Monthly Archives: March 2016

Touring Boston – What to Know About Attending the Boston Symphony Orchestra

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If you want to have an amazing musical experience you’ve got to check out the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall.  We went over Valentines Day last year and had a fantastic experience (and if your an MIT student and your interested in going get your tickets from the MIT Copy Tech, you get a card that allows you to buy tickets for only a few dollars a person… I can’t remember the price exactly but I want to say it was between $5-$10/person.  If your a student from another university I suspect there are similarly discounted tickets available to you.)

We walked to Symphony Hall and enjoyed walking around the hallways for a few minutes and learning more about the history before we settled into our seats.   The Hall itself has incredible marble statues and ornate gold work lines the top of the hall, and once the music started well it was breath taking.

We really enjoyed being able to have this experience and if you like classical music this is a must visit.

Things to Note:

1) Price
It varies depending on the event.  Some are even free.

2) Getting There
I would suggest public transportation but there are a few parking garages around the area you can use.  More information about parking for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

3) Children
Children over 5 years old are permitted to attend symphony events.  If you have children under 5 you’ll have to wait and attend one of their “Concerts for Very Young People” performances where young children not only get the hear fantastic music but they also have a chance to interact with the performers.

4) Attire
Semi formal is generally requested though there is no official dress code.

5) Arrival
Get there earlier enough to be seated before it starts.  If you’re late you’ll have to wait until the end of whatever piece is being played before the ushers will take you to your seat.

Have you been here before?  If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below. 

Summary & Rating ★★★★☆

Four Stars.  While this was a great experience for my husband and I it’s really not a very kid friendly activity. The hands on “Concerts for Very Young People” are great but they don’t happen super regularly.  In any case if your looking for a nice date night this might be just the thing.

Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall
301 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Phone: 617-266-1492
Website: https://www.bso.org/

Toddler Letters – “G” is for “Grass”

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Supplies Needed:

  • Brown Craft Paper
  • Green letter “G” cutout
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Grass Shoots

 

 

Set Up:

We started this letter by walking outside together and gathering some grass shoots.  Then we went in and I had our “G” cut out and ready to go.  I slathered the “G” with glue.  Then my son and I took turns cutting the very long grass shoots into shorter pieces so they would fit on our “G” and putting them into the glue. He thought cutting the grass with scissors was pretty much the most fun and most funny thing he had ever done. 🙂
We finished up by talking a little bit about plants and different things that grow like grass, trees, and flowers.

 

 

Tracing Letters:

*Courtesy of http://bogglesworldesl.com/

Have you made this craft?  What was your experience like and do you have an suggestions to make it better?  I’d love to hear about them in the comments section below.

You may also be interested in:

Touring Boston – The Go-getter’s Guide to the Garment District

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Boston on the cheap.  So if you’re new to the area and like me married to a full time student chances are that money is tight.  One clothing option for the slightly more adventurous is a place called the Garment District.  This place has been around for thirty or so year and they have new and used clothing, mostly used.

There are two floors worth of clothing.  The top floor is where you’ll find some new stuff and used/vintage clothing that has been sorted by style (men, women, shirts, dresses, pants etc.)  I was able to by a really nice wrap dress there (Banana Republic Brand) that had been slightly used, still in great condition for about $10.

However the real adventure is the clothing by the pound area.  This takes place on the bottom level of the store and it’s a little bit of great deal madness.  It cost $1.50 a pound. I had seen it advertised and I was curious to see what it actually was.

I walked in and they handed me a clear plastic garbage bag a motioned to the mounds of clothing covering the floor.  It was a foot deep, wall to wall, carpet of clothes, there were no aisles and no order.  You had to walk across and into the clothing piles to reach things and then just rifle through it looking for something of interest to you.  

Tons of people just squatted down and started looking through the things around them.  It took a few minutes for me to come to terms with this madness, but I decided we had walked there and I should give it a fair try.  It was fun in a really weird way, I think a couple of my crazy cousins would have loved it, but my husband wasn’t ready to dive into this hipster dumpster life style so he checked out the sweaters upstairs until I was finished.

Things to note:

1)  The garment district is mostly used clothing
Some of it is sorted by kind and style, those pieces tend to me more expensive (a few dollars a piece) and then there is clothing by the pound where there is absolutely no order, but the clothing you find there is really inexpensive and there are still high quality brands and fashionable pieces in the clothing by the pound… you just have to sort to find them.

2) Half of this store is a costume store (Boston Costume)
This means you can also find a bunch of random things there and during the month of October the clothing by the pound section is closed and the upstairs regular clothing section is compressed so they can fit more costumes.

3) Clothing by the pound can be a great deal
I’ve found a number of high quality sweaters, there are often coats, and if you look hard enough you can find children’s clothing, which is really light = inexpensive.

4) Odd Hours
The hours seem to be on a collage timeline, they open at 11am-midnight, every day but Saturday.  Saturday they open at 9am.

Summary and Rating: ★★★☆☆

This place was very odd to me and it took some time for me to wrap my head around sorting through old clothing in piles on the floor.  With that said, I found some great deals and going through it with the mindset that it was part of the adventure made it fun.  To each their own.

If you’ve been to the Garment District I’d love to hear your thoughts and feelings about it.  Feel free to share them with me in the comments below.

Have you been here before?  If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below. 

Garment District

200 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139

Phone: 617.876.5230
Website: http://garmentdistrict.com/
Hours:
Sunday through Friday: 11am – 12am
Saturday: 9am – 12am

Apostolic Clothing – Spring Styles {Review}

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We had our first glorious day of 75 degree weather here in Boston last week. (Thankfully no snowmageddon this year!) And while it may be too early to start thinking about summer it’s not to early to start thinking about is Easter! Heads up, the holiday is on March 27th.

Disclosure: Brittney from Sly Spoon received products from this sponsor to facilitate her review, no other compensation was received, and all opinions expressed are 100% her own.

I love spring dresses and I love getting dressed up for Easter Sunday. Apostolic Clothing is the perfect place to turn to for new fun frocks that are ideal for looking classy on the town and great at church.

They have a fantastic selection of dresses and skirts and they are adding new items to their stock all the time.

I was thrilled when they sent me the dreamy Dixie dress and the amazing reversible skirt (Sophia). They are exactly what I was hoping for for spring.

The Dixie dress is so flattering on! It has a round neckline and a few accent pleats around the neck. The dress is fully lined (not see through at all!) and made out of rayon so there is a tiny bit of give to the fabric, which makes the dress really comfortable to wear. It’s a great addition to a spring wardrobe and a total win in my book.

The second I saw that there even was such a thing as a reversible skirt I knew I had to have one. The skirt looked amazing and the idea of being able to flip it inside out was just too fun to pass up. Apostolic Clothing currently carries two different reversible skirts the Sophia and the Sophine. Both are A line skirts with one black side, and one black and white printed side.

It says on the website that one size fits all from S-XL. I found the lack of sizing a little daunting but the skirt has a thick elastic waistband that fits comfortably and the skirt can easily be moved up or down your torso until you find the fit you like. The skirt is made out of dual layer polyester and its heavyweight enough that you won’t need a slip with it.

Personally I think it looks amazing no matter how you wear it. I love the playful peek-a-boo patterns that show when it’s worn black side out, and the stylish accents when it’s worn pattern side out. Its classic colors make it easy to match with just about anything, and really how can anyone say no to the magic of a reversible skirt? Being the mother of two young boys I have no doubt this fun feature will come in handy.

Apostolic Clothing is a Georgia based company that specializes in modest, modern clothing. I’ve had the chance to work with them in the past and they have always been fantastic and are truly dedicated to their cause of providing an avenue to find modest clothing that you feel and look amazing in. They are adding new items to their site all the time and if you’re looking for the perfect dress the first place you should check out is Apostolic Clothing.

Check out Apostolic Clothing for more great modest spring styles, perfect for Easter and sunny weather.

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Touring Boston – The Unexpected Awesomeness of Candle Pin Bowling

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Until I moved to Boston I didn’t know such a thing as Candle Pin Bowling existed, but I’m so glad we’ve discovered it!

Candle Pin bowling is similar to the usual ten pin bowling in the sense that your sending a ball down a lane to hit over pins, but the pins are tall and slender (hence the name candle pin) and the ball is also small, about the size of a grapefruit and much lighter than the ten pin bowling balls.  This makes it awesome for kids!  For once they can actually hold the ball without being toppled over by it!

However don’t think that just because the balls are lighter and that kids have a blast that you, as an adult, wont be challenged by this sport.  It’s surprisingly difficult to knock over those little pins with your little ball, and there are no perfect games in recorded history.

Wikipedia’s input on the subject – The main differences between candlepin bowling and the predominant ten-pin bowling style are that each player uses three balls per frame, the balls are much smaller (11.43 cm, or 4.5″ diameter) and do not have holes. Also, the downed pins (known as ‘wood’) are not cleared away between balls during a player’s turn and the pins are thinner, and thus harder to knock down. Because of these differences, scoring points is considerably more difficult than in ten-pin bowling, and the highest officially sanctioned score ever recorded is 245 out of a possible 300 points.

We went to the FlatBread Company/Sacco’s Bowl Haven for our bowling and enjoyed some wood fire pizza while we waited for a lane to open. We didn’t have a vehicle so it was nice to be able to reach this place by public transportation with only a little bit of walking.

As far as bowling went…  I loved it! I think it’s much more fun than regular bowling and much faster! You don’t have to wait for your ball to be returned every round or for the pins to be cleared each time. You just grab three light little balls and roll them down the lane as quickly as possible. The downed pins are helpful in knocking over some of the standing pins.

On the other hand keeping your own score on a piece of paper was a bit confusing initially.  I had the benefit of competing with two MIT students and they got it figured out pretty well. All in all we had a blast and I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting or living in New England.

Rating: 

★★★★★
Five Stars.  I like bowling, and I loved candle pin bowling.  Perfect for both kids and adults.

Have you been here before?  If so I’d love to know more about your experience and any tips or tricks you have in the comments section below. 

Sacco’s Bowl Haven / FlatBread Company (Candle Pin Bowling)
45 Day Street
Somerville, MA

Phone: 617.776.0552
Website: http://flatbreadcompany.com/FlatbreadDirectionsSomerville%20MA%202010.html 

OPEN 7 Days a Week
Baking Hours: 11:30AM -11:30PM
Sundays close at 10:30PM

Bowling Hours 9:00AM – Midnight
Sundays close at 10:30PM