Christian Scientist Mother Church

Cheo and I visited The First Church of Christ, Scientist, which is The Mother Church and administrative headquarters of the Christian Science Church. We had no idea how big this place turned out to be, we were just wanting to see the Mapparium. The Mapparium is a three-story tall glass globe of stained glass that is viewed from a 30 foot long bridge through its interior. It made us want to play RISK.


Reflecting Pool


The Mother Church looked like something we would build playing Age of Empires. Cheo decided to pose triumphantly in front of it.


Moi.





Cheo and I always manage to freak each other out when visiting religious locations. We blame it on a strange rite we witnessed back at St. Thomas Aquinas. So we scurried away from the Christian Science Center after the tour was over.

Summer's End

This will be the last weekend before Cheo starts school so we are trying to squeeze in a few diversions. I unfortunately have to work but if we get up early enough we'll get some things done. This summer we moved into our own place with practically nothing but after a crazy 4th of July weekend with my folks we had a fully furnished and equipped starter apartment. The weather finally got hot enough that required us to use fans. We made limbers and watched terrible movies into the wee hours of the morning. We've experimented in the kitchen and have pulled off more successful dishes than failures. We learned the art of farmers marketing and buying fruits and veggies for 2 weeks for under 10 bucks. We've traveled/walked all over Boston and ended up in Salem one day. Cheo got used to living without a car and I acquired muscular definition in my legs.

And today we found quenepas. Thats all we really needed to make the summer complete.

There's A Puerto Rican Living In My House

How can you tell there's a Puerto Rican living in my home?

1. The tostonera dangling from the wall with the other utensils.
2. The pilón sitting on top of the fridge. Actually i have two of Benita's pilones sitting on my fridge.
3. The casita with a gallo hanging out on my sidetable.
4. The collection of homemade sofrito in my fridge and limbers in my freezer.
5. The HUGE Puerto Rican flag hanging in my living room.

Okay I'm just kidding about the flag. Soy boricua but flags as decoration is pretty charro.

No offense.

Beach

Cheo and i had hoped to rent a car and escape the city this weekend. But we failed to think that everyone else without a car would want to take advantage of the good weather and escape too. So no car for us. We ended up packing our bags and wandering off to Haymarket and look for quenepas. No quenepas. :( We did however find a sale on hiking backpacks and each picked one up. Cheo's bookbag at the moment doesn't hold up to the rainstorms and i've been using Juni's backpack from when he was 10. The bag is on its last legs and the zippers don't really work.

So we emptied our bags, rolled them up and stuffed them into the new hikingpacks. Then we headed off to a beach we could reach by train. The train broke down halfway there and we had to take a shuttle bus through the next 5 stops. Awesome.

I hear New England has some scenic beaches, but this isn't one them. There were a lot of people though so we wandered down the beach and away from the crowds. We looked like total bums with our sneakers dangling from our packs and towels strapped to the back. It was a relaxing day though. Cheo wanted to go see the Isle Belle marsh which is a salt water marsh conservatory so we walked a few miles through town till we found it. It looks a lot like the nature walk through Gatorland. Except without the alligators of course. Cheo is still jumpy about lakes/rivers/ponds and not trusting there isn't something lurking underneath (I am as well, but to a lesser degree) so we didn't get too close to the water.

Second Semester of Spanish Love Song!

I didn't know there was a part two!

Hot

I actually had to turn the fan on today. YAY! We're going to try and hit one of the beaches before the summer is out. I hear the Cape has pretty beaches. But considering im a Puerto Rican that has spent a lot of time playing in the Gulf of Mexico (and lets not forget my spring break on some secluded nude beaches in New Zealand) i don't know if i'm going to be terribly impressed. We'll see!

I went to a wedding in Texas

My tan lines are awesome.

After the ceremony Tequila shots.

At the bride's parents house.

Trying to look innocent after nearly knocking the bride onto her culito.

Helping the Matron of Honor get ready.

Bridesmaids and flowergirls

Summer? What Summer?

Where did you go Summer? We're halfway through July and i have yet to go through a day where i complain that its too hot. Last year i nearly roasted alive in my attic room and had to keep my air conditioner on every afternoon. This new place is either really good at staying cool or the weather just hasn't been up to high temperatures yet. It feels like what Spring should have been like. Except that Spring saw me still wearing long underwear and a coat. You shouldn't have to wear long underwear in May. Its kind of ridiculous.

Salem

I was supposed to catch a train and meet a couple of people for some board gaming action. But unfortunately i made it to the station just as my train was leaving! Grr. So i called Cheo, woke him up at noon that slug, and told him to meet me at the train station. When he arrived we bought tickets on the next train leaving and ended up at Salem. Good times. We followed the lines painted on the ground and ended up at the docks. Managed to scare Cheo a few times by threatening to go visit the official witch of Salem. He wouldn't let me go into the shop. So we bought some witch's brew and wandered out to the lighthouse. I wanted to get out of town before the sun went down but by the time our train arrived we were still several miles away from it. So we detoured and managed to catch a boat back to Boston.

Scary

Scariest thing i have done in a long time? Driving through Boston. I rented a car and loaded it up with my stuff before we moved into our new place. By the end of the trip Cheo was sweating heavily and Cory was paler than usual. I even gave myself a stomachache. Thankfully we got through it all alive.

We are boring

Cheo and I are boring. This weekend we both became very excited by some coupons we found. 88 cents for pasta! And other things. So we went shopping. We also ended up at the farmer's market where Cheo was lured into the grape stalls by a fast talking Sicilian. He called me bella and said i could taste the grapes before buying. They were good grapes. We bought 5lbs. Cheo ended up freezing a pound of the green ones and we stuck the rest of the green and all of the purple ones into a bowl for snacking. We also scored some massive plums and grapefruits. Mmm fruit.

Hooray

We did it! Cheo and i have finally and successfully moved into the apartment. The place is pretty darn awesome. Mom and dad were supposed to come up on July 1st in the wee hours of the morning but they were so excited that they started driving the evening before and ended up in Boston at around 7am. Cheo, Cory, and I were camped out on the floor of our empty living room waiting for those crazy people who drove in and immediately started unpacking boxes and unloading everything. Within 3 days we had a shiny new living space, a fully stocked kitchen courtesy of my madrina Marilynn, and a ridiculously nice entertainment center with Abuelo's tv front and center. Seriously. All great.

And yesterday we got our cable and internet installed which was all that was left to make the place feel like home.

Ugly Girl

There's an ugly girl named Cory painting her nails on my floor. Cheo and I invited her to spend her 16th birthday with us in Boston. Crazyness, Cory is going to be 16! The mind boggles. Man, we're all so old. I turned 26 recently and i'm feeling it in every inch of my body. Its all down hill from here apparently.

Cheo and i found an entertainment center by the side of the road. We dragged/carried it back to our apartment where it now waits for the tv that Abuelo sent up. Thanks Abuelo!

Crikey

I haven't written in this thing in ages. Probably because my days seem all the more full with Jose to keep me company.

Cheo and i have a new place that we can't wait to move into. And you all are invited to visit! I've had the boy living on the floor of my room for about 2 months now. We are getting along surprisingly well in these close quarters. We get up and go to work together and for the most part eat lunch together. Then i go to trail along after my boss and keep her focused while Cheo does whatever task i set him to.

And you know i make him do the things i don't want to.

But its okay, we pay him pretty well to do it. Haha.

Stuff

I have a acquired a new fixture for my home and office in the form of a scruffy dude named Jose. Picked him up at the airport i did and took him home. Jose is putting on a brave face when asked about the cold weather and claims its just fine, no big deal.

But the boy sleeps fully dressed in long johns with 2 fleece blankets and 2 jersey sheets. Hahaha.

Oy

It took me nearly 2 weeks to get my sleeping schedule back under control since coming home. Now i'm trying to clean up this room and make some space for Cheo and his things. I got the boyo a job for the summer with me at Harvard so he can make a bit of money and we can move into a halfway decent apartment together. Have paid off my trip to NZ completely and now its time to plan and save for next year's outing! Where to go where to go....


Its cold here today. I want to go back! Come on summer, hurry up...

Auckland Zoo

I took more photos of the signs than of the animals.


Kookaburra!


Tuatara! Native endangered NZ lizard/dinosaur/beastie




There were hundreds of chickens roaming loose in the parking lot and on the grounds surrounding the zoo. This flock decided it wanted to follow me around. Freaked me out a bit.

I didn't like his attitude.

Palm Beach/Enclosure Bay

We decided to find a geocache located in a rocky portion of Palm Beach. What we thought to be Palm Beach. Once we got a bit closer to the rocks...naked people started appearing. Yeah we stumbled into Enclosure Bay, the nude beach.

Church Bay

Xena Beach!

Have Arrived!

I made it to NZ after a grueling couple of flights! A few shots of my first day in Auckland. More photos to follow!

Money money money

Looks like Monopoly money! And there are see thru windows!

Leaaaving

I've been deliberating on where to go for my spring break and Australia ranked pretty high on my places to visit. And then i spent a week watching crocodile movies with my familia. All of them set in Australia. So yeaaaah. Not going to the Land Down Under after all. I got enough of alligators when i was in Florida i don't need to go somewhere that is famous for MAN EATING CROCODILE movies based on true events.

New Zealand it is!

Spring Break

This is where i'm going for Spring Break! More information to follow.

Dinner With Lyan

Tonight i was feeling adventurous and decided to try something completely out of the blue. So i cooked caramel apple porkchops for dinner. Mmmm. This consisted of apples (peeled and cored with the gadget momma gave me after my apple cheesecake fiasco) brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and a dash of salt. And the chops of course. The combination of ingredients pretty much masked the smell of meat cooking so the entire house smelled like baked goods.

It was delicious. I had my chops with white rice and drizzled the caramel sauce on-top of it.

Whine

Is is Spring yet?

Towel

My parents, oh excuse me i mean Santa Claus, got me loads of kitchen stuff for Christmas. But not even one dish towel. So i picked one up myself.


It is awesome.

Disney on Ice

Ended up at Disney on Ice at the Boston Celtic's Arena this morning! Everything is better on ice.




There were a couple falls that made me wince. Nala (girl lion from Lion King) fell down so hard that she grabbed at her head. It was teeeerrible. But she popped back up and managed to finish skating with a smile on her face. The last bit of the show was Tinkerbell's origins story. Showed how she got her magic and all of that. That was kind of neat since i didn't know any of her story. Usually she's just a bratty little thing in Peter Pan.

Pants

Everyone makes fun of my admittedly ugly pajama pants collection. Here are just a few. So i decided the next time I went pajama shopping i'd get something a bit more presentable seeing as how my house is swarming with people at all hours. I even have a Sealy Sheep bathrobe that gets a few whistles when i walk into the kitchen. But today i found myself walking past a a clothing store and decided to grab some new pants.


And this is what i ended up with. Guess everyone else will have to wait for another day for me to get better jammies.

Dirty Dancing

I went to see Dirty Dancing on stage at the Opera House! (The movie, not just people randomly doing nasty stuff with each other on the stage. So fresh!) Everyone in the audience knew when a certain scene was coming so whenever the sets changed there were lots of cheers. Drunk girls sitting next to me sang along with every tune, even the instrumental ones. My favorite parts of the movie were done quite well. And as soon as faux Swayze shouted "Nobody Puts Baby In a Corner!" everyone yelled! We wandered out with Dirty Dancing t shirts and tank tops. Pretty awesome.

Breakfast with Lyan

I decided to try my hand at pancakes and bacon tonight. After a quick call to momma for some advice on how not to burn down the kitchen, i gathered my ingredients and set to work.


Not just any pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes!


The pancakes turned out pretty amazing. No syrup required so i added some fresh cut strawberries on top. The bacon was also good. I threw some cherry tomatoes into the leftover bacon grease and cooked them a bit to eat with my bacon slices. So tasty. A bit of scrambled eggs rounded out the rest of the plate. Sadly i was so focused on eating my dinner i forgot to take a picture of the final product. Nom nom nom.