
Nothing too interesting going on really, but I have been doing a lot of sewing/costuming lately.
I'm going to be attending a costume event in the beginning of December so I've been getting a new outfit together. It's a Regency Tea at a historical home here in MA.
I can't wait I think it's going to be fun!

So, if you want to see my progress, thoughts and pictures you can check out
my new costuming blog:
Bella Miss Ella
{she's my dress form}

The reason I started a Live Journal blog is because there is a huge costuming network going on over there and it makes it easier for me to keep tabs on others and vice versa! I'm kind of enjoying it so far, although I like the formatting options for blogger more. But that's neither here nor there!

I'll be sure to post pictures from the event here when it happens so don't worry too much!

Halloween Masquerade Ball!

2009-11-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

Finally!

What I'm sure you've all been waiting for...
Better pictures of my costume!
And of the Masquerade!

It was a great night, at an amazing location
with 600 people!
So much fun!

My feet hurt by the end of the night,
I'd lost a feather from my hair (wah waaahhh)
and I got some frosting on my dress somehow
{even though I avoided the treats table, except for a cookie}
and driving in a corset is hard
{thanks to my roommie for driving home}
but all in all it was good times!

On to the pictures!

With Nicole and Janey

Inside the Ballroom, which you can't see too well here, but had amazing wood paneling and incredible chandeliers!

A group performed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" which was awesome, I just wish I had a better view! I could only see their heads really... People were going crazy!

With Natalie, the 1992 Moonlight Masquerade Barbie
{she painted her mask on! how cool is that?!}

With Aimee, showing off our lovely fans.

A view of my shoes

And from the back
{man I have bad posture, even in a corset!}

I pretty much just said "Thank you!" the entire night,
most people thought I'd bought it at first,
but it soon spread that I'd made it myself,
so people were asking for pictures with me!
It was pretty crazy.

I'm glad I did it, but next time I might try to give myself more time to get everything done.
There are still a few little things that I haven't finished on the corset and with trimming the dress, but I was glad I was able to wear it two weekends in a row.
Who knows when the next time will be!

Another small preview...

2009-10-29T16:47:00.003-04:00

OK, so I know I promised lots of pictures of my costume and the party and everything but unforunately my cameras weren't working and so I had to rely on others to get photos.

I have gotten a few so far, so check it out, but I will
FOR SURE
post pictures of each part of my costume after this Sat.

It's the Halloween Masquerade Ball
for the Education Conference
(you might remember that from a couple years ago)
and I can't wait because it's going to be awesome!

So for now, here's a look at my
"Queen of the Dead"
costume and then a link here to more pictures from the party!

With my friend Janey who's a vampire.
{notice the slit neck that's been "stitched" back on...}

A fuller shot, but my face looks funny here... just ignore that.

More to come soon, for sure!

MoreSightings of Famous People

2009-10-22T14:58:00.006-04:00

Ok, so I didn't get to meet them
per se
but Ben Affleck was filming right around the corner from my work yesterday.

That's Ben Affleck and John Hamm getting ready to shoot the scene.

So I couldn't resist walking by on my lunch.
And then I had to snap pictures.
Because really, how many times do you get to see movie stars in real life?
{Sorry they're not better, I just snapped them with my phone, so that means no zooming in...}
I was having lunch in the Au Bon Pain, which conveniently had a window looking right out on the action.

That's John Hamm in an FBI jacket.

Other people were gawking, which made me a little uncomfortable joining in, but hey, maybe they're used to that? That's Ben under the black tent thing...

And it was pretty cool to see how movies work for a bit.
They were setting up the scene
getting directions from Ben (he's the director)
and setting up the cameras.

I didn't realize till I walked by today, but the electrical box on the wall was placed there by the crew. It's not there in "real life". Crazy huh?

Have any of you met a movie star?
Who would you die to see?

Playing Dress Up

2009-10-22T14:42:00.007-04:00

I just love Halloween!
Dressing up is one of my favorite things
so when I get a chance it's hard for me not to go all out.

Last weekend I was invited to a Halloween Dinner Party.
I was the only one who was remotely dressed up,
and this was toning it down for me!
Hello people, it's a HALLOWEEN dinner party!
You would think costumes or at the least all black is appropriate!

Here's what I wore:
A little witchy-fun!
I didn't get a picture of my nails but they were halloween inspired too,
with little spiders on an orange french manicure.
{Please ignore my messy room in the background... I've been sewing so much I haven't had time to tidy up!}

And since we're on the subject of costumes
here's a look at the undies I finished for under my
Marie Antoinette costume!

I have on the chemise, stays (aka corset), pocket hoops and petticoat I made over the 3 day holiday weekend. That was only 50% of the entire costume!
I'm almost done with the costume, and I'll be sure to post
TONS
of pictures of it and of the party.
I'm excited with how it's turning out!

The one thing I haven't tackled yet is the wig...
I think it should really *make* the costume.

Oh and here's a little piece of costuming cuteness I just can't resist sharing:
My niece in her cupcake costume!
She really is cute as a cupcake!
Can you believe how talented my sister is?
She made that without a pattern, using a lampshade as the bottom!

I love Halloween!!
What are the rest of you going to be...
if you're dressing up?

Meeting Shannon Hale

2009-10-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

She was hilarious.
She signed my books, even the dust jacket
{although she seemed a little confused, "You really want me to sign right across the front here?"}
She petted our heads.

Here's proof:
That's why Karen and I are cracking up.

I don't know how it's possible but I think I like her even more now!
{Oh, and that's my Sgt. Pepper jacket there... you can't see it but it's pretty cute}

Getting in the Halloween Spirit

2009-10-13T15:14:00.005-04:00

My parents came for their visit!
We had a great time except that Dad got sick,
then I got sick.
Mom has an iron constitution and has thus far avoided it.

We went to NYC which was awesome!

Check out just one wall of ribbons at the amazing trim store
M&J Trimming.
Mom and I went a little crazy in here...

We had fun in Boston too.
on Thursday, their last day in town,
we went up to Salem and had fun exploring
Witch City.

One of the shops all decked out for the season.

Man Salem is crazy around Halloween.
I mean, it's crazy any time of the year but I had never been in October before.
They go all out here!

It really got me in the Halloween spirit,
so I was able to devote this entire 3 day weekend after M&D left
to working on my Halloween costume!
Here's a little peek at what I did this weekend.

For the rest you'll have to wait!

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to visit,
I had such a fun time!
If anyone else wants to come, please do.
There's so much to see and do here, we only scratched the surface!

A Trip to Austenland!

2009-09-30T09:04:00.002-04:00

Well not really... I wish!

But it's almost as good
because I get to go see, hear and meet
the author of some of my favorite books!

Shannon Hale is doing a book tour to promote
Forrest Born
her newest book in the Bayern series.
{this is number 4 and should be just a beautiful as the first 3}

I hear she's a fabulous speaker
and if her blog is any indication she's super nice as well!

My favorite book of hers is Austenland
{can you guess why?}
but my copy of the book is in Utah with my sil,
so I'm going to take the dust jacket for her to sign instead!

I hope she gets a kick out of it...

If you live in Boston and want to go, check out the details here!

A Fair Day for the Faire

2009-09-29T14:28:00.001-04:00

So we went to the Renaissance Faire this weekend!
Wow, what an experience.
It was surprisingly crowded and not everyone was in costume
{unfortunately including ourselves - we decided to go for warmth rather than "authenticity"}
but I think I can still say we were some of the most normal people there
{and attractive, if we do say so ourselves}.

The cool thing was that it was basically set in a forest as you can see in the pictures.
I felt like I had walked into a Robin Hood movie or something.
The whole thing was a little village and there were stages with performers scattered throughout.

They accept all thy cards of credit:
Master Card, Lady Visa, New World Express and Lord Discover

Trying on wreaths at one of the shops

We mostly just walked around looking in the shops and staring at all the people.
There were some people who really went all out with their costumes
like this Troll
{this woman actually asked him to pretend like he was cutting off her head... yeah}

And this living Gargoyle which was also pretty cool.

My favorite guy was this performer who, while wearing a kilt, rode a unicycle and played "Star Wars" on the bagpipe.
It was pretty funny. And he was pretty cute.

Which led to the question:
Would you ever date someone you met at a Renaissance Fair?
And if you would, would you admit to how you met?

I think I would, even though it's a little quirky,
cause I'm kind of a nerd myself in some ways.
Plus I think it'd be a hilarious story to tell.

What about the rest of you, married or not?
Would you date someone you met at a Ren Fair,
or would you admit it if that's where you'd met your loved one?

Flashback Friday

2009-09-25T17:01:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I've been in Boston for almost 4 years.
That is just crazy to me!
I seriously feel like time has almost stood still since I moved here.
{which hopefully means that I can still claim to be 26, right?}

Boston is a great city and I'd always wanted to live here,
but before I moved out it was kind of an emotional time saying goodbye to everyone.
Especially my family.

It's a miracle you can't tell in this photo but I had been crying my eyes out.
This is the last time I was together with my brothers and sisters {the ones in Ut anyway} before moving out to Boston.

My life is so much better in so many ways than it was before:
I have an awesome job {my dream job really}
I've made some incredible friends
I've been able to visit so many new places
I've been able to take classes at Harvard{!}
I've really just been so blessed.

The only thing that's been difficult
{other than the non-existent dating life}
has been being so far away from my family!

They are truly my best friends in this world and there's no one I'd rather hang out with. Which is why I'm so glad my parents are coming out to visit me in just two weeks!
My Mom's been out before
but this will be my Dad's first trip.
I'm really excited!
It's going to be fun times!

Once a Pirate Wench...

2009-09-23T17:54:00.001-04:00

Always a pirate wench. Or so I hear!

My friends and I are going to the King Richard's Renaissance Faire this weekend.

I'm thinking it's going to be a total blast.
To really get into the spirit, we're dressing up.
So I'm breaking out the Pirate Wench costume!
I'm sure I'll take a ton of photos of the ~~weirdos~~ ~~nerds~~ cool people we see.
I guess after this you can count me among them!

Guilty Pleasures

2009-09-22T17:01:00.002-04:00

I have quite a few guilty pleasures.
Here are three I enjoy simultaneously:

1. Dr. Pepper
2. Gummy Raspberries
3. Teen Vampire Fiction (current read, Vampire Diaries)

What are some of your guilty pleasures?

A Weekend at the Lake

2009-09-21T12:49:00.005-04:00

My 4th ward campout was a success.

New friendships were formed,
bonfires were enjoyed,
moonlit dancing occured,
stars were gazed
{facilitated by Edwina of course},
the lake was canoed,
diet coke runs were made,
like I said, complete success!

We had Ward Olympics.
It's the only time I broke out my camera.
As a warm up a few people built a pyramid.

Check out our spirit!

Then we crammed 14 people onto a homemade raft of blow up swimming pools, tubes and floaties.
I was not one of those people.

A few other events took place.
In the end our efforts were not enough to secure the gold,
but I think we could still consider ourselves champions.

I thought the highlight of the weekend was the Campfire Cabaret.
Seriously hilarious. And an impressive show of talent!

So all in all, good times can be had in New Hampshire!
{Especially if you get to sleep in a cabin...}

How could I be so remiss?

2009-09-19T12:15:00.005-04:00

As to forget to post the adorable photos (and videos) from my trip to see my adorable niece and nephew!

Let me fix that right now.

Can you handle the adorableness?

Are you dead yet?

Jack loved my shoes.

How can you resist this face?

Oh and we had a dance party. Jack loves to dance.

Just ignore silly Aunt Carly...
Oh and did I mention that my phone now takes video?
Thanks Edwina!

New Hamp-shire!

2009-09-18T11:12:00.005-04:00

{Said in Bill Murray's voice from "What About Bob"}

So I'm heading up to NH this weekend for our annual ward campout.
Hoping to get a cabin...
otherwise I'm sharing a tent with my friend Trent.
{hey that rhymes}

Last year they tried to make me sleep in a spider infested boy scout tent.
There is no way.
Hopefully the cabins are spider free!
I hear the showers aren't.
Guess I won't be showering tomorrow!

Busy Busy...

2009-09-17T14:20:00.005-04:00

I've been consumed with planning my Halloween costume for this year!
Can't wait to get it all done.

For now here's what's helping inspire me:

Can you guess what I'm going to be?
I think I've made it really easy for you.
{OK, some of you already know the answer to this one...}

Hello August

2009-07-31T15:41:00.007-04:00

So far I've been very busy in the month of August. It started out as a volunteer thing and turned into a part time job. This is where I've been for the last week and where I'll be every night for the next week and a half:

Working on the Boston Common as a Costume Assistant for the annual Free Commonwealth Shakespeare Company production! So far working on the Comedy of Errors has been fun (if stressful going from full time day job, to the Common until midnight) and I've been excited for the chance to meet some new people and get out of my comfort zone a bit! Read the great review the Boston Globe gave us here. If you're in Boston come see us before August 16th!

Then two days after the show ends, I will be here:

Visiting my brother and his cute cute family in Utah! Yay!! I'm so excited!

And then when I get back it's time to move.... Dun dun dun! It's gonna be busy! Hopefully I'll have time to post all the adorable photos I'll be taking of my niece and nephew while visiting them, so check back later this month!

In the effort to be a better blogger...

2009-07-21T14:31:00.005-04:00

Here's a random mind dump of things I've been up to lately:

1. Taking a whole Saturday to play at Six Flags New England
2. Feeling like I've taken a beating the day after said adventure
3. Signing a new lease for a new place with my roommates - we'll be moving at the end of August
4. Buying tickets to visit Utah at the end of August, which will make moving 5 days after getting back from said trip super fun
5. Enjoying Edwina, my new iPhone 3GS, whose name had to be changed since she was just too pretty to be a boy
6. Lamenting the fact that pretty much everyone (and everything) in my life is now female - where have all the men gone?
7. Volunteering as a costume assistant for Shakespeare on the Common and then feeling like a crazy person for continuing to email them since I haven't heard anything from them (but keeping my fingers crossed)
8. Watching Harry Potter 6 last Wed! And loving it!
9. Continuing to love my new car, Gemma, and the freedom it brings to go anywhere I want whenever I want
10. Getting some fabulous knock-off Coach bags at a great "purse market" in New Hampshire for super cheap (ie around 10 dollars a pop - oh yes I bought more than one)
11. Watching "So You Think You Can Dance" every Wed. and Thurs. and consequently wanting to start dancing again (thinking about taking a class)
12. Thinking about maybe teaching a bookbinding class at the "Cambridge Center for Adult Education" since I heard their teacher left
13. Reading lots of good books, especially the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series, you should check it out
14. Getting no where on the quilting projects that I made goals to finish before the end of the summer and feeling guilty
15. Finally starting on the tan I vowed to get this summer - I no longer look like a vampire
16. Video chatting with the nieces and nephews - this is probably the best invention ever

That's it for now... And just because it's not a post without a picture:

Part of the group I went to the beach with 2 weekends ago which was the beginning of said tan!

Testing...

2009-07-16T18:16:00.012-04:00

Testing out some new pictures sizes... trying to see if I can get them to go big!

I love these images via Snippet and Ink.

Makes me wish I had a wedding to plan! Don't worry, that wasn't a hint or anything. I'm just one of those girls that's always collecting ideas. Will these colors still be popular when it's my turn?

I've been playing around with the look of the blog again. I found the tutorial for how to get your pictures big here. I also changed the font for my posts and sidebar titles to a fun handwriting font with this tutorial. How cool is that?

Fun with Edwin (aka iPhone)

2009-06-25T12:26:00.013-04:00

I've downloaded some new applications that let me edit my photos right
on my phone, which is pretty cool! Check it out!

Original photo straight from my phone:

Edited to look like an "instant" photo with Camera Bag:

Edited to brighten and then added a border with Photogene:

Edited with "Elf Glow" in CinemaFX:

I went to the aquarium the other day, this is the edited version of some Jelly fish using PhotoSharp:

Before editing:

P.S. Who knows, maybe the next time I post I'll be able to take video with my phone as well...

Tweet Tweet

2009-05-22T16:39:00.003-04:00

OK, so I know I've been kind of a bad blogger for the last little while (and by that I mean always). But the good news is you can still kind of know what I'm up to now because I've started getting into the swing of "Twittering"!

For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, it's kind of like micro-blogging. You only get 140 characters per post to say what's on your mind. You can see a few of my most recent updates on my side bar to the right here, so now if you visit Bella Boston and I haven't updated, there will probably be something more recent going on over there. Or why don't you join Twitter as well and then you can follow me over there to catch them all!

Yep, I do all these things for you. Cause I'm a giver like that.

Sad Day

2009-05-18T16:13:00.012-04:00

Just before the roof above the chapel collapsed.

Yesterday while attending Stake Conference at our building, the fire alarm went off, just half an hour into the two hour broadcast meeting. I had smelled a little smoke before it went off, but didn't think much of it. As I was exiting the building I started to worry a bit. When we got out to the park in front of the church my fears were confirmed. There was smoke coming from under the eaves of the roof above the chapel and the spire. I quickly moved my car as it was parked right next to the church and fire trucks were obviously on their way.

In just a matter of one short hour the entire chapel was engulfed in flames and most of the building was starting to burn as well. Despite the 8 ladder teams (8 huge fire trucks!) and over 12 response trucks that came to the scene (in total about 70 - 80 firefighters), our beautiful historic church was only a charred shell after several hours of fighting it with hoses inside and out. The building is one of the first that was built in the New England region and has seen many generations of the church, including some of our general authorities. I've attended it for just 3 short years but thought of so many memories as I watched it burning. Our chapels really are our second homes, especially out here as young single adults. It was a very sad experience.

At this point the chapel had completely burned and they were working on keeping the other side from burning.

Someone took this picture of me watching while holding William, one of the kids I used to teach in primary.

It was stunning to watch it from start to finish, but there were a few small miracles that happened despite the overall tragedy. Luckily no one was hurt or injured (although 4 firemen suffered minor injuries), we were all able to exit safely and in addition, miracle of miracles the entire Institute Library was rescued practically unscathed! We set up a "book brigade" across the park into the basement of the Quaker church across the park. It was so amazing!

Many of my friends helping out in the book brigade across the park to the Quaker Church.

The building was still on fire when the firefighters started pulling books and bookcases out of the library on the first floor. They also rescued most of the art work as well, a huge picture of Christ that sat on the wall just outside the chapel was completely untouched by either fire or water!

In addition to these miracles, some important documents and blue prints to the building were recovered after the blaze was extinguished from the completely destroyed library. They had been in a cupboard that only one person knew about. A firefighter went in later (the room was very unstable as it sustained the most fire and water damage since it was right under the steeple) and found them. They weren't even wet!

We were so touched by the community's outpouring of hospitality during the whole ordeal. The Community of Friends, Quaker's as their more commonly known, whose church is directly across from ours, opened their facilities to use, passed out water and juice to everyone watching and then helped us in the endeavor to rescue our books!

Katie Smith and myself oversaw the response and triage to the damaged books. About 200 were wet, so we had many people helping to interleave them with paper towels and setting them out to dry. But still, there were so many more dry than I expected! I was also able to bring some of the more soaked ones that were more important to save to the book freezer at my work, which was also a great help as it buys us some time to fully recover them.

In the basement assessing the damage.

It was a crazy day and I'm still totally exhausted but I'm so glad I was able to be there to help. The way everyone banded together throughout the day to get things done was just amazing. We still have a lot of work to do, and unfortunately our building will not be usable for likely more than a year, but I'm just so glad for the blessings that have come already from the experience.

You can find the photos I've used as well as more here and here (arial views of the damage). Read more and watch video here.

*All photos by Luke Hutchison.

Ready to "Flea"!

2009-05-12T15:05:00.005-04:00

Sorry sorry for not posting sooner when I said I would!! For some reason I've been really busy, but hopefully my life will be settling down now. I had my last Jane Austen class last night. I'll have to do a little recap of it sometime. Overall it was fun, but not quite what I thought it was going to be. Anyway, another time. Also, letterpress is over for the summer, also a bummer, but that means more time for sewing and blogging, right? I just wanted to post and let you know that I'm still planning something fun so come back soon (hopefully by this weekend), plus I'm so excited because tomorrow I'm going to...

The Brimfield Antique Show!

Brimfield photo from rizzolo's flickr photostream

It's the largest Flea Market in the world! I'm seriously so excited. It's my first Flea Market trip ever, so it might be a little daunting to start with the biggest one ever, but I think it will be seriously fun!

Things I'll be keeping my eye out for:
*big type drawer
*wood type
*cake stand
*old dress form
*an old globe (like the ones above)
*bedside table
*an old quilt (if I can find a sweet deal)
*old glass jars and tea cups
*paintings and frames

The weather is supposed to be perfect (*keeping my fingers crossed*) so it should be a lovely time! My friend Barbara is going with me. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post all my exciting finds when I get back! I have a feeling I'm going to be tired tomorrow night!

Stay tuned!

Craftiness Coming...

2009-05-01T15:28:00.004-04:00

Here's a little preview of really bad pictures taken by Edwin (in my room with really bad lighting, hence the bad pictures) of the things I've been up to. Stay tuned this weekend for more detail, better pics and even more fun! Something exciting is coming, it's a secret, but I think you'll want to come back for my next post!

My New Mantra

2009-04-22T14:00:00.003-04:00

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

And not just because it's Earth Day. This is something I've been thinking about for a while.

It's not something I've always been interested in doing, in fact, I'm still probably a bad consumer in some ways, but after working in a "Green" building for the past year, I've gotten a little more educated about ways that I can help save the Earth.

First off, you have to go check out this article on Design*Sponge today. Before I'd even read it, I'd made up my mind to celebrate the day and the things that I was going to try to do better by buying a Baggu bag. It's something I've been wanting for a while now, since my co-worker introduced me to them and I figured, why not, since today is Earth Day. But I was so glad to read this article, because number one, I think it's totally true and the facts are amazing, but it also made me feel just a little bit better since the three things it asks me to do are things I've already done in the last couple months!

One thing I was kind of forced into. My work, in an effort to not only cut the budget but live up more to our "green" title, has decided to stop buying paper coffee cups, which I will ashamedly admit, I used pretty much every day. What a waste! I now have my own mug that stays at work to use in the mornings for my hot chocolate. I also have been better about putting my cans and containers into the recycling, which I used to be bad about, although as the D*S article points out, even recycling isn't the best option, it's better than nothing, but it does use a lot of energy resources.

I also bought a travel mug at the dollar store a couple months ago which I was excited about because it was personalizable and I've been using it in my car when I want to take something to drink.

I was also given an aluminum water bottle by my roommate (it's got a pharmaceutical advertisement on it which I'm going to cover with some shelf liner paper) which I'm still trying to remember to bring to work... but I have it! And I actually don't buy water bottles all that much.

Anyway, on top of the three things they suggest, I've been trying to buy more second hand things and donate my things I'm getting rid of rather than just throwing them away. If you think about everything you throw away in a week let alone a year that's a lot of stuff going to land fills! I've also started buying more energy efficient lights which last longer (keeping less out of land fills) and save money and energy, so win-win-win!

OK, I'll get off my little soap box here. This is something I'm still trying to get better at, I'm by no means an expert, but I think we can all agree there are things we could be doing to reduce our impact on the world. I hope you'll all try making some of these changes with me as well!

Oh, I've also heard that if you shop at Target today they'll give you a reusable bag with your purchase! I'm heading there after work!

{ Happy Earth Day! }

Lists

2009-04-21T15:18:00.005-04:00

I've seen this list floating around on a few blogs and thought I'd share my own answers. I really love to make lists, most of the time I never complete everything, but I don't know, I guess I like have things that I'm working towards, even if they never happen.

So here we go, things I've done are bold in pink:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld/Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you were not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (well a copy in London...)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
>44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (although I was interviewed for TV...)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (kind of, but not officially "on the books")
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been laid off from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

So that's about 43 out of 99... not bad, but there are so many things on this list I've always wanted to do. And so many I hope I never have to (like getting food poisoning). Anyway, kind of a fun little exercise. Play along if you want!

Thrifty

2009-04-20T17:51:00.002-04:00

So one of the things I was looking forward to do now that Gemma and I are BFF's is check out some Flea Markets, but the season hasn't gotten into full swing yet, plus I haven't found any recommendations for good ones that don't happen on Sundays, so for now I've been checking out the local Thrift and Antique Stores as well as Craig's List for things I've been needing (or wanting, really) for my room.

My desk chair has been broken for a while now, the seat will no longer stay raised, and although it's cute, it's been very annoying trying to work at the computer or sewing machine when I'm about eye level with the desk. So my initial goal was to find a cute chair to re-do a la Design*Sponge, but I wasn't having much luck with the flea market thing and the antique stores were a little pricier. I got lucky and found a chair on Craig's List that was pretty close to what I was looking for and it was only $15!. I wanted something more like this one above, but I'm not about to spend $150-300 on a chair for my desk. My only requirement was that it had a padded seat, since I've been using a pillow from my bed to sit on for the last few months, and for the price of the Craig's List chair I couldn't go wrong. The one I bought looks more like the one to the left (it doesn't have a skirt) but I'm ok with it. So I now have a project to put to use the brown damask fabric I bought a couple weeks ago! I'll have to post a before and after picture when I get it done. I'd like to go with a lighter color really, but I figure I should use what I already have. Plus, it does go with my room.

I also made a great find and I was super excited about! I've been wanting a mirror like this for a while, and I found one that was gold at one of the consignment antique stores I went to and couldn't resist. I brought it home and put a couple coats of blue spray paint on it and voila! I'm really happy with how it turned out! I'll have to take a good picture of it and post it, the lighting in my room was too bad for Edwin last night. I also found a vintage tea cup to go on my dresser and hold some of my jewelry which is another little thing I've been wanting to find for a while. So it was a successful weekend Thrifting!

{ Time for some Design }

Meet Gemma

2009-04-12T19:19:00.007-04:00

Yep! I bought a car this week! So there's a little bit of bad news that goes along with this decision... I'm not going to England this year for Grad School. It's no longer the right time, with the way the economy is going, to leave a great job I love for 40K dollars of debt. So I decided if I wasn't going to England, I was getting a car! I really don't think I could have taken another year without a car here in Boston. So although I really wanted to go to England, I am so happy I have my freedom and independence now it almost makes up for it!

So meet Gemma. Keeping with the whole British thing, I figured, she's a gem (in my opinion), so it fits! (btw, she's a 2007 Mazda 6 Sport)

It was that or Lola, but I kinda want to save that name for a dog someday... I can't name my dog after my car...

Yeah, she's got a spoiler (or wings as my Dad likes to call it) and dual exhaust... lovely.

And she greets me every time I start her up.

She's got lots of fun options, which was something that was kind of important to me since I plan on driving this car for many many years to come. And I really just can't explain how happy I am to be able to get around. And in style to boot!

Anyway, enough about the car. Here's a look at some of the fabric I bought to finish up my quilts.

The fabric to the left on the bottom is for the back of the Amy Butler Modern Block quilt with some pretty damask fabric I found that I'm going to make some pillows with. The one to the right is the pink backing fabric I bought with the finished quilt top of my Charm School Quilt.

These are just a couple other fun fabrics I picked up. I've already used the yellow and gray to make the purse from my last post, and I'm going to make a messenger bag from the brown damask. Man I love that fabric! (As you can tell since I bought the same print in three colors...)

So I haven't gotten as much done on the quilts as I'd like, but I'm determined to finish at least 2 quilts before the summer really kicks in. Oh, I should mention that I have plans to start two other quilts as well. This Cathedral Window Quilt and also this denim quilt (normally I don't like denim quilts, but I think this one is really cute!), which I think will make the perfect summer picnic blanket! Plus, I'm going to use up the old jeans I never wear anymore!

I'm going to try to finish the other two quilts before starting the new ones, but we'll see what happens... I always say that, but I think I have project ADD sometimes...

Oh and in the next post I'll have to show you what I've been up to at the letterpress studio! And last but not least...

{ Happy Easter! }

I'm famous!

2009-03-20T14:08:00.003-04:00

Well, not really... but I was mentioned in an article in the Harvard Crimson published today. Check it out here!

It's funny, I wasn't expecting to be singled out at all, the reporter spent over 2 hours touring out lab last week and only stopped at the rubbings I was working on for a small amount of that time. And it's also funny to see what I "said" since although I remember saying some of that, I think he really just paraphrased me. But who really cares right? I'm famous!

I'm going to go find a copy since it's a front page article and there's supposed to be a picture with it. Not of me of course, but I'm interested to see what it will be of.

In other news, guess what comes out tonight? That's right! The Twilight DVD! Unfortunately I won't be going to a midnight release party, but we're getting some people together to watch it tomorrow night, right at twilight. Should be fun!

Oh and if you're in the mood for some funny Twilight reading check out this blog! Hilarious! I'm really enjoying the adventures of Pocket Edward...

Also stay tuned for an update on the sewing I do this weekend... I bought fabric!!

{ Happy Weekend! }

Sewing projects going on my "List"

2009-03-17T18:39:00.006-04:00

I've come across some really fun sewing projects in the last little while. They are now on my "To Do" list and there are a couple that I *need* to do ASAP!

Like this Buttercup Bag Tutorial. Have you seen a cuter bag? And can you believe it only takes 2 fat quarters to make? I'll finally be able to use the magnetic closures I bought forever ago as well! I'm tempted to go out tonight and buy some fun fabric... although I have a lot in my stash that I'm sure would work... maybe I'll make a couple!

{photo by Rae}

Also, this headband! Gah! And it's reversible!

{photo from thelongthread.com}

I about died when I first saw it... I've been looking for the perfect headband, but I get frustrated with plastic ones cause they kill my head when I wear them for a whole day. These are the perfect solution and I can make one to match every outfit! Just kidding... I wouldn't go that far. Well. Maybe.

Here are some more tutorials you really should check out:

Pretty Birds by spoolsewing.com

Lots of pretty free patterns from Amy Butler

Pintuck Pillows by thelongthread.com

This amazing Button Pillow (although I don't think I'd attempt it) on Craft Stylish

Woven Button Coasters again on Craft Stylish to continue the button theme

And there are even more projects here that can all be made from fat quarters of fabric! Perfect for stash busting!

Also, I think I'm going to spruce up some of the pillows on my bed by tufting them with buttons (like this one). And I've also been meaning to make a bolster for forever. Anyone know of a good tutorial? Maybe I'll make one and share it if mine turns out!

Oh, and I'll try to post an update of my weekend soon... nothing too exciting but Edwin did take some pictures of the "Music Session" I attended on Friday night. Pretty fun!

{ Sewing Adventures }

A Weekend Downtown

2009-03-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

I feel like I spent most of the weekend downtown, which is never a bad thing! It's been a beautiful weekend, Friday was warm and Saturday was almost hot! It got up to around 60 during the day, which makes me think Spring just might be on the way (despite the fact that it snowed today)!

On Friday after work, I met up with my roommate, Lisa, and her friend, Beth, to eat some yummy food and skate at the Frog Pond in the Boston Commons.

We ended up eating at a Vietnamese Restaurant, Pho Pasture, that I love, and I was adventurous and tried something new from the menu! After our delicious meal, we went ice skating at the Frog Pond, which is almost as iconic as skating at Rockefeller Plaza in NY! Luckily my hip held up. It was a beautiful night and I did get some pictures, though they're not the best since they were taken by Edwin (once again, he's so handy).

In the heart of Downtown Boston

Lisa and I

Lisa and Beth

You can see the gold dome of the State House a bit in the background

Then on Saturday night, I found myself back at the Boston Commons to see Coraline in 3D at the movie theater there. I loved the movie, and was just blow away by the fact that it was stop-animation. Tim Burton is very talented!

Also this weekend, I've been working on getting my quilts going again. I finished this quilt top over 3 years ago and I still haven't actually quilted it! So I was finally all raring to go to just do it this weekend. I'd bought some solid brown cotton for the backing, some batting and even some pre-made bias tape to bind it with, but I guess my measurements were off because I don't seem to have enough material for the backing!

So even though I told myself I couldn't start piecing the new quilt (with beautiful Amy Butler fabrics from her Midwest Modern prints) until I finished the old one, I just had to do some sewing, so I went ahead with it anyway. I figure some quilting is better than none, right? I'm still not 100% sure exactly how I'm going to do this one, but I guess I'm kinda winging it.

Aren't they just beautiful colors?

Since I have to get more fabric before I can finish the Charm quilt (which is also Amy Butler fabrics) and since I've been doing some research about the actual quilting part, I found out it's better to use a patterned fabric for the back so it hides any mistakes. So now I'm thinking I'm going to get some different fabric to use, but we'll see. It's hard to get to fabric stores without a car around here... so who knows when they'll get done. Hopefully it won't take another 3 years!

Hope you all had a good weekend too!

{ Crafting More Adventures }

Sounds good to me

2009-03-08T14:58:00.004-04:00

One of the great things about my job is that since a lot of the time I'm just working on little paper repairs that are pretty mindless, I can listen to books on my iPod. Multitasking is a great thing.

Well, in my attempt to find free audio books to listen to, a couple years ago I came across Librivox. It's a great site and every single one of their audio books are free! They are all books that are in the public domain (published before 1926) and are read by volunteers. This of course means that not all of the recordings are the most professional sounding, but for the most part, they are excellent. I've "read" so many books this way over the last couple years. Here's just a few: The Count of Monte Cristo, Daniel Deronda, Emma, The House of Mirth, Little Men, Mansfield Park, North and South, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Room With a View, The Scarlet Pimpernel (currently listening), Sense and Sensibility, and Vanity Fair.

And another fantastic feature of the site is that you can "subscribe" to a book as a podcast and you can download it automatically in iTunes, so it's ready to put onto your iPod! You can even try searching for a book in iTunes as well.

And if you find you love the site as much as me, they are always looking for volunteers to help read books! I've been wanting to volunteer for a while, but didn't have a microphone, but now, thanks to my new MacBook, I can actually help out!

{ Happy Listening! }

JA Fix

2009-03-02T15:40:00.004-05:00

Oh Darn.

I just found out that because of the snow my class at the Harvard Extension School has been canceled for tonight. Have I mentioned what my class is yet? I'm really excited about it!

It's called "Jane Austen's World in History, Literature and Film". Could there *be* a more perfect class for me?! It's wonderful to be able to learn and talk about Jane Austen for 3 hours a week. I'm just sad because with the President's Day holiday and last week being just for "credit students" I haven't gotten my weekly dose for a while! I was really hoping that by tonight the snow situation would be better, but no such luck.

So to make up for that, I thought I'd at least get a little Jane Austen fix, via YouTube.

So, check out this fun video, and then maybe go watch some more. Some of them are pretty good!

Are you kidding me?

2009-03-02T12:38:00.004-05:00

The weather last Friday (for my birthday party) was a beautiful 60 degrees. So lovely, so perfect, I got all excited that spring was finally on it's way!

Well, that dream came to an abrupt end on Sunday morning. It was snowing lightly, and I thought well, hopefully it won't be too much.

Boy was I wrong.

I woke up to so much snow this morning that Harvard even canceled their classes. Unfortunately our work did not proclaim it a snow day, so I trudged in.

I'm going to keep dreaming of this:

Photos: David Paul Ohmer

I can't wait to ride the Swan Boats at the Boston Public Gardens during tulip season... how much longer will I have to wait?

Technical Difficulties?

2009-03-02T00:39:00.003-05:00

I'm wondering if people are having problems viewing the post content on my blog... Maybe my last post broke it? There were a lot of pictures... Maybe I'll try reposting it or something. For now, I'll try tweaking some things and see what works. Let me know if you can read this!

Thanks!

*Update:
I think I got it working again... I limited the number of posts that appear on the page to just 5. Since I haven't been very good at blogging lately, most of my posts are kind of picture overload. Anyway, I hope it's working for everyone again! Thanks for leaving feedback!

Celebrating the End of my Roaring Twenties!

2009-02-28T19:16:00.019-05:00

So last night was my birthday party! It was a totally success and such fun! I had fun decorating the house, planning the music and getting myself all ready.

We served Chinese food (egg rolls, dumplings and edamame) with Shirley Temples garnished with cotton candy (thanks to Spark for the idea) and Maraschino Cherries. Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of the table before everyone arrived. The color theme was Black, Silver and Pink and I made the tissue pom-poms from Martha Stewart to hang in the entryway and above the table, along with some pink battery operated Chinese lanterns I found at the Dollar Store.

Upstairs we had a photo booth with hats and beads for those who weren't appropriately dressed, and a Movie Theater showing "It" with Clara Bow, a silent movie that was pretty hilarious.

The Photo Booth turned out to be the smash of the evening I think, people had fun hamming it up, and I set the camera to Black and White and then printed copies for people to take home with them. I hung them up on the stairs to the door so people could just grab them on their way out. I hung two sheets from the ceiling (staple guns are so handy) to rope off the "Photo Booth" area, and set up the bookshelf normally in the hall with a mirror and the hats and beads so people could set the camera to a timer and take a self portrait. It worked great!

In the living room we set up a "Movie Theater" with a curtained entrance and popcorn!

Basically it was the best birthday party I've ever had! (That might be because I haven't had any major parties for a long, long time.)

And now some fun pictures from the night!

Lisa, the Flapper!

Ben and Jared sporting their Zoot Suits!

Holly and Denise show their "Jazz Hands"

Alison, Kristina and me

The Click Five Flappers!

Lora, Nicole, Lisa, Abby, Barbara and me

The Roomies

Trisha, Bree and Molly, sporting some beads

Putting on our best "Pioneer Face"

"Surprise!"

Me and Cyrus

John and Raphael raising their hats

Sorry for the picture overload!! There were many many more, which you can see on Facebook if you're on there!

Please Excuse....

2009-02-23T14:51:00.000-05:00

The Dust... Bella Boston is currently Under Construction.

So, what do you think? I was getting tired of my old banner, plus I've been learning some new things in Photoshop, so I thought I'd change things up a bit. It will probably change again soon, but I'm pretty happy with it for now. Let me know what you think! I'll be posting pictures soon from my long President's Day weekend and hopefully when I start getting some things done for the party on Friday, I'll post pictures of that as well! If you want to see some of the pictures and you're friends with me on Facebook, you can check out my new albums there.

Until then...

Can you believe I'm going to be 29 tomorrow?! I guess time flies when you're having fun!

Whoa... sorry there.

2009-02-10T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'm finally back!... from being a slacker! Man, I'm so bad. It's really been a while, huh? I think I've started a couple posts, but I think I just haven't had much interesting to share or say. Which is totally not true as evidenced by my sisters blog, I went to visit her and her cute little family just a few short weeks ago. You can see some of those pictures here.

Nope, I think it's probably all to blame on my laziness! I keep wanting to be better, but a combination of a super slow computer, a broken camera and freezing temperatures that just make me want to sleep all the time, like a hibernating bear, really get the better of those noble aspirations! It's cold, I'm boring, there you go!

Well, so what is there really to tell? Not much, except we finally took down all the Christmas decorations, and I'm wishing I had some fun Valentine's decorations to put up. I did do something fun last week and finally went to the "Open Press Night" at the letterpress studio that Harvard has. I wasn't expecting to be able to print anything, maybe just set some type, but I was able to complete a whole project in just one night! It was so fun, I might even be going back tomorrow night, the creative juices are starting to flow again (despite the temperatures, or maybe because of, since I'm starting to go stir-crazy). I have lots of ideas about other projects I want to do.

Anyway, here's a not very good picture taken by Edwin (my iPhone) which of course is the only camera of the three I own that works right now... he's such a good BF like that (in the working department, not the picture quality department, unfortunately).

(those are drawings of molecules, I know it's kinda hard to tell...)

I thought it was pretty clever, and so far so do most people. Also, pretty appropriate since I just finished my Chemistry class at Harvard! Now if only I had someone to give it to. Of course I'll probably end up giving them to all my roommates, friends and coworkers anyway, even though they might start to get the wrong idea about me... but what can I say? I love Valentines Day!

Oh and P.S. Guess what's coming up at the end of this month? Only the most Awesome Event Ever! We're having a 1920's Theme party to celebrate the end of my "Roaring '20s"! I'm super excited and am busily planning away with my roommies. It's been a long time since I've had an actual birthday party. Should be fun!

Oh and just to close it out with a fun picture... here's one from I think my 7th Birthday Party when we lived in Bakersfield California. Pretty hot huh? I think the ring, the tiara and glasses just give the outfit a little something... extra, don't you?

My Dad gave me one of the coolest Christmas Presents ever, an external hard drive filled with pictures, movies and audio books. It's been fun going through all the pictures. So much fun that I might just have to start "Flashback Fridays" or something cheesy like that.

Handmade Recycled Christmas!

2008-12-04T14:54:00.000-05:00

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year and I usually go all out, I kinda run out of steam by the time it gets to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but I'm not usually at my house for the holiday and so I don't decorate very much for it. I love the buying presents part, but I kinda of slack on the rest of it (compared with the Halloween celebrations, anyway).

But not this year! There have been so many good ideas for cute holiday decorations that this year, I'm going all out on a Handmade Recycled Christmas! I've been even more inspired to use things I have around the house, rather than going and out and buying new ornaments. We're having a special Holiday Party that I'll be posting about soon, so I'm trying to get the house festive in time. Here's a few of the things I've started making and plan to finish asap:

Paper Bag Ornaments:

So easy and fun to make! I'm going to hang them over the table in our bay window. I made a few different sizes and may also make smaller ones to hang from the wreath on our front door to tie everything together. I used Trader Joe's paper bags like she used as well and I love the way they look, although I might make some smaller ones out of festive scrapbooking paper I have lying around.

Circular Ornaments:

I plan on making these a little more simple by just using my craft punch and then instead of alternating gluing sides, I'm just going to use a scrapbooking adhesive square to attach each one. Kind of like the ones here, only with more circles!

More fun handmade ornament ideas to try:
String Snowballs
Lots of ornaments to make

Shimmering Stacked Trees:

These are made from newspaper, but I'm also recycling my old magazines that I'm going to throw away.

Paper Evergreens:

I'm also making paper trees like these out of the same Trader Joe paper bags to match the ornaments!

Plastic Bag Pom-Poms:

I think these would be fun attached together to make a garland, I guess I'd just need a *lot* of plastic bags... Target here I come!

Cardboard wreath:

Now I wish I hadn't thrown out my Piperlime box! And here's another fun idea if I only had some fun bottle caps in festive colors.

Other great ideas:
Card Display
Advent Calendar
Fabric Garland

So, I'll be sure to post pics after our party and when everything's all done! Happy Holidays!

Halloween Picture Overload Time!

2008-11-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

Well, the best holiday of the year has come and gone! It was crazy madness getting ready for it this year, but I have to say, I think it was the best party I've had! Definitely the most put together.

Let's start with the decorations shall we?

Upstairs in the hall we used this great stuff called "Scene Setters" to give the effect of peeling wallpaper and exposed and cracking walls. We had some great "spooky" art work laying around (my roommates sister had done two pieces as part of her thesis project for art school that worked perfectly!) and I "boarded up" my room with strips of cardboard.

(BTW, these photos were taken by Edwin, my iPhone, so sorry that they're not the best quality, my camera has died permanently. I used my old camera for the pics from Friday night (but unfortunately forgot to bring it out with us to the parties...).

The decorations in the kitchen. Pretty simple, just orange lights with the paper-and-clothespin bats I made last year.

The second floor was by far my favorite of the house! Here's a shot of how the stairs looked! We covered them with the plastic "scene setters" that look like rock so it gave the banisters that castle feel. This was taken the morning after so some of the decorations from the wall are missing... they didn't hold up too well with people bumping into them.

The front porch, complete with chains for a drawbridge and a giant spider web with fuzzy arachnid (not pictured from this angle). Also, that's a pumpkin my roommate carved with the Disney Castle on it. Fun!

The piece-de-resistance, the food table in the bay window. This picture is from right after the party, so it's a little destroyed, but you get the idea. I made the chandelier out of cardboard (inspired by Martha Stewarts) and the Enchanted Rose was our centerpiece. We served breadstick bones, poisoned apples and a sheet cake with princess toppers that said "Happily Never After" on it. We also had scary music from the Disney movies playing in the area to really set the mood.
Here's a better picture of it all set up:

One of my favorite purchases this year, my new Halloween wreath from Target! I tried to make something similar to this a couple years ago in SLC, but black roses are impossible to find and don't look so hot when you spray paint them... So I saw this and had to have it! (BTW, do you see the letter on the door knocker? Yep, it's a W. This house was made just for me!)

The view of the front of the house the next morning. This looked so cool at night, the bags were lit with candles and we had a fog machine, so the fog would rise out of the bushes! You can see Cinderella's ride out in front as well.

And now pics from the party!

Here are the princesses before the "Happily NEVER After", Pocahontas (Nicole), Jasmine (Barbara), Cinderella (me), Belle (Abby), Snow White (Lora), and Ariel (Lisa)!!

Yep, we dressed up as Dead Disney Princesses! So much fun and such a good idea... I think that's what made this party the best ever, a great theme that got everyone involved. We all had back stories too, which I thought were pretty hilarious and were fun to come up with!

Ariel was strangled by seaweed, Pocahontas was shot in the head with an arrow, Jasmine was mauled by her tiger, Belle was the victim of domestic violence (kinda sad, but what do you expect from a Beast?), Snow White (and her prince, pictured below, were killed with tiny pick axes by seven angry dwarfs) and Cinderella was bludgeoned in the head with her glass slipper by her jealous ugly step sister...

Poor Cindy! (that pic on the wall was another one done by Abby's sister, pretty perfect!)

Here we are fighting over the Prince in Shining Armor (Snow White's boyfriend).

Seriously so much fun... Lots of people came to the party, there were tons of great costumes and we had another fun impromptu dance party! In fact, Thursday night was even more fun that Friday night! So onto pictures of the Fun:

Two trees who wandered in...

Batman and Napoleon, an unlikely friendship.

Part of the crowd.

Amicus the Pirate!

Guess what these girls are? The Sun, Moon, Starts and Outer Darkness... So original!

More of the crowd.

Best couple costume: Scanner and Barcode! And they really worked! Very clever.

The cutest costumes there: our Bishop's twin grandchildren, Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane! When Abby first saw us, she was so excited that we were all princesses but as soon as she realized we were dead, she got this look on her face like, "What?!". She got over it soon though and was asking if she could be dead too! It was so funny!

Our Bishop and his wife dressed in their biker clothes (he's got a couple Harleys - our Bishop's cool like that).

Well, that's all for now! I hope everyone had a great Halloween! I'm kinda sad that I might not be able to do something like this next year... The Brits don't really celebrate Halloween in England! Maybe that will change once I'm living in the country!

Fun in the Big Apple

2008-10-23T12:55:00.000-04:00

So I've been heading to NYC quite a bit in the last little while. Two weeks ago I met up with my Mom and her sisters for a couple days and two weeks before that my roommate and I spent a fun weekend there as well where in a chance of fate I got to see my Grandma, Aunt and cousin as well! So not only fun times in NYC, but fun FAMILY times!

Anyway, I haven't had any specific plans about what to do when there so it was fun to just play it by ear, which translated, usually means a lot of walking.

When I went with my roommate, our one main goal was to see a Show. I'd done my research before hand and our top choices were Wicked (which is sold out for the next trillion years), Mary Poppins, and Legally Blonde. Although Wicked is totally sold out, they do this cool lottery where 2 and a half hours before a show they have a drawing for 26 front row seats for only $26 a piece. If your name is drawn you can buy two tickets at that price. So of course we had to try both nights, but unfortunately we didn't get in... too bad, but luckily I saw Wicked on my first "real" trip to NYC (which should have been with my mom...). So, I'd found out about a discount code for Mary Poppins so we decided to try that out instead. We raced over to the theater and got great seats for only $45!! It was such a great show and so much fun! I highly recommend it to everyone. So that was the highlight of that trip, as well as having brunch with family of course. We ate again at V*ynl, the diner from the same "Wicked" trip. How fun to eat with family on the East Coast? I hadn't even known they were in NYC at the same time until the day we met up! It was so great to see them. Haven't uploaded those pictures yet, so I'll have to do that soon.

So two weeks later it was back to NY on the bus again, this time to see my Mom! Finally, Mom made it to NYC! I was so happy to be able to meet up with her and crash her sister-trip. My Mom and her sisters are such a hoot together, we had a ton of fun just laughing and seeing the city. The highlight for me of this trip was another chance to eat at Dinosaur BBQ, the delicious restaurant I visited on my first ever trip to the city. I'm glad that everyone else loved it as much as I did! So on to a few pictures!

With Mom and Aunt Paula around the NYU campus (my cousin Kelly went here).

Mom, Aunt Debbie and Aunt Paula on their way to see Wicked, while I headed back to Boston.

Me and Mom at lunch.

It was so much fun to be able to see family out here. I've been super homesick lately. Who'd have guessed I'd ever miss Utah and the West so much? So it was a much needed dose of family.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled Halloween coverage. Coming soon, more updates on decorations and costumes!

Halloween in progress

2008-10-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

Chemistry and Halloween.

That's what's been on my mind (if not always my life) for the past month or so now. And let me just say they are both pretty awesome. Well, Halloween is at least. Chemistry and I have more of a love/hate relationship. Who knows, it may swing either direction tonight depending on the grade I got on my test last week... *think good thoughts*.

Anyway, I won't bore you with the Chemistry, but get right into the good stuff. This year, Halloween is going to be awesome. Because my roommates and I have come up with the best "group costume" idea ever. I don't want to give too much away, cause it's kinda going to be a surprise, but I will have to give you something when I tell you what I've been up to.

I've been having a Halloween party pretty much since I turned 12 and my parents decided that was too old to go trick-or-treating anymore. Or was it 14? Can't remember. Anyway, except for a couple years at college and one where I was moving to Utah at the time, I've pretty much had an awesome party. Since moving to Boston I've had two, and I think they keep getting better. This year will surely be the best yet. We've got a whole theme going on.

Happily Never After

Yep, that's the theme. And it's gong to be awesome. If you can't tell from that what we're dressing up as, let me help you:

That's right, Disney Princesses. With a little bit of a twist. That's the part I'm not going to tell you, but I'm sure you'll put it together with the "theme". Anyway it's going to be awesome. We're turning the house into "The Haunted Enchanted Kingdom". Basically a Haunted Castle. I'm even mixing in touches from the movies... Take part of our centerpiece here:

See anything familiar? Like maybe a magic rose? Humm....

And here's a preview of the hall... ok just imagine it without the pretty flowers... those are coming down.

Here's a close up of the picture. I found this picture and printed it in segments, cut it up and pasted it together. Still to come is a spooky black frame around it.

These are the decorations on either side of the pic. I got these mini skulls at Wal-Mart for a buck each and made the little shelves from cardboard boxes (thanks USPS) and painted them black. Also still to come are more torches and brackets, black chandeliers (similar to these but way cheaper, since they too will be made of cardboard by me), a "drawbridge" (unfortunately non-functioning), a moat (aka fog machine outside near the bushes), tons of cobwebs, and lots of scary cheese cloth and white sheets on stuff. Oh, and a special treatment for the stairs that I won't give away quite yet. Let's just say, our house is going to be pretty spooky!

I can't wait! So much to do though before it's all done... I've taken on the responsibility of making all the princess costumes too. Huge list of to-do things for that. I'm pretty sure it will all get done though. I will be recruiting roommates to help with the rest of the decorating (although considering how anal retentive I am about things, I'm not sure how much of it they'll do).

So that added to Chemistry makes for a busy me! Man, there's a reason I only do parties once a year!

More pics to come so stay tuned!

Fairy Doors and Miscellany

2008-10-16T12:11:00.001-04:00

Ok, so it's been a while, once again, but I promise, this time I'm turning over a new leaf... you know, since it's fall and they're all turning (ok, that was lame).

Anyway, I got some new apps for my phone which should make posing easier and therefore more frequent. Plus check out the cool pictures I can take with my phone now! I got a camera app that does really cool effects so you can bet I'll be using it more.

Speaking of cameras and pictures, I know I promised pics of my Utah trip, plus probably a ton of other stuff, but my camera is on the fritz unfortunately, plus I can't find my cable... so, my iPhone camera is my new best friend, but that means slightly crappier quality. I guess you can't win 'em all!

So the pic above is a little fairy door someone made, I mean the fairy's made on the Harvard campus near the music library. It makes me think of my mom and sis when I walk by.

I guess there's a word limit here so I'll do another post soon with actual info. TTFN!

Long Overdue

2008-08-19T12:17:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody! Sorry I've been so bad about keeping this up. What can I say, somethings never change...

Anyway, I thought I'd do a little bit of an update and try to get pictures up another time when I get my camera battery back from a friend.

Wow, a lot has happened in the last couple months! First some really good news, I got accepted to Grad School at West Dean for next year!! I am so excited to know for sure that it's going to happen! It's going to be an amazing year (I mean, just look at the pictures below), but I'm also glad that I have a year to prepare. I'm loving my job and not quite ready to leave just yet. The one thing I'm not quite looking forward to is taking a Chemistry class this year in prep. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be ok.

More awesome news, my sister had her second child just a few short weeks ago! Grayden is so cute and I'm so excited to be an aunt again. I can't wait until I get to hold him!

And luckily I won't have to wait long! I'm really excited because I'm going to Utah next week because my little brother Mikie is getting off his mission this Friday! I will get to see my entire family and I can't even wait! I've actually been super homesick in the last couple months and was bummed that I'd have to wait until Christmas to see everyone in my family again. As much as I love Boston it's just too far away sometimes. But thank goodness for sale tickets! I got the sweetest deal ever and am going to have so much fun, I just wish I could stay longer!

Anyway, that's the big stuff that's been going on. Other fun stuff that I've been up to includes:

reading Breaking Dawn (and winning the costume contest at the midnight release party... I'll have to post pictures) in one weekend and continuing to talk about it almost nonstop since, plus getting other people reading the series
trivia night every Monday at the Sunset Cantina with groups big and small - last night we finally won!
taking a workshop at North Bennett Street School - 18th Century French Leather Bindings that was really fun (except for the days that I got sick, lame)
seeing lots of movies including American Teen (highly recommended), Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (ditto), Mamma Mia, Batman: the Dark Knight, and gearing up for the Twilight movie!! (btw, if you didn't know, since Harry Potter moved back to 2009 - boo- Twilight is now coming out Nov 12th! Yay!)
Watching tons of Olympics and cheering on my secret boyfriend, Michael Phelps (guess it's not so much of a secret anymore...)
Spending a Saturday soaking up the sun at Walden Pond
Getting caught in a major thunderstorm while giving a tour of the Freedom Trail downtown
Watching free Shakespeare on the Boston Commons ("As You Like It" - pretty good, but still can't compare to my first year here)
Seeing a great little production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" (one of my favorite plays)
Probably a lot of other stuff that I can't remember right now
Talking with my niece, Kirsten, on the phone, who's just 15 months old. She somehow is able to randomly call me and proceeds to talk my ear off, it's the cutest thing ever!

Anyway, I guess that's what you get when I forget to update for so long! Sorry again! I'll definitely try to post some pics this week, and for sure will have lots to report on when I get back from Utah! I can't wait for the cuteness of all the babies I'll get to hold! My head just might explode from all the family fun!

Beating the Heat

2008-06-16T10:32:00.001-04:00

So, it's finally cooled down here in Boston a bit, but the last week and half has been so hot! It got up to 99 two weekends ago! And with the humidity it was pretty miserable. So what better way to beat the heat than to go to the beach? The breeze off the water was nice (if a little smelly) and we had fun soaking up some rays and playing in the sand. Check out the awesome sand turtle Bryce, Ben, Nicole and Abby made! People kept stopping to look at it, it was very impressive!

It's Myrtle the Turtle!

Nicole, Bryce, Ben and Abby

Also, I haven't reported on J.K. Rowling's Commencement Speech, which of course was amazing! You HAVE to go read it, or better yet watch it, here! I was almost in tears at one point during the speech. Our seats weren't too bad either, we could see the stage, but were a little far away for pictures, but we planted ourselves right behind the big screen so I got some good pics of her on that. Anyway, she is one of my heroes and it was so great to hear her speak live.

This weekend was a little cooler, like I said, so I didn't do too much outside other than walking to the Library with my roommate. I was able to go see Prince Caspian finally and loved it! Seriously, go see it! And if you haven't read the books you have to! They are some of my favorite stories and I think Prince Caspian is one of the best.

Plus, so exciting, but I got to see a trailer for Twilight before the movie!! Oh my gosh, I was freaking out! There are some things that turn me into a total "tween" and Twilight is one of them. So in honor of my excitement I thought I'd share the trailer with you too! Enjoy!

And look! Another post!

2008-06-04T14:47:00.000-04:00

And since I'm on a roll with the posting, here's a look at the BBQ we had on Sat. for my roommates big achievements: Abby and Nicole both graduated with their Masters, Nicole is starting a new job and Lisa was promoted to "the floor" at work! My roommies are the best and the smartest. Can you believe I'm the only one in the house without a Masters Degree now? Smarties, that's what they are!

So we had about half the ward over to celebrate. David, our neighbor, brought his sweet new grill over and we cooked up burgers and good times. I made more of what is quickly becoming my famous Banoffee Cream Pie and we had a good 'ol time! Check it out:

This is what the pie looks like before the whip cream, just so you can get an idea... That's the toffee under the bananas.

Trisha looking fabulous as always!

My roomie Nicole really getting into a burger... Mmmrughh, yummy!

Marci and Erica, who came back for a visit.

Matchy-Matchy, me and Molly!

The Grill Master, David

With the Famous Banoffee Cream Pie

My roommie Abby and her BFF, Barbara

Laura, Alice and Leah chillin'

A good gathering

Picnic BBQ next to the square foot gardens

I'd say the party was a good success! The rain held off until most of us were done eating. We brought it inside at the very end and ended up watching a movie with a few people still hanging around. For me it's the first BBQ of the season, and I say, Bring It On!!

Oh, and I just have to plug The Cuteness... It was my niece and nephews One Year Birthday Party Picnic at the same time in Salt Lake! Wish I could have been there, but it looks like it was fun, check out the pictures here.

Jack and Kirsten are one year old! Such cuties!!

Remember to stay tuned for a post about J.K. Rowling! I get to hear her speak, live, tomorrow afternoon!! Can't wait!!

England Trip Part 3 - West Dean

2008-06-04T14:11:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here's the last bit! West Dean College!

Wow, is all I can say. This place is Beautiful! I mean check out the front door!

So I got here on Monday night and didn't see anyone really at that point, but the next morning when I went in to breakfast I met Lili, who is my email friend at the school. It's kind of funny actually, her brother is in my ward in Boston and we've been emailing each other for the last year and half because she was applying for a job at Harvard, plus she went to BYU, knows everyone I know, and so it's just funny that this was the first time we'd actually met in person! She is really lovely, I wish I'd gotten a picture with her, oh well!

After breakfast (which was delicious by the way, all the food there was, they have meals "cafeteria style") I met up with the instructor of the book course for my Practical Test and Interview. He gave me a tour of the facility and set me to work on making some things. It went well, in fact I wasn't nervous at all, until they started asking me questions in the interview and portfolio part... But overall I think it went well.

This took pretty much all day, but I was done at 4 and after having a tour of the accommodations and talk about financing options, I went to bother Lili a bit in her room. She was trying to finish a huge research paper, so I tried not to distract her for too long. Luckily though, she had an adaptor that I could use to recharge my camera battery, so yay! Pictures! After dinner she took me on a lovely walk through the Arboretum where most of the pictures were taken...

A view of the school from the top of a nearby hill.

The beautiful green fields next to the school (these don't really do it justice... it was raining most of Monday and Tuesday)

Lambies!! All the lambs here have twins because they are artificially inseminated. Baby lambs are the cutest!

These are fields of white daisies. Pretty!

Coming back to the school (we did a big loop), isn't it just so picturesque?

This is the hallway on the way to my room in the main house! Crazy! There are like hundred-year-old tapestries hanging on the walls, antique marble pillars, urns, armor and dead animal heads all over the school!

The view from my window in my room, showing the back-side garden. You can see a quaint little cottage behind the shrub wall there...

A better view of the cottage.

Another view of the front of the school.

So anyway! That is pretty much the end of my trip! I went to bed on Tuesday, got up early Wednesday morning for breakfast and then drove back up to the airport. My plane left in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to return the car and do a bit of airport shopping before it was back to Boston, this time through Toronto!

All in all, it was an amazing trip! I'm so glad I was able to go! I'm still not sure what to do about school, in fact I'm almost more confused than I was before, but I'm glad I got a feel for both of them, and that I was able to meet up with some friends! It was so great to be back in England after 7 years. It's still the same as I remembered, which I'm glad of, and I really hope that I'll be back again very soon!

Next up are some pictures of what I've been up to since getting back. Yes, my life never stops.... Seriously though, it's usually really boring, but maybe since it's summer it's getting a little more exciting. Anyway, I'll be sure to be better about posting what I'm up to this summer, so keep checking back!

England Trip Part 2 - Hampshire and Jane Austen's House

2008-06-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

So, to continue the journey, I got up bright and early on Monday morning to pick up my rental car at the airport. That's right! I drove in England! On the right hand side of the car! On the left side of the road! And I lived to tell the tale! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I got used to it pretty quickly.

Anyway, after a short hiccup at the rental desk I was off in a cute little sliver VW hatchback. It was an automatic, so luckily I didn't have to worry about anything other than getting used to driving "backwards". I actually didn't have a map (maybe a bad idea and I found out later that the rental company had one I could have borrowed, why they didn't tell me that at the time...) but I had printed directions from Google which worked just fine. I headed first to... Jane Austen's House!

Oh man, I wish I had someone there to share the excitement with, but at the same time it was great to be able to go through at my own pace. I was really lucky because I love fashion and costuming from this time and they were having an exhibit throughout the museum of dresses from the new adaptation of Sense & Sensibility that just aired on Masterpiece (which you should all watch, because although it's not as great as the Emma Thompson version, is still a nice long adaptation).

So onto the pictures!

This dress was in the entrance to the museum. Elinor Dashwood wears it throughout the movie. So fun to see it up close!

This is Jane Austen's writing desk. It's in the same place it was in her lifetime. In the breakfast room under the window. It's actually really small and I can't imagine her sitting and writing six novels here!

This was in the same room as the desk and was worn by Fanny Dashwood, the evil step-sister-in-law, in the movie. It's accordingly a "finer" dress.

One of my favorite dresses, worn by Marianne Dashwood, this was upstairs in Jane and Cassandra's room, which was actually quite small!

I'm pretty sure this was another one of Elinor's dresses.

I believe this was an original copy (couldn't be sure as it was in the back of case) of one of JA's first "novels", "Love and Friendship". The illustrations were done by her sister. I actually ended up talking the with curator of the museum for some time about who they have doing conservation work on their objects because there were many, like this one, that I wanted to cradle like a little baby and fix myself! I got a contact and might be able to do some work for them when I get over there...

This is an actual quilt made by Jane, her mother and sister. It's actually so amazing and this picture doesn't do it justice! Can you imagine piecing all these together by hand?!

This was worn by Edward Ferras in the movie... swoon... man, I love Regency Men!

This is JA's donkey cart. At the end of her life she was very sick and it was hard for her to move around, so she would get out in this little cart which was pulled by a donkey.

A view of the pump and behind it the bake house where the bread was made.

A view of the entrance gate on the side of the house.

Jane Austen's House!

After getting my fill of her gardens and house I went on to Winchester where she died and was buried. There's a memorial to her in Winchester Cathedral. This is the only place I actually got lost. The directions I had were hard to follow as they don't like to post the name of roads in England (so it seems), have a million one way streets and the directions only told me to stay on roads for about 200 yards before I was supposed to make another turn! I was just going to park and find my way on foot, but I was out of cash and so I got in a catch-22, I couldn't park without cash, but I couldn't stop to get cash without parking! So eventually I stopped at a petrol station and a really nice bloke (see I'm picking up the lingo already!) helped me find an ATM and gave me directions to the cathedral, so eventually I made it! I wish I had more time to explore this quaint little city. It had some fun shops on the High Street too. I ate lunch then made my way to the Cathedral for pictures.

The entrance to Winchester Cathedral. There has actually been a church on this site since like the late 1100's, can you believe it?

This is the stone in the floor that marks Jane Austen's death. It was placed here by her family. It actually doesn't mention anything about her being a writer.

This plaque was placed here later above the stone on the floor and refers to her writing. There was also a stained glass window above it which also commemorate her as a writer.

Unfortunately after this the battery on my camera died so I didn't get any pictures of the rest of my adventures on Monday. But after walking around the church a bit more I decided I wanted to try to get to Brighton before going to the school. I figured I had the car, why not take advantage of it! Brighton was about a two hour drive from Winchester so I didn't spend any more time in the town and just took off on the motorway. I kept thinking the whole drive down there "But I want to go to Brighton!", like how Lydia Bennet says it in the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice! Fun times.

Again, I didn't have a map, and although I knew where it was, I hadn't printed any directions from Winchester to Brighton, so I just decided to wing it by following signs on the motorways! It turned out fine and I made it there in no time at all!

When I got to Brighton I found a parking garage and followed signs to the Royal Pavilion. Since it was a bank holiday Brighton seemed pretty busy! There were tons of people out walking around, and while this was fun, I felt a little conspicuous walking around by myself. So I did the tour of the Royal Pavilion and then walked down along the Victorian Boardwalk, which has an amusement park on it. Again, I didn't linger long at many things, but bought some cotton candy (or floss as they call it) and played one of the booth games they had where you compete against a lot of other people. It was pretty fun!

The Royal Pavilion (this picture was not taken by me, my camera had broken but I wanted you to see what it looked like). This is one amazing place!

Again, not my picture (obviously) but this is a shot of Brighton Pier from the air. It's a pretty big place!

From the Beach. The white building had a huge arcade inside.

I decided I'd get some dinner before driving to the school, so I walked around The Lanes, which are little alleyways that have been turned into a shopping district, and found a little Italian restaurant that didn't look too uncomfortable for sitting by myself.

After dinner I drove back along the coastal road to West Dean and was astonished when passing this castle, which I found out later was Arundel Castle! Wish I'd had time to stop!!

So amazing! I could see this off in the distance sitting above a little village and I can't wait to go back and explore more!

Well, that brings me to the end of that leg of the journey. Next up, West Dean! I made it in at about 8:30 that night and went right to sleep in my beautiful old room!

England Trip Part 1 - London

2008-06-02T10:10:00.001-04:00

Get ready for picture overload!

Ok, so I've needed some time to recuperate since my trip so sorry for the delay on posting. I have a million pictures so I'm going to break this into a few posts, so you've been warned! I'm sorry if I overload your computer, but really, I crammed so much into just a few short days, it's amazing! Ok, onto the recap!

I got in at 9:30 am on Thursday morning after flying all night. I had a layover in Halifax, and unfortunately didn't get much sleep, so was pretty dead. Aimee, my friend from High School who I was staying with, met me at the airport and we headed to her "fella's" house in south London. I crashed as soon as we got there. Man jet-lag is such a pain! I seriously didn't feel normal until 4 days into the trip! After a good 2 hour nap, I was ready to get out and see some sights.

We had decided before hand that we should try to see a play on Thursday, since it was a bank holiday which meant more people in London over the weekend, so we first went down to Leischester Square to the discount ticket booths. Unfortunately Les Mis wasn't on sale that weekend because of said bank holiday so instead we got a great deal on tickets to... "Spamalot"! This one has always been on my list, just because I love the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" so I was actually happy to go, plus it was high on Aimee and John's (Aimee's fella) list. Since most of the day was gone (thanks jet-lag) we walked around the book stores on Charing Cross Road looking for used paperbacks with not a lot of luck. We eventually ended up at Foyle's, a five story mega-store, like Borders and they had newer editions of what I was looking for. Then we met up with John, grabbed a quick bite at McDonald's (don't worry I had better food on the trip) then headed to the theater with you "pick-n-mix" candy (shhh...)!

The "curtian" before the show opened. The stage was great! Very "Python"...

This theater was seriously cool, there were little cherubs along all the balconies. As you can see from the pictures our seats were pretty great. Right in the center about ten rows back. But the seat I wish I had (and which you should all try to get if you have the choice is D1... you might just get to meet the cast, we'll call it a mini role). The show was so much fun, Aimee got a killer rabbit, plus there was even a famous actor in the cast! King Arthur was played by Alan Dale who's in Ugly Betty, the O.C., and aparently some really famous Australian TV show... he was pretty good! Overall, I'm glad I got to see it. Les Mis would have been great, but this was fun, and very British!

We got Chinese food in China Town after the show, then headed home to collapse again, this time for about 8 hours.

My attempt to get up early the next day was not very successful, so by the time we got to our first stop, The Globe Theater, we didn't have time for a tour before I had to run off to meet with people at Camberwell College, one of the schools I'm considering for Grad School. We grabbed some lunch, which included some Banoffi Pie and then I braved the busses to get to the school.

My tour of the school was great and it's made my decision making process even harder! They both have pluses and minuses, but they are pretty much opposites, so we'll have to see which is a better fit, luckily I have a bit of time to do that.

Then it was back to meet Aimee! We had missed the last tour by that time so decided it would have to wait until the next day. We grabbed some pictures and then boarded a boat for a tour of sights from the Thames.

In front of Shakespeare's Globe

From the boat:

London Bridge

Tower Bridge (don't know why I didn't get close to this last time)

The Tower, this inner building used to be the Norman's castle. It's most famously been used as a prison.

From the other side of Tower Bridge

Passing back by the Tower, this is Traitors Gate, where prisoners used to be taken into the prison.

The Globe again.

The London Eye (a 400 ft tall ferris wheel, scary!)

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Did you know that Big Ben is the bell, not the clock?

After our boat tour we walked from the Houses of Parliament up to Buckingham Palace. There's a beautiful park along the walk, I was so glad that the weather was nice for the first few days of my trip!

St. Jame's Park

The Palace with a monument to Queen Victoria

Palace Gaurd

In front of the gates!

It's hard to remember (since a lot of this and the next day had been spent in the same area) but I think this was also the night we ate at Wagamama's for dinner, which on the reccommendation from Aimee was very tasty. We also had some fabulous coconut ice cream for dessert! Yum-O!

We were tired after all that walking so headed home, watched some telly, then crashed again!

The next day we got up bright and early to do the Globe tour! Yay! Finally! It was a really great tour, great museum, and I only wish I could have seen a play! If I'd come a week later I could have seen "A Mid Summer Night's Dream" which is my favorite, so kind of a bummer, but someday... This building is obviously a replica, the original was somewhere in the near vacinity but had burned down only a few years after Shakespeare's death. I learned lots of interesting facts that I hadn't known before, and now of course I want to go read more! I'll spare you the details though as this post is getting long and just get to the pictures...

The Stage and the pit. You can see the decoration on the ceiling and pillars.

More of a view of the audience seating.

After that we headed to Oxford Street for shopping at New Look (great deals!) and then lunch at the Marloborough Head, a true English Pub! I wish I got pictures of the basement where we sat. It had a whole wall of bookshelves (with false spines) which cleverly concealed the doors to the "loos". It was funny to watch people try to find their way. We helped many a poor soul since we were right next to the Men's room... so funny. I had a true English Sunday Roast, with Yorkshire Pudding (yay!), Mashers (mashed potatoes) and Roast Beef. It was delicious!

After that we headed up to the British Library, but first since we came out at King's Cross station we had to make a pilgramage to Platform Nine and Three Quarters of course!! So much fun to push a trolley through the barrier...

Off to the Hogwarts Express!!

Oh, and in other related Harry Potter news, guess who gets to hear J.K. Rowling speak this Thursday at Harvard's Commencement!? You guessed it! I'm sooooo excited!

Ok, back to London... We spent a good chunk of time at the Brit Lib of course. Had to go check out the new Conservation facilities even thought it was Sat. so they weren't open. It was great to see all those treasures again, especially the Jane Austen letters and manuscripts!

So that night we went home to have a Birthday Bash for Aimee's friend Claudia which involved ordering "a curry" (indian take-out to you Yanks) and watching the craziest thing this American's ever seen, Eurovision! And of course cake! Just for a little taste of what the competition looked like this year, check out my favorite of the performances: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Let's just say it was an experience...

On Sunday we packed in the last of the things on my "to-do" list. First we hit Harrod's and saw the "Egyptian Hall" and the "Food Halls". Wow, that is all I can say. Shopping at Harrod's really is an "experience".

At the top of the Egyptian Hall

They even had an opera singer singing live!

We then went on to the Victoria & Albert Museum where we had lunch and then I walked quicly around my favorite exhibit, the Fashion hall, before heading off the the Brittania ward, which is the only singles ward in the UK.

They were having a special exhibit about the Supremes, which looked great, although I didn't see it.

While I was at church the rest of the group went to the Natural History Museum to see a live Buterfly exhibit. I snapped this picture of the great hall while I was waiting for them in the gift shop.

By that time it was getting close to the end of the day. We had just enough time to head home, change, grab some food then walk to the local movie theater to see the new "Indiana Jones" movie! So much fun!

Wow, so that's just the first end of my trip! Whew, is everyone even still with me? I think that might be the longest post I've ever written! So maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll post about the next part which I think might be my favorite! London was great and I'm so glad I was able to stay with Aimee and that she played all weekend with me, but the English country side is GORGEOUS! Just wait, it's gonna be good!

Ok, that's all for now! Check back soon!

Long time comin'

2008-05-19T22:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, I started this yesterday and then got an admonition for my aunt to post, so perfect timing! I know! Sorry it's been almost a month since I last posted! I'm bad. Oh well, I've been busy, having fun as usual, plus getting ready for my big trip, which I am soooo excited for!

London here I come! I leave on Wed and will be there for almost a whole week, I can't wait! I have lots of plans of things to do in London (most of which I never got a chance to do before) including:

Shakespeare's Globe Theater
Buckingham Palace
Harrod's (especially the food level!)
Tower Bridge
Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey (how did I miss this?)
Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park
Going back to see:
British Library (of course)
British Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum (mostly the historical clothing exhibit)
Museum of London (maybe)
Top Shop
Wagamama's

Plus, I'm going to probably go see Les Mis! I haven't seen this since the last time I was in London, 7 years ago! Wow, I can't believe it's been 7 years. It's been so fun to think and plan about everything I want to do, I've had fun remembering everything I did before. I'm sure it's going to be great.

On Monday I'm renting a CAR! Yikes, I'm a little nervous, but excited to have the freedom to go at my own pace down to the south to visit the school. And guess what? I'm going to go visit Jane Austen's House!! I'm so excited! Especially since I just learned that they are having an exhibit through the end of May of dresses from the new Sense & Sensibility movie which was on Masterpiece! Awesome!

I'm also getting excited and nervous about my interview with the school. I think it will go well, but I'm working on putting together a portfolio to show them now and that's stressful.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post pictures and a recap when I get back, but for now, here's some things I've been up to in the last month:

*Checking out more blooming trees! On Mother's Day we walked around the Mt. Auburn Cemetery and then went to the Arnold Arboretum for "Lilac Day" to have a picnic. It was beautiful and of course all the trees were blooming, so here's some more pics!

My roommie, Abby, and Barbara

Lilacs!
At the cemetery
Beautiful pond at the cemetery

Oh, and here is what the one in front of our house looked like a couple weeks ago! Beautiful!

*Goodbye party for lots of friends, like Kylee (see pics at the party with the link)
*Cheering on my roommates in the Big Lake Half Marathon up at Lake Winnipesaukee (see pictures here)
*Visiting the best circus in town at Laura's Big Top Birthday Bash! (this was an amazing party, I might have to try to procure photos)
*Going to see a couple movies (Made of Honor and What Happen in Vegas)
*Hosting book club at my house (Northanger Abbey) and making fabulous Banoffee Cream Pie!! This is my favorite dessert from England (it's toffee with banana, hence the name) and I've been craving it for 7 years, you don't know how good it tasted when I made it! Heaven! Here's the recipe, if you like sweet, rich desserts, you'll definitely like this. I'm going to try to have some this week and see if turned out like the real thing! (One note on the recipe, I didn't use the coffee, of course, but I used the traditional method of boiling the cans, I used a lid on the pot to prevent the water from evaporating and checked on it every so often, to make sure the cans were still covered. I only used one can for my pie, but boiled four, so now I have tons of toffee to make a spur of the moment pie!)

More signs of spring

2008-04-22T15:23:00.001-04:00

I feel like I'm awaking from a winter funk, or maybe even a hibernation with all the great spring weather (even almost summer-like) we've been having here in Boston lately. Warm weather makes me really really happy. Really, even though I've been frustrated about some things lately, every time I walk outside, I just can't help but smile. I even got some sun this weekend! It's my goal to be "un-pasty" this summer. Not tan, I know that's not really possible for my skin (and also really bad for you), but I just want a little color, a glow, if you will. I'm already on my way and it's only April!

The trees around Harvard are blooming! Another thing that makes me so happy about the arrival of spring and warm weather. I'm hoping to get down to the North End and the Public Gardens soon to see more beautiful spring blooms!

Ok, so I'm feeling random and felt like combining a couple tags that have been floating around my friends blogs in the last little while and make it my own.

5 Things

5 things I'm grateful for right this second:
*the view out my window at work (I love people watching)
*my iPod and rockin' music
*Thai food with friends on a Monday night
*Chick Lit (specifically the historical fiction kind)
*planning my trip to London

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
*graduating from High School, how crazy is that?
*getting ready to start BYU in the summer
*going to California with my Swing Choir for a competition at Disneyland
*injuring my neck during said trip and having to get wheeled across Disneyland and in front of the Hercules Parade (yeah, embarrassing as it sounds)
*having surgery (luckily not because of said injury)

5 places I've lived:
*London, England
*Anchorage, Alaska
*Salt Lake City, Utah
*Houston, Texas
*Boston, Massachusetts

5 jobs I've had:
*Entertainment & Tour Coordinator at a chocolate factory
*Summer "Intern" on the North Slope
*Project Assistant at law firm
*Manuscript Processor at BYU Library
*Book Conservation Technician

5 of my guiltiest pleasures:
*Reality TV (Beauty & the Geek, The Bachelor, America's Next Top Model)
*old fashioned frosted donuts from Starbucks
*Anything fried, especially fried veggies (aka Tempura)
*Shoe shopping
*Celebrity Gossip Mags

5 places I have to visit one day:
*Egypt
*Italy
*India
*All 50 states, especially Hawaii
*Greece

5 favorite foods (in the last little while):
*Dr. Pepper
*candy (yes this is a food group, I like anything chocolate, gummy, fruity or cinnamon)
*any kind of potatoes, especially garlic mashed
*pesto
*Mango Tango Oddwalla Smoothies

5 things that really annoy me:
*slow walkers that walk in the middle of the sidewalk so you can't pass them without being really rude
*the sound of people chewing with their mouths open
*people who don't turn their cell phones off or on silent during movies, performances or church
*guys who think I want to marry them just because I talk to them
*smokers, tourists (see the slow thing) and rude customer service people
*oh, and not having a car (ok, so I know that was more than 5)

And just so I don't end on a sour note:
5 things on my to do list:
*finish my essays and submit my application for Grad school
*go grocery shopping (I'm going to make this amazing recipe from my new MS Everyday Food, "Spinach and Brie stuffed Chicken", wow I'm excited)
*watch American Idol and the results from DWTS
*iron out some plans about London trip
*pick up books on hold at the Library (said Historical fiction... yay)

Ok, well there you have it. I've fulfilled my need to blog and hope you all enjoyed that. If anyone wants to do this tag, feel free! I will have to post pictures from the party I went to last weekend sometime soon. Adding that to my to-do list right now...

The only way to travel

2008-04-14T13:07:00.000-04:00

And it continues! The warm weather, while slightly interrupted by some rain, crazy lightning and thunder, and a little cold yesterday, is looking promising. This week the forecast so far is sunny or partly cloudy! And although it was supposed to rain all last weekend, it was actually beautiful on Sat. morning!

Perfectly timed as well, since I needed to run some errands and the only available ZipCar was a Mini Cooper Convertible. I know, my life is hard sometimes. I figure if I can't have a car full time, at least I can drive something fun when I do. And man, was this fun! I didn't think a trip to Target could have gotten any better, but I was wrong, obviously. A fast, fire engine red sports car, with the wind whipping through you hair is the equivalent of a big cherry on top of a banana split. And maybe the whip cream too.

Anyway, I had to commemorate the occasion with some pics on my iPhone. Edwin really is the best, although the same can't be said for my photo skills, my only claim is that some of these were taken while at a light, so I had to hurry. If only the one in front of my house was a permanent sight. Man, am I glad it's spring.

See how cute my house is? And wouldn't it just be so much cuter if this was parked in front all the time? (I'll have to post a photo tour of the house at some time, it's as charming inside as out)

Target is my favorite.

Mmmm.... mini......

Had to take a drvie along the Charles on my way to return the car. This is near Harvard. Sunshine!

A rare sight

2008-04-10T23:23:00.001-04:00

Sunshine in Boston! I almost can't believe it. Today was a gorgeous day, it actually got up to 71 degrees! Of course it was windy, so it didn't feel quite that warm, but I'm not complaining! I'll take what I can get!

I sat outside in Harvard Yard to eat my lunch which was an awesome salad from B*Good. Spinach, sesame chicken, carrots, edamame, jicama, and sesame sticks with an orange soy dressing. Total bliss.

This is where I ate my lunch.

This is my yummy salad, half way in...

Then tonight was the opening of the North Bennet Street School student exhibit, which was held down on Newbury St. On such a gorgeous day the place was full of people.

Newbury St.

I love Boston in the Spring!

English Holiday

2008-04-05T19:24:00.000-04:00

So, I'm very excited because this week I bought tickets to London!! Yay! I got an amazing deal, which of course made it pretty much necessary to buy them, so at the end of May I will be heading off to the beautiful English countryside and to old London town, to drink tea and live an English fantasy for a week. I can't wait to explore London again, catch up with old friends and check out the schools I'm applying to! I can't believe it's been 7 years since I was there for study abroad...

Just look at this place!:

I could go to school here!! Wow, that's all I can say. You should really check out their virtual tour, it's beautiful. I will hopefully be able to attend the MA Conservation program there in '09, if all goes as planned. Anyway, I'm just so excited I had to share.

Oh, also as a little update. Thanks everyone for your well wishes! I'm still not 100%, but I started Physical Therapy again this week, which helped a little, I was at least able to walk normally out of the office. I'm still having chest pain and I guess I'm just going to have to wait it out. I had x-rays and everything was pretty normal, so they said, so I guess it will just take time. Thanks again for your thoughts! Keep sending the good vibes my way and hopefully I'll be normal in time for my Holiday!!

The closest I'll get to a scooter.

2008-03-31T12:59:00.001-04:00

Well I've wanted a scooter for quite some time now and I finally had the chance to drive one, although it wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Let me explain. You see, about a year and a half ago I fell while walking in Harvard Square. Since that time I've had hip problems that come and go. I was in physical therapy for about 4 months last year and thought I'd solved the problem but this last month the other hip has started giving me problems.

The pain makes it really hard to walk, sit, stand and sleep, basically to move. It got especially bad this last week and to top it off I was also having chest pain, which according to the NP I saw, is a strange condition where the cartilage in my chest is inflamed, so it hurts to breathe and move my upper body as well. I was pretty much in bed or on the couch this last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A person will go a little stir crazy from that, I don't know how women on bed rest do it, maybe its because they usually aren't in too much pain.

Anyway I needed to get out of the house, plus I needed more pain meds so my roomie and I went to Target, but how do I get around this huge store when it hurts to move? Scooter to the rescue! So embarrassing, but I really couldn't stop giggling, which, of course, only hurt more. Oh well! I guess I'll be back to normal soon! At least I hope so, this is the longest its ever lasted, but I'm back to work today. I didn't care what it took, I've watched as much TV as even I can handle!

Spring is in the air!

2008-03-16T22:34:00.000-04:00

At least at my apartment! I am sooo sick of the cold and can't wait for it to be summer, let alone spring (which really goes too fast here in Boston). So lucky for me, this week was the New England Spring Flower Show at the Bayside Expo Center! Hooray for flowers and plants and making me feel like I was in a warm climate for a few hours! I took lots of pictures, but for some reason my camera didn't like the lighting so not many turned out, but you get the idea...

They had some arrangement competitions that were pretty interesting to see...

My favorite of the "Baroque" Arrangements

A small flowering bonsai! I'm loving Japanese inspired things right now.

I brought home these beautiful tulips, and some pussy willow branches, to brighten our house.

Also, earlier in the day I made these tissue pom-poms that I'd seen a while ago on Martha Stewart, to add even more spring to our house! Here's the link for the how-to. I hung one in the corner of my room, and the rest of them in our hallway which has a big bare wall now, so it kind of helps make it a little less blank. Perfect for Spring!

Pink in my room

I couldn't get a very good shot of our hallway, but you get the idea. The ceilings are really high, so this fills the area in nicely.

Also, in preparation for Easter I made a batch of the tomb buns my sister told me about from Michelle's blog. They are delicious! This will definitely be a new tradition for me. But I think I might be making them more than just once a year!!

Wonderful Weekend

2008-02-24T19:26:00.000-05:00

What a great weekend! I really love my friends out here, they are so much fun. Last night I went to dinner with 10 of my friends. This has become kind of a tradition. I remember doing the same thing in college, but last year, we went to Chili's which is one of my favorite places to eat, for their Chicken Enchilada Soup and their Molten Chocolate Cake! So that was the plan, but apprently they were getting ready for me to come and I guess there were just too many candles on the cake, because they had a fire and were closed for the night! Boo. Change of plans, and we were at Macaroni Grill down the street instead, which is another great restaurant, so all in all, I wasn't too bummed. Plus, they let you draw on the table cloth! So here are some pics from that:

Leah & Blair

Lora, me and Leah

Brittney & Ben

Nicole & Abby, who was on her phone

David & Emily

And lovely Amber

My Super Eggplant!

After dinner, we hit the Target (always a good thing in my book) and then watched the Mormon "Pride & Prejudice" since we couldn't find "Return to Me". Jared came over later and he and Ben serenaded us all for a bit. It was really a great Birthday celebration! Thanks guys for coming!

Earlier in the day I rented a Zip Car to run some errands, which of course involved a trip to the fabric and craft store. While I was updating my computer so that I could sync Edwin with the rest of my life, I made this little butterfly collage. I was inspired by this one and thought it was so cute I had to re-create it! Firstly, I love specimen boxes with butterflies AND I love paper! So I thought it was the perfect combination! I got this shadow box on clearance in the Martha Stewart Scrapbooking section, which works perfectly. I love how it turned out!

I also started making an afghan which I'm really excited about. My roommate has a great knit blanket that her sister made her and it's one of the best things to snuggle up with on the couch, but I decided I wanted to crochet one, like my Grandma Weggeland used to make for us! I'm using this pattern from Vannah White's new line of books and yarns. It's for a baby blanket, but I really liked the pattern, and I can just keep going around to make it as big as I want. I got three "One Pound" skeins of yarn in turquoise, pink and tan. I think it's going to be cute!

Last week I went grocery shopping and got ambitious. I got the new Martha Stewart Everyday Food in the mail and there were lots of good recipes so I've been making yummy food all week. So tonight, for my dinner I made one of my favorite meals from Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Meals cook book, Maple-Mustard Pork Chops & Grilled Apples. It is so delicious and tonight everything came out perfect! Plus I have more for tomorrow... mmmm. I also steamed some asparagus to perfection. Such a good dinner! Also, all these pictures were taken by Edwin. He's so handy that way.

Yummy!

Perfection!

I made these little arrangements yesterday with some silk carnations I bought at the Dollar Store actually. I like carnations when they are clumped together like this, and these match our dinning room perfectly.

So it was a great weekend! Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and gifts! I have the best friends and family!

Birthday's are the best...

2008-02-22T18:33:00.001-05:00

And so are families! I came home today to a birthday package from my sister. Check out how cute!

What a great idea! It's a cupcake in a jar! My sister is a mini-Martha. She even designed and printed the labels - so amazing! I really have the best family.

By the way, the name I've chosen for my new BF is Edwin. Edwin Apple. Isn't that a great name? I thought so. It was between that or Eliott, which is a name I've always loved, but Edwin won out in the end, since I think there's not much chance of someone thinking I'm talking about a real person when I refer to Edwin. And why did I choose a boy name for my iPhone? Well, firstly I think it was instinctive, but also because he's super high-tech and I think the color black is more frequently associated with boys than girls. Don't get me wrong, I love the color of Edwin, but most of the Mac gear I like is white... just saying. So, if in the future I refer to Edwin, you'll now know who I mean.

Also, here's a look at what I was up to this last weekend for President's Day! We went and visited our friend Gina in the Cape again, but this time we got to see a little more. We went to Provincetown and had fun checking out a dead tourist town. It was freezing cold, as you'll see from the pics, but we saw the beach, had some yummy fish sandwiches for lunch and then headed to a really great candy store on our way home!! Just my kind of day. Well, except for the cold.

Brittney, Gina and me

My tasty lunch

These boys are funny... Ben & Bryce showing off their "assets" in front of the Lobster Trap Tree

Then they wanted one of the girls

Last night was the second meeting of BOB, the book club created with my co-workers. BOB stand for Books On Books Book Club. We only read books about books or involving books in some way, and since we all work at a Library it's pretty perfect. Last month we read "The Book Theif" and then last night's meeting was about "Inkheart" which is a series about a bookbinder (appropriate, right?) and his daughter, and their adventures when characters get "read" to life out of books. Coming up we're reading "The Historian" and then "The Eyre Affair" which I'm really excited about. Our only rules are that 1. the books have to be fiction, 2. they have to be available in paperback and 3. they have to be about books in some way! It's a really fun idea and I'm getting introduced to a lot of new books. We meet at a restaurant in Harvard Square and just have a grand time. Anyway, I'm going to be setting up a blog for the group, with swag, so you'll be able to see what we're doing, check it out: www.booksonbooks.blogspot.com

And so tomorrow I'm getting a group together for a Birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant, Chili's and then we're going to go bowling! I know it sounds weird to say Chili's is my favorite place to eat, but since moving to Boston I've really only gotten to go about once or twice a year, so it's become a treat. My favorite thing there is their Chicken Enchilada Soup and last year they didn't have it, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen this year. My other favorite, which I totally plan on having is their Molten Chocolate Cake.... mmmmm... so delicious! Should be fun and I'll post pics for sure.

Meet my new best friend!

2008-02-20T21:32:00.000-05:00

Or my baby, or my precious. Basically, wherever I am, there will my iPhone be too. And it's all thanks to my amazing, wonderful, totally awesome parents! They got me an early Birthday present and I seriously can't believe it! Such a good day! Now all I need is a name for it, so if you have any ideas, get your suggestions in!

It was a "Super Tuesday"

2008-02-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

So we had a "Super Tuesday" party last night, which was a lot of fun, but before I get into that, I thought I would fill you in on what I was up to in January. Can you believe it's February already?! I can't believe it's already time to turn another year older!

So, first up, before I went home for Christmas I finished books for a couple people and I wanted to share how they turned out. The first is a journal with a map theme. The front covers are a map of the Paris Metro and each section of lined pages is wrapped with another map, so the spine of the book is a lot more colorful than most of the coptic bindings I do. I was really happy with how it turned out!

Next is a set of scriptures (I actually finished two, but they look exactly the same since I used the same leather) that I rebound in beautiful green leather. These took some wrestling to get the spine back to straight, but they eventually submitted to my will. I've decided for now though, that I'm not going to do any more projects from home for people. It's just too much time and I feel guilty when I have things for so long. I have one more to do before I'm done for good, but I'm excited for this one, since it's a box for a really cool old book from 1750, bound in vellum.

When I got back from vacation, I took a short weekend trip to the Cape with my friends Ben & Bryce to visit Gina. So much fun! We had a blast eating pizza, playing "Life" and talking half the night, then on Sat. we drove to the beach and had breakfast at a really great little "greasy spoon" restaurant. Delicious!
Bryce enjoying his breakfast!

Gina & Ben

Then a couple weeks ago I went with a new crafting friend to NYC for a "Crafting Extravaganza Trip"! It was really a blast to finally get to all the stores I've always wanted to visit. We took the Chinatown bus, the Fung-Wah, which wasn't as bad as I expected, and got there about noon. The it was time to shop! We went to Pearl Art supply, Kate's Paperie (kinda like Paper Source), Purl Soho (a great knitting store), Purl Patchwork (which they just opened), had lunch at a place called "Once Upon a Tart", then hit The Strand Bookstore, and Talas, the bookbinding store. Whew! It was a lot of walking and a long day.

I used to think I could never live in NYC, but I think that's because I'd only seen the really touristy spots, but this trip kinda changed my mind. I think I could live there if I HAD to. I think that's saying a lot.

Anyway, check out the loot I got!
Red Faux-Lizzard paper from KP, 3 kinds of yarn from Purl, and I already made the purple into a neckwarmer, will have to post photo soon. A new tote from the Strand (yellow and purple, I couldn't resist), lots of fabric from Purl Patchwork, all Amy Butler of course, plus a great book called, "The ABC's of Leather Bookbinding" which I've been wanting to get into more. And the blue thing is a new scalpel handle.

It was a great success! Now I'm just trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to do with the fabric. The blue & green is for an apron for my roommate. The others I just couldn't resist. I also have plans for the pink yarn and want to use the blue for a hat, but need a good pattern.

Well, now it's on to last night! Unfortunately, because I'm not yet registered in MA, I didn't vote yesterday, luckily my candidate won without my help, and luckily I was able to still feel patriotic by attending Mitt Romney's Super Tuesday Party where he made his speech! It was great to attend an event like this in person. I'm really glad I went, even though it made us two hours late to our own party.
The stage with people waiting for Mitt.

Lisa, Abby, Blair, me and Matt, squeezed into the room for a couple hours, watching the TV's and waiting to hear from Mitt.

This was behind us. It was a fairly small room, but there were lots of cameras and lights. Plus I kept thinking this guy was Mitt, I think he kinda looks like him.

We were going to leave because it was so late before he came to speak, but we rushed back when we heard cheering in time to see Mitt come out. The crowd was going wild!

Here he is addressing us. It was a really great speech and I hope they broadcast most of it. The end was the best!

So we got home to continue the party. Which went a little past midnight. I'm tired today, but it was pretty worth it. I think right now is the most I've ever known about politics, thanks in part to my roommates. It's been fun keeping track of the candidates and the polls.

Anyway, it was also a "super Tuesday" because at work we had a "King Cake" in honor of Mardi Gras and guess what, I got the baby! So good luck for me, I guess, this year or so I'm told!

Things I'm looking forward to this month:
"Pride & Prejudice" on Masterpiece (any excuse really)
Valentine's for the excuse to eat too much chocolate (too bad there's no See's here)
Going to see "Romeo & Juliet" the Ballet for my birthday with my roomies
Turning 28 on the 24th!

Tag - I'm it!

2008-02-04T20:46:00.000-05:00

Shannon tagged me for the little meme, so here goes!

Six random things that most people don't know about me:

1. I have recently gotten into origami, I bought a "page-a-day" calendar and enjoyed it so much I have already skipped ahead. I am now on May. I've filled a whole shoe box with little paper critters. There's just no stopping me once I start folding paper!

2. I never notice people's eye color when I'm talking to them. I think I tend to watch people's mouths more. I can't tell if this is just because I am uncomfortable looking into people's eyes, because I really like mouths (it's usually the first thing I notice about a cute boy), or if it's just because I'm slightly hard of hearing and am therefore trying to read lips as well...

3. I talk in my sleep, and according to some people, have even been known to do the "Mexican Hat Dance" (I claim this is not true).

4. I can not go anywhere without my Dr. Pepper LipSmackers, I am addicted. Ok, most people know that. I was really mad when they changed the formula or the flavor they used a couple months ago because it didn't taste like Dr. Pepper anymore. I went out and bought every package I could find to see if any were the old ones, to no avail. Luckily, it's since gone back to a similar, if not quite perfect, flavor again.

5. I enjoy spending time alone, not that I do this a lot, but I enjoy it when I get the chance. I like to shop alone, in fact, although it's fun to shop with others, I do my best shopping by myself, then I can take as little or as much time as I want. I don't mind travelling alone and I also enjoy going to movies by myself. I think I got to used to this when living in London. It was always an adventure to go out by myself. The one thing I don't love is eating out by myself, especially during times like dinner, when everyone else is with someone. That's just depressing.

6. I am a night owl, and not at all a morning person. I usually never go to bed before midnight and it's therefore extremely hard for me to be to work before 9am. At my current job I could come in later if I wanted to stay later, but I don't like working past 5, so I keep my 9am work time.

And now to tag six others: Mel, Nat, Laura, Kylee, Ben and Robin!

I can't get enough Jane Austen

2008-01-19T19:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I guess for the next little while you're going to have to put up with me only posting about Jane Austen, but with the great lineup on PBS's Masterpiece Theater, I can't help it!

Tomorrow night is Northanger Abbey, my new favorite of the adaptations. So in honor, I scoured YouTube to find an appropriate video. And what I've come up with I'm very happy with. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! And be watching tomorrow night!!

Oh, and while you're at it, check this out as well: The Men of Austen

At least there's still something good on TV!

2008-01-13T20:50:00.000-05:00

Persuasion starts tonight at 9 on Masterpiece Theater (PBS)!! It's AMAZING and if you don't watch it, it's your loss! By the way, I've already pre-ordered my copy on Amazon.com. Along with the new Northanger Abbey which starts after Persuasion!! Yay!!

A new look for the New Year!

2008-01-13T20:20:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone! I decided it was time for a new look. And it's been no small feat to get it exactly as I want it. But for now, I think I'm pretty happy with it. Let me know what you think!

I have a feeling this year is going to be a really great year. So far, I am LOVING my new position. I don't know why I keep saying "so far", since I don't anticipate ever not loving it, but it just keeps coming out that way. I haven't working on anything particularly exciting yet. Well, my brother-in-law might find them interesting, since he can read Chinese and Korean, but to me, it's just a lot of nothing. But still cool. Working on Asian rare books is very different from Western books, partly because the paper is so thin. So it's been a lot of learning so far.

I also got to assist with an exhibit that's opening on Monday at the Rare Book Library, about new acquisitions. That was awesome, but I was afraid to really touch them, beyond what was necessary. I also was able to see a Presidential Campaign poster for Abraham Lincoln that someone was working on, which I thought was very appropriate considering the campaigning going on right now.

Most of you know, I'm not into politics, but I think I know more right now than I ever have before just because my roommates are really into it. And because of the writers strike, it's not like I have anything else to watch on TV these days.

So I just thought I'd give a short little update, and maybe in the next day or so I can post pictures from my little overnight trip to the Cape last weekend. I can't get my pics to upload or I'd do it now. This weekend has been very laid back, but I've enjoyed it. It's supposed to snow 8-12 inches tonight! If it does, I really hope it's a snow day tomorrow! Getting to work on the bus in that kind of weather is never good!

Are you ready for the Cuteness Overload?

2008-01-03T21:07:00.000-05:00

Christmas vacation was so great! It was so much fun to go home and be with family. And of course to spend tons of time with my niece and nephew! Babies really are the best kind of entertainment! We chilled out at home and took lots of pictures. Here are just a few:

Kirsten and Jack love Aunt Carly!

Sometimes Kirsten is so serious! But such a doll!

Jack was teething during the trip and cracked us up with his "teething monster" antics. Can you believe he could fit this entire thing in his mouth? Check out the video to see more of the teething monster!

With Grandma

Christian gave Jack a "faux-hawk".

For some reason Kirsten pulled her arm out of her shirt like this! We were all laughing hysterically!

Matchy-Matchy! I got Kirsten this little outfit for Christmas, so of course I had to put on my yellow too for a photo.

I got Stuart a table tennis set, which of course took over the dining room table, providing hours of entertainment. Here's Jack and Kirsten in their first match!

And now, if all those pictures weren't enough, now for the videos!

Jack the Teething Monster!!

Like I said, hours of entertainment!

Oh, and if that's still not enough for you (I know I can't get enough), check out my brother and sister's blogs by following the links here and here.

I hope every one's holidays were as great as mine! I'm back in Boston now and starting my new job. After my first day, it's so far so good!

More Christmas Miracles!

2007-12-06T18:29:00.000-05:00

**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!

2007-11-29T13:18:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-11-11T19:41:00.001-05:00

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

2007-09-25T00:30:00.000-04:00

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!