It's not always hot in Vegas...

The pool was cold.
The sun was shining.
We sat in the hot tub,
Instead of pining.

I thought I should mention
In this form of rhyme
That this day in April
Is not recent in time.

Friday the 13th in Arizona...

Yes, the last Friday the 13th was in April. And that is when this trip took place.
24 hours to Arizona for a wedding and a lot of eating while Brad was working working working a million miles away.... Now for a reverse chronological journey...

Chino Bandido. Chinese Mexican food... what? A panko chile relleno? Oh hello magic. There's a reason why Guy Fieri visited... because it's good. We had Jade Chicken (something jade? or green?) and... I didn't do the ordering so I can't remember anything else.

 Rudy's. This is what I dream that my golden birthday will be like. Delicious barbecue. Mm. Everything is charged by the pound. Skip the ribs (they weigh more than they're worth), but definitely get the brisket. And the chop is a budget friendly, tastebud friendly option. And the sauce... I could drink it.

 A quick visit to see Jennennanennanennafer... And her BABY Laila! She was so light and held so still!! And the ninja tried to karate chop the dog every five seconds.

The wedding... also delicious food. You'd think I'd have taken pictures of the actual wedding-ery, but I didn't.

today, unedited

Two things, intersecting.
1 | My sister is studying abroad in London/Paris/Spain/Italy/France/I'm not really sure where... and she's been posting journal entries for us to read. And I love it. I feel like she's just jabbering away about her day and throwing out her thoughts as quickly as possible. And it makes me a bit jealous. Not just because of her being on an adventure, or because she has such a perfectly curated wardrobe, or because she has mad skills, but in this instance we are talking about her ability to portray her voice and document her journey through these little entries. And by little I mean short. I do envy her brevity.
2 | One of the writing exercises I would have to do in creative writing was just writing. Taking five minutes and writing about something. Anything. Following a prompt. Or not. And it just had to start and keep coming, stream of consciousness style.

Conclusion | These two things have inspired me to exercise my writing/brain via this post, in which the entire thing is unedited (even the pictures! Straight from my trusty point and shoot). I'm a little nervous, but we'll see where it goes...

********

Today, another adventure into Boston...

Naturally, I being with food. This was my awesome Veal Stracobocca or whatever the Italian word for "magical awesome" is because I loved it. I went with Stephanie to some place in North end called Pjlajireoajd something I have no idea but I took a picture of it so I'd remember. It was veal stuffed with prosciutto and cheese and egg battered and something about wine sauce which made me very happy.

 The ninja was very well behaved and the lovely Italian woman kept talking to him and playing with him. He's like a mushroom because 1: he looks kind of like Toad from Nintendo in my brain, and 2:  he's a fun guy (fungi - laugh at my awful joke) to take out places because he's so social and loves people.

Oh my gosh I Want these pictures to line up next to each other SO BAD!!!

 When we arrived in Boston via the T (which did I mention how much I LOVE public transit, specifically train/subway systems?!), we got off at Haymarket, walked past the Holocaust memorial (which I need to spend a purposeful visit at since it's pretty awesome) and looking at it made me want to cry. Ever since I had a baby, anything Holocaust makes me choke up. I always remember this movie we saw in high school about a concentration camp escape (a successful one), and in the movie, a mom hides her baby there then eventually they catch her and shoot her and the baby - awful I know - and every memorial I see reminds me of that, then I think of Beckham, then I want to throw up and cry for days. I can't talk about it anymore because it makes me emotional thinking about it.

On we go... we walked through a market of produce on the street and I itched to live there and buy my produce there. They had Brad's favorite yellow mangoes for $10 a box (AWESOME DEAL DUDES), but I didn't want to haul a box of mangoes around with me all day. Then we made it to lunch in the North End. And I forgot cash so I couldn't go to Mike's Pastries today, but don't worry my friends, I WILL go there.

Then since it's Memorial Day weekend and there are lots of sales and I'm dead set on finding that orange Ann Taylor Loft skirt from the last post, we headed over to Faneuil Hall for some shoppery... which we spent a LOT longer there than I thought we would, but if you're curious, American Eagle has everything 40% off, and LOFT has 50% off all clearance and a bunch of other sale, and GAP has a lot of sales going down too...

The next stop on le tour de Boston was H&M... because I got a coupon in the email for 35% off... so I found some long shorts (yay/boo long shorts) and an awesome maxi dress. I should have bought a cool shirt and returned a blazer too, but I didn't, so that will have to wait for another day.

At the close of that extravaganza, we realized how late it was, sent myself a postcard (oh my gosh! I have to document that story too!), and headed back on the T. I asked the station chief (guy in the booth) for a Charlie Card (which is like an Oyster card holla) and he said the whole city is out of them. Sad. I wanted one so bad so I could feel all cool and London-y again. So we traveled back to our car, I fed the ninja via the Boon spoon (MAGIC!) on the train, and we headed back in time for bedtime...

This is the Old Meetinghouse where the ruckus of the Boston Tea Party began. Also, Benjamin Franklin was baptised/christened here. Also, it's cool looking. I love that buildings have clocks here so I don't have to check my phone for the time... if only I had that watch...

*Side bar, postcard story. I went to buy a postcard during our walk from North End to Faneuil. I stopped into a little shop with postcards, picked one, and asked the man at the register if I could buy it. He said, "No, we're closed for lunch." I made a Risa-esque confused face and looked back at the door to see if there was a sign there or something that I missed that said "closed" and asked if he was serious. And I couldn't tell. Then I asked again if I could buy it, and he said, "Yes 43 cents." So as I pulled out my change, he asked where I was from, and I said ummm... Las Vegas (like an idiot because I had to think about it because I don't feel like I'm "from" anywhere right now). So he asked why I was here and I told him about Brad and summer sales and how we moved here for the summer. And he told me about how awesome New Hampshire is and how I need to visit Hampton Beach and something else and some beach in Maine that I keep calling Specula in my head (like the waffle Brea used to get me at Awful Waffle in Provo). Anyways... it was fun and great.

The end.

Whew. If you made it through all of that... I'm so sorry. That you read it. Not that I wrote it.

Oh, what a grood idrea!

That's my Asian accent. Moving on...

There's a store here (which I've understood to mean "the east coast") called Five Below which is a $5 and under store. I'm in love. They had those Sally Hansen nail polish stickers for THREE BUCKS there!! So I picked up a few. I love the neon colors and am tempted to head back over and pick up all of them.

Also, my friend is doing the COOLEST GIVEAWAY EVER on her blog... ONE HUNDRED dollars to anywhere you choose! The catch is that the giveaway only happens if she has 300 followers by the end of the month. So GO FOLLOW HER BLOG because I want to win!

This is my current wishlist for the summer (with a few "either or" options... like boots, bags, and skirts - do you have one you like better than the other? Opinions!)... it's pretty lofty so I need all the help I can get! I've been praying about where I would pick if I'm the winner - it's hard! So far I've come up with quite the list - Target, H&M, Forever 21, Madewell, Nordstrom, Piperlime, Amazon... Help a sister out and follow Topsy Hair! And if you win, share the wealth! ;)  Where would you spend one hundred free dollars?

 

on my mind

He sat like this for about five seconds.

Since my last post about a month ago... I have:
- moved out of our apartment and moved everything into storage
- bummed with my parents for a week while I packed/they packed/I sewed a dress in a day
- picked up Brad at the airport after a 6 week separation
- enjoyed a lovely wedding in St George
- flew 5 hours across the country with a baby, a husband, 4 fifty pound bags, a sewing machine, two carry-ons, and a diaper bag
- moved into a sexy 2 bedroom apartment
- visited Boston
- bought WAY too much stuff to create a semi normal life out here

New Hampshire is one of my dream places to live: green, overcast often, smells like the country, a short drive to the beach, short drive to Boston, and 4.5 hours from NYC

My sister is studying abroad in London and I love reading her little journal entries each day. I miss the fam (but I never call - sorry dudes!), but I always LOVE adventures!

My bedhead. My mom thinks it resembles Edward Scissorhands

 For a period after we got here, Beck decided to wake up at 6 am for a few days. I thought I would die. Then he decided to wake up at 5 am for a few days. Then I REALLY thought I would die. Now, when he sleeps till 7, I have never been so grateful in all my life.

Our awesome pyramid at Hampton Beach. We had to try about 10 times to get this right... Eventually it was a system and we nailed it... And it's REALLY high up there (in case you were curious).

Lately I've been looking for purpose. I feel like it's been lost somewhere along the way. That sounds REALLY depressing. And it's not... But I feel like I can't remember Me... what I like to wear, what I like to do, how I am... it's really weird. I've been taking inventory of things that I think describe me, trying to piece them together into new me/current me, but there seems to be a missing piece.

Oh hello Boston

I'm pretty sure that I'm meant to live in a metropolitan city. I got onto the T (the Boston subway) and was so happy the whole ride to be on public transit that doesn't make me carsick. People watching supreme! Then we walked probably a thousand miles all around the city which went by so fast and was really fun. There are way too many places to discover that I'm stressed that I don't spend enough time researching/finding them and that I don't have enough time to actually experience them.

the bathtub could also be used as an Olympic sized swimming pool

Some of my FAVORITE things about where we are:
- The bathtub! I put Beckham in it and he can play for a half hour.
- We live right by a river which is GORGEOUS.
- Boston is just a hop, skip and a jump away.
- Hampton Beach is an hour drive... a beach?! An hour away from our green kingdom?
- Because we have so many people and friends living so close together (i.e. the same apartment complex) and doing such similar things, it reminds me of college and dorm life and constant partying.
- The rain here is really beautiful.

This project was SO quick and SO easy and it changed our apartment 180 degrees... that doesn't make sense but you get it. The pillows inside the covers were rented for us... And something about having rented pillows gave me the heebie jeebies to think that my kid is playing with a pillow that has lived in ????

 Also, I've discovered Instagram and am in love with it. Hello addiction. @themarriedfolk
Find me so I can find you too. ;) There's something so comforting about stalking people virtually ALL THE TIME.