OH the Possibilities!

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful New Year! I'll be starting fresh with my blog come 2010 and will try to keep it up to date for you. One of my new years resolutions is to take more pictures. I have an awesome new camera and will slack no more. :)

"Another year is fast approaching. Go be that starving Artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world. You’ll thank yourself for it. " - Jason Mraz

GIVING THANKS 2009

I was so blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh with my amazing sister Shelly and her awesome family. Seeing how the majority of you read Shelly's blog and know all about the fun things we did already, I'll just recap with some of my favorite pictures and my favorite things from the trip. ~Enjoy~

Breakfast at the Dor-Stop Cafe. It was delicious and just the right amount of food. I got their raspberry stuffed french toast and was in heaven!

Phipps Conservatory. The coolest place ever! Plants everywhere, including a coffee, banana and Lemon tree. There were also these amazing glass sculptures all over the place. Oh and did I mention they had a wishing well? Well they did!

Oakmont Bakery: some of the best cupcakes, doughnuts and cakes ever. Seriously, I forgot how good a doughnut can be. I really miss a good doughnut and Dunk'n just doesn't do it for me.

TV Shows, You Tube, Movies and Popcorn on a pile of blankets on the floor in front of a lap top way too late at night. Loved. It.

Making Beckett and Hailey laugh until I thought they would pass out.

The Strip! One of the best open markets I've been to in a long time. There were all kinds of goodies, an accordion player, great hot chocolate and I even bought myself a bear hat and some super cute fabric.

Marla, I took this picture for you . It's a chocolate bacon bar. WHAT!

Shelly and James even celebrated my birthday with an Oakmont bakery cake. I seriously have the best family. I love you guys!

I was not ready to go back to Boston after only 3 days. I had a really hard time saying good bye to everyone, especially these two.

It was such a great Thanksgiving and can't wait to go back to Pittsburgh one more time before this cute family heads out west. See you all in 2 weeks for Christmas! I Can't wait!

I may not know much . . .

This past weekend my friend Liz and I went to the Boston College v. University of North Carolina football game. I'm not a big football fan and really don't know very much about the sport. What I do know however, is that you're supposed to hold on to the ball and try to get it across the touchdown line without letting the other team have it. I think I maybe knew more about the game that day than the players did.

There were constant interceptions and fumbles. We were dying laughing at the scramble out on the field when the ball would go loose. Liz said it best when she said it felt like we were watching a peewee football game.

Neither of us really cared about the teams, so it made for an enjoyable afternoon full of simple entertainment. We had a blast watching the cheerleaders do their crazy tricks, the mascots play rock, paper, scissors, watching the marching band perform at half time and catching up on all the latest in each others lives.

I may not be a big football fan but I do love the atmosphere and the company was top notch!

Halloween at the Harvard Club

I love Halloween! It's the one time of year that I get to dress up, look crazy and actually leave the house. This year I was all excited to dress up like a lion. I know it sounds a little weird but trust me, I had a great idea. When I was just about to start gathering the things I needed for my killer look I found out that the Big Halloween party this year would not be a dress in costume kind of party. It was a masquerade ball!

I went online and found this awesome idea for a mask that you paint on your face. My new roommate and GREAT friend Chen Ying designed it and outlined it on my face for me. I didn't have any grease paint to put on, so I improvised (black cream eyeliner and a paint brush). It turned out awesome!

Chen Ying then added crystals around my eyes to really complete the look and we headed for the Harvard Club.

Where we danced the night away.

Hope you had a good Halloween too.

The Adventure Continues . . .

While Jonathan was here, we explored Mount Auburn Cemetery. It's the very first landscaped cemetery in America (I think) and it's HUGE.

I'll spare you all my morbid pictures of people's headstones and jump right to the view from the top of the tower. It was such a perfect day to be up there.

The next day we decided to venture outside of Massachusetts and explore a little of New Hampshire. Jonathan had been asking for months for me to set him up on a date with someone while he was here. I was a little hesitant but decided at the last minute that my friend Kyojin was the perfect candidate. She's super funny, so smart, beautiful and from Korea. (Ding, Ding, Ding!)

We left early in the morning and made our first stop at Polly's Pancake House. It was featured on the Travel Channel and the Dingers highly recommended it. It was packed full of people, so we put our name on the list and walked down to a little antiques store. (Can you believe it mom!)

Breakfast was really good. Although, how do you mess up pancakes? I think the location and the atmosphere are what brings the people in. If you're in the area you should absolutely go, just don't make a special trip or you may be disappointed.

After breakfast we strapped on our hiking boots (not really) and were off to hike the Flume in Franconia National Park.

Jonathan and Kyojin took off hiking, talking, taking pictures and generally doing get to know you first date type things.

Matty and I did our own hiking, talking and . . .

Landscaping?

The Flume was breathtaking. You pretty much walked along a little wooden walkway in between the rocks with water flowing below you. I loved it.

(Bear cave found on our way back down)

Last but not least, we took ourselves over to Loon Mountain were we rode the gondola to the top to really take in this seasons beautiful colors.

We were pleasantly surprised when we reached the top and were told that the glacial caves were still open. Time was running short so we weren't sure we were going to make it.

It was probably one of my favorite parts of this little adventure. You walked on a marked path that showed you where each cave entrance started. It was pretty much up to you to figure out how to get back to the path. For someone who's always secretly wished they were a professional cave explorer and rock climber this was a little slice of heaven!

New Hampshire was such a blast and I'm pretty sure Jonathan loved every minute of it. Whether it was because of New Hampshire or Kyojin, I'm not sure. I'm gonna go with both but you'll have to ask him to know for sure.

Come back soon Jona. I Love you and miss you already.

My little Brother and The Big City

(I know, I know he's not so little)

Last weekend my brother Jonathan came out to visit. He had never been to Boston, so I was thrilled to show him around this great place that I call home. Here are just a few of the highlights from our fantastic weekend.

We went into Harvard Square for some of the BEST hot chocolate ever at Burdick's. I am not even kidding when I say that it tastes just like someone melted down a chocolate bar. It's extremely rich and oh so good. Jonathan grabbed a slice of cake as well which of course did not disappoint. If you come to Boston, Burdick's is a must.

After Burdick's we walked around Harvard Yard, Harvard Square and over to the Charles River. There were so many tourists out that day that we didn't get any really great pictures but it was a blast all the same. Later I found out that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were in the area. Wonder if that's why there were so many people out . . .


Jonathan served his mission in Korea, so he was thrilled when I actually knew a place where we could get some decent Korean food. Really, we ran into so many Korean people while he was here. They were on his duck boat tour, in the restaurant, and on his date (I'll tell you about that later) ;) He was in heaven speaking he language again and eating food that he can't get back home.

Later that day we went out with Matt and my roommate Meredith to canoe on the Concord River. With 4 of us in the boat, we rowed our little hearts out even singing row, row, row your boat in rounds as we went along. It was hilarious and so beautiful (the scenery, not so much the singing).

October proved to be the perfect time to come out to Boston with the leaves changing and the weather beginning to turn. Another reason was that Kimball Farms was still open! They were closing that weekend, so we drove there after canoeing to grab some of the best Ice cream around. While we were there, we ran into this guy.

He was HUGE! I was a little afraid to get too close to him while the boys, in true boy fashion, tried to feed him money. Just so you know, Roosters are not that stupid. He pecked at the money once and was done with us.

That evening we made time to stop at the Boston Temple so Jonathan could see it. It's such a beautiful place and we were all glad we went.

Stay tuned for round two of my weekend with Jonathan. To Be Continued . . .