Liz and Shane in Boston (Part 2)

After some pad thai and a little resting on Saturday afternoon, we started to get our second wind. The LGOs were hosting a "Liquor Treat" Halloween party again this year and we decided that would be a great way for Liz and Shane to meet a lot of our friends. I had warned them about the party earlier in the week, so they came prepared with Halloween costumes. We invited a couple of people over to meet at our apartment before we all headed to the first stop on Liquor Treat and somehow that turned into more than a couple of people and we kind of had a pre-party at our house.

I went as a nerd (most of my costume I borrowed from Liz. Thank God she packed half her wardrobe in her suitcase). Chuck went as Abraham Lincoln, again. Though he was a little more casual version this year.

Liz and Shane went as pageant parents, or as her shirt says "pajent" parents.

Here's our group, minus Abe.

We saw a lot of good costumes at Liquor Treat but here are a couple of my faves.

Pot o' Gold. It's funny because her name is Gold.

Bert and Ernie, snugglin'.

We stayed out late and had greasy pizza at the place on the corner before we went home and crashed.

The next morning, we caught up on sleep because we were pretty tired and it was raining. We made some pancakes and then got ready to head out for a busy day two. Our first stop was a tour of MIT's campus. We walked from one end to the other and Chuck got to show off some cool parts of the school.

Then we played around in a classroom in the business school building because we're really mature adults like that.

Her equation (or as Shane corrected us, her "expression" because it has no equal sign) has an & sign in it. Thank goodness she teaches high school English and not math.

After some delicious lunch at Cosi, we headed into Boston to do the Freedom Trail. It was a little cold but our guide was a stand up comedian (seriously, he broke character and told us that's what he does for a living when he's not pretending to be Isaiah Thomas or William Dawes) so that made it really enjoyable despite the cold.

We then had drinks at the Green Dragon,  the pub where they supposedly planned the Boston Tea Party back in the day, and then went to the North End for a delicious Italian dinner and pastries at Mike's Pastry.  We didn't take any pictures because we suck.

Monday, Chuck had school all day so Liz, Shane and I spent the day exploring Harvard and then ventured out to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

That night, for their final night in town, we had dinner at one of our favorite Boston restaurants, Border Cafe in Harvard Square, with some friends. There were a lot of margaritas and a lot of trivia questions about Disney movies. It was a good time.

Sadly, all vacations come to an end, and after the 4 of us had brunch on Tuesday, Liz and Shane had to leave. We felt so sad when they left and had to eat a LOT of kit kat bars to subdue the pain. We wish they could come visit every weekend but of course, they can't. We had a great time while they were here and made some excellent and ridiculous memories. Best friends are the best.

Cummings B&B

Last week we acted as a Bed & Breakfast for 8 days straight and 3 different sets of visitors. It was exhausting but fun and we wouldn't have it any other way!

For starters Chuck's sister, Shawn, who we just visited in Virginia, came into town to visit with us a for a few days before she had to attend a work conference in downtown Boston. We don't get to see Shawn a whole lot so it was a treat to see her twice within two weeks! Chuckie had a lot of work to do so he spent as much time with us as he could but had to go to meetings and class here and there throughout her visit.

As soon as Shawn came in on Saturday, she and I hit the local nail salon and got a mani/pedi while Chuck did some homework. It was great fun to watch the manicurist try to get the 5 layers of teal and glitter polish off my toenails before starting my pedicure. (Who needs gel polish when you can just get your nieces to layer regular polish on thick and cover it in glitter?)  When we were done, we swooped by the house to change into warmer clothes and get Chuckie, and then we were off to the North End for dinner and cannolis. Shawn got to experience the legit Italian food and wine and wait in the long line at Mike's Pastry. It was perfect!

Sunday we took a Target trip and walked around Harvard Square while Chuck met with a group to do homework. When he was finished, we hopped in the car (I love that we can do that now) and drove northeast for about an hour to Rockport, MA- AKA my new favorite place in Massachusetts. The town is so quaint and perfect it almost seems fake. It's probably why they chose it as the setting for the movie "The Proposal."

After walking and sight-seeing and ice cream, we got back in the car and drove 30 minutes back towards Boston and stopped in Salem, MA to walk around and have dinner. It was chilly and kind of slow, considering it was after 5 pm on a Sunday night, so we just walked where our noses took us and then ended up eating at a restaurant called "The Old Spot" which I thought meant the place was really old but in fact had something to do with pigs or pork or something.

When we got home around 9:30, Chuck had YET ANOTHER school group meeting (via google hangout) and Shawn and I watched "The Proposal" to see what places we recognized from Rockport.

Monday, Chuck had class all day so I acted as tour guide again and took Shawn to see MIT, the Freedom Trail, and Qunicy Market. I've lost count now as to how many times I've been on the Freedom Trail but MAN do I know a lot of random trivia about Paul Revere and John Hancock.

Monday night Shawn checked into her hotel in Back Bay and our visitor #2 arrived. I should say visitorS because it was Robbie and Jessica- a fellow LGO and SO who were in town for Robbie's "midstream review"- the halfway point for the on-cycle LGOs to come back and give presentations on their internship projects. Chuck stayed with them when he came to Boston for a few days back in April, so we were returning the favor!  Soon after they arrived, we all headed to Harvard Square to meet Shawn for dinner at one of our favorite spots in Boston, Border Cafe. Their food is really random but good and the margaritas are tasty.

Tuesday we all worked and Jessica and I met another SO for dinner and ice cream near our apartment.

Wednesday we didn't have any visitors, as Jessica and Robbie left to stay with another couple and I did laundry and cleaning in anticipation of our next visitor. I also watched 5 episodes of the Netflix show Orange is the New Black and got addicted, all while Chuck was still at school attending meetings and doing homework. (I get to have all the fun. It's really not fair. You should all feel a little sorry for Chuckie. But not really because he's getting to learn at MIT, so, it's not really THAT bad but, he doesn't get to binge watch TV shows and get mani/pedis like me. Not that he gets mani/pedis but you get what I mean.)

Thursday our visitor #3 arrived in the evening. Matt, a friend from church in Louisville, got in around 9 and was immediately swept off to a Japanese C-Function and then the regular Thursday night karaoke. Friday, he and Chuck explored Harvard until I met up with them around lunchtime. We had lunch in Harvard Square, then went into Boston to go on a tour of the Harpoon Brewery. Unfortunately all of the tours were sold out until 5 pm and we didn't have time to wait, so we decided to just do a tasting and then head to Fenway for the Red Sox game.

Matt treated us to the game (thanks, Matt!) and we had awesome seats in center field where we could see the whole field and had a good, close-up view of the Monstah. The game proved to be quite interesting, as our seats were surrounded by members of the Wounded Warriors group and at one point in the 6th inning, one of them took off his prosthetic leg, handed to a friend, who then proceeded to chug a beer out of it up in front of everyone. You definitely don't see that every day, huh? Soon after that, I made a bathroom run where the girl in the next stall puked and apparently missed the toilet but hit the ground BIG TIME and puke splattered into my stall onto my shoes. Someone had one too many vodka cranberries before the game I believe. Luckily for me, Sperries are meant to get wet and were pretty easy to clean. But, ew.  This picture was taken pre-puke incident. That's why I still look happy.

Saturday, Matt ventured out into Boston for several hours on his own to explore the JFK Library, Beacon Hill, the Old North Church, and the original Cheers. Chuck and I watched the UofL game and then Chuck was able to get a little homework done. That evening, we took Matt to the North End for Italian and pastries as we didn't want to break our streak. We've taken literally every visitor there so far. Can't stop now. Plus it's a good excuse to get a cannoli.

Sunday we lounged around the apartment most of the morning and then headed into Central Square for a late lunch before Matt had to leave for Louisville.

And then our 8 days of acting as a B&B ended.  We loved all 3 sets of visitors and wish we could have had a full week with all of them! But we made the most of the short visits we had and can't wait for our next set of visitors in November!

2012: The Best Year Ever

2012 was a huge year. My life in 2011 and my life in 2012? Completely different. In a good way. But seriously. Things could not be more different now than they were just a year ago.

January
- We got engaged. (Not technically January, but December 28, 2011 is pretty close.... So I'm going to count it.)
- We started planning our wedding and picked a date, location and I found a wedding dress.

February
- Chuck flew to Boston to interview for LGO.

Interview Day!

March
- We found out Chuck got into MIT which meant we found out we'd be moving in a matter of a few months.

Out celebrating LGO, two days after we found out.

April
- I went to LA with my best friend to visit our other best friend and we went SKYDIVING. The decision to do this went something like this (via texting):
Liz: "Hey we should go skydiving in LA!"
Me: "Ok!"
Liz: "Seriously?!!?!?!?"
Me: "YES!"
Group text:
Liz: "Hey Emily, we think we should go skydiving when we're in LA in a few weeks."
Emily: "HELL YES."

And so it was decided.

Right before we got on the plane to jump out. So jealous of Liz's purple suit.

I promise you, riding in that rickety old plane was way scarier than jumping out of it.

May
- Chuck left his job at GE and I left my job at the Kentucky Center.

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.

 - We packed up our entire lives, said goodbye to our family and friends, and moved to Boston.

We look thrilled. This is what 16 hours in a car will do to you.

 June
- Chuck started school at MIT.

- I started a new job at MIT.

July
- We spent the 4th of July in the birthplace of America! Probably my favorite thing we did all summer.

August
- Chuck finished his first semester of grad school.
- We moved into a new apartment in Cambridge.
- We got married and I became Rachel Cummings!

Gettin married.

Thank you to the cranky desk clerk who took this picture for us at almost 3 am when we arrived at the Seelbach.

 September
- We went to Maine! A state I was pretty sure I would never visit.

- Emily visited us in Boston.

October
- We camped in New Hampshire.

- Hurricane Sandy happened.

November
- My sisters visited us in Boston!

Sami, you're supposed to lay ON the air mattress, not UNDER it.

Laura, enjoying a tasty beverage at an Italian restaurant in the North End.

- My childhood best friend Lauren visited us in Boston!

- We found out Chuckie got an off-cycle internship with Amazon and started planning to move to Seattle.

December
- End of Chuck's 2nd semester of MIT.
- Traveled to Louisville to spend 2.5 weeks with friends and family for Christmas!

2013 is going to have a hard time living up to 2012.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to new beginnings, new friendships, new challenges and everything else new that comes with a new year!

Cannolis, Cupcakes and Christmas

My kindergarten best friend, Lauren, came to Boston this past weekend for a visit and our weekend together can be summed up in two words: Desserts and Christmas.

Kindergarten us: Bangs, Little Mermaid PJs and my #1 baby doll, Timothy.

Friday night we toured Harvard and marveled at the Christmas decorations, ate dinner at one of my favorite places here- Border Cafe- and then went to the Beantown Pub in Boston. We met up with some old friends and LGOs and had a blast!

25 years old us

Just noticed the guy behind Chuck.. hahaha

So good to see Clayton again in Boston!

 After the bar, we got greasy pizza at the pizza place one block from our apartment and then went home, where Lauren and I practiced our best impressions of Blaine Warbler (from Glee). Also I lost a stupid bet with Chuck over whether or not I said the word "skip" when I meant to say "skill" and now I owe him 1 million dollars. Whoops.

Saturday we got a late start because we stayed up late on Friday. We took our time getting ready and watched the first half of the Louisville basketball game. Then Lauren and I headed out to see MIT and walk the Freedom Trail. I should add here that it snowed almost all day on Saturday. Lauren and I feel we deserve some sort of award for walking the Freedom Trail in the snow. It was cold and wet, but I do have to say that as many times as I've walked the Trail, this was one of my favorites. Just look at it!

 
 We saw a lot of Christmas decorations along the way.

After the Freedom Trail, Lauren and I thawed out at the Bell in Hand and waited for Chuck to get out of a meeting before the 3 of us headed to the North End for some Italian food, more marveling at Christmas decorations, and of course... Mike's Pastry.

Happiness in a box.

We were exhausted from a day out in the cold so we called it an early night, went home, watched Elf, ate our cannolis, and then watched When Harry Met Sally. It was perfect.

Sunday, Lauren and I headed to a restaurant/sports bar in Boston for the Green Bay Packers/Vikings game. Lauren is a die hard Packers fan and was very happy when they won!

Sunday morning football calls for mimosas!

 After the game, we walked through the Prudential Center, then to Newbury Street, stopped to get cupcakes for later, walked through Beacon Hill and looked at all the pretty Christmas lights and trees in peoples' windows, and then went to dinner and had pizza before going home. Once home, we watched yet another Christmas movie- How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and then our favorite shows, Dexter and Homeland.

Georgetown cupcakes. The best cupcake I've ever had. And I've had a LOT of cupcakes.

 I feel like all we did the whole weekend was look at Christmas lights and trees, watch Christmas movies, and eat desserts. That's a pretty great weekend though in my opinion. Now we're completely in the Christmas spirit and Chuck and I are WAY beyond ready to go home for the holidays!