Sandra Dee

Today Sandy rolled in to town...and I was glued to the weather channel, Facebook, and Instagram. There was a GIF that someone uploaded in some part of the world comparing the massive size of Sandy to last year's hurricane Irene. It was scary how big Sandy appeared to be, and more so when the weather channel started showing images of flooding and collapsing cranes and buildings in NYC, and Atlantic City to be completely deserted and shut down. I have compiled my own photos of the hurricane, even though Boston wasn't (or at least hasn't been) hit very hard. The storm has made landfall, and the high winds and 

rain have died down for now. The storm is heading west, but it's supposed to boomerang around and come back east, but for now all is calm and quiet. It's so interesting the effect that social media had on the public's reaction to the weather, or at least mine. I was reading updates from my friends, ranging from New York to Boston, and every time someone included an update that read "Well, we lost power", it got closer and closer to me by location. It was almost more accurate than the weather channel. Also interesting, was seeing the city earlier today. Normally in this picture, you would be able to see the Prudential building and downtown Boston, but the clouds are covering them. 

First on today's agenda was going to school (before they shut down the MBTA) to pick up our instruments so that we could at least try to be productive since there was no school. It was eerie seeing Commonwealth Avenue completely deserted, and it was unnerving that the wind could blow me around so easily. We also stopped at the supermarket to pick up bottles of water, and some more food like peanut butter and granola bars. I know I wanted to put together furniture and practice, but there's something about cloudy rainy weather that just made me want to snuggle underneath a big warm blanket, and that's what I did, while watching a couple movies. It was also hard for me to not watch the weather channel and hang out on facebook, making sure my family and friends were surviving the power outages and avoiding the floods...facebook was a great way to share a feeling of impending doom. 

When finally evening arrived and the threat of high winds breaking our windows subsided, it was time to bake. I made a lovely little cake in a bread pan with chocolate chips, and made a delicious mulled apple cider. I remember back two summers ago when hurricane Irene made an appearance and took out a bunch of power lines in Rhode Island. My mom and I had made a run to the liquor store in preparation, and she made some delicious Irene-tinis. We also stayed up late to play Rummy 1,000 (usually 500, but I was loosing so bad that we upped the score), and we were listening to music on our little battery powered radio - ecstatic when Margaritaville came on. It was a party. So, this evening I tried the Halloween/Autumnal version of that. Instead of a battery powered radio, I made a Hurricane playlist on youtube, and instead of Irene-tinis, I made a special Spiked Spiced Sandy Cider. It was a delicious introduction to our activity for the night. As we sipped the S.S.S.C, we mapped out a plan to carve pumpkins! We broke into our candy supply, covered the table in saran wrap and tin foil, and wiped the pumpkins down. Adam helped me out a ton as it's been a few years since I've carved a pumpkin, but we did it! We carved while watching a really good episode of Castle, and now we are sitting together watching a creepy exorcism movie. Life is good. 

Scary Baby Face and Scarecrow Pumpkin Head

The prep work before our awesome Halloweenness

P.S. Sorry for the format coming out a little strange...still trying to experiment with pictures and text placement.

Hunker Down, Here Comes Sandy

Let's talk about November.

It's fast approaching, and like you and I already know, with the first of every month comes a new 30 day challenge. Here are the challenges I've already completed:

August-begin a blog, and take a picture every day.

September-drink nothing but water for a month.

October-stop pressing the "snooze" button, and be a tourist in your own city. 

As it turns out, with school and other commitments, I haven't been able to do a whole lot of touristy activities. Well, I've done a lot...but not nearly enough as I wanted to, which is why I am going to continue exploring Boston throughout November. Technically, I will always be exploring Boston, and as long as I'm living here, you will read all about it...but since I'm focusing on most of the big Boston tourist attractions (on a student's budget) I felt like it would be a good challenge to continue. 

I still don't have the ability to successfully wake up the first time my alarm goes off, which is why I am going to add to the challenge. For November, in addition to exploring this beautiful city, I am going to lead a more mindful life. We all know this scenario: It's around midnight and you go on Facebook to see what's going on in the lives of your friends. About half an hour later, after going through some intriguing picture albums, you find a video that somebody posted (usually a cat doing something cute, leading to a dog doing something cute, leading to a parkour video, leading to Shakira music videos, Lady Gaga tunes, clips from your favorite TV shows, and somehow, after following a weird path of related videos, you find yourself in the "weird" part of youtube). Time passes, and 48 youtube videos later, you find yourself still awake at 3 in the morning. For those three hours, you could have been sleeping, therefore waking up and feeling rested and ready to start the day. I'd really like to pay attention to where, when, and how I waste time.

Perhaps attempting to learn all the words to Gangnam Style isn't the best use of my time, nor is it wise to watch a whole lot of TV. There is a difference, though, between relaxing and wasting time (i.e. before leaving the house to go practice, I relax by watching an episode of my favorite show vs. coming home with the intention of practicing, turn on the TV, and watching half a season of Desperate Housewives, going to bed well past midnight). This month, I want to get a lot accomplished. I have auditions coming up, homework to be completed, classes to register for, concerts to perform, and rehearsals to be prepared for, on top of a whole pile of other things that need to be completed. 

There is one obstacle in my way, however. What happens when the weather gets bad, school is cancelled, you loose power, and are stranded in your apartment? We will find out! Yes, Hurricane Sandy is coming, and coming fast. They've already evacuated parts of NYC and there's been a lot of damage already in the southern states. Classes are cancelled for tomorrow, and there's no telling how long or how bad the storm will get. But there's plenty to do. Of course, I'll be sleeping in (intentionally), and there will be plenty of fun, especially because I'm making Spiced Sandy Cider and carving pumpkins tomorrow (a variation of Hurricane Irene-tinis and Rummy 1,000). There is cleaning to do, laundry to complete, and furniture to be put together...as well as practicing. Under the circumstances, tomorrow should be a productive day. If the weather holds up a little longer and they don't shut down the MBTA, I might even go check out the surf down by the harbor area. 

It's time to slow down, connect with the people who mean the most to me, be aware of what's happening in the present, actually taste, chew, and be thankful for the food I eat, increase motivation and inspiration, create a balance (definitely a Libra), and doing the things that need to get done instead of procrastinating. I think this challenge will help with the anti-snooze button situation, and I also think that this will be a good challenge in terms of my blogging. It's just about accomplishing the things I set out to do, and will hopefully give more value to the "in-between". 

And just what is the "in-between"? You plan your day around the things you need to do: go to school, practice, come home, make dinner, study, etc. But what about the 15 minutes it takes to get to school? Usually I zone out, or get lost in the music on my ipod, text, stress out about everything I need to do. Those 15 minutes could be so much more meaningful. On the T, I could look out the window and admire the foliage, pay attention to the sun shining through the window, or the warmth of my scarf. Instead of getting some tea from Starbucks, waiting until it cools down, and chugging it before rehearsal, I could really sip it, and taste all the flavors, and feel how it warms up my throat. It's time to really live in the present, enjoying life, and being happy to be alive. 

This is a prime example of time not wasted on YouTube.

That's all for tonight. Sleep well my little bloggers, and stay safe during this crazy storm. 

Copley Square

What does a farmers market, a couple churches and the Tortoise and the Hare have in common? They can call be found in the beautiful Copley Square! A must-see on any trip to Boston, Copley Square holds many of the historical landmarks I've been dying to write about. In the square, there is a gorgeous juxtaposition of the old and the new, for instance this picture. Trinity church was built in 1877, and as you can see behind it, there is the John Hancock tower, built almost 100 years later. The old Romanesque Revival vs. late Modernist, two very different types of stunning architecture. Outside of Trinity Church is a beautiful courtyard, as well as a statue of the rector of the church, Phillip Brooks. He was elected the sixth Bishop of Massachusetts, and gave a sermon on the death of Abraham Lincoln (both men, as well as the North, upheld the opposition to slavery). He is known for being the lyricist of "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and is remembered by the Episcopal Church with a feast day on January 23rd, the day of his death. 

Other notable historical structures in the square? We have the Old South Church, a Gothic Revival style of architecture, located on Boylston street, in which I have seen (and participated in) a few concerts. Emmanuel church is also nearby, and they perform all of Bach's cantatas in order (over 200!) with every Sunday service, obviously not all of them at once.

The Boston Public library (Italian Renaissance style of architecture) is also one of my favorite places in Boston. Even though I have recently joined the ranks of Kindle users, and enjoy it very much, there is still something satisfying about holding an actual book, turning the actual pages, and even the smell. I plan to eventually take a tour of the library, but upon walking inside, the first thing you notice is the beauty of the architecture and the art inside. I remember when I first came to the library, my first question was "Where are all the books?" It took a little bit of walking around and exploring to actually find the back of the library where all the books are held, but not before I took a long walk through the beautiful rooms and a peek into a very quiet, yet full study hall. There is one more structure that mustn't be overlooked, and that is one built in the Beaux-arts style, and that is the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. Known by myself, and one of my very good friends, it is a hotel with a very lovely bathroom. However, most importantly it's located on the site which was originally the Museum of Fine Arts (also a post to come!). 

Boston Public Library, with the Old South Church in the background. 

A beautiful fountain

So how exactly did the Tortoise and the Hare end up here? Well, as the plaque near it says, "created by Nancy Schön as a permanent tribute to the runners from all over the world who have participated in the Boston Marathon". And yes, that umlaut took way longer to figure out how to do, but success! The Boston Marathon is an awesome part of the history of Boston, and I will write a post about it when the marathoners come back to town in the spring! 

Tortoise and the Hare

If you ever need a place to shop, eat, drink, or dance, Boylston and Newbury Street are the places to go! I have been frequenting these streets every since six years ago when I participated in a youth orchestra at the conservatory. I was immediately attracted to these areas, not just for the shopping, but because of the culture of living and breathing in an urban environment. Roaming the streets freely, stopping for ice cream or a Starbucks treat, ogling the shoes in the window of the Tannery and people watching was one of my favorite Saturday activities (besides playing with the orchestra!). 

Boylston Street

And what have we here? A farmers market! The keyword here is local. From bread to seasonal veggies, from cheeses to maple syrup, the farmers market in Copley Square is a lovely way to spend a Tuesday afternoon (or Friday afternoon, when it happens again). 

Fah-mahs Mah-ket

Well readers, that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed my brief overview of Copley Square, and maybe you even learned something. I sure did. You know, I know my way around Boston pretty well, but a lot of the landmarks and history has been lost on me a little bit. I'm glad I'm finally exploring and looking into things, like different types of architecture, who the monuments and statues are for, and just getting some fresh air and visiting them in person. Boston is a wicked lovely town, and should definitely be on your must-visit lists if you haven't been yet. I mean come on, haven't I given you enough reasons already??

More to come, but for now, have a lovely and relaxing night. I played a great concert tonight, and I'm looking forward to going to bed. Want something gorgeous to listen to? Hope you love this as much as I do:

Mapparium

Weather-wise, it's such a lovely day weekend. We've had some amazing weather, going up to the 70s on Saturday...almost like a mid-October mini summer. I've been down to the Charles River to get some amazing shots of Boston and sailboats (see the last post), and today we ventured over to the Christian Science area. The day began with a delicious (and filling) breakfast made by my culinary-gifted sweetheart, and a short trip to Blue State Coffee, a company dedicated to sustainability and they donate 2% of their profits to local charities/organizations that the customers get to vote on. I love democracy...almost as much as I loved their apple cider, made from local apples (from Carlson Orchards in Harvard, MA!).

The Hall of Ideas

We leisurely walked through the Fenway area, made a quick stop at the New England Conservatory, and then made our way to catch the last tour of the day at the Christian Science Center.


Upon walking in, you are greeted by the Hall of Ideas, a vast hall with a bronze and glass sculpture in the middle that doubles as a fountain. Thanks to a great deal of technology, lights shine down on it from above, projecting quotes onto the surface that follow the flow of the water. There is also an on-going video about Mary Baker Eddy and her life, and how she came to found Christian Science.

Mapparium

Next, you are brought into the Mapparium, the only structure of its kind in the world. You enter a huge glass sphere, which includes the entire map of the world (as you can see by the picture, a lovely view of the Eastern Hemisphere). Since we weren't allowed to take any pictures, I snatched this one off the internet. Everyone enters through one door, exits out the other, and you get to stand on a bridge in the middle, for the best possible 360 degree view. There is a short show that they do inside as well, highlighting the different continents, giving us a very brief overview of the world and global economy.

Glass sculpture/fountain

The glass is made so that you can switch it out, in order to keep the map updated. The current map is kept exactly the same as it was when it was built in 1935-with labels like Italian East Africa, Siam, and the Soviet Union. And the acoustics! Since it's a sphere and made out of glass, if you stand in the middle of the bridge and speak, you hear your voice, and voices around you as if they were in surround sound. At one point, someone across the bridge made a comment about Czechoslovakia, and I could have sworn it was Adam, and upon "shush-ing" him, I realized it was not, in fact, him at all. It also has a "whispering gallery" effect, where two people standing on opposite sides of the bridge can speak in a whisper, and the spherical shape
of the room makes it so easy for sound to travel that it sounds like the person opposite from you is whispering right into your ear.
After hanging out in the Mapparium for a while trying out the acoustics for ourselves (i.e. whispering "I love you" across the map and being able to hear it right in my ear from Adam, who was standing at the other end of the map <3) We went outside and decided on walking over to the Prudential building. As you can see, I got a really great shot of the Christian Science Center building, a beautiful structure with some nice autumnal foliage surrounding it.

We walked by the reflection pool hand in hand, reflecting on past visits to the same spot. It was starting to get chilly, which was nice because there wasn't a huge amount of people visiting. Come here in the middle of summer when the fountain at the end is turned on, and you'll see kids in swim suits frolicking in the fountain, (as well as fully clothed adults sometimes :) and college students), and you'll see tourists taking pictures of their families in front of the pool. In past posts I have taken many more pictures of this area, as it's just so beautiful.

Reflection Pool

Reflection pool

These pictures serve as a great reminder as to not only why I am still living in this wonderful city, but why I am as in love with it as the day I moved here over five years ago. Yes, I agree that sentence was awkwardly written, but you get my point. It's a great city, rich with history, culture and beauty. 

Boston, you're my home, and I love ya for it.

Prudential Building

Row Your Boat

Gently down the Charles. That's right this weekend is the Head of the Charles! A weekend dedicated to  rowing races, with about 9,000 athletes rowing just under 2,000 boats. In an effort to see the river, but also to avoid the crowd of 300,000 estimated spectators, I went over the bridge connecting Kendall Square to Boston. I was a bad blogger and should have posted these last night, but lucky for you, you'll get two posts today. After a week of not blogging, I owe you at least that much.

It's happening! The trees are turning! 

Duck boat in the Charles

I was pleasantly surprised as to how these pictures turned out. It was so sunny that it was hard to see what I was taking pictures of...I just had to point, click, and hope for the best.

Boston Skyline

Look at all them sail boats! 

There's a reason I have lived in this beautiful city for almost 6 years. <3 

The other half-challenge I have this month is to stop pressing the snooze button and just get up.

The update? It's going terribly, and that's all I have to say about that for now. 

It's Lights Will Inspire You

Five days of not blogging, and it feels good to be back. Sorry about the temporary hiatus, because I'm sure you missed my mediocre writing. Let me tell you what I've been up to!

On a beautiful Friday evening, as the sun was setting, I left rehearsal, crossed the street, and took a cab to South Station. We arrived in New York City slightly after 11:30pm, but being young and being night owls, we didn't mind at all. After quickly regrouping in the hotel room located in the heart of Times Square (thanks to AAA), we set out looking for food and beverages...and got a little desperate. Even though Times Square at midnight looks like the middle of the day with all the lights, a surprising amount of restaurants were closing down...I say surprising because it was deceivingly lively outside. We eventually gave up and settled on trying to find some hot dogs on the street, followed by a drink in our hotel bar...until we walked into Bubba Gump Shrimp. No, we didn't eat there, but the nice host at the door told us to try O'Lunney's, an Irish Pub, directly in Times Square, with a kitchen open until 3am. That's a bingo! 

We ordered a round of Smithwicks Irish ale and some bangers and mash (and that's all I'm going to say about the brews and food because somewhere in Ireland a very good friend of mine is probably having far better)...but for almost 2am it did the trick. We same-sided it at a booth and toasted to our one year anniversary. It was perfect.

After we crazy kids were out until 3am...

View from brunch

We woke up on a beautiful and relatively warm Saturday morning. We checked out of the hotel and walked over to see Adam's best friend and his wife. They took us to the top of a building in Columbus Circle for brunch at Robert which had a great view of the city below, as well as the edge of the park. I had pretty much the best steak and eggs ever (since the hollandaise sauce in the lobster benedict contained dairy). After brunch, we went our separate ways, and Adam and I dashed over to the Majestic Theatre to see...you guessed it! Phantom of the Opera!

It was so amazing to finally come to New York to see a broadway show. I always get so caught up in seeing operas and symphonies and ballets (I know, it's such a hard life) that I forget about musical theatre and broadway shows! I think it really surprised Adam too, because it was more than incredible to be able to take him to see his favorite show, and one that sentimentally means so much to him.

We saw Phantom!

After we left, we took a leisurely stroll back to where we were staying that night, (with Adam's best friend) and we got to hang out and chat a little bit before deciding on Italian for dinner.  We went to a little Italian place about two blocks away. We had bruschetta (which was on the house), some awesome hummus (yes, not a traditional Italian plate), antipasto, and for our meals we had assorted pasta dishes and filets. With our bellies almost full to the brim, we decided it was time for dessert. To walk off some of the calories we ingested, we went to  Juniors in Times Square. Since my tummy can't handle that spicy cheesecake, I had a healthy slice of chocolate cake, which I'm sure contained enough lactose to give me an issue, but sometimes you just have to pick your battles.

We finished the day with a viewing of Prometheus, while finally drifting off to sleep on new sheets in a cozy New York apartment.

The closest I'll ever be to Christopher Columbus

We didn't bother setting an alarm, so after a slow moving morning which included a yummy egg sandwich, we set out first to get coffee at Bouchon's (home of the BEST peanut butter cookie in the world, in my personal opinion), and then to try to score tickets for the "Discovering Columbus" exhibit in Columbus Circle.  The Japanese artist, Tatzu Nishi, built a fully furnished living room around the Columbus monument. If you have time after reading this gargantuan post, you should take 30 seconds to read this article on the artist. A lot of New Yorkers don't like it, because it looks like the monument is under construction, a little tiny box up on top of scaffolding from the street. However, once you're up there, you have a bird's eye view of the surrounding circle, and nobody will ever be this close to the statue itself ever again. I say that's pretty damn cool...but I think they should have surrounded Columbus in a more manly color...like navy blue or something. So, as you can see, I was pretty touristy this weekend. Yes, we saw a show and we saw a tourist attraction, but the best thing about this weekend was just being in New York and taking in the city every minute we could with the best company I could imagine. We couldn't have asked for better autumn weather...on Sunday we didn't even need our jackets and scarves! We had a lovely time walking around, and it was the perfect way to spend our anniversary/birthday, week, month!

Cheers :)

View from the Christopher Columbus statue

Columbus circle

Fendika

Two awesome concerts in two awesome days! Despite the drizzly Boston weather and the nights getting colder, the welcoming warmth of concert halls have been my refuge. On Tuesday night, I made my way over to the New England Conservatory to see the wind ensemble play in Jordan Hall. I spent four years completing my Bachelor's degree at this amazing place, and sitting in the ever so familiar Jordan Hall felt almost like being at a second home. 

I can't say in words how thankful I feel, for having played countless concerts in this hall. The concert was great, the famous composer/conductor/horn player/musician/savior of NEC was conducting that night: Gunther Schuller, with the New England Conservatory wind ensemble that my boyfriend was playing in as a ringer. After the concert, we took part in that old NEC post-concert tradition of getting a few brews at the UNO's next door. It was wonderful, got to see a lot of my most favorite musician friends. And yes, the New England Conservatory is an historic building/landmark. 

Today was a drizzly, gray, cloudy, miserable day, but like I said...the light radiating from the classrooms, concert halls, and practice rooms were a welcome and warm sight. The day started off with my Mozart class...we talked about Mozart's symphonies and stuff. Here's a good one to listen to:

Class was cut by an hour, because our professor took us to a concert! But unlike what you would expect from a class of Mozart scholars, the concert was nowhere even close to classical music. It was an Ethiopian azmari music and dance troupe! They performed all sorts of traditional folkloric, and popular music from Ethiopia. See, Boston is a rich cultural city, and BU had a great lunchtime world music concert series. It was great, and definitely the last thing I expected to do when I woke up this morning. 

The Fendika music and dance troupe. Incredible. 

Then I had lunch and orchestra rehearsal (La Traviata is sounding really good...) had a lovely pumpkin spice latte while reading in Starbucks watching the rain fall, and finished the day up by practicing for two and a half hours. As you can see:

The good news? I practiced for two hours and my cadenza in the Makris is sounding really badass. 

The bad news? I didn't get through half the stuff on the stand. 

The annoying news? I have to eventually play Capriccio Espagnol for an audition. (Kind of a clarinet thing)

There's always tomorrow.