Mouse in the House!

Tonight as I was coming home I noticed something scurry across the garage floor. When I went to investigate here's what I found:

Yep, a teeny tiny field mouse!! I think she was super cute, but I knew it was not a wise idea to allow her to continue living in my personal space, so I slid this glass over her until my roommate got home to help me 'relocate her' to a place far far from my home. We ended up taking her to the sewer down the street, but not before taking a picture to document the short amount of time we spent as housemates.

Goodbye mousey, hope you had a good swim in the sewer...feel free to spread the word to your friends that Terminix will be here in the morning to place traps with tasty food to catch you!

25th Birthday!

This month I celebrated my 25th birthday! I was so glad that we were able to get my family together at the houseboat, spend time together and celebrate for an entire weekend!
Here are a few highlights from the weekend.

Friday was my actual birthday and I woke up early to work out (which I've decided I should get an extra gold star for working out on my birthday!) and then my roommate Jenni treated me to breakfast! I picked Denny's since it was close to home and we enjoyed hanging out before I headed to my parents house to leave for Austin. We got on the road about 10 AM and made a stop at McDonald's for lunch. I chose a Cheeseburger Happy meal mainly to minimize my portion, and then laughed that I chose a happy meal on the day I turned 25. Cool!

Friday evening Greg, Gina & Ava came out and brought a giant tasty cake with them! They were so sweet to bring me all sorts of sweet smelling Bath & Body works gifts and we got to hang out and play with Ava! Unfortunately Ava was just getting sick and later we found out she had whooping cough, poor baby girl! It was so sad to see such a happy baby feel sick. Good news is that she's making a quick recovery and is back to her smiley self! Thanks for coming to help me celebrate Greg, Gina and Ava!
Saturday I got to sleep in, then woke up to have some birthday cake for breakfast, then enjoyed some swim time while we waited for Scott, Jessica, Emmy and Hayden Kate to arrive! The girls showed up looking so cute in Aunt Sarah outfits that I had mailed them and had a sweet gift for me! I not only got pictures of the girls, but two REALLY cute headbands, as you can kinda see below! One has a cute flower, the other jewels. Thanks girls, you know just what I like!!

We headed out to cruise the lake and enjoy some time in the sun, and I was so proud when Emmy decided to join us swimming in the big lake! Plus she just looked so cute in that life jacket, which she originally referred to as her 'lice jacket'....too funny!



After a chicken cruise dinner we went back out on an evening cruise and got to enjoy sitting on top of the boat to enjoy the breeze and great views of the lake. Here's me and Willow on top of the boat...she loved all the smells out on the lake!!

It was so nice to have everyone together, and we of course all enjoyed extra play time with the nieces! Karo had Emmy entertained all weekend with stories, toys, and beverage umbrellas, while KBob had Hayden Kate fascinated with balloons and driving the boat!



Of course Emmy enjoyed helping me out with my dog care duties...it was so cute how she always asked me if she could help 'carry Willow around'. Now I know Willow's favorite thing isn't walking around a small space on a leash, but How could I resist?

I had so much fun with those girls and wish they never had to leave! Thanks so much everyone for taking a weekend out to hang out with me and let me be spoiled by your kiddos! My parents truly outdid themselves planning a relaxing weekend, and were so sweet to even give me a pink iPod shuffle to use when I work out. And although I don't have any pictures of him, Brad took half of his working weekend to come hang out too! It was all in all a great birthday, and I am so glad I got to spend it with my family! Can't wait to see you all again soon!

I'm really looking forward to the 25th year of my life, which I started off by journaling a recap of some of the most exciting things I did in my 24th year, including: buying my first home, adopting Willow, getting promoted to CLS II, going to Boston, losing 20 pounds, and becoming an aunt to two more nieces! It was a great year, and I have a feeling the best is yet to come! Stay tuned to see what this year will bring!

Boston, MA

Last month I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Boston for the annual Child Life Conference which takes places over the course of three days. I was even more excited when I learned that some of my trip costs could be covered by the fundraising I did last year for my department, and that 4 of my friends from our medical center hospital were also going! We arrived late Wednesday evening May 20, and stayed through the afternoon on Monday, May 25. What a great way to spend a Memorial Day Weekend!! We saw lots of the city, learned a bunch about current things in Child Life, enjoyed the break from work and especially appreciated the change in scenery. Here are a few highlights as seen through my camera lens.

Above- My view from the plane on the way to Boston.

Below- This was on the bus ride from Logan Airport to our hotel the night we arrived. These are a few of the girls that came from the Medical Center hospital, Julia on the left, Stacy on the right.

After arriving at our hotel (The Boston Westin Watefront- home of the Heavenly Bed!) we checked out the hotel and then tucked in. Westin has the famous Heavenly Bed, which definately lives up to it's name. I awoke early Thursday morning very well rested, with sunshine streaming into our room! Since it was dark when we arrived Wednesday night, I had no idea that our room had such a great view of the Boston Harbor, and I was pleasantly surprised to awake to this sight Thursday morning!

Thinking I had overslept I jumped out of bed to get to the gym before meeting up with my friends for a day of sightseeing. Luckily it was only 6:30 and I realized the time change must have confused me a bit. After a good workout and shower I met up with my friends in the lobby and our friendly concierge helped us get tickets for a Hop-On Hop-off trolley tour. Since our passes were good for the entire day we decided to ride the tour all the way through once and take notes of the places we were interested in going back to see during our stay. Here we are on the trolley, with open windows, enjoying beautiful weather!!

A few memorable sights from the trolley tour included:

The USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world! She is still taken out into the harbor every year on the 4th of July, and she spins around and fires her cannons to celebrate the holiday! There's a drawing every year to decide who the 100 lucky passengers will be!

The Bunker Hill Monument- site of the first major battle of the American Revolution.

On the left is the Prudential Tower, which has an observation deck on the 50th floor that gives an amazing view of the entire city! From the Harbor, to back bay, to Fenway you can see it all! Below is the Prudential Center, a large circular shopping mall with lots of choices for spending!

The Fairmont Copley Hotel has a resident dog whose house you can see here, and is available to hotel guests for petting, loving and walks when they are away from home and missing their own furry friends. The dog has a waiting list most days because so many want to walk him!


Boston is known for having the more colleges than any other city, with 80 different schools to choose from! Above is Berklee College of Music where John Mayer studied! Below is Emerson college, not sure who went there but I sure do love someone else named Emerson!

After the tour we were all pretty hungry so we headed over to the Fanueil Hall/Quincy Marketplace to grab a quick lunch before the girls had to head back to the hotel and catch a bus to attend a tour of Children's Hospital Boston.

Below- Julia, Beth, Ginger, Stacy, & myself somewhere between Fanueil Hall and the North End.
Julia and I hadn't registered early enough to snag a spot in the tour, so we decided to venture near the harbor and enjoy the weather!


View of the city from the Harbor, and below is a floating dog house we found in the docks! You can't tell in these pictures, but we saw hundreds of small white jelly fish in the Harbor, and not a single fish! Guess I wouldn't be swimming in that water!!



Above is an old marketplace that has been turned into residences and office spaces...such character! Below- Most of the sailboats in the Harbor are anchored and kept out in the water rather than tied to a dock, and we saw several people taking little row boats out to get into their sailboats!



After the rest of our group returned from the hospital tour we met up to head over to Fenway Park. Earlier in the day the concierge had hooked us up with a guy we named 'Scalper Mike' who had some great seats for the Red Sox-Blue Jays game that evening. Considering it was a sold out game and we were only in town a few days we went ahead and shelled out the $80 he wanted per seat. After waiting 30 minutes for a hotel shuttle that never showed, we ended up getting a private limo service to drive us over to the park. On the ride there the driver gave us good suggestions of things to do during our stay, and even informed us the van we were riding in was often used to transport Red Sox players on their days off! Super cool! We arrived at the game in time to walk around the park, take pictures and of course get a Fenway Frank!

At our seats, a few to the left and up from home plate! That's Laura on the left, Stacy on right.







Of course during the 7th inning we got up to stretch our legs and get a Red Sox helmet sundae! Of course we were back in our seats for the actual 7th inning stretch to enjoy the playing of Sweet Caroline, chanting and all! If you've been to a game, or seen the movie Fever Pitch you know what I mean. It was awesome!!!
We laughed at the sign on all the vendor carts advertising 'wicked good cookies'!


Friday morning marked the beginning of our Child Life Conference. I attended a great session on Personality and Temperament, and another on Family Centered Care.



As soon as our sessions were done we met up to head out for another evening of city exploration! We had tickets to go on a duck tour, so we went back to the Harbor and boarded our WWII yellow duck and enjoyed seeing the city through another tour guide's eyes. After driving through the city we got the green light for the duck to swim us into the Charles River for a view of Boston on the water!

An added bonus was that the tour guide let a few of us drive the duck around the river! Ok, so he just let us sit in the driver seat and hold the wheel while he closely supervised, but it made for a good picture!

After the tour we decided to head to the North End, which is known as a predominately Italian neighborhood, and also where Paul Revere's home is located. We walked through the neighborhood and came across Hanover Street where we were told there would be over 100 good restaurants to choose from! The entire street was lined with small family owned eateries, and after walking a few blocks we decided to just pick a place with an empty table and give it a shot! We ended up eating at Ristorante Bella Vista, a cute and cozy place with great food!


A cool thing we learned from the trolley tour was that in earlier days many Boston merchants and restaurant owners had to not only create verbal signage for their establishments, but visual signage as well for those who were illiterate. Here outside the Italian restaurant we found silverware inlaid in the concrete, a Starbucks across the city had a giant teapot hung above it's sign, and a butcher had a metal cow hanging from his sign!

We had noticed several people walking around with boxes tied with string that were from a place called Mike's Pastry. Our tour guide had also told us it was the best place to get canolie's, an Italian pastry. After dinner we walked another block or two up Hanover Street to find the source of the white boxes, and a line out the door! We each tried an Italian dessert, and as you can see below I selected a tasty chocolate canoli!



After all that eating we decided it would be best to walk back to the hotel, plus we'd also get to see more of the city! On the way we passed a Boston Fire Department and a couple of the firemen were sitting outside with their dog, Liv. She was so cute and huge that we had to stop and pet her! Hard to believe that dog is still a puppy huh? She wasn't even a year old yet!

After getting permission to take a picture with the dog, they asked if we wanted to borrow their hats and sit on an engine for a photo...who in their right mind would say no to that??

Saturday night after the conference we headed out again to have some fun and decided to first ride the Subway over towards the Prudential Tower and see the view from 50 stories up. Below is our group waiting on the green line, which we had to cram onto since it was 6 pm and everyone was going out for the evening. Left to right- Ginger, Julia, Stacy, Me & Laura.


Views from Prudential- above is the back bay which was the first gridlocked areas of the city that backs up to the Charles River. Below you can see Boston Common-the first public park in the US- and in the distance Fenway Park with the famous Citgo sign across the highway.
After we left the Prudential Center we walked through the Back Bay, known for beautiful (and EXPENSIVE) brownstone homes, and home to Newbury Street where you can easily max out your credit cards in one store! We all drooled over the beautiful brownstones that all had incredible character and style! Too bad we didn't have several millions to own one!

One homeowner is known for using her running tennis shoes as planters in honor of the Boston Marathon. It was really cute!
After walking through the back bay, we headed up to Beacon Hill where the original Cheers Bar is located. We had a good dinner and of course hit up the souvenier shop! Here's Ginger and I in front of the bar!



Sunday morning we had a few more sessions before the conference was over, and were treated to a special presentation by The Adaptive Dance Program which is a joint effort between Children's Hospital Boston and the Boston Ballet that teaches Downs Syndrome kids to learn and love dance. Those kids loved to dance, and although you can't see it in this picture they had the biggest smiles during their time on stage!

After conference we had planned to go back to a few areas of the city where there were good souvenier shops, but as soon as we walked out of the hotel it started pouring rain! Turns out it pays to tip the concierge well (which we had luckily JUST done) and friendly Theresa offered us a few hotel umbrellas to borrow for the day!
Here we are on our way from the Westin to Quincy Market for a rainy day of walking!

Of course I had to take a picture in front of Rowe's Wharf!
Sunday afternoon was spent continuing an activity we had started earlier in the week- walking the Red Line (aka The Freedom Trail). This is an actual red brick line that weaves 2.5 miles through the city with stops at some of the most notable historical sites in Boston. It was really cool learning how much of our country's foundation came from work done in Boston, so much more than I knew took place there! Below is the Old State House- and the balcony on the front of the building is where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians! Inside the top two stories of The Old State House is a public meeting space still used today to sweat in new US citizens, and to hold public debates and graduations!

Another cool stop on the Red Line was King's Chapel- which houses a bell that was refinished by Paul Revere and is still rung every Sunday-the oldest pulpit in the US still in use, and some really cool pew boxes. Families had to purchase their own box to sit in during Sunday services, and were able to even bring dogs to church to help entertain kids during the sermon! My kind of church!



We continued on The Freedom Trail for a walk through Boston Common- the first public park in the United States. Below are some pictures taken in the park, including a giant George Washington statue!


By the time we walked back to the hotel Sunday evening we were exhausted and stopped by the pool to soak our feet a few minutes! We had to leave Monday afternoon (which was Memorial Day) so we decided to get some rest and make the most of our last half day in Boston.


We couldn't leave the city without trying Dunkin Donuts, so that was our first stop Sunday. Dunkin Donuts is EVERYWHERE in Boston, and I think after seeing virtually every other person with a DD Coffee in their hands we were all ready for some really amazing cofee and donuts. However I think I speak for all of us when I say that place was NASTY! My coffee tasted like water, and the donuts were stale! Those people have no idea what they're missing by not having Shipleys!

While some of the girls headed to a final souvenier shop, a few of us went back to Mike's Pastry to bring home Italian cookies for our families and bosses. With 2 hours to kill I decided it would be fun to make a quick trip to Cambridge, where Harvard is. We jumped on the subway and within 15 minutes we were at the Harvard Yard!

The campus was beautiful, although I have to say the only thing it had over Baylor's beautiful campus was the history and character of an older school.
We took a bunch of pictures, bought t-shirts and wondered what it must be like to be so smart that you can call Harvard your alma mater...

Above: Just trying to get into Harvard......and below excited to find Emerson Hall!

Here we are in front of the famous Harvard library...can't even imagine how much information is in this huge building!



Sadly it was time for us to head back to the Westin to pick up our luggage and head back to Logan Airport.


It was a wonderful trip, we crammed a whole lot of action into 5 days and came back feeling very refreshed and motivated to be better Child Life Specialists! If you've never been to Boston I highly recommend the trip, there are so many things to do! Hopefully I can go back someday and see what I missed!