Well, this much anticipated weekend has come and gone. Thankfully, I lived to tell about it, so here goes...
Thursday was a pretty long day! I woke up early enough to drop Rome off at the boarders and be back before traffic. He stayed at A Dog's Life over in Columbia City, which is about a 20-30 min away but the people seem really great and he would get to play with the doggy daycare all day. I forgot how much he likes car rides!!! After dropping him off, I had to park my car as far away from my apartment as possible, hoping not to get a ticket from leaving it there for 7 days. It was about a 10 min walk away but successful nonetheless! Got home to get ready for my flight aaannnddd NO HOT WATER. Awesome time for a sponge bath and I was ready about 30 minutes early. Took the bus to Westlake, hopped on the Link and Vacation. Was. On! I really enjoy the Link because it's a straight shot from downtown to the airport and I don't have to pay attention to stops because SEA/TAC is the last one. Thankfully with my old age, I have gained a love for reading and a stomach strong enough to read while riding. Got to the airport with tons of time to spare, which just means MORE reading!
Flights are flights. We all know how that goes. I met Blake (I know I've never mentioned him on here, but lets face it, no strangers are reading this blog. Just to shout it from the roof tops, he is pretty darn special to me and I could rave on and on about him, but let's not get off track) in Chicago to catch our connector to Boston. My first time flying with a partner and lets just say, we are adorable and move on... blah blah and we land in Boston around 11pm. Bus to South Station, train JFK and a walk to the hotel, check-in and FREE COOKIES! Thursday, done!
Friday, Blake and I went to meet my parents at their hotel downtown. We got lunch, walked around, shopped a little and went back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal. Around 3:30, we all met in the lobby and headed out to the venue. Rehearsals always seem pointless to me but I guess it's because I just understand what's going to happen. Anyway, we ran through the ceremony and headed back to the hotel. Once we got back to the hotel, we hung out in the hotel bar for a drink before heading over to Maggianos* for the rehearsal dinner. It was so wonderful for see Sarah's family, who I'd grown up with and have known my whole life! Such an exciting time and a great pasta bar, drink bar and great, great faces. Blake and I were back and forth to the TV to catch the Cardinals game (who ended up winning much later that night.) At the end of the night, Blake took Mom and Dad's car down to his mom's house to spend the weekend with her while I did wedding jazz. Once he was gone, I met up with Sarah and Molly in the bridal suite, reminisced about old times, bleached our teeth and went to bed. Friday, thumbs up!
Saturday morning was spent in the suite. We got our hair done, some girls got their make-up done, watched Bridesmaids, gathered our stuff and headed to the venue. Funny that it took about 30 seconds to type and about 5hrs in real time. Anywho, off to the venue we go. It was a beautiful outdoor setting, fall colors, fountain and lots of sunlight... if only the sun had kept us warm! We were all pretty chilly but the ceremony was short and sweet. Sarah was even gracious enough to cut the pictures short because we were so cold. What a rockstar bride!
Cocktail hour and the reception were fantastic. It was so great to see the high school crew who could come out. Drinks were great, dinner was great, dancing was great... all together a great evening with family and friends. After gathering up the leftover booze and treats, the buses took everyone back to the hotel. Sam, Mikey, Cassie and I continued on to the after party at a bar down the street. Too crowded for our liking but we had to stay out for awhile. Once Cassie and Sam left, Mikey and I decided to embark on a search for street meat and failed MISERABLY! After wandering and asking around, we ended up at 7-Eleven. Great taquitos but terrible sausage. We had one bite and tossed the rest! That night, I was designated spacer between Trey and Mikey in a double bed, but I can't complain. Saturday, BAM!
Sunday, I slept until 9:30, peaced out of the "kid room" and headed back up to Mom and Dad's. Nothing like riding up in an elevator, shoes in hand, hair did and your dress from the night before. I was one, classy hot-mess! Sam joined us around 11:30, when she and I ventured out for breakfast and a bloody mary. We ended up with bloody mary made with cocktail sauce instead of tomato juice. Needless to say, it was no good but at least we didn't have to pay for it! Anyway, back to the hotel we went to pick up Mom for a day of Boston sightseeing!
First, we walked through Boston Commons and got some great pictures of the willow trees and the little lakes in park. We were hoping to see the swan boats but we must have missed the season. But we saw these cute little ducks! We followed the Freedom trail around town, which led us to some really old cemeteries. Of course I can't remember who was buried there but it was really neat to see something so old. We walked through Feneuil Hall and the market which goes along next to it. We stopped at the place of the Boston Massacre.
Mom, Samantha and I walked along the water and around the aquarium where we actually ran it some of the family from the wedding. We tried Legal Seafood, which a wise man once told me is severed in the Obama household, that afternoon and I was not impressed. After that, we headed up to the North End to see Paul Revere's house, the North Church, and, of course, canollis from Mike's Pastry. Little Italy (I know, I know...I'm not supposed to say that) was exactly as I had imagined Boston. And it smelled fantastic! To finish off our day, we stopped at Bell in Hand Tavern, which is the oldest tavern in the US. Here we got to watch the Seahawks beat the Patriots... Whoop! Sunday night, Mom and I ate downstairs with Sarah's family. My first lobster of the weekend!
Still on the Cambridge side, we walked over to MIT to see some buildings by Blake's favorite architect. Then got Chinese and headed back to downtown. From here, we diced to walk to Harpoon Brewery, so we walked, and walked AND WALKED. We ended up crossing some bridge and walking a an industrial/warehouse part of town only to find some manufacturing plant that didn't eve look welcoming. People had to have know we were lost, out there wandering around. Eventually we found it, only to be closed. SO, we kept walking and found a little sports bar overlooking the water, and grabbed a quick drink, more to rest our legs than anything. The we cabbed it back to the North End to get dinner at Union Oyster House. My friend Nikki had recommended it, so we waited at the bar for about 45 min for a table. Some business men in town from Chicago stuck up a conversation with us while we waited. After wishing us luck and reminding Blake that I'm a keeper (we knew that already! :) we got our table. Dinner was great, even though we weren't supper hungry at this point. We'd split an order of mussels at the bar, but we orders scallops and lobster ravioli entrees anyway. Back to the hotel we went after dinner!
Tuesday, we got to sleep in! We'd decided to Yelp! a breakfast joint in the neighborhood around our hotel, which was south of the crazy downtown. After walking to our first choice, which was packed, we decided on a diner we'd passed on our way there called Mike's City Diner. Once again, we ordered WAY too much food. Nonetheless, it was delicioso and we got to walk it off afterward, which felt great. Above is a picture of the Prudential Tower, which is where we headed next. There are a ton of high end shopping, of course we just browsed, but after asking the security guard, we found the restaurant up on the 52nd floor. We had drinks with a pretty great view!!
After drinks, we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before our massages at the spa next to the hotel. I have no kind words about mine but maybe I'm just spoiled by my girl in Columbia... Whom I immediately scheduled an appointment with once I knew I'd be home in December! After that, we got ready for our last night out and decided once again seafood. We headed to the North End once more and got drinks and a sushi roll for an appetizer. Then we walked around until we were hungry enough for a "real dinner" which we decided would be as Neptune Oyster. We ordered 6 oysters and a lobster cocktail, which was the perfect amount of food! We grabbed cannolis one more time and headed back to our hotel!
Our flight was out at 7:45am so we caught the 6am shuttle from our hotel and headed out. We both slept most of the flight to Chicago, but luckily there was enough time for me to get off the plane and hang out in the food-court before shipping off back to Seattle. Hooray for sharing special, heartfelt moments in the airport!
I got back to Seattle around 1:30, I slept most of this flight as well. Plenty of time to clean my mess of an apartment that the window guys left for me. But, I can't complain about new windows! I went to pick up Rome, who didn't seem too happy to see me. I'm sure he prefers playing with dogs all day to sleeping on the couch, but I'm not rich!
I had a fabulous time seeing Boston, seeing my parents, seeing my friends and seeing my boyfriend. Kinda makes me wish I'd stayed in Columbia so I'd have more time and money to take trips like this. I cannot express how happy I am for my best friend and her lucky husband! I'm glad I now have an excuse to return to Boston, hopefully sooner than later.
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