Moving . . .

So, after some thought, I've decided to move all of my posts from my old blog to this blog. I'd rather not have multiple blogs to keep up with, and this way, all of my life is one place. Once I found out that Blogger had a tool that allowed you to export and import blogs WITH their comments, I figured it was a no-brainer. I'll be shutting down the other blog soon (completely deleting it) so be sure you've updated your favorites (since I'm sure you all have my blogs favorited!)

Painting with a Twist

Yesterday, a group of ladies from work who participate in our women's networking group met for an evening of fun at Painting with a Twist. The idea is that you are guided by an artist into painting your own masterpiece . . . and you can bring food and drink to enjoy while you do so! We had tons o' fun and I even came out of it with a painting that is now gracing our fireplace. Who knew I was an artiste?

Our inspiration

We had a lot of food . . . and wine!

My canvas, pre-drawn

Our fearless leader

My finished product . . . how'd I do?

Boston

After saying goodbye to Moni and Katie and Dylan and Aidan, we headed for Boston for a short, one-night stay before flying back to TX. We drove Moni's rental car back, and Michael was the only one who had been added to the contract, so I couldn't drive the car. Thank goodness! I would not have wanted to be driving in Boston. It was bad enough being a passenger. I think my car accident has made me a bit gun-shy. Poor Michael. There were several times I let little (or not so little) squeals escape when I thought we were about to hit (or be hit by) someone. He did not appreciate that, understandable when you consider he was trying to navigate city traffic.

Anyway, since I couldn't drive, I ended up sleeping most of the way to Boston. I did wake up towards the end, though, and Michael was able to point out the landmarks as we drove in to the city. He drove me past the places he used to live and around the outskirts of Harvard's campus. Lunch was at this awesome Persian place. So incredibly tasty. I'm already missing all the cuisine variety now that we're back in SETX. :-(

After lunch, we headed to our hotel: Hotel Marlowe. It ended up being the cheapest and the nicest hotel we stayed at the entire trip. Go figure. Anyway, when we got in our room, Michael noticed so brochures and tossed one too me. Turns out, the hotel had kayaks you could take out on the Charles River for free. Score! We quickly changed and went out for kayaking for a few hours. No pictures, 'cause I didn't want to risk the camera getting wet, but it was a blast. And I didn't tip, not once! After having a little fun with the hotels robes, we cleaned up and got ready for some Boston sightseeing.

Aren't they a hoot?!

We were tempted to bring them home - but they were $100+ and honestly not that comfortable.

We spent the late afternoon/early evening strolling around downtown Boston and seeing the famous sights. Boston was a happening place back in early America, so there are lots of places to see. There is even a red-bricked trail on the sidewalk you can follow to go to all these important sites. We followed it for a little bit, but considering it was a Sunday evening, most places were closed. The most important place we visited was open, though: Mike's Pastry. I have never had cannoli before, and man, was it a great introduction.

Sam Adams at Faneuil Hall

There was some sort of music event going on

Gravestones at King's Chapel Burying Ground

View full size for some great details

Home to William Lloyd Garrison

Park Street Church

The State House on Beacon Hill

This land was originally John Hancock's cow pasture

Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

Uh-oh, Michael's leaving the Freedom Trail!

Pretty house

Pretty plants - I think Michael wants that one in our garden

Make Way for Ducklings!!!

Aren't they adorable?!

Look, real ducks! (Ok, I know they're hard to see, but they're there, I promise!)

I love catching Michael unawares

George Washington

Let's see . . . one leg raised means death from wounds sustained during battle? Oops, guess that doesn't hold true for this one!

Once it started getting dark, we jumped back on the subway to get back to the hotel, picked up the car and went tooling around Harvard. First up was a visit to one of his favorite burrito places, Anna's, followed by some night tours around the buildings he used to frequent. I even got a picture with the "statue of three lies".

Monday morning, we checked out of the lovely Hotel Marlowe and headed back to Harvard to check out their museums before catching our flight that afternoon. We spent most of our time in the Natural History museum, admiring their vast collection of stuffed birds and mammals as well as amazingly detailed glass flowers. After a short detour through the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, we headed to the airport, in time for a quick meal of clam chowder before sitting in the plane on the tarmac for over an hour. Ah, the joys of flying!

Hummingbirds for Grandma

Hard to see in this small size, but this is a Rocky Mountain hummingbird

"I could've got a falcon!"

Poudre Pride!

More hummingbirds for Grandma

These were probably no more than 2" in body length

Armadillo . . . or as I like to call them, Roadkill

Penguin for Peter

Butterflies for Mama

I think this was my favorite butterfly display

Now, this may be hard to believe, but all of these remaining flower
and plant pictures are actually made of glass. Incredible!

Michael, demonstrating the location of the Diquís stone ball