A rocking graduation cake!

Greta sent me an awesome Guitar Hero cake photo just prior to my graduation party, which I was dying to have! Holly came over early to the party help create it (we ran to Michaels to grab fondant and icing, and Holly was a fondant master!), and the resulting cake was a triumphant masterpiece! (and very very delicious!)

This Just In!

I had to laugh at a title of a news article on Yahoo I saw today:

Real archaeologists don't have whips like Indy

Slow news day, eh? Actually, give it a read, the article is pretty funny and insightful into the (often tedious) process of archaeological digs...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_en_mo/film_indy_and_archaeology

Balcony Garden

I've started working in my garden on our 9x5' balcony. Mom and I had taken a trip down to Wareham to Morse's nursery in order to pick up some plants. I planted petunias, phlox, a tomato plant and basil. At Morse's I also spotted in the clearance shelves two small wooden cranberry scoops. Matt & I had tiny cranberry scoops as our wedding favors, and I love the aesthetic look of them, so I bought them, and have to decide what type of flower arrangement to fill them with!

Last year I had purchased seedum, a perennial which was still thriving this year - it survived the cold winter. I moved it to a larger pot for this year to give it room to grow. Another plant to survive from last year from my little herb pots were the chives, which (as you can see) are taking over! They will garnish some delicious mashed potatoes this year! I'm planting some nasturtium seeds into one of my hanging containers on the trellis, which should spill over nicely. There's still quite a few empty pots to fill - the Hanover Garden club is holding their plant sale in early June (although I am certain to go and buy some more flowers before then - and definitely some gerber daisies, one of my favorites!). This year we are also buying some comfy chairs and cushions for the balcony, to make it more of a gathering spot - or book reading spot.

And while I fantasize about my big garden when we have a house (and Matt adds his plans for architectural features like rock walls and water features), its still fun and relaxing to kneel out on the balcony, elbows deep in bags of potting soil, and looking out at the flowering trees nearby and beds of tulips near the sidewalk - as well as our little stream, a branch off of the Concord River.

Greta's Derby Party

Our favorite Kentucky belle in New England, Greta (and fiance Brian!) held a Kentucky Derby party on Saturday. A grand day for wearing big hats!

Each of the horses names were placed in a hat and we picked them at random to place bets on the Derby. The extent of my knowledge of this year's race was that Hugh Hefner was betting on Big Brown and that Hillary Clinton was supporting the only filly in the race, Eight Belles [apparently, knowledge of bizarre trivial knowledge runs in the family!].

We belted out My Old Kentucky Home, and played Dan Fogelberg's Run for the Roses, and then the Derby began! Big Brown [who Brian had selected from the pool], after trailing for awhile, eventually took the lead and won the Derby. But Big Brown's win was overshadowed by the fact that Eight Belles, who took second place, collapsed at the end of the race. She had broken both of her front ankles, and was euthanized as soon as the equine ambulances pulled onto the track! A very sad turn of events. My horses, Z Humor, Gayego, did ok, and Matt's horses, Monba and Adriano took last place!

Everyone brought great food - Natyra made dainty cucumber sandwiches, Seneca brought her signature cupcakes, I brought a Boston creme pie, and Matt loved Greta's Cajun shrimp. Greta served delicious Derby pie in the Louisville Stoneware pie plate I bought her for her bridal shower!

The history girls - Greta, Natyra, Seneca, and Mary

Matt, Mary, Natyra, Seneca

Graduation

Yesterday I received my masters degree in history (with a certificate in public history) from Northeastern! Despite the rainy weather, it was wonderful to be joined by Matt, Mom, and the Edwards for the ceremony on campus, then afterwards with the rest of the family at the Crackerbarrel! Seneca and baby Jack were also cheering us in the audience, as guests of Natyra.

Graduate school was a fun and engaging process, and felt quite different from being an undergraduate. Classes were smaller, the work was more intense, and there was a greater sense of community within the department. I was accepted into Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society (although by a bizarre turn of events, it was my husband Matt who was signed up for the membership - they confused my name with his from the check I paid with for the subscription to the magazine! - that's soon to be remedied!)

From learning and developing the methodologies of writing historical articles for publication, learning about managing non-profit organizations, producing a museum exhibition, writing and presenting conference papers, and spending many fascinating hours in a variety of archives, it was a challenging yet instructive process. The department was in the process of developing a world history program, so there was less of a focus on American history than I had hoped for, but classes like Prof. Fowler's colonial American history, Prof. Green's Problems in Public History; and Museum Exhibitions; Prof. Correll's Oral History; and Prof. Penna's Non-Profit Organizations offered a great deal of valuable information and also provided room to perform in-depth research for topics was I particularly interested in. And, of course, my internship led to my wonderful job!

So here's to studying the past, celebrating the present, and looking forward to what is to come!