Becky's photoblog

We wanted to deliver a gift, so we visited Liz and Lee and spent the afternoon snuggling with their almost-three-week-old incredibly adorable twins.

Jen just became an aunt! Her twin sister just had twin daughters a few days ago, so she flew in from California to meet her nieces.

We met up in Boston to catch up over dinner, shopping and a delicious dessert – this is salted caramel pudding cups at California Pizza Kitchen … so good! And so good to spend time with a close friend of 22 years on such a special occasion.

Thanks for Mo and Rachel for getting a couple of us together for a delicious brunch, play time with the puppy, and a new puzzle! A perfect Sunday.

Liz and Lee’s ‘best guess’ due date has come and gone, and at 36 weeks, these two almost-parents are excited and ready to meet their twin girls! They met us at the old house to pick up their new camera (which I had picked out and set up for them), and to see the house one last time while we packed up more boxes.

Liz and I have a lot of shared memories in that house … sleepovers, birthday parties, Halloween parties, pre-prom photo shoots …  and it was wonderful to share just one more memory with her in the old house.

We had a great time visiting friends who we haven’t seen in far too long. We got to see their new house, and of course their precious little man. He let me tickle him, and he sort of let me take his picture, so I let him play with my camera. He took a lovely photo of his parents, and he also took his very first selfie. We’ll work on that one …

Our dear friend Becky is saying good-bye to Boston, and embarking on an adventure around the world. We hosted a send-off so that we could get a bunch of people together, and we spent a perfectly pleasant Sunday afternoon hanging out and snacking. Mel did it again with her delicious snacks … vanilla dipped strawberries and apricots, two different kinds of cheese dips and raspberry pie!

I just realized that I forgot to actually take any photos of our guest of honor because we were all distracted by the adorable toddler who provided the entertainment for the afternoon by repeatedly taking a running jump into the arms of any adult who would lift him up and turn him upside down  🙂

When friends need a hand, you can count on us to be there for them, even when it’s a lot to ask. We did our duty today, and headed up to Frederick’s Pastries in North Andover to taste-test several delicious cakes, fillings and icings to help our friends pick out their wedding cake. It was a rough afternoon, but did what had to be done. 🙂

Jane and Rose invited their friends, family and godparents over to celebrate their third birthday 🙂 They had a wonderful story-teller who kept them giggling for an hour! They just get cuter and cuter.

We had a busy but perfect New Year’s Eve. First stop, the Cravens’ for some dancing and bouncing, and a delicious meal. The girls wanted to show us some of their new moves, so we got to hang out with them before we all sat down for dinner together. They love saying “cheers!” so we toasted with champagne and sippy cups to a happy new years!

We hosted a babies shower for our friends Liz and Lee, who are expecting twin girls in March. A late-December Saturday evening is a weird time to have a shower, but as a little surprise for them, I prepared a Havdalah ceremony to bring a little light and warmth to our evening. Havdalah is the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the rest of the week, and Liz and our friends used to do Havdalah together a lot back in our Jewish youth group days. It was really nice to be together again for Havdalah, and extra special to have Becca join us from California via Skype, and sing harmony from 3,000 miles away!

Sara showed up several hours early for Liz and Lee’s babies shower and helped us get the house ready. While the afternoon light poured in, Sara fought with tissue paper flower centerpieces (which she had way more patience with than I did). I love this lovely lady 🙂

You can’t take these two anywhere … Mel and Brian sword-fighting in the aisle at the dollar store.

My dear friend Hannah is expecting a baby boy! While she was in town with her family, we threw her a shower over Chinese food, and we got some adorable outfits for the little monster!

We went to see Potter Potter for Brendan’s birthday, because that’s what grown-ups do.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing two great friends get married.

Liz and Lee hosted brunch since Jen and the girls are in town. We had a great time playing with the little kids, and it’s always wonderful to get a bunch of old friends together.

It was a real treat to spend some time with a dear old college friend and his wonderful new fiance. These two know how to have fun and eat right! Less than an hour after we landed, we were in their kitchen snacking on delicious home-made food. On Sunday, we brunched right by starting off at Psycho Donuts, a frightening and entertaining sugar fest. We continued our feast with a Cal-Mex brunch complete with adult-mimosas. We walked it off at Campbell’s farmers market, and wandered through a store full of gorgeous lanterns – we left with our heads full of ideas for crafts projects and redecorating!

No visit to Silicon Valley is complete without a lesson in the history of technology, so we went to the Tech Museum of Innovation. This is a great museum with a lot of hands-on exhibits. It’s great for kids, and kids at heart 🙂

When Louisa and I met in college, we would never have guessed that twelve years later, we would cross the country for each other’s weddings barely 18 months apart.

Lou was married at the Stinson Beach Community Center which one arrives at after driving through twenty miles of incredibly curvy windy terrifying yet stunningly gorgeous roads through the Muir Woods, just north of San Francisco. I was absolutely terrified, but I think Brian thought it was the best part of the entire weekend! Check out my post of photos from our drive.

Here’s a few photos from the wedding. I got a few decent shots, and I can’t wait to see the real photos!

We spent a long weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area to celebrate my dear friend Louisa’s wedding. While we were in town, we got to spend some time with three dear old friends who all live in/near San Jose.

We landed mid-afternoon on Friday, and headed straight to Sean’s house to meet his brand new fiance and their puppy. They had prepared a delicious feast for us because we knew we would be hungry after crossing the country!

Then, we picked up some wine, picked up Becca, and headed over to Jen’s house – she and her husband hosted a lovely shabbat dinner so that we could get everyone together. It was wonderful to go from a lingering heat wave in Boston to a shady comfortable backyard feast, and it’s a rare treat to begin Shabbat with some of my oldest friends.

We hosted a potluck dinner to gather some friends to say goodbye to our dear friend who moved far away. Since Brendan and Courtney had gotten engaged a few days before, it was our first chance to toast to the happy couple, so Brian opened a special bottle for the occasion.

We have adopted Cinco de Mayo as our own personal holiday because it falls between our birthdays (which are two weeks apart), and we met at a Cinco de Mayo party six years ago.

Our sangria came out pretty good this year, so here’s the recipe (thanks Lauren!)

Combine and chill 2 bottles red Spanish Rioja wine, 1 cup brandy, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 2/3 cup orange juice , 1 cup triple sec, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 lemon, sliced, 1 lime, sliced, 1/2 orange, sliced. Serve over ice and enjoy!

Also, here’s some awesome photos from a very memorable Cinco de Mayo in 2011, which was the same day as Merry’s much more memorable surprise party.

And, a blast from the past – Cinco de Mayo 2010 and Cinco de Mayo 2008

I learned a long time ago that when Mel has a good idea, you should just let her run with it. She wanted to host a family-dinner style potluck because friends and comfort-food are exactly what we needed after a crazy week of bombs and lockdowns. So she invited a bunch of people to our house, and everyone brought deliciousness, and it was awesome.

After a long day at work, we headed to our friends’ new house for the first BBQ of the season. Hamburgers, hot dogs, friends we don’t see often enough, and adorable little girls running around chasing bubbles in the backyard. I hope to have many more evenings like this.

It was so good to catch up with these lovely ladies!

These precious munchkins just turned two, and after a long exciting morning playing with all of their cousins, they settled down in Brian’s lap for a story. I love this photo 🙂

Brendan’s sister and her friend were in town during Canadian Thanksgiving, so they went all out 🙂

One of the gazillion reasons that I love Boston is that we have an amazing Museum of Science. I’m not exactly a science-y person, but this museum has been blowing my mind since I was a little kid. They continually put up phenomenal exhibits that are incredibly informative, really fun for little kids and big kids, and displayed beautifully. We got a sneak preview of the new mastodon exhibit, and it did not disappoint. Again, ancient mammoths, not exactly my thing, but it was incredibly humbling to be reminded that this planet has been inhabited for at least 65 million years, and incredibly staggering to be reminded that we know an awful lot about ancient mammoths.

Also, mastodon is fun to say, and some of the early mastodons look like Snuffleupagus.