I am officially back from Boston--what a place to visit! I had the luxury of traveling with my co-worker Anna (pictured right) and although we had to work, we managed to squeeze in as much fun as possible. Traveling to Boston was such an interesting experience--it's such a diverse place and I had no idea! To be honest, I felt so ignorant. So much of the world that I knew nothing about. And after traveling through Boston for a few days, it felt like I knew even less than I did before arriving in Boston only because now I know how much I don't know. Does that even make sense? However, I loved Boston. The town seemed like it never ended. Everywhere we went there were more and more stores, houses, and people. It smelled, sounded, and looked different. So amazing.
Notice my hat in the picture. It was so blasted cold that I had to buy a hat, but I could not find a beanie anywhere. So...I bought this silly hat and I felt like such an East Coaster. I'm such a dork. But I loved that hat, it kept my head warm, and it's super cute. I wore it as much as I could.
This is a road on the Freedom Trail, with cobbled roads, and stores and shops from the very beginning of Boston days. I thought it was one of the prettiest sights of the Freedom Trail.
The view from our hotel room--the Boston skyline. How pretty to wake up and go to sleep seeing this!
Me climbing Bunker Hill--a monument dedicated to a famous battle. I should probably know the details better! 294 stairs! I was panting like a racehorse once I made it to the top. The only reason I can smile in this picture is because...it's staged! This is actually me on the way back down!
For all of the things I associate with Boston--the Red Sox, Boston Baked Beans, clam chowder--I would never think lobster! Apparently the Bostonians love their lobster, there were lobster stuff everywhere! I particularly loved this hat and had to get a pic.
I'm happy to say that I have finished Jesus the Christ. Hooray! Goal #1 checked off. It took me about 2 1/2 months and countless hours at the gym to read 740 dense pages. There's not a lot I can say to adequately explain how this book affected me. It's awe-inspiring, heartbreaking, and such a monumental tribute . . . I don't think I'll ever consider the life of Jesus Christ in the same way. Basically, I'm at a loss for words. Mostly, I'm just so grateful I was able to read this book.
Kaylin informed me that I'm a jerk for telling an embarrassing story about her and refraining from saying one about myself. Sadly, I have no Lee Press On Nail stories, or trust me, you would have heard them. And although I'm sure Kaylin will never read my blog, I figured I'd provide a few embarrassing moments of my own. The real trick is knowing which stories to tell, I have so many that frankly, they all just tend to blend together.
1) The day I fell down on campus at 10:00 a.m. in the morning--only the busiest hour of the day at BYU. You should have seen the wicked bruise I had on my knee.
2) About to use the bathroom in the boy's locker room of my high school when two guys from my high school walked in and strolled right past me without even seeing me. Oh, yeah, did I mention there was no door on the stall? Or that it was a Sunday and my uncle/teacher just told me to use that bathroom because he didn't have keys to the women's locker room? I'm still wondering to this day how they had keys to use the high school on a Sunday.
3) When I fell down at the gym because my trainer Justin was making me jump side to side and my shirt was flying up and my pants were dropping down and I felt like all everyone could see was my gut flopping up and down so I reached down to hold my pants up and lost momentum. Justin wasn't even paying attention when I bit it right in front of him. Another wicked bruise, however. I limped for a couple days after that. He felt bad, as he should since I pay him good money!
4) Telling Justin (trainer dude) that chocolate was my achilles tendon, not my achilles heel. Oh, yeah, I'm an English major and a real stickler on proper grammar and usage.
I have more falling stories if anybody's interested.
One of my first books, Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! written by the good doctor himself. I don't think there are many kids who didn't grow up learning to read a Dr. Seuss book. I personally remember countless hours spent in front of Marvin K. Mooney, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and of course, Green Eggs and Ham. Oh, and don't forget How the Grinch Stole Christmas! I think anybody who can inspire reading amongst millions of children deserves much more than accolades or anything else that we could offer. Think about all the ways Dr. Seuss has influenced you!
When I was ten, I had to write an essay on where all of the missing socks go--I'm sure you're all familiar with those mateless socks that crowd your laundry basket week after week. Me, being the precocious, adorable child that I was, promptly wrote that the Boogeyman stole them. So lame, I even read my essay in front of the class; however, now I'm starting to wonder if the Boogeyman hasn't returned to my house because a few months ago I started to ask, "Where did all of the spoons go?"
My cute, red-handled spoons were becoming increasingly outnumbered by the forks, but especially the knives. Oh, those knives! How come we never lose those? And it seemed like every couple of days we had to run the dishwasher even though it was far from full. I'm sure those environmentalists would not be pleased.
I finally found the time to travel to Target on Thursday, with Kaylin and my friend Jeff in tow, with the plan to get new silverware so I didn't have to wash a spoon or fork every time I needed to eat. Kaylin and I went up and down the aisle, pointing out the ones we liked, the ones we didn't. For the most part, we are pretty cohesive when it comes to decorating which is good because being sisters, it would just be a lot of open defiance against the other's preference of decorating. (On a side note, we don't have the same taste in men, also a good thing.)
I picked up a box of silverware--they were kinda cute with squares of different sizes across the handles. I wasn't sure what I thought, was it worth the purchase? "What do you think, Kaylin? Do you like these?"
She grabbed them and peered at them closely. She shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, they're not bad. But what about those?"
Back and forth from one set to the next, but every time we kept coming back to the same box of silverware. Finally I held it up. "I think I like them."
Kaylin poked her finger into the box. "Oh, crap. I just lost my Lee Press On Nail in the box. Let me grab it."
At this point in time, my friend Jeff and I watched in amazement as she tried to fish out her Lee Press On Nail . . . until it slipped into the box below with the remainder of the silverware. "Oh, my gosh," I moaned, in between hysterics because I was laughing too hard, "we can't let someone else buy this box of silverware with your Lee Press On Nail floating in the box! Now we have to buy them!"
So Kaylin's press on nail is the reason behind our new silverware, which I do really like. But . . . if you eat at my house, just know that we promptly washed the silverware before eating off of them.
