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!!

Hello, Boston!

This series of posts has been a LONG time coming! Between moving to a new city and beginning graduate school in August, life has certainly kept me busy. These past 5 months have been some of the best of my life and I want to be able to look back on them. So! We're going back in time for awhile.

Documenting life in Boston thus far, we're starting from the top! The weekend of move in was full of exploring, eating, exploring and eating some more. Here is my life in pictures. Enjoy! 

 Primark photo op, couldn't resist. 

We are living in Mission Hill in Boston and I love it!

Mission Hill is located right near the Longwood Medical District (where school is), Fenway and Brookline. 

On a nice day I can run or walk to Back Bay from Mission Hill.
The Harvard Bridge on a warm, sunny afternoon is my favorite spot in the city. 

Our adorable apartment. It might have flaws (broken shower, Jerry the house mouse, etc.) but it's cozy and perfect for us.

Move in weekend we spent a lot of time in the North End, or Boston's "Little Italy". The food, streets, shops, and bakeries are AMAZING. If I could afford it, I would live in the North End in a heartbeat. 

Quincy Market in Faneuil Hall Marketplace. More food!

The breathtaking Boston Public Library! Located right on Copley Square, this is the cutest area. One of the main reasons I was drawn to Boston was how they preserve the city's history and mix it in with all of the modern buildings and amenities. Copley is a perfect example of this.

Fenway Park and Yawkey Way. Is there anything better than summertime baseball?! Not a damn thing. 

I am SO happy to live in a city that I can constantly explore!

Don't worry, there's 'lots more to come. 

Until next time (hopefully not 5 months from now).

xo Courtney