A few Boston Snapshots....

 

Canal in downtown Lowell



George Washingto statue at Boston Commons

The Boston Capital Building

Eerie cemetary in the middle of downtown Boston

Gothic archetecture and awesome reflections in the windows

More awesome architecture near Boston Commons area

Shippin' up to Boston....(AND I LOST MY LEG!)

This past weekend Kyle and I had our last "hoo-rah" in the northeast as we ventured four hours north to the awesome Irish-plentiful city of Boston for St. Patrick's Day weekend. The main reason for our trip was to see the Dropkick Murphys and Against Me at Tsonga's Arena (at the University of Mass.) We bought tickets for this show back in October. (And believe it or not, the entire arena sold out within an hour!)

This was truly a weekend of firsts - our first time driving through Connecticut, our first time in Massechusetts, our first time seeing Dropkick Murphys in concert.... so totally blog-worthy.

They played a lot of jams from their lastest album, Going Out in Style, including the hit single off that record which shares the same name as the album title. (See video below!)



But they also played some classics (and some of my personal favorites) like The Dirty Glass, Barroom Hero, Warrior's Code (for which they brought Mickey Ward out on stage!!!) and the classic Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced - to which the singer went down onto the floor of fans and sang with them and crowd-surfed back to the stage. They even played an encore performance of Shipping up to Boston, which had just about the entire arena dancing an Irish jig.

Click here to see photos from Dropkick's performance...

Against Me took the stage before Dropkick and put on an equally impressive show. They opened with my favorite song, Pints of Guiness Make You Stronger, and closed with the high-energy, makes-you-wanna-party-all-night song, Thrash Unreal.



The other opening bands included the Dropkick-inspired Barroom Heroes, consisting of three boys ages 11 and 14 who sure knew how to play some punk rock! Dropkick brought the boys out later during their set to play Barroom Heroes with them.

The first band to go on was a group of five sisters who play cello, violin and guitar. They kind of reminded me of a group I liked called Escala. These women also play with Dropkick on the tour.

All in all, the night was a blast. We even managed to catch some of the St. Patty's Parade the next day and walk around the downtown area. We came home Monday morning through a sudden snow storm - which was pretty trippy driving through. Now that we're back in New Jersey, and the movers are here packing stuff as I type... I'm thrilled that we got to spend our last weekend up North with Boston and with some awesome Irish/punk rock bands!

Having fun at the concert

The Dropkick Murphys! Guitars, drums, banjos, bagpipes, strings - so entertaining to watch live!

The Hudson, History & Hooahs - First visit to West Point Academy

Yesterday Kyle and I ventured one hour and 20 minutes north of our New Jersey apartment to visit the famous West Point U.S. Military Academy in Highland Falls, N.Y. This was our first time ever visiting the stomping ground of historical icons such as WWII Generals George Patton and Douglas MacArthur, not to mention the nations' first president and West Point Founder, Gen. George Washington.

Kyle and I at the West Point Museum

The scenery was absolutely amazing, with landscapes of the Hudson River spanning endlessly into the horizon. The campus was surrounded by mountains and hills of the Bear Mountain region, providing a scenic background for just about every outdoor photo I took during our visit. The Gothic architecture was reminiscent of an English town - a beautiful, historic and quaint scene I've never experienced before.

We started at the Vistors' Center and the Museum, where among the rooms and rooms of displays we saw a collection of historical Army weapons (including an Atomic Annie), and even the original portrait of George Washington.

Original portrait of
Gen. George Washington

Next was a walk around parade field, where the giant George Washington on the horse statue drew our attention no matter where we were walking on the path around the field. We even caught a glimpse of the gigantic dining hall where Gen. MacArthur gave his famous farewell speech to West Point cadets on May 12, 1962.

"Duty, Honor, Country," he declared that Spring day, "Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean."

Gen. Douglas MacArthur statue at West Point Military Academy

The amazing scenery of the campus from the doors of the medieval-looking chapel was well worth the steady uphill hike to the sanctuary. The inside of the fortress was equally breath-taking, with high, ornate ceilings and a multitude of colored stain-glass windows.


We spent some time at the West Point Battle Monument, surrounded by cannon representing major Civil War battles. The 46-feet-high monument was dedicated May 30, 1897 by surviving Civil War veterans and is said to be the largest column of polished granite in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to viewing this masterpiece, we had a clear, open view of the Hudson River.


All in all, our first visit to West Point was both beautiful and eye-opening. With all the Army history that took place there, one can't help but be in awe of the fine heroes in our nation's history that once began their careers as West Point Plebes.

Inside the West Point Chapel

View of the campus from the chapel

Kyle and I at the Battle Monument with the beautiful Hudson River behind us

Hey ya'll! I'm goin' back to Savannah I reckon'

What? Back to Savannah? Yes, dear blog reader, you read the title correctly. While being a Jersey girl for the last year has been quite an interesting ride, I will soon be returning to my Southern roots for a new job. Funny how it all played out, because this new job is actually with my former office where I spent my first year as an Army Public Affairs Intern.

Ahh yes, good 'ol Savannah. The Southern city of oak trees, Spanish Moss, sandy shores, marsh grasses, tidal waters, Southern drawls, historic buildings, River Street....and of course, Paula Deen.

A view of the famous Forsyth Park Fountain
I captured in fall 2009 in Savannah, GA.

I remember when I was at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Md., about a year ago from today, when I had to write a speech about a topic of my choice. I then had to give this speech in front of my classmates while my instructor critiqued my presentation skills. Of all the topics I could have selected, I chose to write my speech about Savannah. How fitting.

Everyone said the topic was a perfect fit for me, especially considering my drawn-out Southern accent. A few people even said I could pass as a spokesperson to advertise tourism for the city. Ha ha. Little did I know I would be moving back to the wonderful city a year later to settle down for what I now think will be long term.

Jersey has been fun. The summer and fall brought us amazing weather and many opportunities for outdoor recreation, hiking, sight-seeing and other random adventures. The winter brought several unique and first-time experiences, from walking amongt the beauty of a true "winter wonderland" to the frustrations of shoveling snow.

My job here has brought a tremendous amount of experience, opportunity, lessons learned and insight to the ins and outs of Army Public Affairs. The cultural experiences - from trips to New York City to small-town excursions in Sussex County - have been eye-opening. Interacting with the people up here, from co-workers to neighbors to random people I meet in public - has been somewhat of a cultural experience as well.

But hey, I still have two weeks left - including a trip to Boston for St. Patrick's Day - so hoping to squeeze in a couple more blog posts before I say goodbye. But even then, it won't be goodbye for long, because I'm already brainstorming names for my new Savannah blog....

Sure, that makes sense - let's cram the four best movies of the year within a month!

Today's blog post focuses on something that consumes nearly 50 percent of my off-duty hours - cinema. Especially considering the sweet bonus we get of free movie tickets every Tuesday (thank you Optimum Triple Play!), Kyle and I have been quite the movie goers here lately. And with temperatures barely lingering above freezing most days, watching a film from the comfort of a heated movie theatre sounds like a pretty good idea.

In the last month, we've seen four amazingly-awesome movies: Black Swan, The Fighter, True Grit and The King's Speech (in that order). It was thrilling as a movie-goer to see four excellent, thought-provoking and well directed films back to back. My favorite was Black Swan - partly because of my affinity for Natalie Portman, but also because I absolutely loved the direction. (Thank you Darren Aronofsky)

The Fighter was a close second in my opinion, not only because my liking for action-packed sports movies, but also because of the personal struggles overcome by each character. And of course, the brood of white-trash sisters were simply hillarious.

The Kings Speech and True Grit were also very good... I would probably rank them third and fourth, respectively.

But like all good things, they must come to an end. And you surely must know it's the end when you check the movie listings and the only things flashing back at you are a pathetic Justin Bieber film and yet another scanty flick from Ashton Kutcher. (Though I may reserve seeing "No Strings Attached" for a boring, rainy day when it comes out on Red Box simply because it features Natalie Portman.....)

And while I didn't catch 127 Hours in theatres, I can only cling to the hope that my streak of enjoying quality cinema will be restored when it's finally released on Blu-Ray. (I've completely given up hope on regular DVDs - Blu-Ray is amazing!)

And the winter doldrums continue....

In Georgia, I never knew there was a such thing as the "winter doldrums." Sure, we had a few cold weeks there, but nothing like the biting cold, ice and snow that has outstayed it's welcome in Northern New Jersey for the last six weeks.

Just for kicks, I actually googled "winter doldrums" and was surprised to find a slew of articles about the science behind the condition, and even suggestions for possible treatments. (But then again, I shouldn't be surprised at anything you can find on google; the search engine is a semi-god to me).

A few tidbits from a well-written WebMD article give a nice summary of my life since returning from Georgia for the holidays:

"The gloom caused by Mother Nature each winter in much of the country is biologically felt to some degree by an estimated one in four of us -- usually starting around October and then magically ending by April with spring's thaw. For most people, it manifests as winter doldrums, the "I-can't-wait-for-winter-to-end" feeling that produce mild but manageable sluggishness and food cravings. But about 11 million Americans have a more severe form of winter depression -- seasonal affective disorder, the aptly acronymed SAD that is, typically diagnosed after at least two consecutive years of more intense symptoms.

"While a person with winter doldrums may have difficulty waking up or getting out of bed at times, someone with seasonal affective disorder can't get to work on time," says Michael Terman, PhD, director of the Winter Depression Program at New York Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center. "With the doldrums, it's in the norm to gain up to 5 or 6 pounds over the winter, but with full-blown SAD, weight gain can be far more than that."

Well, at least I shouldn't feel alone in my winter angst. We've had a few bright and sunny afternoons lately, though the temperatures still remain cold enough to keep the two feet of snow and ice covering the ground. All I know is, I will appreciate the hell out of Spring when it finally gets here, and I won't take warm weather for granted anymore!

ICE, ICE, baby!

(cue intro music to Vanilla Ice's overplayed song....) There are some CRAZY icicles around our apartment complex from all the winter storms. Check out this pic taken from right outside our patio door that Kyle took yesterday evening.



I have a feeling winter will be upon us for quite some time in New Jersey. While my mom and sisters in Georgia have been enjoying 60+ temperatures this past weekend, I continue to bundle up and struggle against the below freezing temperatures. So when they call and talk about "how good it feels outside" and "they had the A/C running at work today," all I can do is clench the handset with jealousy and muster a fake "oh, that's nice."