movie night and beach day

Friday nights at the Hatch Shell in downtown Boston you can go watch free movies.  So we took advantage of free fun and went last weekend to see Despicable Me (very cute movie, by the way).

Rob carrying all of our equipment.  I felt like we were going on a camping trip or something with all the stuff we had.

The Hatch Shell

Part of our picnic.... which I guess you can't really tell what it is.  But we had deli sandwiches, fruit, chips, E.L. Fudge cookies, crackers and cheese, and root beer.

And afterwards we used our Groupon and got  Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  I really didn't want the ice cream (well, I did, but I wasn't hungry for it) but the Groupon expired the next day, so it didn't matter that I had already eaten a full dinner and snacked throughout the movie, I needed it.  So at 10:30pm, we got it.  Rob was very kind to appease me.

On Saturday, a guy we work with invited us to his beach home on Plum Island.  

And we had a lovely time.

mary, mary, quite contrary

I have a little garden that I planted in my backyard.  I love my garden.  And I love that it is finally starting to feed me.

Something I learned: Baby cucumbers are so cute.  This isn't a baby, but if you ever grow cucumbers, watch for the baby ones.

 

Something else I learned: Zucchini plants grow bigger than expected.  Give them a lot of space to grow.

After a day of work, happy to come home and pick lots of full grown zucchini! 

oot and aboot

mama and papa lovell were in town last week.  we had lots of fun...

touring the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island

spending a day browsing shops and enjoying the scenery in Rockport, MA

Apparently parts of the movie The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock) were filmed in this cute little town.  I guess it looks like Alaska?  I'll have to re-watch the movie to check it out.

driving up the coast of Maine (no, we're not saluting. it was just really sunny)

spending a good amount of time in the Concord Museum and then touring through Louisa May Alcott's home, The Orchard House (where the book Little Women was written- which no, I have never read but now feel like I should/want to)

hanging out in The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  Rob and I have walked around this cemetery trying to find Author's Ridge before, and were unsuccessful.  Funny how some things are just 10x easier when your parents are there.

and doing other fun things that I just didn't get pictures of.  

Thanks for visiting :)

...sorry for leaving off with a picture of a grave. kind of morbid. but it's decorated really pretty, huh?

4th of July. Better late than never.

And this is why it's my favorite day of the year...

We started the day off right... dressing patriotically.  Even Chalmers joined in on the fun.

Apparently he really likes going for the 'tongue out' pose.

And then we went over to Concord for a little town celebration.  I know the picture below isn't great, but it gives you a little idea of how it was.  A row of tents with people selling things (like this women's association- all senior citizens wearing handmade tiarras- selling earrings for $2.50 a pair and all the proceeds went towards a scholarship foundation), people sitting out on lawn chairs or blankets and listening to live music, some people dressed up like early settlers, homemade apple pie, hot air balloon rides, etc.  It was kind of picture perfect.  Concord is such a cute little town!

Hanging out with a Minute Man and eating pie and/or cookie ice cream sandwiches.

Rob throwing a baseball to see how many mph it traveled.  

I think the machine malfunctioned because it read "0".  I got a good laugh.

And then we took the T into downtown Boston.  It was my first time on the T (the train that takes you into town) so it was actually kind of fun,  but we learned that it is just a lot easier to drive your own car.  

We walked around Boston all day and then squeezed our way into a small spot on the sidewalk for the fireworks show.  It may have been a small spot, but we had a spectacular view!

I like looking at people during the fireworks show.  Everyone always looks happy.  These are my parents- they came in town for the week!

The grand daddy of them all.

Rob said it was the best fireworks show he's ever seen.  It's in my top 3.  Either way, it was wonderful and I'm glad I got to spend the 4th in a new and fun location with my parents and my Rob.

Guys.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all dads, but especially to my dad, Rob (a great dad to chalmers), and Rob's dad. I'm lucky to have some pretty cool guys in my life.

some cute things

a.) my old roommate, and darling friend, Mrs. Aaeran is so talented and some of her work is going to be sold in the Deseret Bookstores!!  Pretty cool/amazing, huh?!  Check her out here, and maybe even win a free poster. :)  Way to go, girlie.

b.) a few of pictures of our baby.

::dreaming about his girlfriend::

::dreaming about laying out at the beach::

:: confounded by the barrier that keeps him on the deck::

Miss Alisa

Happy (belated by 1 day) birthday to my dearest friend, Alisa Alm.  It was a match-made-in-heaven the day we met in the RB and then shortly after signed up for all of the same health classes.

She's pretty great and I wish we could always live 10 minutes away from each other.

I hope your birthday was lovely!

(Alisa, how funny... I just noticed that I'm always on the right side, and you're always on the left)

xoxoxo

good eats, good beats

On Wed. I turned 25. :o  It was a pretty good day, thanks to sweet Robert.

 It started with a nice breakfast in bed and going to into work a couple hours late.  I have such a nice boss. ;)

After work, Rob surprised me with dinner reservations at one of my favorite restaurants- Chart House.  The restaurant was downtown, and was in a really cool, historical building.  And the food was SO good.  I got the macadamia encrusted Mahi, Rob got some steak, and we split a molton lava cake. 

Not the greatest pic, but when we were driving home it just looked really cool out.  That cool building is the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was read to a crowd of people from that balcony on the second floor.

We also hung out with this little guy.  He can't get on the bed, which we find amusing, so this is how he says hi in the morning.

And we hung out here on Saturday with Rob's family.  They were in town for the weekend.

Rob's mom

And we also watched a good amount of this show.  If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it. It's no longer on TV, but luckily it is on Netflix.

Hope you had a nice weekend.

a new arrival

Introducing the newest addition to our household...

Autumn Salad

Mom, and Alisa...and anyone else who would like to make this most wonderful salad...

This is the salad Rob and I made for our guests on Easter.  

It's a recipe from Danny Ainge's wife (just an interesting trivia fact).

It is seriously so good.  Rob said he could eat it everyday-which is saying a lot.

Autumn Salad:

Salad:
-your choice of lettuce (I used a romaine mixture that came in a plastic container)
-1 diced tart apple
-2 sliced pears
-crasins
-toasted pecans (I used candied walnuts)
-shaved fresh Parmesan, feta, or goat cheese (I used goat)
-(chicken if you wish to make it an entree)

Dressing (This makes a lot.  I halved it, and still had extra)
-1 cup sugar
-3/4 cup raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar
-2 t. salt
-2 Tbsp prepared mustard
-2 Tbsp poppy seeds
-1/2 red onion
-1 1/2 cup oil

Puree in blender