Time to play catch up!

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!

Another small preview...

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!

Getting in the Halloween Spirit

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!

Flashback Friday

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!

Hello August

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!

Sad Day

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.

A Weekend Downtown

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 }

Long Overdue

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!

Long time comin'

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!)

A rare sight

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!