Monday, March 16, 2015

Life Update 3.0

Winter is almost over and adventures are in the works, but for now, here is a life update.

Eating: A lot of new recipes! I recently picked up the Weeknight Meals edition of Clean Eating Magazine which features a lot of inexpensive and quick recipes. I have really enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen. Their Jamaican Jerk Kabobs might be my new favorite go-to recipe. I also really loved learning how to make spring rolls from the Minimalist Baker blog. So, so good.

Image Courtesy of http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/blog/on-sale-now-weeknight-meals-special-issue/

Drinking: Twining's Irish Breakfast Tea. I love a good breakfast tea. Christopher and I also really enjoyed Penobscot Bay Brewery's Winnah 2013, a Christmas present from our friend Deanna. Christopher loved the Jolly Traveler's Winter Shandy, but I was less of  fan. It was a little too fruity for me.

Reading: I just finished Animal Farm by George Orwell and I seriously loved it. The last line in particular was just brilliant, "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." SO GOOD.

Image courtesy of www.penguinbooksindia.com

On my "books to read" list: The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett, The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey, and Burial Rights by Hannah Kent. I am really making an effort to get back into fiction and not get burnt out on school books.

Watching: While staying in a hotel in Boston, I started watching Legend of the Superstition Mountains on the History Channel. I came home and bought the whole season. If you have ever wanted to be Indiana Jones, this is the show for you.

Image Courtesy of www.history.com

Doing: Once again, a lot within the community. I just became a member of the Brewer Historical Society and I am eager to starting making connections within the community. National History Day is coming up and that should be a blast!

Anticipating: Spring. WHERE ARE YOU?

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

PAX East


 This year Christopher and I were invited to attend PAX East. PAX East is a penny arcade expo that occurs every year in Boston. It is a time for companies to show off their new games, expansions and hardware.

Do not get me wrong- I like video games. Growing up my Dad taught me how to play Diablo II and Star Wars Battlefront II. I still enjoy playing games and use them especially as stress relief, but I was rather nervous about PAX East. I tend to dabble in video games however, there were going to be some hardcore players fully dressed up and talking about games far beyond my comprehension.


I ended up having a pretty good time, despite this not being my scene. Christopher had an awesome time. We went to a presentation about Magic: The Gathering where he learned what to expect from his next draft night (Dragons. A lot of dragons). Christopher met a YouTuber he has watched and admired for years. We checked out some new hardware presented by companies such as Zotac. We had way too much fun playing a new game  called Primal Carnage: Extinction; a game featuring battles between people and dinosaurs. And...we people-watched. Oh did we people-watch.


Some thoughts on the Boston Convention Center and our hotel:
1. Parking is a nightmare. Go early and know where alternative lots are. Parking took us an hour an half.
2. The food was actually pretty good and reasonably priced. Also there was a bar- always a good sign.
3. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Woburn. This was actually one of the better places we have stayed at. The price was right ($75), it was incredibly clean and modern, and it was only about twenty minutes away from Boston. 

Overall this ended being a pretty fun weekend! Now it is back to the grind.