Boston

My adventure to Boston-land is complete. I must say I had a great time visiting Kyle, Laura, & Abby (and learning/sharing a few things at the National School Psych conference). While I didn't end up with very many pictures documenting the trip, I had lots of fun. The trip was totally paid for by the research unit I work for (yay ECS--and all my hard work conducting research and writing for publication), so I had a nice hotel room with a huge king bed, per diem for meals, and transportation covered. Here's the quick (or not so quick now that I look over what I've written) run-down of my trip and a few pictures.

Wednesday: Left home at 5:00 am (Pacific Time) and arrived in Boston at 4:00 pm (Eastern)

Upon arrival, I took the subway (T) to the hotel and Kyle met me there. I got all checked in and registered for my conference and then we headed to the Shach-Pad to eat dinner and watch American Idol. I ended up sleeping on the comfy couch Wednesday night.

Thursday: Kyle had to work most of the day, so Laura, Abs and I headed to the hotel (where Laura & Abs chilled and I went to a few things at the conference). We ate a late lunch at one of Kyle & Laura's favorite hole in the wall places and headed back to the apartment for a pit-stop (e.g., Abby entertains us) and then to target for some essentials (you know wipes and milk bags) and of course, by the baby store just to peek for jeans. Finally, we got back to the apartment for dinner (Papa Johns) and more American Idol. Karen came over and we stayed until it was almost time for the T to stop running (about midnight). I slept in the hotel in my huge bed and didn't get up until I woke up.

Some fun time with the Abster on the BIG bed! (Isn't it amazing that she can provide never-ending entertainment...when she's awake?!)

Friday: I went over my presentation, rounded up my poster (it flew to Boston in another person's poster tube), and met Kyle, Laura, & Abby for another late lunch. The Shachmuts hung out with some School Psych folks from Arkansas while I presented in a paper and my poster session. We left the hotel (with an additional psycher--Laurel) about 6:00 heading to take Kyle & Abby home. The T (which usually runs about every five minutes) broke down and two hours later (usually takes about 45 min) we arrived at the apartment with a tired, grumpy (if you could ever call Abby grumpy) baby and some hungry adults. We decided to head to the North End in search of Italian but when we left again, it was raining... So, after a l-o-n-g evening Laurel, Laura, and I ended up at PF Changs (it was attached to the hotel through an indoor mall and meant we didn't have to fight the rain) where we had an "interesting" waiter (you'll have to ask later for the details) but good food. After dinner, we said goodbye to Laurel. Laura and I snuggled in for my favorite part of "girls night"--staying up all hours talking. While there were a few minutes we almost fell asleep we managed to keep the conversation going until well after 4am. We talked about everything from "the good ol' days," to marriage, college, jobs, kids, and eventually death. When we made it to death we decided it best to call it a night and implement a "no more talking rule." 

Yummy! Boston cream pie.

Saturday: We slept in until almost noon, :-) Got coffee and cake, and headed out into the beautiful, sunny, crisp day to shop. It was one of my favorite days in a long time--just like high school girls (except we shopped for and successfully found baby jeans). I really, really enjoyed "girl talk" and was relieved that the few times when I woke up during the night/morning, Laura was actually sleeping (and not worrying about Abby or feeling awake out of habit). While I definitely love Kyle and Abby, I must say I savored every minute of having my best friend all to myself...it's been a while! 

Shopping Success! Baby Jeans.

We made our way back to the apartment to hang out with Kyle and Abby (I also got to meet their friend John). That night a couple of friends from Laura's work came over to watch Abby (sleep) while we went to Legal Seafood for dinner (after a pit stop at Best Buy to purchase the new iLife). The food was yummy, we all had a drink and amazing dessert, and genuinely enjoyed each other's company. After dropping me off at my hotel, Kyle an Laura headed home, and I headed to bed.

Hanging out on the subway.

Sunday: Left the hotel at 5:45 am (Eastern) and arrived in Eugene 2:30 pm (Pacific). For once, I had good timing--as I sat on the airplane and looked out the window, I watched the first snowflakes from the big storm about to hit the NorthEast fall. When I arrived in Eugene, Ricky took me to lunch, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon on the couch, and tried not to think too much about all the work that needed to get done. ;-)

Even more adorable on Abby!

So, a huge Thank You to Kyle, Laura, & Abby for entertaining me with your friendship. You are the bestest! And yes, Laura, I've been thinking about how we must definitely live in the same town again in the next few years...