Four Days of City Living in Boston, Ma

Hello everyone! I cannot believe it's already July. I remember when I booked this trip we had like a month to wait, now we have already been home for over two weeks and I have no idea where the time went! Austin and I wanted to do a few fun things this summer before I start nursing school full time in the fall, and a short getaway to Boston seemed like a good idea!

We flew to Boston early Wednesday morning and checked into our Air BnB! We stayed at two different apartments while in the city. The first one was in East Boston and was a short 10 minute walk to the subway station then about another 10 minute ride into the city. We had the whole apartment in an older house that was converted into three apartments. The owner of the Air BnB actually lived in the upstairs apartment which was super cool and she stopped by one night to introduce herself and say hello. The apartment was super clean and the perfect size for us to be there for a few days. This was our first time staying in an Air BnB and it was so nice! I feel like staying in an apartment rather than a hotel gave us a better feeling of what it would be like to actually live somewhere different. The second apartment we stayed at was one subway stop closer to actual downtown Boston. We only stayed in this one for a night because we decided to stay longer and I couldn't book our other apartment for another night. At this apartment we only had a bedroom and had to share the kitchen and bathroom with the other guests and the owner. I don't think we would stay in this kind again, it was a little weird but fine for just a night. At the end of this blog post I'm going to link both of the apartments that we stayed in along with a coupon code to get some money off of your stay at any Air BnB!

During the 4 days we spent in Boston, we walked around....A LOT. We basically wanted to see as much of the city as we could with our time there. It blew my mind how Boston feels like a big city but literally you can walk from one side to another in under an hour walk. We would take the subway into the city to Government Center and then end up walking to Beacon Hill in no time.

Our first day we ended up walking more of the city than we thought we would but we kind of got a feel for where everything was which was nice. Austin is super good at remembering where things are and figuring out his way around cities, so after the first day he pretty much got us around everywhere.

On the second day we started the day with a Duck Tour. This was my 3rd time doing a duck tour (I've done one in Wisconsin Dells and Seattle) and as cheesy looking as they are, they are one of my favorite tours. The Ducks are a great way to see a city that has water because you get to do some of the tour on land and then some in the water. Our tour guide was awesome and made the tour super interesting. Since the tour ended down by the Boston Common, we walked around there and went to Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill is the cutest area! It is picture perfect red brick buildings, I'm obsessed. If we ever go to Boston again we would definitely get an Air BnB in this area. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants in the area as well. 

 Boston Common

 Beacon Hill

Acorn Street, Beacon Hill

Day three was spent walking the Freedom Trail. Super touresty but it's a good way to see a lot of the city, especially the parts with historical importance. I think it was about 2.5 miles and it started in the Boston Common and ended at Bunker Hill. You can pay to follow a tour guide on the trail, which I feel like would be super interesting if you're big into history but Austin and I are not (it was still super cool to see everything though). Along the trail there are museums and houses that I'm pretty sure you get to go into if you're on  a guided tour. After walking the trail we went to the Navy Shipyard which is where the USS Constitution ship is. Then we took a short ferry ride back over to the main land of the city.

Our last day was spent kind of just going back to places we wanted to see again (or where I wanted to take more pictures/video clips). One thing that we did everyday that we went was got ice cream from the Cookie Monstah food truck. It's a truck that does custom ice cream sandwiches or you can just get a cookie with ice cream (which is what we did) and it's literally the best! We also went to the Quincy Market area everyday. Aside from the actual market itself, there is always something going on outside. One night we saw a workout class going on outside and we sat and watched the Boston Piano Kid (check him out on YouTube he's such a talented 14 year old https://www.youtube.com/user/jazzpianokid).

If you're actually still reading this, thanks so much for reading this long post! Boston was such a cool city to visit and somewhere I've always wanted to go! Below are some of my favorite pictures from the trip! Also here is my Air BnB code if you want to save some money on your next trip! (and help me save some money on my next trip ;) www.airbnb.com/c/baileyl244 

Also, check out my short video that I made with a bunch of clips from Boston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve9l6zqY4mQ

 Boston Public Library

Boston marathon finish line

  

CrockPot Chicken Tacos

Happy Taco Tuesday everyone! Today I decided to share one of mine and Austin's favorite recipes. We have this almost once a week, it's so good and easy! If you're a college student, someone who doesn't like to cook or someone with a busy schedule and you don't use a crock pot....what are you doing?! Since I've lived on my own my Crock Pot has been one of my favorite kitchen essentials. I love being able to pot everything in there in the morning and dinner already being done by the time I get home in the afternoon. My Crock Pot is nothing fancy, I think we got it for about $35 at Mejier (best $35 we've spent) and it's perfect. I want to say it's a 6-quart but I could be wrong. However it is the perfect size for two people but when you pick one out you obviously want to get whatever size fits your situation best!

I originally got this recipe from one of my favorite YouTubers, Becca Bristow, then tweaked it just a little. Hope you try it out and enjoy! 

First, I always start out with making a batch of homemade taco seasoning. I like to make mine simply because store bought seasoning usually contains a lot of unnecessary salt.

 For the taco seasoning you will need: 2 teaspoons of chili powder

                                                             1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

                                                             1/4 teaspoon of onion powder

                                                             1 teaspoon of cumin 

                                                             1/4 teaspoon of salt (couple of grinds)

For the Crock Pot, I always give mine a quick spray with olive oil (nonstick spray) to prevent anything from sticking. Then I add the chicken. I usually use about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken. Then you will also need a can of corn and a can of rotel...that's it! 

 First, put the chicken in. Then add the can of corn on top. I use about half of the liquid that is in the can to make sure the chicken doesn't dry out.

 Next, add the rotel. I always keep the lid on a little and drain as much as the liquid out as I can before I dump it in because you will see when they are finished that there is PLENTY of liquid to keep the chicken from drying out.

Finally, I pour my taco seasoning all over the top of everything. To cook the tacos set the Crock Pot on high for 6 hours. A feature of this Crock Pot that I love is the warming feature. After the 6 hours is up it automatically turns to warm, so that the meat doesn't get over cooked. 

Once were ready for dinner I use some tongs or a fork to break up the chicken and mix everything up. As you can kind of tell in the photo there is a lot of liquid left over. I'm trying to figure out how to eliminate that without drying out the chicken but Austin and I have just gotten used to it. 

I love tacos because they are so customizable. Austin loves to put sour cream, salsa and cheese on his, while I load mine with cilantro, cheese and lime juice! Sometimes we like to make some kind of rice to put on them as well which is super tasty!

    Hope you all enjoy this recipe! :)                                                      

Freezer Friendly Baked Penne For Two

Hi everyone! I feel like every time I get on here to post it's been forever since the last post. Austin and I have just been insanely busy working on the house! Our kitchen is about done but now that the weather is warming up outside we have started to tackle the yard. Since we moved, I've been really getting into having meals ready in the freezer that we can just thaw out the night before, throw in the oven and be ready to go. This is probably one of my favorites to have! I can get all of the ingredients for about $10 and it makes three pans of pasta that are the perfect portion size for two people!

All you need is:

 a box of pasta (any shape/type you want)

marinara sauce

 Italian sausage

mozzarella cheese

these disposable loaf pans (standard size)

First, cook the pasta according to the directions.

While the pasta is cooking brown your meat in a separate saucepan. I prefer Italian sausage for this recipe but you could use regular ground beef and ground turkey! It would probably just require more seasoning on your part. 

Once the pasta and meat are both finished cooking, strain both to get any excess liquid out. Then mix your pasta and meat into the same pan.

To that pan you're going to add your marinara. 

The marinara that I used in this recipe is actually from Aldi and it is the cleanest, lowest in sugar that I can find at my grocery stores. Although it is high in sodium, once I find a better option I'll be switching to that! 

Once all of your ingredients are mixed together, divide it into 3 pans and top with some cheese. I bought the wrong pans of course this time, I usually like to get the ones that come with lids but these work I just had to top them with tin foil. On the lid I just like to write the cooking temp (350 degrees F) and cook time (20-30 minutes). I imagine these would stay in the freezer pretty well for a few weeks/months but we usually eat all three of ours within a month! :)

I hope all of you cooking for two or even one give this recipe a shot and enjoy!

2016 Year In Review

Long time no blog! I haven't posted in what seems like forever! The second half of this year was crazy and unfortunately I let my blog take the back burner :( hopefully this year will be better! This morning I was going through so pictures and rememebered that last year I put together a blog post of my 2015 Highlights and I wanted to do the same for this year. Although Austin and I didn't do as much traveling as we did in 2015, this year was definitely an exciting one! 

January:
As in 2015, January is pretty uneventful but this year was the first year I got to celebrate Austin's birthday with him for his 21st!

February:
We started the month off with taking a trip to Wisconsin Dells for a little get away for Austin's birthday. Our hotel stay came with lift tickets so we decided to give skiing a shot....didn't go to well for me but we still had a great time!
At the end of February we celebrated our first anniversary in Champaign apartment hunting!

March:
The month of March consisted of a trip to visit Mama Sue and Jim up in Wisconsin and a lot of antiquing!

April:
Looking through my photos of April I really don't have any besides these two. Spring time was such a pretty time out at John's farm with all of his flowers starting to bloom. These pictures are from my last full month out on the Nolan Farm and the last picture I ever took with John. Bittersweet but that day forever sticks in my head because he loved being outside and after being sick all winter he finally got to go enjoy the sunshine!

May:
May marked the end of my journey at Waubonsee Community College. Going to Waubonsee was one of the best choices I made and I don't think I'll ever regret going there. I met great people, had awesome professors and just an overall good experience at that school. May was also a sad month because I had to say goodbye to the cutest, sweetest man I've ever known.

 

June:
June was a busy, exciting month!
Started off with one of my childhood best friends getting married, the next week Austin and I moved into our first apartment together and my mom opened her skincare studio!

 July:
The one and only photo I have from July is from the 4th. Austin and I went and watched the fireworks with his sister, Emily, her boyfriend Josh and their daughter Ella.

August:
One of my favorite months of this year. We went to Florida not once but twice! My family always goes the first week of the month then we went for Hannah and John's bachelor/bachelorette party!
My family trip is always so fun especailly this year because Brianna and Joe came along! And we had a blast on the bachelor/bachelorette trip! I could post so many photos from this month but I'll keep it short ;) I have a separate post from my family vacation with more photos, I also have a video from the trip up on my youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUEjWH8R3oE

September:
lol september was the least exciting of the year....no photos

October:
MY BESTFRIEND GOT MARRIED! Hannah and John had such an amazing wedding, so glad that I got to be apart of their special day. I also made a trip down to Missouri to spend a weekend with Ash :)

November:
This month was definitely exciting but more in words than photos. Austin and I really started house hunting this month and found a perfect house for us. We both wanted to be closer to work and closer to both of our families. We found a first house that we thought at the time we loved, it had a huge backyard and deck that would have been so much fun in the summertime, however the layout of the house was super weird and we knew that we were not going to be able to sell it very easily when the time came, so we kept looking. Then we found a house in a great neighborhood, less than a 10 minute drive to work for the both of us, a little closer to my family and still close to Austin's, and plenty of space for us :) so we decided to put in an offer.

December:
WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE AND MOVED IN!
We closed on the 14th of December and that afternoon started making it our own. Took out all of the flooring, repainted everything and got new carpet. It's starting to look so cute on the inside :) can't wait to share more photos of the inside of our home as things come together! I will also be creating some videos that will be posted on my YouTube channel!

I cannot wait to see what 2017 has in store for myself and for Austin and  I together. We're working so hard on our house and we are planning on traveling more this year! I am hopefully getting into nursing school for the fall. I also hope to post on my blog more frequently than I did last year.
I hope everyone has the best 2017!