Jennifer's Trip Home: Part 2

After shopping, Lexi had to make a quick stop at the orthodontist to get her rubber bands replaced. I think she chose hot pink and purple for her new colors.

Lexi gets her rubber bands replaced at the orthodontist

For dinner, we went over to Mom's place, where she cooked my favorite meal: salmon patties, cheesey rice and blueberry muffins. Mom also made a mint cake for my birthday. My family can't get enough of mint cake :)

The mint cake, with only 1/3 of the years represented

The party-goers...

We're the three best friends that anyone can have!

Amanda and the newest addition to the family, Bristol. She gives hugs!

By Wednesday, I was exhausted. We took it easy until the afternoon, when it was time to head to Peoria for a Chiefs game. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack and then got stuck in the restaurant after a huge storm hit the town. The game started about an hour late, but it was a lot of fun. Nothing says "Illinois" more than a "Farmer Night" and dancing corn stalks. We left the game a little early--everyone was so tired and we had to get up early (2 a.m.!!) to get me back up to Chicago for an early morning flight.

It's kinda hard to tell, but there are two corn mascots dancing after one of the Peoria Cheifs hit a home run.

It was nice to see the family...but now I'm trying to convince them to get out to Boston before the summer and fall ends! :)

A quote

"What happens while we wait to have our prayers answered may be more important than what we're asking God for."
-Jill Savage* (www.jillsavage.org)

This quote definitely resonates with me right now. Brought some peace to the obscurity.

*Jill savage is the mom of a high school friend of mine. She is the CEO of Hearts at Home, an organization serving thousands of women through conferences, speeches, books and daily wisdom.

Painting!

We love our new apartment out here, but we had to make one major change before we could start unpacking. The previous renter decided a bright turquoise was an appropriate color for one of the rooms. Every time we walked into the room we immediately wanted out, so we grabbed a couple buckets of paint and brushes and erased all that nastiness.

BEFORE

Luke and the amazing turquoise-neon room

AFTER

Ahhhh, so much better!

This was the first time Luke and I had to paint a room. We learned a lot and are very glad that our first try wasn't at a house we owned (there's a couple 'oopsies' here and there (; )

The New England Aquarium

About a month ago, Luke and I made our way to the New England Aquarium over by Boston Harbor and the North End. Our friends, Carrie and Martin just got year-round passes to the aquarium and highly recommended it...especially for penguin lovers, like myself.

The aquarium's centerpiece is a massive cylinder going up about three stories. The tank is full of fish of all sizes, stingrays, starfish, two huge turtles and various sharks.

The huge cylinder tank

The penguins were by far the show-stoppers of the aquarium! They had Rockhoppers, African and Little Blue penguins in a pond that took up most of the first floor.

Penguins!

While we were there, we got to see them eat lunch and it was very cool how they were fed. The penguins would actually line up! Many of the penguins have grown up since babies at the aquarium, so they were taught at an early age how to get in the box and wait. But some were still working on their patience, and budged in line. It was so cute to watch and see how each penguin had their own personality.

Some African Penguins line up to eat

A Rockhopper and African Penguin hang out after lunch

We also got to see Northern Fur and Atlantic Harbor Seals. These guys put on a little show for spectators and showed off their new tricks like bouncing balls off their noses and bringing back toys.

The seals!

The aquarium was so much fun and we will definitely be visiting those penguins again real soon!

4th of July...kinda late, I know

Sooo....yeah. Sorry I haven't blogged lately. Most of my writing-power has gone toward the ole resume and cover letters. I don't even want to start counting how many places I've applied to.

Enough of that, though. Here is what Luke and I did on the 4th of July!

We decided to spend the day walking around downtown Boston. It was kinda crazy, but we figured we would do this to say that we had done it, in case we didn't want to do it again. To make the day more fun, we met up with our new friends, Carrie and Martin. Martin just started his job as a features editor at the Globe and Carrie is looking for a graphic design job, like me. Needless to say, we have become great friends and love hanging out together!

Kids playing in the Frog Pond at Boston Common

We met up over by the Charles Bridge and went to a cute (teenytiny) Thai place for dinner and then headed over to the bridge to secure a spot to watch the fireworks. The crowds had already gathered by the time we arrived (about 2 hours before the fireworks) but we found a good spot and hung out until the show started.

Here are some pics of the night:

The sky put on its own fireworks show

Red line approaches Charles MGH Station

Fireworks!

Some bombs bursting in air

After the fireworks, the time we had dreaded had arrived: trying to get the heck out of the city. Many of the roads were closed and the cabs were full of people. So after meandering around Cambridge trying to figure out what to do, we said "goodbye" to Carrie and Martin and waited in the awful long line for the subway. Thankfully, this ride was free.

A day at the beach...

We were there for maybe 30 minutes, tops.

Last Monday we wanted to check out Wollaston Beach, just a few minutes from our apartment. I will let the photos do most of the talking. Our first visit may not have been at a bad time because it was low tide...stinky and LOTS of rocks. However, this is not a beach you can go to swim. Those rocks hurt my feet even when I wore my flip flops!

Luke with the ocean and Boston skyline behind him

That water was seriously disgusting!

The beautiful beach

Luke skips some rocks

We took note and will be going to Cape Cod whenever we get an itch to go to the beach. :)

Massachusetts politics

People are more active politically here in Massachusetts. However, judging by what we witnessed a couple weeks ago, they are relatively polite to the competition.

A mix of Tim Cahill , Independent (dark blue signs) and incumbent, Deval Patrick , Democrat (royal blue signs)
Currently, Cahill is in the lead of a 4-candidate race.

We are in the midst of a governor race and supporters from both sides came to an intersection near our apartment.

This jeep drove through the intersection about 5 times in the minute we were there.

Both sides were very respectful and even had polite discussions of differences. It was refreshing after seeing all of the antics in Arizona.