Abigail and Michael's Wedding

We spent last weekend on Mackinac Island, Michigan, for the wedding of our friends Abigail (Abbie) and Michael. Abbie is a resident in Orthopedic Surgery with Brian, and Michael is a Ph.D. and researcher at the McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Early on Friday, despite having worked until the wee hours of the morning, we met our friend Courtney (also an Ortho resident) at the airport. We all took taxis to the airport (you'll see why this matters), and then got on a plane to Detroit. From there, we rented a car, and drove five hours through the state of Michigan. Then, we parked the car and got on a ferry to Mackinac Island. Then, on the island, which forbids motorized vehicles of any kind, we were taken to our hotel by horse-drawn carriage. During our entire twelve-or-so hour trip to the hotel, the three of us kept joking that we felt like we were on The Amazing Race or characters in a children's book, given all of our modes of transportation in one day. "Do you think the other team will get there first?" was a common refrain on our trip. :)

The long trip was well worth it. Our hotel, the Grand Hotel (click for link), pictured above, is a graceful, historic summer hotel (the world's largest summer hotel, actually) and is truly one of a kind. It boasts the largest porch in the world and was the setting for the classic romantic movie Somewhere in Time (see here and here), and we definitely felt transported to another time. The classic, imposing hotel has a strict dress code (for example, after 6 p.m., women must wear dresses and men must wear a jacket and tie). The hotel includes with its rooms a five-course dinner and elaborate breakfast, as well as activities like croquet, "S'mores at the Jockey Club," drinks and music by the lake, afternoon tea service, evening demitasse, and so forth. All kinds of athletic activities, from golf, to bicycling to horseback riding to tennis, are also available on the grounds. We kept commenting that it was like a very cool, historic, fancy version of the Dirty Dancing set. It was great.

After we checked in, we dressed up and went to our five-course dinner, which was lovely. Later, we met up with the bride, groom, bridal party and other guests down in town, at the Pink Pony. We were particularly impressed by Abbie's grandparents, who are very active seniors, and really interesting, engaging people.

On Saturday, we went bicycling around the island, where we marveled at the lake's crystal-clear water. We also golfed on a beautiful little putting green with sweeping lake views. As you can see, Brian took the opportunity to utilize Sherry's sweater for purposes of modeling the latest in preppy putting green chic. We also had a nice lunch with views of the lake and golfing. It was all very relaxing, and we kept commenting that, even though this was a short trip to a wedding, it felt like a real vacation.

Saturday evening was the wedding. The ceremony took place on the porch of the hotel. The weather was perfect, the lake dazzled in the background, and Abbie was breathtaking. Her gown was unique and elegant, and so timeless that it could just as easily have enchanted guests in 1887, when the hotel opened, or even in 1957, just as it did that day. Michael looked great, too. :)

The reception at the hotel was a blast. The food and wine were delicious and the band, which was the hotel's house band, provided some of the best (if not the best) music we have heard at any wedding.

On Sunday, had a very relaxing (and huge) breakfast. Then we rented horses and went horseback riding before getting on the ferry and heading back on our long journey home. We were able to explore the inner part of the island and enjoy the fresh air while trotting through the forest. We had a nice, laid-back lunch at the Seabiscuit Cafe and went fudge-shopping (the island is known for its fudge) before boarding the ferry off the island. We arrived home late on Sunday and were very tired, but so happy to have attended Abbie and Michael's wedding and had such a nice mini-vacation.

For more pictures, click here.

John's visit (and new slideshow)

Last week, Brian's dad, John, visited us for six days. It was great to see him. Brian had the week off for vacation, so he was able to spend the whole week visiting with his dad and catching up. They also managed to pack in a lot of activity. Among other things, they went to a Red Sox game (the Sox lost but John and Brian still had a blast), saw a play, went to several good restaurants in different Boston neighborhoods (including multiple gelato-runs to the North End), toured the U.S.S. Constitution, and went boating and camping at the Cape. Sherry worked during the week, but still had a good visit with John as well. Here are some pics from John's visit-- specifically the boating and camping trip to the Cape with Brian. For more photos, click here.

We just returned last night from a three-day weekend trip to Abbie and Michael's wedding in Michigan. We'll post about that soon!

Summer Slideshow #1: We've inserted a new best-of-summer slide (featuring good photos from the past several summers) to as the slideshow of the week (see right), so we're retiring the previous one below.

Bachelorette mania

So, as mentioned before, I (Sherry) have been in the midst of bachelorette mania-- three bachelorette parties in four weeks. Each one has been unique and fun, and I have had a blast.

A few weekends ago, I was down in Manhattan for a weekend-long fete for Shanti, a friend since college. She is also a physician, and lives in New York, where she is a gastrointestinal fellow at Columbia. Her fiance, Rakesh, is also a physician in residency in Chicago. Shanti and Rakesh will be married on Labor Day weekend in San Francisco. The ladies met up for dinner on Friday night, then spent Saturday being lazy in Central Park. On Saturday night, we had rooftop cocktails at an outdoor lounge with a killer view of the Empire State Building, had a great went to a crazy show, and then danced the night away.

The next weekend was Abbie's bachelorette. Abbie is an orthopedic surgery resident with Brian, and her fiance is a scientist at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. We are attending her and Mike's wedding this weekend on Mackinac Island, Michigan. For her bachelorette here in Boston, we started the evening with cocktails at Top of the Hub, then had dinner at 33, and ended up partying away at Whiskey Bar, where we saw an ortho intern and his friends and, of course, made him dance with us. He was, uh, really excited to get to hang out with his chiefs and seniors--at a bachelorette party-- on his night off. A fun night was had by all, even the poor intern.

Finally, last weekend was a celebration for Cheri. Cheri is an ER resident, and the fiancee of Mike Weaver, who is an orthopedic surgery resident with Brian. Mike and Cheri are tying the knot here in Boston in October. The girls got together for burlesque dance lessons during the day, but I was unable to attend, because I had to work. I did, however, join them later for games at Cheri's place, drinks and food at Match, and Jacques Cabaret afterwards. We had a great time. The female-impersonation cabaret was interesting, to say the least!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when I went to NY, so I have no shots of Shanti's bach unless someone sends me some, and I only have a couple of shots from Abbie's, but Brian has our camera out on the Cape this week, so I'll post them later. Amy sent me some good pics from Cheri's party, so I have attached several of those, and you can see more by clicking here.

Happy Birthday, Liz!

One of the privileges of being the HausBlog's #1 fan is getting your own birthday slideshow. Happy Birthday, Liz! We hope you have a wonderful day, and many, many great birthdays to come.

Kat and Kendra's Visit

Back in June, before we headed to France, we were so excited to have a short visit from Kat, Brian's sister who lives in Iowa, and her daughter, Kendra, who lives in upstate New York. We both have siblings who are older by 10-20 years, so Brian's niece, Kendra, like several of Sherry's nieces, is a beautiful young lady in her early 20's who makes us feel old because we're technically her aunt and uncle! Ha! At the time of their visit, Kendra was expecting her first child, a daughter named McKenzie, who has now been born. Welcome to the world, McKenzie! Technically, that makes us a great-aunt and a great-uncle, and that makes us feel, um . . . ancient.

Anyway, Kat was on the east coast visiting Kendra and other family, in part for Kendra's baby shower. Sorry we're just getting around to posting this picture. It was wonderful seeing them both, if only for a few hours!

Speaking of family, Brian's dad, John, is out visiting us for a week, and we are so happy to see him. We'll post more about that later! In the meantime, keep enjoying the summer, everyone!

Summertime, Summertime

This past weekend, Brian worked, and Sherry had a GREAT time at Abbie's bachelorette party here in Boston. Stay tuned for that post and some pics. This was the second of three bachelorette parties she's attending in one month! Next up are a LOT of weddings this season, so we'll have a lot of pics to post soon.

In the meantime, we're updating the slideshow of the week to reflect random, fun summer photos from the past several summers. New Englanders appreciate the seasons. We get the beautiful autumn that we always longed for in California, but we also know that we have to cherish summer and nice weather when we have it-- because it won't be long until it turns colder again. Since we're already into August, we thought we'd celebrate the season of the sun! We have so many good "summer" photos that we just chose a bunch quickly, and we'll probably have to do another similar slide show soon!

Also, we've turned the France slideshow into a post below. We'll do that with each slideshow as they are "retired," so they will remain in the archives for anyone who wants to search for and view them later. Enjoy the new slideshow! Who knows when you'll appear in it?

Anniversary in France Slideshow

Fun weekend with friends

We had a fun weekend. On Friday night, we had dinner with our friends Manish and Maya. Manish is a fellow orthopedic surgery resident of Brian's and Maya is an attorney like Sherry. (Her firm is near Sherry's and they sometimes meet for lunch.) We like going to nice restaurants, and so do they, so we've recently been to both Azure with them (a couple of months ago), and Friday night, we went to Icarus. Afterwards, they came over and we enjoyed just relaxing and talking.

On Sunday, we had our friends Anne and Chris, and their darling children Madeline and Miles, over for brunch. Chris and Brian were roommates in Boston back when we lived here during 1998-2000. The four of us became fast friends, and Annie was even a bridesmaid in our wedding. It is nice having them nearby again. Maddie is two years old, but talks like she's twelve-- in full sentences, with explanations, so we're pretty sure that having an amazing teacher for a Mommy and a lawyer for a Daddy is showing already. It's adorable! She's a sweet little girl , who sat so nicely during brunch, asking politely for some "pro shoo shoo" (proscuitto), and even thanked us for having her over. Too cute. Miles is two months old, HUGE (15 lbs.), and also super cute. We had so much fun sitting out on the deck, in great weather, and catching up with them.

On Sunday night, we went to pub trivia. Pub trivia is a very popular pasttime in Boston. Bars (pubs) all over the city offer trivia night (usually Sunday), in which "teams" come, eat, have some beer, and compete against one another. Teams answer trivia questions and strategize about how many "points" to bet on each question. Brian is on a team (Buddy Tape) with other residents (and some significant others) that plays every Sunday night at one particular bar. There are maybe 10-12 on the team, but only 6-10 show up on any given Sunday night, depending on their schedules. This is the first time Sherry has come, but she hopes to come again. Buddy Tape usually does pretty well, and sometimes wins. This Sunday, we won, beating out the Ottoman team, an (overly serious) team that wins most often. Pictured right are Nikki (ortho surgery resident), Cheri (emergency resident and fiancee of Mike), Sherry, Mike (ortho surgery resident), Michael (Ph.D./researcher, and fiance of Abbie, an ortho surgery resident who was on call), Courtney (ortho surgery resident) and Brian.