When Is Larry Bird Walking Through That Door?

It's a sad day to be a Celtics fan. I think -- if it's even possible -- that I care about the Celtics even less after last night's debacle of a draft. One of the deepest drafts in history and somehow we walk away with an aging star (Ray Allen) who's 3 years past his prime, can't play defense, and has a receding hairline. I guess that's what happens when Paul Pierce is the GM. Don't believe anything the Celtics front office says -- they have no plan for the future, they have no organizational philosophy, they have no patience. Appeasing Pierce, capturing the highly coveted 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, and being promptly eliminated appears to be more important than building a strong contender for years down the road. Red, we need you. These guys are absolute clowns.

Top 10 Moment

"Someday, girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place where we really wanna go, then we'll walk in the sun, but till then tramps like us, baby we were born to run!"

Bev and I have seen The Boss live on two occasions -- once in Philadelphia with the rest of the E Street Band on the Vote for Change Tour (2004) and once in Boston on his solo Devils and Dust Tour (2005). It's definitely true what they say about Bruce -- you never forget your first time. Seeing him close the Philly show with "Born To Run" ranks up there as a Top 10 moment in my life. The show was winding down, I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to hear Thunder Road or Born To Run...then "One! two!..." and the rest is, well, goosebumps. I'm glad I found this video. If you ever get the chance to see Bruce live, drop everything and do it. No one in the business puts as much heart, soul, and sweat into every song.

The Big Move

A week later, Price and I are finally able to talk about the move to Charlestown. All-in-all, everything went smoothly and we managed to get a lot of work done in the place in a very short amount of time. Major thanks to Mom, Dad, and Blake - they were incredible to put up with me, who crowned herself, The Boss, for the weekend. Sorry :) Price and I are so grateful for their hard-working energy and willingness to help.

So, here are some pictures from the move.

A couple days before the move, we started bringing over car loads of boxes!

Hitch enjoying the calm before the storm.

Blake, Bev, and Dad...we're laughing at something?

It's looking empty in Waltham!

The new kitchen...

with lots of cabinets.

Dining room.

An early birthday gift for Price.

Mom and Dad, relaxing after a LONG day!

Yep, we have a fireplace and mantel!

Saying goodbye to Waltham! Hello Boston!!

Our Alter Egos

Weekend with the Wolfs

Wow, the month of June has been jam-packed for us! Price and I have been on the run for the past few weeks, mainly caught up in the move to Charlestown, but we have had some fun along the way. One highlight was Jay and Erin's visit! They were troopers to put up with our transitory living quarters and sparse walls inWaltham. They also helped us move some stuff over to the new apartment. Erin is great in the kitchen and helped me figure out where to put the ever-important juice glasses, pots and pans, and mixing bowls. Thanks Ern! Jay put his thinking cap on and figured out how to maximize the baker's rack we have in our pantry. I don't think it would have worked without an extra set of hands!

Okay, okay, we didn't just work in the apartment all weekend. Friday's festivities began with egg salad and BLTs at the Warren Tavern, followed by a tour of the Bunker Hill Monument that just reopened on June 14. We climbed all 294 steps to the top, or rather, 3 of us climbed and 1, being Jay, ran! That was insane! Erin got some beautiful pictures from the top.

After Price and Jay competed in the First Annual Urban Bocce Tournament, we went out for 'ritas at The Border Cafe. The 'ritas go down like water, he he, and the food is delicious. We had some good laughs at dinner, especially after 3 'ritas apiece and the enchilada that ended up in Bev's lap! Good times!

Saturday was another pretty day, so we headed to Salem, MA to see the House of Seven Gables and the Witch Museum. I had forgotten how fun the tour is at the Seven Gables. There is a hidden staircase that is so teeny, we all wondered if Price would fit :) Afterward, we went to Salem Beer Works for Watermelon Ales. Jay liked the sound of that.

We had a great time with Erin and Jay, as always!! Can't wait for our next visit!

The Sopranos Finale: The Outtakes

I have to give props to Hillary. I really like her new web video announcing the choice for her official campaign song. There won't be any Oscars coming her way, but the pop cultural reference is timely and spot-on and Bill's cameo is great. So what's her campaign song? (Hint: She flips by it on the jukebox).

Like any good Democrat, I followed the link to Hillary's website and was thoroughly disappointed with the choice. I like Hillary (no, this isn't an official endorsement at this point) but really, who chose this song? A French-Canadian lobbying group? Another Gore run is starting to look better and better. At least he got Melissa Etheridge to sing for "An Inconvenient Truth."

Looks Like Fez Finally Had a Love-Child

Meet Ducky, the world's smallest living dog according to the Guiness Book of World Records. 1.4 pounds. 4.9 inches tall.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, to all of the dads who made us who we are today. Much love and thanks.

(We don't have a picture of Grandpa Anderson, but he -- like everyone else -- is in our thoughts.)

The Running of the Brides

The annual Running of the Brides was held this morning at Filene's Basement. Sadly, I could not attend. Even sadder, it was announced yesterday that the flagship store in Downtown Crossing -- that mecca of capitalism, bargain shopping, and collective chaos -- is closing its doors until 2009. No ones knows exactly what is going on, whether the store will eventually reopen in the same location or whether it will be moved elsewhere in a tarted up, renovated form. The Basement they recently opened off Copley Square just isn't the same -- you don't feel like you need to wash your hands upon leaving. From what I hear, they've even got stalls in the dressing rooms. Someone must have told them that people don't like baring their bodies in front of a bunch of strangers lasciviously eyeing those designer jeans you had secretly buried in the home goods section to get the maximal markdown. Anyway, mark it down: on August 31, Filene's Basement goes the way of Scollay Square, the Combat Zone, the West End, and all those other Boston landmarks of yesteryear. It looks like Bev is going to have find another place to hone her cutthroat, ninja shopping skills.

Further Adventures of the Boston Blairs

So, you all know Price and I are moving back into the city a week from today. Well, I had the pleasure of trooping over to City Hall this morning and going through endless red tape to get a resident parking sticker and a moving permit for moving day. I knew I was in trouble when I could not even get into the city! The traffic was stopped on Storrow Drive, so I decide to get off at the Back Bay exit and zip through the city streets. BAD IDEA! The traffic was horrible and I basically sat on Beacon Hill for 30 solid minutes waiting to face this....

Gay rights activists and protestors battling it out on Beacon Hill. You just missed me in the Jeep zooming by! Oh, my mistake, I meant creeping by. It's a wonder I have any patience left in my body at this point. I miss the south on days like this so much. And after success at City Hall, and about $140 dollars later, I just want to cry.

Happy Anniversary, Pricey :)

Happy Anniversary!

To Us.

The Graduate

What a great time we enjoyed at home last weekend! The highlight of the trip was watching Blake graduate from Washington and Lee. He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering, physics engineering, and chemistry. We are extremely proud of Blake! Price and I have so many memories at W&L and at Chi Psi and graduation just brought it all back. I can still remember watching Price graduate 5 years ago and we'd only been engaged for a couple weeks. Today is our 4th wedding anniversary, but it still seems like just yesterday!

The lovely Lee Chapel.

Virginia was, yet again, hot and steamy. I don't know if you can tell, but we were melting at graduation. We're a good looking crowd, so it could be hard to tell :)

Mom and Dad threw another stellar party for Blake. It was about 96 degrees outside when the party started at 6 p.m. and unfortunately a thunderstorm rolled in a little later. But it was great to see so many old friends of the family and to celebrate with Blake.

Saturday we capped off the weekend with a family cookout. We were thrilled to meet Jenne and to welcome her into the extended family. As always, trips home to Sedgewick Drive do not disappoint!

Bada Bummed

Warning: If you haven't seen The Sopranos series finale, stop here. If you did see it or you just don't care anyway, please read on.

It's become known as the "Huh?" heard round the world. Tony sits in a New Jersey diner. He chooses a song -- Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" -- on the tabletop jukebox. Carmela and AJ join him. They order a basket of onion rings and talk about AJ's new job as a movie producer. Tony suspiciously eyes fellow diners (are they hitmen or just normal people?). One man in a Member's Only jacket mosies towards the bathroom (perhaps retrieving a gun from the toilet, a la Michael Corleone in The Godfather?). Meadow is running late and obviously can't parallel park. Meadow finally parks and runs across the street, a bell on the door jingles, Tony looks up....CUT TO BLACK. SILENCE. Did my cable just go out? SILENCE. CREDITS. What the deuce? Were Tony and his family whacked? (In an earlier episode, Bobby had said that if you're shot to death, you won't hear your killer coming, everything will just go black.) Does Tony have a massive heart attack after one too many onion rings and "gaba-gool" subs? Do the Sopranos live to have just another family meal? Apparently we'll never know, and the rest is up to our imagination. If you want Tony to die for a lifetime of murder, corruption, and adultery, then by all means kill him. If you want to believe Tony can be redeemed, then by all means let him eat in peace. The Sopranos -- ambiguous and thought-provoking to the end.

I've done a lot of thinking about this series ending, and I can't decide what I thought of it. The build-up of suspense using quick camera cuts was incredible (Hitchcock would have been proud), but my initial reaction was to feel robbed. You don't devote nearly 90 hours of total viewing time to be left out in the cold. I -- like most people -- definitely didn't want to see Tony gunned down, but some sort of closure, some sort of answer -- no matter how shocking or placid -- would have been more satisfying. The more I think about it, the best part of those final scenes was actually Journey's song. Therefore, I've included this sweet music video from the 80's. It gets really entertaing around the 1 minute/(-3:06) mark. Steve Perry's blouse -- sorry, shirt -- is priceless, and I could swear he's packing heat (and I don't mean a gun) a la Randy Quaid in Christmas Vacation. He's clapping like Steve Martin in The Jerk too. Enjoy!

Investor's Tip: Buy Stock In Nine West

Raine: I came back wearing different shoes than the ones I wore out.

Bev: ME TOO!

A New Perch

Now that we're cleaning out our guest room, Mr. Hitch has found new and inventive places to plop. We found him this morning on the dresser.

Is that a yawn or a mighty roar?

Elbow Grease and Pizza

In between some heavy vaccuuming, Swiffering, and dusting, Bev and I enjoyed our first dinner together in our new Charlestown digs. Sure, we didn't have any chairs or table, but leftover pizza (courtesy of Sweet Tomatoes) and salad (drenched in Ken's Italian...the original 17 g of fat kind) has never tasted so good. We love our new place already and we haven't even moved in yet! The place has so much character and charm that we're thrilled. There's tons of closet/storage space -- both walk-in and crawl-in if you can imagine that -- and Hitch has told us he's excited there's a beautiful tree right in front of our living room window. Many more birds will now be hunted in his imagination. We did manage to lock ourselves out for the first time (so many doors, so many locks), but it gave us as good an excuse as any to meet our key-keeping neighbors. If you can believe it, random people on the street even offered to help us with the few boxes we were taking to the front door. This is Boston, of course, so they may have wanted to take our mixing bowls and beer glasses and run...but I doubt it -- they and everyone around Charlestown seem incredibly nice.

ICA Boston: Philip-Lorca DiCorcia

Bev and I have plans to make it to the new Institute of Contemporay Art this summer. The museum is situated on the Boston waterfront and looks quite remarkable. There are also some interesting exhibits there, including a collection of photographs by Philip-Lorca DiCorcia. I first noticed these photographs when they ran in the Globe Arts section, and the images stuck with me. I think Alfred Hitchcock would have loved this photographer. The lighting and shadows set up a haunting -- almost macabre -- atmosphere, and the subjects look so lonely and lost in their own thoughts. The horror of everyday life, right? Look at some of these images. Don't they look almost cinematic?

F-Bombs

I think Raine and Jenne should take advantage of their H.R. status and institute a "swear jar."

One if by land, Two if by sea...

And we on the opposite shore shall be. I enjoyed this photo from an article that ran in the Globe today called Boston's Secret Places . The photo was taken from the steeple of the Old North Church, looking up Hull St. towards the Zakim Bridge and across the harbor to Charlestown.

The Old North Church is a fantastic place to visit in the North End (great food nearby), but unfortunately visitors are no longer allowed to make the 14 story trek to the top of the steeple. This steeple was the famed site where the church's sexton, Robert Newman, hung two lanterns on the night of April 18, 1775 to alert Paul Revere in Charlestown that the British regulars were crossing the Charles River. From that route, the British troops planned to advance on Lexington and Concord to arrest John Adams and John Hancock and destroy a munitions stockpile. Paul Revere saw the signal and rode through present day Somerville, Arlington, Medford, and Lexington to warn the patriots that "The Regulars are coming out!" The rest is, of course, history.

Finally, All Is Right With the World

The Yankees are are 12.5 games back and Tom Terrific is back to wearing the right hat.

Merseyside Hooligans

According to a UEFA report, Liverpool supporters have been dubbed the "worst behaved fans in Europe." I think we're supposed to be upset by this claim, but I'll wear it as a badge of honor instead. There's only one way to be a true fan, and that's passionately, right? In my short time rooting for Liverpool, I've never experienced any of this supposed bad behavior. Sure, I may have been known to drink a few pints of Guiness at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Sure, I may have been known to direct a few obscenity-laced songs at ManU(re) or Chelsea ("We hate Nottingham Forest, we hate Everton too -- they're s**t. We hate Man United, but Liverpool we love you!") But one thing I've never done is encourage my wife, brother, or sister to drink Christmas Car Bombs.

Okay, so I might have done that too. But I swear to you -- Liverpool fans are well-behaved.

Some of them anyway.