Saturday, April 13, 2013

She said I think I'll go to Boston

A few months ago, my roommate Annie and I were trying to figure out where to go for Spring Break.  We really wanted to see Les Miserables, so we looked up where it would be playing during the break.  Our choices were either London (which would have been AWESOME!) or Boston.  Boston it was!

The whole trip was so fun, and Boston was so beautiful!  There's so much history and amazing architecture there.  And the bricks...holy moly, I wish someone would count how many bricks are in that city.  They're everywhere! :)

I'm just going to throw out some pictures in no particular order :)

This was when we first arrived in the city.  We were in our pajamas all day and going off about an hour of sleep after our red-eye flight.  This was the start of the Freedom Trail.  We only walked on part of it this day, but it was so fun!

 We took a Duck Tour of the city.  It's this bus that can also be a boat.  We drove around the city with Captain Groovy and took a little float in the Charles River.  It was a fun way to get acquainted with the city on our first day.
 I make a pretty good T-Rex :)
 I loved all the old cemeteries.  We saw grave markers of people like Paul Revere and John Hancock (or Herby Hancock if you love Tommy Boy) :)
 I told Annie I wanted to have a Boston Tea Party while we were there. :)  While walking on the Freedom Trail we stopped by Quincy Market, a really fun outdoor shopping area.  There was this huge Christmas store that was full of ornaments and decorations.  We found these tea set ornaments, so we sat on the floor and had our tea party! :)
 I loved the old architecture.  It was fun to see it mixed in with modern skyscrapers.  It reminded me of Dublin.  This is the Old State House.  This is where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians.
 Paul Revere statue.  In the background is the Old North Church (home of the "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal).  Right down the street is Paul Revere's house.  We got to go on a tour of the inside.
Little door.  We just thought it was funny :)
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile trail that goes through the city.  It's marked by these metal plates and a red brick trail you follow.
 We liked to do balancing acts on the trail :)
 Bunker Hill Monument.  We loved this area of the city!
 This was where they said, "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes." So we found the whites of Annie's eyes.
 Bunker Hill was the end of the Freedom Trail.  We were so excited to sit after walking all day :)
 My friend Kelsey (from Montana) went to Harvard, so she had given me some great pointers on where to go and where to eat.  She told us we had to go to this Thai place and eat the pad thai and assured us it was the best in the country.  I think she might be right!  It was so amazing!
 We walked around Harvard.
 We went to the Natural History Museum at Harvard.  We loved the sweet rocks they had!
 We went to the Boston City Library.  Annie loves libraries.  We stopped there for a while to take a break and read (meaning Annie read while I fell asleep.  I felt like I was back at BYU in the Harold B. Lee Library.  I could never stay awake in there!)
Outside of the library
 Cheers!
 When I asked people what I should do in Boston, every single person said I had to go to Mike's Pastry to get a cannoli.  The whole time we were in the city, we saw people with these boxes from Mike's.  We figured while we were there that we should get some Boston Cream Pie.  It was pretty delicious, but those cannolis were so good!
 We took pictures of everything we ate.  We had such good food luck!  We kept using Annie's Yelp app on her phone to look up local places, and we weren't really disappointed by anything.  This was Annie's butternut squash ravioli.  It was quite possibly the most amazing thing I've ever had!
 I'm not even joking when I say there is a Dunkin' Donuts on every street corner.  Sometimes you'd see two right next to each other.  It was so crazy!  We couldn't resist having breakfast there one day.
It was pretty cold while we were there...especially our last day in the city, so we decided to do indoor activities.  We had heard good things about the aquarium, so we went there.  We were not disappointed!  If you ever go to Boston, go to the aquarium.  Even though it was under construction and some of the exhibits were gone, it was still so fun!  We got to touch rays...
 play dress-up...
 and go to a 3D movie in an IMAX theater.
 On our last day, we rented a car to head out to Worcester for Les Miserables.  We really wanted to go to the temple, and I'm so glad we did.  It was so beautiful, and is probably in my top 5 favorites!
 We went to Waldon Pond.  I loved it there!  I would have loved it more if there weren't so many bugs. :)
 We wanted to say we touched the water.  It was freezing :)
 We also took a tour of Louisa May Alcott's house.  Even though the tour guide was super awkward, it was a pretty sweet house with a lot of fun things to see!  It made me want to watch Little Women again :)
 This is random, but these are the most delicious enchiladas I've ever had! :)
That night we went to Les Miserables, and we definitely weren't disappointed.  I love the story and the music.  I've had songs from it in my head ever since then. :)

Such a fun trip!  I highly recommend Boston. :)

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Much needed sunshine

I went down to San Diego this past weekend with some friends.  We planned this a couple months ago because we figured we'd probably need some sunshine about now.  Definitely true!

Along with sleeping in each day (so great!), we did all sorts of stuff...

Ate crepes for breakfast
Spent time at the beach
Sat on a cow bench
 Did a little people watching
(like this lady dancing on a box)
(or this guy who thought he was a robot)
Pretended we were pirates
 Saw the San Diego Temple
 Ate the most delicious fish tacos I may ever have in my life from Blue Water
 Took a trip to the zoo (after taking over an hour to find a parking spot!)
 Pretended we were the animals
 Soaked up the sun while drinking frozen lemonade at Seaport Village
Now it's just a matter of making it another 5 weeks until Spring Break!

Friday, February 1, 2013

To upgrade or not to upgrade...that is the question

So I'm on a business trip.

Doesn't that sound cool?

It makes me feel like a real adult.

I'm down in beautiful St. George for a conference.  60 degree weather and blue, clear skies are just what this girl needed! (Too bad I'm stuck inside all day)

As I type, I'm hanging out in my hotel room with a massive king size bed.  It's huge!  I can lie on it in any direction, and my feet won't hang off the edge.  It's so great!  (If I messed up, please excuse my misuse of lie vs lay...that was one I could never remember.  Their/there/they're and your/you're, on the other hand...got it!  Let me know if you need lessons.)

Anyway, at least twice a week, my roommate tells me I should get a bigger bed.  I currently am the proud owner of a twin sized bed.  A hand-me-down, in fact. (Thanks again. You know who you are.)  

I've come really close to upgrading to at least a full or a queen.  But I keep telling myself that purchasing a larger bed is a want...not a need.  However, after tonight I just might have to go for the king.  Heck, I might even go for a California King!  But that might be pushing it.  I don't think it would fit in my room.  Besides, I live on the 3rd floor.  No one wants to carry a California King up stairs.

I'll stick to my twin bed.  Until then, I'll just enjoy this sweet bed.  Good night!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Name that popcorn-popping tune

This is from a couple months ago, but I just remembered this video. Hopefully you can see it...I struggle in the video uploading department.

If you're ever wondering what goes on at my house on a Sunday night, it usually consists of a puzzle, maybe an old movie, chatting, and if you're lucky...name that popcorn-popping tune :)
video
I know...really attractive.
Can anyone name the tune?  

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

My passport is bored

Remember me?  The girl who never blogs?  I don't know what happened.  I guess just haven't done anything exciting enough to be blog worthy.

Well, I was thinking that it was pathetic that my little ticker at the top of the page was saying it had been 9 whole months since Ireland.  I needed a new countdown to tell me what was coming and not what was in the past.

I thought this might be an exciting time to publicly announce my next trip!  I was going to wait until I officially have a flight booked, but I have a down payment made, and I AM going, so that's close enough! :)

So where is Shannon going?
Beautiful
THAILAND!!!