visiting Remily in Knox Vegas

In April, Ian's brother, Ren, and Ren's fiancée, Emily, moved to Knoxville (affectionately referred to as Knox Vegas by our dear friend Grant, who grew up there), for an amazing job opportunity. And in November, we visited them!

We caught an early morning flight to Nashville where we spent the day working in coffee shops and hanging out with our friend Drew, who left Boston to grow his second startup company. No big deal. The three of us enjoyed lunch at the new (super hipster) BarTaco before we got a tour of his company's space in Weld.



We arrived in Knoxville after dark, with just enough time for hugs and an introduction to Charlie and Violet, Ren and Emily's adorable dogs, before we crashed on the air mattress.

The next day, Ren and Emily had their usual work days, so we took off for a fun date downtown. We stopped for beverages at Old City Java, because Ian. We then headed to the Museum of East Tennessee History. It was fascinating to learn about the history of a new-to-us part of the country, with all it's charms and challenges. From the first Native American inhabitants, to slavery and the Civil War, to the present day, the museum covers it all with an impressive depth and complexity. Fun fact: Mountain Dew originated in Tennessee. "It'll tickle yore innards!"

Our brains full of history, we wandered around downtown for a bit, flipping through letterpress creations at Pioneer House and taking in the view from the Sunsphere, before meeting up with Ren and Emily for dinner at The Stock and Barrel. It's one of their favorites, and we totally understand why! (Their recommendation: get the duck confit fries with your burger.) After dinner, we headed back to their apartment for some Cards Against Humanity. What happens in Knox Vegas stays in Knox Vegas.



Saturday, we got a tour of Ren's office, then headed to Magpies for a tour of Emily's (which came with sample cupcakes — sorry, Ren, Emily's office takes the cake). Grabbing Chick-fil-a for lunch, we headed out to Gatlinburg and took our third tour of the day at Sugarlands Distilling Co. We learned about the process (similar to other grain spirits, minus the aging) and the history.

Turning grain into moonshine made the farmer's harvest an easy-to-transport product that would make them more money. And moonshine itself doesn't make people blind or cause death. Methanol, a byproduct of the process, is distilled out in the heads and the tails of a batch. As long as you only drink the hearts, you don't have to worry... unless you drink too much. (We were warned about an illegal moonshiner in the area who was not so scrupulous and people wound up in the hospital. The lesson? Make sure you can trust your source.) When Ian asked our tour guide how long he'd been moonshining, he answered "over 30 years... legally, 8.5 months."



After watching the tour, we headed to the sample table, where we got to try all their flavors, while Tadpole told us about hillbilly dentistry: if you drink cinnamon moonshine and smoke a pack of menthols, and you'll never have to brush your teeth. Em and I's favorite was their Appalachian Apple Pie. After a swig, every breath in tastes like caramel, and every breath out tastes like apple.

On Sunday, we went to church and met some of the wonderful people in Ren and Emily's community. And there was no other choice for Sunday dinner but Chandler's. Because what's Sunday in the South without fried chicken, cornbread, and mac and cheese?



We walked it off at a cool new park we discovered: High Ground Park, which was the site of a Civil War fort and is part of the future Battlefield Loop. I felt like I was in District 12. And then went to see Spectre (Daniel Craig, how I'll miss you), because James Bond is really part of the family.



Remily, thanks for hosting us. We had so much fun, and can't wait to see you four again!



See the rest of our trip photos on Flickr.

cranberries on the Cape

In October, my parents headed to New England for a visit. Since we'd already shown them around Boston (twice, in four parts), we thought the new family outpost on the Cape would be perfect for a long weekend visit. And while they arrived a bit early to enjoy peak fall foliage, the cranberry harvest was in full force.

Saturday morning, we headed to the 12th Annual Cranberry Harvest Celebration at the A.D. Makepeace Company, a founding member of the Ocean Spray grower-owned cooperative (Ocean Spray commercials are, coincidentally, one of my favorite ad campaigns).



For a small entry fee, visitors could watch the cranberry harvest, shop at a giant cranberry-focused outdoor market (with lots of free samples), and enjoy good food and music. The weather was beautiful, so we slowly meandered our way to the main events: a bridge overlooking the cranberry harvest and tour around the bogs. We hopped on a flatbed trailer with hay bale seating and learned all about cranberry farming.

For most of the year bogs are dry — irregularly shaped depressions in the ground covered in bramble, which look nothing like a quaint New England postcard. In the fall, farmers flood bogs for harvesting, and suddenly they are transformed into those iconic shimmering, ruby red ponds.

Coming from a rural Kansas farming background, we were struck at the similarities between cranberry and wheat harvesting (substituting water for air in the reaping, threshing, and winnowing process). Fun fact: unlike wheat, cranberry vines can live for 100+ years, although the extension agency recommends farmers replace their plants every 15 to 20 years to optimize yields.





We also learned about the sustainability of Massachusetts cranberry farming. "There are approximately 14,000 acres of cranberry bogs in Massachusetts with cranberry growers maintaining another 60,000 acres of open space serving to protect and recharge watersheds (Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association)." The undeveloped land surrounding the bogs is integral to the year-round process of cranberry farming, ensuring it's protection for generations to come.



We left with a much greater appreciation for the humble cranberry (and a craving for more cranberry almond chocolate bark).

The rest of our time on the Cape we enjoyed relaxing at home, strolling on the beach, and eating lots of good food. We had so much fun introducing my parents to a place we've come to love, and we're so grateful to Ian's family for hosting us!



You can see all our photos from the weekend on Flickr.

thankful list | November 2015

01. a fun afternoon date with Ian and Shake Shack, driving through the 'burbs.
02. starting Sherlock from the beginning, with Ian.
03. Ian enjoying Sherlock (almost) as much as I do.
04. a Royals win (we're so happy for them, and for Grandma Judy, who popped champagne).
05. finalizing our flights home for Christmas.
06. winning (!!!!) the preorder drawing for a limited-edition Young House Love shiny rhino.
07. after a snafu with my preorder, finally getting my copy of Lobster is the Best Medicine.
08. a REUNION baptism celebration.
09. Super Cluckin' Sunday, which never disappoints.
10. drawing unicorns on the giant chalkboard wall at the offices with O.
11. Skyping with the Vargas family.
12. a long weekend in Tennessee.
13. a coffee shop with coconut hot chocolate and good eats to get some work done.
14. lunch with our good friend Drew, who moved to Nashville to start a cool tech company.
15. catching up with Remily.
16. also meeting our furry nephew and niece, Charlie and Violet.

17. a date at the East Tennessee History Museum, followed by a wander of downtown.

18. a fancy double date at Stock & Barrel.

19. meeting Ren's coworkers.

20. amazing treats at Magpies, courtesy of Emily.
21. Chick-fil-a (I'm realizing comfort food features strongly in my thankful lists...)
22. learning all about moonshining (fascinating, even if it isn't my new beverage of choice).
23. a crazy night of Cards Against Humanity (I can't say the game creators didn't warn us...).
24. lunch at Chandlers, because we were told you can't not go.
25. finding a cool new park, which felt like District 12.
26. watching Spectre with Remily.
27. the annual Sasaki Thanksgiving potluck (lots of fun while supporting a local food bank!).
28. a roaring fire at community group (and great people to share it with).
29. a visit from the Nichols family (which included bubbles and pajamas).
30. time with the Aguilars, who are now serving full time in the DR (so time together is extra special).
31. finding a bunny in the front yard.
32. hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner in our new digs.
33. seeing a large rafter of turkeys at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
34. the entire rafter of turkeys congregating around our car with the "turkey assemble" call Ian found online.
35. shopping for our first ever real Christmas tree (thanks, Russo's!).

Great Scott, it's MUTEMATH!

We've been MUTEMATH fans for a long, long time. The summer after my sophomore year of high school, I went to church camp in Nebraska, where I heard "One Time" by Earthsuit. I loved it. I bought a CD so I could listen to it over and over. But this was before the internet was really a thing you could use to find the answers to life, the universe, and everything, and they eventually fell off my radar. Until a few years later, when Ian shared a band called MUTEMATH, a new project from a couple former Earthsuit members. I was hooked.

When we lived in Philadelphia, MUTEMATH was my soundtrack as I walked to work at Reading Terminal Market. And after we caught them opening for 30 Seconds to Mars in Boston, I couldn't get enough. We saw them open for Matt & Kim, and headline on their Odd Soul tour. They were meant to make music, and their passion is palpable.

When we heard they were coming back to Boston this September, we bought tickets the moment they went on sale. The show sold out in hours. They added a second night. It sold out the same day. We soon learned the venue, Great Scott, is tiny. Surprising, knowing they can fill the House of Blues. But also amazing, knowing we'd be up close and personal with the band and music we love so much.

We grabbed dinner at our beloved Roxy's, then jumped in line at the venue. While waiting, we saw Paul walk out the front doors on his way somewhere before the show, saying hi on his way. The doors finally opened, and we hustled in. Quiet Entertainer kicked things off fantastically, and then it was on to the main event. We were front and center, so close I couldn't fit the whole band in one shot (sorry I only got part of your guitar, Todd!). This was a tour to say thanks to all their longtime fans, before the new album came out. They played their big hits, crowdsourced, which resulted in "Peculiar People, and shared music from their (at the time) upcoming album, Vitals.

Vitals, like all of their previous albums, feels like it was written specifically for me, right now. Stacia Brown puts it best in her Washington Post article: "Sometimes it isn’t the music a band produces that most endears us to it. It’s how precisely its albums can be synced to our lives; it’s the notion that the band is evolving in tandem with us." The song "Light Up" especially hits me. After eight years of marriage, I know exactly what the lyrics mean when Paul sings "Sometimes we just have to walk through the fire / Just to see once more what has never shined brighter."

Paul, Darren, Roy, and Todd, thank you so much for sharing your talents and passions with the world. We'll be listening as long as you keep making music.

a year of Cape Cod

Before Ian's parents and grandma moved to Cape Cod last October, we'd made just a few short trips to the Cape and islands, and had the general impression it was a fancy place full of wealthy people and summer tourists, with unbearable summer weekend traffic. While that perception isn't entirely off the mark (their cozy home is a short drive away from the expansive Kennedy compound), we discovered it is so much more.

Given the timing of their move, we experienced the off season first. I've been enamored with the image of the beach in winter ever since I read Hattie and the Wild Waves when I was little. It was so lovely to spend Thanksgiving and a belated Christmas strolling on the beach, with a roaring fire waiting for our return. The ocean was expansive and beautiful, and we had it all to ourselves. One of their amazing neighbors took us oystering and clamming, and we felt like locals in our waders, clam rakes slung over our shoulders, filling up wire baskets then slurping down oysters with homemade hot sauce, the smell of ocean filling all our senses.



And then summer came. After our eternal Narnian winter, I didn't care how bad the traffic was, as long as we could soak in the hot summer sun, feel sand between our toes, and eat all the ice cream we wanted (Grandma Judy is a connoisseur, and her favorite is Katie's). It was glorious.



While we'll miss the sunshine and ice cream, we're looking forward to once again bundling up and enjoying quiet winter weekends on the Cape, watching the wild waves. You can call me Hattie.



See more of our Cape Cod photos on Flickr.

Color Us Rad, the snowpocalypse homebuyer edition

Shortly after last year's Color Me Rad, I got an email offer for a big discount on registration for the 2015 race. I made sure we didn't have other plans for April 11, 2015, then signed us up. Since it was still months away, I marked it on our calendar, then didn't give it another thought.

The night before the race, with our car reserved and white shirts and running gear waiting by the door, I pulled up our tickets on EventBrite, and panicked. The tickets said August 1.



Stomach sinking, I did an email search and discovered I had missed seeing a race update with the subject line: "Color Me Rad Boston changed to August 1st due to record snowfall." #fail. I looked at our calendar. We would be in the Dominican Republic on August 1. The next morning I sent a quick email asking for our options, and thankfully was assured we could transfer our registrations to the August 29 Providence race.

But what to do with the rental car and our now wide-open Saturday? Ian suggested we stop by some open houses. We were close to our down payment savings target, and it would be a great opportunity to see if that target number could get us into a home we loved. We spent Saturday morning driving to a few homes Ian had scoped out on Trulia, and Saturday afternoon crunching numbers and charting our plan.

We connected with a highly recommended realtor (a fellow REUNIONer), who ran through the process with us — a mini first-time homebuyers class — and recommended a mortgage broker. By the end of May, we had a concrete budget, and by mid-August, we were closing on our first home. I'll share more of that story soon, but suffice to say, it was a busy summer. Over the next two weeks, we spent our evenings moving all our worldly possessions and said goodbye to our Brookline apartment.



Move completed, we headed to the Cape to avoid the chaos that is Boston on unofficial moving weekend (most leases start on September 1, when the city plays a giant game of upset the fruit basket). We were ready to relax and to relieve some stress by chucking colored cornstarch at each other (after a short drive to Providence). The race that prodded us along on our homebuying journey was also our finish line — one we were thrilled to cross.

See more of our 2015 race photos on Flickr. Official race photos are marked with the Color Me Rad logo. Curious about our past races? Color Me Rad 2013 | 2014

The Science Behind Pixar, or that time I hugged WALL-E

I love Pixar. We own every single movie (except Cars 2, which is on the wish list). I quote them all the time. In fact, Ian quizzed me on random Pixar quotes he pulled from our Pixarpedia (yes, I know), and I was able to correctly identify almost every single one. So it was only appropriate that for my birthday we went to the Science Behind Pixar exhibit at the Museum of Science.

We arrived a little early for our timed ticket, just to make sure we weren't late. Promptly at 1:30 p.m., everyone in our time slot was ushered into a small room to watch a short introduction video hosted by Pixar characters, and then the doors opened and we were released to explore the giant interactive exhibition space.

We got to meet our favorite characters as we slowly worked and played our way through the process of creating an animated movie. Eight areas highlight modeling, rigging, surfaces, sets and cameras, animation, simulation, lighting, and rendering, each illustrated with a different movie set. Everything is interactive, allowing visitors to experiment with the process: we played with the lights on a miniature set from UP! and adjusted camera focus with Wall-E. And the exhibit was sprinkled with plenty of videos interviewing Pixar employees about their jobs and how what they do fits into the big picture.

We spent 2+ hours wandering around and learning about the complex science that goes into creating Pixar's incredible and beautiful stories, and loved every minute. In fact, we spent so much time there we weren't able to use our tickets to the museum proper (but we've got six months to squeeze in another visit). We highly recommend catching this special exhibit before it closes on January 10!

See more of our photos from the exhibit on Flickr.

thankful list | September + October 2015

01. a good first condo association meeting.
02. Dinner and ice cream with Grant, visiting from SF (we miss you!).
03. an interesting project a work.
04. a DR trip barbecue, to catch up with friends.
05. a Skype call with the Vargas family.
06. Dane and Ian turning an old broom closet into a shiny (tiny) pantry.
07. Super Cluckin' Sunday.
08. a great phone call with Grandma.
09. a fancy event at the office.
10. catching up with the Oaks after the first half of their global adventure.
11. a walk through Mount Auburn Cemetery.
12. the REUNION Viva La Picnic!
13. a leisurely breakfast with our house guests before heading to work.
14. the Oaks knocking out some painting for us.
15. cozy sweaters.
16. pizza in the fridge.
17. Sherlock.
18. catching up with Drew.
19. dinner with the Drs. Hu.
20. Roxy's for dinner.
21. a date to see MUTEMATH, front and center, with my favorite person.
22. REUNION friends, who totally understood our late night, despite the early morning.
23. my favorite TV shows to keep me company when Ian travels for work.
24. an overall good report from our Mass Save energy audit.
25. the energy companies covering a big chunk of the only thing we need: exterior insulation.
26. a trip to Wilson Farm with good friends for decorative gourds and cider doughnuts.
27. Super Cluckin' Sunday with new friends (and a five-loaves-two-fish moment).
28. successful completion of operation paint the dining room phase one.
29. a visit from mom and dad.
30. rambutan.
31. a trip to the Cape with mom and dad (their first).
32. the cranberry harvest celebration.
33. beach time with double the family.
34. taking dad to Russo's.
35. mom's chicken adobo.
36. community group.
37. installation of our Nest thermostat (dreams really do come true; also, yay rebates!).
38. the third annual chili and pumpkin carving event.
39. Grey's excitement for gutting pumpkins.
40. lunch with an awesome coworker.
41. dinner at Alden & Harlow with a couple of my favorite ladies.
42. a super productive weekend in putting the house together.
43. our new bed frame.
44. a dining table.
45. Swedish meatballs (thanks, IKEA).
46. finally finishing the paint job in the dining room.
47. FaceTime, so Ian and I could watch the Royals game together, 300+ miles apart.
48. holding down the community group fort in the absence of our fearless leaders.
49. celebrating Micki's birthday while watching the Royals.
50. awesome sushi costumes for a Halloween party.
51. a husband who was excited to make my sushi costume dream come true.
52. a fun Halloween party.
53. a Royals win (#takethecrown): just one more to make Grandma Judy pop champagne.
54. Ian, always.

thankful list | August 2015

01. learning more about La Mosca and the DR, and ways we can grow our partnership.
02. a barbecue hosted by the Aguilars (now serving full time in Santiago!).
03. an awesome bilingual church service in La Mosca.
04. great conversation with Reina on the way to the beach.
05. beach time with the Vargas family.
06. the opportunity to sit together as a team and reflect on the trip.
07. an amazing final trip dinner on the roof of the church.
08. a special air guitar performance by Jim Hatfield.
09. a not-too-early morning to get to the airport on time.
10. safe travels home.
11. a decent week easing back into work.
12. a husband who is awesome at packing for a move.
13. a birthday party for a one year old (cake smash!).
14. lunch with Danielle.
15. a bocce win.
16. a good pre-close walk through.
17. a painless closing (where we met the seller, who was so kind).
18. a celebration lunch with the Drs. Hu.
19. hanging out in an empty condo with our new neighbors.
20. a beautiful video of our trip created (so quickly) by Ben.
21. fresh paint (and the satisfaction of doing it ourselves).
22. our amazing friends and family for helping us get our move done.
23. a baseball game with the whole family (Ren and Emily flew up!).
24. a Sox win (sorry, Grandma Judy).
25. a Sunday morning doughnut delivery from friends turned neighbors.
26. discovering the BBC's Sherlock (I love you, PBS).
27. an ice cream truck at the office (for breakfast).
28. a weekend on the Cape.
29. a fun morning of Color Me Rad with Ian.
30. sharing Sherlock with Micki.
31. our new adventure as homeowners.

family fun at Fenway

In the middle of our big move, Ren and Emily headed to New England for a weekend on the Cape. While we would have loved to spend a relaxing weekend with family, our move meant we had to settle for a Friday night Sox game (if you can call baseball at Fenway settling).

It was a beautiful night, and Grandma Judy, a lifetime die-hard Royals fan, got Alex Gordon's autograph and a wave from Ned Yost so we were all in a great mood.

Shortly after the game started, we discovered we also had the pleasure of sitting in front of two incredibly entertaining British gentlemen (seen standing in our classic family ballpark photo), who were absolutely delighted to be partaking in America's pastime. In the middle of the eighth, when "Sweet Caroline" began blasting through the sound system, one of them exclaimed, "Now that's what I traveled 4,000 miles and two plane rides for."



They also turned to us with a pressing question about a concession stand item:

British Gentleman 1: What do you Americans call that?

Us: Fried dough.

British Gentleman 1: God bless America.

British Gentleman 2: Indeed.

I love Fenway. Ren and Emily, come back soon!

I'll love you forever, Brookline.

So, we bought a house. Technically, half a house (a condo in a 1930s two-family home). It's a 20-minute walk from our office, with a washer and dryer in the basement (no more quarters!) and a couple extra bedrooms (if you visit, you won't be on an air mattress in our living room anymore! okay, maybe still the air mattress, but in a bedroom!). We get to DIY to our hearts' content. We have three families of friends within a few blocks, and even more friends in the area. We're so excited!

But we're leaving Brookline, which simultaneously breaks our hearts. It has been our home all our 5-plus years in Boston. We love our quiet little street, and the park next door that is sometimes full of silly kids and Little League baseball games. We have lots of friends nearby, and are a short walk away from not one but two green lines. We can be downtown in 20 minutes, while still enjoying life in a quiet cozy neighborhood. We're practically next door to the library, Cutty's, and Orinoco, and we can bike to Sox games.

We know we made the right choice to move (our home-buying story is in the blog pipeline), but it is bittersweet to leave a place we love so well. Thankfully, it's not too far away and we have plenty of reasons (good friends and good food, not to mention our dentist) to come back often.

Here's to an amazing 5 years, 9 months, and 4 days in our beloved Brookline!

thankful list | July 2015

01. summertime.
02. a birthday that involved lots of sweet treats at work.
03. a birthday trip to the Science Behind Pixar exhibit at the Museum of Science.
04. dinner with awesome friends.
05. fireworks, viewed from Cambridge-side.
06. Sam joining us for our annual Fourth of July celebration (yay burgers and ice cream!).
07. seeing Micki and Grandma Judy.
08. a long lunch playing bocce (#cantstopwontstop logs another win).
09. a delicious chocolate chip cookie from Fuel.
10. a successful teambuilding event for the 2015 DR trip.
11. dinner with friends who moved to NH, who we miss dearly.
12. Big Hero 6 at the Hatch Shell with other REUNIONers.
13. pulling off a delicious gluten-free cake to bring to the office for a coworker.
14. recognition for 5 years at Sasaki (for the both of us).
15. a few days with Ted, an intrepid Oregonian joining us on the DR trip.
16. a smooth-running packing party to get medical supplies into the team's checked bags.
17. getting 23 people to the airport, through security, and on flights to the DR.
18. no issues getting through customs with all the medical clinic supplies.
19. seeing awesome friends waiting to greet us curbside upon arrival.
20. an incredible team.
21. quick and efficient med sorting (thanks, Dr. America!).
22. updates on various GO projects, like the Santiago medical center.
23. a kind stocker at La Sirena who found my favorite piña con coco marmalade, missing from the shelf.
24. Helados Bon.
25. two days of painting and a successful medical clinic (even though it was especially hot).
26. Caitlin, for taking care of me when I was dehydrated + carsick (you are an awesome friend + NP).

snow in July: a reflection on Boston's record-setting 110.6 inches

The New York Times posted an article about a 12-foot tall snow mound that is still in the Seaport district. In July. Did I mention it's July?

I felt this was an appropriate time to reflect on the past winter, when Boston broke the record for total winter snowfall with a final tally of 110.6 inches. That's over 9 feet of snow, which would be 2 feet over Shaq's head, if you followed the Boston Globe's Shaq-o-meter in 2011. (Our mid-February very informal Ian-o-meter was photographed at 77.3 inches.)

After looking back through our photos, I have absolutely no complaints about the sometimes hot and sultry summer weather.



Curious about our past snow adventures in Boston? 2013 still stands as the fifth biggest snowstorm (thanks, WBUR!). And winter 2011 is the eighth snowiest with a season total of 81 inches, 4 inches short of maxing out the Boston Globe's Shaq-o-meter (we documented 20 inches and 70.1 inches).

And an interesting article from the Boston Globe explores potential demographic implications of the past winter. No, we're not moving to warmer climes.