jfk and plymouth day

instead of going somewhere for labor day weekend we decided to do little day trips instead to help me get things crossed off my summer bucket list (i got so close to crossing everything off!)

friday we decided to head the jfk museum and plymouth plantation because on this day and this day only they were both freeeeeeee

i love free.

the museum was cool. i really liked john f. until my own john started telling me what a dirtbag he was to jaqueline. the museum made it seem like they had this perfect marriage when in reality he was just sleeping with everyone he could. i hate him for this. i think i love her for the way she handled it or i think she is dumb..i can't decide. regardless, i enjoyed learning all about his election and seeing those buttons and the picture above of him thoroughly enjoying watching his child do a hand stand haha.

afterwards we went to a random town to grab some phad thai. (i added the h for you melissa!)

i liked the orange/green/brown decor and also when john and i don't look the same size hahahaha

heyooo what the heck just happened?!

WELCOME TO THE 17TH CENTURY!!

guys. mom. i didn't realize that the pilgrims landed in massachusetts until like two weeks before this trip happened. i really didn't pay attention in american history because i get these fun surprises all the time! i tell myself it is better this way. 

so this plantation was an absolute trip. i loved every 1620 second of it.

creepiest man in the white hating me taking this picture through the window above

one of my better self-timed photos minus cutting off john's head

the above scene seems super realistic, especially the lady taking a picture with her iPad. people have got to stop doing that (except for you dad - you keep doing it all you want!)

we took a nice walk by a river or maybe the ocean? and then came to the indian section of our experience. 

while everyone else felt kind of creeped out this girl above loved all of the dead animals lying around everywhere 

then we headed over to parts that john liked to look at 

and then i loved this goat and it's hot pink collar

and this black collared one

and then look what it is! the mayflower! (II)

i loved this so much.

notice i didn't really say anything about the mayflower II because there really wasn't anything to say. 

it was kind of cool but mostly lame. way pretty location though!

john not only let me have ice-cream but also took me to a candy store where we saw red hots (first time i've seen them on the east coast) and fake cigarrettes (childhood anyone?) which both had to be bought. in fact, that boy bought me every box of red hots they had and earned major points by doing so. 

we heard that plymouth rock was small but i don't think we realized just how small it was. 

this picture was a direct result of overhearing the man next to me say (as he was taking a picture of it) "that is plymouth rock? this is bull shit". hahahah i was so caught off guard and maybe for that reason it was one of the more funny moments of my life. 

before heading back to boston we took a stroll around downtown plymouth and found this very favorite street of mine that i would drive an hour+ just to walk by again. 

i loved this day and i guess this is why i blog, to remember the best days because i kind of forgot all about it until writing this post! haha

woooah oh oh it's always a good time!

(have i been listening to that song over and over again? am i 13? the answer to both questions is yes)

waterfire : providence, rhode island:

basically providence has this nice river (?) running through it and a couple times a month they light fires all the way down it, play music, and even have little gondola rides you can go on while holding your wine and looking fancy. this seemed like a nice thing to do and our favorite outlets would be on the way so we decided to hit up both. 

so it turns out that all the kids in providence love denim and toms. sadly these were not the only two teenagers we saw wearing this outfit that day. 

i added this to show that sometimes we hang out with friends. it is rare but it is always nice! we had the best mushroom pizza and thinking about it has reminded me that i haven't eaten for hours and should probably fix that. it is at this dinner that john found out you can go hunting for mushrooms and his obsession with them began. this is foreshadowing.

lucky for us a little latin dance party was going on in the streets so we enjoyed that for a bit until my shoes were annoying me and i went from loving latin time to hating it. 

(i loved that older couple on the right..they were probably 30 years older than everyone else it was awesome)

after my shoes gave me the sads we left and walked back to the water and even sat by it for awhile and felt uncomfortable as everyone around us made out. 

in conclusion firewater was a little bit weird, especially the opening ceremonies when a man who looked like jack sparrow dressed up as Jesus gave random roses to people and the music got real creepy, but we enjoyed ourselves. i especially enjoyed the old chandeliers they put up under the bridges for the occasion. i will never hate feeling like i'm in the phantom of the opera. 

oh so tall fellow mhs graduate melinda brown popped up at church one day and was visiting from maine where she is doing a PA program. turns out we never knew each other in high school and i don't even think she remembered me but i took it upon myself to show her a good time and made her be my friend the rest of that sunday.  we toured longfellow's house (which was AWESOME) and then we went for a walk in the boston public garden with some church friends. 

the public gardens are ALWAYS a delight, as you can imagine and/or see above

i discovered my hidden talent at fhe

so every day i left work a little later this summer i always enjoyed coming out of the subway station at harvard square because i loved walking up the stairs and not being able to see because it was so bright. i already miss this happening, considering it is now mid-october and dark when i leave work :( 

i went on a date with myself one night over to the esplanade to check out a free symphony concert. it was delightful and i have decided it is going to happen more often next summer since the city of boston is nice and let's free symphonies happen every wednesday 

to the left : lunch with the visiting teaching friends

to the right : the snuggie john bought me because i complain how cold i am at work every day. do not be mistaken though, the boy in the picture is NOT john but rather one of my many intern babies i was over for the summer. everyone loves the superman snuggie.

one time my company put our ads in the subway

Cape Cod: beach day!

working full time kind of ruined most swimming plans i made for the summer so i was happy to have one saturday left of the summer that was hot enough to hit the beach

it was great to be there and not be freezing. if you forgot how the last time i was in cape cod was i will give you a brief recap:

..it was no no bueno. seriously never felt colder in my whole life it was beyond freezing!

(except that i was with my sisters. i liked that part)

so just sitting in my big girl swimsuit, relaxing with some friends on the beach playing cheez-it scrabble and drinking capri sun (pacific cooler of course) ..felt pretty dang nice.

i wasn't satisfied though (of course. am i ever?) so i talked maren into going further into the cape to try and see more of it. i didn't really know where we were going or what there was to see but i had heard good things about a certain town named chatham. sadly - i couldn't remember any of the good things i had heard and started to panic so i quickly looked up if we were near anything and by some miracle we were within a mile and a half of the nickerson house. i had no idea but i surprised everyone by taking them there and it did not disappoint! well, it didn't disappoint 75% which in situations like this are pretty good odds. did you know that one of the posterity of the nickersons invented the gillette razor? YEAH. they did.  

sad news bears three of my four roommates left me in august. we are not happy about this - still. 

i don't know why my family can't get with the times but facetiming moments are far and few between so we celebrate them and take lots of screenshots every time. 

this was the first day it started to cool off and so the flannel came out. sadly, flannel has came out way more than i would like and i feel more and more nervous for winter as the days go on. 

hit up the esplanade for another concert. night or day that place is so pretty. 

thank you house of boys who always have parties for fulfilling my summer dream of roasting a marshmallow by a fire. yes. just one - those things make me sick!

i miss that girl in the middle and never feel happy that she moved back to utah. it makes john being in new york during the week feel like torture - i guess mare was my distraction! 

that night was not only a full moon but a BLUE moon. yes that is right. they are quite rare the internet told me so i decided we needed to make it count. so we headed to the weeks foot bridge by my house and salsa danced with strangers. 

and then i got annoyed at my shoes again so we stopped salsa dancing and started doing our own thing off to the side which included but was not limited to the poses above, lifts, and a lot of really technical shoulder shrugs.

and that is the end of this post. 

minus this picture which is and will only be my real life claim to (boston) fame.