New Year Thoughts

The start of the New Year came with a huge snow storm, which we're just coming out of. Perhaps not the worst storm we've ever seen (public transportation was still up and running, after all), but a pretty big one. It's funny to look back through some of the older posts and see how much the weather- mostly snow- is a topic of our posts. It affects us big time, though!

On the day I took these photos on my way to work early in the morning, I actually thought, "you know, this isn't nearly that bad." As long as I'm dressed appropriately, I feel great. Whenever the snow is piled up to knee level, or really whenever it snows, I say an ode to my Muck boots, which were supposed to be thrown out after trudging through swamps of cow manure for months, while out on farms in the dead of winter. However, I've found that no other winter boots can hold up to true work boots and have decided to keep them for every day wear. I am so happy I did! I am single-handedly starting the Muck boot trend. 

It was early enough in the morning and severe enough in terms of amount of snow-fall that most people most likely had the day off. Traffic was almost nonexistent and the vehicles that were on the road were traveling so slowly that the only noise you could hear was fresh snow crushing under the tires. 

I always say I never make resolutions for the New Year, but I suppose I secretly do. I read an interesting article that pretty much sums up how I feel about resolutions. We tend to make big sweeping resolutions but just like fads, they are quick to die out. However, it's the little stuff we do and stick to every day that really creates a change in lifestyle. And isn't this what we all want? I suppose that's why I don't make resolutions- I don't like big, sweeping changes, just little ones that almost don't seem like changes. 

So, some things I've been thinking about for 2014: less social media/ more real face-to-face time/ making time to see and spend time with great friends and family/ more bike rides with dog/ more new exciting activities with dog/ less clutter/ sweating the small stuff less/ more experiences (i.e going out to do things- similar to our 12 Dates of Christmas!)/ more reading for pleasure/ as always, more veggies and vitamins/ trying more recipes. 

Here we go, 2014. Seems do-able!

A typically busy street. Walking to work during the first blizzard of 2014. 

First photos: On the way to work. A street in the neighborhood. Still can't tell where the sidewalk ends and the street starts AFTER the plow came through!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We spend NYE in Sturbridge this year, at a wedding of a friend. We stayed up LATE- partying! 2:30am! Still got it in us, I tell you. Trust me, nothing sounds more fun than going to bed a 12:05am on New Years Eve, after watching a countdown on television whilst wearing pjs, but we did have a great time with friends this year- none of which involved pajama wearing.

We stayed overnight in Sturbridge at a cute inn adjacent to the venue. Harry and Chelsea tagged along too, since it was pet friendly. It was nice to know that they were just snoozing in our room while we were out. Of course, Harry loves nothing more than  good "vacation" and hammed it up in the hotel room, acting all "jaunty" (my new favorite adjective, curtsey of our friend, that describes him to perfection). Oh, and our room had two queen-sized beds. It was great, having my own bed. 

No resolutions this year, but I will need to start eating a little bit more healthily (i.e. more fruits, vegetables) these next few weeks to make up for holiday decadence. (Thanks for the tacos from TC, Eddie!)

Happy New Year to all!

First photo: just minutes before midnight. last photo of 2013.

12 Dates of Christmas :: Taco truck (No.9)

We finally sought out the long awaited Southern California style taco and burrito food truck here in Boston. The age old complaint about not having access to delicious Californian Mexican food is always rampant at our house (rice and beans in a burrito?! you've got to be kidding me…I mean, Chris.)  Chris went into this experience at Baja Food Truck with very low expectations. Very non-typical of him, mind you, who is usually quite the optimist (unlike myself). 

So what was the verdict? "Passable" 

These food trucks move around the city on different days and yesterday, it was near Chris' old work building, across from Rowes Warf. It was a blustery day- quite cold! Once we had our food in hand, we bustled into Chris' old building and sat downstairs, by the waterfall- just like old days. (Oh, and we almost went to the wrong food truck. The other one, though a taco truck, was not southern californian in style, I suppose. Close one there!)

We ordered a california burrito, a carne asada burrito, and a fish taco. Though it was all passable, he couldn't quite get over the fact that the fish taco had no creamy sauce (mortal error here, according to C). And I couldn't get over the fact that my california burrito, which is supposed to have fries in it (fries, for pete's sake!), barely had a trace of moist, sautéed potato. 

In any case, it was fun to try, but the quest for good southern Californian Mexican food is still ongoing. Sometimes I feel that surely, we could do a better job than any others out there. And kill it.

Across from Rowes Warf on a windy, blustery day

First photo: the fish taco

12 Dates of Christmas :: Harvard Square (No.5-8?)

I'm not sure we'll technically get to 12 separates "dates" of Christmas, and there are actually several other things we have done that I haven't documented as an official date- like the wedding, lunch with Chris' grandma, and some other meet ups/dinners with friends. Ooh, and the hours in the evenings we spend watching movies on Netflix. Therefore, I'm going to count all the separate places we visited yesterday in Harvard Square as different "dates." 

We primarily headed to Harvard Square to go to Bon Chon for lunch. We first had Bon Chon back in NYC, where it was all the rage and probably, in my opinion, single-handedly started the whole "doubly fried chicken" trend. Though that may sound strange and unhealthy, it's actually rather good and crispy (can't comment much on whether it's healthier than the Colonel, but it surely does taste that way!). We haven't had it in what, 6 years? Chris still thought it was preeety on par with what he remembered, though. So, success. While we were in that area, it seems that more and more of our NYC favorites are coming to Boston. It seems that Shake Shack is setting up in Harvard Square as well- meaning we won't even have to go as far as…Chestnut Hill (not really even that far).

We stopped by the Curious George Store, which is a children's bookstore, to pick up a birthday gift for Chris youngest nephew, Liam. It was funny to eavesdrop on conversations between kids in the store and their parents, discussing whether or not they would be able to go home with some cool new toy or sticker book and whether that meant that they wouldn't be getting a Lego set for their birthday- heafty decisions at an early age. Doesn't seem like a good trade to me!

We also spent time in our favorite, the Harvard Coop Bookstore. Golly was it packed. I found some good ones that I'd consider reading. I always say, "so many books and so little time!" or I'll mention how "learned" we'd be if we read just one of the books amongst many we find interesting. A new New Years resolution perhaps?

Finally, we picked up a hot chocolate from L.A. Burdick, a chocolatier. I have often found the hot chocolate a little too thick for my taste, but the milk chocolate one is pretty good and less bitter than the dark chocolate one. We still watered it down a tad and added half and half after we got home, but it was tasty. And toasty.

L.A Burdick. One of our first date locales 14 years ago.

The first photo is also inside the chocolate shop- so dreamy!

Fun phone photo video

I was just fiddling around with an app called Flipagram that puts together photos from your phone into a slide-show format, displayed with music. It's not very edited, but this is a great video anyway. Mostly you will see lots of photos of Harry (surprise, surprise!) since he is the number one subject matter on my camera, it seems! I tried to add other events through the year in there too. If you catch it, there's one of me looking miserable after surgery. I wish the quality was so much better- it's much better on my phone and computer, but looses resolution when on the blog. It may take me some time to figure out how to correct this. Anyway, for the time being, enjoy!

12 Dates of Christmas :: MFA (No.4)

We went to the Museum of Fine Arts yesterday to catch the John Singer Sargent traveling exhibit. Which was packed. There was a line to get into a line to get into the gallery. Within the gallery there were people on top of people. It made me think that we're all becoming a little intolerant of lines because when do people really wait in lines anymore?

The exhibit was rather nice. My favorite was one where he paints a clear pond, with ripples and pebbles underneath the water. Unfortunately, my photo is a little bit blurry (probably because there were 5 people next to me at either elbow!) and I can't remember exactly what it is called, but it was pretty neat.

Arg, doesn't really do it justice, but trust me, it was magnificent

Chris' favorite of the set: Mountain Fire

We had a late lunch/early diner in the cafe afterwards and wandered through the "new" American Wing (only the first floor of it, though). I remember the old American wing and it was always a little damp and dark and cloistering. The new one is so much improved: a bit more modern and spacious. Being in New England, I thought some of the paintings and furniture were so apt. I mean, don't we all know this George Washington one from history books?! It was pretty neat to see it in person and to see how large it was in real life.

Pretty famous as well, I suppose

Personally, I enjoyed the American portrait paintings- the bright colored clothing paired against the darker backgrounds overlaid in a shiny paint texture. And it looks like I liked to take all the photos from an angle yesterday!

We were pretty much too tired to see anything else yesterday, but once again, just like earlier in the year, made a vow to come back more frequently!

Twelve Dates of Christmas :: ICA (No.3)

We had never been to the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston before (after all these years living here!) and decided to take advantage of free admissions on Thursday evenings. It's a pretty magnificent building that sits along the Boston Harbor. Very angular, glassy, and modern. I'm sure it is beautiful in the daytime or during warmer weather as well, when you can sit outside on the decks and look out towards the water.

I can't say that I'm a huge contemporary art fan, though I find it interesting. I did like one artist's work on the female form my favorite of the evening. I do enjoy mostly, the choice in layout of the art and how it's decided what goes where and how they should appear. Like this photo, where there is a huge white wall with only two smaller paintings.

A bit grainy iphone photos, but Chris' and my reflections with the Boston Harbor in the background

To our surprise, the ICA is teeny. We walked through the exhibits in may be 30 minutes tops! We browsed the gift shop and found a cute pine cone ornament for our Xmas tree next year!

*First photo: Courtesy of Chris. The staircase in the ICA.