The Perfect Day...Patriots Day!!!

So out here in Boston they celebrate Patriots Day which is the greatest Holiday ever! It all started with the re-enactment of the first battle of the revolutionary war in Lexington. Kristin and I got up at 4:30 a.m., bundled up, got a steamer and a donut from Starbucks and found ourselves a great spot to watch from. I have to say it was so much fun to watch the guns go off and the actors on the field. I couldn't help but think about Lassiter (Lassie) on Psych (a show on USA, if you haven't seen it... Shame On You!). It cracked me up!

Kristin and I in our puffy coats. Thanks Kenley!

This is where the women and children ran out to help the wounded. The kids were so cute in their costumes !

Sorry, you'll have to turn your head for this one. That's Paul Revere in the background.

Next up the Boston Marathon!!!

After Kristin and I took a nap, we jumped in the car with Kenley and Cora and met up with some people from the Arlington ward to watch the runners as they approached heart break hill. We were sitting at mile 19. I have to say, I was truly amazed at how fast they were running, and was shocked at how many older people were participating. It was so fun to cheer everyone on, although next time I'll be loading on the sunscreen. Kristin and I both got a little more sun than we wanted to. The sad thing was that I got burnt on only one half of my face! How does that happen!!!

Look how in step they are!

Recognize these two? They were on Oprah... a truly amazing story!

Mini Mouse even made an appearance!

Here he is...The big Winner! He's won the Boston Marathon 4 times!

And to Finish...Ice Cream!

After the Marathon we headed back to the house for a long nap. When we all felt rested enough we headed out to Kimball's Farm where we met up with our friends from the Arlington ward again for some great ice cream. I honestly couldn't believe how huge the ice cream cones were! The one in the pictures below were kiddie cones!!!

Cora enjoyed smelling the ice cream. She would sniff and then would make the face above pretending that it smelt bad. It is seriously the funniest game that she has come up with.

The farm had animals! It was such a cool place.

The ice cream was to big for Cora, she had to share.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect day!

SLEEPOVER

This past weekend I ended up crashing at Kristin and Kenley's pretty much all weekend. On Friday Kenley was out on a back country ski trip so I went over to keep Kristin and Cora company. We watched about the dumbest movie ever (bad acting, bad script, bad costumes, bad story) called Americanizing Shelly. It was a movie that we found on the X-box. Then I put Kristin's hair up in sponge curlers. I was so excited with how cute it turned out and it made me long for long hair.
Kenley came home the next day so sore. The hike on his ski trip was straight up and long. I felt bad that he was in such pain but thought it was pretty funny that he was sitting on the stairs like he was in trouble or something. I have to say though, he made it extremely easy to poke fun...he was so sore he wasn't gonna come after me. All he could do was sit on the couch and wine to Kristin, "Sarah's not being very nice to me."... So funny!


Don't worry though, Kenley felt a little better when he saw what was in store for the evening. The mini-series Tin Man (rented from the library) and some delicious crepes. All around a great Sleepover weekend!

So last Saturday I went on a little adventure with my friend Alicia. Let's call it, Trying to Find a Good Mexican Restaurant in Massachusetts. After polling people at work and receiving a few recommendations we settled on Taqueria La Mexicana. This place won Best of Boston in 2004 and 2005 so we figured we had settled on a good choice. We just never took into account how difficult it would be to get there.

Driving in Massachusetts is a whole new experience. It involves a keen sense of direction, great eyes and a fearlessness that no one naturally possesses. People are constantly cutting one another off, the streets are so narrow that you pretty much either pull off to one side and pray that the other person doesn't hit you or you sit there staring at each other until one of you backs up and lets the other person through. Also, you could be on three different streets in the stretch of 2 miles without ever making a turn.

All of the above mentioned happened to Alicia and I that night. We were driving on Washington Street looking at the building numbers when all of a sudden my eyes caught a street sign. PANIC!!! We were no longer on Washington Street. We were wondering down one of the scariest street ever. There were run down buildings all around us, that if I didn't know any better I would have sworn we were in Pittsburgh.

Alicia then got her game face on and really started driving like a true Massachusettsite! (wow, does that sounds funny or what! Replace that word with Bostonian please, it just sounds better doesn't it!?!) Anyway, Alicia ran a red light and pushed her way across 2 lanes of traffic right before the light so that she could get into the turn lane. I was very impressed and grateful that I wasn't driving.

Anyway, we finally did make it to the restaurant. I was a little worried when we sat down and the salsa tasted like V8 juice but was pleasantly surprised when our meal came. Alicia and I both ordered the enchiladas and even though it really didn't compare to the Mexican food I could get back home I was happy for the moment and was briefly reminded of home.

Don't think I'm giving up there though, I'm determined to find the best Mexican place out here and I know there have to be other places that can top the Taqueria La Mexicana. Although, I'm not sure anyone will be able to beat the atmosphere of that place. It was loud, fun and people were pretty friendly. Of course that could have been because we sat right next to the bar.

Moving in New England

Okay, so there were a few things that I knew about New England homes before I came out here. I knew that the closets would be smaller than your average closet, I knew that there were stairs in pretty much every house, and I knew that the streets were extremely narrow. Even though I had been told this, I don't think I had the right picture in my mind of exactly what it would be like. So when it came to moving to my new place...I wasn't quite as prepared as I thought I was.

It all started with a trip to Ikea. Kristin and I packed up Cora and Alice (a sweet girl that Kristin watches) and set out to find me a dresser. After searching the store for a little while, having lunch, and contemplating whether or not the box the dresser came in would fit in the back of her car, we left successfully with dresser in hand, or car rather.

We then had to track down someone who had a truck so that we could move the queen size bed from Kristin and Kenley's to my new place (which is only 1 1/2 miles) . Now, in the West where everyone has a truck or knows at least 1o people who have a truck they could borrow, this would be an easy task to accomplish. However, in the East it is very different. The streets are so narrow that it makes it difficult to have a truck out here. There seriously was only one guy in all of the singles wards who had a truck and only one guy in the married ward who had a truck. It didn't work out to borrow either, so my friend Liz rented a zip car for me. Zip car is an amazing thing. I'll have to tell you all about some other time.

("WHAT!!! I have to walk up these stairs everyday!!!")

Now, back to the stairs...they are really narrow and they curve in most houses which made getting a queen size mattress and box spring up them extremely difficult. We seriously barely made it. We were scrapping stuff off the ceiling and I think we put a hole in the corner of the box spring. I am scared for the day when we have to move this bed back out. I ended up huffing and puffing up those stupid stairs about 50 + times that day, moving boxes and luggage. I don't think I've ever hated stairs so much as I did that day.

(This is the very top looking down)

(There, all the way down is the bottom)

Kenley, Kristin and Cora came over later to help me build my dresser. It went together really fast and I have to say, I really love it. I can not even tell you what a huge help Kristin and Kenley have been. I really don't know what I would have done without them.

(Putting together the drawers)

(Cora and I felt the same about those stairs)

We finished up the weekend with a little Jane Austin on PBS (Sense and Sensibility) and a big batch of Onion rings! Yum!!! It was one crazy weekend of moving and running from place to place but it's over and I'm all moved in.