hibernation

it's been all radio silence and lulls over here, which is fine by me. I like a little radio silence once in a while. We've just been floating around, doing whatever we do and enjoying whatever that is. Turkeys and pies, trees and lights, chocolate croissants and winter berries and terribly cold weather that brings out the hibernation in everyone.

Maybe that's what we've been doing? Hibernating. I like it. That's a thing, right?

Anyway.....seriously, nothing has been going on, and I have been so very wonderfully, luxuriously and agonizingly lazy, doing the things that I want and not doing the things I don't. Like a yes man...except a yes girl (woman?)

Things happen when you do the things you want. Like the time that I decided to not do one thing during the day except hang out with my baby girl. And then a moment happened where I was reading out loud on my bed, and she climbed up, sat her little bum right up next to me and started coloring away, listening to me read. It was the most perfect moment of all time. You know the kind.

And then there was that one Saturday when I dressed up in my dressiest "tried by didn't" look (with lipstick even!) just to go to the Farmer's Market because I wanted to, and bought that baguette I wanted from the French place and bought a whole stick of brussel sprouts and then cut down some berries illegally just so i could add some red into my home (i'm weirdly into red right now...the only color among my very neutral-ish color scheme at the moment.) And while I was at said Farmer's market, I got that chocolate croissant I wanted so I could heat it up in my oven and sip on the hot chocolate i would buy on the way home, getting there just as the kid was about to take a nap. And while I wanted all of these things, I didn't fully expect them to happen, but I kind of willed it.  And you know what? It worked out how I wanted....it was a beautiful, lazy and perfect Saturday afternoon.

So, you know. Just Say Yes! And all that Anti-Nancy Reagan stuff.

In other news, it snows here, and we California girls aren't exactly fans (even though we're technically from Utah, but climatization is a THING you guys)

Also Pie Day, which was a whopping success. I got Dale all to myself for a whole entire week which is a rarity these days, and we took a little trip to Connecticut to see one of our surrogate/favorite families to join them for Thanksgiving. We love you Rosdahls! Thanks so much for always graciously hosting us and treating us as your own....and for letting Viv maul your dog....

And then, there was this time where we attempted to just GO to New York City...I mean, I've never been, ok? 

We like, went to Shake Shack and stuff, because isn't that like, what all the cool bloggers do, and like, stuff? I'll tell you one thing...I wasn't impressed. That's all ok? They call it the In N Out of the East Coast, and I'm like

JUST SAY NO!

It's not that bad, but it's not that amazing either. Sooooo ya. All I'm saying is I get to have In N Out in approximately 2 weeks, and I'm dreaming about it. That's all I'm saying. I just really like food, ok?

As for the rest of NYC...it was a huge failure, and I'm trying to forget about it. 

Let's not even talk about it ok? 

I'm actually pretending we didn't even go so that I can dub my next really-awesome-amazing-and-perfect-kidless-unfreezing New York trip as my FIRST one. 

A few tips: 

Don't go in the winter

Don't go down 5th Avenue on Black Friday

Don't take your kids

Don't be stupid about it

That's it. Being a yes girl really does pay off most of the time. Try it!

It might lead to you being Marilyn Monroe and singing Happy Birthday Mr. President to your husband, and THEN all bets are off, all because you said yes. ;). I don't know personally, I just heard that works.

JUST SAY YES!

Fall Break: Salem

Fun Fact: I've always been obsessed with witches and vampires...even before the Twilight phase...even before the Harry Potter phase. I have always loved dark, magical characters, and I've always wanted to be one. I want it to be real life so bad that sometimes I think it might be. But I digress. The fan girl cometh out in me.

So, Salem. Witch Trials and the like. So weirdly, morbidly interested in them, my whole life.
The night before we went, I looked up a city guide from Design Sponge on the best local places to go in Salem. Food, Occult stores, activities to do. I had a list the length of my arm, and I was determined we were going to get it all done.

And then the government shutdown deterred us a bit.
And so did money.
And so did that toddler we own.

Things never go how you want them to go on vacation. Towards the middle of our Salem day after a kind of crappy lunch (I mean, food totally sets the standard for my day), I started feeling forlorn and let down. This is Salem? This is what I was so excited about? I was going into a mini depression, because everything seemed so touristy and I still had yet to meet a real witch and hear a legit story about the trials, let alone feel spooked and Halloweenie and mysteriously bewitched.

We pressed on and took a trolley tour, which semi-saved the day, because we started hearing some great town history, and most of it was creepy. Like kids going to school on Gallows Hill where accused witches were hung (19 of them). And dead horses buried on the shore of the ocean only to appear again. Haunted houses and WICCA and all that cool stuff.

We headed to a graveyard memorial of the 20 men and women hanged/crushed as a result of the witch hysteria. We also found a grave of an original Mayflower Pilgrim! I love these old graveyards. They are so intensely creepy. The one we went to was eerily quiet and I was getting a little nervous. I mean, if I was a witch who was wronged in 1692, I would definitely haunt the place.

Anyway, when Viv woke up and was having a breakdown (maybe a witch cast a spell on her?), Dale let me go to the witch museum by myself, so I fangirled over that while I was in there and learned that girls back then were just as heartless and catty as they are now, Puritan or not. Weird right? Such an interesting time in history. I've read three books on it since I've been home.

Anyway, we salvaged the day by finding the most amazing bakery in the history of ever:
A&J King Artisan Bakers. Please go to Salem just to eat there. (they have a cookbooooook!!!!!. I want.)

The smell of the place was intoxicating and the desserts were the most curiously curated treats I've ever tasted. I grabbed a maple pecan tart and a cinnamon caramel cookie just on a whim. And then I inhaled them and hardly shared.

Later, I made Dale go back and get seconds for us (I'm not kidding; food really does set the precedent for my days). As luck would have it, we got the very last maple tart and I didn't share it at all with Dale (I don't even like maple!). But look how happy they made me! I'm a freaking smiling fool!

As the day faded, we wandered down Derby Square, walking past vendors and fake witches and crystal talismans. Some kids were dressed in Halloween costumes and running around the streets, and one such kid was dressed in a skeleton costume. Now, ever since October started, Viv has been obsessed with a book called Skeleton Hiccups. We had to read it 5 million times a day...she looooves skeletons! We've bought her a skull and an entire skeleton to play with because she loves them so much. What a weirdo, right?

Anyway, this little boy was dressed up in a skeleton costume with a scary skull mask. Viv saw him and was instantly enthralled. She had a look of wonder on her face and followed him around everywhere, every once in a while pretending to hiccup. T
he little boy noticed and bent down to give her his little skeleton balloon. I like skeletons too! he told her...and it basically made my entire day. Viv was ecstatic and kept following her little skeleton friend around as long as she could.

And then....we happened upon (purposely) a magical bookstore. Lined floor to ceiling with books! My dream come true. I took my big camera in to snap a picture and the owner snapped at me....so I snuck one with my phone instead. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this, you know?

Isn't it amazing? It was so picturesque. I could have spent all day in there, but instead I bought a witch trial book as a souvenir and catalogued this day as the best day ever.

    

Salem has that quintessential New England charm. Beautiful doorways and perfect colonial mansions with intriguing history and lighthouses that make your ovaries want a New England baby. And the soup. THE SOUP!

On our way home to our freezing hotel for the night, we stopped at a New England Soup Factory. On a whim (again! witchcraft!). I got a pumpkin bisque with roasted onions.....and OH MY GOSH. Dead. Dead from a taste explosion. I've never had soup so good in my life. And their clam chowder? It OWNS all the other clam chowders of the world. San Fran ain't got nothin' on New England.

(AND THEY HAVE A COOKBOOK TOO! FATE!). It was a perfect ending to a perfectly fall-weathered New England day. I could live that day over and over again, toddler tantrums and all. Salem redeemed itself.

OH, and on our way home, we went out of our way to hit up an IKEA....and that was the perfect ending to a perfect fall break. Ikea=christmas shopping done.

So far, Massachusetts has my heart. Let's all move there and live happily on maple tarts and witch history with a big steaming bowl of New England chowder sitting in Ikea furniture....I mean, YOU HAVEN'T LIVED! Can fall break just be here again already? You'll come out next year, yes?

Fall Break: Baahsten

Let's just talk about how much I love Boston.

Seriously? I LOVE BOSTON.
As in I want to move there.
Pronto.

Its a big city with that small city feel. It has great food. It's clean. The people are nice. There are hardly any homeless people. It doesn't feel super touristy, and it's not really busy.  It's home to a million historical sites and is the birth place of the U.S. Constitution. Compared to San Francisco, this place is a dream in the fall; you really can't beat the old, beautiful buildings and architecture in Boston. The best part about this city is the lack of traffic. We were a little worried about having to drive in to the city, get out of there before rush hour, pay for parking without breaking the bank, etc.

But! listen to this: we accidentally left Boston right at "rush hour" traffic on a Friday, on the freeway at 5. and there was NOTHING. Traffic moved the entire time. We got home in 30 minutes instead of the usual 20, and we rejoiced the heavens. In SF, it would have taken us 2 hours to get home.

ANYWAY....tangent over.

I have always wanted to go to Boston, mainly because of all of the Revolutionary movements that started there, and also because it's close to Salem and witches and all kinds of New England. So when the almighty and infamous #fallbreak loomed on the horizon, I made Dale drive me the 6 hours so I could revel in it. We booked a hotel about 20 minutes outside of the city and explored our tails off...because we love exploring new cities.

We hit up Boston Common, learned about all the unknown dead people buried there. We paid for a Freedom Trail tour which I was pretty mad about until I realized it was totally worth it. almost 2 whole hours of guided tour led by a staunchly patriotic woman dressed in 18th century garb, yelling at us in the nicest way possible. Nothing has ever made me feel more patriotic than she did.

We walked and walked. We found a graveyard dedicated to Paul Revere with a few headstones bearing his name. Samuel Adams was there and so was Mother Goose (supposably). 

Funny bit of trivia here: Sam Adams was reportedly ugly, and you know that Samuel Adams beer? Ya...well, Paul Revere's face is slapped onto it instead. Weird, right?

Either way, I was honored to be standing in places that such brave and inspired men walked and talked and stood for their beliefs in.

We hit up Old City Hall, which is the site for the first public school in America, established by Benjamin Franklin.

We kept walking around Boston, passing by the Old State House, which is the oldest standing building in Boston, and it most definitely has a unicorn on it (proof that unicorns once roamed this great land). Close to this building (pictured right), was where the Boston Massacre took place, which, if you know your history, was not quite a massacre at all, but more of a tense tragedy with both British and Colony members at fault. It all becomes more real when you're standing in places where such proclaimed historical moments have happened.

,

Oh, and a nice Boston man gave Viv a little pumpkin for free from his street vendor since she wouldn't stop biting it or wearing it on her head.

We checked out Feneuil Hall (still don't know how to pronounce it), Quincey Market, and where the Boston Tea Party started. We walked by the little building that Nathaniel Hawthorne penned part of The Scarlet Letter -- which has now been turned into a Chipotle. Random.  Thanks to my friend and Bostonian virtual tour guide Maddie, we stopped in at Al's State Street Cafe for lunch. Their chicken salad sandwich is supposed to be the very best in the city, and though I'm not much of a chicken salad sandwich fan, I got it. When in Rome, and all that stuff.

Let me tell you...it really was the very very best sandwich Ive had in a long time. And I found a new brand of potato chips that rock my world, and the staff that works there are SO NICE with the thickest Boston accents you can imagine. They fawned all over Vivian and gave her 2 suckers, just because. They were the sweetest, and are a major factor in why I want to move there.

We got some ice cream from the acclaimed Emack and Bolio's (which really was amazing...we miss great ice cream!!) and wandered around the great architecture downtown while Viv slept in her stroller.

Everyone told us that Boston = Cannolis.

So we strolled to North End and bought Cannolis from Modern Pastry and Mike's Pastry, both said to be the best in the city with an ongoing taste war ensuing between the two. We had to try both, of course, and the winner was Mike's Pastry, by far. Better staff, better taste, better location. 

     

            

By that time it was late afternoon and we were beat from walking all day.  We wandered across the street to a little cobblestone road leading to Paul Revere's house. We sat in a church courtyard, ate our cannolis and took selfies because that's what we do when we get an unexpected sleeping baby date.

This day reminded me how much I love exploring new places with this family of mine. It's one of our favorite things to do; get immersed in the culture and eat all the food we can get our hands on. Ever since Viv was tiny we made it a point to take her wherever we went, even if it was hard. As a result, she is a really great traveller right now, and we couldn't have had a better day.

So, go to Boston. Eat a Cannoli from Mike's. Get a sandwich from Al's. Sit by the waterfront and watch the water, get all patriotic and marvel at the beautiful buildings. Go in October to see it in all of its New England glory. I hear there's a pumpkin tortellini at North End to die for, and a Mr. Bartley's Burgers that is a must. Thank me later and you're welcome.

Next up: Salem!...and it changed my life. More on Fall Break and witches to come!

Ps: thanks Maddie for your recommendations! They made this trip worth it!