Seeing Some Sites

I apologize, but I'm still playing ketchup with my blogging. (ok ok, I know it's supposed to be "catch-up," but isn't "ketchup" a little bit more fun?)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from March when my best friend, Alia, came to visit:

Alia's actual reason for coming to Boston was to see our good friend, Catherine, get married. Isn't she beautiful?

This is Alia and me outside of the Boston temple. It was pretty chilly!

The day after the wedding and wedding dinner Rob, Alia and I went to go see Fenway Park, home of the 2007 World Series Champs, the Red Sox, and the oldest currently operating MLB stadium.

Alia and I had a good friend growing up who was a die hard Red Sox fan. He would faithfully watch them lose year after year after year after year. Also, we happened to grow up in middle of Yankee territory and there seemed to be a never-ending supply of Yankee fans who would obnoxiously rub salt in our poor friend's wounds. So, our freshmen year of college when the Red Sox were playing the Yankees in the American League Championship (kind of like the World Series semifinals), Alia and I found ourselves glued to the TV screen night after night after night after night (the series went into 7 games-including multiple overtimes- after the Sox started the series down 3-0 ). To make a long story shorter, the Red Sox won that series and then went on to shut out the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series Championship.

Anyway, after investing so many hours and so much emotion in the Red Sox, we were pretty excited to take a tour of Fenway.

We managed to get through our tour with just some light, misting rain. The real deluge waited to start until after the tour when we were safely inside UNO's warming up with some fantastic deep dish pizza.

After having so much fun in just a few days, I'm really wishing that Tucson and Boston were a lot closer together! Come back soon, Alia!

Hurray for Kate!

This post is to celebrate our good friend, ex-next door neighbor Kate Weaver who ran in her second Boston Marathon this morning! She finished in 3 hours, 32 minutes and 2 seconds...that is a blistering 8:06 minute/mile pace for 26.2 miles! Yowsas! (She has always been my running hero!)

Kate and her husband, Bill, lived in the other half of our duplex in Provo last year. We got to know each other very well as we played games, went to church, and shared a common vent in between our bathrooms (they got to hear Rob recapping and strategizing after each game-session!) . Anyway, they got into Boston on Friday night and we got to enjoy some really good, really authentic italian pizza with them at Pizzeria Regina's on Saturday. Then, on Sunday evening we all helped Kate carbo-load at our house for dinner. We played games--Bang, for old-times sake, and then Ticket to Ride. Bill showed no mercy as he dominated Europe. It's been a blast getting to see them again!

Spice-ing Up My Life!!

OK, the secret is out. I LIKE THE SPICE GIRLS! :) I think I had successfully hidden this clandestine craze, but when I heard the Spice Girls were going on a reunion tour I slipped and enthusiastically gushed to Rob about how excited I was. (In the interest of full disclosure, he probably would have found out eventually anyway by seeing the embarrassing, choreographed music videos of me and my friend, Claire, taped in middle school.)

Anyway, because Rob truly is Mr. Wonderful, he surprised me for my birthday with 2 tickets to see the Spice Girls in Boston! Luckily for him (or so he maintains) Jacqueline, my little sister, agreed to come with me.

In order to properly prepare, Jacqueline made me a CD of all of the Spice Girls songs (yes, they had more than one) and we had a rockin' dance party in my living room to classics like Wannabee, Stop, and Spice Up Your Life. We also re-watched Spiceworld: The Movie. It was just as bad as I remembered!

On the way to the concert, the subway was full of females dressed up as the various Spices...Posh, Scary, Baby, Sporty, Ginger, Basil, Coriander, Cumin, Cinnamon, etc. :) Jacqueline and I didn't actually dress up, but we definitely appreciated the time that went into a lot of the outfits we saw.

At the concert we had a blast dancing and singing along with all our favorite Spice tunes. I have to say though, that I have never been in a place with so many females at one time in my life. It was quite the estrogen rush. :) Overall, I have to rate the experience a 10 out of 10 for an enthralling, exhausting, existential evening. Thank you, Rob!

The Truth behind Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth

Ok, everyone...(or probably no one, b/c nobody would check a blog that never gets updated!)...I repent of my blog-slacking and resolve to do better. :)

With that out of the way...



Since moving to the Boston this year, Rob and I have been on a mission to experience Authentic New England Through The Seasons (you may have noticed this theme...a clam bake and apple picking). We've been looking forward to spring for more reasons than just a break in the artic weather; spring in New England means...drum roll, please!....Maple Sugaring!



I am a big fan of breakfast. My dad was always in charge of weekend breakfasts at our house, and he has pretty much mastered the art of belgian waffles, buttermilk pancakes, and paper-thin crepes. Us kids got pretty creative when it came to topping these delectable treats, but one staple was always Aunt Jemima maple syrup. Rob, on the other hand, has told me that the Ellis household loved KK's "little red hen" pancakes smeared with peanut butter and Mrs. Butterworth maple syrup.

VS

I thought I'd give a little background to explain why we were so excited to participate in the creation of such an important part of our childhoods.



So, Rob and I and our friends Brandon and Becca headed out to Drumlin Farms, where we'd signed up (and paid $10 each) for a pancake breakfast and a tour of the farm and the maple sugaring process. Unfortunately, the $10 pancake breakfast consisted of 2 droopy, thin, from-a-mix pancakes, 1 rubbery, suspicous sausage and a small scoop of homefried potatoes. The Pièce de Résistance was that all of this was doused in a ladle-full of maple syrup. We were also politely informed as we went to refill our plates that, "There are no seconds." We thought, as our bellies grumbled hungrily, "At least it's good, authentic maple syrup," only to see empty bottles of maple syrup from Costco in the trash bins as we left. :) Drumlin Farms pulled a fast one on us, that's for sure!




After breakfast our spirits brightened considerably as we toured the farm. We saw some cool birds, including the exotic American Crow and a Striped Skunk. I have to say that one of the highlights of my morning, though, were the adorable week-old baby lambs and goats in the barn.

We also got to see, and taste, the sap directly from the maple tree trunks. It tastes mostly like water, with a tiny bit of sugar. Apparently it's only 2% sugar, so they have to collect gallons and gallons of sap to make a little bit of maple syrup. Then, we got to see how they boil the sap down for hours, and got to taste the syrup at the half-way stage. It was verrrry sweet! Lastly, I got to do a blind taste test of real maple syrup vs. the commercial, synthetic maple syrup. I'm sorry to say that there was no contest: neither Aunt Jemima nor Mrs. Butterworth could hold a candle to pure maple syrup. My discerning tongue and developed palate could easily taste the difference. :)

So in conclusion, although we were still pretty bitter about the breakfast scam (we didn't even buy any Drumlin Farms maple syrup!), I had fun and was happy to learn all about one of my favorite foods.

Brandon and Rob decided our lunch leftovers needed to look like a
face...the tongue is a pickle.

We also got to make up for the minimal breakfast with an early lunch at a steakhouse with Brandon and Becca on the way home. It was a fun morning!