Beantown

Before I headed home for Christmas vacation Jax told me that he had tickets for a Celtics game for a weekend in January and asked if I would like to go with him. Like it was even a question- - now that I don’t have grad school and I live in my own apartment I can TOTALLY plan weekends like this. I obviously said yes!

Jax, being the super-considerate guy that he is, planned the weekend and it included driving to CT to pick me up and driving me back to CT at the end of the weekend. I told him that while I appreciated the sentiment- - that was TOTALLY unnecessary. I decided to take the train from CT to Boston instead of driving to meet him. I don’t know how many of you have had the opportunity to take a train before, but it was my first time and I absolutely loved it. It was about the same travel time as driving BUT it was SO EASY. There are comfortable seats, a bar/snack car, electrical outlets, plenty of storage room and NO LINES. NO SECURITY. NO WAITING. NO DELAYS OR CANCELLATIONS!

Seriously, I’m a walking advertisement for Amtrak now.

When I stepped off the train Jax was waiting for me at the end of the track. He had arrived early to check in and make sure he knew how to get to/from the station and the hotel. He took my bags and we started the two-block walk to our hotel. We stayed at the InterContinental, which was, in one word, amazing. I’m about as low-maintenance as a girl can get, really, I’d be fine at a Motel 6 or a Holiday Inn, but there IS something to say for staying in a really nice hotel. The room was gorgeous, the hotel bar was a hopping nightspot, and the concierge service was incredible.

I walked into the room to find a bouquet of flowers, a bottle of wine chilling in an ice bucket, two wine glasses on the table, a box of chocolate covered strawberries and three wrapped presents.

Really.

It was a little cliché and like a scene out of a movie, but for right now… this movie is my life and I am loving every second of it.

The three wrapped presents were a wooden box of wine opener accessories (which came in handy for our bottle of wine), and two cashmere sweaters.

I know.

I do not own, nor have I ever owned anything cashmere and Jax just cannot fathom that. So… he decided to pick out a couple to get me started.

We relaxed for a bit and then got ready to head to the Celtics game. I’ve never been to the Garden (is it still called that?!?) before so that was quite an experience and we caught an awesome game. After the game we met up with one of my best friends from college and spent the night on the town!

Saturday morning we were up surprisingly early. I had a 6-mile run to get to so while I was getting ready for that Jax asked the concierge where I should run. We got it mapped out and headed down to Boston Harbor so I could run along the Harbor Walk. It was nice to be by the water, but I think it’s called the Harbor WALK for a reason, it wasn’t the BEST for running, but it was close to the hotel, didn’t have any stop lights, and Jax could go to the aquarium while he waited for me.

It was almost noon by the time I was showered and dressed so we headed straight to Faneuil Hall for lunch. We stopped at Durgin Park- Jax had the ribs, I got the Thanksgiving sandwich then set out for an afternoon of shopping. We did WAY more shopping that I thought we would. We started around Faneuil Hall and cleaned out Gap, then headed up towards Downtown Crossing. My friend from Friday night had a new perfume that I FELL IN LOVE WITH. And… you know me… I needed it immediately.

Four hours later we walked back to the hotel saddled with shopping bags. (I momentarily forgot that I was taking a train back to CT and didn’t have ROOM for all of this STUFF! It was so much fun though, shopping in Boston, totally worth it. )

We relaxed again for a bit, Jax may or may not have passed out watching tv while I tried on all of my new purchases and then we got ready to head out- - again. We started at the bar at the InterContinental, headed to Faneuil Hall AGAIN (it was walking distance) for dinner. We went to an awesome seafood restaurant whose name escapes me now, then met up with my cousin and her best friend for another night out on the town.

Overall? It was one of the BEST weekends I’ve had in a while. Completely fun and relaxing.