Happy Halloween from Beacon Hill

Enjoy the night! 

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Macbeth has the best quotes for Halloween. Right now I'm eating an early lunch, listening to an Alice Munro Podcast, and waiting until it's time to go to my TA class. Last night I ventured outside of our apartment for the first time since getting out of the hospital to go to my fiction workshop. I'm feeling much better and I'm hoping I don't get tired today, then I'll know I'm on the mend.

I'm also thinking about tomorrow—HALLOWEEN! I love festivities and holidays but I feel like Halloween isn't that easy to celebrate when you're too old to trick-or-treat and you don't have kids to take trick-or-treating yet. Also, I doubt kids trick-or-treat in this building. So I came up with a fun idea that's kind of festive and halloweeny for AJ and me to do tomorrow.

AJ has to work Saturday so he got tomorrow off! First thing in the morning, we're going to bundle up (it'll be low 50s tomorrow) and head out to walk through and explore all of the old cemeteries near us in Boston. We'll start in the Boston Common at Central Burying Ground and then go to Tremont Street to Granary Burying Ground and Kings Chapel Burying Ground. Then we'll walk to the North End to do Copp's Hill Burying Ground. On the way home, we'll grab sandwiches at Bricco.

At night, I'll make kettle corn with Halloween M&Ms and we'll watch Dateline. Originally I wanted to get some Stephen King movies but AJ doesn't love sitting for movies and those movies are long so instead we'll watch Dateline, which is even better, and maybe some Halloween episodes of our favorite TV shows. And maybe I'll wear my pumpkin costume while we watch. Who knows?

I'm excited for Halloween this year and I hope everyone has a fun, festive night! What are your plans?

A Crazy Weekend

This is one for the books. It all started on the Thursday when my mom and grandmother came to visit and to help AJ and me move into a new apartment. Yes, we moved into a smaller, one bedroom unit in the same building and we love it! It's so cozy.

The day before my mom and grandmother came I hadn't been feeling great. I had symptoms of an infection all day Wednesday but by the time they got here Thursday, I felt great and my symptoms were gone! So we spent Thursday afternoon cleaning the apartment like crazy. We scrubbed and swiffered and vacuumed and everything. We took Thursday night off to have pizza and wine—Uppercrust again, of course.

Friday, I brought all my clothes down to the new apartment and my grandmother folded them and we put them away in drawers and the closet. My mom helped too but she had some appointments in the city throughout the day and she ran errands to grab some more cleaning things. We cleaned and organized all morning. Around 2, we decided to take a lunch break and I sat down to watch Halloweentown but I quickly fell asleep and missed the whole thing. My mom waited for the movers to bring in our dining room table and chairs.

We did a bit more cleaning and unpacking throughout the afternoon until it was time for an early dinner at 75 Chestnut. After dinner we did more unpacking and AJ and I spent our first night in our new place! All the while, I'm feeling great.

Saturday morning, AJ and I went up to my mom's apartment for breakfast and my back started hurting really bad. We chalked it up to muscular pain from moving and lifting stuff all day before. I took Advil, felt great, and we drove to Danvers to visit my grandmother's cousin who stuffed us with biscotti and sent us home with homemade dough to bake later that night. We also stopped at another cousin's pizzeria and Richardson's Dairy Farm to pick up a pint for later. We had dinner, ice cream, and watched Dateline and I felt great still.

Sunday morning at 5:40, I woke up shaking like crazy, I felt like I was spasming and I couldn't catch my breath. I woke up AJ and I thought maybe I was just shivering from being cold because my teeth were chattering so I tried to put another blanket on me but I could hardly move, I couldn't swallow water, and I could not take a deep enough breath to calm down. AJ called 911 and my mom and an ambulance took me to Mass General Emergency room. Once I got to the ER, I threw up and had a fever. It was crazy and scary.

My mom got there shortly after they got me in the ER and introduced me to my team of nurses, who were wonderful and put me at ease. They gave me an IV and did blood cultures and all that fun stuff. I was in my ER room for about 4 hours when they determined it was indeed a kidney infection. They had given me antibiotics at 7 am and wanted me to stay at the hospital for another round 12 hours later. I was super bummed, I was feeling better but the idea of staying the hospital that much longer immediately made me feel like crap again. At 10, they moved me to the observation floor and got me into a bed there where they gave me a ton more fluids and pancakes. Mom stayed with me while AJ ran home to change (we were both in pajamas still), have breakfast, grab clothes for me, and my book even though I said I didn't want to read. Clearly, he knows me well because I ended up reading a lot that day.

I slept on and off while we watched football on the TV. My room had a great view of the Charles River and Cambridge but I could only see it when I sat all the way up in my bed. Meanwhile, this entire time my grandmother is still at my mom's apartment with my dog. They were supposed to head back to Connecticut that day but decided to stay until Monday morning. I had another great nurse in the observation room and she started my second dose of antibiotics because she knew I was eager to leave and I ended up getting out of the hospital by 7:30. AJ called us an Uber and I was oh so so happy to be home!!

I was ordered bed rest for the next few days so I had to miss classes yesterday but I'm hoping to go tonight. I've been sleeping a lot. Monday I took 3 naps, Tuesday I stayed up all day to do homework but took a nap at 6:30 and woke up at 7:20 and got back in bed at 8:20. I'm writing this from bed in our, comfy new apartment. I'm feeling better but not completely myself. I'm on antibiotics for the next 2 weeks and have pain killers for my back.

I'm hoping to get back on the blogging bus now that we are  almost all done moving in and I'll have some doctor-ordered downtime for the rest of the week. I'd love to share photos of our new apartment-in-progress and AJ and I have some fun Halloween plans for Friday! Happy Wednesday all!

Fall To Do List Check-In

A few weeks ago I wrote a to do list for this October. Since the month is almost up (already?!) I thought it was a good time to check-in and see how I'm doing!

1. Go to Salem. Check! I did this one this past Saturday with AJ, my sister, her boyfriend, and some friends. It was as crazy busy and crowded as I thought it'd be but still worth it the chaos! You can read about it here.

2. Go to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch. Check as well! We got this one done on Saturday as well before going to Salem. We headed to North Andover and spent a few hours at Smolak Farms. You can read about it here.

3. Watch Hocus Pocus. Check, thank goodness! I think I've done this one a few times.

4. Go to the Boston Book Festival. Not yet! But that's because it hasn't happened yet. Hopefully I'll be able to go!

5. Eat Halloween Candy. Check! We ate a few pieces while watching Hocus Pocus because it felt right.

6. Go to the Boston Common Pumpkin Festival. Yup! We did that on Sunday. It was the first really cold day of Fall so we only stayed for about an hour but in that time we got free samples from Davids Tea, free coffee from New England Coffee, and we watched cute kids frolicking in their costumes.

7. Make Kettle Corn with Halloween M&Ms. Half check. I made kettle corn twice this week but I'm saving the M&Ms for Halloween!

8. Eat chili and pumpkin cornbread. Check! Just did that one last night! Yum!

9. Watch Halloweentown, Halloweentown II, and Halloweentown High. Not yet because I don't think it's been on yet but I'm keeping my eye on the Disney Channel schedule!

10. Make an apple pie. Not yet! But my mom and grandmother are coming this weekend so I'm planning to make one for them, especially since I have a whole peck of apples waiting on the counter.

11. Watch Stephen King movies. No, not yet. Bummer. We have two dvds from Netflix right now and if I want to get some Stephen King movies before Halloween I either have to watch them fast and send them back or send them back unwatched.

12. Decorate the apartment. Check! I got a big mum plant from Trader Joe's, a few small pumpkins, and a few decorations are sprinkled about the apartment. I didn't buy the window applications because i don't think my neighbors would appreciate them as much as I do.

13. Get Married. CHECK! I checked off the most important item on the list on October 11th.

Saturday at Smolak Farms and Salem

This weekend went by so fast! I can't believe it's already Sunday night. I'm sure the weekend went by so fast because we did a lot of fun stuff! On Friday, my sister, Marina, and her boyfriend, Sharaf, drove up from Connecticut to visit. They got here around 4 while AJ was still at work so Sharaf went to rest and Marina and I sat and chatted for a while. Once AJ got home and Sharaf woke up, we went downstairs to order two pizzas from Upper Crust. While we waited for them to be ready, we walked through the Common and down Boylston Street a ways. Marina and I walked and chatted while the guys walked together behind us and had boy talk.

Once we picked up the pizza, we brought it up to the apartment and ate ALL of it and went through a bit of wine as well. The talking was non stop, my throat hurt by the end of dinner. It was really fun! After dinner, I made kettle corn for everyone and we sat down in the dark to watch Hocus Pocus. AJ and I both fell asleep during it but I'm sure we'll watch it a few more times before Halloween.

On Saturday around noon, we all got into Marina's car and drove up to North Andover where we met with Marina's friend, Katelyn, and her boyfriend, Scott, at a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, petting zoo place called Smolak Farms. It took quite a while to find but it was so much fun! It was packed with families and little kids in cute costumes. We walked around the animals for a while at first and then, out of nowhere, it down poured! Everyone was running for cover and we, smartly, ran inside the bakery where we just had to buy apple cider donuts, hot apple cider, and baking mixes. We hid under some tents, eating the donuts and drinking the cider, until the rain let up and it was a beautiful day again.





We played with the animals a bit more; there were llamas, alpacas, goats, rams, pigs, turkeys, deer, and everything. Then we walked to the pumpkin patch but we didn't buy any pumpkins—we already have some small ones in the apartment and I didn't think we should keep the big ones inside. From there, we walked down to the apple orchard. Apple season was just about over so we couldn't pick them off the tree and bag them ourselves—but that didn't stop Sharaf. We found a few that still looked good on the trees and he picked them down. AJ and I shared an empire apple and it was so sweet and delicious!

We walked around a bit more before stopping to buy apples. They had three big barrels of apples that we could pick from. AJ and I bought the biggest bag and loaded it up with apples. I have big plans of making apple pie, apple cookies, pork chops with apples, and maybe apple pancakes so they will definitely get used quickly!

As we were leaving the farm, we decided to go to Salem since Sharaf had never been. It took a good hour to get there because the traffic was crazy! And once we actually got to Salem, it took us another 30 minutes just to park. It was absolutely packed with people!



We met back up with Scott and Katelyn at Beer Works. I had a pumpkin beer, which I've been wanting to try, and it was ok but the best part was the cinnamon and sugar on the rim. We had to wait at the bar for about 40 minutes for a table but we finally got seated outside so we could people watch as people walked by in weird and crazy costumes. The food was good and we had a really nice time. We did a bit more walking around Salem to see some of the sights and some of the places where Hocus Pocus was filmed before calling it a night and driving back to Boston.

That morning, AJ and I had realized it was our one week anniversary of being married and a few people texted us throughout the day to remind us, too. It was an ideal way to spend our one week anniversary! I love Fall in New England and everything that goes along with it, especially the apples, apple cider donuts, and festive spirit of everyone enjoying the same thing!

We Did It!

On October 11th, AJ and I tied that knot! It was wonderful and amazing and perfect and all those things that a wedding should be! We were very lucky to be surrounded by our friends and family—we had an absolute blast and it was all even better than I could have hoped for.

Of course, I have a million photos and plenty of stories to share but it's late and I still have 8 more student papers to grade—I've been playing major catch up all week. I went from Thursday to Monday without doing any school-related work and I can feel it. And I want to watch How To Get Away With Murder in 20 minutes—is anyone else watching that show? I recommend it!

For now, I'll leave you with just a few photos. I'll do my best to get up a more comprehensive (without being boring) post tomorrow depending on how much work I can get done. Tomorrow afternoon my sister and her boyfriend are coming to visit for the weekend so I'll be pretty busy and preoccupied this weekend too!

at our reception at The Waters Edge at Giovanni's

because every millenial needs a wedding reception selfie

and a wedding party selfie—although this is only part of the group

it's the little things

the whole group

the morning after

and one of my favorite wedding gifts

What I Have Learned From Grad School So Far

I've been in grad school for just over a month now. I know I still have an incredible amount to learn, but I do feel as though I have already learned quite a bit!

1. If you think you've completed and printed all your homework, check again. Two weeks ago, I had to scramble at the last minute to finish all my readings for Teaching College Comp because I forgot to read my syllabus and last week I missed turning in an assignment. I did it, but I forgot to print it. 

2. Reread everything. We typically have to read 4 stories for fiction workshop every week, sometimes more. In the past, I've been able to get away with reading assignments only once but when it comes to these in depth class discussions and analyses we have,  I've found that reading everything twice—if not more—is essential.

3. It's ok to step away every so often. It can become really stressful when you sit down to start working and your mind becomes overwhelmed by every assignment you realize you have to do. Take it one task at a time and when you feel like you need a break, take it. You'll find time to finish the rest.

4. Naps are good. It's crazy how tiring writing and reading can be! I'll do a few hours of it straight and need a nap to go on. Usually, I try to resist napping because I feel like there are too many other things I should be doing. But I always find that after I sleep for 20 minutes (sometimes 60) I feel more aware of my work and can focus even better.

5. Sometimes, you have to drink coffee at 9 pm. Especially if you are in class until quarter 10 pm and your eyes won't stay open.