Easter 2012

The House Adventure

By everyone's standards, we've had a very mild and beautiful winter here in Boston. It's actually felt more like spring, what with all of the sunshine, and blue skies (except for this week and last week- it's been gross weather like snow and rain).

However, the temperatures have still been a little chilly.

So when we realized that after three days, our heat had gone out,  it started to make sense. Our ground floor was a balmy 42 degrees- and thats only when we checked to see what the temperature was (it was probably more like in the 30's). We had been wondering why we didn't really feel like being downstairs, and we had been spending all our at-home time in our bedroom.

So we called an oil company, arranged for them to come fill and light our tank in a few days, charged my account $840, and holed up in a blanket fort we built in our teeny tiny sewing room with a space heater inside it. I wish I had a picture of our epically fashioned, structurally sound tent- we fit all of us inside, watched Hulu.com and knitted stuff.

While this was going on, Alexandra had her sisters over for the weekend, and our newfangled fridge decided to melt itself, so our fridge smelled gross, and we couldn't use the lights, because the computer was sending too much power to the sockets so the plastic would melt. So poor Kenzie shelled out $600 to replace the computer parts...

So then there were a few weeks of panic, because we had both just spent a whole lot of money and there was the problem of us not having jobs, but let me tell you, we were not hung out to dry. 

Through our ward, Kenzie got an awesome job watching three darling kids- two girls, 4 and 7, and a little baby boy. I got a great job from my amazing visiting teaching partner, working for her on some projects, and I just started working for a very nice lady helping her with her adorable little 1 month old twin boys. They were actually born the day before we left for Boston, so we are all three starting out on a new adventure together! I love them so much, they're the cutest!

So now we're back to not freezing to death, having SO MUCH FUN together with our roommates, Alexandra and our new roommate Julie! She's a massage therapist who splits her time between us and her house in Connecticut. We're so excited to have her! 

Hopefully though, it warms up soon, so if we happen to run out of fuel again, we won't have to resort to living in a space-heated blanket fort!

Cheers and best wishes!

Market Day At BIRKA

The weekend of January 28th, our new roommate, Alexandra, invited us to go with her to a Renaissance Market at a hotel in New Hampshire. She is a wonderful seamstress and dressed us all in acceptable period garb that she hand sewed her self!!

There were some sparring going on- it got crazy at points...

Kenzie got some awesome footage from some of the skirmishes!

That man with the trumpet? He actually does the trumpet thing.

 See? Totes cool.

The armor was pretty legit. It had to be certified and double checked before they could fight.

 The fights were held in the armory, and an armory it was, as you can see....

Kenzie and Jami liked the mannequin...

But, the merchandise was splendid! All very impressive.

This guy's horsehair crest was AMAZING! He was a winner for most of the time! But as soon as I decided that he was my favorite fighter, he lost...I guess that says something about me... :(

Also, this guy... LOOK AT THOSE DREADS!!

Kenzie thought this man especially fierce!

I guess this hotel was dog friendly, because there were wolf-hounds, Chihuahuas, and delightful Poodle in attendance.

The fencing was also fascinating, and the very different styles in technique, garb and ferocity was very impressive. Take this guy- did he have good taste in shields or what?

This lady had a face put on her mask wich seemed a good tactic- always well composed.

These spars were my favorite.

For both combat and fencing matches, if you lost your leg and won, it would carry on to your next match. It was quite humorous.

...as seen here...

We had a roast pig for lunch...but I myself had a sandwich. I can eat anything that will stare at me while I consume it.

Besides the fights, there was an amazing market, with all sorts of amazing wares for sale.

I loved this armor, except it probably weighed as much as I do, and besides, where on Earth would I wear it? But it was SO COOL!

This charming and outgoing young man had quite an impressive outfit.

Kenzie got into the awesome leather maks they had for sale.

There was a fashion show after the fights were over, and this lovely Russian lady won first place! (Admittedly, there were like, 4 first place winners, but her costume was the most impressive.)

I didn't get a picture of her, but there was a young lady in attendance who was dressed like this...

Which was against the rules...fantasy/cosplay wasn't allowed, but there she was! It was a very impressive and true to form costume, though.

I did like this girl's costume, but she was very, very shy I think.

Jami was a little tired on the way home...

(The embarrassing photos are payback for the cemetery post ladies! Take that!)

We had so much fun that day! It was really a wonderful new experience!