Wednesday, September 26, 2012

over the weekend: evan's 30th birthday in boston

i have been keeping a massive secret from my husband since last winter and i finally got the chance to let it out over the weekend.  you see, ever since we hosted this mad men themed 30th birthday party last year, i knew i had to get creative and do something really big for evan's big 3-0 this year.

i'm pretty good at keeping secrets, but this was a tough one.  i wanted to gather some of our best buds for a trip to boston, but not tell him about any of it until the day we actually left.  i had to, at the very least, let him know a vacation was in his future, but tried really hard to keep everything else under wraps.

as the weeks and months dwindled away, i was doing a pretty good job, but eventually the location got out.  since neither of us had ever been to boston, it was actually good that he knew where we were headed, because he had the opportunity to weigh in on the itinerary.  luckily i had already planned for the things he loves most:  beer.  festivals.  beer festivals.  food.  friends.  & fun.

keeping a secret for so long was hard, but seeing his face when our friends showed up was worth every single minute of it.  it was a short weekend, but we were able to cram a lot of east-coast-birthday-goodness into it...

grafton street pub in cambridge, ma. 
on the campus of harvard university 
evan with his new toy: a fish eye camera lens for android.
architecture at harvard.
sindhu, stacey & i ready for a night of dancing. 
vikas erik & evan in our adjoining hotel suite.
the guys on a playground in jamaica plain. 
learning about beer at sam adams brewery.
lunch at doyle's cafe in jamaica plain. 
random step & repeat we couldn't resist while out walking the city. 
the sam adams octoberfest & boston beer summit
dinner at terramia in little italy - boston's north end.
cocktails at the green dragon tavern:  
the uss constitution museum & shipyard - freedom trail  
red sox game at fenway.


we managed to plan the trip in line with sam adam's octoberfest - where i am proud to say my husband took 2nd place in stein hoisting.  nbd.  and we even squeezed in a trip to the actual brewery for a tour.  but the highlight of our trip was the free trolley ride from the brewery to the first pub in all of boston to carry sam adams beer:  doyles.  if you're ever in boston, and you can make this happen, you won't regret it.  jason the trolley driver is a true boston treasure and not to be missed.  his mere presence provided enough laughter and one-liner memories to fuel the rest of the weekend and quite possibly the rest of our lives.

i don't know how to put into words the appreciation i have for our friends for making the trip.
birthdays are the time of year when you get to celebrate how lucky you are to be alive and well.
being able to share a toast and celebrate alongside them was the icing on the boston birthday cake for sure.

i think it's safe to say a good time was had by all.


*watch evan getting surprised while checking into the hotel in boston:  (blair witch project alert: please excuse excessive camera movement along with my excessive laughter and tears.)



have you ever been to boston?  what did you do there?

2 comments:

  1. That's so awesome. Looks like it was a great time! And happy birthday, Evan :)

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  2. As a Bostonian, I have to say you hit some great spots for your weekend here! Glad you enjoyed our fair city!

    ReplyDelete

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