Boston, re-done.

A while back, I posted about our Boston print by our friend, Ari Hauben.  We were excited to get it framed when we moved into our house.  I did have it framed, but it didn't turn out how I had seen it in my mind.

Ari had written us a message at the bottom, so we definitely wanted that to show (through this process I learned that artists always sign prints in pencil...I never knew that!).

The message...

 
However, I wanted a matching white border around the other three sides as well.

I had it framed at the craft store on post, and the manager could not have been more kind or accomodating.  She wanted to make sure I loved it.  I waited a long time (way too long) before bringing it back in.  I tried and tried to live with it, but I just couldn't.  It is that little tick inside me that needs symmetry...I just had to have it.  I got it back recently, and we are smitten.

Before: 

After:

I love how you can still see the 'depth' of the piece even though it is a print, not the original.

There is one small 'love' stencil on the print.  LOVE.  Can you imagine making all these stencils?  Ari made this piece with lots of layers...newspapers, paint, stencils - and probably lots of other things that I am not even aware of.

Thanks again, Ari.  We love it!

Beantown Art

I can't wait to get our Boston print from our super talented friend, Ari Hauben, framed for the new place.  There is a craft place here on post where you can do your own framing...I keep wondering if this would be too taxing on my lack of patience?

Now I just have to figure out where to put this one.  I wish you could see it up close - all the buildings and the bridge are made from newspaper clippings, many of which are specific to Boston.  Can you imagine crafting that skyline from little cut outs from the newspaper?  I love Ari's work!

Straight No Chaser

Sean and I went to see Straight No Chaser last night...they were amazing.  It is so much fun to see them, 10 years later, and better than ever.  Every time I hear them, so many IU memories come flooding back to me.  I remember how giddy we would get when we were stuffing our faces in the Alpha Chi dining room, and Straight No Chaser would surprise us with a few songs. (funny thing to note, AXO girls...we said hello to them after the show and they remember stuffing their faces at our house, too!! :)).  It was always the ultimate treat to be able to see them or have them sing at one of our functions.

They are such animated performers as well as incredibly talented singers.  It is hard for me to comprehend the kind of musical ability that they have.  I wouldn't even know where they begin to create the arrangements that they do.  They really blew us out of the water. 

They just released a new album two days ago, you should check it out.  They are also going to be on Jimmy Fallon Friday night.  Set your DVRs!  Here was our favorite song...

Fine Art of Flowers

Winston flowers makes me feel like I walked into paradise. I have never seen such beautiful flower design. The containers are of grand scale, the flowers are unique, lush, and impeccably arranged. I wish I could live in this store (put Winstons and Anthropologie together, and it would be paradise on steroids!). I wasn't sure if they would allow pictures, and I am too chicken to ask...so I snapped a few with my camera phone. Please pardon the quality, but hopefully it will give a sense of how amazing this place is.

This was my favorite pot - only $2000! I'll take two... :)

Oh, sweet succulents...makes me miss all my plants in GA. Hallie/Sommer/Brenda - you all know what I mean! Lately I have been craving an enormous succulent arrangement like one that I saw at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. mmmm.....
these shelves would be awesome storage for potting supplies...
such striking arrangements...
this makes me want to hang a chandelier in an outdoor living space.


love the log idea...I would take one of these tables too...
I wish I could have orchids in every room (and also have a good out of the way place to store them/allow them to stay alive when they aren't in bloom!)
i love birch wood (reminds me of the cottage). they have such fantastic displays.

My favorite spot in Boston...

Every time Sean and I check out a new site in Boston, I wonder if I am going to have a new favorite; however, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum has maintained its position as numero uno.
We have decided that we want to model our dream house off of the museum (obviously on a much, MUCH smaller scale). Basically, she constructed a huge home with the middle of the house being a tranquil, lush courtyard and garden. Most rooms border and have gorgeous windows overlooking the oasis. How lovely would it be to wake up to something like this every morning?

from here, here, & Flickr

I wish I could bring all my friends here because the ISG Museum never fails to make me feel at peace, happy, inspired, and in awe.

Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside :( In my opinion, the ISG Museum could stand to create a beautiful coffee table book with exquisite pictures...mostly of the courtyard.

Down Home Cookin'

Ahhhh, entertaining. Sean and I have really been missing entertaining. There is just something about our current house that makes it seem difficult. Part of it is probably missing our favorite piece of furniture that housed all our serving pieces which is collecting dust in storage. Part of it is that we have our landlady and the three legged cat downstairs. I will refrain from commenting further on that. Part of it is being up on a second floor. Part of it is our horrible kitchen. Bottom line, it is just NOT our house. There are lots of random reasons...or, maybe they are excuses. We also needed to add a newborn to the complication column.

We first invited the Sean's classmates from the Irish Studies program over. We had a very fun night, albeit, it was a lot easier and more fun to get ready for it considering I am 'retired' for the time being and Sean had completed everything due for the semester. We had a lovely evening, despite feeling quite old when one of the girls said "this is the classiest party I have been to without my parents!". It was cute.

Okay...onto entertaining round 2.
Time for some good ol' Southern cookin'.

We had been craving Southern cooking since visiting a highly recommended upscale Southern restaurant in Cambridge - Hungry Mother. We had six friends over for a southern feast. The night was guaranteed to be fun just because of the wonderful company of the Haubens.

We had thought about doing some fried chicken, but decided that might be hard b/c of so much time in the kitchen close to show time. We went ahead and tested fried chicken out ahead of time, and Sean knocked it out of the park, in my opinion....



Southern night made us miss Columbus and all our dear friends so much. We wish we could have ordered all of our favorites from Minnies, Girlfriends, Country's, etc. but we had to make due with our best attempt.

Prep pics...I have been bad about getting pics of the final products...need to work on that.



The menu was as follows:

Appetizers:
--Homemade cheese straws
--Pimento cheese dip

Dinner:
--BBQ Pulled Pork with mustard based BBQ sauce
--Collards
--Cheese Grits
--Tomato Pie
--Squash Casserole

Dessert:
--Phila's Pecan Pie
--Phila's Chocolate Chess Pie
--Fresh Whipped Cream

If I was all over it, I would have links to all the recipes that we used. Considering I started this post weeks ago, I am clearly not...

MVI

It took me a while to figure out that MVI stickers were for Martha's Vineyard Island. This was another one of our day trips while my parents were here. We were able to link up with Sean's sister since she has a dream job on the vineyard for the summer. It was a lot of traveling for one day, but it was fun to check out different towns on the island and get a feel for it.

I have always wanted to go to the Black Dog, so we ate lunch at their tavern in Vineyard Haven...what a view we had, and the food was great. We then met Jeanine in Edgartown, and she showed us around to some cute shops and we had relaxing afternoon cocktails on a rooftop deck over the water...ahhhh, the life.

We then headed back to the town of Oak Bluffs for dinner, again on a deck overlooking the water...so fun.

We hope to get back there next week before we head to the cottage....

Sweet, Sweet Newport

I think Newport is my new favorite town. We took a day trip here with my parents, and it was a blast. We ate lunch at the Black Pearl, after having several friends recommend it, and then we went to tour the Breakers. It is the mansion of the Vanderbilt family...and is the most incredible house I have been in. I was so sad that we couldn't take pictures inside! After that, we went to Castle Hill Inn where we had "cocktails on the lawn" followed by dinner on the lawn. They have this expansive property that is right on the water, and they scatter lots of adirondack chairs all over the yard. What a great idea. It was just lovely to sit and watch the sailboats go by and enjoy a cocktail (mocktail for me!). What an amazing end to the day. I can't wait to get back and explore more of this quaint and charming town.

loved the itty bitty mint julep cup with fresh roses...

how cool are these wicker chairs on the second story porch of the Breakers? We were thinking they help block the wind...??

I could get used to this being my porch view...what about you?


Can we live here?

looking at the back of the Breakers...

Castle Hill Inn...

Can you see the adirondacks?


Newport sunset...gorgeous.

Brimfield...we can't stay away

So, after we dropped my parents off after our fun week together, Sean and I headed straight back out to Brimfield. We had seriously contemplated buying a different dresser when we ended up with our cart, and once we got home, I figured out a place where it would look nice, and it would free up a bigger dresser to move back into our bedroom where we desperately need the storage! So, we went to see if it was still there...lucky us, it was. Sean bargained the guy down, and after we agreed to buy it, he said, "Oh by the way, I was meaning to look this up online, but under the marble top, there is the name Charles Pillsbury. I am wondering if he is part of the big Pillsbury family." Needless the say, the first thing I asked Sean to google when we got home was good old Charles...just so happens that he was the founder of Pillsbury Flour - how fun!!

I also bought a pretty old mason jar, as I think I am going to follow this mom's idea of jotting down funny doings, quotes, etc. of the baby, and the one day turn them into a book!

Brimfield

Hi all - I haven't felt like I have had anything interesting to say lately, but I have come up with a few random things to share! We have been enjoying our time back in Boston, and we had my parents out here for a week. It was a blast - we took some day trips, and got a ton of work done on the nursery! When my parents are around, we can just crank through projects...I love it, and I love them for being so incredibly helpful! I left for prenatal yoga one night, and came back to a painted nursery - score!!

Anyways, one of our day trips was out to Brimfield, which claims to be the largest outdoor antique show. It happens three times a year...Sean and I had been so excited to check it out ever since moving here. Our main goal was to get a dresser for the nursery. It really was an amazing show - I could have spent oodles and oodles of dough there, that is for sure.

So, Sean and I fell in love with this cart - I know, we were supposed to get a dresser, but we loved the history of it and the industrial feel. It is a 100 year old railroad cart that they used to put luggage from the train onto...and then, the furniture maker built it up to be a large cart/island using an old factory table top. We kept looking at it wondering how this could be a dresser. He also had a bunch of old metal bins from factories, so I started looking at those, and then asked my dad if he could help us build a second shelf on the cart. He said he could, so we got it...and a bunch of bins to use as drawers. YIPPIE. We knew we could re-purpose this piece into so many different places as time goes on as well!

my parents and sean surveying the situation...trying to figure out how we will get this home!

So, once we got home, I hopped on craigslist and found a bowling alley slab for next to nothing. Sean and my dad picked it up the next day and then built a second shelf for our new "dresser". The slab just so happened to match the top perfectly, I was so excited. I still haven't decided if I will leave the bins as is, or paint them a color. We will see. I also need to line the bins with something...I was thinking some fun oil cloth maybe?? Let me know if you have opinions/suggestions!

Here is the cart...or should I say dresser?

Old Ballparks

Why did our country have to decide that we needed to knock down so many treasured old ballparks and stadiums? I know that it is for money, money, money. I hated going to the new United Center after they got rid of Chicago Stadium. All the character was gone. I am so happy that there are still a few around...Wrigley, Fenway...not even sure how many more are still standing!

Sean and I were lucky enough to go to the Red Sox game with Sean's sister on the 4th. It was the most perfect day for a game, and sitting up top, I was able to get a full appreciation for the charm of the field.

Free Entertainment

Since we are trying to really get out an see a lot of Boston while we are here, and since I am not working, we are paying attention to all the free entertainment opportunities. Sean found that we could go for a free sail today compliments of the Boston Sailing Center. It has been cold and rainy all week, and it cleared up mid morning, and we were able to go have a fun sail in the Boston Harbor, free refreshments...just a lovely afternoon.

My other free favorite, so far, was going to the Sam Adams brewery. We had the best tour guide, Shaw, and the tour and beer samples were free, along with a glass you could take home! I eat up that kind of marketing - hook, line and sinker.

If I ever own a business, I hope to have something fun, cool and FREE for people to enjoy!

Beacon Hill

I met up with an old friend from high school today, and she took me around to lots of areas that I had yet to see...thanks, Catherine! We explored the Boston Common, Public Garden, Beacon Hill neighborhood, and the South End. We had a leisurely lunch outside, did some shopping, and caught up. Check out these houses from Beacon Hill...

I had to go up and touch these hydrangeas to make sure they were real...



Check out the wisteria on this house, I bet it will be even more amazing in a week or two...

Mother Nature

Sean, Glory and I went to the Arnold Arboretum yesterday and spent most of the day there. It was so gorgeous, fun and relaxing. Mother Nature really is amazing...

I love how Glory is smiling in this one...look closely :)