Snowpocolypse 2010- Boston Edition

It's been quite a while since I last blogged. Don't think I've just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I've definitely been enjoying life in Cambridge but I did get a bit sidetracked with wedding plans and watching my UConn Huskies tie and then break the division one all time consecutive wins record for basketball. For a while there it felt more like the middle of March Madness than the holiday season! Hopefully this week everything with the wedding will get straightened out and we can move on with the planning...and living the city life.

On the way home from Christmas festivities with JO's family we heard that the winter storm warning had turned into a blizzard warning. I really hate the snow so this change in the forecast really hit me hard. I started thinking about the last blizzard I experienced in 2005 and how I was basically trapped in my apartment on the South Shore for 4 days. I hate that feeling of being trapped. After a few minutes I realized I had nothing to worry about because I live in such a great neighborhood!

I got up early on Sunday to walk to the grocery store. Yes, I can walk to my grocery store which meant I didn't have to give up my prime parking spot. Then we settled in for an afternoon of playing video games and watching people deal with the snow from "The Bridge" as we refer to our living room that overlooks one of the major streets in Cambridge.

This morning I woke up to a winter wonderland. After breakfast I headed out to walk to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and to scope out the neighborhood. We spent some more time watching people from "The Bridge." Our favorite moment was the angry man who picked up huge hunks of snow and kept throwing it at the sidewalk.





(one of the stores was "snowed" in by the drifts)

Eventually we headed out to "dig" out our cars but since neither of us really has to go anywhere this week we didn't do too much. I did have to climb on JO's car because of the snowbanks...that was kind of fun!

Dinner time rolled around and we both agreed that we had spent far too much time in the apartment so we hit up The Druid for some delicious food. The service may be less than stellar at this Irish pub but the food more than makes up for it! That's what I love about my neighborhood! By noon today everything was open and fully operating. I could have even gotten ice cream if I dared :-)

It's Holiday Time

I love this time of year because there are so many fun city traditions to partake in. Our first stop of the holiday season is the Charles Hotel tree lighting in Harvard Square. I love this tree lighting because it's not too crowded and they have a band that plays holiday songs prior to the lighting. The hotel also gives out free hot chocolate which just adds to the spirit.




We always follow up the tree lighting with a toast at one of the restaurants in the Square. Last night we stopped into Trata after the tree lighting. I really love the atmosphere in this small restaurant and it never seems to be too crowded.

I also love this time of year because Husky basketball is in full swing!!!

I would wear this sweatshirt every day if I could!

Back to Back National Champions!

Thanksgiving and Days Off

The past few days have been quite busy! Last weekend we hosted our annual Thanksgiving for our good friends. Since moving to the area, and becoming friends with this group of people, Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite traditions of the year. This year was extra special since there was a lot to celebrate in our group. Personally, it was also a nice opportunity to thank everyone for their love and support earlier this year. Having such an amazing group of people in my life certainly made the difficult times a little bit easier.



I love the fact that our city apartment has enough room for 16 people to sit at one long table. Last year we fit 23. We often joke that if we were on House Hunters the part where you talk about what you don't like about your current residence would be a joke. Other than the fact that we don't have a buzzer and we have finicky doors that sometimes lock you inside of rooms there is nothing we don't like about our apartment.

Thanksgiving was a smashing success! Thanks to our local Trader Joe's we had lots of fresh flowers :-)

This week was a short week at school since we had today off. I absolutely love having this day off. It's so nice and relaxing. On Monday night we decided to check off one of the local restaurants from our "to-do" list by having dinner at Ole. We both agreed that it was pretty dumb of us not hit up this great Mexican restaurant earlier in our life in Inman. Delicious is pretty much the only word that fits. I especially loved the guacamole made right at our table. I ate so much that I'm surprised I didn't turn green. The drink menu, and their new tapas menu, are both very intriguing. We'll definitely be going back.

Last night we joined our friends at The Thirsty Scholar and today we hit up Mr. Bartley's Burgers in the Square before seeing the Social Network. You might think we visited these places on purpose, since they are prominently featured in the movie but it was just dumb luck.

I've never been to Bartley's Burgers and I have to say putting grilled sauerkraut on a burger is sheer genius! I did find it quite annoying that 18 people, all of whom were seated ten minutes after us, got their food a good 20 minutes before we did. But, I totally get the fact that service isn't the selling point of Bartley's.

In between all of these fun events and outings we picked our wedding venue and date. The countdown is on... September 24, 2011 at Gunstock Mountain Resort.

One of Those Weekends

This weekend was one of those glorious weekends when each day was filled with something fun! It's the kind of weekend that puts you in a good mood going into Monday!

Friday night we headed into Boston for a long overdue city date. We had been wanting to go to dinner in Boston for a while but it always seemed liked we were too busy. We finally had an entire evening with nothing to do so we took advantage. We hopped on the train and in no time found ourselves at Teatro on Tremont Street. This was our first time at this restaurant and I'm sure it won't be our last.

Upon entering Teatro you are greeted with a beautiful arched ceiling lit up in a soft blue tone. There are no windows inside the restaurant, but that really didn't bother me. The tables are close together but it didn't seem to be a problem either. The atmosphere is sophisticated but bustling. You can have a conversation without feeling like everyone can hear you. The menu consists of tapas style dishes, some you can order in a full portion. We ended up ordering lots of tapas dishes including: the white bean puree, calamari, squash soup, pasta carbonara, wild mushroom risotto, and the rib eye steak. The food was delicious. The only so-so dish was the carbonara which definitely needed more salt. The wild mushroom risotto might just be the best risotto I have ever had. It was so creamy and had a deep roasted garlic flavor which I just loved. The rib eye was also delicious. I really want to go back and get the risotto :-) I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. After dinner we headed over to Top of the Hub.

On our way we noticed that people were dining outside. It was quite chilly and we coined the phrase "Seasonal Outdoor Dining Disorder" or SODsquared. Little did we know we would fall victims to the SODsquared the very next day.

It was super crowded in the Top of the Hub but somehow we were able to score a couple of seats. We spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about all of our fun city adventures last winter and making a winter list for this year.

On Saturday we woke up to a beautiful Indian Summer day in November. The sun was shining as we drove up to Gunstock Mountain Resort in Guilford, NH to check out their lodge as a possible wedding venue.






It was so pretty up there and the weather was so nice that we decided to grab lunch in Meredith, NH near Lake Winnipesaukee. We ended up grabbing lunch at Giuseppe's Showtime Pizzeria in the Mills Falls building. I've eaten here several times with my parents so it was a bit of de-ja-vu for me :-) I couldn't resist getting a couple of pictures of the lake on our way out




Later that night we met up with good friends and went to dinner at Daedalus in the Square. They had never been there and we were raving about the roof deck. Come to find out it was still open so we out there after dinner. It wasn't too chilly with our jackets and gloves on and it was so much fun! I still can't get over that we were on the roof deck in November :-) We hit up The Grafton before heading home for the night.


Today we headed into the Square to grab lunch. We tried Flat Patties and once again found ourselves dining outside in November :-)

I'm rather excited to know that the Outdoor Dining Season seems to be expanding!

An Inman Gem

Short weeks at school always seem super long. I think it's because we try to cram everything we would normally do in five days into four. That being said, on Friday all I wanted to do was go out for dinner and unwind... but I didn't have the energy to leave the neighborhood.

Lucky for me I live in Inman Square where there are a multitude of great restaurants at my doorstep. JO and I opted to visit Casa de Portugal. I hesitated writing about this restaurant for fear I may never be able to get a table there again when people find out what a great place it is.

The atmosphere is reminiscent of a restaurant in the North End. It's cozy and small and there is almost always a short wait for a table. It's a slice of fine dining right in our Square, which I love. The food is delicious and not overly complicated. I got the garlic shrimp with rice and Portuguese potato chips. JO got the steak with mushrooms and wine sauce. Both meals were delicious and very reasonably priced. We also are big fans of their affordable, and delicious, wine list.

After a delightfully delicious dinner at this neighborhood noshing nook (my 4th graders are currently working on alliteration) we decided that Casa de Portugal will definitely be inserted into the restaurant rotation more often.

The Charles River Regatta and Recognizance Missions

Last weekend we headed out to yet another fabulous, fun, fall event (my class has recently been working on alliteration) in Harvard Square...the Charles River Regatta. It was a bit chilly when we headed out so we bundled up in jackets, a scarf, and stuffed some gloves in our pockets. We definitely had SFD (seasonal fashion disorder) since by the time we got the river it was quite warm out! We grabbed lunch at Tory Row, one of my favorite lunch spots in the Square, before heading down to the river. Even though the Square was super crowded we enjoyed the time by the river watching the races. I love when I have the Square all to myself, but I also really enjoy those times when the Square seems to be the center of excitement. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have no pictures to share :-(

This time of year always seems so busy. Last year there was the "Great Pumpkin Debacle" in which JO and I had to take out our calendars to schedule a time to carve our pumpkin. This year we didn't even have time to get a pumpkin but at least it's for better reasons than school stress. We've been checking out venues for our wedding. Hopefully we'll have a place picked out in the next few weeks- just a few more places to check out!

It's Been A While

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy, even though I had Monday off. I find that, as a classroom teacher, four day weeks tend to be crazier than full weeks because you try to cram five days worth of work into four.

That being said, last weekend was a lot of fun. We hit up our friend's Oktoberfest on Saturday and enjoyed an evening by the fire looking up at the stars. On Sunday we went to Harvard Square's Oktoberfest which is always a great time. The weather was gorgeous which meant the Square was jammed with people. We made the executive decision to bypass most of the vendor stands opting instead for the last free table at Legal's Outdoor Terrace. It was so nice to get one last day of outside dining in before winter arrives. I spent the day off doing some Urban Hiking, in the form of shoe shopping, at Downtown Crossing and Prudential Center. I also spent some quality time at the Public Gardens enjoying the sun dance of the pond.

After a quick four day week it was time for more fun city outings, but first we took a trip to UConn for the Men's and Women's basketball Super Show. We had an amazing time and also had some amazing luck. First, there was no traffic getting down to the campus so we made it in plenty of time to hop in the autograph line. I managed to get autographs from both the men's and women's team, plus the coaches. I'm currently trying to figure out the best place to display this poster! While I waited in line, JO headed in to get good seats since the event is open seating. I could hardly contain my excitement when JO texted me saying he was five rows behind the women's bench! We had so much fun watching the highlight video, the player introductions, and the funny game show segments. I cannot wait for the first game of the season... November 16th...right around the corner!












Saturday night we headed out on a Boston adventure with some friends. First up we ate at Symphony 8. The best thing about this group of friends is that there is never any drama. It's always just a good time! After dinner we walked over to the Prudential Center to go to the Top of the Hub.

I don't care what anyone says, I love the Top of the Hub. Some people say it's a tourist attraction but that's fine by me. I'll gladly go to any tourist attraction that lets me have a view of Boston from 52 floors up! I love the atmosphere, especially at night with the jazz music in the lounge. We're already planning a visit on a night that it snows! That's the great thing about where we live... we can still enjoy the city even when it's snowing!

We ended the night at McGreevy's on Boylston St. There was some talk of walking home when we couldn't find a cab right away but we thought better of that :-) We didn't want a repeat of the non-shoe shopping urban hiking disaster from the end of the summer.

All in all, it's been a great few weeks and I'm feeling happy about what the future holds!

The Seal Picture!

I was finally able to upload the cute seal picture.

Staycation

Instead of going to Martha's Vineyard like we had planned we decided to take a "Staycation." I just couldn't deal with the suitcases and being away for an entire weekend after the past few weeks. So instead we booked a room at The Kendall Hotel.




We had come across The Kendall last winter when we decided to walk home from the Kendall T stop. Ever since then we've been trying to figure out a way to justify staying at a hotel two minutes from our apartment. The hotel is beautiful and everyone should stay there immediately. The ambiance is awesome, the rooftop retreat is beautiful, and the restaurant is really nice.

After checking in, and a very nice surprise moment, we headed into Boston. Our plan was to visit the Aquarium before dinner but unfortunately it was closed for a special event. We still had the chance to see the seals outside and ended up seeing an IMAX movie. I have an awesome picture of a seal but my dumb iphoto isn't letting me open it up! Anyways, trust me...it's real cute :-)

After dinner we hung out in Christopher Columbus Park on our way to the North End. We took a tour of the rose gardens and watched the boats come in. It was a beautiful fall day in the city and so many people were out.


We made our way to Hanover Street to have dinner at Taranta. Our original plan was to eat at Teatro but they didn't have a table. I'm glad we ended up here. Taranta is an amazing restaurant that fuses Italian and Peruvian flavors. I highly, highly recommend the mussels appetizer. Delicious!

After dinner we walked back through Christopher Columbus Park to the Last Hurrah at the Omni Parker. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I'm a big fan of this place as evidenced by this and this. I mixed up the drink order so we ended up with something we weren't expecting but it was a great way to end the evening.

In the morning we enjoyed breakfast on the outdoor patio. I love the fact that we were able to sneak in some more outdoor dining before the cold weather hits.

It really was a lovely weekend getaway and it was even better since our drive home was less than 5 minutes and I had about 5 things to unpack. We were able to spend our Sunday relaxing and celebrating something special with friends!

I love the city!

11 Green St. Apt. #1

I've been missing for a few weeks. I was supposed to blog about a "day of fun" at Woodward at the Ames and Drink but instead everything changed. My mom died suddenly and my world was turned upside down.

I spent a lot of time at home on the South Shore and what I was realized is that my happiest memories of my mom are from our time in Cambridge when we lived at 11 Green St. Apt. #1. All of the pictures from back then show my mom smiling and looking happy.

Just another reason why I love living in Cambridge so much! When I got back to Cambridge I had trouble getting back into the groove of the city. We went to Harvard Square and I was totally overwhelmed by the people and noise.

Luckily, after a week back at school and getting back into a routine I was able to enjoy the city again. I think my mom would be happy :-)

Exploring the Seaport

I love long weekends, especially long 4 day weekends! After a great few days back in the classroom it was nice to have four straight days off. Thankfully Hurricane Earl only stayed for a day and I was back in the Square Saturday morning.

I woke up pretty early for me on Saturday, before 8:00 a.m. so I headed off to the Square to enjoy the sunny weather. The Square was so empty. I went for a quick walk around the Charles River. It brought back so many memories from last fall when my Charles River walks were a means to escape my work stress! I left the Square in a great mood, ready for a fun evening at the Seaport.

One of our friends organized a Seaport adventure for Saturday night. I have to admit, I've done a few things in the Seaport area, but for the most part I never venture down there. Big mistake! The Seaport area has some great places... and I think we went to all of them last night :-)

First up was Drink. I've read about this place in Boston Magazine a bunch of times and was very excited to try it. A little hint- if you've never been it's pretty hard to find. It's in the basement of Sportello and the sign is a 3 inch tall black etching on the door. I highly recommend this place, and it may just actually be my new favorite. They don't have much a menu because they will basically make anything you want. The atmosphere was really relaxed, but trendy... a sometimes tough combination to pull off.

Next up we headed over to one of my favorite restaurants the No Name Restaurant on the Fish Pier. When I was younger my parents would take me here for special occasions, even though it's definitely not a typical "special occasion" restaurant. The menu is no frills and that's just how I love my seafood! My favorite dish is the broiled sauteed shrimp plate with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. It's such a simple dish but the flavors are so fresh and clean and everything is cooked perfectly. I was so happy that everyone seemed to enjoy it just as much as I do!

After the No Name we headed over to the Atlantic Beer Company to enjoy the roof deck. I'm slightly disappointed that I just discovered this place at the end of the summer. Maybe it was because it was Labor Day weekend but it wasn't crowded at all, and the clientele were mostly our age. In my opinion, a Boston outing is always better with less 21-24 year olds. I just can't take them sometimes :-) The roof deck has an awesome view of the harbor! Even though it was quite blustery, thanks to Earl, we all agreed it was refreshing after the heat wave from the past week.

Our next stop was The Whiskey Priest conveniently located right next door. I ended up liking this place a lot more than I thought I would, especially with the young crowd I spotted heading in before us. Once inside I realized there was a nice mix of ages. The bar is right on the water with large open-air windows. I also really enjoyed the mix of music which inspired us to go out dancing in the near future. We had a fun conversation about how you can tell a lot about a woman based on her footwear choices and amount of product in her hair. On our way out the door, at the late hour of 10:00, we were greeted with a huge line to get in. Apparently we were the trend setters that evening :-)

Our final stop for the evening was The Barking Crab. The Barking Crab is a fun, very casual, harbor side restaurant and bar. It was a great place to wrap up the evening!

Now, I'm off to review lessons on latitude, longitude, and hemispheres! Things are a bit different for me this year but I'm definitely much happier at school... and I still have one more morning in the Square to look forward to tomorrow. Now if only my tables were back!

Facing Reality- Vacation is Over

Well, with the exception of the "urban hiking" disaster the other night I've really been enjoying my summer vacation. Back in June I had the following "summer resolutions." Let's see how I fared.

• Spending most mornings in Harvard Square Big check!
  
• Once a week I plan on doing some Urban Hiking from the Public Gardens, down Newbury Street, and back home This is kind of funny that the exact walk that nearly took me down was on my list of things to do. I'm sure when I typed that I envisioned myself wearing sneakers!
  
• We have to eat at East Coast Grill and Tupelo because we've lived in Inman for a year and half and I'm embarrassed to say we haven't eaten at either of these neighborhood favorites I hang my head in shame.
  
• Spending some lovely days at the rooftop pool at The Colonnade Hotel It was a lovely day...and I'm hoping for one more in the very near future
  
• Mega road trip to Utah and Colorado Amazing, amazing, amazing!
  
• Spending quality time at Daedalus, Small Plates, and my other favorite Harvard Square restaurants Been to Daedalus a bunch and heading to Small Plates tonight (just sneaking it in)
  
• A boat trip to the Boston Harbor Islands Ran out of time...and there were a lot of weekends that were too hot. Perhaps in the early fall.
  
• A day trip to Martha's Vineyard We moved this to the late fall...it's in the works
  
• And most importantly.... relaxing, relaxing, relaxing! I definitely did a lot of this.
  

For the past few years I've dreaded going back to school but this year I'm very excited since I'll be teaching 4th grade!

How Did I End Up Like This?

I'm currently sitting at my desk, slathered in Icy Hot, with an Ace Bandage wrapped around my upper shin trying to figure out how a weekend filled with such promise failed so miserably?

It all started off so fabulously. After a horrible day in the Square on Thursday, mostly due to Harvard Freshman Move In Day, Friday was a welcome change. The weather was gorgeous and I was able to find a place to read, although my tables are gone for good! On my way home from the Square my friend texted and suggested lunch outside in the Square.

We ended up on the roof deck of Daedalus enjoying the beautiful weather, and the best Cobb Salad ever! We had a great lunch, enjoying the fact that we weren't working on this Friday afternoon. We followed up the great lunch by hanging out with our friends in the evening at The Precinct, another favorite of ours. It was really a perfect way to start the weekend and I was really looking forward to one last hurrah before starting back at work this week.

The plan was simple. Swan Boats in the late afternoon, followed by a picnic in the Public Gardens, and then just enjoying the city at night. All I really wanted to do was walk around the city when it's all lit up! We enjoyed a lovely Swan Boat ride. We also saw three different wedding parties getting their pictures taken which is always a fun surprise. After the Swan Boat ride we realized how hot it really was. We decided to nix the picnic plans, instead opting for dinner at Wagamama at the Pru. Due to an unfortunate mis-communication, we did not stay in the city to see it all lit up at night... instead we started walking home.... from the Pru! That's about a 2.5 mile walk... in sandals, after having run two miles at the gym earlier in the day.

I was really confused so I didn't understand what was happening until it was too late. I love me a good urban hike, preferably when there is shopping involved, and I even like this urban hiking route... but not after running 2 miles and only when wearing sneakers!

By the time we approached the Mass Ave Bridge my feet were killing, by the time we got to the other side my feet were numb, and by the time we reached the train tracks in Central I had to sit down. My walking became a shuffle and I honestly didn't think I would be able to walk the rest. However, we couldn't really get a cab from Central to where we live on Prospect without the driver laughing in our face so my only choice was to walk. We had thought about stopping somewhere for a drink but I was so miserable, and my legs were aching, that I turned down all of the places along the way, until we ended up at the Field. I'd been wanting to try their new patio all summer and I figured this might be a way to salvage the evening. The patio was great, very similar to the patio at Devlin's in Brighton, but it did nothing to raise my spirits.

After a quick stop we walked the last few blocks home. I was pretty much near tears at this point, as I could no longer feel my legs and feet. (Please don't think I am horribly out of shape... I blame my complete body breakdown on the running I had done earlier and the sandals I was wearing.) JO went to get ice cream and I winced my way up the 3 flights of stairs to our apartment.

Once inside it was all I could do to lie down on the bed. My entire body ached from my head to my toes. My muscles were definitely very angry at me. I fell asleep by 9:00 but woke up at 1:00 due to the pain. I remained awake until 4:00 when I was finally able to fall asleep again.

As a result, today, my last real day of vacation, has been pretty much a waste!

Fear not, there are lots of fun things planned for next weekend which will hopefully make up for this mess!

A Lovely Little Saturday

On the heels of two super city days Saturday day arrived with some very nice weather. I took advantage with a morning trip to the Square. I was very happy to find that my singer was back!

We were meeting friends in the Square around 5:00 for birthday festivities but we didn't want to waste any of our weekend so we decided to check out the Allston Field and Fairway to play a little mini-golf. I have to say this is a great little gem, sponsored by Harvard University, it provides free mini-golf and batting cages. The golf course wasn't anything spectacular, but it was still fun!

After golf we met our friends at Fire and Ice for some improv grilling and a delightful evening at Legal's Outdoor Terrace. I was shocked that at 7:30 on a Saturday with gorgeous weather the place was empty. I don't get it but I'll take it. I love the location of this spot in the courtyard of the Charles Hotel. While we were dining I couldn't help but be drawn to the new outdoor patio at Henrietta's Table. I've looked at their menu several times and haven't been that excited, but their new patio might be changing my mind.

A Delightful Day in the City!

It just so happened that two of my good friends ended up with today off. After such a great night last night I couldn't wait for another day in the city.

Of course, I spent the morning in Harvard Square drinking coffee and reading my book! Sadly, I don't have many of these mornings left :-( but for a change I'm actually excited about school starting!

I met up with one of my friends around noon to grab lunch before meeting our other friend at the Sam Adams Brewery. I've been wanting to try this particular restaurant in Boston since I happened upon it in the spring. The Woodward at the Ames Hotel has a beautiful outdoor patio area and it just looks like fun! I've also seen it popping up all over the place in local magazines. Lucky for me my friend wanted to try it too. We were lucky to score and outdoor table on this gorgeous day.

Lets just say that we had a great time and are already planning another lunch date here in the fall! We both got the steak salad and it was out of this world! I know that sounds funny for a steak salad but it really just worked. All of the flavors were perfectly balanced! The atmosphere was great too. The patio is on the sidewalk across from the Old State House. It was kind of fun when we realized that most of the people at the restaurant were probably on their lunch break... not us! This is also the place that the new phrase, "You've been stackajaweaed," was coined. I had gotten all of these $1 coins and I used 12 of them to pay my bill.

After lunch we headed over to the Sam Adams Brewery for a tour. It was so much fun and such a great way to start the end of my summer vacation!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my city life? If I haven't, shame on me! I am so lucky to live where I live and have access to such amazingly fun places on a daily basis!

And the best part of all of this fun... it's not even Saturday yet! Score me!!!

Restaurant Week!

Restaurant Week is always a favorite of mine. RW lets you try restaurants that you might not normally try. One of my favorite restaurants was discovered on a Restaurant Week outing a while back. I don't think I would've tried The Grotto if it wasn't for RW and now it's a favorite!

This year we decided to try Toscano's on Charles Street. I was particularly drawn to this place because they had so many choices on their RW menu! I was also intrigued by their location. I've been meaning to spend some more time on Charles Street and this offered the perfect excuse.

Additionally, Alibi is near by and we had an 8:30 reservation at the restaurant which left just the right amount of time for a quick stop. I really love the atmosphere at this place and am thrilled it's making it into the rotation on a more regular basis!

The walk to the restaurant was rather short but was a lovely stroll on Charles Street. It's such a cute street with great shops and restaurants. We were talking about how it would make a great winter destination since it's so close to the T.

Our dinner was delicious. The veal meatballs are the best meatballs I have ever had, and I don't even like meatballs. The lobster risotto was brimming with fresh lobster meat and the tiramisu was decadent. It was also fun to go out on a Thursday night... to start the weekend a bit early (although since I'm on vacation every day is the weekend!) It was also nice to be with such great friends. The city can be fun on your own but it's even better with good friends to share it with!

I feel totally inspired by the excursion and can't wait to go exploring again! I could definitely envision walking down Charles Street on a weekend morning with my coffee :-)

Roof Decks in the Square

All I can say is that we scored a roof deck table at Daedalus!

My blog inspiring friend Abdu paid me a visit today and we spent the evening in the Square! We did a little shopping followed by a lovely evening on the roof deck. I love, love, love this restaurant!

Look how far we've come from our days in the "woods."

Tommy Doyle's, Marliave, Shakespeare in the Park, and Chauncey Creek: Or How I Spent My Weekend

What a whirlwind of a weekend. I love these kinds of weekends because I feel like I did everything I set out to do! It seemed like everything from friends' schedules to the weather to outdoor dining tables being available just worked out right! I love when that happens.

Friday night was gorgeous. The weather was just perfect and I really wanted to eat outside. I was sure if we went to the Square we wouldn't be able to find a table so we opted for Tommy Doyle's in Kendall Square. We figured if we couldn't get a table there we could always try the Cambridge Brewing Company. Both restaurants offer lots of outdoor dining and since they are in Kendall Square we figured they wouldn't be as crowded.

I haven't been to this area in a long time and I had forgotten what a great outdoor dining spot it is. The trees are all lit up with white Christmas lights. It was so nice to just sit back and relax with friends. The only downside is that they allow dogs in the outdoor patio and I'm not a big fan of dining with canines.

The weather continued to be absolutely beautiful on Saturday so I headed into the Square for some coffee and reading. Last Saturday there was a great singer performing in front on the Au Bon Pain and the music drifted into my reading spot added to the relaxed atmosphere. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard his music again. Between his music and a fun book my Saturday morning was perfection!

Saturday night we headed into Boston to watch Shakespeare in the Park's performance of Othello. We decided to head in a bit early to grab dinner at a restaurant that is skyrocketing to the top of my favorite restaurants list as evidenced by this and this. This time we tried the outdoor dining at The Marliave and it was nothing short of awesome! We ordered an array of appetizers including the Mac and Cheese which is amazing, the escargot which may be the best in Boston (and I've tried them at a lot of places), a mixed green salad, and meatball sliders and just enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere. The restaurant is at the end of a street that's not very traveled so it's very quiet and peaceful. I love, love, love this place and am already trying to think of an excuse to go back again real soon. After dinner we headed over to the Boston Common where we watched Othello. It was so fun to be in the park at night. This is one of my favorite things to do in the summer because it's a great way to combine the arts and the park. The production was really good and the last act was riveting. Who knew one handkerchief could cause so many problems!

The weather was just as nice this morning so I headed into the Square and the singer was back. This totally made my morning so I made a point to walk past him in hopes of finding out who he is. I was hoping he might have a cd on sale but he didn't. He did have a card though and I now have a name to go with my mystery singer. John Sage's music can be found here. He has definitely been a welcomed addition to my mornings in the Square the past few weekends!

To conclude this ridiculously perfect weekend we headed over to Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier in Kittery, ME for some seafood with great friends. Our Inman friends joined us, as did my good friend from Portsmouth. It was such a fun day, sitting by the water, eating lobsters and steamers. I highly recommend this place to anyone that likes seafood. It's not too far from Boston, probably about an hour and 15 minutes or so. It's BYOB and you can also bring other food not sold at the restaurant. I'm already thinking about our next trip- judging by the people around us we need to bring tablecloths and flowers and perhaps a gourmet torte!

And the end of summer fun doesn't stop here. We have restaurant week at Toscano's in Boston, which I'm super excited about, a stop at The Alibi, a final visit to the roof deck pool, and maybe even a Brewery Tour... and I can't forget the fun Harvard Square outing planned for this weekend!

Spontaneous Summer Outing!

Now that my trip blogging is done I can get back to tales from the city! Just in time too since Saturday was such a great day!

Last week was a long one. I spent almost the entire week working in my classroom and JO was gone hiking Granite Peak in Montana. In addition, the heat and humidity were out of control, preventing me from enjoying anything that required me to be outside. By Friday I was going a bit stir crazy.

On Saturday, with temps plummeting into the 70s, our good friends invited us out to join them for a night in Boston. I was pretty sure JO would be too tired from his hours of flying but thanks to jet leg we were able to join them.

Since they had headed in earlier then us we met them at the Union Oyster House to plan the rest of our evening. The last time we were at the Oyster House we were joined at the bar by two children which led to the coining of the phrase, "I don't drink in your daycare, don't play in my bar." Luckily for us there were no children in sight.

We decided to head into the North End for dinner. This was a bit risky since:

a) It was a Saturday night
b) We didn't have reservations
and
c) It was the first night in over a week that the weather wasn't disgusting so everyone had similar ideas about being in the city.

We thought we would have better luck if we tried to find a place off of Hanover Street. We hit the jackpot on Richmond Street when we found Vinoteca di Monica with no wait for a table for four. I loved, loved, loved the food and the atmosphere was great too. Sometimes restaurants in the North End can be a bit stressful what with the tight quarters and tons of people. This place was small, but not too small, and I never felt too packed in even though lots of people started arriving after we were seated. I also really liked that we never felt rushed, another pitfall of many North End restaurants.

We got the grilled calamari for an appetizer. I've only ever had fried calamari so this was a welcome change. Plus it was served on a bed of arugula and fennel. My volume of Food Network watching goes way up in the summer and there have been a lot of recipes with fennel recently so this was a perfect opportunity to try it. It was yummy :-)

I got the pasta carbonara for dinner and it was delicious. It was less creamy and more eggy than other carbonaras I've had before and I quite enjoyed that. The homemade pasta was cooked perfectly.

The only downfall was the fact that my leftovers were thrown out before being wrapped up but they gave me a free dessert to make up for it. I had been craving tiramisu for a while so this worked out quite nicely.

After dinner we decided to head over to The Last Hurrah at the Omni Parker. This is quickly becoming a favorite of mine as evidenced by this and this.

Great weather and great company makes for a great night!

Days 7 and 8- Breckenridge, CO

After leaving Aspen we headed over to Breckenridge, CO. It was our last stop before leaving and we had high hopes after Aspen's poor showing.

Simply put...Breckenridge is awesome with three exclamation points!!!





Breckenridge is similar to Harvard Square... lots of shops, restaurants, and bars.


Since we got there before we could check into the lodge we spent the afternoon eating ice cream, wandering around, and looking for the best souvenir t-shirt! We instantly loved the calm, relaxed atmosphere and everyone we met was so friendly. Plus, every few blocks there's a neighborhood fire pit!



We think there's an ordinance about having hanging flower baskets every 3 feet!

One of the neat spots in the town is the River Walk. Breckenridge use to be a mining town so it has a beautiful river running through it.



We scouted out all of the restaurants before settling on the Quandary Grille. We had seen the chef smoking meat in the smoker earlier in the day and it looked delicious. Plus, in my opinion, this restaurant has the best views of the Breckenridge Mountain and the pond that flows into the river.





Even though it had been warm during the day, it was getting pretty cold by the time the sun went down. As a result, we decided to hit up Burke and Riley's Irish Pub because they had two of my favorite things- a roof deck patio and a fire pit! We had a great time here and even spent some time talking to the owners and their families. We spent almost two hours here and by the end of the night we were talking about moving to Breckenridge... or at least retiring there. What's not to love! Great food, great shopping, and great weather! It doesn't get too hot or too horribly cold and the snow is light and powdery.


The next morning we got up early so we could keep enjoying this great town. We rode the gondola, and the ski lift, up to the top of Peak 8 for the Fun Park to ride the alpine sleds. The views from the top of the mountain were stunning.








We grabbed lunch at another pub and wandered around some more. We were looking for one last memory and that's when JO had a great idea- sampling the fried pie dessert at Mimi's Fried Pies.



Unfortunately our time was up and we needed to head to Denver. I know I've said this a lot but I definitely want to go back to Breckenridge.



I was hoping to do something fun in Denver for the last night of our trip but it was 102 degrees and our hotel wasn't exactly "in" Denver although it was right next door to Mile High Stadium.

Our trip was amazing! It was better than we ever thought it would be. We're already planning next year's trip- Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.