Dear Mom,: 09.15

A sip of O'Doul's.

{April 2015}

I wasn't too sure about how serious Z was about me coming out for his wedding, but by the third time he asked, I figured I should probably make the trek out. The trip was simple, but created some really great memories.

The morning that we go there, we went to UNC so that I could meet with a BYU alum who is getting her doctorate. (We got the wrong address put in the GPS so.....we were like 30 minutes late.) After that, we went back to the cute little Colonial house that we were staying in/the wedding venue. That night Kathleen and I went to Sandrine's bachelorette party. (= French food and the best guacamole I've ever had.)

The next day we ran errands for Zach. Bought cases and cases of alcohol (we got some Coke and O'Doul's for us sober folks), got a white shirt, etc. And in the evening we had a casual wedding dinner at his house.

On the wedding day, we went to pick up flowers and helped get things ready. The ceremony was just lovely. We then had cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. {The sober Mormons were the craziest of the dancers...} Everything was filled with a fun atmosphere of celebration. I loved it, every bit.

My experience concluded with me sitting on the porch, listening to crickets and the fading music, watching the lingering dancers' energy slowly wane.

freedom trails and pretzels

{August 2014}

This may sound strange, but before I ever went to D.C., I just knew deep down that I would love the East. That gut feeling was only reinforced during my visit to Massachusetts.

Emma and Whitney greeted me at the airport, and we were immediately dropped off in the center of the city. After a sandwich that was too spicy for me to eat, we explored the city. I was enamored by the parks, architecture, and historic sites. Once we had enough of walking, we took the train back out to Emma's house and had a lovely salmon dinner on her patio with her family. And then, sweet sweet Emma knew that I needed ice cream, so we went to a lovely place in her neighborhood where I had a pretzel cone. Yeah. Pretzel. Cone. Yum.

The next day was just as wonderful. My morning started off with waffles made by Emma's sister (which she made for us every morning) and meeting with a professor at Harvard. I was a tad nervous, but he was really nice and it was helpful. I also fell in love with the HBS campus and tried really hard to not let my day-dreams get ahead of me. After the HBS visit, we made up some sandwiches and went to Manchester by the Sea. Whitney dunked me in the ocean. It was really cold. And I got mad at her.

After some good swimming, reading, and napping, we went to some place for tasty, greasy fish and chips. And then Emma, once again, took me to a wonderful ice cream place on a cute little farm. Chocolate truffle ice cream, mmmmmmmmm.

The next day was rainy, so we headed to the BFA. (Whitney gave me a time limit to ensure that we didn't spend all day there.) After...maybe just 2 hours in the museum, we got super dark hot chocolate and began walking along the Freedom Trail. I inherited your love for rain, so I enjoyed every minute. After hours of walking, we finished our day by eating at this Italian restaurant that is owned by the mob. And then got cannoli from a bakery that is owned by the same mob....

Our final day was jam-packed. In the morning we went to Concord to the site for the Shot Heard 'Round the World. {I fell in love with Concord and want to move there and live there in a perpetual autumn.} I met with Adam MacIntosh's sister at Harvard, where she recommended that I speak with the PhD Admissions office. The woman I needed to speak to was busy, so we made our way over to MIT. However, after I finished meeting with the MIT professor, I got a call back from Harvard saying that Karla was available to meet in 15 minutes. So, I sprinted to the train, hopped on the train, and sprinted from the stop to HBS. I think I was somewhat still presentable even though I was sweating, and it was really good to meet with her.

After that, I met up with Whitney and Emma downtown and we explored a little more before heading to a Red Sox game. {My first-ever baseball game....oh wait, that's a lie. I went to a Nats game.} We got hot dogs and pretzels, but we refused to pay for the over-priced drinks, so instead we suffered in thirst through the game. But it was still great. And a great way to say goodbye to Boston.