Westminster Dog Show

Matt loves dogs, and Tivo'ed the Westminster Dog Show this year, trying to avoid any mention of the winner until we had the chance to watch it this weekend!

Last year's winner was the adorable Uno the Beagle:

And this year's winner was the oldest dog to ever win at Westminster, Stump the 10 year old Sussex spaniel! We had fun watching the variety of breeds (both those on their best behavior, and a few who were not!). One caught our eye, the Black Russian Terrier: who the announcers stated was being shown for the first time at the show, and had been "developed in the labs in the USSR". That definitely caught our interest, and we quickly searched Wikipedia to discover that indeed they were bred as military and working dogs in the 1950s from a number of different breeds. One of these was the extinct "Moscow Water Dog". I felt bad at the idea that the breed was extinct in such a short period of time; although apparently the decision to stop breeding the dogs was a conscious one - according to O. Krasnovskaya, "That was not a good idea as [they] were not willing to save drowning people, but mostly were looking to bite them so this breed was never developed". Yikes, imagine the tests in which this fact was discovered!

Of the finalists, we were rooting for the beautiful Puli, Scottish Terrier (whose chances were lost when he peed in the final round!), and Giant Schnauzer!

And although our first dog will probably be a golden retriever or a Lab, Matt has high hopes for the Great Pyrenees:

A holly jolly month

Despite the fact that I have been struck down with the killer cold that started with Corey and then went to the siblings, Mom, Matt and finally me, here's a review of the festive month of December:

• The first weekend, Matt & I took a trip to Cambridge to locate the office where he was having an interview at, and we strolled around Central Square, had a tasty lunch, and ended up at the Harvard bookstore. Then Greta and I did Christmas shopping and had pedicures!
• A few months ago, I was invited to join the staff advisory committee at work, and one of our tasks is organizing the holiday party. The party was a blast, and I ran the raffle (we raised a lot for charity!)
  
• On the 13th, Holly, Greta Natyra and I went and saw the Nutcracker, always a beautiful production! This year was fun because we went to the matinee, and so many cute little kids were there, dressed in their finest dresses and little suits. Then a send-off party to Jeff, who was leaving for California the following day, followed by a surprise party for Nenna's 80th birthday with a funny and touching "This Is Your Life" slideshow with her family and friends
• The next day, I went with Greta to a Handel Messiah Sing, where we rented the musical scores and sang along with the entire audience ( I wanted to sit with Greta, so I faked - pretty successfully - being a soprano!)
• next weekend was the major snowstorm, soI got to work from home instead of fending my way through the snow-emergency streets of Boston, and Kevin's winter party was (sadly!) cancelled. The Kiwanee family reunion was also much smaller than usual, because of the bad roads (Matt and I became friendly with a snowbank in Hanover on the way down!), and when the kids came up to visit us for our pre-Christmas party, the heavy snow was cause for an early departure!
• Then came Christmas, with much celebrating (amidst our lovely decorated apartment, decked with all sorts of Christmas decor). Present highlights included history books, video games, a GPS, and (at last!) a snow shovel to finally help dig us out of the parking lot! I created genealogies as a number of presents, which was a blast to share.
• We ended the festive season with our annual New Years Eve party which (surprise!) was also a major snowstorm. The Yankee Swap included some great prizes, and we played a new game - Wise or Otherwise, which was a blast! (Perhaps due to the fact that yours truly was the winner by a landslide! Apparently in a former life, I was a proverb-writer!)
  

A week of turkey!

I love the Thanksgiving weekend! Wednesday work closed a little early, so I got to catch an early train home and make several Thanksgiving desserts and wrap a few November birthday presents (Uncle Yon and Matt's mom).

On Thanksgiving, we headed to Carver for Thanksgiving Part One with my family, where we had delicious appetizers (including much-beloved rashers!), debated between watching parades/footballgame/DogShows on television, and had a delicious feast crafted by mom (with a variety of sibling helpers). We also had our "traditional Pilgrim hardtack" (made from a recipe I once had in kindergarten), which no one ever eats except the littlest ones who don't know better or older ones who are stubborn in spite of the taste and texture! Except this year it came out more like "soft-tack" and was actually pretty tasty! I brought down a copy of Pilgrim Migration in which I had bookmarked all of the Pilgrims we where related to - a surprisingly large number! Earlier that morning I had gone through my genealogy program to find which early Plymouth settlers where in our line, and "discovered" (since apparently I had forgotten - even though I do this professionally, its hard to keep track of your thousands of ancestors!) that through out Ramsdell line we were related to John Jenney, who made the original grist mill in Plymouth. Our family has always loved to visit the grist mill and wander its walking paths along the river, we even buy the cornmeal there for our Thanksgiving cornbread, and I have a large photograph hanging in my living room of the gristwheel that I took the summer that we visited with mill with Margie's girls, cousins Maggie, Allie and Chrissy!, so it was neat to have a direct connection to a place with such meaning for our family. We then took our annual hike through the woods and powerlines into Middleboro, and then came back for dessert - my caramel apple trifle! Then Matt and I headed off to Thanksgiving Part II with his family, where we went out for dinner at the Scarlet Oak Tavern. His parents had the turkey feast, but I went with the pumpkin ravioli, which was delicious! It was nice to catch up with them and his aunt Linda and uncle Steve. That's the best part about Thanksgiving, despite the flurry of preparation and work for the serving of the meal - just having that time to relax and share with family!

Friday I met up with Sara and Momoko, friends from Brown, and we caught up with each others lives (Sara's in Texas, Momo in DC), did some Christmas shopping and fought off the crowds of Black Friday! We managed to get some really great deals, though, for our efforts!


Saturday we headed down to Acushnet to surprise my grandmother with having all of her kids and grandkids gather for a hayride to help her choose a Christmas tree as an early birthday present (Nenna turns 80 years this December!) It was a blast to see Nenna and all the cousins, aunts, and uncles, most of whom I only see once or twice a year! Then we surprised Holly with her birthday present and had dinner in Plymouth.

And what does today bring? A chance to relax! Probably a day of pajamas and Christmas decorating in the house, with a possibility of heading to the local Christmas tree farm to get a Christmas tree!

Happy anniversary!

Happy second anniversary to my wonderful Matt, who fills our home and my heart with laughter and love!

The power's back on in Boston, so I am off to work, and then a romantic anniversary dinner and evening!

Snow day! Err, power-outage day!

I got into Boston today to discover that the subway station where I get off was in complete darkness, with a few bulbs illuminating the tunnel. As I walked outside, a group of businessmen ran down the tunnel, giddy with excitement, and grabbed a co-worker who was on his way to work by the elbow, shouting, "There's no power in the building! We have the day off!! Turn around and get back on that train!! It's like a snow day, only with no electricity!"

Cops were at the traffic lights, directing traffic, since the lights were off. I walked down the block to see if my building was effected, and saw our poor IT guy standing outside in the cold with a paper in his hands. Sure enough, we were affected too, so the building was closed for the day (but our IT guy had to stand there for awhile to have everyone sign their names and numbers in case they needed to call if tomorrow the power was still out). So I caught the next train home and later saw the news that some fires in manholes shut down power in the Back Bay and near Boston Common.

But that meant a lovely day of Christmas shopping, lunch, grocery shopping for Thanksgiving goodies, and frolicking with my lovely soon-to-be-married-for-two-years-husband (who also heard good news today that he's up for a great job interview after the holiday!)

Out with the old, in with the new...

This is a week of significant change. The nation was ready for change, and I think Obama is just the man to help achieve it. What precisely that change will entail will be seen in the upcoming months, but I am hopeful that it will be for the good of the country as a whole, and its citizens as individuals.

On a personal level, too, this week has brought even greater significant change. On Monday, very unexpectedly, Matt and his entire company was laid off. Its still all a bit surreal, although for veterans of the video game industry, its a common enough occurrence. But we are not veterans yet(!), and took us (and the company) by surprise. Its unfortunate that there are so few companies on the East Coast, and I hope someday there will be a greater shift towards developing games nearby. However, the existing companies nearby - and even some on the West Coast - have immediately responded to the news, sending out phone calls, emails, and posts about available jobs, some even personally contacting Matt directly, and his studio has been in daily correspondence. Its a great feeling to be a part of such a supportive network, which does not necessarily exist in other professions.

So please keep us in your thoughts as Matt touches up his resume composing skills!

Halloween Gang 2008

Buddy Jesus, Sarah Palin, Sleepin Beauty's Maleficent, Nun, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Space Ranger Seneca, Evil Miss Muffett, Cyndi Lauper, and Hippie Megan!

Trip to Deerfield

Over Columbus Day, we went on our annual Western Massachusetts autumn trip. I have loved trips out to western MA ever since I played at UMass Band Day for each year during high school, and travelled down the long foliaged roads to Amherst, and played my baritone sax or flute in the crisp air, with leaves crunching underfoot as we practiced our marching formations. Later, when Matt and I were dating, we would take a variety of fall field trips around Amherst; sometimes with specific destinations in mind, but often just either hiking or driving aimlessly to see what we could find (which, Matt will tell you, often ended up in the discovery of a beautiful old graveyard which we would wander - I knew then it was love!)

Last year Holly came with us and we journeyed to the flagship Yankee Candle store in Deerfield and also went pumpkin picking.

This year, both Holly and Natyra ventured along for a day of numerous Deerfield sights. For years, living on the South Shore, we would take the turnpike and Route 9 out west. But now that we are on the North Shore, the most convenient route is Route 2, the Mohawk Trail. Like Route 44, it is a very old Native American path, linking Massachusetts to New York (or in the case of Rt 44, linking Plymouth to Providence, and beyond). The road is gorgeous, and at some points near the town of Erving, Millers River (a tributary of the Connecticut River), comes right up to the road. Just beyond that is the French King Bridge, which crosses over the Connecticut River itself:

We then drove to Historic Deerfield, where we took tours of the historic homes and learned about the families of Deerfield. I even managed to be mistaken for a colonial ceramics expert and collector, much to the amusement of my friends who knew better! At the visitors center they had a craftsman making pottery and a demonstration on how to make colonial hot chocolate (which was very strongly flavored!). We walked along a path which went by a farm and Deerfield Academy, and explored the old cemetery where we located the mass grave of the 56 colonists who were killed at Deerfield during the attack on their town during the Queen Anne's War on 29 February 1704 when French and Native American soldiers burned the town just before dawn, and brought many of the captured women and children to Canada.

We then went off to a local farm stand to obtain pumpkins, vegetables, mums, and apple cider, and then went to Yankee Candle for our autumn and Christmas candles.

The jog!

This past week the Concord Road sidewalk project (which has been going on for the past two years) just completed pouring the concrete for the sidewalk in front of our building, thereby connecting us all the way to the little downtown district on Rt 3A. So this morning I had a few things to mail and decided that I would get my errand plus exercise all in at once! The total distance was only about 1.2 miles, but the way over was a bit rough (having not run in quite some time, plus having a box and letters in hand!) According to my googlemap walking directions (a cool feature by the way!), it should take about 22 minutes to get there by walking. On my way TO the post office, I walked and jogged in bits here and there, with far more brisk walking than jogging, and took 20 minutes. But I was inspired by three other runners (who all managed to catch me in "jog" mode rather than "walk"!!) who each shouted out what a nice fall day it was for a run, or gave a big smile. The way home FROM the post office I tried to motivate myself based off of all the orange construction cones that are posted down the road (If I run to THAT cone, then slow down until THAT cone, then run to THOSE cones down there....) and managed to get the ratio of far more jogging time than walking time, for a total of 14 minutes! Ok, so not even close to those who can do a 5 minute mile, but a personal 6 minute improvement on the way home rather than the way over! Still not convinced of the idea that running is "fun", but it did feel like a personal accomplishment!

The cutest pumpkin in MA

Can you spot the most adorable one? Suzannah and Ben's lovely Lydia gets ready for the autumn season in style!

First week back on Weight Watchers...

And down two pounds!

Last time I lost 20 pounds and then plateaued even with good dieting, but without much exercise. So this time the focus is on getting moving! Time to bring out my yoga mat, new weights (a birthday present from the family), and the key to the gym!

Send me you good thoughts!

New England Quilt Museum

I went up to Lowell on Friday to the New England Quilt Museum for their quilt documentation day to document two family quilts, both believed to have been made by Imogene (Everson) McClellan in the late 1800s. The process was very interesting to observe, a team of volunteers worked with me to document the oral history about the quilt (which I had brought with me, a sketch about Imogene as well as a genealogy and the provenance of the quilt) and then they photographed each quilt and identified technical aspects of the quilts. The Chinoiserie blue and brown quilt they thought was perhaps mid-1800s instead of late 1800s as we had supposed. Additionally, they discovered a small cross-stitched "D", leading to an educated guess that the quilt was made by Imogene's mother, Deborah (Bates) Everson. They thought the Asian quilt was beautiful, and loved small details like the fact that she used blue thread for the blue fabric and brown thread for the brown pieces, and arranged the patterns with little men to face opposite directions to correspond with how the quilt would drape on a bed. The green childrens quilt they all agreed was well-loved, and noted that the white fabric was actually originally yellow, and that the main batting for the quilt was actually a thin wool blanket.

London photo highlights

A few photo highlights in Yorkshire

Vermont reunion

Last weekend we headed up to Barre for the annual family reunion for Matt's family. The drive up there is always beautiful, I love seeing the scenery change, driving past the large brick factories and towers that stretch from Lowell up to Nashua, physical evidence of the recent industrial past, then gradually turning to the more distant green mountains, layered with hazy dark blue mountains, physical evidence of a much more ancient glacial past.
As we drove into Barre, they were having their old home day, with a 5K race - the same time Mom was making her personal best time in the old home day race in Carver (huzzah!)
This reunion there were a number of Somaini distant cousins who we did not know as well. But we had a blast with cousin Candi and her adorable blond-haired,blue eyed baby girl Sydney (born one day after me, Aug 13th!) and cousin Bryan and his wonderful wife Gladys. Gladys' mom (also Gladys!) came too, and we had a fascinating conversation about genealogy and her family's immigration from Guatemala to Massachusetts, and her grandfather's immigration from Spain to Guatemala.

I had updated Matt's family genealogy binder to bring, and it was passed around, generating lots of interesting stories. That evening we slept at Bob and Terri's gorgeous home, and he had pulled out old photo albums and a fascinating video about the Barre granite industry and its connection to Northern Italy for me.

Bob runs the antiques mall in Barre, and their home is filled with an incredible array of antiques. They built their home a few years ago on a beautiful property set back in the woods at the base of a small mountain. Matt & I spent the night on their enclosed porch, surrounded by antique chairs, baskets, rugs - and a spectacular view of the fields of wildflowers and forest.

The next morning we briefly saw Matt's cousin Missy and her two cute toddlers, and then Matt & I headed over to Bruce & Sylvia Mitton's home in East Barre, where Bryan and Gladys, Candi and Sydney, cousin Tammy, and her parents John and Cindy all gathered for a leisurely lunch. And Brian and Gladys two "little puppies"... Ika and Falen, their two (enormous) Great Danes. Matt was in heaven playing with them. They are both merle-colored, which result from breeding harlequins. The merle color in Great Danes is a disqualification for the AKC - so we had fun chatting about color genetics and obedience training (they were extremely well behaved - a great quality, considering they are big enough to drink from the sinks and open the door handles!)

Matt's grandfather, who left Vermont at the age of 18 when his mother died and came to stay with his aunt in Quincy, MA, always had his heart in Vermont, and loved coming back to visit his siblings and their families over the years. Matt & I daydreamed about buying a place up in Vermont, or New Hampshire, or Maine, as we often do after our summer vacations. Even daydreaming about our future Massachusetts home is filled with the idea of land - and lots of it. Mom calls it her "Irish farmer" genes - that sense of land, a sense of home, a topophilia (love of place) that provides a feeling of connection to both a place and the idea of a place.

Taking London by storm

We took the train from Leeds to London on Sunday, a beautiful way to travel to see the countryside! We arrived to our less-than-stellar hotel - but that's ok, since who needs to stay inside a cramped slightly smelly room when there is the whole city of London to explore? We took a walking tour on Sunday to some of Chris' old haunts when he worked and lived in the city. On Monday, Matt and I wandered the British Museum. I have decided I could live in the British Museum, and if only I could get behind the scenes and explore their archives and storage rooms, I would have a life of contentment. Of course we went to the Egypt rooms and were on the lookout for Amelia Peabody and Emerson grumbling in the corners. Then we explored some of the antiquarian bookshops and antique shops around the museum (I have also decided that I could be quite content to fill my house with ancient artifacts, too... this vacation may result in some expensive new hobbies! ;) ) Monday ended with a trip to Shakespeare's Globe Theater to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was absolutely hilarious. Today we took an all-day bus tour which went all around the city, where you could hop on-off anytime to further explore the places. Got some great pictures from the excellent vantage point of the top of a double decker bus. We took a walking tour of Jack the Ripper, which was spooky and fascinating.

We've just returned from our first West End performance - Wicked, which was a beautiful and very entertaining performance - who knew rooting for the wicked witch (and against the very annoying Glinda) could be so much fun?

Tomorrow I am off to attempt to get some genealogical research done in some London archives, and then we are seeing SPAMALOT (by the way, as a note especially for Dad, at the very beginning of our vacation, on our first night at dinner with Matt's brother, I made a "huge tracts of land" joke that just about made soda come out of Tim's nose - apparently he is a big Monty Python fan too!)

Last Day in Yorkshire

Tomorrow we head off on the train to London! On Thursday we spent the day with Matt's nephews (who are just a bit younger than us) We took an interesting brewery took of the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, and then took a hike up Almscliff Crag (pictured above), which overlooks a long distance, with gorgeous views of the countryside.

We then moved down the road to Rudding Gates, a luxury apartment for two nights which we were upgraded to from the cozy cottages we have spent the week in. It's been wonderful living the high life for an evening!

Matt and I spent another day in Knaresborough, had a guided tour of the castle and got to go into the underground sallyport (the escape route out of the castle), had afternoon tea, and then went to Harewood House, which had huge gardens and a little zoo which bred endangered bird breeds. Yesterday Cindy's girls left for vacation in Spain, and today we explored Follifoot and went to one of the pubs there for lunch, then spent a lazy afternoon reading in the apartment since it was downpouring - the only heavy rain of our vacation!

Today's Greta and Brian's wedding - Congratulations!!!!! =)

Exploring Yorkshire

Just have a few minutes to update! We've been wandering Yorkshire for the past few days, exploring around the county. On Monday we went to Harlow Carr, which had beautiful gardens and the famous Betty's teashop, on Tuesday we spent the day in York. Matt & I took a tour of York Minster and the underground crypt and treasure room, along with a guided tour of the foundations of its predecessors, a Norman cathedral and a Roman fortress. We then wandered the streets of York, went down the Shambles, and went to Jorvik, a recreation of the Viking town at York which had lots of neat archaeological information and artifacts.

Today we went with Tim to Fountains Abbey, which was built in the 1132 and destroyed by Henry VIII when he dissolved the powerful churches of the time. We had a fascinating time exploring the ruins, and then took a lovely drive through the Yorkshire Dales! The landscape is stunning, and incredibly there has been almost no rain.

In other news, Suzannah has just had her baby, a beautiful girl named Lydia Marie! Congratulations, Suzannah and Ben!!

Knaresborough and Ripley

We went into Knaresborough, where Matt's brother Tim lives and Chris used to live, and explored the castle ruins along a beautiful sweep of the River Nidd, looking over to the Knaresborough viaduct. We then wandered to the first graveyard of the journey (I'll post more on my graveyard explorations when I return in my history blog!) at the old St. John's Church in Knaresborough. We have settled into our two cottages at Rudding http://www.rudding.com/cottages/claro.htm

Literally right across from the cottage is a field of sheep and a field of cows, who are very curious!

Today we ventured to Cindy's because both of the girls returned home, then we ventured over to the town of Ripley where we went to a huge old church and graveyard (the older site sunk into the ground and is called the sinking chapel!) and saw Ripley castle.. then ate the World Famous ice cream from Ripley (which I had never heard of... but it sure was delicious!) I think Uncle Scott Ripley said once that he thinks his family may have come from this town, if that is who it was named for! More genealogical adventures later...

Then off to Cindy's parents home (its her dad's birthday), a renovated priory mill directly on the River Nidd, about half a mile down from the Knaresborough castle. Cindy's dad did the work himself over the past decade, and it was absolutely stunning... both inside and out!

and Matt's suitcase has literally just come to the door! Huzzah!!!!!

Greetings from England!

We arrived at 11 PM instead of 7 AM, and Matt's luggage has been lost, but we have arrived in Harrogate in one piece. We've picked up a new set of clothes for Matt (who we shall pray will wish to travel in the future after our misadventures!), and explored a bit of downtown Harrogate this morning - amazing how beautiful and old all of the buildings are. We are visiting Cindy and Tim - the girls arrive tomorrow from Germany - and we were treated to a lovely tea and Cindy's scones. Off now to explore the house and garden, then onto wander Knaresborough and dinner!

England!

I am off to hike the dales of Yorkshire and stroll the cemeteries of London! Postings of our adventures to follow if we can finagle internet access!

Highlights of the week

Grabbing lunch and canoeing with Maria (chatting for so long that there's a sunburn to prove it!), picking plants with Mom at the garden sale, seeing Louise in her element (her kind demeanor combined with an in-chargedness factor of the gardening world!), watching Sex and the City and having Tex-Cajun food with Greta (although sadly no guacamole because of the tomato ban!), setting up my new office at work with Natyra, spending a lazy summer afternoon in Holly's pool, receiving long-anticipated vital records from London in the mail (its like Christmas - with historical records!), buying new clothes with Matt for our upcoming England trip, opening the blinds and shutting off all the lights to snuggle and watch and listen to last night's rainy thunderstorm...

here's to a lovely week!

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!

This one's for Margo

Meet the latest addition to our fridge:

Matt is also fond of Moose:

Suzannah's baby shower

Yesterday went down to Medford for Suzannah's baby shower. There were a variety of fun shower games (and a discussion about some of the stranger games that other people had played at previous showers... "guess the melted candy bar in the diaper"!?)

I won one of the contests - I guessed the number of diapers in the diaper cake (featured below!). Suzannah's finishing her degree and having the baby this summer in Utah before returning to MA in September, so the gifts were small (she didn't want to have to lug big baby furniture or toys for the move!) A variety of crafty ladies made beautiful hand-made cards and sewed a variety of blankets, bibs, etc. The cutest one was a yellow onesie with a loooong green dachshund sewed on the front, which wrapped around to the back! I knew that Suzannah loves those towels that have a corner which serves as a hat for babies, so I brought a cute one with ducks, as well as a Johnson's baby product gift box with a variety of lotions and a copy of Goodnight Moon (a favorite... with perhaps the most hilarious rendition of it performed by Christopher Walken!).

Next week Suzannah finds out if the baby is a boy or a girl (so there was lots of yellow and green featured at the shower)!

Silver and Golden Wedding Mass

Each year the Archdiocese holds a mass to celebrate the couples in Massachusetts who have been married for 25 or 50 years (and this year there was even one couple celebrating their 60th anniversary!)

Cardinal O'Malley performed the Mass, in the beautiful Holy Cross Cathedral, and the whole family - and the Lees, Eileen, and Edwards' came to cheer for the renewal of vows for Mom and Dad, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this August. Dad looked great in his new suit, and Mom was beautiful in her new dress - and those gorgeous shoes!

And the family was able to get a photo taken with the Cardinal, who cheerfully sat for a variety of photo shoots!

Plymouth Plantation

The other weekend, Greta, Natyra and I ventured down to Plymouth Plantation - despite the cold wind and rain! More in-depth coverage to follow in a week or two once papers are done!

Valentine's Day Surprise

Matt sent me roses and a little box of chocolates to me at work! It has made my day =)

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

Two wonderful women, Lynne and Pauline from Carver, MA are in full training mode for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Boston, for all 39 miles!

If you are interested in making a donation, check out their website. I hear that as part of their fundraising efforts, "Pauline and I are also making special breast cancer bracelets. The bracelets are sterling silver with pink Swaroski crystals and the attached charm can either represent you as a breast cancer awareness supporter or a breast cancer survivor".