The location was Nicholas Restaurant in Natick, MA. I spent most of my teenage years and my early twenties working at this former fried seafood, burger and ice cream restaurant most notably known for its Saturday night, old fashioned car shows with oldies music – Nick’s Ice Cream. Today, Nicholas Restaurant offers Greek-American dining in Boston’s Metrowest. It’s delicious and I’m not just saying that. I’ve compared their chicken kebabs to other popular Greek restaurants in the area and I genuinely think they have the best. Also, their roasted potatoes are incredible. And that’s coming from someone who knows a thing or two about a potato. I couldn’t have thought of a better place for such an important celebration.

One of the first things I did after being surprised was stroll over to the beautiful cake, which was from The Crusty Crumpet Bakery in Winthrop, MA. My family owns this bakery and the beautiful cake was made by Grant, my second cousin, who woke up very early that morning to have it ready for the shower. I’m not just saying this because it’s family, but it really was amazing. The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

Jenny made sure of it because we wanted that flavor for our wedding cake, but in an effort to go with the most simple and frugal offering, we ended up choosing a bakery that didn’t offer it. I was so happy it was included. I took leftovers home and Mike and I continue to talk about how much we need that cake back in our lives.

Bostonians, you need a cake? Call up Crusty Crumpet, seriously. Especially if you like red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Also, how beautiful is the design?

My beautiful bridesmaids made the party favors from scratch and they embodied some of my favorite things in the world – wine and chocolate. They were thoughtful enough to add a label that brought tears to my eyes. And I loved the little specks of Philly sprinkled throughout.

My bridesmaids also made delicious desserts that matched my wedding colors.

And they carried out a tradition of presenting a bottle of wine for every momentous occasions in life with a poem. There was no pulling from the internet though, they each wrote a poem that was sincere, thoughtful, witty and beautiful.

Also, instead of getting guests to offer us a piece of advice about marriage in a book, they asked guests to offer a piece of advice about where Mike and I should travel together as husband and wife.

One of the biggest surprises when I opened the book was that there weren’t just tips from my guests. There were tips from some of my favorite bloggers in the world. Lisa scoured my blog and the internet for my blog loves and contact information and asked if they’d offer a piece of advice to make my shower even more special.

I am so overwhelmed at how many of you contributed and like I said above, words can’t really describe how grateful I am. Thank you so much.

When looking back on my shower all I can think about is how blessed I am to have people in my life that love me enough to go through so much to make a day special.

If you were to ask me what my ultimate fear is I’d probably settle on the fear of failure. Some may take that as a good quality because it means that I am determined, that I work hard, and that I will do anything to achieve my goals. But, the truth is, it’s not always a positive thing. In fact, more often than not, it’s not. It forces me to create guidelines that I must fulfill, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about being happy, it’s that the best things occur outside of your so-called boundaries.

When I look at my travel goals, for the average full time working person, I feel like I am pretty fulfilled. I’m going to Tunisia and Spain for my honeymoon for crying out loud. Scratch that, “we” are going to Tunisia and Spain for “our” honeymoon. Yes, I’m still working on that.

But yesterday, someone at work was adjusting their personnel files and asked me if I was changing my last name in September, and if so, what it will be. Since our wedding is so soon, they thought it more efficient to file me under my future name now rather than have to change it later. Right now I am filed under my future name.

And do you want to know what my first thought was? I will not have traveled to Nova Scotia with my maiden name. I know that sounds weird, but listen. My ancestors flocked from Nova Scotia to Boston. Remember the guy at the Nova Scotia booth at the Boston Globe Travel Show? When he heard my name he told me that he knew so many Forshner’s. That name just isn’t as common around these parts. But there, it’s legendary. I in no way shape or form felt fear about changing my name, in fact the notion kind of excites me. But I did suddenly feel like a window of experience closed. A goal was tangibly unmet.

But back to biological clocks. I really don’t think about that too often. I have my own schedule. What I do think about are experiences, mostly those related to travel. I’m in no rush to fulfill the next stage of inevitable questions that come from those who used to ask “so when will you get married?” But I am in a rush to experience. I want to make sure that no matter what direction our life together takes us, that we don’t lose sight of what’s out there.

Even when all you can think about is the fact that there just aren’t enough hours in the day, summer does you a favor and extends daytime.

And while those hours aren’t lengthened, they are definitely a little brighter.

what’s yours?

You see, when I ran in the suburbs, there was a quietness that was peaceful, but over time turned worrisome. When  in the dark, I’d start to hear my own footsteps, every single one, one at a time, even over the music in my iPod. I’d  hear everything actually, even though everything was just a symphony of crickets or a bubbling brook.

And I didn’t see much. Sometimes I’d see shadows, and more often than not they were from a tree branch swaying in the breeze or a rare car driving by no faster than 35 MPH.

It was scary out there.

I live in the city now and I find myself opting to run at night more and more. One would think that in the city, running at night is more dangerous, but I don’t think it is.

When I run at night, it isn’t dark out. Street lights pour over my path, and that path is almost always filled with pedestrians walking from the train or bus, no matter what time of night I am running. The sound of cars zooming by and the chatter from within the restaurants I pass sit behind the music on my iPod. When I run at night in the city, I’m not alone.

And it’s not scary at all.

The start of summer also means the end of school, which even after college continues to be one of my favorite transitions. You see, when summer starts it means that most college kids pack their bags and exit the city. More importantly, it also means they exit the bars. And for a twenty something Boston-native, that’s a great thing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against college kids. In fact I once was one and I’m sure there’s a group of young professionals down in Philly that rolled their eyes as soon as my friends and I infiltrated their bars back in the day. And if you’re a college kid reading this post, please don’t be mad at me. Just take solace in the fact that in a few years, you will feel the exact same way – it’s the circle of life, as it were.

That being said, I can’t help but walk into some of my favorite establishments without a sense of relief when there’s room to move and conversations to be had with people closer to my own age. In fact, I asked my Boston friends on Twitter which bars were their favorite sans college kids and the top answer was “all of them.” Thanks, ohhayitskk, beccajane, NPW and crankyface.

So to celebrate this new season, I thought I’d list a few of my favorite bars in and around Boston in the summer. I’m sure I’ll add to this list as the season goes on and my memory is refreshed…

Sligo Pub. This place the best dive bar except during the school year when it is wall to wall with Tuft students. But when you walk in during the summer, all you see is a handful of locals and plenty of empty bar stools. The best part is – you get full control of the jukebox.

[Photo Credit]

An Tua Nua. This is such a cool Irish pub in a great location, right near Fenway, but when I go during the school year I feel like I am eighty. I swear, BU kids live there.

[Photo Credit]

The Thirsty Scholar. For the most part this place is always low key and there tends to be an even ratio of locals, twenty somethings and students. But it made the list for one good reason – trivia. In the summertime, when the smart Tufts and MIT kids go away, you finally have a fair shot at a win.

[Photo Credit]

I just realized that all of the bars listed are actually Irish pubs – that really was a total accident. I guess it says a thing or two about me.

So does the nightlife in your city dramatically change when the college kids go away?

And Bostonians, what am I missing?

Once my guests arrived – my sister Jenny, Lisa, Bryce and her mom Wendy, who was in town from Jersey,  Chelsee, Pam 1 and Pam 2 – we chatted for a bit and then got right into the games. I never knew how addicting Wii Bowling and Wii Tennis could be, and how hilarious they make people look when you really get into them. I am new to taking videos, but I was so excited about the hilarious footage that I tried to teach myself how to edit using iMovie the very next day. Here is my first attempt at video editing…

I was so busy playing with my new Flip Video Camcorder that I forget to take a picture of the whole group before everyone left. But I was able to get a shot with  some of my favorite, fellow bloggers, Pam of Cave Cibum and Chelsee of We Are Not Martha.

In addition to that fun container of snacks, we also had some amazing pizza and sodas from Stone Hearth Pizza in Cambridge, also courtesy of Brand About Town. Though the tastiest part of the night was digging into the potato chip cookies that Pam of Cave Cibum thoughtfully made for us. Yes, you read that right – potato chip cookies. I made a few sad attempts at photographing them, but then realized that I was among amazing food bloggers, who are also very talented food photographers. Pam, who was thoughtful enough to bake and bring the cookies, also photographed them for me…

Delicious food, fun games, and best of all, good friends. What more could a girl ask for?

_____________________________________

Items listed above were sent to me complimentary. I wasn’t compensated in any other way and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

]]> http://transienttravels.com/2010/06/13/a-fun-reason-to-stay-in/feed/ 7 http://transienttravels.com/2010/06/03/i-could-never-be-landlocked/ http://transienttravels.com/2010/06/03/i-could-never-be-landlocked/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:00:52 +0000 susan http://transienttravels.com/?p=5933 When I got out of my car after work yesterday, I was greeted with such a strong, salty scent of the ocean that I could almost hear squawking seagulls and rolling waves behind my parking spot. I don’t even live in walking distance to Boston Harbor but on rainy days, for some reason, the air carries that salty air far enough to where I am. On these days especially, I truly love where I live.

A speeding biker and a screaming ambulance jolted me back into reality, but as I walked to the grocery store to purchase dinner for the night, I lifted my head and took another deep breath to see if I could take in another wave of that scent – and I could.

The Atlantic Ocean practically encroaches upon the city of Boston, which is five times bigger than it used to be since we pushed back the boundaries of the ocean to make new land. Today, tunnels run underneath the water for transportation and a river that splits my current city from downtown, and extends way into the suburbs, pours quickly back into that dirty water, bringing it all together.

The scent of the ocean reminds me of nothing really. There’s a nostalgia tied to it that I can’t really pinpoint and perhaps that void is what draws me to it even more. When I was younger my family and I headed up to Maine for vacations, but mostly for winter activities like snowmobiling, ice fishing, skating, sledding and all the other wintry things us New Englanders like to do. In fact, much of what I associate with the ocean is intangible to me. Like the fact that I have old relatives from Nova Scotia who built ships and lobster fished for their livelihood. This close, but indirect connection to the ocean kind of resembles the connection you feel to your heritage or your family history. My mom, for example, has instilled a great sense of pride in me for my Irish background, but again, she, not me, is the link.

Maybe my connection to the ocean is that for me, it has always been there, no matter what. As the harbor hugs the jagged edges that make up the coast of Boston and all of Massachusetts and the water of the Charles River cuts through the city to rush back home, the ocean is in my heritage, it’s in my intangible memories and on some days, it’s in the air when it rains.

Isn’t that amazing?

I’m participating in Classy in Philadelphia’s Where In The World Wednesday! The idea of WITWW is to post a picture of you someplace in the world…it doesn’t have to be somewhere foreign or tropical. Just a picture of you somewhere you consider traveling.

When you’re in travel limbo you have to step outside of the box a bit and start to look at your everyday surroundings in a different way. You can be adventurous anywhere, you can admire anything from a new perspective and best of all, you can appreciate sporadic events or sites as the things that make your surroundings what they are. That’s me on the Fourth of July last year with my friend Carlton. We were minutes from where I live. This photo reminds me to always have my camera on me and to always be open to whatever memorable event that may come my way.

A man named Ernie Sarro has been tracking the events and last night, Mike, Lisa and I paid a visit to their giant nest which overlooks a busy, city road.

I did a horrible job of taking photos because I was adamant about zooming in so close with my unsteady hand. Most of my pictures came out blurry, but Ernie was nice enough to let me take a photo through his lens, which worked out great in Costa Rica, but not quite as well here. Despite the fact that the photo is dark, I’m still glad I caught a face.

Ever since I was younger I’ve been fascinated with seeing hawks. On long, family car rides when I was younger, my dad would always say, “look at the hawk!” if he saw one flying above the highway. I’d instantly find myself stretching my seat belt, contorting my body and straining my neck to be able to catch just a glance of it through the windows.

On Sunday, as we stood on the sidewalk of the busy road, bikers, walkers and even people in cars stopped to ask what we were looking at. We pointed up, told them it was a family of hawks and then we all stared up at the sky like it was the Fourth of July and we were waiting for a fireworks show to begin.

Ernie is tracking the progress of the little hawk family. You can find incredible photos at his blog on the Cambridge Community Television site.

He’s also posting YouTube video updates like this one…

The chicks are expected to fly at the end of May.