Boston Week 3

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

The last week in Boston I was only there for the first half of the week. On Monday, October 26th, Maddison and I went to the Middlesex Fell Reservation which is just a little bit north of Rachel’s house. We did a little hike up to the tower that has a view of the whole area and Boston. It was a really pretty view from the top.

Then in the afternoon we walked over to the cememtary right next to Rachel’s house. I loved seeing all of the Irish names because I saw the Irish immigrants memorial next to one of the churches on the freedom trail, but I didn’t see much of an Irish influence on the city. Not like the Italian district in the North End. It also had my favorite falls trees of the whole trip. It was a perfect sunny day, it was so pretty. I have been trying to improve my DSLR skills and so these pictures were taken in RAW. Then when I got home and looked at them, I loved how pretty they were. Then I tried to upload them to the blog and apparently it has to be a JPEG. So I converted them and the quality decreased significantly. The colors in the RAW file were so much better. I delayed doing these posts for 2 weeks because I wanted to figure out to use the RAW images, or get them to look as good. It didn’t work. I was very sad. But looking at them now, I guess they aren’t that bad 🙂 It is just so sad knowing how much better the originals are.

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18Nov2015

Boston Week 2 + Acadia National Park

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

The second week I was in Boston visiting Rachel it was much colder. It had turned cold over the weekend (It snowed in Palmyra on Sunday). Monday, October 19 I had plans to go into Boston and to Beacon Hill and to tour a couple of the houses there, but I forgot to check the hours before hand and discovered that the houses are closed on Monday and Tuesday since they are open on Saturday and Sunday. So I walked around and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, then since I was really close to Boston Common, which is the beginning of the Freedom trail, I decided to the other half.

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17Nov2015

Boston Week 1 + Palmyra

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

I was very sad when Rachel moved to Boston in May, but my one consolation was that I love Boston. I have long been wanting to see New England in the fall, and the second I knew she was moving there I planned on going to visit her in October. It also just happened that one of my best friend’s, Maddison, moved there just a few weeks after Rachel did. And into an apartment just a couple streets away from her. I went for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of October so I could ensure that I didn’t miss the peak of the leaves. Rachel had to work a lot of that time, so I was so happy that Maddison was there and could do some sight seeing with me. It was a great trip and so fun to see Rachel and Maddison again! And I do love Boston so much. This summer was pretty dry which is a key factor in leaf color, so I kept hearing that it wasn’t quite as vibrant as usual, but it still very beautiful. It just means I have to go back again. 🙂

I got there Tuesday morning, October 13th, and Rachel and I went to Salem. It was fun to see it right after having my Witch party.

The next day Maddison and I did half of the freedom trail. I accidentally had us go backwards starting at the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. I did it with my family when I was a teenager and that is the order I remember doing it, so I just assumed that was the start. It worked out pretty well though, because then we were able to have pizza for lunch in the North End, which is the Italian district. Then Rachel joined me after she got off work for some pasta and a cannoli from Mike’s pastry. It was all so good!

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10Nov2015

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: November

Posted in Decorations, DIY, Thanksgiving by beckyjael

I can’t believe it is already November. October went by so fast. I had most of the November decorations done last year, and a lot of them I have had for years. I didn’t end up putting them out very early though, because I was in Boston visiting my sister until the end of October, and I wanted to enjoy the October decorations for a little while longer since I was gone for so much of the month. And then I got sick when I was planning on changing them.

I only had 3 things that I actually made this month, the Thankful sign, the Thanksgiving banner and the ornament pumpkin. I also bought a few things, like the wreath (from Home Goods) and the table runner (from a party store). It was a good thing I didn’t have too much to do since I was gone for half of October. I never would have gotten it done.

The Thankful sign was actually a project that I started a year and a half ago and it was supposed to be for the master bedroom. I cut, nailed together and white washed the sign, and was all ready to paint the quote on. But the problem was I couldn’t decide what quote to use. (I wanted something from Pride and Prejudice and Vu wanted Star Wars) So it sat in our garage for a year and a half, waiting for me to decide. Then this year as I have been planning out the decorations for each month I knew that for the Thanksgiving decorations I wanted to use this quote. I love it so much, and I think there is so much truth in this statement. Plus it has been especially poignant for me this past year. I have been thinking a lot about how there seems to always be something in life that is difficult. I think there is only one time in my life where I felt like every single aspect of my life was exactly how I wanted it to be (what a great year that was!). So this past year I have been thinking about life’s difficulties a lot and how most likely there will always be something that can be a source of unhappiness. But that doesn’t mean I have to always be unhappy. Happiness is something that comes from focusing on the things in life that I do have, that I do love, and being grateful for those. Because I am a firm believer that there is always something beautiful if life, if you just learn to always look for it. I just want to remember that more often. I have also been reading this talk a lot this year, which I love and has been a great reminder as well.

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