Missing Tambourine

Shout Out from Walden Pond

2010-10-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

I had family here last weekend (posts to follow) but wanted to give a shout out to my lil sis. She didn't come this time, but she came last year and we caught the funniest picture of her on Walden Pond. She has this really random screaming face while both her husband and son are calm and happy. My mom came this time, and we went to Walden again. I felt I needed to recreate the moment in ode to Megan

Love you Megs.

Axe Murder Hallow, the Musical!!

2010-09-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

So it's been a baby bit since I have posted something. I don't have a camera right now so I don't ever have pictures to document events. And my blog posts would be pointless without pictures.

Anyways- for now, enjoy this nugget of joy. For our annual singles tri-ward camp out, we had a road show Saturday night. Don't know who could have thought of that? Anyways, I wrote and directed our show. Each ward were assigned 2 decades. I chose the 60s and 70s, and came up with a scooby doo meets glee type thing. And we rehearsed it all in one week, so it could be a lot cleaner and tighter, but people did AMAZING with the time I gave them!! Grateful to them all!!

The Legend of Axe Murder Hollow The Musical from expect fairytales on Vimeo.

Playing Hooky

2010-05-10T12:31:00.001-07:00

Let me tell you, I really needed a break from work and life a bit after the last couple weeks. So me and a couple of my friends blew off Friday obligations and went to Springfield to enjoy a fun filled day at Six Flags. (more flags, more fun)

My friends Anita, Chad and Darin all came, and we had a blast! The park was not busy at all, and it was pretty much us and middle schoolers that had a bad competition the day before. So we met the cutest kids (who mostly played trumpet) in the short lines we stood in.

Darin showing off his hot muscles

Chad's new best friend. He won it at a quarter toss. He got it the first time, so he got a huge toy for 25 cents.

Joining in their party!!

A more well behaved Scooby Doo.

Baby Anita- holding all the prizes. Doesn't she look so cute!! Love this pic!

Darin and I.

Me and Neeters-

with the Scooby, Elephant, Panda and Ratatouille we collectively won.

When we were driving home, we past an Audi car lot, and Anita and my roommate Emily are OBSESSED with the Audi G7, so we of course stopped and had a look inside!! And I have to admit, it was FANCY!! I could get used to having a car like that... I need a sugar daddy.

Any takers?? Bueller?... Bueller?...

Pajama Prom

2010-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

I am activities co-chair for my ward, and I have to say, we put together quite the activity for February. We had a Pajama Prom- girls choice, and it turned out so so fun. People loved it, the music was great, and I know of one couple who hooked up because of this date they had- success.

Me and my fabulous partner in crime Derek- we make a great team!! I know it is dark, but those are the decorations behind me. It was 6 clusters of balloons, with one in the center. They were all connected with tulle- so it was like a cloud canopy (ghetto church style of course.) And my fantastic balloon arch at the entrance. And there is a WAFFLE BAR on the far right side of the pic- that was a fun refreshment idea!!

I stole this random pic off of Facebook. It is our Prom King- but I mostly wanted a close up of the balloon arch cause I love it.

Prom King and Queen (Matt and my favorite Linda- my Swedish model friend!) Annie on my committee made the crowns- they were sweet!

Let the fun begin!!

Me and my wonderful date Timothy Layton (who I adore!!), who helped me DJ - what a love.

Awkward Hand!

Our Group Date (me, tim, anita, nishan) Niters is looking Smokin'- Girl you know it!

PJ's FOREVER!!

Bunking at the Berkies

2010-03-12T06:59:00.000-08:00

So we are going to be going through a lot of change in our group of friends this year, with people graduating, getting new jobs, and just needing a change. So we had one big last hurrah in Feburary. We won a cabin in the Berkshires at our ward's charity auction in December. It was amazing. There were like 6 bedrooms, a huge kitchen, living room, piano, ping pong room and a TV room with a huge flatscreen. It was incredible and it was just so huge. We were in heaven.

We made some wonderful memories. Friday night turned into a stupid human trick talent show, and competitions for sleeping spaces (literally). Saturday morning a group of us went Cross Country Skiing. I loved that. We found this orchard to ski through, and even though we were warned against the less than ideal conditions, we had a blast. There was one really steep part that a few of us (ok-only us girls) were afraid to ski down. The rest was great. Saturday night we drew names and paired up and played the Newly Wed game- which is funny cause we are all single. But it provided some HILARIOUS moments that I will never forget. It was incredible to see some couples answer almost ALL the questions right because they were random and followed the newly-wed-type-question fashion, so trust me when I say it was INCREDIBLE that people answered right. Sunday we finished up a puzzle i started at 1am the night before. I had most of it done, so it took us about 1/2-1 hour to finish it up (1000 piece). Then we just lounged and watched the Super Bowl then regrettably had to leave and come home.

Darin Pizza tossing

Tim, Emily, Me and Amy topping the pizzas

Ashley, the entire weekend menu planner- What would we do without her?

Mike and Em- Making hats- the new 2010 fad in our group

Hanging out

Sunday morning puzzle. Tim, me and Darin relishing in our success

Mike's new toy, in which he made this wonderful montage from the weekend:

http://vimeo.com/9567846

It was amazing and we all will cherish that weekend!

Could you Die? or I Wanna go Home!

2010-02-12T12:22:00.000-08:00

I love my nephew Ashton so much!! He is so so cute!! And them couple him with my Mom, who I love even more, and I just wanna die these pics are so cute. And I really just want to be there too!!

In da Heights

2010-01-26T08:25:00.001-08:00

This weekend was exciting!

Friday night was our ward activity for the month. I am our co-chair for activities, so it was a busy week preparing for Friday. We did a TRIVIA NIGHT- and it was just a blast!! And I have leftovers for Root Beer Floats out the wazzoo- so guess what we ate Sat and Sunday nights with our friends??

Saturday night, I went with some friends to "In the Heights" and I LOVED it!! I was already pre-obsessed, now I am post-obsessed. Nina and Benny where amazing and I am in love with both their voices- so powerful! The staging and dancing was so unique and the flavor of the music and show was just tasty!! I hope that I can see it again someday! It is a musical that incorporates hip hop, rap, latin, and broadway all mixed into one. Here is the Original Casts Tony performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Rd7Cpx-Ss&feature=related

Tour cast

Benny and Nina.
Nina looks so much like America Ferrera- who I adore more than life, so another reason I loved this actress

And here is a fun video the original cast made, mixing my beloved Rhianna/Jay-Z + the Heights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2zGNopB1WQ

Is it Patriot's Day? Oh- Martin Luther King. Gotcha.

2010-01-12T11:51:00.001-08:00

Boston gave me a new-found passion for fashion. I love clothes. I do. I love putting outfits together. I love it even more when an adorable outfit is born through my morning improvising due to lack of time and clothes in the laundry!!

Today was one of those days!! I have a mustard yellow light sweater that I usually wear over a ruffled shirt, but I couldn't find that shirt- but I did find my sleeveless shirt with a tie in the front that I usually wear long- BUT HEY! If I just tie the shirts tie in a bow, then the yellow sweater works! And I had a cute skirt, and black tights to go with that, of course. And to make it weather appropriate, i put my favorite black jacket with the copper crested buttons and the tail-coat back with it!! Perfect.

I bundle up for outside, and then I get to work feeling all cute in my new outfit. I take off my coat and look in a hall window that I use as a mirror and HORRIFYINGLY realize that I look like a fareaking FOUNDING FATHER!!! I have been slightly embarrassed walking around, and feel like writing with a quill pen and saying things like "Huzzah" and "I pray thee, sir", etc. What a wreck. But because I have a very strong self esteem and support my self image whatever it may be, I really just find it ridiculously funny- which is why I am posting my silly mistake of thinking colonial 1770's fashion is still in!! It must have been watching the 500 min. HBO John Adams series over Christmas Break.

Another Edition of Bollywood Corner

2010-01-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

I have seen a couple good Bollywood movies of late and wanted to add them to my other list, for those of you wanting to see a good Hindi movie. As a side note, I watched Ash and Abi Bachchan on Oprah with my mom, and Abi said this when Oprah asked him about why they don't kiss in Hindi movies: "For example, boy meets girl, they fall in love, they want to express their love for each other. So in the West, they would kiss, and they’re in love. In India, we have a song. Isn’t that more interesting? You have this intimate moment, and suddenly … snap, cut … you’re in the mountains singing and dancing!" I LOVE THAT!! I prefer the singing when in love too, Abi!

Onto the movies!

Over the holiday break, my family watched VIVAH. It was a simple and cute story about a boy and girl getting matched up, engaged and married. I loved it because it is full of rich Indian culture all revolving around their ceremonies and traditions around the marriage process. There was a ton of music. They were shorter than more traditional numbers, but they were so frequent which was great. It was fun to watch!

I went to the Arlington Center Theater some Sat afternoon and watched DE DANA DAN last month. It was rediculous, yet highly entertaining. I just love Akshay Kumar and support him in anything he does. This show was like "What's up Doc?" (with Barbra Streisand) on crack, what with everyone thinking people were one person but they were actually not, but they communicate vaguely enough to keep to the conclusion they knew what was going on when really they are mixing things up. And there is the bag with the money that keeps shifting around because it has a look a like, etc... Of course it is 3 times as long, 10 extra story lines getting motled together, and just the most chaotic mashed up story line ever. But it was dang entertaining.

But this last one is a WINNER!! By far one of my faves. We had a girl's Bollywood night at my friend Purnima's, who is from India, so she knows what's up. We had amazing Mango Lassi's she made for us. It was called VEER-ZAARA. It was this amazing love story about a girl from Pakistan traveling to India and while she is there she meets an Indian boy and they fall in love, etc... but things take a turn for the worst (a couple times). This movie plot after the middle was unpredictable, but was better than the one I was concluding to in my mind as I was watching, so I was more than pleased at the turn of events. My friend Dana and I were bawling at the end. So so good! So so romantic! Such beautiful music. Amazing Bangra dancing in one number. And it has Shahrukh Khan who is one of my fave actors. I suggest this movie HIGHLY!!

ENJOY! Namasté.

Movies and Bento

2010-01-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

I just have to share a wonderful movie I saw this week. I went and saw "Young Victoria" with my gal-pals. It was wonderful and so uplifting and moving. I was crying, not unusual of me, so much at the end. Such a wonderful love story.

And I have been looking for compartmentalized Tupperware system for me to take lunch in. I just always feel like i have to take too many tupps to work that are the wrong size (too big usually) and my hummus and dressings get everywhere. But I found this site yesterday after searching for a system that works for what I need. If any of you are lunch packers, I think this is going to be the most handy system ever!! I found it on a site called Laptoplunches.com

but found it cheaper on Amazon, of course. But it is styled after the Japanese Bento style of packing lunches. I love Japan and lunch, so perfect fit!

Nicky's b-day party

2009-12-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Nicky!! (still need to get you your present- woopsies!)

Just wanted to post this fabulous pic taken by Seth of me and Michael. He was very Don Draper. The ciggy is fake, btw. They are amazing- they blow out white dust for hours!! The are the best old Hollywood prop ever!! I was so bummed i couldn't find my long stick that holds it- so chic!! But kids- smoking is not, so don't do it!!

Sort This!!

2009-11-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

There is the most wonderful Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science that I have been to twice and WILL go again!! It is just so so so well done. Beautiful and fun. And it was fun to hear the audio tour because you learn lots of little tid-bits about props and costumes that aren't important but are fun!! And you realize how TINY little Ms. Emma Watson is, and how short Daniel Radcliffe is. And if you are into this, you can see the real clothes Edward Cullen himself wore as Cedric Diggory (insert tween-scream here).

Yes- they seriously had floating candles in their Great Hall room. Part of the GH is decorated like the Yule Ball. Absolutely gorgeous.

You can't take pics inside the exhibit, so I stole some. And then there is a sweet one of me and the ladies in front of a beautiful night sky and the real Flying Angelina!!

Vermontster

2009-11-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

Six people piles into one Honda CR-V.
Six people piled into one small hotel room.
Six people touring New England Cheese Factories EQUALS One Good Time!!

Eating at a mall food court with a carousel in the center. Just takes you back, ya know

Our hotel room (Nishan avoiding being pictured, again)

Ben and Jerry's Factory. Ice Cream. The other Dairy Product.

Having a Dang Good time at Cabot Farms
(l to r: Anita, Nishan, Tim, moi, Emily, Brittany)

Happy Halloween

2009-11-04T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is our pumpkin this year that Brit's friend Matt carved for us. You can see we support Team Edward. But this is seriously amazing! Props to Matt...

We went to the Harvard Club in downtown Boston for the Big Halloween dance, sponsored by the church for the LDS Education Conference held that weekend. It was just this amazing room with a vaulted ceiling, beautiful chandeliers, huge pipes for the organ and just so ornate!! (These pics are not from our party, but they give you an idea)

Guess who I was this year for Halloween? Elphaba (fka Wicked Witch of the West). I had a good time sportin the green. My roommate was Glenda, so we had a good time with that!!

The crew at the party-

Darin's costume was the cutest ever, so all us girls got a pic with him. He was Russell from UP and I couldn't get enough of him. Rachel was amazing too- dressed as Cruela DeVil. You can't see it, but Britt has a silver briefcase with a number on it with the $1,000,000 paper in it- so she was a Deal or No Deal girl. Cute Britt. And Ashley was just classy and beautiful as always (it was either costume or formal wear for the dance)

Another successful and super fun Halloween-
just maybe my fave holiday of the year (besides the ones I get presents at!)

Rock n' Roll

2009-10-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Woops! I maybe am posting these pics more than a month late, but I haven't been very good about blogging so I am catching up!!

Here are the pics and such from my real birthday party! We divided into bands and played Rock Band 2!! It was so fun!!

This Month is Such a Special one, it's birthday time for you!

2009-09-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

So I love my birthday and take every opprotunity to celebrate it. This year I had 2 celebrations.

Esther- my most wonderful cousin, got us girls a house on the Cape for the weekend!! It was so so fun!

The weeken included:
-swimming in the shark infested water in the rain (4 great whites are stalking the beaches in the area so we were afraid to go to deep)
-watching movies
-eating pb&j's and guacamole
-eating sea food at a local eatery
-shopping at a job lot!!
-eating a most beloved and hard to come by Dairy Queen cake
-Skinny Dipping in water filled with bioluminescence (still not going deep for fear of sharks!)
-eating crepes in the morning with strawberries, blueberries and lime juice!

haha! I laughed so hard when I read my cake. Emily, of course, was the mastermind behind this! Thanks girls for the amazing surprize!

Most of us ladies, before our walk down to the beach for our late night swim!!
yes- we also walked down to the beach mostly in the buff!
And the bioluminescence on the beach was amazing. Everystep you took, the sand just glowed all around your feet. And your hands made blue glowing trains when you moved them in the water! It was magical!!

Half-Blood Prince Party

2009-08-17T07:52:00.001-07:00

So I had this party a month ago on the night of the mid-night showing of the 6th Harry Potter. Woops- just posting this now, but I haven't had all the pics until this weekend, not a big deal.

I might have thrown one of the funnest Harry Potter Parties ever, not to brag or anything, but it was seriously off the hook. I have been planning this party for months before, and I was really proud of myself, cause I plan a lot of really awesome parties in my head, but i never start on them soon enough and then they never turn out like I want them to. But I actually didn't procrastinate and I got everything just the way I wanted. I wish I had gotten more pics of other stuff besides the food, but we were too distracted by the wizarding fun that the muggle memories escaped us!!

First, I sent out this invitation- individually addressed to each invitee. And yes, I downloaded a dozen Harry Potter made fonts for all invites and signs. It's all in the details.

When you walked into the house, there was a place to put your broom if you rode it (had some pre-placed). And when you walk up the stairs, there was about 15 pics of all the Hogwarts faculty that had been there while Harry went to Hogwarts, and you could win points by naming them and what they teach. I made the sorting hat, and had house badges cut out in there, so you were sorted by pulling a house out of the house. I had made ties/scarfs for people to have once sorted. You could wear them as a tie, or a hair tie or whatever. They really added to the whole effect. There were little surprized everywhere, like the pic of Moaning Mertle on the toliet seat (Bathroom was labeled "Room of Requirements" - lol). There was also Wizard Rock playing in the background, with groups such as "Harry and the Potters," "Draco and the Malfoys," "The Mauraders," just to name a few.

I made our living room into the Gryffindor common room. Not too many pics of this, but there was a bulletin board with announcements about Quiddich tryouts, Neville's lost toad Trevor, SPEW, and other things. I had posters around with Gryffindor related stuff on them, hung all the movie posters in the room as well, and made the TV into a fireplace with cut out wood and flames and it was showing the 5th HP movie. I set up games in that room. There was HP Memory, and I put Trivia questions all around the room (some hidden so you had to look for them). There was also a wand making station in the common room, so you could jazz up your own wand for the party!!

Kristy, Brit and Cyrus playing Memory in the Gryffindor common room. There are some yummy licorice wands dipped in white chocolate and butterscotch! So yummy- thanks Vackles! And in the round glass bowls, those are the house points that were handed out through the night- thanks to Nicky and Seth for cutting out all each individual circle- there were hundreds!!

Michael's decorated wand. Amazing, Mr. Visser. Amazing. But this facial expression is so Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix- luckily he is no longer as angsty or moody.

I was most excited about turning our dining room into the Great Hall. At the real Hogwarts, the celing is enchanted to look like the night sky, so I strung white lights on the celing and covered it with dark blue tool. Seth and Nicky hung it up for me the night before. And since the party was themed around winning the house cup, I sewed house banners for each house. They turned out awesome, and the whole room looked fabulous. Special shout out to Vicky/Nicky/Seth/Ashley/Emily for coming the night before to help set up!!

The Great Hall

The best part of the Great Hall was the Dining Table. I assigned people treats that were HP themed, and everyone did a great great job!! Tons of pics of the food!! I was well pleased with the magical creations everyone made!! Simply amazing!!

The Spread. With the Polyjuice potion as the centerpiece. The fabric was all sprayed with sparkles, so it was very glittery, and we ended up filling in those empty glass round vases with colored water and put mixers in them with light up ice cubes. Adorable. But did it after the pic was taken.

I was so proud of myself for actually getting on top of this treat in advance. I ordered frog molds for this Chocolate Frog must-have at any HP party. Ashley made them and they were rich and tasty!!

Brit made these adorable Cauldron Cakes. She baked cupcakes, turned them upside-down, and put the gooey potion inside them with the pretzel as the stirring spoon. So creative!

Good shot of the "Three Broomstick's BUTTERBEERs" I labeled. We got IBC root beer and cream soda and put these labels on them. Thanks to the Rindge girls for bringing the soda!

Leigh made Pumpkin Pasties- they were amazing. They were like chocolate chip cookie bowls with pumpkin in the middle. Divine!

Ashley's Beautiful Cockroach Clusters

The best part was of the evening was being able to just enjoy the wonderful night with all of our honorary wizard friends. Everyone got into it, whether they were fans or not, and dressed up and made the evening truly enjoyable

Ashley and Nicky enjoying a cockroach cluster

Showing off our wands- almost as good as a real Ollivander Wand.

Love Ashley's face in this, so had to post it. She seriously looks just like a Hayao Miyazaki Japanese Cartoon character. See...
Esther and Ashley hitting up the butter beer and Polyjuice potion. Ladies, come now, this is a PG movie. But they were both sorted into Slytherin so not surprising coming from that lot.

Gryffindor values courage, bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry. Yup- me and EMV all the way!! The Sorting hat knows what's up.

The whole game in the Great Hall!

Princess and the Frog

2009-08-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

My team at work got to have a little outing Wednesday this last week. We went kayaking on the Concord River, then went swimming in my boss' back yard. I had a fun little friend to hang out with me in the pool. I named him Fred, and her seriously just hung out on my hand and shoulder for hours whilst in the pool. He was adorable.

Climb Every Mountain

2009-08-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

So me and the peeps drive up to New Hampshire to hike Mt. Monadnock. It is 2 miles up, 2 miles down, and we were told it was a moderate family day hike, so no biggie right. yah- We were all in for a pretty big shock. Not that the hike was horrible, but it was way harder than any of us anticipated. Yah- you climb 2,150 feet in 2 miles. It was not a hike, but a climb. It was a great accomplishment to get to the top. Luckily, there was a pathway down that wasn't as steep as the way up, but was longer, and it hurt your ankles (at least mine) coming down, but it was a lovely day- a lovely view, and a wonderful hike/climb!

the finest group of people Boston has to offer: (l to r) Emily, Austin, Brittany, Crismon, Cyrus, Cameron, Mikey and his gun hand, Me and Caro!!

Hey Michael!

Cutie Caro- I am going to miss her so so much!!

Me, Caro, and Cameron gazing into the distance on top of the beautiful summit. Love New England. And notice how my Nike Emblem shines in pics.

Greatest Mystery SOlved

2009-08-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

So I remember renting and watching a movie when I was a child. I could never remember the title, but could remember 3 vague scenes from it.

1. 2 kids in a large barn with a little person playing something like a dwarf or leprechaun. They are sitting in the middle of it at a wooden table. And they are eating. When the dwarf/midget person burps, he floats, and he keeps getting higher and higher.
2. Kids with midget in a row boat that takes them to another world, i think
3. In the other world there is an evil queen figure with this big scary machine that people go into and get turned into either butterflies or scary things. Vague on that piece.

So I seriously have been googling this and asking people about this movie for YEARS!! I have rented dozens of films that "might" be it from my Blockbuster online account. Searched through imdb.con on all the little peoples actor's profiles, and looked through list and lists of popular 80s early 90s fantasy movies. NOTHING.

I had a dream about it last night so I did a one last desperate search on it. After 2-3 hours of looking, I found an old question forum where someone was trying to figure out the title of the exact same movie as me, but they remembered more and different stuff then I did. SO that expanded my search... anyways, after years and years of searching... I FOUND IT!!!

It is called "The Great Land of Small." I seriously am so excited and want to cry! I am so glad I am not crazy!! I really started questioning my sanity on this one cause!!
here is the link for the trailer if anyone is interested: http://www.videodetective.com/titledetails.aspx?PublishedID=3636

It got caught between Frederich's teeth

2009-07-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

So I was looking at imdb.com for something from the Sound of Music, and I found this little gem that made my day. For those of you who don't know, SOM was/is/forever will be the most beloved movie in my life!! My dad had to throw it away by the time I was 5 years old because he was sick of it playing 24/7.

Anyways- I found out that Frederich played Peter Parker/Spider Man in the 1970's TV show of "The Amazing Spider-Man." Gretl's finger wouldn't have gotten stuck in his teeth in that mask!!

As Peter Parker

As Spidy!

ps- I have to admit that this would be just a little bit better if it was Kurt that grew up to be Spider man, cause he is so dang cute and funny. "God bless what's-his-name.......Kurt! That's it! God bless Kurt!"

Head Shots

2009-07-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Just to add to the vain chain of blog posts that I have been displaying a number of beautified pictures of moi... My friend Seth is getting into photography and I was needing new head shots for auditions, so we are a perfect pair!! We went behind his house in front of this great old, teal shed in his back yard, and places in Inman Square that had cool backgrounds. Here are a couple from the shoot-- He did a great job at making me look pretty...

This one was the winner for getting printed out to attach to my resume...

Rat Pack Party

2009-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

So have I ever mentioned on my blog how much I love the people I work with?? Well- I DO!! And I just keep meeting more and more people that are such a wonderful new part of my life. One of those folks is Josh Burton, and through him, his adorable girlfriend McKenzie. McKenzie throws killer parties and is a girl after my own heart!! She had a Twilight party a few months back that was fun, and a couple weeks ago she threw a Rat Pack party. We all dressed up in cocktail dresses and such to emulate th 1940/50's style. She served scotches and fancy drinks (I stuck with the D.Coke mom- don't worry) and had chocolate cigars and candy cigarettes and was playing Franky's music! It was a right 'ole swanky time!!

And don't worry- I looked amazing!!

Pics taken at the party- check out the exposed brick in her apartment. So cool!! She lives right by symphony hall and by the Pru-center. Such a rockin' spot!!

Sorry Kir- if you wear my high-heeled shoes at a party, you will be publicly exposed and humiliated on my blog. But they do make your legs look very long and slender... kinda jealous

Frequented Blog

2009-06-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com

I love this blog. I laugh right out loud at it. I love the pictures, and the bloggers comments really just hit the spot with me. This is my favorite picture/caption. But check it out sometime... way funny. I think I found this through Val's blog- so thanks Val!! I can always count on you and James for endless laughs!!

After experimenting with different poses for these four siblings, the photographer finally nailed it.

I'll tak' the high road and ye'll tak the low...

2009-06-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

and I'll be in Scotland before Ye...

I love everything Scottish! I found a list of Highland festivals that were being held in the area and found this one that was being held in Rhoade Island. So me and the gals drove down for a day of hammer tossing, fish and chips, men in skirts and bagpiping. It was a blast- and such a funny culture experience. All the Clans marched across the field for the opening ceremonies and yelled their battle cries. It is always exciting to hear the pipebands. And I was way stoked because I have been needing to season my bag, and ran out of seasoning, and they had some at a vendor stand so now I don't have to order it online and wait for it!! So I can finally play my pipes again!

The Haggis Hurl. The logs kept breaking so we left this event early

Brit and Em with the pipe band in the back

All of us trying on the Celtic Jewelry. I seriously want to wear this in public, but I must admit I fear social criticism

Me, Amy, Bagpiper who was way flattered we wanted a pic with him, Brit and Emily. End to a perfect little get-a-way!

Playing Catch-up, part Deux. Nations Biggest Rivalry!!

2009-06-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

Red Sox vs. Yankees!! I was so so lucky to score some sweet tickets for this game at an extremely reasonable price! Got to sit in my new fave spot of the stadium, section 31 row 8 of the Right Roof Box. I gave the other ticket to my wonderful amazing best cousin in the world ESTHER!! So happy birthday slash gradation Esther my bester. We had so much fun!!

The first 4 innings were bad because we could NOT score and the Yankees were up by 6 or something. Then the sox filled up all the bases, and we only had one out. So that was good cause Varitek came up to bat, and we were like well- good thing we only have one out cause he will be 2. BUT a MIRACLE happened! Varitek hit the 3rd Grandslam of his career!! Brought in 4 runs. During the game Jacobi Elsberry hit a home run. What a babe!! Jason Bay, of course, played an amazing game too!! The funnest is always when they bring Jonathan Pabelbon out for the last 2 innings of the game. You always know he is coming when they play the Dropkick Murphey's song "I'm Shipping up to Boston"- the crowd goes wild with the realization of what is going on, and you can see the camera flashes start going like crazy all over Fenway. He always runs across right field and over the infield dirt, then dramatically pauses at the edge of the pitchers green, and walks on to the mound very proudly and seriously. He is crazy and way weird but the coolest and best looking pitcher we have!!

This is a picture of me and Dustin Pedroia- my 2nd fave player. He is at 2nd base and is shorter than my thumb (sorry Pedi- no pun intended!!)

And at the end of the night we won 16-11!! So a way high scoring game that was so fun! YANKEES SUCK!!

Playing Catch-up. Yay for family!!

2009-06-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

So I finally got pics from my cousin about things we have done but would be LAME to post without some pics...

Esther's family came out to visit for her graduation. I had so much fun with the Hopkins. We did a DUCK TOUR, quack quack, and that was fun. My first one and it was great (Thanks again Esther). Then we went to her graduation that night and it was boring but fun to hang out with Fran and McKenzie in the balcony and illegally eat the cookies we had!!

We went on the John Adams tour the next day- which me Fran and Esther went on the year before when Fran visited. We had fun recreating the pics we took the year before.

then

now. At least my hair looks better if nothing else.

Of course we hit up the North End, the best part of Boston, and we saw the Old North Church and went to a wonderful place for lunch (thanks Uncle George and Aunt Margaret for lunch!!) and had gelato which was wonderful.
And look who we found hanging out around the Paul Revere statue?? I'll guess a "V."

I'd like to solve the puzzle. "Vanna White!"

Way lame that this is only the 2nd celebrity I have ever seen, and her head is covered by an umbrella in the pic. And both times I have had celebrity sitings, I have been with Esther!!

Wonderful to see you Hopkins family!! love you!

UP!!

2009-06-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this might be my favorite movie of the year now!! Me and the Lewis' and Caro went impromptu to see this film last night, and it was a DREAM!!! You start out laughing, then gradually bust out the tears all in the first 10 min of the movie, then back to the laughing and edge of your seat short action moments, then return to crying/laughing all at the same time. I highly recommend it to EVERYONE!!

Film Night with the Pops, take 3

2009-05-29T11:10:00.001-07:00

Last night I got to go to my annual event of going to see John Williams conduct the Pops for Film Night. I went with Nicky Krout- one of my favorite people ever!! We stuffed ourselves at PF Changs in the Prudential Center and it was a glorious time!!

OK- This is by far my favorite concert of the year! John Williams (composer of little known films like "Star Wars," "Jaws," "Indiana Jones" and "E.T.") conducts the Boston Pops Orchestra for FILM NIGHT in which he plays his own music, and features 1 or 2 other composers or guest artists. Last night he featured Stanley Donen, an MGM musical director. He directed the films (you just might have heard of them) "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Anchors Aweigh" and "Singing in the Rain!" He was a little stinker- he was so so cute!! And he told the most interesting and cool stories about working with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and all those dancing men in 7 Brides... So they played a dance scene from 5 of his movies and the orchestra would play to the movie and it was amazing. I literally was in tears during the barn raising dance in 7 Brides.

In addition to the wonderful tribute to Stanley and his early musical movies, he played his songs from "Jane Eyre (didn't even know he did this), "Hook," "Superman" and "E.T." I love love love the finale from ET and I was literally, again, in tears. If you know this song, you will know what I am talking about, but John just builds and builds on the theme by introducing it and playing with it in the different instruments, and then just bangs it all out at the end, and it is amazing!!! He came out for an Encore (we knew he would- we saw the extra score on the stand), and he played a huge Star Wars medley and I was just dying from excitment!!

And I really can't say enough about the Pops!! They are so so wonderful and perfect and it was just a soul stirring experience!!

Spring Movie Round UP

2009-05-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have really enjoyed the movies I have seen in the last month, so I am posting about it. I liked them all, but I am going to rate them least favorite to favorite:

5. The Soloist. This was a good movie with a beautiful concept, but it was hard to watch. It is hard to watch a movie where the issues are too big to resolve and help. But it was a moving story about the growth and change in Robert Downy's character rather than Jaimie Fox's character. And Jaimie's character loved Beethoven, and there is a beautiful moment when you see/hear a Beethoven symphony from his point of view- and it was the most stunning moment of the movie.

4. Terminator Salvation. A critic described this movie as "an action movie wrapped in an action movie with a side of explosions." I can see where they got that. It was highly entertaining and I was on the edge of my seat at moment and got startled a couple times. Good times. You can never go wrong with Christian Bale looking all rugged and covered in dirt the whole time. And Bryce Dallas Howard is one of my fave actresses- and so it was fun to see her a bit in it. I also loved seeing Helena Bohnam Carter who is truly spectacular in everything!!

3. X-Men: Wolverine. Yummy Yummy movie. Not my fave X-Men, but I liked it. Saw it twice in a 3 day period (went a 2nd time with my cousin and his friends who were visiting, so don't think I went out of my way- but I certainly didn't mind!!) I could have used way more of Ryan Reynolds in that movie, who would have thought?? I liked seeing the evolution of Wolverine and Sabertooth's relationship and seeing how they both developed into who they became. The girl who turned to glass was cool. Everyone cheers when Xavier comes in at the end- 2nd time they have made him look younger with computer animation- and no offense, it looks fake and cheezy both times.

2. Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian. Yes- this beats Wolverine on my list. I loved this. I was so so highly entertained!! Cheezy, yes, but so hart warming. The classic story of money and success blurring what really makes you happy in life, so you find your path again by adventuring with mannequins and monkeys who come to life at night because of an ancient Egyptian stone tablet. Not a big deal. Amy Adams brought me to tears twice because of her total commitment of being Amelia Earhart and the vivacity of the character. But what made this movie great? Two words: Hank Azaria. OMG- he was so so funny playing the evil wanna-be pharaoh who has COME BACK to summon his evil army, and consequently does all this with a lisp. Brilliant. Napoleon Bonapart was great too!! I loved the 3 cameo of "The Office" characters. And Abe Lincoln was a fun addition to the cast as well. Two kids thumbs way up!!

1. Star Trek. Are you kidding me? This movie was amazing. And yes, I have seen it 3 times, don't judge me. And twice in the IMAX which was way fun... The opening sequence of this movie gets me every time. (I might have cried 5 times the first time I saw it for random reasons all through the movie). But I really enjoyed JJ's direction on this movie and loved the Star War-esque feel to it that made Star Trek more general audience friendly!! We have been saying "Are you out of your Vulcan mind" for days now!! We are so so funny. We just love that Dr leoroy or whatever his name is. Love that he is Eomer from LOTR, and we just love him. "I'm a doctor man, not a physicist." The more I see it, the more I notice really brilliant shots that are just perfectly picturesque. Loves it!!

Just Singing in the Rain

2009-05-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had a really cool thunderstorm on Sunday- a couple different times. That is where the "Rain" part of my title comes from- just wanted to let you know

I sing in an MIT Women's choral. I played for them last year to keep up my piano skills, but luckily, my wonderful friend Emily Taylor took over this year and I was able to sing with them this Spring Semester. I got to sing 2nd Sop, which I was so excited for. I am a Soprano, but always get put in the Alto section cause I have a strong low voice, so it was fun to get to develop my high voice again!! I had some wonderful friends and roommates who came and supported me in it- so thanks to them a 100 times over for coming.

Here is a link to the recording of one of our songs that I had a solo in. Hands down the best choir solo I have ever had (and funny enough one of the only ones). It is from Mendelssohn's Midsummers Night's Dream, part of the fairy chorus. I am the highest voice (there are 2 soloists- the first one is my but I continue always on the high part...if that makes any sense)

http://web.mit.edu/mjanus/www/womenschorale/mp3s/Song_and_%20Fairies'_Chorus.mp3

2009-05-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

It has been and exciting and tragic weekend. So this story is all over the news- at work everyone knows what I was talking about when I tell them about what happened this week. So we had Stake Conf this weekend, and most of the Sunday meeting was broad casted from SLC. So our 3 singles ward were spread throughout all the rooms that had TV's or Projectors in our church house. About 30 min into the meeting, the fire alarm goes off, so I am thinking "Yes- if this lasts we get to get out of the last 1 1/2 hours of church!!" Cause when is a fire alarm ever fer real?? NEVER is it REAL!! So we all go outside of the building (I was about not to grab my jacket and umbrella from the coat rack thinking we were going back, and I am so glad that I did), and there is a little burn hole on the outside of the church and a single stream of smoke coming from the roof. We were like, oh it is really real. So the fire engines come and start streaming the hoses in, and I really thought this would be no biggie. They would put it out, and they would just fix part of the attic. Yah. Then the whole roof burst into flames and the roof collapsed into the chapel and the gym. It took them a couple hours to put the fire out.

This is really sad, but kinda exciting to me- cause it means a lot of change for our wards, and with my life experience up to this point, I know that great things can come from horrible losses and a building doesn't compare to other things I have lost in my life. Events like this always brings people closer together as well which could help our wards. But I was looking at this album today and I did get really teary and it hit me how sad this really is. I am not affected deeply like some, but I was humbled looking at the ruins of a place I have created a lot of memories in. I also don't have a place to practice the piano now which sucks for me.

This will be a momentous occasion in my life and in the lives of hundreds of others. And I am excited to move on and see the rebuilding of the church, and I am more excited to see what they are going to do with us all for the next year (they are predicting it will take at least that long to rebuild). The Harvard Divinity School has already offered their chapel, so this might be a great way to get closer and form bonds with other sects of religion and learn a great lesson (Let me take a moment to be cliché) that we are all here to be more Christlike and love one another.

This is when the roof fell into the chapel there on the left side of the building.

There were several fire trucks on all sides putting out the fire. The were trying hard to keep the steeple on because it was containing the fire in the attic from spreading all over the building.

View of the outside of the chapel after the damage was done. You can see through the window and open roof hole at the top that the roof is missing

This pic is what really struck a chord in my heart and brought me to tears. This is the inside of our chapel or what is left of it. I still can't quite get over that this happened yesterday

Dabbling with Watercolor

2009-05-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

When I was living at home a couple years ago, I decided I wanted to take up painting. I really enjoy art, I don't think it is my talent or calling in life, but it is something I want to get into. It seems very relaxing and releases creative energy. I sat down a couple times with a canvas and my new paints and failed miserably. I really have no idea where to even start with paints. I put them aside and forgot about them, but I decided I wanted another go. One of my dearest friends here in Boston, Nicky, is an art teacher at a middle school and is mega talented. She is being such a sweetheart and giving me lessons every Tuesday night. This week was our first week. We are starting with Watercolor, and we did a simple technique where you drip the watercolor on the paper and then just blow it around. I did one that night, then me and my roommate Emily played around with it Wed night. So here are my first 3 Watercolor paintings! They are nothing special and took zero talent to do this, but I think they look really kind-a cool. Thanks Nickers!!

In with the New, Out with the Old

2009-05-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

I bought a beautiful, unique and wonderful bike 2 years ago when I first moved here to Boston. It is a Biria Easy Boarding 3 speed bicycle. It has been a great bike that I just love- mostly on it's stellar appearance. It gets a lot of attention cause of it's cool and unique European look (you know I love to be the center of positive attention ;) )... but... it is not the best commuter bike, which is the primary function of my needs. My small, 2 mile ride to work is on a horribly paved road with potholes and bumps every step of the way. I have spent about $250 just on fixing spokes and then rebuilding my back tire. Also, my 3 speeds weren't helpful on the couple of hills I had to ride. Granted, the hard laboring of riding my bike put me in great shape, so it was not really all that bad in my mind, but the $$ I was having to put in the tires was driving me nuts.

So I bought a new bike last Saturday!! I got a Scott Sportster P4 Hybrid Bike from Eastern Mountain Sports, thanks to the help of my friends Diana and Celeste from my ward. I didn't think I could love anything as much as my Little Red Riding Hood bike. I shallowly loved the physical appearance of my step-through bike, and was concerned about me liking my Scotty as much because it is just plain and silver (even though it is pretty sleek looking). But this last week, I have bonded so deeply with my bike, it's scary. I love it so much! Mostly because it is a 2 way relationship- it gives love in return. I have had the best rides this week than I have ever had on a bike. Smooth, FAST and just so darn enjoyable. Sadly, though, I am selling my little Red! So if you know anyone who wants her, let me know!!

Here comes the Sun (du dn du du)

2009-04-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

It is 81º right now, at 10:30am and it suppose to get to 91º in a couple hours!!! I love it. And tomorrow we are back down to 60º?! But yay for today!!

Last week was wonderful!! My roommate Emily finally gave into watching the High School Musical movies (don't judge me that I love them). She wanted to watch them cause she fell in love with mr. Efron during "17 Again," so we had a wonderful time watching them, and can I just say how much I love the music. I have been listening to the soundtrack 24/7 since I downloaded them yesterday. My favorite song is "Just Wanna Be with You" from the 3rd one. And if you really want to know, Ryan Evans is my favorite and I love his voice!! But I love everyone! They are all "Fabulus!!"

Me and Em right before our daily high-kick competition (I can kick higher than you Em!)

Friday, after the completion of the HSM trilogy, me and Brit decorated cupcakes for Trisha's bridal shower. We had a good time re-living the cake decorating days. We made a good team. She would do really cute and creative bases, and i would add the frills to the top. good times...

Brit, me and Esther

Some of our cupcakes

Soon to come: Pics from game 2 of Red Sox vs Yankees game (yes I was there)....

Patriot's Day weekend!!

2009-04-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Gotta love living in Massachusetts where we actually celebrate this holiday and get work off on Monday!! This weekend was exceptionally fun, so I thought I'd blog about it...

Friday I went to Borders Cafe with some friends from work and church. We went to "17 Again" and just loved it. Favorite line was the health teacher saying: Expecting teens to be abstinent is like asking a Porcupine to poop goat cheese." We laughed so so hard.

Saturday was great too. I sang at the keynote speaker session of the Temple conference for the singles in the New England area. It was wonderful to go and be uplifted and inspired on a Saturday morning. Thanks for playing Emily!!
Adrienne, Me and Kim (my VT who asked me to sing). The temple is in the background.

Saturday from 12-5pm I went to town on cleaning the house. Sometimes cleaning is the greatest most fulfilling thing. I truly enjoyed myself. But com'mon. The best part of Saturday was 100 times better than cleaning. I bought a few pairs of tickets from my co-worker for some Red Sox game, and the first game (for me) of the season was Saturday April 18th!! And it turned out to be a lovely night, no rain like predicted!! I went to this game with my friend Kiran, and we both forgot our cameras, so sadly I got no documentation of the night :( But it was a fun evening full of hot dogs, ice cream, and Jacoby Ellsbury!!

I get home after making the predictable late-Sat-night grocery run to get food for Sunday, and I come home and look in the mirror and run to Lauren's room to have her take a pic of my eye. I had been petting Kiran's cats and rubbed my eye and had the 2nd worst allergic reaction I have ever had to a cat!! Totally my fault cause I am smart enough to WASH my hands BEFORE I touch my eye after petting cats (by the way- I am allergic if you hadn't picked that up yet). So as disgusting as this is, I am posting the pics, cause it is amazing how out body reacts to things. I went to bed and woke up Sunday morning, and the swelling hadn't gone down so I went to the doctor at MIT, and he made me go over to Mass Eye and Ear. So the first few hours of my morning were spent doing that. I had to run home, shower, put a dress on, and run to the church to teach my Relief Society lesson. I got their 1/2 way through the hymn and had to get up to teach right after the Opening Prayer. I was a bit flustered, and had to apologize for my hidgous eye, but the lesson went well about 10 min into it. It was a hard one to get people to comment at first, but then people started sharing and it was a wonderful lesson. I just have to interject that I love my calling of teaching Relief Society! That Sunday every month that I get to teach is a highlight for me!! I just love it!!

You can't really see it in these pics, by the whites of my eyes are really swollen and hardly fit under my eyelids. My gross cold sore under my nose doesn't help out any either!!

Sunday night was fun. Leigh and Dan came with me to my friend Theresa's Pampered Chef party hosted at Kiran's house. It was very fun- good food, good company, amazingly fun game of Movie-themed pictionary!! (Kiran installed a white board that takes up the entire top half of his living room wall- how cool/funny is that!!) so that was hours of enless entertainment!! My favorite is when I drew a single dog on the white board, (and was about to draw another dog and a cat running on a hill) and Leigh yelled "Homeward Bound!" and that was the answer!! I don't know why- it was just amazing to me she guessed it with just that one dog!! but we were kinda freakily on the same wave length that night!

Monday was Patriot's day, and my cousin Esther's birthday!! She picked me up at 5am and we drove to Lexington to see the Battle of Lexington Reenactment. Yah- we didn't stay for the whole thing. One, we couldn't see the action any more from where we were after the troops moved, and two, it was lame. We at first thought it was over, but figured it wasn't because England was still winning when we left. We went to breakfast with her roommates at "The Neighborhood" in Somerville, one of my fave breakfast places (thanks to Linda!). We stuffed ourselves with the most amazing breakfast.

I promise nothing this exciting happened in the bit we watched! But look at all the people behind the Red Coat!! It is insane people wake up their kids that early for this??!!

That afternoon, after the Marathon was kinda filtering out, I went to the commons and met one of my favorite persons in the whole world who was visiting Boston this week... David Walker!!! I was in Playmill for 2 summers with David, and had just idolized him growing up, cause he was/is a star in Idaho!! I am so blessed to be his friend for so many reasons!! He is so so talented- he was in the Aida Asian Tour last fall and is now getting ready for the 'Mill, and I just love singing with him. I just love listening to David's stories about everything and anything. He is just a genuinely amazing person to be with and to know! LOVE YOU DAVIT!!

Me and Davit in the Park Street Station.

Monday night, we ended off with Pizza in Belmont for Esther's birthday, and then going to see "17 Again" again. Loved it as much the 2nd time. I sat by Brittney Lewis, who hits when she laughs (it's very funny actually) so I felt how much she enjoyed it ;)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ESTHER!!

Defrosting for the weekend

2009-04-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friend Amy found a killer deal on a weekend stay in Cancun over Easter weekend. It was a direct flight on JetBlue, 2 night all-inclusive hotel (in our own rooms) for under $500. Totally worth a wonderfully warm weekend. We left Friday April 10 and were on the beach at 3pm. We returned Sunday morning, leaving the hotel by 10am. I was home at 7:30 that night. Perfect!! And just enough time, considering I couldn't spend 1 more minute on the beach cause I got super sun poisoned after one 1/2 days in the sun!! woops!

View of the beach

Double Fisting it! Pina Colada + Strawberry Daiquiri = Heaven!

Our Hotel (Gran Caribe Real)

View of other side of hotel from my balcony. The pool changed colors. Cool.

Before (white)

After (red, but lovin life!!- thanks to Amy's ibuprofen) Also- curly hair from the humidity!!

Thanks for the wonderful weekend Amy!! Love having a tan in 12 degree weather!

Can it be July 17th today? PALEAZZZZZEEE!!!

2009-04-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

I cannot wait for the new Harry Potter movie to come out. I really can't. If you are in Boston on July 16th, you are more than invited (unless I don't know or like you) to my awesome Harry Potter Party which will be ended with the Mid-Night premiere of the movie.

But I guess until then I will have to go see this movie, which I am tonight. I loved these SNL skits he was in on Saturday. one. two.

Congrats Court!!

2009-04-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have nothing new to talk about and I think this is the most exciting news of the last couple weeks! CONGRATS Courtney and Brady!! Yay for Debbie and Blaine being grandparents! I love the Burtons so much and am so happy for the new parents, grandparents and aunts/uncles!! Whitters- when are you coming to visit me??! I miss your face!!

Life is Pandemonium

2009-03-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

I finally got to go see my dear friend Christian's show this weekend! Me and my friend Emily Taylor drove up to Portland, ME and had an amazing seafood dinner on the pier with Christian. It was so fun to catch up (hopefully we didn't bore Emily to death talking about people she didn't know!!)

Christian is basically the star of the "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and it is one of my favorite musicals. It was the first show I ever saw on Broadway in NYC- and I think it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen! Christian's "Magic Foot" was amazing!! Christian was a gem and got me a ticket to his Sunday matinée and then we drove into Boston with a couple of his most adorable and nice cast mates to get a bite to eat and tour the city a bit!! What a wonderful weekend!

Who is Broad?

2009-03-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am!!

We do a weekly spotlight at my work and feature the person on our internal website. I am this weeks!

Things that are probably not as funny as I think they are

2009-03-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Seriously is this woman for real?? I love it! Please check out the pictures she photo shopped onto her site.
http://www.princessatmyparty.com/Home_Page.html

At least my friend Nicky thinks it is as funny as I do. One person is all it takes!
Kittens inspired by kittens

Someone quoted this on their "Who is Broad" write-up and it made me giggle all day:
Before work, after work, and on the weekends, she lives by her motto: you never regret going for a run, but you always regret not going for a run!

Marky-Mark Talks to Animals
Follow-up skit

Anything Kristin Wiig does

Why don't I live in the city???

2009-03-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

I am blessed with the most wonderful house in the most convenient and awesome place in Cambridge. I truly love Cambridge, but sometimes I am reminded by how much I dream of living right in Boston. Granted- the cons far outweigh the pro's; but just look at these houses!!! I would love to live in the South End in the cute neighborhoods that are just quaint and adorable with the best eats in Boston.... One Day. Maybe!

I also sang at our talent show and I didn't want to do a whole post on it, but here are some pics from it. I sang this great song called "Never Never Land" that my favorite singer, Stephanie J. Block sang. It is written by an up and coming composer Scott Alan. Here is the link to Stephanie singing it. I want to sound like her when I grow up!!

Brittany, Emily and me! Brit displayed beautimous cakes for the talent show. We celebrated the night with eating them!! Very yummy (well, I ate my piece for breakfast in the car on the way to church the next morning cause I was out Karaoke-ing after the show...)

End of Winter??

2009-03-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

March Madness- I picked Duke to go all the way. So good thing they won Saturday night. Phew. My bracket is lame though- I had no rhyme or reason when picking my teams going through.

U2 performed literally down the street from my house a couple weeks ago. Me and my peeps went and stood outside the Somerville theater and listened to part of their concert.

Dave Alba (our dearly departed neighbor- we miss you Dave!!), Emily, Mikey and me (no we are not dating- just being stupid- but he does love me of course!!), Namster, Amy's friend Jen, Amy

RESTAURANT week is the best 2 weeks of the year, and it is a good sign for this should start to be spring... The really nice/$$$ restaurants of Boston do a 3 course fixed menu for $33, and so it is a great deal and so fun to go to places we in no other way would. The Lewis', Lauren and I went to "Grotto" last Monday. Friday me and Caro went to McCormick and Schmitz's. And tomorrow I am going with my theater friends to "Sibling Rivalry" om the South End, and I am the most excited for this.

Brit and I

Lauren and Em

Feet

2009-03-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

I found a link to this cute blog from my friends Andrew and Kandyce McCracken's blog, and i loved it!! I am also inspired to take more feet pics! It is called Gypsy Feet and here is my first pic i am going to post...

This was on the beach in Chiba, Japan where I got to walk the coast in the most lugubrious weather and it was a wonderful memory!

Frosting Galore

2009-03-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

My friend Brittany Lewis and I took a cake decorating class down South in Hanover, MA for the last month. It was fun. Kinda boring- just cause the classed moved slow- but I learned how to make a basic fun cake with Roses and shells and such. Here is our final project.

Not the best ever- my frosting was way too soft so I did the best I could and it turned out a bit mushy... And Rosie is a girl in my group and it really is her birthday so I volunteered to make the cake. Convenient? yes.

Wa-Wa-Wachusetts

2009-03-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

So I did the most daring thing I have ever done this weekend... I went skiing!! Yikes. So I have never gone because there is a part of me (most of me) that is terrified of the prospect of flying uncontrollably down a mountain and crashing and being soar and looking stupid. Just not something I have ever wanted to do. But I got over my fear and went on Saturday and believe it or not, it was a BLAST!! I had so much fun to my surprize! So I just wanted to blog about it so I can look back and remember that I actually did this and thought it was fun....

The first 1/2 of the day i didn't fall once- I was doing really well actually (that is probably why i liked it). BUT then my friend took me on a beginner intermediate course, and by my 3rd fall, I was terrified to start again cause it was so steep and all my fears of what skiing would be came true. So I was grateful when he told me he lied and it was a step below an expert course so I was actually doing really well for that course. Whatever- I was still horrified and was so relieved to be at the bottom of that hill. So I didn't have to ski a course that hard again, so the rest of the day was fun! But I think I might just have to go again and actually invest in real snow gear (pants/coat) so i don't have to look like a ginormous marshmallow in my friends gear... not the most attractive look for me!

I'm Not Gonna Write You a Love Song

2009-02-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

So me and the girls went to see Sara Bareilles in concert Saturday at the Paradise Lounge in Boston. It was an amzing concert! I was blown away by the whole thing. I love Sara's album and have been listening to it for a while now. She is a wonderful song writer and an awesome voice, so I was excited for this concert.

Sara's opener was Tony Lucca, which I was tickled about. He was a former member of the New MMC (Mickey Mouse Club) that I use to obsessively love (the show, not him). He dated Kerri Russell when they were on the show together and for a few years after the show was disbanded. But I love that he was the opening act.

This was him on the MMC- he was the Heart Throb on the show as you can see

And this is him now. A way different looks, but he was way good. I really liked his stuff...

Sara then sang, and she blew my mind!! She was so so good. She was better live than on her CD, which is so so rare!! Her voice was perfect and off the hook. And her piano/guitar skills were stellar and overall an amazing performer. She just caresses each song when she performs it and just loves each note and lyric she has written. I was captivated in every moment of the night and had a wonderful time listening to her sing and her humerous and very real commentary on her songs and her career/life. She was a real down-to-earth gem that I would pay far more than the $25 I did to see her again and again! After this last bit of her tour she is going back to record a new album, which I am now way stoked for!

Ode to the Great Scott

2009-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

Oh Scotty Boy
The buns, the buns are calling.

fliped side to side, with french fries on the side.
The summer's here and all your flavors flowing.
Tis you, tis you must go in my insides....

Ok- so i really can't write poetry or even parody existing ones... But I found this picture from my Christmas album, and there is no burger to compare with the Great Scott at Scotties. Nor is there fries or fry sauce to compare!! I wish I were home right now to go to Scotties with the fam...

Marco Island FL

2009-02-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

So there is this big conference we send a ton of people to every year, and this year I worked it so I could go!! It was so so fun. I went as a volunteer for the conf organizers. So I helped with registration and setting up for events. It was way more work and time than I thought, but it was worth every minute, and I loved loved it. I got to be better friends with my co-workers who I already knew, and got to know ones I don't interact with! It was very fun.

I loved seeing Erin Wheatley, our sales rep at Illumina. She is one of my favorite people. She ended up sleeping over in my room Thursday night because she was having to stay at the Hilton cause the Marriott was over booked, and Illumina threw the Broad a great party Thursday night. So we got into my room about 2am in the morning and then talked till 4am. We finally had to call it quits cause we would talk till 8am in the morning if we could!!

Sheila and Erin

We had many late nights at vendor parties, then at the outdoor restaurant/bar Quinns, and in the hot tub. Sat night we stayed in the hot tub till 4am. It was so fun! Niall Lennon, this irish guy I work with, becomes so loud and funny (and really Irish) when he gets drunk and he was telling the funniest stories all week at these late night parties!!

Awesome last night party I helped decorate. All the tables had cool center pieces that were beakers with died water that changed colors when the table tops changed colors! It was a mad scientist party! so so fun!

The dance party was so so fun. The CEO of Illumina commented on what an awesome dancer I was (all relative since i was dancing with a room full of scientists), and wondered who i was. Erin told him that I was Rob's admin and he thought i was the coolest ever and wondered why they didn't have an admin as cool as me! So that was fun to hear that

But the best part of the whole week was being asked back for next year both by the organizers and by my people cause everyone just loved having me there!! So I am stoked Marco is now going to be a yearly event for me!!

Jim, Maura, Me and Erin (all Broadies who are so so fun!!)
I won $10 off of Jim this trip. $5 for knowing which side of the balcony the beach was on (yah- he was a little drunk) and then $5 for beating Maura at the jousting game they had set up Fri night. And I beat Jim at that too, but got no money for it!!

Bollywood Fevah!

2009-01-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

So since I have nothing going on really to blog about, I thought I would post really insignificant stuff just to bring some color to my blog.

So I have this recent obsession with Bollywood films. My friend James wrote about 75 things to do before you die or something like that, and one of the 75 was to "be a connoisseur of something unpretentious" (his is root beer). I don't think Bollywood films are the definition of unpretentious, but I decided to become a connoisseur none-the-less because no one knows anything about these films. It is the same reason I play the bagpipes. No one else plays them, so no matter how bad I suck, I still am cool.

Bollywood, for those of you not familiar, is just the term people use to refer to Hindi films. But I have had people ask me about what films to watch, and so I made a few reviews of ones I really really like. And for those of you who have never had an interest in watching, maybe you will want to try to watch one. They are silly, musical but so fun! But be aware that most are 2 1/2 to 3 hours long. So give yourself some time and be prepared!!

Here we go:

Lagaan is the best Bollywood ever!! My friend Sarah introduced me to it. It is a very unique Hindi film because it has a legitimate movie quality to it. It was so good it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign. Amazing music that is not cheesy or doesn't give way to cheesy dance number. There is a little love triangle between the Hindi Heroine and the English visitor. And it is all about playing cricket, so it appeals to guys too. It stars Aamir Kahn, who is one of their big film stars and for good reasons. I liked all the movies I have seen him in.

Another more dramatic movie that is my roommates favorite, is Parineeta. It is a very dramatic love story between a spoiled rich kid and his best friend from when he was little. But of course she is not privileged, and so that creates a lot of tension. The theme song gets stuck in my head, but it is really pretty so not a big deal

I love their action/adventure movies. They are a lot like ours, just more exaggerated in a cheezy way. But they are all about showing how hot the actors are on motorbikes and running around. Dhoom 1 and 2 are both that. Very Sexy movies. Dhoom 2's theme song gets in my head more, and I work out to it because it is very upbeat.

An adorable movie that I watched a couple weeks ago was called Jab we Met. It was very "What's up Doc?" with the very bubbly, uninhibited girl following around the depressed and miserable business man and in the end he realizes he can't live without her. The hero/heroine are adorable and I did like this movie. I cried at the end. Very adorable love story.

There are a couple sports movies I really like as well. Chak de India was amazing. It stars one of their biggest stars Shhahrukh Khan, and it was very Mighty Ducks meets Remember the Titans meets all Other Disney sports movies meets A League of their Own. It is about this disgraced field hockey star that returns 7 years later to coach the Indian Women's Field Hockey team, even though they are the underdog with no funding. And all the girls hate each other cause they are all from different parts of the country, and they coach tries his smart tactics to get them to all work together and be a big happy team who kicks the Australian's butt at the world championship. The other sports movie that is about English soccer (takes place in the UK) is Dhan Dhanna Dhan Goal. It has John Abraham in it, who is so beautiful, and it is an underdog soccer story as well.

The most upbeat, totally typically awesome Bollywood movie I have seen was Om Shanti Om. The plot is hysterical. It starts out in the 1950's or so, where this film extra is in love with this big time bollywood heroine. She ends up getting killed in a fire lit by her secret producer husband. They both are reincarnated like 20 years later, and now the roles are reversed. He is the big hot star, and she is someone brought in for a plot to get back at the original girls killer. It is silly but so fun. And it has a scene where if you know your bollywood stars, you will just love. All the big names come out for this big production number because they are suppose to be at the Hindi version of the Oscar Awards.

So I have to say before I go on, that I found out that when I find an Indian star I like, I just rent all the movies they are in, and that is a pretty good way to go. So the next lists are by stars rather than anything else.

My favorite stars are Abhishek Bachchan (Abhi) and his wife Aishwarya Rai (Ash). They are in several movies together, and even ones they aren't in together, I just love. They are two people who I feel safe watching movies they are in.

They are in Kuch Na Kaho together. It is a cute story about a NYC Indian boy going back to India to go to his cousin's wedding. His uncle wants to get him married while he is there, so he agrees to go on the date only if the uncle is NOT the chaperone for the dates. So the uncle's assistant (Aishwarya) becomes the chaperone. Of course he falls in love with her, and there are complications to the relationship due to her being technically married with a kid, but the husband ran off 7 years earlier with another woman so it is not so bad they are together... whatever. It has one of my favorite musical numbers in it, and I watch it over and over!!

They have several movies I love, but that is my favorite. I just saw a movie with Abhi and John Abraham called Dostana which was basically that movie with Adam Sandler and Kevin James where they have to pretend to be a gay couple for some reason or another. It was lame, but I loved every minute of it. Abhi is a very funny actor and I really enjoy him in his roles!! He is adorable.

My other favorite star is Akshay Kumar. This man is so so funny. He plays the adorable goofy hero as well. But he is super sexy so it is more believable then when even Abhi does it. He is in a cute one I recomend called Namastey London where he goes to London with this girl he married in India, but she tricked him to where the marriage isn't legal in London, so he tries to win her back so she will marry him for real (she is wanting to marry a Christian white-boy).
I just saw this movie last week in the theaters. It was silly, but funny. He is a clumsy superstitious chef transformed into a warrior to defeat the bad guy in China. I kept wanting to sing "let's get down to business to defeat the Huns..." It was called Chandi Chowk to China.

But my all time favorite Akshay film, and it is my 2nd overall is Singh is Kinng. This movie is funny, touching, great love story and a killer cast! He plays Singh, this happy go lucky guy who is more clumsy than anyone you will meet. He goes to Australia to bring back an fellow villager who has moved there and created the most notorious gang down under. In doing so, he puts the King of the gang into a coma and they appoint him the new leader of the gang. So he takes it and uses it to try to reform all of the members. And the whole time, the gang have to pretend to be servants for him and this Indian woman he met in Australia to try to make her look well off to her daughter who is getting married, and of course Akshay is in love with her but she is getting married to someone else. It is a great great movie!!

Anyways. There is a start. I have lots of others I like, but those are good ones to start with if you are new to the Hindi films

Past catching up with me!!

2009-01-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

So funny story about the past catching right up with me in a very funny way. So I am going to use false names so people will never know who this really is for mine and their embarrassment!! And I apologize for this being so long...

In High School, I liked the athletic type. Still do. Nothing hotter than a boy sweating in spandex shorts and solid jersey colors- plus they number then which is helpful for when they run around in helmets. My sophomore year of High School, I went to our JV basketball game against one of the other schools in Idaho Falls. Sufficed to say, one of their players really caught my eye. Found out his name from the roster, did my homework, and bang! He is my new High School long-distance crush. Let's call him... "Nick Jonas (no relation or even look-a-like to the real Nick Jonas)." I had friends at his school- there fore was able to get the photocopied high school yearbook photo, did the typical drive-by past his house (bi-weekly or so), went to the occasional basketball game where our team wasn't playing theirs... it was minorly obsessive but nothing frightening by any means. And it died off by the beginning of my senior year because there were real boys in my life that I started crushing on, rather than the sports stars at this other school and mine.

Nick got off his mission and went to my university, where I would see him every once in a while and I was always like "Huh. There is that boy I had a crush on in HS." I have seen him around IF at random places, and even recently this summer- and considering I make it home twice a year at most, so he is around and I see him. No more crush though. And I don't know if you have noticed in this story- but I hope you realize that I have NEVER EVEN MET THIS BOY. Never. I am sure he has no idea who I am. Nick and I have more direct similar friends now, but still there is no event or reason for him to EVER know who I am.

With that said, here is part II of my story.

I went VT last Thursday. Went to my favorite eats in Harvard Sq: Border's Cafe. (best TexMex Ever!!) When I come out of the restaurant, I check my phone, and I have one text from a number not saved in my phone. It was a 208 area code number, so I knew it was from Idaho. And I also knew it was a mass text from the first line, and the message, so it was impersonal text. This is what the text say (or close to): "Hey everyone. Got a new cell number: 555-123-4567. Have a good one, Nick Jonas."

HOLD UP!? WHAT?! HOW and more importantly WHY does Nick Jonas have my cell phone number?? Like I said, I seriously have never met this boy before!! And I texted my sister to see if she had ever given it to him because I took her number a few years back, and she has never met him either and when she could have he was on his mission... anyways. As I am texting my sister and we are plotting to text him back and see why he has my number, my inbox gets full, so I hastily empty it so i can continue to text my sister. You know how this ends, dontcha? I went to go text him after talking to my sister, and I found I had DELETED his text!! NOOOOO!!! I thought of ways to retrieve it, but I am taking it as a sign that I am not suppose to know why- plus my imagination is way funner to go by.

So I am left to my own conclusions that the boy I once secretly stalked is now stalking me!!

I'm Bringing Sexy Back (what)

2009-01-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

So on MSN, their featured article is on year 10 Surprizingly Sexy Careers. And mine is #1!!! Boo yah- take that! I know you are a little skeptical of how such an average job is sexy, and how I, of all people, have the #1 sexiest job. But here to prove it is my handy dandy screen shot, that I will comment on below.

So let's break this down. 1st sentence: "When you visit almost any workplace, a smiling administrative assistant greets you." I DON'T greet people, unless they are VIP visitors for the directors I support- that is the receptionist's job. But I have a few people in a group who nicknamed me "Smiley"- so that is spot on. Moving on. "AA's know the answers..." Enough said. That is me. They also call me "The Go-to Girl/Gal (depending what part of New England you are from). Sometimes it is overwhelming how much people expect me to know, but I have learned a lot over the last 2 years- and people come to me with anything from a broken table to international phone codes....

My favorite description: "Knowledge, good looks, nice personality and helpfulness? Yes, please." Stop it. I am starting to blush. All true? Yes, please. My boss called me "Hey Pretty" one day. Under his breath, barely audible- but it counts, okay?!

Almost done. "And since they frequently work closely with high-level executives who value their opinions, they often possess a hidden but large cache of power." This is probably the best part of my whole job!! As far as my opinion goes, it is golden. My bosses (I have 4) is in a meeting with the Founder/Director/Pres. Obama's new Scientific Advisor, and they plan on going to see a Broadway show while they are in NYC for a big government meeting. So right in the middle of their meeting they call me to ask what they should see. And they saw what I suggested ("In the Heights" by the way.) It's funny, cause I am so insignificant in the process of what happens here scientifically, yet I have the ultimate in. Things I get: A huge Pizza Halloween Party cause I suggested we all dress up and make it a party. Check. Silly Putty with our company logo. check. 3 sets of gifts- Christmas/Birthday/Administrative Assistant Day. Check. Nice, brand new BLACK Mac laptop even though I wasn't due for a new computré for another 3 years! Check. Vendor gifts they don't want, like the digital picture frame I got a couple months ago. check. The best one is this: Trip to Marco Island, Florida for a week to hang out on the beach- all expense paid for courtesy of the Broad! Now if that ain't sexy, I don't know what is.

Last, but certainly not least: "Administrative Assistants have the whole package." yup. the end.

MOS Broad Party

2008-12-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

We had our Broad Holiday Party on Thursday night! It was at the Museum of Science (MOS), which I just love! Me and my boo Jason went together and had so much fun!

And an exciting piece of news is that our founder/director of the institute, Eric Lander, was appointed 1 of 4 scientific advisor for President Obama!!

Astronauts!

This is our shadows that stuck on the wall from the super bright light shot at us!! I love the Museum of Science!!

Consider Yourself Our Mate

2008-12-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

Yay!! Oliver opened on Friday, and it was such a great opening weekend! Lots of pics to come, but here is the crew from the opening night that came to watch!! I have such great friends that are so supportive!

Almost the exact same crew as FOTR opening night + Esther (my cousin who I adore!)
L-R: Britany, Ben, Me, Emily, Esther

Ok- Eric is in the show, but he was looking dapper in that suit. And we play opposite each other for like 3 min, so it is appropriate to give him a proper shout out! Love your face Eric!!

ps- my hair is really special in these pictures, but what can you expect after sweating under my caps all night! Did I mention I get to wear a hat from Les Miz, yes the real one. Pics to come!

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

2008-12-09T07:44:00.001-08:00

There is nothing I love more than the Messiah. It is my favorite Christmas music, and I truly think it is the most inspired work. Our Stake has a tradition of a Sing-a-Long at the chapel by the temple in Belmont. I did it last year and loved it. So I went this year with my friends Brit and Ben. During the 1st half of the oratorio, the women next to me dissapeared, came back and asked if I would sing the alto solo "He Was Despised." I guess she was the mom of the lady in charge. So I did it and it was fun. They had a chamber orchestra and all. I had sung it 4 years before for BYU-I so it was not a big deal. There were 2 lines though where i might have made up a couple of notes. But the overall night was just what I needed to start off the holiday season.

Along with the Sing-a-Long, Sunday was such a beautiful day. It was 'snow globe' snowing here- so it felt like Christmas, and did not stick at all- so that was perfect. And then the Christmas Devotional with the 1st Presidency and the MoTab is always my favorite part of the Christmas. Elder Eyring's talk was so good- it was the one that touched me the most. The Samuel the Lamenite comment about the angry mob that had to be reminded that Sam didn't get hit was so funny, and then he had me in tears the next moment with his touching comments about the lambs and being followers of Christ and how important they were. I loved it.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Favorite Moment of my week

2008-12-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

My friend Ryan Simmons made this video, and it made me laugh. I wish I could post the video right up on my blog- but my youtube account is stupid. So here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Kl2T3bQm4

Enjoy!

DisneyWorld

2008-11-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

So I will be posting little blurbs of my DisneyWorld trip for this next week! One of my favorite people ever, Amy Diane Shreeve, has been playing Belle on the stage show of Beauty and the Beast in Florida. I have been meaning to fly down there since I have moved out here, but it always falls through. With the news that she was done in February, I had to make a trip to see her, and the first weekend in November was my only chance to do it! So I went down on a Sat night- Wednesday early morning. I spent Sunday with Amy and Chuck (her now fiance) and spent Mon-Tuesday in the park playing with Amy (when not Belle) and her fabulous roommate Kim, who graciously was my park buddy!

These ones are of Amy's show. I took a ton of pics the first time I saw the show! It was fun, cause we got VIP seating, so we got the rope lifted for us on the 2nd row, and we were marked on the ticket "Friends of Belle." It was cool

Me, Belle and Kim

SYTYCD Tour

2008-11-10T09:07:00.001-08:00

So I have been obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) for the last couple of years. For those of you who don't know, it is basically American Idol for dancers. I fortunatly found out that some co-workers and one of our sales rep who is a good friend love it too. So all summer we would be on the phone with each other hashing out the results of the episodes, and sending each other our favorite clips of the dancers from youtube.com. So we naturally got tickets to go to the tour concert they do!! So we made a whole night of it. We went to Petit Roberts Bistro. I had Frog Legs, just to do it. No, they weren't gross. They were just bland. Tasted like tofu, which I don't like. But my dessert was a yummy choco cake with a choclate Eiffel Tower- so that was cool.

So the best part of the night was the drive to the stadium. Ok- it was right down the road, like a couple miles away, usually not a biggie. But somehow, the 5 min drive took us over 1/2 hour. and we only left 10 min before the concert started, so we are just sitting in traffic as our concert is happening without us. And if you know me, you would know that I HATE being late for anything, and so I was so antsy and going crazy knowing that we were super super late. But I did my best to act patient and calm. Erin, our Illumina Sales Red who I adore, wasn't so fine with being patient. So she is trying her best to weave through traffic. We finally get to the stadium, and bypass the 1st Parking Road to go to the Additional Parking Road. So try to get this: we turn off the main road onto a smaller 2-way road. We have been sitting in traffic for the last 1/2 hour, and we are ALMOST there- and pulling our hair out. When we turn onto this smaller road, it is backed up as well. So Erin, pulls out of the line and speeds down the road, on the wrong side, by passing all the cars. And granted, we didn' t have to pass just a couple cars, it was like a 25 car back up. We were freaking out cause we were driving on the wrong side of the road, and we were late... but it worked. We got into the parking lot without any trouble or honks (surprising!!)!! and it was the coolest moment. Erin gets 1025 points for that one!

Here are pics from the show:

Me, Sheila, Erin and Maura in front of the stage at intermission. The Snuggle bear is just standing up there. Weird.

This is how stinking close we were. Erin had a connection and got us 4th row on the floor!!

Ok- this is like most of the favorite dancers, starting with Twitch and Kherington (far left) then to Marc and Chelsie, Courtney and Gev (stars of the show in my opinion). Then Comfort and Thayne, who I do not really like, then Jessica on the very end.

This one includes my and our favorite dancers. There is Joshua in the blue- who was this years winner. My friend Ryan from Fiddler on the Roof is friends with him and was in dance classes and shows- how cool!. And then in the pink tank is Katee!! Who is the best! She was the top girl of the season! she was so amazing. Then on the end in the green pants is Will, and he is a beautiful dancer- especially with his shirt off. yup.

Empire State Building

2008-11-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

We went to the biggest tourist attraction in NYC, the Empire State Building. Thanks for the elevator ticket mom.

Central Park

mom

me and my mom!

Never Enough Ryan to go Around

2008-11-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Me and my Mom went to the Stardust Cafe where my friend Ryan Simmons works. It is this little tourist trap 50s type diner in Time Square. The waiters all take turns singing show and pop tunes! Ryan sang a couple, and they were hysterically amazing! He is the best entertainer in the world, and I have yet to see anyone beat him on how good of a show he puts on when he does his thing! Unfortch, the retaurant did not let us bust out Settlers of Catan, cause that is our fave game to play with him!

2 bricks for your hay, Ryna??

Make Way for Ducklings

2008-11-06T16:14:00.001-08:00

There is a famous book about Boston called "Make Way for Ducklings." There is a statue(s) errected in the Boston Public Gardens that is so cute. And I added my own favorite addition to the picture, hehe!

Just a Spoonful of Sugar

2008-11-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

When in NYC, me and my mom went to Mary Poppins. It was amazing. I cried through almost the entire thing!! I had such a headache afterwards. I had seen this show more than a year ago, and I was just as weepy then- I just cry when I am extremely happy. And the guy playing Burt was very good looking... yah. And I just will never get over the Supercalifragi..... number! so great

And what a small world. After the show, we offered to take a families picture in front of the marque, and they offered back in return to take a pic of me and my mom. When we were posing, the dad asked where we were from, to which we replied "Idaho." Turns out they were a nice Mormon family from Pleasant Grove, UT. They had been flown out to film the Rachel Ray show on the segment about embarrassing parents (the parents submitted themselves, which is funny). To go even farther than just being 2 displaced Mormon families, the dad knew my uncle through business associations, and the mom use to date a guy that we know from Idaho Falls.

The whole night was Practically Perfect in Every Way!!

Ashton's invade NYC

2008-10-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

My mom has been to New England a few times, but has never gone to NYC. So we just had to go. I got us great tickets for Mary Poppins, so we were mainly going there to see it. But we hit up Central Park- which I had never walked through before, visited the Apple Store, saw the Temple, watched the amazing Mary Poppins, then stayed in our lovely hotel that my friend Vicki got us for $39 and it was right by Madison Sq Garden!

The Apple Store where my good friend Ryan Wood works. We were lucky enough to catch him there! So fun to see him when I go to NYC!

All the Carriages and Tour bus right outside the park

CENTRAL PARK

Skating Rink seen in several movies, including Serendipity. See how many others you can name... haha

Manhattan Temple. Beautiful. Fits right in, too.

My Mom came to Visit

2008-10-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

My mom came last week for a trip (Tuesday to Tuesday) so we had to fill in a lot in one week! We had so much fun. I took her to my favorite cheap Mexican Restaurant BORDERS in Harvard Square. I did a recital at MIT on Wednesday, which was fun. Then we went to Legal Seafood for lunch (yummy!) and took her to the Broad to get a tour.

The pic below is of me and my fabulous friend and accompanist Emily Taylor

FotR Opening Fun

2008-10-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

So I have been in rehearsals for the last month strait- so not only have I really had nothing to blog about, I haven't had the time. But we finally opened so I have some pics, etc...

So I am in Fiddler on the Roof at the Fiddlehead Theater, and it has been the best experience. I love the people all around, and I have surprisingly have loved the show. I was so excited to get back into doing shows again, but wasn't thrilled it was Fiddler because I felt it was so cliche. But we have worked really hard as an ensemble to make more than just a "show" but to really breathe an authentic life into our characters and this little town of Anatevka. It has been wonderful and moving for me to be a part of this show. It is also a new level of professionalism for me, and I have learned so much from the experience and everyone I work with.

My friends Emily, Brittany and Ben all came to the opening night! It was so fun to have someone in the audience, and especially 3 of my favorite people

Here are some pics from the girls dressing room, and the opening night party!!

Getting ready for the show. Note the long costume plot under the mirror. Our director designed and made all of the costumes for the show. He is amazing! He was the wardrobe supervisor for national tours of Les Miz, Lion King and Wicked- very cool

A- for Anatevka. Gangstah Jews.

Me and the boys- well, some of them.

This is my boyfriend James. Well- he would be if he liked girls.

Me and Stacey are the "generic" women of the show and proud of it!

Oh, we love Danny!!

My boo Jason. Love him.

Move over Lance Armstrong

2008-09-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

HAHA! just kidding. seriously kidding. Anyways... I was part of a relay group for a Sprint Triathlon last Sunday. It was a very new experience for me since I never do anything athletic competitively (besides Softball), and it was very fun. It was somewhat painful to get up at 6:50am in the morning, due to me and my peeps getting to bed around 2-3 in the morning from being at the camp out the night before in New Hampshire. But Jane (my boss) woke me up with a phone call 10 min before we were suppose to leave (woops- my alarm didn't go off or I didn't hear it, don't know which one). We picked up Lauren (my co-worker) and headed down to Hull, MA. It was a beautiful day- Jane and her hubby ended up with sunburns. I, of course, did the bike leg of the tri, and I completed the 10 miles in 36min. Not too shabby for not training really, and eating crap all weekend long... So I was proud of myself, and my goal is to do the full triathlon next year. maybe. we'll see. hmmm.

Group huddle pre-race. I was the capt and my team was a little paranoid. I told them "We already gave our $81 each to cancer, so no one gives a crap what time we get." and also something along the lines of "don't let them gain a single yard. You make them remember (pause) the night they played the Titans"

Coming in off the beautiful beach side ride

Jane, me and Lauren post race. Showing off our muscles and number tats. Go team 589! The "R" is for Relay. It might still be on my leg. oh nope. just checked, it has washed off now.

OH MY JOSH!!

2008-09-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

My Birthday present to myself this year was a ticket to the Boston Pops featuring Chris Botti. The concert was last night, and it was amazing. Chris is a Grammy Winning trumpeter, but I went because of who he brought with him.... Josh Groban!! And Sting, Steven Tyler, Katherine McPhee and John Mayer! It was an awesome concert! I skipped out of the last encore number and waited with deep anticipation by the stage door. And all my prayers and dreams came true! I had brought a picture from the program of his Awake Concert tour, and held it out for him to sign. I was right by his car, so it took him a minute to get where I was. But he was so awesome and took my picture and signed it! I yelled "I love you Josh" a couple hundred times, and then he took off in his black Sedan. I was in tears afterwards! I really do love him. He is gorgeous, sings like no one else in the world, and is the nicest guy ever!!

PS- Steven Tyler is a true Rock Star!! He had his own decorated microphone stand for the concert! And his mouth really is ginormous. No Joke. And he sang a Jazz song for his second number, "Smile" and it is a really good thing he is just a rocker, cause as cool as it was cause it was him, it is not his genre! But he was a treat! He knows how to make the stage his...

A little snippet of Josh and Sting's duet. They had to redo it 3 times, because Josh was only there the one night, and they were recording the concert for a PBS Special. And they had to redo it because they did not like this first take with the mic stands in the way. And then Josh's contact almost fell out when he started his solo... It was so cute. Sting was firing everyone- in a very funny joking way! He had fired Chris, the trumpeter twice, and then he just looked at Josh as was like "ya know what, you are fired to." So cute! ps- i filmed this through my binoculars, so it goes black for a minute but comes back. I had to re-align the camera into the lens. haha!

Look how close I was!! Isn't he gorgeous! His hair was so perfect!

My signed picture. Hot, right?!

Josh Taking my picture to sign it! And he is so happy to. Nicest guy ever!!

The pure excitement of just being close enough to Josh to kiss him!

It's my Birthday!!!

2008-09-15T11:32:00.001-07:00

My favorite day has finally arrived. I love September 15th!! I love any day that is about me and holds in store presents and cake and anything I want to do... I think that is the best part is when you want someone to do something with you and they don't want to, and you are like "But it's my birthday..." then they have to do it. Birthday Blackmail.

Me and Brit made Cupcake Pops! They were cake with frosting rolled into mini-cupcakes and then covered with chocolate! Fun, messy and yummy treat we made!

I had a super fun BUNKO party last night to celebrate- and am having my Dad's BBQ chicken for dinner tonight, which is my favorite!! So it has been a good birthday

Bunko Party!!

BUNKO Winners!!
Cyrus got most points and Nate got most Bunkos

Brit, Emily, Me, Esther and Caro at the end of a fun night!

Good bye Peggy Jean

2008-09-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

My good friend Peggy (pictures on left in pic above) moved away from Boston last week (tear) and she threw the funnest going away party! She transformed our church gym into a magical 20's festival of lights!!! Everyone looked so great dressed up! Pegs asked me to sing some 20's songs, which I did gladly- and had so much fun doing. And then we got to sing one last time together! I just want you all to know not to worry- I will never wear this short of a skirt ever again!

Genes Model

2008-08-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Broad decided to re-do and get all new pictures of our labs, etc... cause we don't own any of the rights to our own pics right now, and we want to. So the photographers were over at our building, and I got asked to be a model for some of the pictures. So here I am coming down the stairs in a lab coat holding notebooks I borrowed from an informatics dude. I am talking to my fellow admin Lisa about absolutely nothing scientific, even though we tried to look like we were...

I look very scientific, don't I??

My Hero Miles

2008-08-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

This happened a while ago, but my mom just sent me the picture of it.
My mom met the most amazing English Gent a couple years ago when she spoke at MDRT in San Diego. His name is Miles Hilton-Barber. As soon as she told me about him, I was entranced by him and his accomplishments! I listened to his CD's and he is just the cutest man, and I love listening to him. He is seriously the most amazing person for so many reasons!! When my mom got asked to speak in Japan for MDRT again, she found out Miles was coming to speak as well. It might have been the motivating factor for me going with my mom!!

So I got to meet Miles and his wonderful wife Stephanie, and it was the best. He is so lovely and so funny! Just the most charming person to talk to. I was lucky enough to spend some quality one on one time with him when I got to escort him back to the hotel after the reception Sunday night. He is blind, and his wife was already gone, so he asked my mother specifically if I would take him!! So I got to talk to Miles all about his adventures overseas. Just the week before he broke the record for being the first blind man to break the sound barrier by flying a jet with a sighted co-pilot. He flew in South Africa at a spead of 1 and, the jet climbed to 50,000ft (15,000m) in under two minutes. I asked him how it was, cause he loves loves loves flying, and he was like (paraphrasing of course)"Chelsea- it was amazing!! I of course can't see anything, but the feeling of going strait up so fast was exhilarating. And I was scaring the co-pilot cause i kept turning the plane and doing 180's and having the time of my life. So not only was I the first blind man to fly the plane like that, but I was the first one to throw up all over the cabin of it!!" He was so cute and so funny! and so nice to me! He could be the 2nd most amazing person I've met, 2nd to President Hinckley.

Check out his website: http://www.mileshilton-barber.com/

Close Encounters of the Skype Kind

2008-08-06T09:23:00.001-07:00

This is the first picture of me and my little nephew Ashton. I was on Skype with my family yesterday (Megan is staying with my mom while her hubby is in Mexico on business- LUCKY for both of them...) Anyways, I thought it would be great to get a picture of us together, and it worked very nicely don't you think??

He is a little stinker! Just look at how cute he is.
And he is a RED SOX fan, just like his Aunt Cheltsea!

This is so David Letterman

2008-08-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Or whoever does that segment where they show local business signs, etc that are really funny. I was reading a free online newspaper about Idaho Falls (my home city) and this was the best! The article as about how Idaho Falls is really trying to develop the water front of the city (which I think is great!) and was highlighting one of the contractors doing something. The contractor had a party on the river and this was one of the pictures of the event with the heading:

Meet me at the pier - July 31, 2008

I think I'll pass on meeting this cup ANYWHERE!! I couldn't be more pleased. =)

Linda's B-Day- What a weekend!

2008-08-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Lovely Linda's B-day last weekend! It was a blast. Night one we went to our favorite eatery: The Border's Cafe! I had 3 ginormous glasses of Diet Coke with 7 limes in honor of our late friend M.E. Dont worry, she didn't die, she just moved away to the other side of the country. Good way to kill the fun. Anyways. Then we went back to Meredith's house to eat the most amazing cake ever (100% from scratch!) and watch So You Think You Can Dance results. We were all totally bummed Chelsie got kicked off. She is much better and way more likable than Courtney. whatever.

Can't remember why she did this face, but it is funny

The real Birthday Crew

On to Night #2: BOOZE CRUISE!!!

That's right peeps. 10 Mormons on a booze cruise listening to a sweet Guns n Roses Tribute band!! Me and Peggy acted like we were drunk most of the night and led the group into the middle of the partay!! We met some fun friends (minus the one who kept groping Pegs) that we will never see again, but we had a great night! What a fun Birthday Party idea Linda!! If I were here, I would just say "Top That!"

Us before the craziness set in

Seth and Brenda looking sexy, as always....

Me and Peggy incredibly faux-drunk on the dance floor

As fun as this glorious night was, I fear we were ready to be done for the night!!
We docked at about 11:30ish, so we were all beat!

One if by land, Two if at Sea. Well- we got 4!! (kids that is!)

2008-08-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

I took Thursday off of work this week to hang out with Esther, Ann and the little bits before they move away (so sad, not thinking about it) We went to the Bunker Hill monument and then over to the USS Constitution which was American's first navy ship. They are the last 2 stops on the Freedom Trail. None of us had actually been to them, because by the time you are there on the Freedom Trail, you just want to get on the T and go home from exhaustion. So it was fun to go with them to see the unvisited FT sites. Here are a bunch of pics from the day!! I just am going to miss the Rowans so much. And the Twins have gotten so big! They are 17 months! Benjamin is running around, and Kate took her first 4 steps yesterday TO ME!!! How exciting!

Our Picnic at the Bunker Hill Monument

Me and my lovely cousin Ann who I am going to miss so much!

Benjamin was just walking around with this one bite in his mouth for a while. It was very funny! He loves to stick things in his mouth. But God bless non-picky eaters.

And then he was just done. This was also very funny. Notice he still has the sandwich crusts in hand. Saving it for later.

2 cutest red headed kids ever!!

So cute. Esther and Kate are two peas in a pod. Kate loves Esther.
Look:

It really doesn't get cuter than that!

Benjamin was cracking me up all day. He has such a fun personality and a strong sense of humor is starting to come through

Too cute not to0 post.
Me and Esther stayed on the main deck of the ship while Ann and the two older kids climbed down below deck to check out the cannons. The twins were having the time of their life crawling and walking on the ship. They pretty much had it all to themselves, so it was fun!

Liza's best Pirate Face!! We learned America first established a Navy to stand up to all the pirates who raided our trading ships. Pretty cool.

And here is our little soldier to fight them off! Ashton loves the minute man history and their guns. History according to Ashton is the most amusing thing I have ever heard. I died laughing the first time he told about how America defeated the British. "Well, God came down to give them freedom, but they shot him... on assident."

The soldier asleep.
The kids got to try out the hammocks that the sailors slept in. I told Ashton to pretend he was asleep for the picture. He has a very constipated look on his face for someone asleep.
He cracks me up.

LOD: Legion of DOOM

2008-08-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

We had our last games Wednesday night of the season. We had a fun double header. I thought we did quite good, considering how BAD we usually are. Our 1st game was only 27 to 5! And we won 1 game this season!! Step up from last year. Next year we might just win 2!! But we have so much fun playing together. I play with the Systems team here at the Broad. We play in a MIT intermural league every Wednesday night, and it is a riot. Below is most of our regular team. We are missing a couple key people who decided to take a vacation. Who does that?

"Where's Chelsea??"

"HERE I AM!!"
(the one that you love, asking for another daaaayyyyay)

Mama Mia. Here I go Again....

2008-07-25T08:20:00.001-07:00

I went and saw this last night with my a fun group of girls from my ward. It was the funnest movie ever! I was laughing through the whole thing. So cute and so fun! The most talented actors in hollywood just sold the absurdity of this popular musical!!

This was one of my favoirite songs in the show. I wish they had a better clip of it, but Pierce Brosnan is a gem.... http://youtube.com/watch?v=I7jZ7AdFSKo

I used to have a huge crush on Pierce, starting with Dante's Peak. I still have a soft spot in my heart for him, so watching him play Sam in this musical was just the best and most hysterical thing ever!!

You all have to see this movie!! It honestly is so great!

Why I love my job

2008-07-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

So I love my job. Have since day 1, and now a year 1/2 later- I still am excited to come in everyday. I work at a place called the Broad Institute of MIT. The Platform I support sequences DNA. It is very excited work that I don't really get, but it is really cool. Anyways- I have the best supervisor, Jane, and she as been so kind as to include the two admins into the Project Management group she is the director of. On Friday, we took our outing as a group. I biked to her house in Bedford, then we went kayaking on the Concord River, then bbq-ed at Jane's house and swam in her pool. The evening ended with the Wii and Ice-Cream!! It was a fun day, and fun to spend time with the people who make work so enjoyable!!

This is the "Booze Cruise" as I liked to call her. Amanda filled her kayak with beer, fruit juice (for yours truly) and all the sugar snacks + Cheeze Balls Leigh bought!! Me, Amanda and Leigh had a good time holding up the back and singing our guts out to Oldies, Rock, Brittney S, and Disney!!

This is me and Leigh!! I adore this girl! So glad she just joined the team. She is getting married on Friday!! We tied our Kayak's together so we could drift together. We had to untie cause we got way behind and had to catch up!

And this is the Whole team (plus significant others...)

Jane is in the chair- she is the matriarch of the team and the coolest person on earth...
On the 2nd row (left to right starting) is Leigh (pink shirt), Kerri, Pete (Lisa's husand), Spidey- Heidi, Lisa (my office mate and fellow admin), Rosie- cutest person on earth and then her husband Griff.
And the 4 on the back row is Peter (Kerri's boyfriend), Jason- the only guy on the team of 9 women! and then ME! and last but not least, Lauren

Funnest group on earth!

James Taylor

2008-07-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

Me and my good friend Linda drove to Lenox Mass on July 3rd to see James Taylor. He rocks. He was one of my dad's favorites, and he is one of mine as well. We got to drive through the Berkshires, and the were gorgeous. It was raining off and on so the mountains (hills really, compared to the Rockies) but they were all misty and very cool. We got to the concert a bit late, thanks to the last 4 miles that took an hour and 1/2 to drive!!

But it was so wonderful to see him live, to sit on the lawn and enjoy the New Englander concert goers. Next time me and Linda will be much more prepared to fit in- we will bring coolers, lawn chairs, wine glasses and a mosquito candle.

We were lucky, and got to see him perform one of our favorites "Sweet Baby James." Brought us to tears- pure joy!!

Couple More Video's of Ryan

2008-07-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get these to load last time, so I thought I would try again. No rhyme or reason to any of these:

I can't delete the duplicate, but it is kinda fun to watch both at the same time a little off of each other!!

I just cannot get some of the videos to post, so I am done trying. but enjoy these 2!!

Legally Patriotic

2008-07-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

So I took a well deserved two days off of work before the 4th of July and spent my time traveling!! My first day I went to New York City. It was so fun. I took the new BOLT BUS (highly recommend it) and First Went to see Legally Blonde. It is the last month Laura Bell Bundy (original) is playing Elle Woods, so I had to see her, right? not so much. Her understudy played her, and was just not that good. She had a great voice, but was a horrible actor. Overall- the ensemble actors were really lazy and were breaking character all the time. Thank goodness for Christian Borle and Orfey who play Emmett and Paulette. The new Brooke Windom was really good too. They were amazing and I actually felt like they enjoyed performing even on a Wednesday afternoon. Don't get me wrong- It is an awesome show, with great music, dancing, script and characters that are really fun and adorable!! I absolutely enjoyed myself!

The reason for going to NYC, however, was to see my good friend Ryan Simmons perform his 4th of July Cabaret: "A Star Spangled Spectacle!" It was the greatest thing I have ever seen!! Laughs from start to finish! Me and Shalyse Walker went to it and just laughed our heads off.

Some highlights of his show:

-Opening number, "Coming to America" Ryan came out in this Jewish costume with a paper boat strapped to his middle, cradling a black baby doll. Then stripped the beard for this outfit....

-My favorite section of whatever, was when Ryan told about how in his genealogy, he found he was related to Pocahontas. So he put on the feather headdress and sang/rapped/danced Indian Related songs. My favorite being "Colors of the Wind" which included sign language and Ribbon dancing. Too funny!

- Ryan read some inspirational America quotes. They were short and his reacation to them were funny, but the best was when he busted out Bill Pullman (not Paxton)'s "Independence Day" speach he gives to all the pilots. "We will Not go quietly into the night...."!

-After being Jewish and Indian, Ryan got in touch with his black roots that he gained while living in Harlem. "I understand their plight now..."

- The most inspirational part of the night was Ryan helping his little Eagle friend fly by letting him know that he was "Born Free, as free as the wind blows...." Because eagles "eat (or live?) freedom." That was funny too.
Nothing was more enjoyable than just watching Ryan be Ryan. All the un-PC jokes, high kicks, big mouth, big hair, crazy outfit, beyond incredible creative costuming.... it was a night to remember! Happy Birthday America!

RE-Absorbed Twin

2008-06-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

It was my wonderful cousin Ann's Birthday yesterday, and so we had a cousins dinner yesterday (which was amazing) and played our favorite game "Table Topics" and we always end up having hilarious conversation. Last nights was super funny for reasons I don't think I should share publicly, for Jamin's Pride's sake... But we were talking about twins for obvious reasons that they have a set, and this quote came into my head. It could be one of the funniest things ever said. It is from "The Office" and I couldn't quote it correctly at all last night, so I thought I would share it on my cyber space blog:

"When my mother was pregnant with me they did an ultrasound and found out she was having twins.... A few weeks later, they discovered that I had reabsorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No. I believe his tissues made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby."

-Dwight K. Schrute (who else?)

Japan: DisneyLand!!

2008-06-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well- it was actually called DisneySea that we went to. They had two parks ajacent to each other, and we picked the one with the fun rides. I loved it. Me and my mom had so much more fun than we thought we would. We went on the last Friday there. It was forecasted to rain, so my mom wasn't too psyced to go, but it turned out to be the warmest day we were there- no rain! and the park was not crowded at all- the forecast of rain must have turned them away.

They had all the classic rides: Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, and uhmmmm.... the rest of the classics were in the other park. There was one kinda like Splash mountain that was really fun. I got to meet Daisy Duck, and we saw a live show of The Little Mermaid. But in the live show, Ariel choses not to get legs from Ursula because she loves it too much under the sea. A little different from the American version.... And we kinda got tired of hearing Japanese this day. You don't realize how much they have voice recordings speaking at you until you can't understand a word besides "Konichiwa" and "Arigato." Headache. But it was still fun!

This was the America Land part of the Park. It was set up like NYC in the 1920's. The Mickey Jazz show was the best live show we saw- and it was the ONLY on in English!!

I am charming the rope snake in the Middle East!

Indiana Jones!! I was so excited to go on this ride. It was closed the week we went to DisneyWorld when I went in High School- so this was a post-poned dream come true!

Japan: Nokogiriyama

2008-06-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

Nokogiriyama (Sawtooth Mountains) was one of the coolest places I have ever been to. This was pretty much the last day I had to do stuff. My mom stayed in Chiba and attended the MDRT meetings. I went off to another part of the Chiba prefecture and explored. I navigated my way through the trains that went to the less traveled terrain of Japan and had a grand adventure. This post is mostly pictures- and they hardly depict the beauty of this day.

I have to tell you about this mountain though. It is a bunch of Buddist Temples built into a sheer cliff. It had temples and little Buddha images all over the side of it. And because it is so steep, they built staircases that wind all over the mountain. I don't know which is worse. Hiking a steep mountain, or climbing THOUSANDS of stairs. Either way, it was a work out!! But shaded by the trees, so that was nice. On the mountain is one of the Largest Buddahs in the World. It was awe inspiring to come down this forever long stairway, and come to this little meadow with this ginormous statue watching over it! It was beautiful.

From the top of the mountain you can see Tokyo Bay, Mt. Fuji (on a clear day- which it wasn't) and tons of little surrounding islands. Such a cool place. But I was super tired at the end of it. All the stair climbing was exhasting!!

Japan: Transportation

2008-06-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

Ok- so this is almost the last post about Japan. And this isn't really an event, but maybe my favorite thing about Japan. TRANSPORTATION. Being a city girl, I really love seeing public transportation and seeing how "green" cities are I also love cute little things so I loved their cars... couldn't get enough of them.

This was honestly a mini-mini. I wish I could have stood next to it for comparison, but it was so tiny!!

I am noticing this more in America, but they HEARTed boxed cars.

If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the tiny fronts of trucks and semis. They are so cute.

Everywhere you looked people were on bikes. I loved that, being a bicycle commuter myself. Women would have groceries and kids strapped all over her bicycle and just cruise in and out of people on the sidewalk (also jealous they can ride on the sidewalk- it is illegal in Cambridge). And they rode on adorable beach cruiser type bikes. The old fasion 50s bikes, ya know. Everone here has really sleek racing road bikes and they were they bike shorts and tight spandex shirts. I loved how they just cruised around on very simple bikes!!
Here is a PARKING LOT! for bikes!!

I could write for pages about their transportation. I love their subways/trains. Always on time!! Very smooth riding. And they really have men that are assigned to push people into the train. I had that experience once. When I thought I couldn't get in the car any farther, ohps, there was a good 2 feet i got shoved back into all the little Japanese people!! haha!

By the Way...

2008-05-29T11:39:00.001-07:00

In all this Japanese Blogging, I forgot to mention that I am an AUNT!!! Ashton Shayne Webster was born May 6th, 2008. He is getting better looking every day. I haven't met him and won't for a while, but here are a couple pics I am stealing from Megan and Ty (Hope you don't Mind!!)

Here is my favorite picture of him! Such a goof!

And here is one of him in a cute little outfit I bought for him:

And here is one more:

Chiba

2008-05-29T11:19:00.001-07:00

We went to Chiba for my Mom's conference. We were there for 5 days, I believe. It was definitly not as exciting as Toky0, but we had a really nice hotel room that made up for that.

View from hotel room (window behind us):

There was an outlet mall with really posh stored across the street. We frequented the Crepe wagon. I liked mine filled with Whip Cream, Strawberries and Chocolate. Behind our hotel was the Chiba's Baseball team stadium. It was like an intergalactic version of Fenway Park. We missed the Sox playing there by 2 weeks. Sad. But whenever I told the Japanese people where I was from (Boston), they all would say "oh, Led Sox." yup.

I got to rent a bike there for a couple hours. It was awesome. The city was small enough to bike the perimeter in like 20 minutes, it was small but advanced!! This canal ran on the side of the city. It was beautiful

But I spent most my time on the beach. There were jelly fish on the shore, and you could see the big freighters out in the ocean. It wasn't the most beautiful beach ever, but it had a very eerie sequesterd feeling that was very intriguing.

Above is a man casting his fishing net (reminds me of Jin in LOST)
My foot in the ocean. It was cold, just in case you were wondering.

Japan: Day Three

2008-05-14T09:09:00.001-07:00

We got up early this day, and went to the bus station. We were excited because the day before we saw this lovely breakfast pastry shop so we came early to eat breakfast there. Sadly, they didn't have the blueberry bagels I saw the day before. So I got a donut and my mom got a cream cheese Danish. Ha ha! One of our first rude awakenings that food does not taste like it looks. My donut had that bean paste in the middle, that was in the treats we got the day before and hated. So I ate the outside of it. yummy. And my mom's Cream Cheese Danish turned out to be a Mayonnaise and Onion Danish!!! That was so funny!

Then we got on the bus in front of the most lovely and lively characters from England. A couple of rows behind them was this beautiful young Indian family, with the cutest little girls- who I just wanted to kidnap!

And this is a picture of our tour guide, Sunny

After a long bus ride, we arrived in Nikko. It is a small city North of Tokyo. It is the entrance to Nikko National Park- which parts are on the World Heritage Site's list. Sufficed to say- the whole trip was very scenic and so much to take in.

We first went to Toshogu, the most decorated shrine COMPLEX in Japan. When I say complex, I mean it. There were so many buildings in the one little area.

They had one arch called the "Sunrise/Sunset" gate because it takes at least from Sunrise to Sunset to take in all the carvings and details.

This is also the home of the original 3 Monkeys who "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil." It was on the horse shed for the imperial horses.

I was honestly obsessed with the carvings all over of the elephants. In every part of Japan, they had funky looking elephants. Our tour guide told us that the Japanese never saw Elephants, only heard of them from tales from other countries, so all their carvings and statues of elephants are what they "thought" they looked like. It doesn't sound so neat typing it, but I seriously loved this! Below are 2 elephants in the roof

This palace was cool. it looked like it was made out of colorful Piano Roll boxes.

We were very lucky to catch a glimpse of a traditional wedding. The bride was beautiful- her dress bright white and her party in tradition geisha dress.

After taking in all the wonders at Toshogu, we had a traditional Japanese Lunch (will add the picture of it when my mom sends me her pics!) But there was Tempura and soup and salads and you eat everything with chopsticks (of course) and it was all served in really cool dishes!

We made a stop at a beautiful lake. It was super windy and cold.

Our last stop for the day was at Kegon Waterfall. It was pretty. I think waterfalls are more spectacular when you are at the bottom of them or standing directly over them- with that sick feeling of how far you would drop if you fell over! But we were at the top at a view, but it was still very pretty!

On the ride home, we saw Wild MONKEYS!!! How cool is that! It was a very memorable day!

Japan: Day Five (Monday)

2008-05-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

I was so excited for this day. I am in love with this Japanese Director names Hayao Miyazaki who created animae films such as "Spirited Away" (won Oscar for Best Animated Film- thanks to Maggie Merrill for introducing me to it!), "Kiki's Delivery Service," "My Neighbor Totoro," and "Castle in the Sky" to name a few. I checked out, months before we left, on whether I could get a tour of the Studio he works for (Ghibli Studios). Come to find out, there is an entire MUSEUM about his films and others that Ghibli Studios produces (but Miyazaki is there most famous filmaker so most of it is based on him). I was overjoyed that this day finally came!

We got out 1 station before the recomended one and walked through a park that our friend recommended to us. It was called Inokashira Onshi Park. It was raining a bit, but it was by far the most beautiful thing me and my mom had seen thus far, and remains the highlight of our trip.

Then here are the pics of the outside of the museum:

There is Totoro insided that bay to Welcome you to the Museum

Exact Replica of Kiki's little place in her movie

This is the big Robot from "Laputa:Castle in the Sky" that keeps peace and harmony on the floating castle

Unfortch we could not take pictures inside- but I found some on the internet to show ya'll.:This is the celing in the entrance.
Painted within the plants are characters from the movies that you can find

The stained glass windows were my favorite. Each movie had its own window. Above you can see cute little Kiki, and below is Totoro. The Cat Bus is on the top 1/2 moon glass, and Totoro and Mei are in the bottom 2 windows.

You get to go in the room (that reminds me of Baby's room in "Spirited Away") and watch Studio Ghibli's Short movies that are not shown any where else. We saw one where a puppy gets lost following his little girl to school. The little girl gets so worried, and looks everywhere for him and hangs up posters. But of course, me and my mom were in tears at the end when the cute little puppy and the girl were reunited.