A Delightful Day!

Tags

adventure, B Boys, Boats, Boston, Break Dancing, Carousel, Chef, Clowns, Cost-Effective Trips, Dancers, Day Trips, Eric Hammer, Faneuil Hall Market Place, Fish & Chips, Food, Gazpacho, Get-A-Ways, Habor Express, harbor express, Italian Ice, Lobster, Maine, Mansions, McCormick and Schmick’s, New York, Newport, newport mansions, restaurants, Salad, Shopping, Sightseeing, Slush, Soup, Street Performers, Swan Boats, Todd Sullivan, travel, Trip, turnip, turnip truck, vacation

Here comes the turnip truck!

If you are like me and you don’t really enjoy taking long trips anywhere, then day trips – or weekend get-a-way trips – are for you!

In most cases you don’t have to go far or spend a lot of money to have a good time.

Some of my favorite short trips include:

The Newport Mansions

New York City

Maine

Boston

Recently, Jim and I took a wonderful day trip into Boston, which I will highlight for you now. We decided to go to Boston’s Faneuil Hall Market Place because it is a very happening place that’s close to home and because I wanted to go shopping at some of the stores that are there.

First, we decided that it would be cheaper most fun to take a boat ride into Boston.

A ride on the Harbor Express will cost about $16 per round-trip ticket if you leave from Quincy, Ma like we did.

I love boats. I wish I owned a boat, but I don’t have any money. If Oprah, Tina and/or Ellen would just hurry up and discover me, then maybe I will be able to afford a boat.

GIRLS, I’M WAITING!

Buying a boat is expensive.

After docking in Boston, we headed over to Faneuil Hall to have lunch. Jim got to pick the restaurant and luckily he picked McCormick and Schmick’s.

Isn’t that such a funny name? Schmick.

Eating at McCormick and Schmick’s will cost you some money, but you won’t go broke and the food is awesome.

If you are looking for cheap eats then head inside the marketplace where you will find a variety of foods to choose from.

WARNING: the smorgasbord of choices inside the Marketplace is not nearly as good as McCormick and Schmick’s food selection and it is annoyingly crowded in there and some of the food at some of the places looks like it has sat out for some time; but the choice is up to you.

I’ve been to McCormick and Schmick’s twice this summer. I had a good meal and a nice server the first time, but I had a mouth-watering meal and stupendous server the second time!

My first visit was on Jack’s 1^st birthday, which was a few days before my trip in with Jim.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

What a little man!

During my second visit, Jim and I each ordered a bowl of the Sandia Gazpacho (chilled soup) for an appetizer. This gazpacho has a watermelon base. According to our server, Todd Sullivan, Sandia means watermelon. I believe Todd Sullivan is correct because he looks honest and because he is the best server of all time. I suggest that when you all go and eat at McCormick and Schmick’s in Faneuil Hall, as I know you will because I’m subconsciously using The Force on all of you now, you ask for Todd Sullivan. He really is the bestest. You’ll see.

This is Todd Sullivan:

Sorry, ladies, I do not know if Todd Sullivan is free.

DISCLAIMER: One would naturally assume that McCormick and Schmick’s is paying me for all this free publicity they are getting and/or for the amount of times I mention their name in this article, but they are not. I am doing this out of the goodness of my heart so that my readership will learn about new and exciting opportunities. You are all welcome.

Back to the food … if I’m being honest then I’m telling you that Jim and I didn’t expect the gazpacho to be so incredible. I mean it is just chilled soup (topped with huge chunks of avocado and real crabmeat). Sadly, we wolfed it all down before I thought to take a picture of it.

For his main dish, Jim ordered the tasty fish and chips, which I recommended after having ordered it during my first trip to the establishment.

I ordered a lovely lobster salad. My Lord, it was so delectable!

Next, we shared a delicious key lime pie for dessert.

Chef Eric Hammer was responsible for all this scrumptiousness. I figured he was so busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen that I didn’t want to disturb him for a photo, so I decided to include a symbol for him instead.

Here is Chef Eric Hammer’s symbol:

Jim really loved taking in all the sights throughout the day.

 

Sightseeing is free.

After lunch, I decided to do a little shopping and Jim came along and pretended to enjoy it. That’s my Gnomeo!

 

Shopping will cost someone a few dollars depending on the shopper and his/her inclination to buy everything in sight.

We also got to see a plethora of talented and/or weird street performers!

We saw clowns:

Clowns are technically free, but they ask for money.

We saw singers:

Singers are also technically free, but ask for money.

But our favorite street performance was the group of B BOYS we saw. We gave them all our extra money … that amounted to about $8 in total.

They were awesomely fun.

Imagine cool thumping music in your head as you look at the next few images.

If you are not one of those cheapo people who pretend they don’t even have a dollar bill on them, then this activity will cost you anywhere from $ 1 to ? – It depends on how generous you are.

For more information on this wonderful group of dancers you can visit www.yakcrewent.com or go and find them in Faneuil Hall.

There are even a couple of carousels for you to enjoy on your Boston adventure.

Jack, RiRi and Ally took a spin on the carousel across from Faneuil Hall for Jack’s birthday.

The carousel is about $3 per person to ride.

To finish out the afternoon, you can grab a slushy and enjoy it on the boat ride back while you ponder your very delightful day!

Expect to pay about $3.50 per slushy.

Wherever you decide to go, I wish you loads of fun, plenty of memories and safe travels!

Until next time…

I’m turning off the turnip truck.

T

There’s Nothing Like a Bestest!

Tags

Bermuda, Best Friend, Bestest, Bestie, Bossypants, Boston, cruise, Georgia, Kermit, Kerry, Manhattan, Margaret, New York, Nicole, Oprah Winfrey, rodeo clowns, rodeos, Tina Fey

Here comes the turnip truck!

First, a note to all my subscribers: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am so happy to have 20 subscribers in the first week! You are the most important people in my life right now and everything I do I do for you. No. I did not mean to quote a song just then. Seriously. Thank you. I sent my first two emails announcing my new blog site and begging people to subscribe to over 160 people and 20 of you subscribed. I would like to know why the other 140 didn’t bother, but that is neither here nor there because YOU, current subscribers, are the people to whom I’m dedicating this post.

Another note to subscribers: please don’t read this post from your email – go to the blog page so I can tally how many hits I’m getting. I’m obsessed with those darn stats! Besides, the real blog page has more pizzazz. Love you all (and by “all” I mean my subscribers). XO

(For those of you unfamiliar with the “XO” notation, it means hugs and kisses.)

Blowing a Kiss to My Subscribers Me ... The Hug is Right Behind the Kiss, You Just Can't See It!

OK. This is my 4^th blog post. I’m so glad I made it this far. I’m starting to feel like all the trouble it took me to build this blog site was not for nothing. Actually, I’m surprised at how technically savvy I am becoming on this blogging machine. I didn’t think it was possible.

 So, as I paid homage to Oprah in my last post I need to pay something to Tina in this one. The way I see it, Tina Fey and I are a lot alike. We have similar writing styles (though Tina’s is a little wittier than mine – and way more grammatically correct. I’ve never been great at spelling or grammar. It’s a curse that I will live with until the day I die – and I’m not dying until I reach the age 100 so I have a long road ahead of me of feeling inadequate.). She is pretty and I aspire to be pretty. I don’t even want to be beautiful pretty. Averagely pretty will do. And, we have both been on the hometown (she from New York and me from Boston) to Bermuda cruise and experienced annoying situations. (Tina, I know you would say this is an understatement in your case, but I’m trying to average out our levels of irritation. If you, the reader of this blog, want to read more about Tina’s annoying cruising experience, go buy her book: Bossypants.)

Tina, if you want to be friends, there is plenty of room in my life for someone as fabulous and fun as yourself. All you have to do is say the word. You can be my Manhattan bestest! (Laura is already my Brooklyn bestest.) I’m sure Amy Poehler won’t mind sharing!

Besties = Best Friends Forever = BFFs = Bestestes

That’s BEST – EST – ES … NOT Beasts

Now on to some of my real-life bestest friends. Please don’t be offended if you are not noted as one of my bestestes on this post. It doesn’t mean anything.

Many of you do not know my friend Margaret. Margaret is my Bestest [friend] in Massachusetts. I have two other bestestes: Nicole in Georgia and Kerry B in North Carolina.

None of my bestestes really like sharing me with other friends. I think this is very nice. It makes me feel special. Seriously, I am not complaining. After all, I put a lot of work into convincing all three of them that I was the bestest friend that they each had in the entire world and they believed me. Cultivating such powerful friendships is very time-consuming and exhausting. So, I’m glad they appreciate my efforts.

Margaret was one I aggressively pursued a friendship with for years before she even noticed me (Noooo, Jim, I did not stalk her) and then I brainwashed her into thinking I was her bestest friend in the whole wide world and we became buddies. Margaret dreams of owning her very own Dairy Queen one day. MMM MM! I looooove DQ! I hope she tosses her nursing career aside and buys this little ice cream hut. It would make me very happy.

Another little tidbit about Margaret is that she hates to talk on the phone. Our relationship continues to be forged on nothing but a multitude of text messages. Margaret doesn’t care that she could get thumb disease from texting on her cell phone all day long. I, too, feel this is a better way to die than, say, holding a cell up to your brain and getting a tumor. That would be painful.

This is Margaret

Kerry is a very unique individual. Firstly, she thinks she gets personal emails from Oprah. She doesn’t.

Nextly, she loves to go to rodeos and country line dance. Actually, she was once smitten with a rodeo clown named Kermit whom she met when we were country dancing at Billy’s in Peabody, MA. It’s true. Even I can’t make up stuff this crazy. It never really worked out with Kerry and Kermit because his job was just too dangerous. She would have nightmares every night that he was getting head-butted by a bull. Ouch! Find the barrel, Kermit!

Finally, Kerry B’s dream is to one day become a professional wrestler like George Clooney’s current girlfriend, what’s-her-name Keibler Cracker. I hope Kerry gets her wish. That would be nice.

This is Kerry B

And what is Nicole’s dream? Nicole wants to be a folk singer. When we were in our 20s she would ask me to sit on the couch in her living room and watch her give would-be concert performances. She was good, but she couldn’t catch a break. It’s all in who you know, I guess. I bet Oprah could make her dream come true.

Nicole now lives in Georgia with her family. Nicole doesn’t want to Skype with me so I never see her anymore. She doesn’t like to use any kind of phone device so I never talk to her. And she is morally opposed to all things Internet, so we never email. Heck! For all I know she moved to India by now. No. I’m just being grumpy. I’m sure one day we will make contact with each other again. That would be a miracle.

This is Nicole

Until next time…

I’m turning off the turnip truck.

T