A Day at the MFA

Hi everyone!

        My mom, sister, and  I have been attempting to be tourists in our own city this summer! There are so many things to do and see in and around the Boston area and New England in general. It is a place filled with so much history and culture. So many things have happened here and it is still an area so bustling and full of life. Although Boston can be an expensive city (it is listed in the top 10 of many travel websites as being one of the most expensive in the U.S.) there are a good amount of cheap or even free things to do though so don't worry! Many museums are free at certain times on specific days. There is also a program called Free Fridays which lists when many venues in the city and other parts of Massachusetts have no cost admission.

Here is a link to the site: 
 http://highlandstreet.org/programs/free-fun-fridays

       My mom, sister and I went to the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts)  this past Friday. It is one of my all time
favorite museums. I love that is has such a diverse collection and I love wandering through the exhibit halls and coming across new pieces and paintings. They have things from ancient Egypt and China, pieces from Europe dating back to the Middle Ages, Rembrandt masterpieces, paintings by Monet, contemporary art, and everything in between. They also always have really great feature exhibits such as the recent #techstyle one I was very excited about seeing.

       This exhibit was all about the relationship between fashion and technology. There were some really great concepts behind the pieces and showed a lot of ingenuity. There were 3D printed shoes, a Ralph Lauren purse with a built in charger for electronic devices, a few garments showing off their laser cut details. A jacket with solar panels, a dress from a Victor & Rolf collection that had a frame and could be hung up on the wall as a legitimate piece of art when not being worn, as well as countless other fascinating pieces utilizing technology in new ways.

The dress on the right is the Victor & Rolf one I mentioned

This designer made pieces that could fold up flat. The square on the left unfolds into a dress like the one on the right

This dress was made out of plastic and based off of a slow motion picture of water

There were 1000s of LED lights sewn into this dress which can light up different colors and make different shapes and patterns

       We also visited other galleries. Here are a few pieces I thought were cool, I didn't get to take too many pictures but I thought I'd show you some that I did get to take.

     We spent a good number of hours explore and there's so much more we didn't even get to see. I'm sure I'll be back again. I highly recommend visiting this museum if you have the chance. It is also very easy to get to and has its own stop on the Green Line.

Thanks for reading!
-Emily

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Fall Activities

Hi everyone, long time no see. School has been keeping me busy and I'm sure that is the same case for some of you as well!

I think that fall is such a great season. The leaves change amazing colors and the air is crisp and clean. This time of year it is so nice to be outside, it is a bit chillier out so it is perfect for wearing boots and sweaters. As well as it being the prime time for drinking tea, which I have recently umm, how should I say this... become more obsessed with. I drink it everyday now and definitely prefer it over coffee. I do like lattes and mochas though don't get me wrong, and being the common white girls that we are we know that fall also means certain Starbucks drinks too *wink, wink PSl*

In case you need any ideas for what to do to take advantage of this beautiful season I came up with a list of some ideas! I tried to break them down into categories as best as I could but some of them could fit into more then one since they overlap. I am also aware that I made up some words for the categories!

Outdoorsy:

• Apple Picking
• Pumpkin Picking

Make a whole day trip out of either of the two above and take advantage of the other things offered there like hayrides and the amazing apple cider and donuts I'm sure they make. Some orchards and farms even hard animals you can look at. Baby goats are very cute and the apple orchard my family goes to also has llamas and a donkey)

• Go for a hike, a great way to get exercise and enjoy nature and the beauty of the trees and weather
• Go canoeing or kayaking

• Go camping
• Take a drive through the country
• Maybe this means you go out of your way on the drive to a restaurant or something in order to see the foliage. Or just go for a drive for the purpose of seeing the trees

Crafty:

• Look up fall or Halloween Pinterest crafts and DIYs
• Decorate your room or house for fall using decorations you already have or items you just DIYed
• Decorate your room or house (inside and/or outside for Halloween)
• You can decorate the pumpkin you picked by painting it or by other means (there are a lot of cute painted pumpkins on tumblr)

Foodsy: 

• Bake some yummy pumpkin stuff (again you can use Pinterest for inspiration)
• Pumpkin pie
• Pumpkin bread
• For me what comes to mind for fall baked goods are things like banana bread, poppy seed bread, oatmeal cookies, things with crasins (possibly muffins), apple pie, apple donuts, goodies with cinnamon....now I'm getting hungry, I will definitely need to make some of these soon!

Halloweeny:

• Go to a haunted house
• Have a party
• Make themed treats

Shoppy & City:

• Outlet Shopping
• Really nice to do in the fall since you would be walking outside from store to store
• Go shopping in the city (same concept as for outlet shopping, plus the city is extra cute and tumblr-y in the fall)
• Go for brunch in the city
• Go to the park in the city or public garden to enjoy the day
• Attend a festival or craft fair or seasonal parade if there are any

Last But Not Least, V.I.R. (Very Important Random):

• Volunteer: do something nice for other people, maybe help at a food pantry or soup kitchen

 

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Kinky Boots

I recently saw Kinky Boots and it was great! I really enjoy going to see plays and musicals so I was glad that Kinky Boots came to town. The plot was well developed and the acting and singing was amazing. The score was written by multiple people, including Cyndi Lauper. There were some very funny parts in the musical but it did have those inspirational undertones as well such as to follow your dreams, don't let other people get you down, and to make your life what you want it to be. I know that sounds a bit cliché but they are important messages that we should all apply to our own lives, I know I at least I need to do more of that!

A brief overview of the plot:
The musical is set in England and focuses on the son of a man who owns a shoe factory. As the son grows up he decides he does not want to run the factory and he moves to London. Then one day he gets a call letting him know his father has passed and he returns to his home town. He does not really know what to do about the factory especially because business is pretty bad. Then he has an idea that could be their "saving grace". As for what happens next, you'll have to go see the show (which I highly recommend doing)! Or you could watch the movie. I haven't seen the movie yet but plan on doing so soon since I've heard good things about it as well!

You may remember from an older post that I was in Toronto earlier this summer and went to the Bata Shoe Museum. And at the museum they actually had a pair of kinky boots from a production of the  show which I thought was a cool coincidence since I knew I was going to be seeing it!

The boots are super tall and are red of course!



I think that going to musicals or plays is an awesome thing to do with friends or with a parent or relative for some bonding time.

Have you seen anything good lately? Any musicals, plays,  movies, or tv shows that you recommend checking out?

Thanks for reading
-Emily

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Outfit of a Day in Toronto

       Hi everyone! This summer my family and were on a road trip for a few weeks and on of my favorites places we visited was Toronto! It was my first time to Canada and hopefully not my last! Have any of you ever been there? Toronto is a very diverse city and there was a lot going on. I highly suggest going there if you have the chance. But anyways now on to the rest of the post.
       I thought I would share one of the outfits I wore while in Toronto with you guys. So here it is.

My sister and I pretending to hold the torch for the Pan-Am Games which were about to start

         I love this outfit because it is very colorful and looks like I spent a lot of time on it when in fact I did not. When I think of outfits I always start with the piece that is either the boldest or the most colorful so in this case my pants! These pants are from H&M and I actually did not have them when we first started the trip. I got them a few days before this picture was taken.  I had been wearing a jumpsuit which ripped on the leg seams and I was really sad about that because it was a piece I really liked. Luckily I had been near a mall and I went into H&M. It was really crowded and about to close but I didn't want to walk around wearing ripped clothes so I frantically looked for pants and I found the ones in the picture and they fit perfectly! (It was also lucky that I was wearing a tank top under my jumpsuit and I brought a sweater so I just wore them with the pants.)

        Okay, enough babbling. Back to the day this picture was taken and the rest of what I was wearing. My black flowy top is from Marshalls and is actually multiple layers. The bottom one is shear and a bit longer than the one on top of it which is lace. I chose to wear a solid orange tank top under to emphasize the orange in the pattern on my pants. My purple three-quarter length sleeve sweater is from Old Navy. As for footwear I wore a pair of low top black Converse. 
        This was a great outfit for walking around the city because the pants were super comfy, and stretchy. I was able to move around and they are lightweight so they are perfect for summer. It is great to wear layers because if you do get hot you can take something off or throw something else on, such as the sweater. Shoes-wise, you want something that will not hurt your feet. The most important thing is comfort. You would definitely not enjoy the city or whatever you are doing if all you are thinking about is the pain your feet are feeling. That is why sneakers are one of the best choices. We still want  to look put together though and don't want to have ugly shoes so that is another reason why converse are amazing. They are comfortable, practical, and the simple design makes them go with anything!


Here I am in the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. They had a section with some random shoes you could try on so I had to put on these silver sparkly platform shoes!

Barbara's shoes

          This museum was very interesting and is definitely not what you would expect. They have shoes going back to ancient Egyptians, shoes that were worn in Asia when women had to bind their feet, and there were shoes from European kings and queens. A section on Native American footwear covered in beautiful beading and embellishment. They also had shoes from modern times including a pair of Barbara Streisand's, Elizabeth Taylor's, Marilyn Monroe's and more. It was basically like the history of human kind told through their footwear!

Marilyn's and Liz's heels

        Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think about these kind of snapshot travel recap posts.

-Emily

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