Pretty Flowers

Since I came to Boston, I have been dying to go to Art In Bloom at the Museum of Fine Arts, commonly referred to as the MFA (which caused me to ask my roommate, Katie, last year who Emma Fay was). For the event, florists create pieces that interpret select works of art. The last two years, I was out of town for work conferences. Luckily, this year I was in town and able to go with my visiting teachees. Here are some of my favorites:

This is my sweet friend, Sharla, and me. (I somehow didn't get pics of Erin, Cristi, or Mollie.) Wouldn't this be an amazing wall in a house?

It didn't have a floral interpretation, but this art piece was incredible to look at.

I wish I could have spent more time at the museum. I loved it!

Weekend Update

On Saturday, I went to a bridal shower for my friend Rebecca. Unfortunately I am going to miss the actual wedding because I will be in Russia. The wedding will be held in the Public Garden right in the middle of Boston, and I'm sure will be amazingly beautiful. Sorry to miss it Rebecca, but big Congratulations!! Here is the bride to be and her daughter Maddy.

One of the games was to create a wedding dress using garbage bags, paper towels, and crepe paper. My group did the one on the left. I was pretty proud of our long train. Guess which dress won. Yep, the one on the right. Can you believe they made it look like a real dress?

That night was this month's installment of Color Night, brought to you by the color BLUE! We enjoyed the main dish of delicious chicken with blueberry salsa.

Here is our crew, all in blue, after enjoying Mary Poppins. Holly even figured out we could paint our lips blue with the Almond Joy Pieces.
On Sunday, I was able to attend the baptism of my friend, Idario. He is from Brazil and was seriously golden. From the first time Idario came to church with his friend Stephanie, he was the most active person in the ward. I loved hearing his story about his journey and the things that fell into place in his life to bring him to the gospel. Welcome, Idario! You make a great addition to the ward.

Patriot's Day Battles

My Year 3 of Patriot's Day started out with another little sleepover. I guess you can still call it that even though there wasn't much sleep involved. We were up and at 'em at 3:15 a.m. to watch the Reenactment on Lexington Green. We did a little huddling to stay warm that morning.Favorite thing I overheard that day was a man to his fellow reenactor, "Well, we lost again." :)

Couldn't quite get the timing right on this year's jumping picture.We did, however, enjoy a fantastic breakfast at a little cafe in Concord, thanks to Karen's recommendation.

After a little nap at home, I went with my roommates to see the Boston Marathon. The last couple of years, I went into work after the reenactment, but decided to take the day off for this one. We stood near the finish line and it was definitely moving to see people running across, completing what I'm sure represented a lot of work. The crowd was so supportive of everyone, especially those who looked like they were struggling. It was one of those time you feel like you're part of a community, even though everyone around you is a stranger.

So admire the military folk who ran in full gear, including packs.

Another Little Trip

The threat of waking up early the next morning for a day trip didn't stop me from playing on Friday. I went to a movie night at Kalynn's place. They even set up a real screen with a projector to watch "You Can't Take It With You" with Jimmy Stewart. Classic movie with plenty of good clean laughs. You really should see it if you haven't yet.
Saturday morning, I headed to the Big Apple with my friend Emily. We have both been to NYC several times, so wanted to do new things. We started out at the Central Park Zoo. I didn't realize how small it actually was, but it did provide some good photo ops.

Red Panda


I loved watching the penguins speedily swim by, leaping out of the water. Fun, fun animals.

Funny story about this snow leopard. As you can see, in this spot, you are separated from the snow leopard by only a thick pane of glass. Of course there was a crowd gathered since the leopard was so obligingly showing himself. A small girl toddled up to the glass and put both hands and her little face right up to the leopard. As soon as she did this, the leopard came at her with both giant paws and teeth glaring to maul her. She got a little frightened, and I'm sure her parents were grateful for the glass. I'd never really seen an attack that closely before and it really was rather frightening. I think at the zoo I forget how wild the animals are.

This was my first springtime in New York. Love the tulips that remind me of the tulips around the Salt Lake Temple this time of year.

We then saw a matinee of Chicago.It was super fun, although a little more risque than I thought it would be. The actress who played Roxie was amazing and the music was fantastic.

We headed to Grenwich Village to walk around a bit and had dinner at a place called Moustache, which served Middle Eastern food.

We probably would have stayed a little later, but the weather was rainy and cold so we headed home. It was a fantastic day-trip though. Love love NYC!

Quality

We get almost daily FedEx deliveries at work, so I often get to chat with Dave, our delivery man. This is one of the highlights of the day because he is such an interesting person. He has a huge garden with several kinds of every vegetable and beautiful flowers. He raises chickens (which provided the delicious fresh eggs above that he brought for me and Mike) and keeps bees to make his own honey. He will ice fish in the winter, catch sharks in the summer, do other hunting in season, and said that next he wants to become a really great diver so that he can learn to spearfish. He is a foodie, so he makes delicious meals with all of his fresh ingredients and "eats like a king." Even with all of this, he still finds time to cultivate relationships with friends and family (he always has "access" to or what I would call connections for the things he needs).

Dave told me that it is all about time management, using your time to improve the quality of life. He grew up poor, but not wanting for anything because his dad was the same as he is, and now his sons are following in his footsteps. It really makes me stop and think. A FedEx driver isn't the most glamorous job in the world's view, but it allows him to do the things that make him happy. Dave says that even though he doesn't have all the "things" other people have, he always has something interesting to occupy his time, so he doesn't notice. I appreciate his point of view and hope I can make my life more fulfilling like he has.

Music To My Ears

I like listening to music while I work. Fortunately my office mate doesn't mind and one of us will usually have music playing. He also doesn't mind when I sing along, which I have been known to do on occasion. Not me, right? ;) Well, yesterday, I decided it was an '80s music day and we were rocking out to The Cars and Tiffany, when "Total Eclipse of the Heart" began playing in my Itunes shuffle.

"Great song, turn it up," was Mike's response, to which I was happy to comply. When I started belting out the lyrics, Mike chimed in with his saucy falsetto. I asked him why he was singing like that (I'm not just mean... we tease a lot in this office).

"What are you talking about? That was beautiful."

I got a great laugh out of it. As I write this, I realize it is probably not as funny when you don't know him or the way he said it. Just trust me, I'm still chuckling about it.

By the way, the weather around here is still amazing. 90 degrees today! I had to go to Cohasset to get my inspection sticker on my car, so enjoyed a beautiful drive through the South Shore. I love living so close to the ocean. It makes me happy to see the sun bouncing off of the water. I guess I traded in the mountains for the ocean by coming East. The South Shore is rather wooded and after turning inland, I saw signs of Spring everywhere. Some of the bushes have bright yellow leaves. Daffodils are blooming. Trees are starting to turn green and flowering. I love the magnolias, but also noticed a new tree today... weeping cherry trees. They're just little guys, but have the white cherry blossoms streaming down to the ground. Love them. Spring is definitely my favorite Boston season.

Spring in My Step

It was EIGHTY degrees outside yesterday and today promises to be beautiful as well. This is the part where I wish general conference was available on the radio so that I could listen to it outside. As it is, I had to settle for sitting next to an open window with the sunshine on my face. The thing that stood out to me throughout the different talks was the importance of doing the daily things to keep you strong and able to receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost.

After conference was over, my friend Cristi and I decided to go to the Public Gardens in hopes of seeing springtime flowers. There were only a few magnolia trees in bloom and some daffodils. It was nice to be outside anyway though... especially without a coat!

Guess what we found in the bottom of one of my favorite statues (that is a fountain)? A crutch! You would think that someone would actually miss that... or maybe it is evidence of a crime... or maybe I've been watching too much CSI and Bones.

The Make Way for Ducklings were all decked out in their Easter bonnets. Adorable, right?
I also did some grocery shopping last night and made an impulse purchase. I couldn't help it, though. Don't tulips just say Spring?

I also made an amazing discovery. The last hotel I stayed at had a little bag with earplugs, lavender mist for your linens, and this:

I put it on after waking up at 5:30 a.m. and was able to sleep in until 9:00 a.m. I know this doesn't sound very late, but this was huge for me! I don't remember the last time I slept past 7ish. Apparently, my body is very sensitive to light. It may have something to do with the fact that I stare at a computer screen all day long.

I also wanted to share this picture that gave me a good laugh this week. :)
By the way... I realize I'm behind and am still going to try to catch up the last four months. You may want to check below this post in the future. Thanks for reading... and please leave comments! :)

Trade

I traded in my Murano (dubbed Liberty by Bethany) for this Altima. I know, I already miss her. BUT, this little Altima gets such better gas mileage... and I made sure to get the same features as the Murano. My behind will surely be appreciative when the cold weather starts.