Boston Day 2

Happy Monday!

Last Sunday we had an eventful day in Boston.  It was a little wonky in the morning.  It was about 75 degrees all day...but a cold 75.  We went to the Kennedy Library a.k.a. Kennedy Mecca.  Jackie Kennedy hand selected the location of the museum and library because she wanted Jack to be by his beloved sea.  Here are some high lights from the day.

Me in front of the Kennedy Library

Daddy and me with the Seal of the President

JFK's golf cart from Hyannis Port

Victura...JFK's favorite boat

Dylan walking the campaign trail

I would have totally voted for Jackie..I mean JFK :)

The parentals looking at artifacts from their time

Walter Cronkite inspired desk announcing the winner

The Board

Dylan and I chillaxing on a Kennedy bench

Saluting the Commander in Chief

JFK and Superman fighting for fitness

Jackie's necklace.  A president from a dignitary

A JFK portrait

Jackie's dress for meeting Queen Elizabeth II

The Attorney General's Office

The Oval Office

Jack's desk

The boys look happy to be at the museum, don't they?

Jackie's dress

Jackie's award for A Tour of the White House with Jacqueline Kennedy

Apparently Jackie made Christmas cards and sold them at Macy's

View of Boston Harbor and Boston from the museum

As you know, I love the Kennedy's.  I especially love Jackie.  She's classic, elegant, and timeless.  She taught the nation and the world how to mourn in style.  She was truly one of the catalysts in the evolution of First Ladyhood. She toured the world on official tours sans her husband.  She brought Americana to the rest of the world and she brought the arts to a higher regard.  Her work in restoring the White House and other Washington landmarks brought attention to the historical aspect of America.

I could gush on and on about Jackie but I won't because you would think I was insane and probably stop reading.  

After the museum, we went over to Hahvahd Yahd.  There was 0 parking...zeeeeroooo.  So we just drove around Elle Woods' stomping grounds.  It was a shame that we couldn't walk around because that area of Boston reminded me of my beloved Princeton.  But alas, parking did us in.  

We returned to the hotel to plan for dinner.  We headed out to the North End for some Italian dinner. 

Boston's equivalent of Little Italy

In keeping with our Jersey tradition of Sunday Dinners.  We went to Massimino's.  It was an authentic Italian restaurant and we (luckily) just beat the crowd.  There were about 6 tables in the upper level (where we ate) and a ballroom downstairs.  The food was delicious and incredible and I loved every minute of it.  I'm not a big pasta girl so I had this...

Shrimp, salmon, asparagus, tomatos, and 2 lobster ravioli's in a white wine sauce.
OMG Foodgasm!  

 It also happened to be the 100th anniversary celebration of Saint Agrippina here in Boston.  There were parades with marching bands, guys dancing in the street while hoisting her statue on a cart, and money!  Restaurants in the North End had collected money to decorate her carriage.  It was fabulous!

After dinner we were craving something sweet.  We wanted to stop in the famous Mike's Pasty shop but the line was too long.  We ended up at Modern Pastry.  They had dairy free cookies!!!  I had a chocolate chip diary free cookie while Dylan and my dad munched on cupcakes.  

Tomorrow we are going on a historical trolley tour (if the weather holds out) and then some more Italian food for dinner.  Whole grain Margarita pizza I'm looking at you wink wink nod nod.

Boston Day 1

Happy Day!  These are all going to be scheduled so I'm not really sure when these will be coming to you live.  Gotta keep the casa safe ya know?

On Saturday August 2, Family Vacation 2014 began.  After about 5.5 hours of traffic we finally arrived in Boston.  We're staying at the Southend of Boston.  Let me tell you how our trip went:

Me eating the snacks...

Apple chips (1 bag for the ride here and 1 for the ride home)
Baby carrots
Kashi bars with chia seeds
Larabars (chocolate chip cookie dough)
Almonds

When we entered the Bronx I thought it would be fitting to play J.Lo's classic Jenny From the Block.  It was not well received.  Only Deb stood up for me because, "Let her play it...she's been quiet so far."  Thanks Deb!  I've been quiet so far?  What am I 2 years old? Whatever, I'll side with anyone who let's me listen to J.Lo when driving through THE BRONX! 

I decided to keep Boston's More Than A Feeling to myself upon our entry into the city.  Because my family isn't fun.


When we arrived we saw a shot out restaurant with DEMO written on it




and a Lock and Safe Self Storage Unit with a huge padlock inflatable on the top.




Caaalaaassssyyyy!

When we checked in (the computers crashed and we waited about 30 minutes) and ate a warm and gooey oatmeal raisin cookie.  I know they get a bad rap as a cookie, but they are quite tasty.  We went to dinner at Wahlburgers.  It's Marky Mark and his Familybunch's restaurant.  It wasn't as campy as some other celeb restaurants are.  Rumor has it they're putting one in Philly...

I had a salmon burger with wasabi slaw and pickled cucumbers.  Apparently they're different than pickles?  Who. Knew.  I also was pumped because they had the option to wrap the burger in lettuce as opposed to a regular bun.  I always love to take the healthy route and go lettuce wrap.  I got a side of sweet potato tots.  There was a traitor tot in my carton (aka a regular tot) and I managed to suffer it down ;)  The sweet potato tots were just ehhh, they had added sugar and therefore were a little bit too sweet.

Really good food!

The ceiling was cool too because it had this....

Boards with all Wahlberg work titles on them!
Hey there Fear!

After dinner, Dylan and I came back to the hotel for a quick gym sesh while Titanic provided us with a dramatic playlist.  I may or may not have tried to outrun the water.  Guess what happened when Dylan and I went to the gym?!  We were too tall for the gym!  I had to keep the treadmill at 2.5 incline lest hit my head on the ceiling!  Dylan couldn't even do any cardio because his head would go through the ceiling.  I was also too tall for the shower so it became this...

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Tall people problems!!


It was a cold and rainy day in Boston.  That didn't stop Dylan and Daddy from eating ice cream.  They didn't have any non-dairy options for me.   

It was a pretty uneventful night for us here in Boston.  We did have a little hotel shenanigans though....

We are 5

We'll see what Day 2 looks like!


xoxo,

E

Friday Fives

Happy Friday!!

Let's all do the happy dance!

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Today I'm linking up to tell y'all what I am looking forward to for fall.  I know I'm being a buzzkill and (don't shoot) but fall fashions are calling my name.  Here are 5 things I can't wait to rock this fall!!  I know that fall is still over a month away but we've been having some pretty fall like weather here so I figured I'd fall it up!

//Tory Burch Teresa boots//

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Can we all agree that riding boots over skinny jeans with a quilted vest and a plaid fitted shirt is the BEST fall look!!  That will be my Friday dress down outfit :)

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//Fall Accessories//

Say it with me...It's almost scarf season, it's almost scarf season!!  I own wayyyyy too many scarves and I can't wait to rock them!  I'm a fall fashion junkie!  Scarves, hats, vests, coats, I love it all!  I'm really excited for plaid, crochet, and grey scarves!  Also, charcoal, brown, nudes, and eggplant nail polishes are coming our way soon!!

//Apple Picking and then apple-ing everything!//

We have a farm that is fairly close to our house (thank you South Jersey!) and this year we promise to go apple picking!  I'm thinking it will be a Kitley Family outing with some of my girlfriends, too!!  We're going to pick apples then I'm gonna make apple chips, caramel apples, apple cake (I'm looking for a healthy version so if you know of any please send them my way), apple salad, apple pie, baked apples, apples and honey with granola and cinnamon, the list goes on and on.  Also I foresee a lot of apple cider in my future!  

//Football Season//  Rumor has it the Eagles are considering ditching their midnight green color and going back to their Kelly green jerseys.  This Irish girl is in full support of this!  Also, I'm going to my first professional regular season football game.  I've been to a preseason game, but never a regular season game.  

Andy Studebaker-so cute!
 (played for us for one season then was traded to KC then when Andy Reid went to KC he cut him and now he plays for Jax)
Throwback to the summer before senior year of high school.  I was a baby!!

//Fall Day Trips//

My friend is moving to Maryland and I'm so sad that she won't be 5 minutes away anymore, but I am excited to visit her!  She'll be so close to D.C. and I'm going to show her Annapolis ;)  I'm also going to have many Philly day trips, a trip to JMU, and a few Peddler's Village/King of Prussia Mall day trips.  So exciting!  

I hope you all have a great Friday!!  What are you looking forward to this fall?

xoxo,

E

8/6 Confessional

Hey Blog Fraaaands,

How are ya?  I'm bueno!  Hump Day means confessions over here ye ole blog.  Today's confessions are going to be a little random.  Usually I try to find a theme but I can't today.

• Whenever an episode of Friends is on I have to do the claps.  Not just quietly or on my lap...NOWAYJOSE loud, proud, robust claps!  *clapclapclapclap*  Yesterday I was at the gym and The Best Show Ever was on and I clapped super loud.  Someone looked at me and said, "Are you watching Friends?"  I was proud of myself because another confession I have is that I can't keep a beat.  LIKE at all.  

• I love food from food trucks...not the gross trucks on the street down by Temple or Drexel, but the gourmet food trucks.  The kind that Anna Kendrick and Chase Crawford worked in What To Expect When You're Expecting.  I love the delicious salads and desserts and juices and smoothies that come from these vehicular restaurants.  

• I judge parents who have rude children.  They had to learn it from someone.  I know parenting is a hard thing to do but...basic manners people!  Please, thank you, excuse me, you're welcome, etc.  These are common courtesies. 

• Whenever The Hills, Laguna Beach, or Newlyweds is on I will watch it with as much intent and fervor as I did back when it was new.  I just love it so much!  I mean what happened to Heidi?  She and LC were such good friends!  And why did LC and Lo break up as besties?  We know Heidi had something to do with it and we know that Jen Bunny had something to do with it, but LC tell us!  Also, I wonder what Jen Bunny is up to these days?

These are my confessions this week.  What are your confessions?

xoxo,

E

My Kinda Party!

Hey y'all!  Happy Oxymoron Day aka Happy Monday!

This past Friday my country cuties with rock and roll booties went to see...can you guess by the title and little pun I just dropped?

MR. JASON ALDEAN!!!!

This was my third Jason Aldean concert and I loved it so much!  He always puts on a great show...this one had fireworks!!  We all admitted that we fell out of love with him (and we think most of the population did, too) when he admitted to cheating on his wife.

Before dinner we stopped in at one of my new favorite restaurants, The Tortilla Press for our Mexican food fix.  We devoured the black bean, green salsa, and red salsa dip trip.  When we arrived they told us it was Game Night and we played Yahtzee to determine if we won a free dessert.  Jess won!  Thank you Jess!!  The odds were in her favor and after the three of us munched our chicken tacos we ordered a Mexican brownie dessert. The brownie was baked with cinnamon and espresso making it Mexican.  It was scrumdidaliumptious!

After the concert we cruised (FGL pun FTW) to Philly for the show.

We posed by JA's bus

Side story about my shorts.  Deb LOATHES them!  She thinks they're way to short and lectures me before I leave the house every time I wear them.  I think she's trying to ware me down; however, I love cut offs!!  I just think they're so cute!  Maybe it's the Jersey Girl in me, but I'll be rocking my cutoffs forever.  So before I left for the show, Deb whipped out a new guilt tactic to try and convince me to change the bottom half of my wardrobe:

Deb-"If you're not going to change for me, change for your students."

My students?  This is a new one!  

Me-"If my students are at a Jason Aldean concert, with a bunch of drunky monkeys and people much more scantilly clad (I'm talking about just bathing suits on ladies) then I'm guessing, just going out on a limb here, that they won't think twice about my shorts being too short.  See ya later Deb, love you!"

My beloved CBP before the show

Tailgaters aka people cooler than me
aka people who don't have tummies full of tacos so am I a loser or are they? :)

Starting to fill up!

My pretty friends

Thank you Jessie James for teaching me how to tie a bandana cutely

Tyler Farr did an amazing job as an opener!  

Jess, Kate, and I decided that opening at a stadium show is much cooler (and higher on the opener's pecking order) than opening at an arena show like Susquehana Bank Center)

Florida Georgia Line rocking Philly

I paid $6 for a 1L water bottle.  Not thrilling because I could buy the same one for $1 at Target.  

Jason taking the stage

Jason did a great job at the show!  He sang all the hits.  He messed up on Joe Diffie 1994, but let's be honest, that is no one's favorite Jason Aldean song so it was NBD.  He said he was distracted by a blonde in the front row (no duh) who had a Joe Diffie 1994 tour tee shirt on.  A likely story.  So he started it over again.  As if once wasn't enough torture.  

One of my favorite things country artists tend to do is cover other songs.  They don't only stick to their genre either like pop stars, either.  Last year Lukeybear Luke Bryan sang Macklemore's Can't Hold Us and Lionel Richie's Easy.  Jason sang Alabama's I'm in a Hurry.  FABULOUS!  I love that song because it perfectly illustrates my life.  I am ALWAYS running around and I don't have to.  That is going to be one of my 2015 goals...Pipe the ____ down!  He did a great job!  

At the end of his concert....

HIS MIC CAUGHT ON FIRE!  

DON'T WORRY...IT WAS SUPPOSED TO!

The concert was fabulous and we loved every minute of it!  He concluded the show with fireworks and because we're Philadelphia fans we lerve ourselves some fireworks.  I think it's the whole freedom's birthplace thing we have working for us.  

Come on baby let me take you on a night train!

The concert was great and we're still pumped that we have 3 shows left this summer/beginning of the school year.  Next Friday we have Lukeybear Luke Bryan.  I've seen him 3 times already and I can't wait for this summer's show!

Love love love,

Er