Thursday, October 30, 2008

Stuffed

I'm not sure why, but I tend to stuff as much as possible into every weekend. I think it's partly a fear of missing out and partly in anticipation of the coming winter. This weekend...

FRIDAY
My friend (and hometeacher) Fabio is from Albania. His family owns a resaurant called the Yada Yada Cafe in the South End. They invited our whole ward to come and have some of their delicious food. His mom is such a nice lady. She reminded me of my abuela with her beautiful smile and fantastic cooking skills.

SATURDAY
The Elders Quorum served the Relief Society the traditional fall breakfast, followed by a little volleyball. It was so much fun to play again! I really miss playing on leagues in Salt Lake. I don't know enough volleyball players here and the leagues cost four times as much. Sad, eh? After volleyball, I had a meeting for my calling, so rolled out of the church early that afternoon. Then I went with some friends to Walden Pond, hoping to see some beautiful fall foliage.

Victoria was a damsel in distress.The foundation of the cabin Thoreau built and lived in, as mentioned in Elder Perry's conference talk this year.Next, we rushed to the evening session of stake conference. Our stake doesn't have a stake center (just recently broke ground for one), so we normally borrow the building from a neighboring stake, which is actually a bit away. This time they decided to broadcast to different rooms in the Belmont chapel next to the temple. We were just a tad late and sat in the back of the gym. We almost sat next to Mitt Romney. He and his wife came in and sat next to us for a minute until they found the person saving them seats.

SUNDAY
We had stake conference in the morning. This time it was supposed to be broadcast to our normal chapel near Harvard. They had some technical difficulties because no one knew the internet password. If it didn't work, we were going to have a little impromptu meeting. I was half hoping for this, but they were able to get us connected, only missing one talk. After church, I went visiting teaching. We met one of the girls at Arnold Arboretum, which just happened to be having a fall festival. It was interesting to learn a little about what makes leaves change. In order for leaves to change to a vibrant red, they need sunlight.
That evening, I joined my neighbor upstairs for a little game night. We had quite the competitive rounds of Nertz! It reminded me of our family tournaments that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Thanks mom!

MONDAY
I was asked last minute to hold fhe at our place on Monday night. I gave a little lesson, then we enjoyed apples and caramel dip and even made a few caramel apples.

Whew! I wonder if I had an extra day in each weekend, if I would actually use it to relax or if I would pack things into it too. I wouldn't mind trying it out.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Big Apple

My dear friend Amy just happened to get to come to New York for a conference. Friday, after her conference ended, I went and met her down in NYC. It was a rather long greyhound bus ride, then I rode the subway uptown to our hotel. We had a private room, but shared baths. It was a little chilly, as they hadn't turned on the heater yet... and the A/C unit was still in the window letting in a draft... and it was the first cold weekend of the year. Brrrr! Luckily they turned it on after that first night. I had to buy a cute scarf (for $5!), because I'd been spoiled by the lingering warm weather and was not prepared. Saturday, we got a late start, after finally tearing ourselves away from the warm blankets. Amy found a fun little cafe for breakfast. I love eating out for breakfast, especially eggs, hash browns and bacon. Amy is imitating the cute Halloween bat cookies.We wandered down to Times Square, then entered the Wicked lottery. Unfortunately, we did not win... ... but saw The Fantastiks instead, which is the world's longest running musical, showing since 1960. I wasn't quite expecting the small, small stage and no orchestra, but still found it fun. They pull all of the props out of a magic box, and there are just a few characters, one of which is the wall (the actor holds out a stick over which the characters talk). Miss Amy manages to make friends everywhere, including at the play. Afterwards, we had a little time so we explored St. Patrick's Cathedral, then shopped a little on 5th Avenue (Amy almost walked into a mirror, but stopped herself in time, unlike in Jerusalem).


That evening we went to a Russian Turkish bath. A friend that was in the Berkshire's the weekend before mentioned he would be in NYC at the same time, so we met up. It was so relaxing to sit in the hot, hot rooms... one of which had aromatherapy peppermint. After getting so hot, you either dump a bucket of freezing cold water over your head, or go jump into a pool of freezing cold water. I held out as long as I could every time. I was able to speak a little Russian with some of the workers and even got to eat some blini (yummy Russian pancakes, more like crepes) in their cafe. Mmm-mmm. I definitely slept soundly that night.Sunday, we tried to go to church at the church attached to the temple. The building, however, is under renovation and the wards were moved to other buildings. At least we got to see the temple. The first time I went to the Manhatten temple, they hadn't put up the angel Moroni yet. We ended up going to church in Harlem. They assign someone to sit in the foyer of the building to keep away drunks. It was a good meeting though, and nice people there.Amy had said she would be happy to just see musicals all weekend, so that is basically what we did. We loved The Little Mermaid. The actors wore roller shoes so they could glide around the stage like they were swimming. The costumes and scenery were incredible, they transitioned from land to water seamlessly. We did have dinner in Planet Hollywood... here I am with Ferris Bueller's "devastatingly handsome" sweater vest.We weren't sure which one last play we waned to see, so we asked the guy at the information desk. He informed us that is was closing night of Legally Blonde, so we of course chose that one. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the play, but it was actually quite fun. The audience was enthusiastic... the groups around us sounded like they'd all seen it a few times... so there was a lot of cheering and clapping. The lead was Bailey Hanks, who actually won the role as part of an MTV show called The Search for Elle Woods. The next morning, I missed my bus. even though I was there so early... at 4:30 a.m. There wasn't anybody working that early, and that one bus I was supposed to be on left from a different gate... and nobody bothered to tell me. I got home really late and to work even later, because the next bus didn't leave for another *sigh* three hours. Oh well... it was a fun weekend and really good to spend time with Amy.

Berkshires

In the charity auction our ward held last Christmas, my good friend Sue was part of a group who won a weekend in the Berkshires. Lucky for me, everyone but her has moved away during the last year and I was able to go instead. Sue, Jessica and I left late on Friday night (to avoid traffic), me struggling to stay awake. We met another carful who had left earlier. We slept in the cutest girl's room, decorated pink courtesy of Pottery Barn. Saturday morning we walked down to a little farm and picked apples and raspberries. The weather was gorgeous, a lucky thing in October. The farm is nestled at the bottom of a little mountain. The leaves appeared to be on fire, all yellow, orange and red.
After some lunch, we drove to an overlook where we could see more beautiful changing leaves across the whole valley. Glorious. I just love fall. On the drive up, we had to keep stopping (and taking pictures out of the sun roof) because the tree-lined road was breathtaking.We raced home and tried to climb the hill above the house to a tower in time to watch the sunset. We made a good effort, but there was not enough time. Most of us turned back as it kept getting darker, but we were able to watch from the deck. Sue headed up after the rest of us and didn't come back for a long time. We started to get worried because we hadn't seen her on the way down at all and sent out search parties. It ended up that a neighbor had told her an easier way to get there, but it was a little farther away so took longer. We were just grateful that she was safe. We enjoyed chicken-shish-kabobs for dinner and delicious apple crisp from apples we picked.After dinner we played a little ping pong and watched Mickey Blue Eyes (funny, funny movie) before going to sleep. The next morning I awoke to this scene:We went to church and relaxed a little at the house. I was able to practice playing the piano all weekend, which was fun and good. The girls went on a walk to a waterfall, then followed the river to a reservoir (which was not so impressive as it was dry). The fall colors reflected in the water and the air was crisp and clean. I just enjoyed soaking in the sunshine. That evening we had spaghetti and green beans for dinner, then Jessica and I drove home. (Sue stayed another night with people who actually got Columbus day off work.) It was such a relaxing weekend, just what I needed. I enjoyed the company of new friends and absorbed the beauty of fall.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Conference Weekend

I love that General Conference always turns into a "weekend"... which is not complete without a girl's night out. Friday night, my friend Bethany had a little craft night at her place. She made us the most delicious enchiladas, served on her bright fiestaware. We settled in for some quilling, card-making, and cross-stitching while watching a chick-flick, making sure to munch on the yummy "puppy chow" that Meredith brought. These girls are just so fun and sweet. I had a great time with them.
Saturday, my roommates made a yummy waffle breakfast, a conference tradition in Catherine's family. Inbetween sessions, we managed a little walk to the Chestnut Hill reservoir. The weather was beautiful... crisp, sunny, and the sky was my favorite shade of blue.
Sunday, I went to my friend Kristie's place for a Boston conference tradition... french toast strada (cubed bread and cream cheese, pour eggs over it and bake). All I can say is delicious.

There were a couple of nuggets that I gleaned from conference this time. One was from Elder Corbridge of the Seventy. He talked about having two choices: follow God or any other way. However, either way we choose, we will still have trials and hard things happen in our lives. Which way is easier? I know sometimes it seems overwhelming and so hard to try to be faithful and do all we should, but the alternative would be so much harder. Having the gospel helps us overcome trials. I can't imagine trying to endure them without the gospel. The other nugget came from Sister Dalton, Young Women General President. A motto my mission president used was "I can do hard things." Sister Dalton changed that to include "and in the strength of the Lord, I can do all things." I think sometimes I feel so inadequate because I try to do it all myself and think I should be strong enough. But I'm not. I need to rely on the Lord more and ask for and accept his help. I know I am stronger with Him.