Becky's photoblog

It was a perfect day in Boston. This morning, I met a friend at a bridal shop on Newbury Street and I got to see her wedding gown. Then, we headed over to the courtyard at the Boston Public Library to celebrate saying yes to the dress over some pastries. She had never been inside the BPL so of course I had to bring her up to see the gorgeous Sargent murals and the Abbey murals.

Then we headed over to the Public Gardens to meet Kathy and Randy, and their friends who are in town for their wedding tomorrow. Nothing is more beautiful than Boston’s Public Gardens on a perfectly breezy late-summer afternoon with good friends.

I love wandering around the Back Bay and seeing all of the beautiful architecture, but I usually only get to view my favorite buildings from the street level. This morning, I met a friend at a bridal shop on Newbury Street, and while she was trying on a dress, I glimpsed a view of the First Baptist Church in Boston from the second floor window.

And then I got to see the lovely bride-to-be in her gorgeous gown!

We spent the weekend in NYC visiting friends of ours who moved abroad three years ago … actually, we spent the entire weekend taking pictures of their adorable son, and their friends and family who were also in town to visit!

The weather was gorgeous on my day off, so I took a nice long walk to explore Back Bay. I walked up Arlington Street, down Berkeley Street, up Clarendon, down Dartmouth, up Exeter, down Fairfield, up Gloucester and down Hereford. Then I had a big smoothie and went home. If you ask me, every inch of Back Bay is fascinating, and I snapped a few pictures of some interesting buildings along the way. Shameless self-promotion: for more of my pictures of Back Bay, please visit my project ‘Architectural Landmarks of Boston’s Back Bay‘. Thank you.

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!

You can’t go to a wedding near a gorgeous historic scenic beach without slipping away to see the actual beach! Here’s a few shots before a foggy sunset

We drove from our hotel in Santa Clara to Half Moon Bay for a brief but wonderful visit to this lovely little coastal town. We had an incredible lunch at Fish & Frites, then headed back to the 101. We drove straight through San Francisco and across the foggy Golden Gate Bridge to find clear skies and gorgeous views in Sausalito.

It was great to be back on familiar roads in Marin, where I spent the summer of 2003, and several visits since then! Pretty soon, we found ourselves driving through the gorgeous and terrifying roads in the Muir Woods heading towards the coast, and Stinson Beach. I drove that route with Lou ten years ago, and I had completely forgotten how terrifying those curvy windy roads were, but they are also incredibly gorgeous. All of a sudden, you turn a curve and there’s the most incredible view of the Pacific Ocean at Stinson Beach.

Then, after the wedding, we drove back to Santa Clara by way of a detour to explore San Francisco, and a late-night stop along the Bay for a much needed visit to In and Out Burger!

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.

Wandering the North End in search of  a good meal and a good view. Mission accomplished!!!

Fountain on Mass Ave in the South End. A little bit of peace on a busy street.

An amazing view, an amazing sunset and amazing fireworks from the Charlestown Navy Yard

We spent the day in Deering, New Hampshire to visit the house that my aunt and uncle have right on Deering Lake. It rained for most of the day, so we spent most of the day playing games, but we decided not to let a little drizzle keep us from going out on the boat … even though it was windy and probably in the high 40s. We bundled up, and Captain John (right) gave us a tour of Deering Lake.

We also got to meet our newest cousin, Ted. Between Brian and me, three of our first cousins had babies this year, so we get to hang out with lots of adorable infants. This was Ted’s first time meeting several of his relatives, so we took lots of pictures.

Family and friends, please click here to see photos of Ted. The password is his middle name (all lowercase). 

After a long Spring semester and very long weeks leading up to Commencement, we took a much-needed getaway weekend on Cape Cod. Brian found a place in Falmouth (Sea Crest Beach Hotel at Old Silver Beach) which gave us exactly what we wanted: easy access to a quiet beach where we could sit and read and listen to the ocean. It was incredibly relaxing and refreshing!

Some of the photos below are from two churches that we saw while we were wandering around before an incredible dinner at the Glass Onion in Falmouth. We could hear the organist practicing as we got closer to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, so we wandered around and discovered a beautiful little secret garden next to a chapel behind the church. There was no one else around and it was almost as if it appeared out of nowhere!

After a nice long Sunday morning reading on the beach with my coffee, we took a drive further down the Cape towards Chatham, passing through a memorable stretch of Rt 28 in Yarmouth where I’ve stayed a few times. Of all the little towns with cute little shops and galleries, Chatham is one of my favorites. We hit a few little gems – Yankee Ingenuity, Chatham Art Gallery – gazed longingly at the Impudent Oyster where we had an incredible meal last year, and then turned around and headed back to Boston.

Photos from our visit to Chatham in May 2012

Setting up for Commencement at Agganis Arena.

BU Admissions Reception Center at 121 Baystate Road

Looking down Boylston Street, which is still blocked off because it is still a crime scene, which is still so surreal …

The firehouse on Boylston Street, with Boston Marathon signs crammed with handwritten messages of praise and support.

Went for a walk and learned that there are pretty places right near my house. Thank you, Mr. Olmsted.

I had a cold last week, which kept us from seeing the MFA’s new Samurai exhibit during the Members’ Preview days. We finally got the chance to see it tonight, and it was spectacular! When it comes to art, ancient Japanese armor is far from my usual favorites, but this is an exquisite collection of truly magnificent craftsmanship. Brian loves this kind of stuff and we were both really excited to see this exhibit.

This is a picture of the facade of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Flags are at half-mast all over the city because of the bombing two days ago. Many of us have barely scratched the surface when it comes to processing what has happened. In one of many gestures that makes me love my city even more, Boston museums offered free admission in recognition that museums offer a place for peaceful reflection.

You got that right.

After we saw the exhibit, we decided to walk up Huntington Ave towards Copley Square, which is still blocked off as a crime scene. We got up to the Christian Science Plaza during that golden hour of dusk when the light is perfect. Museums are great, but the Christian Science Plaza is often where I go when I’m in need of peaceful reflection. It’s absolutely beautiful. I can stand in one place and see four of my favorite buildings all at once, without moving my neck, and their reflections in the pool are simply stunning.

We continued up Huntington Ave until we arrived at the edge of Copley Square. News trucks were absolutely everywhere. Bright lights, cameras, cables, equipment and a lot of people doing nothing. At that point, there was so little to report, and everything that could be said had already been said over and over. I snapped a few pictures and immediately felt bad for acting like a tourist, and yet it’s so important to capture this moment. I’ve taken hundreds of photos of Copley Square. This is my city.

What a great view …

Yet another gorgeous view of Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower in Copley Square. On my way to meet my sweetie for dinner just a few hours after a new pope was elected.

It’s snowing sideways and I have a lonely blank canvas in my studio. Remind me again why I’m leaving my apartment today?

[Not a valid template]A year after our wedding, we can look back and honestly say that we would not have done anything differently. Our wedding weekend was truly joyful, and we returned to the Hyatt Harborside to celebrate our first anniversary and enjoy those wonderful memories. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and breakfast at the Harborside Grill, and we still can’t get enough of that spectacular view! Brian’s family surprised us with a delicious antipasto platter and a bottle of champagne, which was a really sweet treat.

Brian planned a wonderful surprise of his own. He ordered a mini-version of our wedding cake from the bakery where our wedding cake was from, and we picked it up on our way to my parents’ house. He tried to get the bakery to decorate our cake with the same leafy design as our wedding cake, but it didn’t work out quite as he had planned. Instead, it was even better. They frosted the cake with the leaves of two full trees meeting in the middle. We had lunch with my family, and shared the cake with them.

Click here to see Maureen’s wonderful video slide-show from our wedding.

I had jury duty and it was pretty boring, but at least they gave us long breaks. I took a walk around the neighborhood and snapped this shot at the corner of Beacon Street and Bowdoin Streets, opposite the State House. You can see the golden dome reflected in the window of this gorgeous example of Boston architecture.

The snow is getting pretty gross, but my city is still beautiful.

On the day after our awesome new couch is delivered, the Blizzard of 2013 arrived and we’re ‘stuck’ at home for a three day weekend. No complaints here! We are perfectly happy to hang out at home. This is a photo of Brian on the new couch reading a book I recommended, and I’m making bagel pizzas.