Chris and I have decided that it is a good idea to document our time in Boston, not only for ourselves, but also for our family and friends to see what we are up to. This first post will have to include a recap of the first six months, since we are starting our blog a little late in the process.
Where to begin? Chris and I moved from sunny Melbourne, FL to our hometown of Summerville, GA in May in order to spend time with our families prior to moving to Boston. We quit our jobs and enjoyed a summer without responsibility. The summer went by rather quickly, with us packing up all of our stuff and relocating to Boston, MA the week after the 4th of July. We endured 16 and a half hours together on the drive to Boston, MA and only had to wait one day for our furniture to arrive. Soon enough, our small 900 square foot apartment became our home for the next two years. Here are some pics of our humble abode. It's small, but it will do.
After getting settled in to our apartment, we did a little bit of sightseeing, including walking the Freedom Trail, http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/. We were so exhausted by the time we reached the Bunker Hill Monument, but we decided to hike up the 221 feet. I think there were approximately 274 steps. Did I mention that we were exhausted?!?!? We got to the top of the monument and looked out the 2x2 window to see the vast area that is Boston. It was exciting to look out over the place where we will be living the next two years of our lives!
The most exciting part of our first few weeks in Boston involved a trip to Fenway to watch the Red Sox play the Toronto Blue Jays. Chris has always dreamed of taking in a Red Sox game at Fenway and we needed to put his hat that he has been wearing for the past 4 years to good use. We waited in the game day ticket line for about 3 hours before we were granted access to the park in the 3rd inning. We got tickets on the 1st base line, just 3 rows off of the outfield. They were great seats and a great way to take in our first Red Sox game.
Waiting in line to get tickets, trying to be patient!
The Green Monstah!
Chris and I with the Green Monster
Chris, taking in the last inning from the first row!
Those are the highlights of our first two weeks in Boston. After those two weeks, we headed back to Georgia to attend Elizabeth and Adam's wedding on July 21st. It was a great weekend and a wonderful wedding! Below are some pictures from the festivities. Congratulations to Adam and Elizabeth Cowart!
Chris and I at the Rehearsal Dinner
Chris, Elizabeth, and I
The lovely bride and her groom!
We spent another week in Georgia with our families prior to heading back to reality in Massachusetts. Chris was due to start two weeks of non-stop work that was required for him prior to actually starting school. Just in case you don't know, Chris got into Harvard Business School, which is the reason for our relocation to Boston, MA. Those two weeks were brutal for Chris, but it turns out, that they were very beneficial for him. They gave him a leg up on others in his class that weren't required to attend Analytics, or "math camp" as some other schools call it. During those two weeks when Chris was AWOL 24/7, I managed to meet a lot of other girls whose husbands were also attending Analytics!
After Analytics, we took a short trip to Georgia to spend Labor Day with the family. After Labor Day, we returned to Boston where I started a new job and Chris started to school. Needless to say, it was a very hectic time with lots of things going on.
September 3, 2007 - The first event that kicked off the official school year was a trip to Salem, MA to enjoy a good old fashioned New England Clambake. It was a great time to meet other HBS couples as well as to enjoy our first whole lobster. I am not a big fan of lobster and do not prefer to see a lobster's insides, so Chris was the only one who took a stab at the lobster.
September 8, 2007 - At HBS, the weekends are always filled with tons of things going on, from boat cruises, to dancing at a club to just hanging out with friends. Our first weekend at HBS included a boat cruise on the Boston Harbor. We had a great time hanging out with all of our friends, some of which are pictured below.
Chris and I before getting on the boat
Chad, Teal, and Chris
Teal, Chris and Luke
Laren, Alisha, Me, and Erin
Erin, Abbey, and Alisha
September 15, 2007 - The weekend following the boat cruise we attended our first semi-formal event at HBS, Casino Night. Now, one might imagine that this is Chris's type of event, since he loves to gamble, but I would have to say that it is my favorite type of casino-like event because no real money was involved!
Chris and I all dressed up
Teal, Laren, Chris and I
Laren and I
Teal showing off his best poker face!
September 21 - 23 - The next weekend we were thrilled to have Adam and Elizabeth visiting us from Georgia! It was so great to have guests in our new home. We spent Friday evening at Grendel's Den, where Adam and Elizabeth were introduced to a lot of our new Boston friends. We spent Saturday rooting on the Yellow Jackets and then headed to the North End to eat dinner at Maurizio's. Adam had to head out early on Sunday, so Elizabeth and I made our way down to Newbury Street to meet Lauren Ashman, a fellow Alpha Chi also living in Boston, and check out all the cool boutiques. I thought this would be the perfect weekend to have my first Newbury experience, so that I wouldn't have to drag Chris down the long street full of shopping. It was sad to see them go, but I knew that they would be back for New Year's!
Elizabeth and I (miss her so much!)
A good number of my new friends in Boston!
September 29, 2007 - The following weekend we made our way to the Boston Harbor, once again, but not for just any harbor cruise. We were going whale watching. Now, I have to tell you that before you get too excited about the fact that Chris and I saw whales, I must warn you the whale watching tour could have also been called Puke Fest 2007. It was a beautiful day in Boston, but, unfortunately, the wind was blowing like crazy causing very rough seas.
Site of Puke Fest 2007
Chris and I on the boat before heading out to sea!
View of downtown Boston, MA from the boat
Everyone around us maintained their stability, except for poor Natalie who got sick after 5 minutes, until we made it out to the location where whales are usually seen. Once the boat stopped, it was rocking back and forth, throwing people from side to side, as everyone tried to look out into the wide open ocean and spot a whale. That, my friend, is when the puking began. I will spare you too many gory details, but I have never seen that many people puking in one location at one time. Below are some of the pictures that we caught of the whales. Chris and I were spared extreme sea-sickness, but I did have to take break in the bottom of the boat in order to keep myself from becoming just like the rest of the people on the boat. It was a great experience and we can now say that we have seen whales, but I think we both agree that we will have to pass on the Whale Watching Tour next year!
One of the whales we caught on camera!
October 4th and 5th, 2007 - We attended an 80s band party at our favorite Harvard Square bar, Tommy Doyle's, on October 4th. The Fast Times band played all of my favorite 80s songs and we had a great time. We were supposed to dress in 80s attire, but the best that Chris and I could come up with were very bold color shirts. As you can see in the pictures below, other people attending the party went to the extreme when dressing the 80s part.
Chris and a few Section F'ers
Chris and Billy Ray Cyrus
On October 5th, we met up with Mark and Becky Wetzel as well as a few other friends to celebrate Becky's birthday. We went to the Bell in Hand Tavern, which is the oldest, continuously operating bar in the US. We met Mark and Becky at Admitted Students' Weekend in March prior to coming to HBS. Below are a few pics from the evening that was Becky's birthday party. She had a great time, as did we!
Becky and I at Bell in Hand for her birthday!
October 10th through 14th, 2007 - Chris and I were very excited to have my parents visit us in Boston for the first time. We picked my parents up on a Wednesday night and introduced them to our 900 square feet humble abode. They spent all day on Thursday exploring the Freedom Trail, which requires an ample amount of walking. I am pretty sure they got a good workout because my mom was sore the next day. I took Friday off so that I could hangout with them. We toured additional portions of the city, including Chinatown, which I don't recommend anyone visiting. We had lunch at Cheers, which was the inspiration for the television show. After eating lunch, we slowly made our way down to Fenway to check out the stadium.
The first game of ALCS was taking place, so I just wanted to take my parents down to the park to see what it is like on game day. Chris met us down there, where we decided, on a whim, to jump into the day of game ticket line. To our surprise, we ended up getting into the stadium with pretty good seats before the game even started. Unfortunately, we weren't prepared for sitting outside in the cold weather, but it was most definitely worth. The Red Sox won, so that made it even better!
Chris and I at the game
My parents at their first Red Sox game!
We had great seats again!
Saturday included more sightseeing as well as good eats at McCormick and Schmick's. My parents flew out on Sunday and we were very sad to see them go. It is always nice to see people from Georgia....it keeps us from missing home so much. We look forward to their next visit, which should be sometime in the spring or summer of next year.
October 20th and 21st, 2007 - Chris and I got together with Teal and Laren on October 20th to carve our first pumpkin together. After Chris broke the good carving knife within minutes of carving, my pumpkin became much harder to carve. Mine turned out horribly. Good thing we didn't get a good picture of it.
Chris carving his pumpkin
Me pretending to be happy about carving a pumpkin with a steak knife.
I would have to say that the funniest event of the evening included Teal showing us how to use a neti pot, LOL!
The next day Chris had an all day career team meeting, so I went with Mark and Becky to watch the final day of the Head of the Charles. This event is held everywhere where crew teams from around the country come to compete on the Charles River. Below are a few pics from the event.
Team USA
October 24, 2007 - HBS's Partners' Club had its first philanthropy meeting, which included a pie contest. Much to my surprise, my peanut butter pie came home with top prize.
October 27, 2007 - Chris and I have never been very big Halloween people, but we decided to attend the Halloween Party hosted by HBS. The evening before the party involved a lot of stress because Chris and I waited until the last minute to find a costume. Chris ended up dressing like the pimp we know he is and I was his disco queen. Enjoy some of our pictures below from the event!
No comment needed, LOL!
Chris and two of his sectionmates mimicking how they sit (or sleep) in class.
Posh and the Disco Queen
Will and Ginny aka David and Victoria Beckham
Patrick and Patricia
David/Posh??, The Pimp, and The Farmer
November 2-4, 2007 - The Section F Retreat took place during the weekend before Chris' birthday. We made a short 3 hour drive to Bridgeton, Maine to shack up with Chris' entire section. It was a nonstop party the entire weekend. I, unfortunately, got a migraine on the morning of the 3rd, so I was unable to participate in the any of the flip cup or beer pong tournaments. It was a great weekend that allowed us to spend some quality time with Section F.
Erin and I
Tons of people attended the retreat, here are a few of them!
Erin, Michael (Erin's fiance and Chris' sectionmate), Chris, and Me
Chris dancing on a table (yes, I did say table) with Kelly
Me with Erin and Andrew
November 10th - My birthday, woohoo! For my birthday, Chris and I went to see the musical "Wicked". The musical was 1,000 times better than the book and a great way to celebrate my birthday. After dinner, we headed out to the Living Room near Faneuill Hall to meet up with a few of Chris' classmates. A few weeks before we attended a Kelly Clarkson concert also for my birthday and she was phenomenal. I had a pretty exciting birthday this year! Below is a pic from the concert. The dress is actually an illusion!
Sorry that the pic is so bad!
November 17, 2007 - We made the trek on a chartered bus to tailgate and watch the Harvard-Yale Game. This is a football game that is steeped in tradition. We had to make sure that we were a part of this tradition by attending.
I was very surprised to see that Yale painted an "H" on their field.
November 21-25, 2007 - We flew home to Georgia on November 21st to spend Thanksgiving with our families. This was our first trip home since Labor Day. It has definitely been weird living in a place where it isn't quite possible to make it home once a month like we did when we lived in Florida. It was so great to see our families, especially our niece and nephews that we can't get enough of. They change so much each time we see them! It was definitely bittersweet to fly back to Boston on Sunday. We love our new life here in Boston, but we miss our families so very much!
November 29, 2007 - We attended the Boston Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on this night. I will have to say that this has to be the most lame Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony that I have ever attended. Wait....this is the first one I have attended, but it didn't put me in the spirit to attend it ever again. We ended up going to a nearby deli to grab sandwiches instead of watching the performances that were not too interesting. When the tree was lit, it was very unexciting. We did manage to take a pic of ourselves in front of the Christmas tree, which we didn't end up using for our Christmas card like I had hoped. Oh well! I don't recommend the Boston Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, it is better to just watch the Rockefeller Center one on TV.
HOLIDAZZLE - December 7, 2007 - Every year HBS hosts a Christmas party called Holidazzle. This year Holidazzle took place the Hyatt in downtown Boston. We put on our best outfits and made our way to the Hyatt where we ate dinner with Chris's section and enjoyed a presentation of the semester's best skydecks. Just in case you were wondering, skydecks are held every Friday in class where the top row of students pretty much make fun of their classmates. I find it somewhat funny, but I didn't get some of the inside jokes. Chris has really enjoyed being a member of the skydeck and coming up with fun and interesting awards to give to his classmates.
Twins!
Diana, Erin, and Me - The three of us got the wear black and white memo, LOL!
December 21 - 27, 2007 - THE SHORTEST CHRISTMAS TRIP EVER! Since I recently started a new job, I didn't have very much vacation time to spare for the holidays, unfortunately! Chris and I made it home in time to do some last minute shopping before all of our family Christmas parties began. We stayed pretty busy during our entire trip home, but it was great to spend some quality time with our families. It was, again, very sad to make the trip back to Boston, but we knew that we had a fun weekend ahead of us. Our friends, Elizabeth and Adam, were flying up to spend New Year's Eve with us.
Grandmother, Marin, Granddaddy, and Kallan
Mom, Dad, Chris and Marc
My Dad inspecting his gift. Can't remember what it was exactly, but it must've been interesting.
PawPaw
My Mom and her mother, otherwise known as Jo.
New Year's Eve - We decided that we should probably spend New Year's Eve in Boston this year, since we hope to be on some fantastic trip next year during New Year's. We invited Elizabeth and Adam up to spend it with us. We decided to go to one of our favorite bars in Cambridge, Tommy Doyle's, and I have to say that it did not dissappoint. We started out the night at our place, where we ordered Domino's pizza. Classy, right?? Hey, there is nothing better to eat than pizza prior to a night like we had. We had several friends over from HBS and Julie and Krolo and his friend also joined us for the evening. It was a great time! Check out the pics below to see all the fun we had.
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