Stokes Manse

Last weekend I went to Stokes Manse.

(Marilyn Stokes has a little sign of that out front of her home)

We had basil, tomato and mozzarella sandwiches on homemade wheat bread. Then I took a tour of the beautiful old and renovated house. We took a walk around the grounds then picked raspberries and blueberries out on their land!!! Marilyn has this 'system' where she hangs the basket around her neck, puts a glove on one hand to push back the thorny bushes then has the other hand free to pick the little berries.

SO FUN

Then she taught me the proper way to freeze them.

I have been obsessed with fruit parfaits and the berries make them so special cus I actually picked them myself! Straight from nature

~~~Thank you Stokes Manse~~~

A little bit-o-everything

My roommate Melanie is amazing with cooking/baking/crafts, etc and she made this 'flag cake'. The first cut into it was pretty exciting, crossing out fingers hoping it worked!

We had a BBQ on our patio for friends, sort of pot luck style.

Always something going on at the wonderful house of our.

Me, Jenny and Katie

Later that night about 20 ward members all rented canoes and rowed ourselves down the Charles to watch the fireworks. Front-row-seats! So fun to have the Boston Pops playing in the background, see the show reflecting off the water and buildings and have absolutely nobody in front of you and no crowds. Great 4th of July.

Allyson, Katie, Reed & Allison

Me, Miss Mitton (more fun than just Allison) and Melanie

~Welcome to the world Brock~

My friend Sarah who went to Africa same time as me just had her first baby.

Congrats Srizz

An end of an Era

Harry Potter 7 pt. 2

SOOOO crazy it's all over. How many times have I read those books, watched those movies while baking cookies or listened to the books on tape while quilting and sewing??? I remember clearly living in my room for hours at a time sewing-away because I had my Harry Potter for entertainment. And then when the 7th book came out and daddy finally finished listening to it in his car(!), we sat in the car in front of the house going over and over the finish trying (and failing) to figure all the twists and turns out. It was such a part of childhood for my generation :)

Christy and Anthony (my newly married childhood friend)

flew into MA a few days ago to spend a few weeks with Christy's mom,

Marilyn Stokes. Got to spend Saturday afternoon with them.

A little slice of 'home.'

(and we toured a public library which was gorgeous)

Just a smattering little catch up post.

Fame

My first Red Sox game.

Not to fear...

I am forever faithful to my SF GIANTS!

My attempt at a Larynx.

We had to make it in anatomy class and it took forever!

I have new found sympathy for all the members of the family whoever had to mold a tooth out of wax for dental or ortho school.

*Taylor Swift*

Jenny, Danielle, Lauren & I

We were very close.

We got a little crazy.

{Average age of the girls? Between 8 and 17. We even had a little 'first-timer' in front of us who I'd put around age 10}

About an hour in, it started to rain. Then it all unhinged. It was as if me and the other 52,000 "tweens" looked at each other and said, "Well girls? Shall we do this? Should we completely embrace this and just love it?!?! Y.E.S."

Motherese

Motherese

Mothers provide a framework wherein children learn language, practice speech, and experiment with communication. Mothers express a willingness and desire to create an environment uniquely attuned to their child's needs to learn and grow.

The importance of mothers in language development has been the primary focus of my Language Acquisition class. I can remember clearly as a kid sitting on the kitchen counter as mama cooked dinner and talking with her. She definitely raised a kid who loves languages and talking (just ask her how very unable I was to summarize a book in a paragraph. My versions were more like mini novels themselves).

Though I'm no longer at a "church" school, the principles of the gospel and the Family Proclamation have followed me here to my education in Boston. Motherhood and the nurturing instincts are ever present in the materials I'm reading and I just can't help but smiling as I see the truths of the divine role of women in families shining through.

I, just like babies, have always preferred the sound of my mothers voice over any other voice in the world.

Inspiration

My brain is bigger.

I swear it.

If you measured it today compared to what it was two weeks ago...it would HAVE to have increased in size.

All thanks to the AMAZING education of

Mass General Hospital Institute.

Today for anatomy class we met off campus at

Mass General's Center for Laryngeal Surgery

and Voice Rehabilitation.

They have one of the, if not THE, largest

facilities in the world devoted to vocal rehabilitation

and recovery, etc.

Today we used spirometry to trace, calculate, analyze our own

Inspiration & Expiration.

{I love that breathing in is called "Inspiration"}

I figured it was a good sign that I was really excited to go to school today because I love what I'm learning. Very hands-on.

During class my teacher just casually drops,

"Yeah, I used to have Steve Tyler's test, but I think somebody stole that." Well, I wasn't just ganna casually accept that he said that and stay quiet (like everybody else seemed content to do!). So...I did what I always do...I asked a question!

"Wait, so when you say Steve Tyler...you mean the Steve Tyler?! What was he doing here?!" The teacher then had fun telling us funny things Steve does when he 'comes and visits' because apparently he's a huge supporter of their facility. They help him out a lot since, as you can imagine, Steve's vocal chords aren't exactly in the best condition.

Turns out quite a few celebrities go there. They had pictures of Julie Andrews, Cher, lead singer in 'The Who', etc up on the wall.

I love learning from these professionals who work in such renowned facilities.

~That has been truly inspiring~

Nottinghill News

There are a million and one things to do

here in Boston.

I had a fun first week before school started

to play and see some of the sites.

(...and a very full week of reading and studying

once school actually started)

Walden Pond

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful

and expressive feature.

It is Earth's eye;

looking into which the beholder measures

the depth of his own nature."

-Henry David Thoreau

Louisa May Alcott's House

The "Beach"

The "beach" was passable for a beach when I consider I'm no longer in California so I need to lower my expectations. (Please note I have on a California sweatshirt. Just keepin' the dream alive baby.)

It was quite unique, as I guess the beach was directly in line with the landing strip for the airport, so we saw about 100 of these in the 2 hrs we were there.

Then, homemade pizzas on the grill when we got home :)

My first/second time around.

Mama and I missed this exhibit by like 3 days

when we were out here a few months ago.

So I took as many photos as I could so you, mama, could feel like you kinda got to see it!

Me, Alyson (my floor),

and Allison (floor below me).

This boat full of glass was inspired by Chihuly's adventures with a different project. I guess at one time he wanted to see how water would affect the look of the glass if he threw his pieces into a river. After standing on a bridge and throwing his pieces into the river (and appreciating the new perspective), he hired some local young boys, who were hanging around watching him, to dive into the water and retrieve all this glass.

Seeing all his pieces haphazardly piled on the boat gliding across the water inspired this piece. The glass is featured in a wooden boat which is placed upon a shiny black floor to act as 'reflecting water'.

Chihuly Boston

Chihuly Boston

Modeled after Native American woven baskets

(hence the Indian tapestries in this room)

There was an empty room where the art was displayed above you with a clear ceiling and hundreds of glass pieces piled on top of each other.

He had 6 hanging fixtures (the largest number to ever have been on display in one exhibit)

Chihuly Boston

Chihuly Boston

Moss on a log.

I read he was inspired to do this piece after moving into a work space where the ceilings were very high, so he wanted something to fill the space.

I live in an adorable house on Nottinghill Rd.

with great girls, and I'm very thankful.

~~~Kitchen Quote~~~

"If you're not tired, sore, or hungry

at the end of the day,

you're not living hard enough."

Apparently I AM LIVING HARD ENOUGH

cus I am 100% all three of these

after the full week of site seeing

and then this first week of school.