Wedding Photobooth

One of the most fun parts of the wedding was a photobooth - so many smiles and so much silliness!

While I do have a deep-seated dislike for anyone that calls black velour classy---too many years of dance class, I think---the photo booth setup was really incredibly slick.  The entire booth was set up in less than twenty minutes by two people, and that includes carrying everything in, getting all the computers set, everything.  While it cannot match a physical scrunched-in photobooth for the old school charm, it certainly makes up for it in both accessibility and space.  It's just as easy as little kids to grandma to get in and take fun pictures.

  It's certainly got me thinking about my next party up in the Penthouse...photobooth?  Just maybe!

Wedding Reception!

This past weekend brought the wedding of my college roommate Sara (not to be confused with my friend from Boston Sara or my doctor friend Sarah).  It was a wedding full of IWU alums, and it was a very strange feeling, to be back with all these people that were part of my life five years ago.  Sure, I've seen some of them since then, but never all together, never all in the same place.  It was lovely.

These ladies are both married.  Awesome. 

A serenade from her new husband's barbershop quartet!

I love this sequence of events in particular! 

Victory!  (look at those grins!)

 Sara was a member of SAI, the music sorority at IWU.  The girls are serenading her, it was so sweet!

Lilacs!

There were a couple hours between the ceremony and the reception, so one of the Chicago natives suggested a walk through Lilacia Park in Lombard, IL.  Even though it was a bit warm and I was sans sunscreen, I readily agreed once she said, "Oh, it's mostly shady, don't worry about it!"

It was amazing.  I cannot wait to have a home so I can plant lilacs everywhere. 

A pair of newlyweds! 

Goin' to the Chapel!

The day started with me sleepily singing this to the bride in our hotel room:

Because, obviously, it needed to happen.  

(it's funny, we both have seen the movie, but we remembered it from the previews before another movie!  Given that Aladdin 3 was 1996, the only real Disney blockbuster I know we owned from 1995 or 1996 was Pocahontas.  Crazy).  

Getting prettied up!

The dress!  Swoon!

Unity sand. 

Such smiles!  Such joy!  

(also, do I have perfect timing or what?)

Still all smiles!

St. Michael, guarding his church

Memorials

When mom was here, she wanted to see the bombing sites...and was struck at both how close they were to where I live, and also by how little is left to mark the spot.  I hadn't been back since the bombing, mostly because I needed a bit of space and time to process.  But everything is still there, and seems the same, even if it definitely isn't.

Marathon Sports, site of the first bombing.  The only vestige left is the plywood in the upper window, and the Boston cop standing guard.

The unofficial memorial for Officer Collier on campus, a minute's walk from my office. 

French horn

My journey playing horn started with the incredibly eccentric Mr. Okerlund in fifth grade.  I chose to play horn because that's what my mom played, and wouldn't you know, it's not the most popular instrument out there.  This means band teachers are always very encouraging about the whole thing.  I also got to have lessons alone when I started, something that the gaggle of flute players at my school never had. 

And I know there's an incredible picture of the two of us somewhere, I'm pretty sure I have a face full of braces, yikes, but in it's place, one from a concert in elementary school:

 

I'm not in frequent contact with the two young ladies pictured anymore, but one is working in special ed at a high school and is the new aunt to two cutie pie little kids.  The other was a star softball player for the University of Minnesota and is recently engaged.  (thanks, facebook).

But.  The point of this is to thank my parents for the endless private lessons, my actual horn (seriously a gift that has been so happily used), for coming to my concerts (well, mom and my grandparents, anyway), for not flipping out too badly when I wanted to be a music major, and for not getting too mad when I double-majored in music and biology, and then not getting upset when I switched to a major in biology and a minor in music.  Oh, I was a kid that knew what she wanted.  (ha)

One of the things that keeps me going here at MIT through the long days of lab is knowing that I have other things like music in my life.  After 17 years playing horn, All State Band, church choir, a world class music scholar teaching me about Haydn and Mozart over May term for an independent study, brass quintet playing for madrigals, and my current position in the MIT Symphony, well, let's just say I am a very lucky girl. 

Mom and I after the last MITSO concert of the season, the most recent in a long-running series of my family being around to support me in music. 

A walk in Brookline

Mapparium + First Church of Christ, Scientist

On Saturday, mom and I went to the Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library - such a beautiful spectacle, but alas, no pictures allowed. 

However.  One can take pictures in the bathroom:

The amazing art deco tile.

Especially since I had never been inside, we decided to go inside the actual church space itself.  I guess I had thought only believers were allowed inside...?  Not so, it is indeed open to the public. 

Yes, those are foam rocks in the trees.  They're part of an outdoor art exhibit at the Christian Science Pavilion this summer called Convergence.  I love that they consider it their obligation to use the substantial real estate they have in a very busy part of Boston as a public space for art, music, frisbee, all of that.  It's not just cordoned off and unavailable. 

The Old Church was constructed in 1894, and seated 1100 people.  Large for the time, and built to fit a strangely-sized lot, it was outgrown by the success of the church around the turn of the century. 

photo credit:  wikipedia

 Stained glass light in the old church, constructed in 1894.  

As you can probably tell by the light balance in the space, it's more a cozy church; no large windows for light, dark interior. 

In complete contrast, the new church constructed in 1904 was patterned off of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and is filled with light. 

I think hearing Saint-Saens' Third Organ Symphony in here would make me cry.  Apparently they do a concert for First Night, Boston's New Year's Eve celebrations, but I couldn't find anything on last year's schedule. 

The architecture detailing is gorgeous.

It does make for a very strange amalgam of times; 1890s, 1960s, 1980s, reflecting pool, giant cathedral.  But it somehow all fits together.