For Rachel’s last night here I had a little going away party for her.  I decided to do a Boston vs Seattle theme, since she was leaving Seattle and moving to Boston.  To continue my little imagined rivalry for the party I used colors from each city’s baseball teams, the Mariner’s and the Red Sox, blue representing Seattle and Red representing Boston.  I had the intention of doing something else with the Red Sox and Mariners, but never quite got around to it.  So just the colors it is.

By far my very favorite idea was the Seattle and Boston skylines.  I found some 4′ tall butcher paper and then using some skyline pictures I found on the internet as a reference point I drew each skyline on the paper and then painted them in with black paint (I used 2 different black paints because I ran out of the first one and obviously the one I used for the Boston skyline was a better quality… they looked the same until I hung them up over the window and then it was too late to redo it).  And I have to say that as much as I love Boston, the Seattle skyline is prettier.  There is just something about a large unique structure that adds so much beauty to a skyline.  (Hello Eiffel Tower I am talking to you!)  Also something to note.  Both Rachel and I currently reside in cities on the water.  Coincidence? I don’t think so.  Even though neither of us actually live in the city.  But in the suburbs of the city.  Or more precisely in the suburbs of the suburbs.

I used air mail envelops to make a garland, just hanging the flap over some string.  They fit perfectly with the color scheme, with the red and blue edges.

Using the butcher paper I also drew a map of the US in pencil and then traced over it with a black sharpie and then hung it over the mirror with hearts over Seattle and Boston.   Many people asked if she had a layover in Nebraska because of the little loop in the dotted lines… She did actually have quite a bit of turbulence right in the middle of her flight, in about that area…  Also I noticed that I squished the map a bit, it’s a little bit too short.  Vu couldn’t tell, but I could see it as soon as I stood back and looked at it.  But I like looking at maps a lot.  I did free hand it though, so I am still pretty proud of myself that it actually looks like the US, squatty Louisiana and all.

Under the mirror on the mantle I lined up some square glass vases and filled them red and blue vase marbles, water and floating candles.

I printed a bunch of pictures of Seattle and Boston (my friend Zach took half of the Seattle ones and was kind enough to let me use them) and then I put the Seattle pictures on blue paper and the Boston on red, then hung them on some string with cloths pins over the cabinets (I did use pictures of Fenway and Safeco here at least).

I hung some tissue paper accordion garlands over the sliding door.  Which we kept open because it was a warm day for Seattle.

For the food I tried to get food that represented each city.  But do you know what?  I HATE all seafood.  And both cities are a bit known for their seafood… So I had a little bit of a hard time with this.  For Seattle I had Beecher’s Mac and Cheese (for those non-Seattleites out there Beecher’s is a cheese maker in Pike’s Place Market), a couple of Thai dishes because there are so many Thai restaurants around here and this is the only place I have ever had Thai food (I know this was a stretch), and some Tim’s potatoes chips because Vu said they are made here.  I also had some blueberries because there are so many blueberry farms around here.

For Boston I had Boston Cream donuts (that one is obvious), my friend Jeanette got some Canolli’s at an Italian bakery, because Boston is known for their Italian food and specifically their canolli’s, I made some cranberry crumble bars, and some cranberry juices.  Plus some cherries because they were red… And I was trying to get some fresh cranberries, but apparently they don’t sell them at this time of year.  I had a whole plan for the table décor to do this thing with the blueberries and cranberries floating in water, but apparently blueberries don’t float and like I said I couldn’t get any fresh cranberries soooo… that obviously didn’t happen, which made me very sad.  I also discovered that not very many people know that cranberries come from New England.  All those cranberry bogs in cape cod.  My mom grew up in Massachusetts so I have always known that and didn’t realize not very many other people would get that.  But apparently they don’t grow very many anymore, so now it’s just historically they grew lots of cranberries.  It would have worked out nice with the red and blue.  Moving on.

I also made some little food tags in illustrator to indicate which city they represented.  In case it wasn’t so obvious.

My friend Jeanette also created a really great little “freedom trail” in the house.  Just in case you don’t know, the Freedom Trail is a historical walking tour in Boston.  They have a line in the pavement running all around the city passing by the historical monuments and buildings, with plaques to tell you all about it.  So Jeanette, Zach (her husband) and Vu taped it off and hung up pictures of the sites and info about each one.  It was really cool.  It made me really excited to go to the real one again when I go and visit Rachel in October.  (Speaking of which, I already have a really long list of things I want to do when I am there and I am already jealous of the things she has gotten to do.  I do really love Boston and if she couldn’t live here, then Boston is one on a very short list of acceptable locations.  Because I have so much say in it.  Also can I just express how excited I am that I am finally going to go to New England in the Fall?  Life time bucket list item here.  We always visited my mom’s family in July.)

Also funny story about that red tape line.  Many people who have visited our house are very aware of Vu’s adamant need for no shoes in the house.  And the red tape line started right at the door and then turned to go up the stairs and so at first everyone thought that this was his way of saying “No shoes beyond this point”.  Which was pretty hilarious.  Because all the shoes were all piled up in one big pile behind that line…