April 18th (Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday) is a state holiday up here in Boston. Kinda like Pioneer day in Utah. The traditional thing to do is to go see the reenactment battle of Lexington and Concord and then hit the Boston Marathon. McKay and I didn't go to the reenactment, instead we watched the marathon on TV, and then when the runners were 30 mins away from the finish line we got on the T and met them at the finish line. So here we are!
Just in case you don't recognize this place, this is where the public library is. It was pretty packed and very slow moving. The people on the opposite sidewalk as us were sitting in bleachers, but I am pretty sure they had to pay big bucks for those seats!
Yeah, and those flags are pretty cool, until the wind blows and blocks your view of all the runners. Poor planning.
These people definitely had the best spot in the lot!
So this guy crossing the finish line was definitely not the first person to cross, but look at his time! Amazing!
Next year we will try a different spot, like Heartbreak Hill.
It was pretty fun and enjoyable. I wished I could have stayed longer. But alas, I had to cut it off early to head to the airport and go to work.
My friend Emily has given us rides to church, and we have had each other over for Sunday dinner. After a while we both discovered that we loved printmaking, and art in general. So for the past couple days we have gotten together to make stuff and have had SO MUCH FUN!
I worked on linoleum blocks while Emily worked on a collage. It has been way too long since I have done something like this. I grabbed a leftover block I had from college and started carving.
Since I don't own printing ink I used acrylic paint. It doesn't really work that great, but it was the only thing I had. It was more like a mix between mono printing and linoleum. The main problem I had was the paint drying too quickly and ripping the paper.
Here are Emily's projects
My practice prints
More experimenting
So here are two prints I liked in my $2 flea market frames
And I hung them up in the kitchen. Did you notice my $3 ikea shelves too? It looks nicer than a blank wall. I love them.
Soaking my painting tray.
It looked cooler before I accidentally sloshed the water and messed it up but i think it still looks cool.
I recommend if you haven't done something that your really enjoy (playing an instrument, taking pictures, swimming, hiking, or whatever floats your boat) that you make time for it and do it. Stop procrastinating! You'll thank yourself for it later.
Almost everything in this city is a rip-off but I found one thing that isn't. Haymarket, the open-air market that has been held every Fri and Sat (even in the winter) since the 1830's. It is held in the North End which is in the Italian district (Sue is very proud of this and religiously goes every weekend.) They sell all the produce you could ever want at half the prices of the grocery store. McKay and I try to go every week to get our veggie on.
Asparagus for $1
Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads! These heads remind me of when I was a teenager visiting my dad's house, and I opened up the freezer and found a whole bag of these. It scared the pants off of me and my sister! (It belonged to one of his tenants.)
This man saw me with my camera and he really wanted me to take pictures of his fish. So he brought out these two beauties
He told me to stay because he was bringing out a swordfish head! COOL! I should have asked him how much it would have cost. I think McKay would have a heart attack if I brought this home! haha!
There are some butcher shops too, ones that will even kill your goat and give you it's head! Hoo HOO!
Bargaining...
Checking out the seafood...
Some of these vendors are exactly like characters from a book, they have huge personalities and italian accents. This little old man was handing out shopping bags so you could buy his food.
Life just flies by sometimes doesn't it? I went back Maryland and worked a million 12 hr shifts at the hospital and made a little bit of cash to come home with. And now I have a couple weeks before I have to go back down and do it again. It's a really nice job I just wish I could do it in Boston.
I got a call from a Boston temp service about a job while I was at work and I asked the temp lady if I could quickly research the company and call her back. You know, just basic stuff like what the company does, where it is located, ect. Turns out it would be perfect and I called her back five mins later and she said she gave it to someone else. AHHHHHRRRRGGGG! *ripping out hair* Maybe that was their cruel April Fool's day joke. Not very funny.
Here is my typical work day in Maryland:
4:30-Wake up and get ready
5:30-Drive to work
6:00-Park in offsite parking and get picked up by shuttle bus
6:30-Arrive at hospital
7:00-Start work
12:00-Lunch (text McKay)
12:30-Go back to work
7:00-Off work (call shuttle)
7:30-Arrive at parking lot and drive home (call McKay)
8:00-Arrive home, take shower, get ready for bed
9:00-Misc. (laundry, call McKay again, talk to family, ect) and go to bed
I know a lot of you are like "oh, that's not that bad", and it isn't but it is really hard to wake up the third and fourth 12 hr shift in a row.
So here is my desk at the hospital. Pretty nice aint it? I like it.
(sorry about all the low quality pictures, they are from my phone)
And here is the break room and some of the hallway. (We have 30 patients on our unit)
If I had a moment to spare after work I would play this game. It is so fun!!! I love it! Zelda had always been my favorite game to play but this one might just replace it. Sorry I love dorky things! It is just so AWESOME!!
I had a day off once and I went to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store down in historical Frederick and bought these interior shutters for $10 a pair!!!! AMAZING! I always loved old homes that had these in them and I told myself I would have them one day! YESS!
This is pretty random but here is a pretty nice slideshow of around town. Whoever took these photo's I like. Hopefully it will round up a little inspiration for me to go outside and take pictures. It looks so warm and toasty that's what I could really use right now! It is kinda sad that the day before I left Maryland it was 80°
Well that day has come and I buffed, cleaned, repaired, and primed them. All I have left is to paint them!!
Now the comes the most difficult part: Choosing the paint color. UGGHHH! I have no idea! I have two ideas- Keep them white (I won't look back at white and be like "Eww why did I paint it THAT color.") or I could paint them light blue (to go with my curtains in the kitchen, but it may or may not look awesome). But I just have NO idea. Please help me! What do you think?
Here is another option. Crackle. I wouldn't do it all over, maybe just on the edges. As you can see I only got it to work once, my other three attempts didn't work. Is it just me or is crackle paint pretty fickle?
(I also layered the crackle serum on really thick on one side and really thin on the other to see what kind of difference it would make. Well, applying the serum on thin will give you thin cracks and applying it thick will give you the thick cracks.) Pretty neato!
I took a break on the animals to finish the quiet book. I still have a couple more pages I want to make but I will just add those in later. I just wanted to have the bulk of it finished. So here it is! I made the "W" out of old tee shirts. And I bound it all with metal rings and sewn button holes (very adventuresome I know).
There are more pages you haven't seen since last time so don't be confused. This one is new...
You saw that and that.
You saw both of these but the camping one is different. I added little critters hanging outside the and I love it a lot more. I'm pretty sure my inspiration came from the movie Furry Vengeance that I had watched an hour before.
You saw both of these as well
You saw the flowers but the clock is new
And these are new
And the itsy bitsy spider is new. (He slides up and down on a little thread)
And that is the end! With a big old pocket on the back! I actually found making a pocket quite difficult.
We have been enjoying our spring break out here in the cold. I have been working making more little friends out of gloves and socks. I am overjoyed that there is a sequel called to the Sock and Glove book called Happy Gloves. I think I may have a bit of an obsession. My favorite animal I have made is the zebra. I could not find any black and white socks to cut up so I settled for black and grey.
I don't know if being cooped up all winter is the reason for me wanting decorate our new apt but I just love this and I want to do this in my bedroom... maybe when I am rich.
I also read this book Firelight recently (like three months ago) and it was pretty good, or at least I thought so. It's kind of a Twilight-eske book except with dragons and stuff. Anyway, you might want to give it a try because it is a fun read.
So lately I have taken on several projects at once. This is very unlike me but I am just so excited for them that I just couldn't wait. Yes, I still have my quiet book to do and sewing machine cover to finish but I just couldn't wait any longer to make these little guys!!! I love them. The elephant is made out of two socks and the bunny is made of two gloves!! I rented this book out from the library and have been waiting and waiting to start them. But I kept telling myself "NO Jessica! Not until you are done with your other projects." And my subconscious had been whining ever since so I decided just to do it.
I am planning on making a whole family but these are just my first two. So I will post more pictures later. I put beans in their bums so it makes it easy for them to sit. They are just so soft, squishy, and fun!
McKay came home after I made the rabbit and he was secretly in love with it. He acted like it was super dorky but then begged me to make him one. hehe. So I made him the elephant and now he cuddles with it while he watches TV. haha :)
I have also been scouring Boston for good thrift stores. I am searching them for some projects I have in mind but I can't tell you what they are yet. Boston deserves a kick in the butt for trying to sell junk for super expensive prices. They just slap the word "vintage" or "shabby chic" on it and all the sudden these secondhand jeans are $40?! Unfortunately I didn't find anything I wanted. I guess I will have to make rounds again. The secondhand store that I find the best is the Goodwill in Davis Square. Granted, it is no D.I. but it's a pretty good option for out here.
Look at this little cookie jar! I LOVE IT. Too bad you are WAY too ridiculously expensive. Sorry Anthropology, I am banning myself from your store. It's just too sad.
