Boston Stands as One

Well, this week and weekend flew by! I subbed every day this week except Tuesday and man, it was a crazy week! I was at three different schools and subbed mostly Special Ed this week, so I got a lot of experience with many different age groups. One of the Special Ed classes I covered had children in grades 1-4. I'm sure you can all imagine the insanity that ensued that day! I'm so grateful for this experience but I cannot WAIT to have my own classroom! 

So, onto the weekend! Ryan and I met our new friends Rachel and Chris at the Brewhouse for some drinks Friday night, and besides the crowds, had a really great time! 

We woke up Saturday morning to a BEAUTIFUL day and decided to venture out for a run after breakfast. We didn't stay together on this run, but I covered 2 miles in our neighborhood in the fastest pace i've held in a while! Ryan ran further and then came back and finished my run with me! What a good husband!! 

Red-faced after a good run! 

After our run, we showered up and headed into the city! First stop: Harpoon Brewery! We waited in line for a bit and by the time we got in, almost all of the tours were booked up, so we headed up to the Beer Hall to sample some beer!

 First, we sampled a Summer Flight that had Blueberry beer, Watermelon Beer, and two Summer beer varieties. By the time I thought to take a picture, the beers were almost gone (as seen in the picture below)! After the flight, I had a glass of their Honey Cider, which was really good!

 We left the brewery and headed to Copley Square to pay our respects to the victims of the Marathon Bombing. It was very sobering walking through the memorial and seeing all of the  support this country has given our new city. There were signs made and items sent to Boston from cities all over America, honoring the victims and Boston and it truly was a tragic, yet beautiful sight to see. I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.

On the outside of the memorial in Copley Square

So much love for Sean, Lingzi, Martin, and Krystle.

"Nashville Believes In Boston"

Beautiful tulip garden in Copley Square

Where the first bomb went off, right next to the finish line. Black boards covering spots where the windows used to be.

 This city has so much beauty and character! We're so excited to explore it more during our time here!

Today, Ryan and I went to church, grocery shopped at Trader Joe's (I look forward to this all week!), and did 6 loads of laundry. Not super exciting, but those days are just want I need sometimes.

How was your weekend!?

-Sarah 

Today is the Day!

For a while now, I have known that my ultimate career goal is to become a teacher. It wasn't until Ryan and I found out we were going to be moving to the Boston area, that I began to put a plan in place to achieve this goal. Even as I started researching schools close to our new home, it didn't become real to me until after we got married and moved to New England!

In order to be absolutely sure that this is the path I wanted to take, Ryan and many other family members encouraged me to substitute teach for the remainder of the school year and get hands-on experience in the environment. At first, I wasn't on board and didn't like the idea of waiting to be called for work every day and never knowing whether or not I would have a job for the day until the last minute. Fortunately, substitute teaching has been an amazing experience and really only enforced the passion within me.

First Grade classroom at Murphy Primary School on my second day of subbing! 

Since March, I have worked almost every single day at 5 different Elementary Schools in our town for grades Kindergarten through Fourth Grade. I've begun to make some great connections and am SO excited to get my Masters and have a classroom of my own! 

Well, that process begins today. Registration at the school I've chosen to attend begins this week and today, I turned in my Registration form for the classes I will be taking next semester! 

I'm SO excited to start classes and become an Elementary teacher! Stay tuned for updates along the way! 

-{Sarah} 

Weekend Shenanigans

This weekend started with the capture of the remaining man who terrorized the Boston area all week. We stayed in on Friday, watching the news and praying this would all be over soon.

We had plans to go into the city of Saturday for the day and evening but didn't manage to leave our apartment until dinner time. We ended up staying closer to home and checking out a new restaurant in Weymouth called Margarita's.

Date night with Ryan! 

I bet you can guess what my drink of choice was!

Spider Cider Margarita- recommended by a new friend! 

I'm a huge fan of mexican food so I really enjoyed this place but I might have to do some major convincing to get Ryan to go back with me sometime! 

Today, we started the day by going to our new church in Quincy. We are really enjoying this church and community and decided to join a Life Group that meets every Tuesday in Braintree! We're excited to meet some new people! 

After church, the weather was beautiful so we took our bikes out for the first time this year and explored the property we live on! We moved on to a decommissioned naval air base which is being built up into quite the community! It's beautiful out here and we've been dying to check out the old runway, air control towers, and just get out and ride! 

Very old air control tower off the runway! 

 On the way back, I decided to snap a few pictures of the completely renovated areas of the base that we call home! They've only been open for a year, so everything is still a work in progress, but it's beautiful!

All in all, we had a fairly low-key weekend, but it was just what we needed after the stresses last week brought. I believe the city of Boston will be participating in a moment of silence tomorrow at 2:50 (the time of the bombing one week ago) to honor the lives lost or changed forever.

- Sarah 

Our Whale Watching Adventure

So, last weekend, with our friends Stephen and Kristen, we embarked on a 4-hour whale-watching cruise! We boarded the boat in Barnstable, MA on Cape Cod, and headed out to sea to spot some whales! It took about 45 minutes to get to the waters where they most often spot whales, and along the way we saw some beautiful scenery!

Me and Kristen! 

Sandy Neck Lighthouse off the coast of the cape. 

We saw a number of different species of whales, including Right Whales and Minke Whales, but the coolest of all (to me at least) was the Finback Whale, which is the second largest animal, behind the Blue Whale! The Right Whales are endangered so the boat couldn't get too close them (making for some not-so-great pictures), but the Finback Whale came up a few times RIGHT next to the boat, which was very cool to see! 

Finback Whales are so fast and smooth, only a small part of their body ever has to come out of the water. This whale was preparing to dive down to eat! 

Minus the chilly weather, this was a great experience for all of us and we had a blast! One of the many cool experiences New England has to offer us! 

-Sarah 

The Smith's are Here!!

Hey ya'll!

I've been contemplating starting a blog for some time and thought now was as good a time as any! I love to write and haven't done much of it since college. So along with sharpening my writing skills, this can be a great way to keep family and friends in the loop on our newlywed life in the suburbs of Boston!

We shall see if this sticks!

-Sarah (and occasionally Ryan!)