SALEM

After spending one night in Boston, we took the bus to Salem. We stayed at The Inn On Washington Square because supposedly its haunted and well....me and Jon are creeps. I enjoyed our stay there but am not sure if I would recommend it for anyone on their honeymoon if you want a place that feels romantic and we weren't sure it was worth the price. Also, the rooms were a bit more crowded with stuff then I would have liked, with no central theme, and the bathroom was pretty small.

As for the haunted part, we often heard really strange strange noises that would go on through out the night. Are they from ghosts? I can't say they are, they could just have been normal house noises. But they creeped Jon out sufficiently enough that he couldn't sleep sometimes. So the Inn definitely had the right effect. And they would leave us orange juice and muffins for breakfast. Best muffins I have ever had. So delicious. And the Inn felt pretty exclusive to me. We never ran into any of the other guests that were staying there. um maybe there were no other guests... or none that were alive.....????

We thought Salem was awesome. In October, Halloween is its focus. Halloween and everything Halloween related like ghosts, witches, pirates (not sure how this fits exactly). Apparently the day of Halloween is going to be crazzzzyyy there and I believe it. Two weeks before it, and its already feeling up with strange people in costumes. I quite enjoyed seeing it all though. We didn't do as much in Boston as we would have liked, due to unforeseen issues, but what we did do, we quite enjoyed.

Things we loved:

- Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery was all about monsters from horror movies. I haven't seen so many of the old horror movies but I still really enjoyed this museum and it has made me want to watch more of the classics.
- 3d haunted house. This was short, maybe not worth the cost, but still really fun.
- Witches Brew Cafe : this was one of our better meals of the trip. It's a simple but delicious menu and good service. I actually miss it. Its kinda off the beating path but a guy who was associated with the ghost tours guided us there.
- At the small mall they have there, they have one of those photo places where they dress you up in costumes and take pictures. I, unfortunately, can only make 2 faces on command and thus ruined half the pictures but it was still really fun.
-We did the Salem Night Tour one night. I think Jon didn't like how much history it included, he wants the ghost, the action, but it was still really quite enjoyable. It taught us a lot about the Salem Witch Trial history, which we sadly did not have time to do more of while in Salem.



What we didn't like as much:
-Rockefellers : Some of our food was pretty good but not all of it and the services was horrible.
- We went to some random haunted house. It was okay but not worth the price. I find a lot of things in Salem are expensive considering how long the activity actually takes, but you just have to get past the cost and enjoy yourself.

The greatest thing about Salem is how small it is. Its very intimate and its so easy to walk everywhere. So whether you take the bus there, or drive there, you won't need much transportation after you get there. Another thing I loved is all the history there. I wish we had had more time for it as I did not quite realize before going there, how gruesome the Salem Witch History really is. It made me and Jon want to study up on it more and see what they didn't teach us in school.

Massachusetts

Before I go on about the things we did on our trip, and what events occurred, I would like to make a list of the good and bad about Massachusetts.

Good
1. Gorgeous in the fall.
2. Unpredictable weather and strangely I liked that.
3. History is alive. So much history occurred there its almost overwhelming.
4. Not home of the Yankees :)
5. I saw lots of Carmel Apples and got to have one. Not quote Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, but it will do.
6. Northern Accents. They were cool for at least a day.
7. Easy drive to coastline. And amazingly gorgeous coastline.
8. Home of the XV Beacon. Need I say more.
9. Unlike popular belief, not everybody likes Obama up there.
10. So many beautiful gardens and parks for me to visit.
11. Love your aquarium. Take good care of those penguins.
12. They think everything is haunted and that makes for good times for me.
13. They have almost got mass transit perfected and for that I applaud them.

Bad
1. CVS on every corner. Love you CVS but not that much, though you were conveniently everywhere we were at when we needed you.
2. Dunken Donuts on every corner. We enjoyed your hot chocolate and donuts but we didn't need to see you every five min.
3. Not many good places to eat :( or did we just have bad luck.
4. Most towns are kinda old and ghetto looking. I think it was the style of the buildings and the fact that they were so old. Oh well. Still loved the place.
5. It is wayyy too expensive to visit some of your islands.
6. People are not very nice in Boston. I almost believe the guy when he said their license plate said Massachusetts because they were all Mass holes. k bad joke on his part but he was an interesting guy and he will make a good story for another time. Point is, we met more strange, wierd, annoying, and not nice people, than nice people. It was sad.
7. Either everybody needs to follow the road signs or nobody needs to. There can be none of this half and half. I need to know how safe I am going to be, if I need to follow the road signs, etc. Please make a decisions.
8. Did the fact that smoking can kill, miss the state of Massachusetts. I have never seen so many people smoke in my life. It was actually rather disgusting. And if you are 12 you probably really shouldn't be smoking. And if your standing in a crowd of people, please don't light up. At least have the decency to go off to the side. Though you may not know it, not everybody smokes or wants to inhale your smoke.
9. Even the secretaries in the hospitals are mean. Nobody likes to visit the hospital, can they at least act pleasant towards us.
10. They have signs for everything. Signs on every corner repeating everything. Even a million signs saying that 200 kids live in the area so be careful when you drive. Never a bad thing, but they just need to remember that the most important signs are those signs identifying location so I know what road I am on and where the road I need to turn down is at.

XV BEACON

15 Beacon Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel on Beacon Street. Beacon street being an old street in Boston with cobble stone walkways and beautiful buildings. We wanted to spend 1 night in a really nice hotel and after much searching online, we had narrowed it down to a few nice looking ones. We called all and said that we were going on our honeymoon and what could they do for us. We ended up choosing 15 Beacon because they offered us a room upgrade. Basically, we choose any room we wanted and they upgraded us to the next most expensive one for free. I believe we ended up with a corner studio. We had no clue what to expect but as soon as I walked out of the taxi I was in love.

Why? Because someone stood over me with an umbrella while I walked to the canopy so that I wouldn't get wet. Then we were informed at the desk that we could check out cars for free if we needed on. Then our room was amazing. It included the following:

Bathroom: phone, tv, rainforest shower and whirlpool tub, heated towel rack - the sink was right outside the door, with large mirrors and storage space.
Closet: safe, bathrobes (one of my requirements. loved them), hangers, umbrellas
Room: sound system that even reached bathroom, nice television, two phones, nice desk and couch, fireplace, great adjustable lighting, lots of windows for a great view of the city, etc. etc.
Hallway: a bowl of oranges to eat. yum!

Soon after we got there they dropped by with chocolate covered strawberries and a note to congratulate us. Yummy strawberries.

We enjoyed the room so much we only went outside for a short walk to find dinner. It was cold, rainy, snowy, so we didn't even end up finding dinner, and turned around and ate at the hotels restaurant Mooo. Mooo is a steakhouse connected to the hotel. We enjoyed it for the most part. The clam chowder was amazingggggg. Jon orders it a lot and it was the first time we got it with whole clams. So good. Their rolls were also exquisite. The salmon Jon ordered was delicious though I didn't eat too much of it. I only ordered asparagus and these koby beef dumplings. The asparagus was sooooo yummy. I love asparagus a lot. The dumplings though were expensive and not that good to me. They lacked a real flavor in my opinion. That was a bit of a dissapointment but it could be my fault for getting so used to strong flavors by putting hot sauce on everything. I left before dessert so I didn't get to try it but it was a brownie with vanilla ice cream on top with carmel I believe. Jon approved. Overall, more money then I would have liked to spend on what we got, and the service was a bit slow because they were busy, but a good meal and great atmosphere.

But back to the hotel. Not everything was perfect. My short list of complaints are as follows:

The faucets were too hard to turn off
The tv wasn't working correctly and the problem never got solved
Too many pillows - one was enough because they were so fluffy (wierd complaint and really shouldn't even count but im struggling here for complaints)
When we asked about dinner the guy pointed us to the right and we couldn't find anything fast enough. Come to find out later that there were restaurants on the left. Woops!

I feel like I had more complaints but I guess not. If I remember any more I will let you know.

When we left the hotel we were almost home sick within minutes. It was the nicest place either one of us had stayed in to date, and we knew it would be a while before we experienced that type of life again. It was soo enjoyable. I would 100% recommend this hotel to anybody, especially if they are going on their honeymoon so pass the word along. We plan to try and stay there again sometime in the future for our anniversary but until then, I love you XV Beacon and miss you.

INSIDE THE ROOM

THE VIEW

THE BATH ROBES I LOVED

Blah Blah Blah

So now that the wedding and honeymoon are all over and I have to start my new life, I think its time to blog about all that happened. I think I will start with the honeymoon just because I can.

For my first post I just want to write about how great it was to take a week vacation away from life. Unfortunately, all did not go as planned. But it was still amazing. Just to relax, not worry about anything from our real lives, and to just get to know each other on a new level was an awesome opportunity. The experiences that we went through made me love Jon even more than before, appreciate him more than before, and want him more than before. Even when things go bad, your relationship and love goes up.

The experience made me realize why its not necessary to go on a long planned out trip for your honeymoon. Really, it does end up being about just being with each other. For us, we loved where we went to and what we did, but those were not our favorite moments. Was it fun? Yes! But would it have probably been just as amazing had we gone somewhere else? Yes! Even some where local? Probably so. Your can chill, relax, and get to know each other just about anywhere. Honeymoons, especially for people who have not lived together previously, are about being with each other, not about the things you did or saw.

But with that said, I did love Boston and I am so grateful we had the opportunity to go there. I enjoyed many of the activities we did, and will try and blog about them soon.

Jon is an amazing man. I could not have asked for more. I am so grateful for him and I am beyond ready to spend eternity with him.

Update

I told myself I would not facebook or blogg on my honeymoon but due to the amount of time we have spent in our hotel room chilling, I am breaking that promise. I just wanted to write a very short post to let you know what I will be writing about when I get back from my honeymoon.

-a water main break in our marriage "venue." Thankfully, as we got married in my church's temple, this had a happy outcome.

-a visit to the hospital while on the honeymoon. Needles, blades, blood anyone? Gotta love painkillers.

-rain on wedding day+cold+stress = being sick on honeymoon

-a reception the night before. Fun but didn't exactly get us to our hotel that much sooner on our wedding day.

- an amazing and beautiful reception and wedding day. So there is some positive in all of this.

So most of this sounds negative but it just means that I have some awesome stories to share. And while everything has been hard, and may just get harder for a bit, I do not regret anything and am excited for what's to come.

Hopefully I can post pictures soon too.

We Got Our Apartment

So its onto finding ways to store all our stuff in a small apartment, making the best use of space, and figuring out how to decorate.

Some of my favorite solutions Ive found as of yet:

Pretty cool but would not work for me and Jon. Plus I don't usually collect magazines.

This is one problem we don't have to solve, at least not at this point, but I love the idea.

"I've updated this classic look with storage units, cable-suspended glass shelving, a glass-front cabinet, patio lighting, and that ultimate bathroom luxury: small speakers hooked up to the living-room stereo."
- Daniel P. Simmons.
Amazing, though we can only do so much as we are renting our apartment!

So, none of these solutions work for us, but its a good start.

Anyone out there have any great ideas? Things they have done or seen?

My Goal

I am an open book to many. I don't hold stuff in very well.
Many a people heard much about me. Probably too much.
But I am also a mystery. Though some may not catch on.
Very few people actually know the real fears and insecurities I have.
Many catch glimpses but few really notice or get it.
I have not accepted myself yet. I know what I am.
But I also know what I am not. How do I get past that?
I don't know but I need to and I must.

HELP ME

I am posting way too much today. Please forgive me. But I couldn't help posting about this when I thought about it while on Youtube.

I NEED NEW MUSIC TO LISTEN TO.

I like to cycle through bands over and over and throw new bands in along the way. I am in a new music mood. And I don't follow music as well as I used to so I don't know what to start listening to. I love all types of music, indie, blue grass, pop punk...you name it I probably listen to it.

Any advice? What are you listening to right now?

One I Did a While Ago

I love each of these items and want. Though I could never pull off those sunglasses and the bracelet would be way too big for my wrist.

Maybe when I go shopping again my obsession with making outfits will stop. Probably not.

Learning to Shop for Guys

I am gaining a husband soon and thus need to learn how to shop for guys. He would hate the following outfit but I've gotta practice somehow and what better way than to put together outfits I love on Polyvore. First attempt. Not sure about the shirt but did my best based on the selection.

Oh Happy Day

This picture reminds me of my family. I may be making it up, but if i'm not "Oh Happy Day" has been said in my house many a time. And if I am making it up, well then dismiss me as crazy and all will still be good. I love this picture every time I see it. I kinda wish I thought of it. Or had the guts to copy it for my reception.