Providence, RI & Boston, MA

Hello everyone!

So earlier this week I got back from the frozen Northeast, and I had the greatest time with my best friend! I went to Providence, because my best friend is a genius and moved there to study at Brown University! I had never been anywhere east of NYC so this was a totally different world. The first night I got there I had to take a bus from the airport to the train station then a train to Providence. I figured it out pretty easily, but I am thankful for signs and my experiences in big cities that survive on train, bus, and subway systems. Once I survived in Providence we went to a restaurant called Harry's Bar & Burgers and oh my word it was amazing. They serve sliders and baskets of fries. Talk about a great first meal in RI! Next we went to a bar with some of Kari's friends from Brown, its on campus called the GCB, literally on campus under a building, and it was a really fun way to kick off my trip.

The next day we headed out to Boston early in the morning and got off the train to a winter wonderland at Harvard Square. It was gorgeous. Harvard's campus looks twenty times better with a fresh patch of snow in my opinion. We walked around the campus and nearby areas when we found Mike's Pastry and had an early lunch dessert. I got a red velvet cupcake and Kari got a chocolate eclair. They were so delicious! We headed over to some shops and found a Curious George Store, the only in the world! Makes sense that I bought my one and only souvenier from Boston at that store.

After that we took the subway to Boston Common, the oldest park in the US. We stopped by the State Building and then walked to the Paul Revere House, which was so cool. We ate a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe which was just what we needed after walking a couple of miles in the ice and snow. By that time we were exhausted, so we decided to head back to South Station and back into Providence.
Sunday we went to this adorable breakfast place called Kitchen in the downtown Providence area. Then I spent the afternoon getting a tour of Brown and walking to the mall and Providence's State Building. It was nice to just spend time talking and seeing the sights of RI! We did so much in such a short time and due to the crazy blizzard that hit and cancelled my Tuesday flight, forcing me to leave way earlier than expected on Monday morning!

So have you every visited Rhode Island or Boston? Where are some of you favorite spots? Let me know for the next time I go back! It is crazy, because my next planned trip is our honeymoon! Ah! Crazy times ahead.

Thanks for keeping up,
- Olivia

#BookWorm: Paper Towns

Hey fellow readers!

So I finished Paper Towns by John Green a little while ago. It was... let's just say an interesting book. I started off with high expectations after reading The Fault In Our Stars and Looking For Alaska by John Green within the last year. And don't get me wrong, the book started off to the point where I read half of it in one day. I really liked the first half! The second half was very drawn out, and the ending was very odd. The book is about a teenage boy who witnessed a strange event with his neighbor when they were 9. Basically he is fascinated with her, but when they are older she is popular and he is not. Typical start to a story. I can't say too much more, but I can tell you since the movie is coming out, it makes it more worth the read. I can't tell if the movie will be more focused on the first half of the book, making it less drawn out and boring, or not, but I am hoping it is. Overall I'd say this book is a 7/10. Worth reading, but just plain weird. Which is not what I expected when I started it.

If there's someone out there who read Paper Towns and absolutely loved it, please explain it to me. I want to know what the point is. I'm looking forward to the movie though, regardless of the odd ending. I'm now reading the two book series Just One Day and Just One Year by Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay and Where She Went. I've only got two more books after this series on hand to read, so I am gonna have to get searching for good book deals!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

Wifey Wednesday: Important Questions

Hey everyone!

With wedding season in the air and people getting engaged left and right, I wanted to share something that I think really helped Madi and I in the time between being really serious and being engaged. We read a book called 100 Questions to Ask Before You Get Engaged H. Norman Wright. In the book it asks a lot of important questions that you will want to discuss before getting engaged let alone married. Even though we dates five and a half years before getting engaged, there were a lot of things we didn't talk about. Not because we were trying to avoid it, more because we didn't even think to ask! You may think your sig. other agrees with you on how you would discipline your child if they acted out, but you could be totally wrong! And although it's written by a Christian author, only about a quarter or less of the questions deal directly with religious beliefs.

As far as how it works this was a book that we tried to do at least three times a week and would do about three questions each night. It has space to fill out your answers, which I think is really helpful. We finished about 70 of the questions before we got engaged, but after we are done we looked back at all of our answers and saw how much we grew! It's nice to have that time together, and while it can raise some questions about your potential future spouse, it's better to ask these questions now then find out you have totally different opinions months into being newleyweds right?

So that's my advice for couples who are in a serious relationship but aren't engaged yet, or for newly engaged couples. While premarital counseling is such an awesome thing to go through (we are right now) this book helps build communication skills before you get to counseling since that can dig a little deeper into things you were unsure about or agree upon! Wedding plans are all falling in to place and were working hard on getting the details together. I can't wait to share my DIY projects once the big day comes :)!

Thanks for reading!

- Olivia 

#BookWorm: It's Kind of a Funny Story

Hello fellow readers,

So I recently finished A book called It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. This book told by the perspective of a high school age boy, who is struggling with depression because he feels he can't live up to the worlds expectations. I think this should be a required high school book because it really helps teenagers understand that everyone can struggle with different things and there are ways to get help. After doing my nursing psych rotation, I became interested in these kinds of stories, but this one took the genre to a whole new level. I would say this is an 8/10 only because it got slow at parts, and the last chapter was just odd and I found it unnecessary for the book.The book was also made into a movie in 2010 with Emma Stone and Zach Galifianakis, which I haven't seen yet but want to after reading the story.

So have you read the book? Or seen the movie? Any thoughts? Let me know! I've heard the movie is so so but if you've read the book you'll like it! I'm currently half way through John Green's Paper Towns and will share my thoughts on that when in done!

Thanks for reading with me!

Olivia :)