forever young

my dad is 60 years old today.  the year of the 60 year old parents, this one has become.  and my dad, who has been playing music for nearly all of his 60 years, just get's better with time.

something interesting happens when you become a parent, something that doesn't seem so obvious in the years leading up to that occurrence.  you suddenly start to see your own parents as people who were teenagers once, playing in garage bands, dancing at proms, falling in love and yes, even becoming first time parents themselves.  of course, it is something that you always knew, but the level unto which you now see it, understand it and begin to explore it, becomes deeper with time.  now, as our parents nearly all reach the age of 60, twice as old as we are, we long to have a better understanding of who they were, who they are and how much like them we will end up becoming.

i played the flute in middle school for 9.5 days.  the guitar in college for just shy of two weeks.  i did rock a pretty impressive solo performance of yellow submarine on the recorder, in the third grade spring-fling musical, but my musical talents tapped out there.  it has always disappointed me that i never took to music the way my dad always has.  though something about these photos, and this milestone, make we want to give it another, and more serious try.

for now though, i'll leave it to the professional on his big day.  happy birthday dad - here's to 60 more years of rockin' out and continuing to get better with time.

dad - we will toast to you with the same toast you gave us on our wedding day:

May God bless and keep you always 

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others 

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars 

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young. 

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?

the rest of the celebration

you didn't think we'd forget to detail the rest of the birthday celebratin' now did ya?

last friday was one of the most glorious days with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s.  it was a windows open, ceiling fans a-blazin', birds a-chirpin' like nobody's business kind of day.   it may have been the nicest birthday, weather-wise, in recent memory.  actually, it just might've been the nicest birthday period.

we spent the day tidying up around the house and finishing up last minute art projects in preparation for the party.  one thing i tell myself every single time we throw a shin-dig is that cleaning all day before a party is dumb when you know it's going to be completely trashed the next morning.  there is no way around it, it makes zero sense, but we do it anyway and even as i get older, that's a lesson i never seem to learn.

this birthday was filled with a lot of my favorite people and a lot of my favorite things, which is exactly the way birthdays should be celebrated.

the day started out so wonderful that i am willing to post a picture of me taken before the introduction of coffee and cosmetics.  my husband gifted me the birthday gift to end all birthday gifts...which i declared will cover me for the next 9 holidays and my 32nd & 33rd birthdays too.

that my friends is my new mac book air (!!!) and those are tears of joy.  awww yeah - it's about to get a lot more tech savvy up in here!  at least i think.  i'm not sure yet really, because i don't exactly know what to do with it yet per se, but i will.  soon.  i promise.

the rest of the day, i surrounded myself with everything i love including this ridiculously adorable $6 birthday gift i treated myself to.  his name is XYZeebs and he is amazing:

and it wouldn't be a celebration around our house if it didn't include ice-cold boulevard beer; a seasonal treat of irish ale was on hand for guests to enjoy...

add in our favorite foods...

(chip tested.  chip approved.) 

and my ultimate favorite cocktail....



some super thoughtful gifts...

and lots of great (and adorable) friends...

and playing catchphrase on the porch into the wee hours of the morning...

...and you have yourself the perfect way to celebrate another year of life on earth.  i honestly can't think of a better way to celebrate than cramming so much awesomeness into a single day.

for the record, the girls' team won.  no matter what you heard or what anyone else says.