Beantown in the Spring

I came back from Christmas break and got right back in the swing of things. School picked back up and it was a very busy semester! I took classes in Reference, Technology, and Photographic Archives. My technology class made me feel like a wizard! My photo archives class was SO COOL. I can identify any photographic process from the daguerreotype to the Polaroid and I feel like I have a much greater appreciation for photography in general now. I really love working with photographs; hopefully I'll be able to work with them a lot more in the future! Mid-semester I got to do a job shadow for a day at Brandeis University. The archivist there is really cool and let me take a picture with their Oscar. There are so many random perks to being an archivist that I never would've thought of!

In February, we got the blizzard nor'easter Nemo. There was tons of hype about it, and I was a little worried... the locals were all shrugging it off like it was no big deal, but I still stocked up on food and had my emergency supplies ready. The storm was much less stressful than Sandy (mostly because snow is quieter than rain), but we were still home-bound pretty much all weekend. I could not believe the huge quantity of snow that dumped on us!

When it finally stopped snowing, people started digging out their cars and clearing the roads and sidewalks. I met more neighbors that weekend than in the last ten months combined! Once they cleared pathways for pedestrians, sometimes you could barely see people's heads over the mountains of snow on either side of the sidewalk. It was crazy! One good thing about Boston, though, is that snow seems to melt really quickly. In Utah, snow seems to linger forever, but in Boston it warms up enough to get rid of the snow in a reasonable amount of time.

I was supposed to see Jersey Boys on the day Nemo hit, and since the whole city was closed, they exchanged my tickets for the following week. Of course it ended up being on Valentine's Day, and since I'm a wimp about asking boys on dates, I asked my good friend April to come with me! It was an amazing show and we had a blast on our girl date!

On April 15, everyone in Boston was way excited for Patriot's Day, also known as Marathon Monday. The whole city closes down for the Boston Marathon--schools are closed, most businesses are closed, and people enjoy the marathon and a day off from their busy lives. As you all know, though, two bombs went off near the finish line of the marathon. I had been in that area only about an hour beforehand; I was so glad I'd left early! I really appreciated all the concerned texts, emails, and phone calls from my family and friends. Fortunately no one I personally know was injured, but Boston was definitely solemn for the next couple of days. I felt so incredibly blessed to be in the University Ward! I was with some friends from church at the time of the bombing and everyone immediately started checking up on each other until everyone was accounted for. It really felt like a big family taking care of each other. I gush about my ward all the time... they're really really great.

Picture of some University Ward friends at a General Conference after-party

As the weekend approached, the city felt like it was getting back to normal. I was so impressed with how Boston rallied together. In such a notoriously "rude" city, it was so great to see all those rough-around-the-edges people reach out to one another. It was kind of ridiculous how touched I was by the shout-outs from around the country (and world, even!) to stand strong with Boston. Even the Yankees paid a little tribute and sang "Sweet Caroline" (which is a Red Sox tradition) during their game. I wanted to give them a hug!

Thursday afternoon, pictures of the bombing suspects were released. Then late Thursday night, I heard that a campus officer had been shot at MIT. I have a lot of friends at MIT and I live about a mile away from campus, so I was really worried. It hadn't occurred to me at that point that the shooter(s) could be the same people as the bombers. I couldn't really sleep that night, and the next morning I was awoken very early by a phone call from my school telling me that campus was closed and the city (and surrounding areas) was essentially on lockdown. Since most of you probably followed the story on the news, I won't bore you with details of the manhunt. But let me just say that I was kind of freaked out. And the worst part was that I couldn't do anything but watch the news all day. I hated watching the news because it just stressed me out, but if I tried to do something else I would just be wondering what was going on! Fortunately all the shootouts and evacuations were happening several miles away, but while that was going on, they had a team inspecting the suspects' apartment which is just down the street from me! They found and detonated some explosives there, but I didn't feel any of it. Finally a little after 9:00 p.m. they caught the suspect, and although I didn't feel completely safe yet, I was so relieved. Supposedly in some areas of Boston, people were out in the streets singing and cheering on law enforcement. Weird, weird week, to say the least.

A map depicting the manhunt. The star on the far right is where I live; it's about 6 miles from where the suspect was taken into custody on the far left. [Map idea and some info taken from Matt Killian]

The rest of my semester was pretty low-key... although I'm pretty sure anything would seem low-key after a bombing and a manhunt.

 Here are some pretty pictures of Springtime!

Beacon Street

 

Tulips at Old South Church in Copley Square

View of Boston from the McCormick penthouse (MIT)

Beantown in the Fall

Welp, for the last ten months I've been living in Boston. For anyone who watches the news, you know that Boston has been a pretty eventful place this last year. In spite of a hurricane, a blizzard, and a bombing, I've had an incredible time here so far.

In September I started my first semester in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at Simmons College. I'm specializing in Archives Management, so most of my workload has been split about half-and-half between general library classes and archives classes. Contrary to popular belief, I have not spent the last year just learning about the Dewey Decimal System. :) In the Fall I took Information Organization (essentially an introductory cataloging class), Intro to Archival Methods and Services, and Preservation Management. I love the small class sizes at Simmons, and I feel like I have a great relationship with all my professors. Plus I feel like my professors all really know what they're doing; for example, my Preservation Management professor has some kind of management position at the New England Document Conservation Center, which has done some pretty impressive work with a lot of the natural disasters over the last several years. It was so cool to hear her experiences; from what I know of other schools, they just get tons of theory and not much practical instruction, so I'm really glad I'm at Simmons!

As part of the Intro Archives class, I had an internship at the Concord Free Public Library. I processed a couple of collections and made online finding aids (a finding aid is to archival collections as a catalog is to a library). I can technically say I'm published, since my finding aids are on their website! The collections I processed were a scrapbook of the Grapevine Cottage (where the Concord Grape was developed) and a huge collection of old almanacs, ranging from 1792 to 1950. I really enjoyed it! [If you want to see my finding aids, the scrapbook is here and the almanacs are here.]

Mid-October, my mom and sister were able to come visit and then my sister-in-law came the week after. Although I didn't feel like I knew much about the area yet, I loved showing them around! We did the Freedom Trail, saw MIT and Harvard campuses, and made trips to Concord and Salem. We had a great time.

Me with my mom and sister in front of the
numbers man on MIT campus

Ashley and I in Salem!

Autumn in Boston was absolutely gorgeous. It's always been my favorite season, and it's probably my favorite thing about living in New England. 

This was one of the most
vibrantly-colored leaves I'd ever
seen. Just one of many examples
of the gorgeous New England fall.

 A few days after Ashley's visit, Hurricane Sandy hit. Fortunately most of the Boston area only experienced some pretty strong winds and rain. Being my first hurricane, however, I was pretty freaked out. When I stepped outside the next day, the streets were littered with trash and tree branches, and a lot of the canopies above local businesses were totally shredded.

Thanksgiving came, and I was lucky enough to go home for a week and a half for the holiday and (more importantly) my best friend's wedding. My dearest Katie got married and I couldn't be happier for her!

The lovely bride with her bridesmaids: me, Britney,
Katie, Stacey, and Celeste

In December, there was a big Christmas tree lighting on the Boston Common. I went with some of my good friends from Simmons, and even though the rumors of Enrique Iglesias being in attendance turned out to be false, we had a great time! 

Ryan, Becky, Lindsey, Lauren, me, and Dorice

Mackenzi, Mariah (my lovely roommate), and me

I got to go home for an entire month between semesters and had a most excellent time hanging out with my family and friends over Christmas break.

Me with my adorable niece

Me with my studly nephew and nephbear

Murray friends at Temple Square

So this one time I drove across the country...

Just over a week ago, my dad and I started our drive across the country to move me out to Boston. It was long, but we were able to make some fun stops along the way. I'm so glad my dad came with me so I didn't have to make the drive by myself. We left Wednesday afternoon and stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Wyoming is a pretty boring state, but we soon realized it wasn't our least favorite...

Wyoming. Thrilling, right?

We spent most of the next day driving through Nebraska. We made a fun little stop in Hastings, the birthplace of Kool-Aid, to visit a museum with a sweet Kool-Aid exhibit. That night we stopped in Iowa. Nebraska is the worst state ever. Not only is it awkwardly-shaped and therefore takes forever to drive through, there's nothing to see! (Nothing along the highway at least.) It was all flat, brown, and drab. So glad that's over.

Who knew "the good life" was in Nebraska? Or that it's the home of Arbor Day? What an educational trip.

See? I'm being like the Kool-Aid guys.

We couldn't get a picture with the "Iowa" sign, so we got a picture in the first city we stopped in.

The Mississippi River

The next day, we drove through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In Ohio we stopped at the Campbell's Soup factory and got pictures with the giant tomato soup can!

The Land of Lincoln!

I think Indiana is home to the most attractive men in the U.S. They should put that on their sign.

This place was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! Super tasty.

Good ol' Ohio

I was supposed to be holding it, but I'm gonna say I'm presenting it. You know, gettin' my Vanna White on.

The sign for Pennsylvania. Awesome picture.

On Saturday, we drove to Allentown, Pennsylvania and visited my brother Scott and my nephdog Kingston. Unfortunately Ashley had other plans with some friends in D.C. and we didn't get to see her. But we're planning on going to Salem together this October! It'll be awesome. While we were visiting Scott, we went to lunch, visited the Crayola factory, and had some yummy Thai food for dinner.

Giant crayons tumbling from the box at the Crayola factory

They showed us how they make crayons and markers!

My brand-new purple marker. Fun fact: All markers start out with white tips until the color soaks through!

Me with the World's Largest Crayon in the super cool Crayola store!

Grandpa with Grandpup :)

Sunday we decided to take a little detour and visit some LDS church history sites in Palmyra, New York. It was so cool to see where the church started out. I've read about it for so many years and it was really cool to finally see it in person.

The Palmyra Temple

The Sacred Grove

The Moroni monument on top of Hill Cumorah

Cool view from the top of Hill Cumorah

Where the first edition of the Book of Mormon was published

On Monday we drove the last few hours to Boston. We picked up my apartment keys from my landlord and moved my stuff in. Unfortunately I can't actually move in until September 1st, but they're letting me put my belongings in the living room until my bedroom is free. I'm so glad I had my dad's help moving everything up (my apartment is on the third floor with plenty of winding, rickety stairs leading up), and I'm even more glad that neither of us had a heart attack after that climb!


The next morning my dad and I went to see the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house. It was cool to see those pieces of history--I can't wait to experience more of it here in Boston!

Old North Church and Paul Revere statue

I'm glad that the crazy long drive is behind us (even though I had lots of fun with my dad!), but this waiting period before I can move in is kind of awkward. I can't wait to get settled in and start school! I'll post pictures of my new place as soon as I'm moved in :)

Let's Go To The Mall!

Here's a picker-upper for the day:

This is from the TV show "How I Met Your Mother." They find out their friend Robin used to be a teen pop star in Canada and they unveil this music video. It makes me giggle. I have this song stuck in my head about 60% of the time.

Grad School Update

Hello, friends!

I figure I should give everyone an update about my plans for graduate school. This is a follow-up to my "Decisions, Decisions" post, which you can find here. During my extensive research on schools and programs in the realm of library science, I found a school that will let me start this fall. Initially I thought the earliest I could begin my program would be in January, but this school had a later application deadline for Fall Semester, so I decided to take the leap.

So I applied for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston. It's a top-ranked library science program, although it is a pretty small private school. I was intimidated and unsure that I'd be able to get all my application materials in soon enough. They were kind enough to let me apply a few days late (the day I decided to even pursue a master's degree was their application deadline) and I was trying so hard to get everything in quickly. Luckily, within about 4 days I had written a compelling statement of purpose (aka admission essay), re-vamped my already-kick-A resume, arranged my letters of recommendation, and ordered my college transcripts. It was a busy week, but somehow I managed to get everything submitted. After some annoying interactions with SLCC regarding my transcripts, everything was running smoothly and then all I could do was wait.

Four to six weeks later, I got my acceptance letter!

(Sorry for the crappy quality)

For a while I wasn't sure whether I'd actually start in the Fall or if I'd try to get more scholarship money and start in the Spring. I finally decided to just go for it. After deciding that this is what I want to do, I just want to get started on the next chapter in my life.

The next step was to start looking at apartments and getting more information about both Simmons College and Boston in general. I was really overwhelmed and felt pretty clueless. Luckily, I got in contact with my cousin Brandon (who lives in Boston) and with his helpful connections I was given a website to help me find LDS roommates in the Boston area. Within less than a week I found an apartment with 3 other LDS girls in Cambridge, right across the river from Boston. It's really close to the subway, so I should be able to get to school really easily; I'll be living above a post office, which is just fabulous (mailing stuff is my most neglected errand); there is a mall within a couple blocks; and according to google maps, there are all sorts of cute little local restaurants in the area. The ward sounds really fun, too. It encompasses the whole Boston area, which means it has students from Boston University, Harvard, MIT, etc. And according to a couple of my friends who have spent some time in the Boston/Cambridge area, Cambridge is absolutely gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to it! I'll be moving out in the middle of August.

There's still a lot I feel clueless about, especially in regards to school, but I'm flying out to Boston with my mom in a couple weeks for Advising Day. Hopefully after I spend some time on campus and listen to people ramble on and on about how great the school is for a few hours, I'll feel more prepared. I'm excited to register for classes, though. I was reading through the course descriptions and it sounds like some of them are crazy cool (in a nerdy-sort-of-way). There are even some work study opportunities, so hopefully I'll be able to get some real hands-on experience once I'm out there.

The more I think about living in Boston, the more excited I get. I realized last week that whenever I see mail trucks I get really happy. I've also had a long-standing affection for sailboats--I just think they're adorable! I'm also a wee bit obsessed with leaves changing colors in the fall, and Boston has so many trees, it'll be gorgeous. PLUS, October is my favorite month and Halloween is probably my favorite holiday; Salem is only a couple of hours from Boston and I'm sure they have all sorts of cool stuff around Halloween.

Gorgeous, right? This is in the Boston Public Garden. I'll definitely be making a stop here.

Thank you everyone for your love and support! The program will take two years to complete, so I'll be living in Boston at least that long. I'll try to keep everyone updated.

Farewell

*Since my blog is public, I don't want random fans finding this blog via Google, so I won't be using my friend's name. Sorry if it sounds a bit cryptic :)

Most of you know that a particular singer is a good friend of mine. I've known him since 10th grade. We ran in the same circles in high school, and whenever we'd play midnight dodgeball (Sunday nights whenever there was no school on Monday) he would host after-parties at his house. Then when he was a Junior and I was a Senior, he asked me to Homecoming. He has always been sweet, kind of shy, and extremely kind to everyone. Although we didn't keep in touch constantly after he was on A.I., I was still able to see him periodically. Sometimes we'd hang out when he was in town, and during the semester I was working in Disneyland, he happened to have a Christmas concert in Anaheim--we were able to meet up and hang out in his dressing room and tour bus for a while.

My friend recently made the decision to serve an LDS mission. He is going to give up his music career for the next two years to serve God and spread His word. I'm so incredibly proud of him. It's hard enough for the average young adult male to give up his life for two years. I can't imagine the sacrifice it will be for a celebrity.


Anyway, this friend of mine invited me to attend his farewell talk. Not many people were invited, and there was only a handful of high school friends in attendance. I was so happy to be included, and the whole thing was just an incredible experience. Elder Ballard was there, as well as a few other "Mormon celebrities" like Alex Boye and Sheri Dew.

My friend gave a wonderful talk about the Holy Ghost and how different people feel the Spirit. He shared some of his experiences, many of them from his time on A.I. He did a great job. After his talk, he sang "The Spirit of God." It was a beautiful arrangement. He sang the first verse in English, the second verse in Spanish (the language he'll be speaking on his mission), and finished it off again in English. He got a little choked up while he was singing... As if we weren't all emotional already, once he lost it, I'm pretty sure everyone was crying. There was a surround sound of sniffles, that's for sure.

After the meeting, everyone was invited to shake hands with my friend and say hello in the cultural hall, and some of his closer friends were invited to a luncheon. I stopped by the luncheon and had a good time. I always feel self-conscious when there are stylists around though! (His stylist is a nice person--and her husband is hilarious--but I still feel like she thinks I look frumpy or something.) Regardless, I got to catch up with some high school friends and eat some yummy food, so I'd say it was a success.

My friend left for the MTC three days later (and happened to make a quick appearance in the choir at General Conference four days after that). I'm so proud of him and wish him the best of luck. I'll miss you, D! You'll be an awesome missionary!

Decisions, Decisions

The last week has been super crazy. I spent the first half of the week interviewing for a job I didn't end up getting, followed by some wandering around a career fair in Logan, introducing myself to countless employers who wouldn't even talk to me. I made my trek home in a blizzard, arriving just in time to make my appointment with the bishop of the YSA ward. This meeting was supposed to be a "get-to-know-you," but it resulted in an additional church calling and some terrifying decisions to make.

Near the end of my meeting with the bishop, he told me I should pray about going on a mission. I've never particularly wanted to go on a mission, but I figured if it was something I was meant to do, I'd suck it up and do it. I hadn't prayed about going in a really long time, honestly because I was afraid of the answer. I'm a selfish, technology- and media-reliant person and I didn't want to leave everything behind for a year and a half. Regardless, I decided to actually pray about going a mission. I read some friends' mission blogs and conference talks (to see what General Authorities have actually said about women serving missions), and prayed a whole bunch. The rest of the night I was panicking a little and couldn't get the thought out of my head.

Then I pulled out my patriarchal blessing. I read through it a few times and it made me feel so much better. Nothing in it was blatantly pointing toward a mission, but it said a lot about education. The first thought that occurred to me was Geez, what was I thinking? Of course I'm not done with school yet!

The next morning I woke up feeling really great about not going on a mission. Instead, I started researching grad programs and schools. I decided that getting a Master's in Library Science sounded like a genius idea. I also decided I'm going to specialize in Archives and Preservation. There are three main schools I've been researching, all back east. They're all tied for rank #10 for library schools in the U.S. Fortunately, none of them require the GRE for admission (because I graduated from USU with a kick-A GPA!), so I've just been able to start my applications. One particular school would theoretically let me start as early as this spring! Otherwise I'll have to wait for about a year and a half to start the program. I'm freaking out a little about all this. It's all pretty sudden and overwhelming.

Anyway, I thought I owed my blogstalkers an update. I'm not quite ready to announce this to everyone on facebook yet, so consider yourself privileged!

Eat Cookies and Love It

So I was on Pinterest the other day and I saw this picture:

 

A few of my friends had "repinned" the picture, supporting this idea that to be a healthy individual, you can never eat cookies or sweets and you should instead spend that time running. It's possible that the friends who posted this picture didn't really think of the implications; maybe this just seems like a good motivational poster that will help them keep their fitness goals in sight. To me, however, I find this picture discouraging and misleading.

Not many people outside my immediate family know this, but several months ago I joined Weight Watchers. One thing I absolutely love about WW is that they don't want anyone to feel deprived. If you want to lose weight, that's awesome! But you don't have to give up everything you love--you should probably just have less. [Basically the way WW works is that everyone has gets a certain number of points each day. Every food item has an assigned point value, so you simply eat your allotted amount of points every day and you lose weight. You can eat whatever you want as long as you figure out the points for your food and take it out of your daily allotment. (If you want to learn more, you can get more extensive information at www.weightwatchers.com and Jennifer Hudson can sing to you about it.)]

I have had a LOT of roommates within the last few years, and a lot of those roommates have been on diets or have been extremely obsessed with staying thin. These beautiful girls would completely deprive themselves of any food that actually tasted good in an effort to be more attractive. The problem, however, was that about once a week, these girls would binge on cookies, brownies, cakes, or anything else they could get their hands on. I don't know if it was psychological (since they suddenly couldn't have chocolate, they wanted it all the time!) or if it was physical. Maybe if they had one very small treat every day, they wouldn't have to rely on these binges to get their fix. These binges led them to feel terrible about themselves. "Oh my gosh, I'm awful. I ate like half a pan of brownies!" Well yeah, that probably wasn't smart... But the way I see it, if you'd let yourself eat one brownie every day instead of eating half a pan in half an hour, you'd feel much better about yourself.

I have a big problem with diets that insist you completely cut out anything. It's alright to eat a cookie every once in a while. I'm not saying you should binge on tons of cookies every day and feel great about it. I am saying that you should never feel guilty about eating one freaking cookie.

I'm not trying to diss exercise, either. Exercising is great, but running isn't the only type of exercise that can get you into shape. If you love running, that is awesome for you! I loathe it. Walking, however, and doing silly DVD workouts are much more fun for me. Why do something you hate just so you can be skinny? Instead, I suggest we all try to find an activity we enjoy so we can be healthy.

Being skinny doesn't make you happy and it doesn't mean you're healthy. Obviously I'm not an expert and there is a reason I'm a member of Weight Watchers... but I've known a lot of people, I've taken college courses in nutrition, and I've learned a ton from WW. If you are going to feel terrible about yourself for eating a cookie, then don't eat it. But man, I feel sorry for you. Cookies are great.

Faux-Graduation

So because I graduated in December, I didn't have an actual ceremony. (USU did away with their Fall graduation a couple of years ago due to budget cuts.) If I want to walk I'll have to do it in May, which I'm not super enthusiastic about right now. So we'll see if I want to when it gets closer.

Since I wanted some proof of graduating, I had my sister take a few pictures of me. We still had my cap and gown from high school graduation, so I just slapped on my USU tassel, held up my empty diploma case thingy, and smiled really pretty. Not super official, but it works. Here are a few of the results:

We think this should be on a brochure