Sisterly Love in Boston

My two sisters, Tricia, Carolyn and I have always been very close. Tricia is 18 months older than me, and Carolyn 30 months younger. I consider them to be my two closest if not best friends. We’ve been through literally our entire lives together, and have shared in love, laughter and tears.

Since Tricia left for college 8 years ago we’ve gotten closer, catching up during winter and spring breaks and summer vacations. We’ve really come to appreciate the bond we have as sisters and friends. Tricia and I realized though, that since she left for college, we’ve never done anything just the three of us. That all ended this past weekend. Carolyn came to stay with me Saturday night when, after an evening of bowling and drinking, we traveled to Boston to do some… wait for it… SHOPPING!

Carolyn needed to buy a dress for her upcoming Senior Ball, so she enlisted the help of her trusty fashion advisors and took advantage of the expanse of Boston’s retail selection. We all got much more than a shopping trip though; we had an amazing day chatting, laughing and complaining about our tired feet. It was a rare occasion, and something we all agreed to do more often. They’ve even given me permission to continue to bring my camera along. They’re starting to warm up to the lense . Enjoy

The view from Tricia’s roof deck:

And the view opposite the Garden:

Tricia has this sweet mirror in her living room, found at a vintage shop. The intricacies of the design are just amazing:

Tricia’s roomate Alexa has some spectacular pieces that have been passed down from earlier generations and a great eye for antique gems:

Our walk began down one of the quaintest streets in Charlestown:

As we got closer to the shopping areas the sun was in full force

On the way back I was pleasantly surprised to find decorative planters around every street corner. Jackpot!

After hitting up the Charlestown Galleria we stopped back at the apartment to drop our bags and refuel. Tricia and her roomates have the BEST collection of scarves. I am a bit of a scarf-a-holic so I could really appreciate their collection:

After a putting our feet up for a few minutes we were off to the North End for some window perusing and gelato:

We found this sweet little boutique called LITwhich had the most witty $40 tee shirts. Good thing I had my camera to take free pictures:

LIT also had amazing little details. So much character:

After checking out the clothes at LIT it we decided to head back toward the apartment, still window shopping of course:

No trip to the North End would be complete without stopping for a treat at Mike’s Bakery:

Carolyn had an odd fear of the bridge over the Freedom Trail, which we had to cross to get back to Tricia’s apartment. She skuttled across it on the way to Little Italy, but I made her walk behind the camera on the way back. I had to get a picture of her face. Priceless:

Tricia’s antics definitely didn’t make Carolyn feel any safer:

Luckily, we survived walking over the bridge and made it back to Tricia’s apartment in time to take some evening photos on the roof deck. We couldn’t quite get the camera to focus correctly as it got darker out, but we sure had fun trying:

So let’s recap:

Good dress find? Check

Great photos? Check

Grand time? Check and Check

Thanks for such a wonderful day T & C! Let’s do it again soon <3

Hello Blogging World! Life Update Preview

So it’s been much too long since I last blogged. So much has happened since the last time I surfaced on here. I went to two of Eric’s basketball games, witnessed Carolyn’s last game as a college athlete, attended her senior ceremony at St. Joe’s and celebrated Elliot’s baptism, oh yeah and I photographed a wedding. It might take a few posts, but soon, I’ll have everything updated

Does it get any more precious than this?

Bokeh much?

I have no real new photos, but I felt like posting since I haven’t in about a week. These are some pictures I took of a Japanese Maple in front of my parents’ house a few weekends ago. Bokeh is one of my favorite things about photography. The contrast in focus just makes everything POP. When I read about the 50mm 1.8 Nikkor lense, I just had to have it. Luckily, my boyfriend was awesome enough to buy it for me for Christmas. Now all I need is a D90 so I can automatically focus . Yes, that’s how much I LOVE this lense!

I love me some bokeh!

1,000 Points!

This post is a little late so you’ll have to forgive my tardiness. On January 3rd my younger sister, Carolyn (21) scored her 1,001st point at Saint Joseph’s College in Maine. Scoring 1,000 points in college is a feat not accomplished very often. Only 19 women in St. Joe’s history have reached the plateau, the latest before Carolyn was in 2004. Our mother was the first woman to reach 1,000 points back in 1980. They have been bombarded by local media wanting to write about their unique story – they are only the second documented mother-daughter pair in the country to both score 1,000 points at the same college. Pretty neat if you ask me! I am honored to be related to both of them, both for their accomplishments and for who they are as people.  

  

St. Joe’s held a small ceremony in Carolyn’s honor during half time of her game on January 16th to commemorate her accomplishment. I drove home to see the game and share in her celebration, taking photos along the way, of course!  

  

  

About 25 family members and friends came up for the game, specifically to see the commemoration of Carolyn’s 1,000th point. Along with the rest of the crowd, they gave her a wholehearted standing ovation. 

After the ceremony, it was game time! 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

  

After the game it was time for a family photo shoot!   

  

  

  

  

  

  

Carolyn and Mom were in hot demand!  

  

  

And I’ll leave you with a picture of the beautiful scenery that surrounds St. Joseph’s College.  

Loyalty

This puppy is the dog of my dreams… this little girl is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met. She is lively, loving and well, loyal. Loyalty currently resides at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua, where she has been for a little over two months. Poor little girl is beginning to get depressed as she waits for the perfect person to take her home. She will make some couple so super happy, I hope she finds the home of her dreams some day soon.

How can anyone resist those eyes?! Such a sweet soul.

I love that nose!!

Been a While

I really need to update this… I’ve got some great photos, just been soo lazy lately. Hopefully before the end of the weekend I’ll have an update

L.A. Chihuahua Transport Photos!

Wednesday night and this morning turned out to be wonderfully hectic and delightfully snowy at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua. 32 Chihuahua mixes were flown in from Los Angeles to find new homes in New England. I volunteered to help the shelter document the transport and adoption process. Often times the adoption counselors and shelter staff are too busy to notice the sweet little moments between the dogs, caregivers and potential adopters. I was only to happy to capture these moments!

Welcoming the pups to New England!

 

Finally Arrived!

 

Time to unpack! That's a lot of dogs in a tiny space!

 

Georgio all snuggly in his sweater!

 

Yolanda settles in

 

Potential adoptors braved the storm to wait outside!

 

And the winners are:          

Pinto

 

Can't remember this little guys name!

 

Lorenzo

 

Pedro

 

 I had so much fun photographing these little guys and the people who love them. They are going to make wonderful pets for some lucky parents. Check out the Humane Society’s website to see who still needs a home!!   

Chihuahuas!

Just got home from the Humane Society for Greater Nashua. Will post photos of tonight’s chihuahua transport soon! Eventful and crazy evening. But putting 32 dogs into loving homes, totally worth it!!

Jesse’s 25th Birthday Extravaganza!

On Friday I successfully surprised Jesse for the first time in our almost 4 year relationship! I got 16 of our friends to meet at a lovely restaurant called Fortunato’s in Lowell. After trying to convince Jesse to go back into Lowell for dinner after driving home to Nashua I had to settle for simply blindfolding him and taking matters into my own hands. He quickly figured out that we were going back to Lowell, but couldn’t quite pinpoint where in Lowell we were going. I took a few random turns to try to get him disoriented, and made him walk the streets of downtown Lowell with his eyes closed until we were inside the restaurant. As we walked up the stairs to our private room at Fortunato’s, Jesse was greeted by a table-full of friends and a big SURPRISE!

 

 

 

 

After dinner it was time for a bit of modeling:

 

Even our “camera shy” friends couldn’t escape the lens!

 

After dinner we headed off to Garcia Brogan’s for a few celebratory shots and beers.

Everything turned out perfect and I even got a thank you kiss!

 I think Jesse was one happy birthday boy

Happy birthday Baby! Don’t know how I’m going to top this next year, but I sure will try! Thanks to all our friends who made it to dinner. It was great having you all there!!

Snowboarding!

Last weekend Jess took Jesse and me for our first snowboarding adventure! It was entertaining, challenging and an overall rockin’ good time (although we never left the bunny slope).

The morning started with frozen windshields, slight overpacking, bacon, dunkin donuts, and a stop at the gas station. Did I mention the day began before 7am?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I wasn’t willing to risk my camera’s life for good pics ON the mountain. So you’ll have to settle for a few of the surrounding scenery. It was pretty neat driving up to the mountain and seeing the snow machines at work.

 

 

 

After 4 hours on the mountain it was time to refuel and warm up! When we got to the mountain the parking lot was basically empty, but on the way out it was full of hard-core skiers’ cars, clearly.

 

 

 

For our second trip, onto the chair lifts!