Playing catch up!

Ok, so you all hate me now, for having to watch that Jane Austen video over for 2 whole months! I'm really sorry for slacking off on blogging for the last little while, but I've been kind of busy and unmotivated to find the time to squeeze in a post. I know that's no excuse, but maybe with the weather getting better, I'll be better about blogging too. But seriously, if I had to leave you with anything, at least it was Austen!

Anyway, there's so much to share from just this past week! I'm finally and Aunt!! Yay! I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be an Aunt. And do you know what the best part is? I got a niece AND a nephew in the same week! Just two days apart! Ok, you can tell I'm really excited when I can't stop using the exclamation points. So I'll try to contain the mirth and show you some pictures of the cuteness that is little Kirsten and Jack.

My sister Lizanne and brand new baby Kirsten Elise! I would post more pics of her, cause she super cute, but I haven't been sent any except in a video (hint, hint).


My brother, Christian, Sister-in-law, Mary and cutie-pie Jack Malcom!

Such a cute little face!


He's going to be a heart-breaker. He's already got the wink down!

Becoming and Aunt is awesome, I just wish I knew when I will finally get to hold them! I don't think I can wait until Christmas.

Here's what else I've been up to in Boston in the last little bit:
(sorry, there's a lot of photos...)

My roommate and some of our friends went out to dinner a couple of months ago to an Ethiopian restaurant and we had a ton of fun! It was just this little restaurant, but it felt like we were in a completlely different world! We sat around these baskets they use as tables, on really cool chairs and then ate with our hands.
Lora and Nicole enjoying Ethiopian Food at Addis- Red Sea.

It was fun to eat with your hands!


Melinda and Cassie shared my basket with me. All our food came with these yummy crepe-like-things that you scooped up the "stew" with. It was a real cultural experience!

After enjoying Ethiopian food, what's better than belting out some songs karaoke style?! We met up after eating with Kylee and Natalie to sing some Karaoke at this place called "Limelight". It was a blast. I was a little scared at first, but after getting up and doing my first song, I was ready for more. In fact, I had so many song choices I couldn't decide what one to do! Guess I'll just have to go back!
Kylee rocking out!

So many choices, so little time...

This was our last number, Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone". The drunk girls in front of the stage there love us!

Kylee, Nat and Lora are super stars!

Next we have some pictures from the play I was in in March, "Savior of the World". If you want, you can see the entire thing on this website.

Some of the friends from my ward who came to one of the performances.

Here were are back stage getting ready to be "Angels" and "Townspeople".

Stephanie and Amanda, two of the awesome young women I got to sing with! It was really fun to be a part of this performance. It was a great testimony builder going and singing everyweek. It was a lot of work, but really worth it. I had a blast.

A couple of weeks ago it was a beautiful Sunday, the lilacs were in bloom and it was "Picnic Day" at the Arboretum. Aparently an arboretum is a tree garden. I had never been there before, so my friend Laura and I decided to go down, spread out a blanket and soak up some sun. We ran into a bunch of other people from our ward who were having a picnic, so we sat around a bit, went to see the lilacs and took a pretty walk back to the car. This place was huge, and I want to go back to explore some more!


Next up, we have Patriot's Day! This was a really fun weekend, except for the Nor'Easter that was ripping through the area. This was also the Boston Marathon weekend. Patriot's Day is a big deal here in Boston, since we are "The Cradle of Liberty". People get all dressed up and reenact the battles of Lexinton and Concord and the Old North Bridge. I'm glad we went to the Minute Man National Park's event on Sat. becuase the Old North Brdige reenactment got canceled on Monday because of the storm. I'm thinking it might be fun to dress up next year! My fellow historian Ben and I went to check it all out and we had fun despite the cold.

When we first got there you could walk around the whole park, go into the buildings and watch the Minute Men get into formation.

Here I am trying out the spinning wheel inside the house.

We went down to check out the British Camp and marched back with them and the cannon, on the way to the big battle!

Here's the British all lined up getting ready to march. Could they stand out anymore? Aparently if you want to join the reenactment as a British soldier it's close to $2000 for the outfit!

At the park, they aren't allowed to actually aim at each other, so they kind of set up where they would have been, but fired in the opposite dirrection from where the Rebels were actually hiding. They also aren't allowed to "die" so we just kind of watched a bunch of guys in red coats running around firing at nothing. The Patriots kept well hidden. I love being in the midst of all this history here in Boston. It's a lot of fun.

Ben hanging with some real Patriots. Seriously, these guys had every little detail of their outfit historicaly acurate. Ben and I were in heaven!


Ok, well that's gonna have to do for now! Whew, kind of a picture overload, huh?! Hopefully I didn't just kill everyone's computer. Because I almost killed mine.
Next post, I'll update you on my Memorial Day Weekend and whatever else I'm up to until then. Sorry this post was a little random, but some of you have been asking for updates, so you got it! I aim to please. But that doesn't mean I always hit the mark!

I Blame Jane.

Ok, so lately I've become a little obsessed with Jane Austen. How you might ask, can *I* get any more obsessed with Jane Austen? Well, I think it might have something to do with the new rash of movies coming out about her (check out "Becoming Jane") and her works (see the 3 new movies in "The Jane Austen Season"). I seriously can't wait to see "Becoming Jane". I've heard it's soooo good. But even though it's out in the UK, it's not opening here until August! Can you believe it?! I will know the fate of Harry Potter by that time!! Ah, sometimes I think I might die from the anticipation this summer is going to bring. The end of Harry Potter (double whammy of movie and BOOK 7!), "Becoming Jane" (did I mentioned she's played by Anne Hathaway?), oh and of course how could I forget a new niece and nephew! :) Well, it will be exciting no doubt. So to curb my appetite for now, I've been binging on videos on YouTube. Who knew there were people more obsessed than me with Jane Austen? So obsessed they will make music videos with clips from movie adaptations. All I have to say is I'm very lucky there are people like that out there. So if you'll excuse me, I have some "Northanger Abbey" to go watch! Enjoy! Oh, and if you get hooked on these as well, the only person to blame is Jane!



Here's another worthy video which you might want to watch after checking out the new "Northanger Abbey".

Presidents, Pligrims and Plymouth

Since it was a holiday on Monday, I didn't have work and my friend (and fellow history-enthusiast) Ben didn't have school. What a great chance to check out some history! Ben and I have been slowly working our way through the area's great historical sites (I'll post some pictures soon from some of our other adventures) and so after much deliberation about where to go and what to see we finally decided on Plymouth. I'd never been, so Ben acted as tour guide. It was a ton of fun, the only draw back to the day was that it was freaking freezing!! Like zero degrees! But it was still fun to learn about Plymouth and the Pilgrims. Check out what we were up to until my camera died:

We first headed up to "Burial Hill" where we saw some of the oldest Puritan graves in New England and the site of the first fort. As you can see from all the pictures, the day was beautiful, sunny, no clouds, which, of course, made it freezing. The wind was blowing a lot too, and being so close to the water, didn't help. But it does make for some beautiful pictures!
Ben poses by the "point-of-interest" sign, the First Fort, built in 1621 sat on the top of this hill, which is now a cemetery.

This is the grave of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony! He arrived on the Mayflower. Crazy!

Gorgeous view from the top of the hill (which is probably why they built the first fort here, great views).

This was a really interesting grave stone in the cemetery, check out the awesome skull and crossbones!

We then headed down to the water to see Plymouth Rock, but on the way went through this beautiful park which had a little stream with lots of bridges and a memorial to the Pilgrim Women. We saw some ducks and swans too.


Here is Plymouth Rock! OK, so I have to confess, so many people told me that it was really anti-climatic seeing the rock that I was expecting something even smaller, so I was pleasantly surprised when I could actually identify which rock it was! You can see they engraved the date 1620 on the rock. Also, an interesting tid-bit we learned later: during the revolution in 1775, the patriots wanted to move the rock to the town square as a symbol of liberty, but while trying to move it, they broke the rock in half, so now, it's smaller than it used to be. Kinda sad huh?

This is the building they put over the rock, so you can see it, plus it makes it seem more important and imposing than it really is. Isn't that what history's all about?

Here's a recreation of the Mayflower, frozen into the Harbor. We didn't get to go on, but it was a lot smaller than you would think. I can't imagine being stuck on a boat like that for so long!

I snapped this picture right before my batteries on my camera died. Ben climbed out onto some ice chunks that were floating in front of the Mayflower. Luckily he didn't go in, cause you can bet I wouldn't be jumping in after him to save him all too quick!! Brrrr!

After seeing all that, we were pretty much frozen solid, like the ice on the ocean, so we decided to head up to the museum. We stopped in some of the cute little shops along the way, then spent a good amount of time at the museum, which was pretty good for such a small town. I'd really like to help them out with their book displays though. They didn't have them resting in the most "conservation friendly" way ever... I'm such a book nerd.

After the museum, it was off for some lunch and then back to Boston! We took the scenic route back and saw all the quaint little old houses and towns along the coast. Seriously, if I can love Boston even in -5 degree weather, you know I've found a great place...

Chinese New Year: Year of the Boar

So, what else is there to do on a freezing cold February Day? How about celebrate the Chinese New Year? This was my brilliant roommate Lora's idea and it turned out great if I don't say so myself! We decorated with some construction paper lanterns, a Chinese Dragon and info about the Chinese Zodiac , had a great time eating Pot Stickers and Fortune Cookies (plus, some pigs-in-a-blanket, since it IS the year of the Pig...) and played some fun Chinese Games, like Chinese checkers, Uno, Mancala and Scrabble. OK, so maybe those last ones aren't exactly Chinese, but you get the picture. And just in case you don't, here's some I took at the party! Thanks to everyone who came and made it a blast!!

Playing some Chinese Checkers: Dave, Tara, Michael, Estevan and Liz.

Here's a view of the food and lanterns.

Playing Mancala in the background with Laura exercising her mad chopstick-skills!

Natalie and Kylee were impressed with our Chinese Dragon.

Wearing red is good luck, don't you know? (L-R: Jake, Ben, Estevan, Me, Michael, Liz & Lora)