Steph's Visit

Last weekend one of my best friends, Steph, came into town.
I LOVE when people visit because not only do I get to see them, but I get to show them Boston (and I get to explore it a little more myself!).

I am not kidding when I say we ate and drank our way through the city. BUT. Who would we be if we didn't?! Certainly not ourselves.

Once Steph got into town Thursday afternoon we immediately left the house to grab something to eat. Oddly enough, we were both craving barbeque (...and beer, but that's not odd) so we ventured over to Sweet Cheeks Q in Fenway and it was BOMB.

Next, we went to Bleacher Bar to grab another beer and check out the view of Fenway.

One week until baseball season!!!

The third and final stop of the night was to Harpoon. I love the vibe, the people, and of course the beer. Win win win. 

Friday I unfortunately had class during the morning, but in the afternoon we got to venture downtown and got to see a bunch of history. 

After walking around Faneuil Hall area and down through the city, we went to the Boston Tea Party Ships and later went on a tour at the Old State House Museum. Since we're both history nerds, we got to take a bunch of pictures and Steph got to buy books for her 5th graders to learn about the Revolution.  We put the fun in functional. 

One of my favorite streets in Boston. Diagon Alley, anyone?!

We walked up to the North End and split yummy apps at the Florentine Cafe and had some of the best Cab I think we've ever had. 

More touristy history. This is the Paul Revere Mall in the North End with a statue of Paul and St. Stephen's Church in the background. Behind me is the Old North Church where Paul hung the lantern and announced the British were coming. I still can never wrap my head around the fact that these stories we heard growing up actually happened. So cool to be able to still see it all! #sorry #nerd 

The sqaure where Paul and his wife, Rachel lived. We didn't get to go into their house (out of frame) because it was closed for some reason, but I've been in it before. It was also pouring rain at this point so we decided to call it quits on tourism for the day. 

Friday night we went to Lolita's and 

Oh.

My.

God.

Lolita's is a MUST.

One of my friends Natalie works there so she made us a reservation in her section and it was INCREDIBLE. It's a tapas-style selection and tequila bar. Needless to say, we had lots of both.

I can't even begin to list everything we tried but it was all incredible. I also didn't take a single food picture because it was all inhaled the second it was set it on the table. 

After dinner we went to Baseball Tavern in Fenway and met the rest of my friends for the Wisconsin game, which was INSANE. Being at a Wisconsin bar for that game was unreal. I was a little sad they lost because you've got to root for the Big Ten, but you have to love March Madness!

(horrible quality, but too delicious not to share)

Saturday night we went BACK to the North End for dinner at Trattoria Il Panino. This place was recommended to my mom and I when we first came out here for my interview for school and I have taken everyone who visits here since! More good wine and great pasta. Can't get enough. 

Saturday night we went to Lincoln Tavern in Southie and had SO much fun.

Let's be honest, we have fun doing anything together (including laying in bed watching Scandal and Grey's Anatomy, which we did all earlier that day).

Sunday morning we went to our beloved Bruegger's (miss you, Iowa City!) and Steph headed out for the airport.

It was a short trip but so, so sweet and we got SO much accomplished. We both got to see so many new places in the city and spend quality time together which these days is pretty rare. 

Thanks for coming, Steph!! Let's do it again soon ;)

Iowa City!!

This week while I was back in the Midwest on spring break, my mom proposed that we go up to Iowa City for a day.

Iowa City?

My favorite place?

That I haven't been to in over a year?

Yes. Please. !!!!

First necessary stop: The Vine.

The Vine is an Iowa City must. Between the Coralville (seen here) and downtown locations, many games have been watched, margaritas have been drank, and buffalo chicken wraps have been eaten. Nothing brings people together like good food, and a lot of college memories with my favorite people were here. 

As much as I love a good lunch, I loved seeing one my best friends Kelsey MORE!

Kelsey and I were random roommates freshman year of college, we became great friends, and went on to live together our Junior year as well. We can go over a year without seeing each other but we always pick right up where we left off!

Love you Kels, get your butt out to Boston. 

The new University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital!!

It is nothing short of amazing, check it out!

Directly across the street from UIHC is Kinnick Stadium.

Those kiddos in the new Children's Hospital have an AMAZING view!

Football Saturdays in Iowa City are unlike anything else in this world.

What I would give to tailgate every weekend again. Miss you, college. 

The Ped Mall in downtown Iowa City. Full of our favorite shops, restaurants, and *bars*. 

The cutest Iowa gear wherever you look. I want it all.

The beautiful, historic Old Cap and Pentacrest, the heart of campus and downtown. 

Unlike most huge state schools, they are one in the same. Seeing this view everyday never got old.

One of our favorite (Thursday night) bars and beer gardens, Brothers. Basically every school has a Brothers, and ours was loved just the same. $1 liquor pitchers for life. 

"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa."

There is something so magical to me about Iowa City and how there is a tiger hawk flying at every corner. I have never seen college loyalty until I went to Iowa (even flying out of of O'Hare in Chicago yesterday I saw at least 20 people repping Iowa, including myself. #guilty)

Until next time, IC. You will forever have my heart!

Go Hawks!!

Home (Or..Room) Style

As soon as I knew I was moving to Boston I began designing my bedroom. I made this collage about a year ago, and it's so fun to look and see how my vision came to life! 

I would describe my style as being very simple and classic, with a bit of whimsy and edge thrown in.

I can't WAIT to design my own apartment/home one day, but for now I have great bedroom pieces! 

Some of my favorite design styles include:

- Mixing classic woods with modern metals (all of the gold!)

- Gallery walls

- A twist on traditional oriental rugs with bright colors

- White bedding, furniture, and accessories

- Lights! 

- Fun wallpaper 

- Meaningful accessories 

White and gold bedding // discontinued, similar here 

Area rug // exact here

Dresser // Goodwill! 

White and gold knobs // Hobby Lobby

Floor mirror // exact here

Paper star string lights // exact here

Rifle Paper Co. prints // Chicago | Don't Worry | Anatomy of Love | Shades

Home inspiration:

It is no secret that Target my favorite place to shop!

 They always have such fresh, fun home accessories and their current pink/gold/white/wood display has my name written ALL over it.

One day I hope to fill my home with all things Anthropologie, but for now my graduate student budget only allows me accessories, inspiration, and window shopping ;)

My Favorite Run Route

The last couple of days we have been spoiled with temps in the upper 50s and 60s - hopefully it stays!! - and I immediately knew I wanted to run my favorite route.  Now, I am by no means a skilled runner (or for that matter even halfway decent), but there is something about running through the city on a warm, sunny day that that makes me SO happy.

Running down Huntington Ave. (this is also our daily walk to class) looks something like this. The quintessential Boston picture with brownstones and the Green Line. 

Huntington takes you past Northeastern and down into Copley Square (my favorite!). 

Turning down Mass Ave. takes you into Back Bay. Here you pass the Christian Science Center (which is not only HUGE but is breathtaking), Berklee, Newbury Street (the best shopping in Boston!!) and Comm Ave.

The Harvard Bridge over the Charles is my favorite spot in Boston.

After I run here I can just stand there, gawk, and think. It is so peaceful, obviously beautiful, and gives me such a sense of clarity. Being a student my mind is constantly on material I am studying, should be studying, or the laundry list of other life things I should be doing, but when I'm here I don't think about any of it. And it is WONDERFUL. 

On the way back I go through Kenmore Square where the iconic Boston CITGO sign is.

Next I go down Yawkey Way by Fenway.
Only a couple more weeks until baseball season!!! I. CAN'T. WAIT.

The rest is through the Fens and back onto Huntington!

I love love love being in such a historical city that I never get tired of seeing - just in this one run alone are multiple of Boston's famous landmarks! Luckily the city of Boston is actually pretty small mileage wise, so it's easy to cover a lot of ground without much effort ;)

Cheers to Spring and to never stop exploring!

"Spring" Semester Happenings

Technically, we started Spring semester. But we are deep in the Winter trenches out here. What is the sun? What is warmth? 

Good thing Boston's always pretty, no matter how cold it is. 

We ventured over to the Museum of Science one weekend. It was a BLAST!

And the view wasn't too bad either.

Am I a broken record yet? There isn't a single bad sight in this city, let's be honest.

Although in reality the majority of my views look like this...

 

#studentlife 

Life is fun, and stressful, and messy, and monotonous all rolled into one.

Some days you're on top of your game and get shit done.

Some days you need a donut and to watch movies for 8 hours. 

Balance. 

Christmas Break 2016

Christmas this year was perfect. 3 whole weeks home with my friends and family? Sign me up.

After flying into Chicago, I got to spend a couple days with my college friends. Insert wine and tapas. We're not predictable at all.

My mom and I went to Indianapolis to spend the week of Christmas with my dad. Aside from an eventful Christmas Mass, it was a great week of relaxing, quality time, and lots of reading...

Until we brought these two home.

Recently we had to put Clay down due to some health issues, but having him and his sister have brought so much joy into our lives!! *insert all of the crazy cat lady jokes here*

NYE we were in fancy dresses and heels...

and New Year's Day we were in our pajamas eating pizza and raw cookie dough.

I can't think of anyone, anyway, or anywhere else I'd want to bring in the new year! I love my people. 

PORTLAND

Thanks to flyer miles, one of my high school best friends, Claire, got to come up out of the South and spend a November weekend in New England.

I love baseball, Claire loves (really really loves) baseball, why not have lunch at Fenway?!

Bleacher Bar. 10/10 would recommend. 

Our logic.. why just do Boston when you can do Maine too, right?!

Oh so casually, off to Portland 6 of us went! And it was

hands.

down.

one of the funnest days we've ever had. 

We did a little brewery hopping:

Allagash Brewing Co.

Foundation Brewing Co.

Rising Tide Brewing

All were so delicious, and so. much. fun. Have I mentioned we had fun?!

It was a beautiful, cool day. We were always outside. There were ALWAYS dogs around. (There was always beer around.) We ate way too much seafood for dinner. We couldn't be happier. 

This was our first trip to Portland, but most definitely not our last!

Visitors!

Over the course of last semester I had the luxury of having a few of my best friends come out to visit.

One of my high school girlfriends Bridget and her boyfriend are currently living in NYC so they came up for a weekend in October. We did downtown, we did Cambridge, we did the South End, we did all of Boston! It was a short visit but I was so glad to see a couple of familiar faces :)

Later in October Lindsey came to visit. She is one of my best friends from college and was also living in NYC at the time. How convenient for me! We stayed true to our roots and went to the Iowa bar, Barracuda Tavern, to watch the game. #gohawks

Lucky for me, one of my roommates worked for Harpoon Brewery when we moved in. Love beer, love life, love all things Harpoon. #notbiasedatall

Harpoon is so much fun, located right in the Seaport, and has the best beer in town. Win. Win. Win.

In November another best friend of mine from college, Christine, came to visit. As expected, we spent a whole day at Harpoon. Also as expected, we spent the night with wine and tapas. See a theme?

Oh, the North End. How I love you, your cute buildings, and your lasagna. 

Fall in Boston is one of my favorite things. I am so glad I got to experience it with them!!