PERFECT MOMENTS

Boston Day 3

Last day of our class. Got up the same time to have breakfast. I forgot to tell you how freakin' COLD/FREEZING the classroom was. I guess that's to keep us awake coz' when it gets too warm people get restless and sleepy like me. We actually got to finish the class around 3pm and we were happy with that. Brenda suggested us to go to the Foxwood Resort and Casino in Connecticut (it's about 1 hr and 30 min w/out traffic but with traffic it's about 2 hours away from Boston) The drive was beautiful. It would've been more beautiful if it was on the Fall (October) when the leaves starts changing colors as I was told.

We even drove through Rhode Island which looks beautiful from the freeway. I would love to explore this more,too but maybe next time with Nelson. He would love it.

All through out our drive was all these beautiful trees. I have never seen so much green trees on the freeway it was gorgeous.

Here is the casino...Foxwood Casino Resort. It was totally humongous and the inside was just spectacular!

Yes,there is an MGM Grand Casino there which was equally beautiful...can't believe how gorgeous the casinos are there in Connecticut. 

Britney Spears Costume display in the HardRock Cafe.

Bon Jovi! Yeah,baby!

Chris Isaak costume

This was infront of the buffet restaurant we ate @where Brenda treated us called Festival Harvest. I loved the Bread pudding with the vanilla sauce drizzled on top! The statue changes colors and it turns.

The dessert section my very favorite!  

 

Yes, a small M&M's store.

Ms. B gave this to us as a balato for being a big winner @the Keno Slot!  

 

Boston Day 2

Lou and I both got up @6am so we can have breakfast before our class which the registration opens @7am. First day of our class. It was an 8 hours class..I was so sleepy becoz' I did not have a good night's rest becoz' of the darn pillow being so soft. We had the AC on for the whole time becoz' it was so HOT!

 

This is like a glass fountain thingamajig. It's a divider. I really like their restaurant.

 

Solarium very nice...

The lobby with the restaurant in the background.

My folder for class.

This is what I have for our breakfast break...yummy blueberry yogurt with Granola (I am totally loving this now!) and then fruits in addition. Lotsa H20 i drank!

Pretzel with mustard. Pls. remind me not to eat with mustard,yucckkk. I guess it's popular there to eat with lotsa mustard. One of our seatmate who is an LVN (named Jacqui from the Florida VA--she works in one of the CBOC's there. Then Tabatha (who works in the HR dept. from the Tuscaloosa VA) This was a class for our LVN boards so we can learn more about being a board member and how to handle appointments and etc. Everything for our trip, airplane,hotel and food was paid by the VA! And we were able to use our AA.

 

After our class, Brenda drove us to downtown (this really nice Cadillac SUV). It was too funny becoz' she was freaked out by the keyless car and all this technology and gadgetry on this SUV. I don't like it,too coz' it's so weird and still have to get used to it. Driving in downtown is a pain in the tuckus. We just parked in the parking garage for $12. We arrived in downtown around 6pm na yata. Here you will find the pictures of our walking tour of downtown Boston.

 

 

   

This is a restaurant now but it used to be the First City Hall but it's a Ruth's Chris Steak house.

Isn't our food awesome? Yes, the steak was so good....! The price was very reasonable,also. Brenda noted that in the back of us was the cemetery (I did not know until she pointed it out.) I did not like my crab and corn chowder coz' it was salty but the rest was great.

Zambiki Bridge in the distant. The Bridge is unbelievably gorgeous! I love it.

     
   

        
  
 

Boston Day 1

My dear Nelly was the one who brought me to the airport @6AM. Our flight leaves @8:34 am with United Airlines. Lou wasn't there yet so I decided to have breakfast @Lori's diner. Our gate was supposed to be 90 they changed it to 82 and then 84 yata. It's a good thing that Lou was there to let me know kung hindi I wouldn't have known. Plus there was a 30 minute delay for the flight due to the weather then mechanical problem. In spite of that I got to check in my carry on for free!  The seat I got was 21E (window seat) which turned out well naman coz' I only peed once for that almost 6 hours flight. The plane was very full. I slept and listened to my music thank god for the i-phone coz' I was able to wile away my time. Traveling is nice but the flight kills me. We arrived @the Logan Airport in Boston around 5:30pm na.

Welcome to Boston. I took this picture at the airport. 

My awesome breakfast of Omelet (bacon,mushrooms,green onions),sourdough bread and Hashbrowns.

Here I am @the T station (Blue LIne--after checking in @the Embassy suite)-Lou and I decided to venture out. I wish I did a little more researching about Boston. Next time. One of the worker's that was fixing the ticket machine helped us with the tickets (they call their card Charlie Ticket) for the round trip was $6.80. You really can tell that you're in Boston becoz' of their accent. They sound tough but they were all very helpful,actually. We haven't encountered anyone being rude to us.

 

This is the shot of their train station very modern but kinda confusing with the inbound/outbound.

There were virtually no traffic in downtown. Parking here is hard so a lot of the people walk. Boston is a walking city.

Interstate 93 is like Highway 101 it's a straight through freeway that goes to a lot of States. Their speed limit is 55mph (there is some freeway that are 65mph). Their carpool lane is called HOV. Our fastrack is called Express Pass or Ipass. Their toll is $3.50. Their sales tax is $6.25. Gas is $2.77.

 

This is near the wharf....one of the buildings intrigued me becoz' of the architecture of it. I think it's their aquarium this is near the restaurant we ate at.

This is the restaurant we ate at....it was totally delicious BUT getting our food took a long time (more than 20 minutes!) They were really busy there. One of the hostess told us their restaurant was one of the top there. 

This clam chowder is the best I have ever tasted! Lou and I both ordered it.

Me and my yummy cioppino!

Lou with her Fish Market dish.

Boston @night time....that's my co-worker walking the streets of Boston. It was very hot at this time note no jacket for us SF girls.

 

Me,@the Faneuil Marketplace, a famous shopping place.

 

This is the hotel where we stayed at in East Boston. If you take the train it's only 10 minutes from Dowtown (you have to stop @the Aquarium station)

King bed....$231 per night government rate. Lou had me used this bed while she stayed at the living room with the pull out bed from the couch. Free breakfast in the morning!!!

Here is the living room suite with a small kitchenette and it has a microwave and ref.  

Chicago Collage

Just a highlight of some of the pictures from the Chicago Trip (August 14-18). I want to thank Annalynn and Don2 for being such a gracious host to Nelson and I. We had an excellent trip in Chicago and will never forget it. I am currently working on the Chicago Album. I have printed so many pictures already.

Okay, Lani. Since you have asked about the embarassing thing that I have done in the airplane. Nothing really bad but too embarassing for me. DH and I have to share a seat w/another passenger. We were already seated and  I went to the bathroom. When I came back there was another passenger already and I excused myself and got into the middle seat. I noticed that the guy seating next to me had 2 pillows on his lap.  I assumed that we all got pillows and he was holding on to them. I thought I be cute and asked for a pillow  "I said it like this-Can I grab one of those pillows?" I think the guy was just in shock but he gave it to me anyways.

DH whispered to me in Tagalog "That's his pilow that he grabbed from the overhead bin" OMG--I was so embarassed and tried giving it to him again almost 4 times but he refused and said that goodness gracious just take it I am okay! He said it nicely really. I think he even had a back problem. I just used it through out the 4 hour trip and he was really gracious even helped me bring down my bag from the overhead bin after we landed in Chicago. Oh, well!

Love this pic

A pic of our plane I love looking at the clouds!!! Thank goodness our trip only took 4 hrs and no stop. Here is nelson at the millenium park where they were having a classical concert.

On our way to Chicago

Here I am posting inside the southwest plane....did something embarassing already.... Tell u later! I'm going to sleep we should be there around 1:35 pm.

Leavin' on a jet plane...

All my bags are pack and am ready to go to....CHICAGO! Yay, 2 days from now we will be in Chicago to visit our friends, Annalynn and Don2. I am so ready for a vacation. Stay tuned for the pictures....we will be there from 8/14 thru 8/18. See ya later....my beautiful bloggy friends. Hi Chicago Bean!

Where is this?

To find out where we were this July 4th Weekend celebrating it just copy and paste this link, thanks for looking hope everyone had an awesome weekend!!!
http://gallery.mac.com/pinkangel94112#100395

Carmel

Look at the pictures here for CARMEL. I love Carmel, it is such a beautiful and quaint town. I can never get tired of coming here.

Monterey

For the Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a Day trip to Monterey and Carmel. We had a reservation on 8/31 to check out on 9/1 at the Portola Plaza Hotel in Monterey. Check out the links on the left for the pictures to Monterey w/captions. I will post the ones from the 17-Mile Drive and the beautiful, Carmel.

Here is the link to the pictures from MONTEREY. TFL!

Edited: I added the link here for the 17-Mile Drive, also. Enjoy the pix as much as I have!