Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Shipping Off to Boston

The fourth Jones girl trip took place last week; we saw incredible sites, shopped, ate delicious food, laughed hard, and had a wonderful time. The boys trip is annual and usually consists of hunting in Nebraska, getting up before dusk, sitting still in a cold area, and eating tator tot casserole. I like being a girl.

We chose Boston for the destination, which we were all completely impressed with. It was cute and clean with incredible history, great shopping, and tasty bites! Here we are pictured below at the Atlantic Fish Company, all dressed up. We ate there our first night and it lived up to the hype. Everyone was basically licking their plates including our cheesecake bananas foster dessert plate. mmmm
After Dinner at the Atlantic Fish Company we cruised a bit and found a fun candy store. Joni purchased Ginger a Johnny Depp pez dispenser that she was quite pleased with! He is actually on her make out list, so it worked out nicely. A cozy street is pictured below. Fortunately for all... many streets looked like this.

Boston Commons was beautiful, and the people really utilized the space by hanging out there in groves, playing live music, running, walking their dogs, etc...
We did the Freedom Trail while we were there, which consisted of 18 unbelievable historic American sites. Below is a picture of the second oldest grave yard in America. Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, and many other historic notables were buried there.
Here we are in front of the oldest book store in America. Thoreau, Emerson, and others all published books there.
Christine got so excited at Ye Olde Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America, that she got a bloody nose.
There were adorable brownstones everywhere, so I thought I would just throw one in there as an example to the cuteness that is Boston.
We all look so good I can't tell who's bronzed (except I suppose the thigh high spats give it away)
To the Death.
We toured the U.S.S Constitution, which they're going to sail in 2012 to mark the anniversary of the war of 1812. Loved every minute of this tour, it was fascinating.
Doris is ready for battle.
I was basically in charge of the whole thing, steering and all.
We spent some time in the Italian District which is also adorable and full of eateries and pastries. We braved the line that went out the door at Mike's pastries, and below is our result. Hazelnut Canoli's, Neapolatin's, snicker's cheesecake, and a Florentine. It was quite tasty. Good thing we had walked many miles that day.

We took a train to Salem - which is only 17 miles North East of Boston where we learned about the witch trials, and the Puritan settlement. The trolley tour was particularly fun and all encompassing.
The witch dungeon museum did a re-enactment of one of the trials - totally fun, but followed by a tour of a dungeon they recreated to mimic where they held the "witches" awaiting trial. That part was interesting, but executed a bit like a haunted house, and they proceeded to have someone under a blanket that scared you at the end. hilarious.
We thought it wise to pose on stage before the witch re-enactment, but mid pose, the curtains opened... we awkwardly ran to our seats giggling like school girls.
This home is from the 1600's and belonged to one of the judges from the witch trials. It was fun to see inside, particularly to see the books. There was a children's book talking about the alphabet , with example associated, and it said things like "the wolffe howleth".
This was an actual monument they built for the people accused of and killed for being "witches". Each of the stone seats had their names and date they were killed. At the entrance to the park on the cement it read their last words, which were all similar to "I am without guilt". It's so sad and ridiculous.
Our last day in Boston we went shopping near Copley Square. It was blocks of brownstones with stores on the bottom two floors. I could've spent a lot more time there.
We had a custom purse party while there. LOVED IT! Basically, you pick out a style of purse, pick out the fabrics, and they mail it to you 3 weeks later.
There were a lot of options, it made it tough.

We had an absolute ball, and look forward to future girl trips!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Places I'd rather not go

1. Singapore
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Korea
4. Philippines
5. The "stans"
6. Somalia
7. Mongolia
8. Western Africa
9. Angola
10. Sudan
11. Chad

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

This and that


First off, labor was bitchin' and spent here in beautiful Colorado.

Highlights included: Seeing Big Bad Voo Doo Daddy for free. Good show, we've seen them a few times before. Couldn't remember how to swing (only one lesson) but we nevertheless, worked the dance floor like it needs to be worked. We need to get our swing going at the Mercury cafe again.

Homemade lasagna and fresh peach cobbler

Homemade Eggs Benedict

Tour of Hammond's Candy Factory




Rock Band Fiesta

Hiking Silverthorne

Finishing 4th season of Dexter-straight up called the ending.

Hiking Dinosaur Ridge

Yes, those are real-dinosaur tracks

Saw "Inception"-Christopher Nolan is a freakin' genius. Bring on the next Batman, please.


Seeing Brett Michael perform "Every Rose Has it's Thorn" live-it was a tearful moment.

Gaining mountains of fat from frozen twix bars and other desserts.

In other news, today I made peach jam. It was surprisingly easy and delicious.

Lately, these songs have been making me happy

The King Khan and BBQ: "Lonely Boy"



Candice has been into She and Him lately. I should also note that she hates hardcore music.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The last two weeks


The last month has been a whirlwind of sickness and vacations. A few weeks ago I got sick. Very sick. So sick that I went to the doctor (which I never do) and then the emergency room. Tests were taken, prescriptions were filled and still, the doctors have no idea what I had. Possibly dengue fever but no one really knows. Man, being sick makes you appreciate being healthy like nothing else can. I lost about 14lbs of mostly muscle during that time. So much for my time at the gym. Oh well.

The sickness couldn't have come at a worse time as it was Patrick's mission farewell last weekend in SLC. I still went but most of my time was spent sleeping and sweating at the local marriott. I missed the open mic night and post farewell parties but made it to the actual talk. We're gonna miss the dickens out of little Patrick.


Feeling as if we had been working too much, we decided to take more time off to explore the vast beauty that is, southern Utah. We met up with Candice's family in St. George and saw a local production of Tarzan at the Tuacahn theater. The theater itself is located among the sand stone cliffs of the padre canyon, which really is a beautiful setting for a live performance.

The next morning we headed to Zion's national park to hike angels landing.

Patrick and his girlfriend Michelle looking all sorts of sassy.




The hike wasn't long but it was a scorching 107 degrees and was fairly steep. Reaching the summit invoked several emotions.
Some joyously celebrated
Some found God
Some dangled their feet off the edge which freaked-out their wives and several complete strangers
Then off to the water hole to cool off

Synchronized ballet jumps by way of Jonny and Kaylene...
Followed by a little lovey dovey-which never hurt anyone

Temporary tattoos have become somewhat of a Farrington family tradition. Candice rocked the mystique tat to such a degree, that we all kinda feel like she should just bite the bullet and get the real thing.

The day finished with brats cooked over the campfire and root beer floats. Kinda perfect really.

The next day we did a hike called the "subway." In order to do this hike you need a permit which was secured by dear Jonny at 5am the day before. Big hugs to that guy.

The hike was amazing to say the least. One moment your checking out nipple shaped boulders and the next you're repelling down frigid waterfalls. Nipples, boulders, waterfalls, awesome.

A well intentioned group "jump"shot that just didn't go our way.
Patrick, again making jump shots look effortless


Ryan, swimming for his life in the cold waters of this magnificent slot canyon
Wonderful time, great hike, great company. Wish we didn't have to work.