Lydia and Tim's visit

The weekend after Brooke and Caleb's visit, Lydia and Tim were in town! Tim had a conference for work and they planned a trip to come early for the weekend. Once again, I was super eager to have visitors and prepared a list of restaurants and places to go.

Lydia and Tim arrived on Friday around noon (in matching white shirts and khaki pants, I might add). I met them outside of work to do the usual passing of the keys. They went on to drop off luggage, have lunch and wander around my neighborhood. You'll have to check out Lydia's blog for more stories and pictures. Actually, it's a lot of the same stories and pictures, but she's much better with the details than me!

Friday night we went to dinner at Stella in the South End. I've been wanting to go to this restaurant for a while, but it's far away and I keep finding other restaurants in between. OK, Mapquest says it's only 1.3 miles and I walk about 5 miles a day, but any distance is far in heels. I can't wait for flip-flop weather!



After dinner we went back to my neighborhood to a great tapas bar, Bar Lola, and met up with Erin. This bar has the best sangria and we had lots of fun catching up over our pitcher. This is the first of many pictures that Tim had to take of the three of us. Thanks, Tim!





Saturday morning we woke up and went to Dunkin Donuts. On a side note, I've actually grown to like Dunkin Donuts. But I have to coach all the visitors before we go. As much as it's Starbucks mission to be friendly and welcoming I think it's Dunkin Donuts mission to try and scare you from coming back. You have to know exactly what you're ordering the second they yell "Next in line!". And they put all of the sugar and cream in it for you so you have to know exactly how to tell them to fix it. Seriously, they yelled at an 80 yr old woman who was in line ahead of us because her little legs weren't carrying her fast enough to the register. Wow, that was a long side note, but now you know my feelings on Dunkin Donuts. :)

After our much-needed caffeine we headed off to walk the Freedom Trail. Yes, Lydia and Tim were upset that I wasn't in a Colonist costume to give the tour. And in case you were wondering:

col·o·nist
n.
1. An original settler or founder of a colony.
2. An inhabitant of a colony.

co·lo·ni·al·ism
n.
1. the control or governing influence of a nation over a dependent country, territory, or people.
—Related forms
co·lo·ni·al·ist, noun, adjective

I've been calling John Adams and John Hancock colonialists. You learn something new every day.



You know you're in a sports town when...



Lydia and Tim at the Old South Meeting House, the site of the meeting that started the Boston Tea Party.



One of the sights on our walk.



For some reason these bags are very popular in Boston. You will literally see this bag or backpack on every girl you pass. I don't understand it. And I really don't understand spending $150 on it.

We walked through the North End again, walked all the way to the water and found a great park. I can't wait to go back when the weather is warm (at least by this Texas girl's standards)!



We stopped for some seafood at The Barking Crab and then headed back to my apartment for a nap. For dinner we went to Cafe Jaffa and then went out to the Liberty Hotel that night.



The hotel was once the Charles Street Jail. The whole place has been renovated, but still has a few jail cells and catwalks that the guards walked. The bar is called Alibi and was the old drunk tank. Great concept, right? Well, the rest of Boston thinks so too. We walked up to a line around the building. We were not in the mood to wait in the cold so we talked to the doorman. Tim wanted to be smooth and slip him some money, but we found a way in for free! He told us to walk through the restaurant that connects to the lobby. So VIP. :)

Anyway, I'm glad we didn't wait in the line because we were ready to go after one look around. It is definitely a cool place, but I'm pretty sure the Ghost Bar crowd in Dallas jetted off to Boston for the weekend. So we stayed for one drink and then called it a night.

Our proof that we were there.



Sunday was a great way to end the weekend. We walked over to Beacon Hill for brunch, but there were long waits at every restaurant. So we ended up at a really great cafe, Bella Vita.



We did a little shopping at H&M and then went to hang out in Cambridge. We ended up having our own pub crawl. And of course, we took pictures along the way.

We started out at Grafton Street Pub.




We stopped at BerryLine for some frozen yogurt. Everyone made fun of my Fruity Pebbles choice, but I think they were jealous when they saw it.



Next stop was People's Republik.



Last stop was at Miracle of Science, where I had the best steak kabobs. This place is right by MIT...love the periodic table menu.



They got to stay through Sunday night. On Monday Lydia flew back to Dallas, Tim went off to his conference and I had to go to work. But it was another great weekend. Thanks for coming to visit, Lydia and Tim!