Boston Red Sox

Well I'm definitely one of the many people totally wrapped up in the Boston Red Sox march through the playoffs.  Our really good friend lives in the Fenway area, with a direct view of the Jumbo-tron, so we headed over to his place to enjoy a few of the games.  We had fun trying to guess what the crowd reaction meant due to the eight second game delay.  Watching the crowd react to Victorino's Grand Slam before seeing it on the tv was awesome.  Prior to the end of the game last night JO and I had decided to leave a little early so we wouldn't get caught up in the madness, but after the Grand Slam I just couldn't.  I wanted to be in the Fenway area and celebrate with good friends.  Such a fun way to spend some city nights!

Go Sox!!!!

The Pru was decked out for the big game!

This picture does not do the view justice!

Play Me I'm Yours- 75 Pianos

Back in early September the "Play Me I'm Yours 75 Pianos" project was announced.  I loved the idea behind this project- bring art and music together all over the city.  I never thought Inman would get a piano but sure enough, on my way to work one morning I spotted one in the courtyard.  This put me in a good mood all day!  A few days later we found a piano just outside of the Square on the way to Kendall.  We had fun trying out both pianos.  I loved that for the few weeks the project lasted the sounds of piano floated through our Square at all hours of the day and night.  It added something really sweet to the neighborhood and I'm hoping the project returns next year.

New Hampshire Weekends

 We spent three straight September weekends in New Hampshire.  It was hard being away from all the fun places to visit in the city but it was a lot of fun to escape school work for three straight weekends.

Weekend 1- Wedding Fun
We spent the first weekend in Portsmouth celebrating the wedding of one of my very good friends.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time roaming around downtown Portsmouth.  Portsmouth is such a fun town to explore.  We grabbed drinks and dessert at the Black Trumpet and absolutely loved the rustic decor.  The wedding itself was a lot of fun with a great after party.  It was the perfect way to start the fall.

Weekend 2- Lake Winnipesaukee
We spent weekend two at our friend's family condo in the Lake Winnipesaukee area.  It had been a stressful week at work and the escape North was much needed.  I had a great time hanging out with such great friends.

We spent a lot of quality time at Fun Spot playing arcade and carnival games.  JO and I left with over 4,000 tickets!










We enjoyed a lovely lakeside lunch at the Lake House, a beautiful restaurant in Meredith, NH.  I'm already planning a way to get back up there to eat there again.  We had lunch the next day at Castle in the Clouds, a personal favorite.











The whole weekend was just awesome and completely stress free.  It was so nice to spend time with great friends.  It reminded me just how lucky I am to have ended up where I am.

Weekend 3- Lake Winnipesaukee and the White Mountains



Our final weekend found us going on an anniversary trip to the White Mountains.  Back in the summer there was a Groupon for the Mountain View Grand Resort and I snapped it up immediately.  I had been wanting to stay at this hotel for quite a long time.  We decided to head up to New Hampshire on Friday to avoid Saturday morning traffic, and it gave us a good excuse to visit Lake Winnipesaukee again.

We spent Friday night at Fun Spot and Lobster Pound.  After a morning walk down by the shore we headed to the Polar Caves.  I immediately felt like a kid again.










After the caves we stopped at The Basin before heading to the resort.

It was even prettier than the pictures.  I loved the historic, yet sophisticated feeling of the resort.  Everyone was so friendly and the views were spectacular.  There were lots of fall colors everywhere, and for the third week in a row we lucked out with gorgeous weather.

We had drinks on the veranda, dinner in the dining room, roasted marshmallows at the camp fire, hiked on the nature trails, and watched a couple get married in the courtyard.  JO had been really busy at work so the calming atmosphere at the resort was exactly what we both needed.  I can't say enough great things about the resort and highly recommend it to anyone who literally "wants to get away."

On Sunday we hiked another mountain, Mt. Pemigewasset, and found spectacular fall views.

Although I absolutely love the city life, every once in a while (or three straight weekends), it's good to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city!

Labor Day Weekend

What a strange start to the school year we had this year.  We had a full day teacher training on Thursday and then Friday through Monday off.  It was nice not to have to do any school work over the long weekend and we had lots of fun things to look forward to instead.

Friday night we hit up one of our favorite local spots, Trina's Starlite Lounge.  Since we had someone with us who had never been to Trina's we had to sample a little bit of everything.  That's never a bad thing.  After a lovely night with friends, we headed to bed early to prepare for a hike we had planned for the next day.

Since returning from Mt. Rainier National Park I've had a bit of the hiking bug.  Anyone who knows me would know this isn't typical for me.  Something changed while we were hiking around Mt. Rainier and JO took advantage of my changing view towards hiking to plan a local hike for the long weekend.

We headed up to New Hampshire, on a beautiful day, to hike Mt. Monadnock.  The hike was a bit more challenging than JO made it out to be so the fact that I got to the summit was a real accomplishment.

It was a fun way to spend my last weekend of "freedom."

New Hampshire Getaway

Back in July when yet another weekend was forecast to be humid and monsooney (yes that's a word if you lived in the Boston area this July) JO leapt into action by securing us a hotel room in the North Conway, NH area last minute.  They were predicted to have much better weather and JO felt a quick trip up North was the cure for our summer woes.

We left around 3:30 on Friday and once we got onto 95 the traffic wasn't too bad.  We stayed at the Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, NH.  On the way up we stopped at the outlets and did a little shopping.  As well as the shopping, we took note of the many mini-golf locations for the next day.

When we arrived at the hotel we decided to grab dinner on their porch with mountain views.

Inspired by the views we started talking about our National Parks trip set for August.  We had fun thinking about all the hiking and adventures we would be going on!  After dinner JO took me to an Irish bar that he and his family used to go to when they would visit the area.  It was fun to get a sneak peek into his younger days.

In the morning we woke up, checked out another pretty view, and played a lot of mini-golf!

We stopped at a local place for lunch before heading to "The Flume" area for some pre-National Parks hiking practice.  The Flume was quite exciting!

We returned home excited by the prospects of more weekend getaways in the future.  I was glad JO was so proactive in saving what could've been another rainy, boring weekend.  Sometimes you need a little mountain in your life :-)

The Perfect Seaport Summer Night

One part of the city that I don't think we frequent enough is the Seaport area.  It's an especially fun area on a beautiful summer night.  So when Living Social had a deal for reduced rates on a sunset harbor cruise we snapped them right up.

Our evening started at the No Name Restaurant, a nostalgic favorite of mine.  Growing up, my parents would take me here on special occasions or when we would come back to the city to visit friends.  There's nothing fancy about this place, in fact it looks pretty much the same as it did when I was little.  The prices are pretty reasonable and the food is good.  If you're lucky to get a window table you can watch the planes take off and land from Logan and the occasional boat get pulled over by the coast guard.  We were even here last fall when the earthquake rumbled through but we didn't feel a thing.

After dinner we killed some time by walking around the waterfront area.  Legal's Harbor Side is the big draw here but I'm more of a fan of the smaller places like 75 on Liberty Wharf (which I have not tried but really want to go to...and it appears it's pretty easy to snag an outside table on their beautiful waterfront patio.)  We also happened to walk by the most beautiful patio in the area, of course attached to Morton's Steakhouse, which was completely empty.  We filed this in the back of our minds for after the cruise and headed over to the wharf to catch the boat.

I have to say, Charles River Boat Company runs an excellent harbor cruise.  The crowd was a good age, and not into the crazy partying scene.  This ride was all about the views and a nice glass of wine to accompany them.  The ride lasted for an hour and was timed pretty well to get some sunset skies.  Sometimes the best city views are from the water and I for one loved what I saw.

After the cruise was over we both agreed this perfect summer night must continue so we circled back to Morton's.  We didn't get our hopes up though because how would it be possible on the best summer night of the year for that beautiful patio to be free.  Well, we lucked out because there were only a handful of people enjoying the patio that night and we were able to grab lounge seats very easily.  Thanks to Google Images here's a great shot of the patio. 

It's huge and airy with beautiful stone work anchoring the space.  There are great patio tables but also great patio lounges with lower tables, which I'm always a fan of.  We had so much fun enjoying such a perfect setting for a glass of bubbly.  We were having so much fun we texted a few of our friends to show off our new find only to find out they were next door.  They ended up joining us and we extended the evening a bit longer.  

It really was a perfect summer night in the city and the patio was a great find!

Rooftops in the Summer

A while back a co-worker took a new job in another town.  Although I'm sad to see her leave our building I am thrilled that she got this exciting opportunity.  A few of us decided to go out and celebrate with a dinner and when they suggested I pick a place in Cambridge it was an easy choice.  Summer in Cambridge on a beautiful evening means one thing- Daedalus in Harvard Square.

I have raved about this place quite often on this blog but once again Daedalus proved to be an excellent choice for a summer night.  Being a Wednesday I thought we might have luck on our side and get a coveted roof deck table.  We ended up having to wait about 45 minutes but it was totally worth it.  Everyone loved the restaurant and agreed that the roof deck was the way to go!  We had fun reminiscing about the previous school year and talking about upcoming trips.  The food was delicious, as always, and the service impeccable.  Without us asking, the waitress split our bill for us which is always a huge help.

I've had a lot of fun memories on the roof deck, most especially the memory of finding the place to begin with.  My roommate and I had hurried out of our apartment one Sunday summer morning to avoid the "roommate drama" only to wind up walking into Daedalus for brunch.  To say we were a bit dressed down was an understatement, I'm pretty sure I had sweatpants on.  When they asked us if we wanted to sit on the roof we both looked at each other and said "of course."  We couldn't believe we had stumbled onto such an awesome place.  It's been a personal favorite ever since!