Loving Boston!

It's been a while since I have posted so this will likely be a longer post. A couple weekends ago, we went to a party (more of a gathering) in Newton with some of Brian's colleagues from the doctoral program. It didn't start until 8pm, so we were going to try to get there a little after that, but by the time we wrote down all the directions and figured out our route(s) to and from the house, it was almost 9 when we were left our place. Thus, we missed our 2nd bus and the next one wasn't for an hour, so we decided to just walk (about 40 minutes through quiet, dark residential areas). We enjoyed our walk - it was a chilly fall night, but we got to see some new places and the smells were lovely. We stayed for about 1.5 hours, but we never moved from the house foyer! We didn't even make it out onto the porch where another group of people were. I met a lot more of Brian's classmates and their significant others, which was great. There were a couple girls there who are getting their Master's in nursing (to be Nurse Practitioners), so I really enjoyed talking with them. Then a lovely couple, Ben & Tara, drove us home which was so nice! I wish I could take more pictures for you, but it's just not right yet...once I get to know people a little better. :)

That Sunday, we went to 8pm mass at St. Clement's, which is a little further into town, but it is very easily accessible. I love that they have a 8pm mass - that would be great for nurses who work days from 7a-7p. Right after mass they have adoration, which is great too! The priest, Fr. Peter, gave the best homily that I have heard in a while! This is a little excerpt from it:

"When I anoint someone in the hospital I also bring a bottle of oil so everyone can see it. I tell them that back in the time of Christ, the most important item in your house was not the cat, nor your wallet. It was olive oil. Not only was it food, it was also your health care system. You could put it on your body and you could put it in your body. There is something about olive oil. Olive trees are very durable. You can't seem to kill them. A bottle of olive oil spells longevity. When the farmers harvest olives, they never pick all the olives from the tree. They always leave the olives on the lowest branches. Why? Then someone could go by and pick them. That is exactly why. All the widows and the poor in the village knew that those olives were left for them. It was the farmers' way of telling God, that they were grateful for providing the most important thing in their home. It was their way of telling God that their thanks were not just empty words. The leper who went back to thank our Lord let Jesus know that his thanks was not just empty words. We too have to remember to thank our Lord not just with lips but with deeds as well."

We decided to go back there this past weekend on Sunday, but at the 11am mass instead since that is when Jen and her fiance go. Fr. Peter gave another great homily, which I felt was directed to me right now. He talked about "the waiting room", which is a period of time while you are waiting for something great to come along and during this time it's what you do that builds character! This was so powerful to me since I am currently in a "waiting room" for a wonderful job. After mass, Jen usually goes out for lunch with a small group, but she had marriage prep instead, so Brian and I decided to hit up Newbury street for some winter gear. We stopped first at Patagonia and bought Brian a nice jacket and some pants, then we ate lunch at Sonsie (so good!!!), and over to The North Face we went. There we got some snow sneakers for Brian and I got a jacket. Then we just walked down Newbury street, went Olive Oil tasting, sampled some gelato (I tried sweet potato, which was actually pretty good) and eventually headed home.

The day before, Saturday, we went to lunch at Aquitaine in the South End and met Angel & Dan there. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table, but it was worth it! They have $10 brunch all day on Saturday and you get a good amount of food. After our lunch, we walked around a bit (it was pretty chilly!) and then went to see The Town, which we really liked. It was fun to watch it and recognize certain places/things since it was about Boston/Charlestown. Definitely a movie to see if you haven't done so yet. Then we headed home and while we were on the subway, Brian got a message about some classmates meeting at a restaurant really close to our apartment called "Joshua Tree", so we stopped by there on our way home. We had dinner there, which was also very good, and had a wonderful time hanging out and getting to know people. There was about 8 of us total there, but we primarily talked to one couple, Conor and Kate, who I just met at the party the previous weekend. Kate is one of the nursing girls in the master's program at Mass Gen. She and Conor are getting married in December and so we have a lot of things in common that we can talk about. They're really nice.

We are really enjoying Boston! We are getting to know so many wonderful people from all over the country! We have friends from Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Indiana, and even Canada! Some people don't even have cell phones, which is a huge change from OC where 99.9% of the population has a cell phone, with a large percentage of people having iPhones! Everywhere we have eaten has been fantastic! There are so many places to eat around here and very few of them are big name restaurants, which makes it even more fun/better!

Lastly, the trees are beginning to change color and it's absolutely beautiful!! I love the weather here right now, especially now that we are prepared for the cold. :)