TBT: Copley Square and Boston Common

I decided to do a 'throw-back Thursday' post today because I was looking through some of my photos from earlier in the year and came across these photos of Copley Square and the Boston Common which is just lovely during the spring when I was there. I have such amazing memories of how I was feeling on that day and looking at these photos just takes me back there.

This is Trinity Church nestled amongst modern buildings and tall skyscrapers at Copley Square. Just beautiful!

I took a nice stroll through the Boston Common which is like a teeny tiny version of Central Park in New York. It was a beautiful crisp Spring day and you could feel the excitement in the air.

Remembrance

It's been one month.

Remember the courage. Remember the spirit. Remember the departed. Remember the day.

Peace & Love.

Newbury Street

Newbury Street was one of the first places I visited when I got into Boston. Having not slept coming off a redeye flight from the west coast, my sister and I decided to explore the city in lieu of sleeping. I was too excited to sleep anyways. We started out walking down Boylston towards the Boston Commons and eventually ended up on Newbury Street. Newbury Street runs parallel to Boylston to the North.

As I walk down the streets of Boston, I notice that there are quite a few churches and they are all magificant works of architectual design. Not as old as anything you would find in Europe but it has so much more character than anything you would find in Orange County where I live. It is one of the elements that makes this city so charming as I mentioned before.

Another thing this town is not lacking are cupcake shops. There are a couple on this street alone. We stopped into Georgetown Cupcake because what vacation would be complete without cupcakes? They had a large variety of cupcakes and their display case was very visually appealing. I only had one so I feel ill-equipped to make a definitive statement about the store as a whole but the vanilla birthday cake flavor that I did try was very moist.

Not sure why I'm sharing this photo except for the fact that I thought that it was so neat that Sabra hummus was out on the street passing out free samples of pita chips and hummus.

This city is just so welcoming to runners during race weekend. They really know how to make you feel special.

Need some retail therapy? This street does not disappoint. High-end, boutique and chain stores line almost every inch of this street.

This chocolate shop was pretty amazing! I didn't take any photos inside because I wasn't sure if it was allowed but trust me I saw some stuff that I should have taken home with me.

We came upon a roasted nut cart and of course we had to buy some...

...I mean just look at this deliciousness! They have these carts on almost every street corner in New York City but this was the first one I saw in Boston. My sister took this photo. Thanks Sister K!

The clothing store on the top floor in this photo has everything I wish I already owned in my closet.

I love this outfit!

Another cupcake shop that we went into but did not try.

Everything checks out though. Maybe next time!

Johnny Cupcakes is NOT a cupcake shop. They sell clothing! @_@ Don't mess with me like that.

I don't eat a lot of candy but I love candy stores! This one was jam packed with candy. Of all the things in the shop, the thing that fascinated me was a large slinky? Which was not even made of candy! Clearly my priorities are messed up.

I don't even know what this store sells but I love the name! I know for a fact that if I lived nearby that I would be hanging out on this street all.the.time!

Boston's North End

Boston is such a charming city! It's been a few years since I've traveled to the east coast but this city did not disappoint. In particular, I will be focusing on the North End of Boston in this post because I was surprised to find out that some of Boston's best eats were located in this part of town.

On our second day in Boston, we decided to take the "T" a couple of stops east of downtown Boston into the North End. I was so excited to be in Boston and could not wait to go exploring. We or rather I was also on the hunt for some delicious pre-race carb. The "T" was very crowded that day. I think maybe because of all of us tourist trying to get around Boston. It was standing room only by the time we hopped on. I don't use public transportation too much here in Socal so it is always an interesting experience when I have to use the subway system in other states. Apparently, I'm not very stable on my feet because everytime the train came to a stop I would almost fall over. I guess I'm also pretty fragile because I got motion sickness. Eventually, we do make it there despite my dramatic recount.

The street is called Hanover and it runs through Boston's Little Italy. Who knew that one could find some of the best Italian food and pastries this side of the Atlantic here in Boston. Not me! I mean baked beans, seafood and cream pies...yes...but Italian food as good as something you can get from the motherland? That just sounds like something I have to see taste to believe.

One of the first things we see getting out of the subway was this group of children playing violins at a small park as a part of some sort of fundraiser. They started to play Canon in D so we stopped to listen because my hubby loves that piece. They were so adorable and talented!

We walked into a deli which was located just across from where the kids were playing their violins. It was filled with meats and cheeses, fresh and dry pastas and all sorts of other yummy Italian groceries but we were on vacation and our hotel room did not include a kitchenette so we didn't buy anything but it smelled amazing in there.

Then we walked over to Hanover street.

Our first stop was Mike's Pastry. They are known all throughout the land for their amazing cannolis. I mean just look at that line to get into the store.

It was equally crazy on the inside!

They are a full blown bakery...

...but cannolis are what 'brings all the boys and girls to this yard'! I have to confess that I'm not a big cannoli fan. Please don't hate me if you are. I mean it's just cream in a pastry shell but even I have to admit that the cannolis at Mike's Pastry was out of this world. First, I can tell that they make the pastry fresh in the store because it was crunchy and it tasted fresh. Second, the cream filling had this incredible richness and there was lots of it. We selected the pistaschio crusted cannoli and as soon as I took a bite I understood why there is always a line to get into the store. Bellissima!

After our cannoli feast, we decided to walk over to the Paul Revere Mall not to be confused by a shopping mall. It's more like a side street. We lingered around this statue for a bit taking photos. I think there was a museum at the end of the mall but we decided to skip it.

Around lunchtime, the aroma of Italian food start to waft through the crisp air of a beautiful Boston spring day. We started to get hungry. Sister K turns to me and asked if I was in the mood for a delicious Italian sub...well yeah...who wouldn't? She tells me that Monica's Salumeria, which was fairly close to where we were standing at the time, made one of the best Italian sandwiches around. It was indeed close by but it took us quite some time to find it because they had recently moved a couple of shops down from where they use to be located.

Let me tell you that this sandwich was worth the walk. I though it was wonderful! The bread was not too hard or soft. The meats and cheeses were fresh and paired perfectly together. We asked for no lettuce because we don't like lettuce but I insisted on keeping the tomatoes against Sister K's wishes because I love them, even if they are a bit out of season. There was no seating inside or outside the deli so we took our sandwiches back to the Paul Revere Mall and parked ourselves on a stone bench against some old building and ate our sandwiches. We must have really been into our sandwiches because a couple of groups of passer-by-ers came up to us to ask where we got the sandwiches. Yeah it was that good!

After lunch, the sun somehow disappeared from the sky and us thin-blooded West coasters started to get cold. We ducked into Caffe Vittoria to get some warm drinks to bring some color back to our cheeks. We would never survive a winter here I thought to myself. I think that was one of the reasons why my parents moved away from here many years ago. I had on a big coat with layers and a scarf and was still shaking in my boots. I do not like the cold.

But these drinks fixed us right up! What a delicious day that was! I wish I was back on Hanover street now.

On Finding Peace and Being Thankful

I can hardly believe that it has only been a week since the Boston bombings. For me, this past week has felt like an eternity. I thought that the moment I landed at the local airport that things would get back to normal but it has taken me longer than I had anticipated to sort through my feelings. In the course of this week, I've gone through feelings of fear, helplessness, anger, sadness, anticipation and determination just to name a few. After getting back home last week, I could not focus or think of anything else. It consumed me for days. I could not peel myself away from the news coverage. I was looking for some sort of closure.

Over the weekend, I attended a memorial service for a coworker/friend that had past away last week while I was in Boston. At the service I morned deeply for him and for everyone that was harmed last Monday. I had been holding it in all week. All my tears just flowed out. And when I was done, I was ready to let them go.

I was overjoyed to see my family as I had not seen them since my return. My sister and brother-in-law cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. I gave thanks in April because I had so much to be thankful for.

I bit into this cookie and it was so good that it made me smile and these days I'm looking for any excuse to smile.

I enjoyed one of my parents' amazing home cooked meals!

We celebrated my sister's birthday!

Last night, I went to a Tribute Run for Boston at the Long Beach bike path organized by friend Pam and Monica. Thank you to everyone who attended. Sharing that run with you meant so much to me. It was like taking that last piece of bandage off my once broken heart and battered spirit.

Photo borrowed from friend Pam

Coming back home to loved ones, friends and everyone in my local running community has really helped me find my normal again. Things will never really be the same but they will be better. I will cherish all the moments more than ever that I will get to share with everyone who has touched my life. In my last post, I wrote that I was not ready to write about my Boston experience but that isn't really true because I did write it all down. I wrote in my hotel room the day I got back from the race and the days following. The words have already been written and one day I will post it here.  

Boston

I'm not ready to write about Boston yet but I will when I am. Thank you to my family and all my friends that texted/emailed to make sure that I was okay. I am so touched and grateful to have you in my life.

In the meantime, my wonderful friend Pam is putting together a Tribute Run for Boston on Monday April 22 at the Long Beach bike path (board walk) at 6pm. Starting location will be the parking lot between Ocean and Bayshore. Please come and support this cause to raise funds for those affected by the events of April 15th.

All In

T-minus 3 days until the big day! I'm flying out to Boston tomorrow! I wish my bags were already packed but they are not. I did go out for my final training run today. Nothing left to do now but enjoy the next couple of days. I'm excited to explore Boston. I use to live there a long time ago. It will be interesting to see how things have changed or remained the same. I never imagined that the next time I would be back in town would be to run the Boston Marathon.

Seven-years-old me would not be impressed since seven-years-old me use to hate running. Okay, that is not entirely true. I was a mover and a shaker but not for more than a quarter of a mile at a time. Just enough to make it from one base to the next or from one end of the field to the other. I couldn't stop moving, I just didn't get very far.

When I started running years ago, I never thought that I would ever run more than a 10K. Some years later, I remember a friend at work tried to convince me to run a half marathon...I thought she was nuts! But she lit a fire in me that day that still burns bright to this day. I think that was the day I crossed over to the crazy side where running 2-3 hours on the weekend was considered normal. It isn't normal by the way.

I can't remember when I first learned of the term "BQ". I do remember that at the time I didn't paid much attention to all the chatter about it because to be honest I never thought that I would ever be able to qualify. I attempted to qualify a couple of times but was unsuccessful by a long shot. When they lowered the qualifying time last year or maybe it was two years ago, I remember friend Darren remarking that perhaps when we get older we might be able to finally catch up to the qualifying standards if we kept up our pace. I nodded in agreement.

Then one day it happened and a month ago I got this in the mail. Frankly, I don't care what seven-years-old me thinks because present day me is jumping up and down.