My Wonderful Wordcamp Weekend in Pictures

January 24, 2010

After work on Friday I hopped on a plane to Boston for WordCamp. It was a wonderful weekend that was much needed for me. I unplugged a bit (besides a few tweets here and there) and just tried to relax. I’ve been a bit stressed lately as FitBloggin is approaching.

Anyway the weekend really was fabulous although it started with not the best breakfast. . .

Don’t get me wrong I’m a HUGE everything bagel fan but I knew I’d be hungry in an hour and major cravings with kick in. But it was that or a muffin so I went with that and a smear of lite cream cheese.

After breakfast I headed over to the conference with my friend Jim Doran who was presenting. He proceeded to kick my ass at Chess while we waited for the conference to start….

I’ll go into more detail on some of the stuff I learned at the conference over at SkinnyMinnyMedia for my fellow geeks. :) It’s just going to take me a few days.

Unfortunately, lunch wasn’t too impressive at the conference either. Whole foods provided brown bags…

I ate half the sandwich but had to scrape off the mayo (just not a fan). The banana was all mush on the inside. And don’t even get me started on that Pro Bar. It was FOUR hundred calories and just not good. I only took a bite to try it. I learned long ago NOT to waste calories on food I don’t like.

They also handed out soup but it was New England Clam Chowder and I’m not crazy for creamy soup. No lectures please I realize I was actually IN New England but still, the stuff just grosses me out! I’d much rather Manhattan Clam.

Anyway, I’m getting side tracked. It was back to more sessions after lunch. The day was re-energizing. There is just something about being in a room with people who all understand what you do. It’s refreshing.

Post conference the group was having a reception at The Asgard. They offered a shuttle but Jim and I decided to walk it. It was cold but after sitting all day the stroll was nice and the view was even better…

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, we walked the wrong way and had to double back. So our 1.5 mile walk was more like 2 or 2.5 my fingers were numb but it was still nice.

I did bring my running clothes on the trip but it was just so darn COLD! Plus there was a lot of ice on the trails. I decided against it. Instead, I just stayed more active all weekend by taking stairs when I could (14 stories one time!) and not letting Jim carry my heavy bag as we walked through the city–even though he offered like a BAZILLION times. lol

On the way to the bar we passed this little Tai place and decided to go there for dinner. I rarely get to eat ethnic foods as the Husband’s not really into it so I seized the opportunity. It was DELICIOUS! So flavorful and gave me a few ideas for GreenliteBites.

At the reception I stuck with a few–ok 1 too may–Vodka Crans. It’s my new drink of choice. :)

I was a little tipsy walking back and then completely crashed. It was a long, great day but Sunday was even better!

Jim and I decided to visit the The Museum of Fine Arts together. We hopped on the T–what I would call the subway–and headed into Boston…

We were there in a jiffy! I really wish Baltimore had a better mass transit system. I’d be in the city ALL the time.

Anyway, the museum was AWESOME! Even the outside…

I had such a good time strolling through the museum. It was even more fun being there with an artist, like being with "an insider" or something. :)

Here I am at the Albrecht Dürer exhibit. It was awe inspiring and blew my MIND!

I could go on and on about the amazing pieces of art I saw but I need to wrap this up and get some sleep. However, I want to post this picture of a sculpture I saw. Look how beautiful these women figures are. NONE of them are super thin. They are curvy and round and beautiful. Each unique. I LOVE that.

Anyway… I wish I had more time there but I had to catch the flight home. Jim and I looked for a place to eat and due to time constraints we settled on a small pizza shop across from the museum. I had an eggplant parm and we shared some onion rings. It was good but nothing I’d want to eat every day (like I used to.)

I got home around 5PM and my boys were still alive. :)The husband wanted to go out to eat (*sigh*) so we settled on Panera and did some shopping at Target. It was fun and being around Ryan was so… so… intoxicating. He has that effect on me. :) We raced our wagon at Target, played with his new legos, read one of our new books (I bought a few at the museum like Asian Children’s Favorite Stories) and he showed me his new creation on the magnet chalk wall. Maybe he’ll be in the Museum of Fine Art one day. :)

Right now I’m popping some Pop Chips. In addition to Panera I also ate 2 leftover slices of pizza the husband had in the fridge. Why? Good question. I wasn’t hungry but that darn pizza cast a spell. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I told you YEARS ago, I have a problem. ;~P

It’s no biggie, really.

I need to log off. I’m taking tomorrow off work but I have a big day planed. The car and my laptop are both getting serviced. Ryan is off of school and we are going to head downtown to the American Visionary Art Museum. What can I say, the museum bug has bitten. :)

Good night! I hope you all had a great weekend. I’m off to throw on my running clothes. I really want to get out there tomorrow morning.

Posted in Journal