Couple Friends!

Hello everyone,

You know how, in How I Met Your Mother, Lily and Marshall are forever in search of couple friends? For most of the show, they are the only attached people in their friend-group since rest of the friends are either unhappily single, unhappily in a relationship, or happily jumping from one significant other to another for like 10 years...  and we are beginning to see why they were searching for attached friends.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with hanging out with your single friends. In fact, for David and I, most of our closest friends are single, and we absolutely love hanging out with them!  

However, when the opportunity presents itself for a double date, we are on it!  It's definitely different when your friends are attached and you can hang out in a double date setting; you can talk about all the couple-y things like weddings, the fun (and the challenges) of living together, and others that you may not necessarily get to talk about with your single friends.  

Besides, 4 is the perfect number for most board games, so you know...  haha  

In Houston, we had our resident double daters, Amulet and Chris, and we are happy to have found more double daters here in Boston!  Actually, a lot more of our friends here in Boston are very seriously dating, if not married to, someone.  Maybe it's a sign that we are getting older and so are our friends..?

Anyway, our age doesn't keep us from playing games well into the night, and we did exactly that with this cute couple  =)

Rachael and I were suite mates this summer at Garth Newel, and have been close ever since!  So glad I still get to see her all the time since we are in the same studio at BU!  haha  Also, both of our guys are sciency types, so a double date just HAD to happen!  ;)

playing Splendor

It was such a fun night (though rather late.. we found out that playing 3 board games was too much for 1 night  haha), and we look forward to many more when David moves here!

ok, so how many scientists and musicians does it take to take a timed photo?  

haha

well, in the end we did get one!  

After all, among the 4 of us, we have 4 graduate degrees! 

Another couple we love to hang out with is Daon+Tristan couple!

We've gone on double dates before and it seems that our theme is food!  I am totally ok with this theme  =)   Last time it was the Marliave, and this time was La Morra!  It's a quaint little Italian restaurant, and it was incredible!  everything we tried was so. good. and my friends I've sent there have loved it as well, so it seems that you just can't go wrong here!  Definitely make a reservation before you go since it seems to be pretty popular!

Instead of bringing out butter and bread, they brought out some cheese... not cottage cheese, but something different..  Ricotta?  I didn't really have it because I'm slightly lactose intolerant, and it just looked like trouble for my tummy, but everyone else liked it!

we ended up ordering a few tapas and many mains, but we got side tracked chatting and eating, so not too many photos, sorry!  It was delicious though, so we'll have to go back. because you know. photos for the blog is important...  mmhhhmm  ;)

David is coming back to Boston later this week, and I'm SOO excited to eat our way around Boston again  =)  Please let us know if you have any restaurant recommendations!

Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Houston for a few days

Hello everyone!

Snowmageddon is here in Boston!  BU has cancelled school for this evening and all of tomorrow, and everyone is prepping for 2-3 feet of snow and hurricane speed winds.  I have never experienced a blizzard before, so while I know that it's extremely dangerous, I'm also rather giddy to see a completely white world tomorrow when I wake up!  

outside my window a few days ago  =)

Being stuck at home for a full day and a half also gives me time to catch up on my blog!  I know it's been awhile, but since I got to Boston, I've been so swamped with school and my new job as an orchestra manager that it's been difficult to even find time to eat sometimes.  Needless to say, this snow day could not have come at a better time.  I'm looking forward to baking cookies, maybe drinking some hot chocolate, catching up on some homework, practicing, and just enjoying this God-send day off.

Now, to catch up on a few events before my life became incredibly hectic...
I spent a few days in Houston before school started, and though I couldn't see everyone I wanted to see due to lack of time, I still got to pack in a few adventures  =)

The first one, of course, (I mean, it's David and I haha) was going dancing!  We used to love going to Second Saturday Dances put on by USA Dance, and my visit coincided with the Second Saturday Dance for January, so we got to go!

It was before school started in Houston, so we didn't see all of the Rice dancers, but we did see a few of our old Rice friends + an adopted U of H dancer   haha.  They had a little 'photo booth' there, so obviously, we had to take the awkward dance family photo  ;)

Then, our old apartment reunited!!!!  

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you would be familiar with seeing Amulet around here since we were roommates for 2 years!  

it was really great to catch up, have some lunch, and some coffee to warm up in the frigid(?) Houston weather (little did I know what I would be facing in Boston)

Later, for tradition's sake, the double daters got together for some game night!  We used to do this so much, and Chris (Amulet's bf) has quite an extensive collection of board games, so we had to get together again while I was visiting  =)

We played a Polish game (I forget what it's called since it was in Polish) that was a cross between the game 'Dixit' and 'Clue' that got us all warmed up for a night of non-stop laughter.

we were joined by our favorite four-legged friend, Houdini!!  such a charmer this one  =)

After two rounds of the first game, we proceeded to build our castles with the game 'Castles of Mad King Ludwig' which was so much fun!  Chris built the fattest castle, Amulet had the most well-balanced castle, I had the sleepiest one, and David had the creepiest, strangest castle full of dungeons and other questionable underground rooms  haha

It was so good to be back hanging out and catching up with our favorite double date couple, and I hope that we get to do it more as we visit each other in our respective cities  =)

If you are in the New England area chillin with the blizzard Juno, I hope that you will stay warm and safe, and if you are enjoying the balmy weather in the 50's (like in Houston), then... well...  harumph.  haha  =)  

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

--Janny

Another game night!

Hello everyone!

Yes, yes, we have game nights all the time (like here and here), and yes, I am blogging yet another one.  haha  If you haven't tried game nights with a couple of your closest friends (and add the four legged friends too if you are so inclined) you are totally missing out!  so grab a couple of your favorite games, people, and animals, food and block off a couple of hours to hang out.  It's as easy as that!

For our game night, we picked our favorite double date couple, a couple of poochies, multiple games, and some pizza, and we were set!

Here is David with pup #1, Pucci.  We were dogsitting her for the weekend, and she is such a delight! we can't wait to get a pup of our own!

pup #2, our favorite/the most regular four legged addition, Houdini, nicknamed 'jammies'

and Amulet getting really into the game with the help of pup #3, Odi!

And some deliciously greasy pizza!  mmmmhmm.  We usually try to eat healthy, but a little bit of grease once in awhile never hurts, and this was just so good!  

We started off with a quick little game called For Sale, which was so quick I didn't really get a chance to snap many photos other than this one of Odi and David  haha

Then we moved onto our favorite game of the night!  

Have you heard of Dixit? It's kind of like Pictionary and Apples to Apples got together and had a baby.. and it is so much fun!!

and the illustrations on the cards are really wonderful too.

So the gist of the game is that you pick a card and a saying that goes along with it, and the others choose a card from their hand that they think matches what you said.  Then, you lay it all down on the table and the other players try to guess which one was yours.  The tricky part is that you don't want to be too vague that no one guesses it (because then you don't get any points) but you also don't want to be too obvious because then everyone will guess yours and again, you won't get any points.  It's quite tricky to walk the line between the two, and the scientists in the group (the boys) had the hardest time coming up with a not too obvious description of the card  haha.  

Pictures below shows our last round, and we're dying because David, the obvious-king of the night put, down his last card, and without him even having to say anything, we all correctly guessed which one was his!    XD

The last game we played was Munchkin, and while it was fun, I think we were a bit too tired to be playing the game.. It has a pretty steep learning curve at first, but it would be fun to play it again =)

super focused David  =p

Overall, it was such a fun night with wonderful company (both the 2 legged and the 4 legged kind), and we can't wait to do it again soon!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny

Happy Memorial Day!!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful time being with your friends and loved ones as we celebrate the lives of the men and women who gave up their lives so that we could enjoy this freedom today!  

Instead of celebrating the day at a BBQ with friends, or perhaps a parade, I'm finishing up packing and then catching a plane back home with my boy!  ahhhhh I am so excited!  =D   I can't wait to see my family!! my puppy!! and also for them to meet David!  =)   the whole meet-the-parents process begins!  haha

This week (and also most of the weekend) was full of packing, packing, and some more packing...

but my room has never been cleaner!  haha   

Thankfully, I didn't have to move my furniture or take down all of the decorations because the person who is subletting my room wanted a 'furnished' bedroom.  She sounds like a very sweet person, so I feel content leaving most of my things in her care.

In between packing though, I did get some friend time in before I leave for the summer  =)

I will miss you all!!  but at least we'll all see each other again in a couple of months!  ;)

Oh, and we also got some pooch lovin' time with Houdini (Chris's Italian Greyhound), and Carmella, another puppy he is fostering.  I'm always a happy camper whenever I get to hang out with puppies, and Houdini is just such a charmer, so this was pretty awesome!  You can see Houdini in action here and here

HAHA Carmella's ear!

When David and I took Carmella on a walk, she insisted that she walk right in between us the whole time!  We kept asking her, 'don't you want to go sniff things Carmella?'  'don't you want to go run ahead and explore?'  but nope.  She wanted to stay right in between us, and wasn't interested in anything else.  Is this what well-trained dogs are like?  David and I both grew up with black lab mixes who could best be described as 'lovable terrors', so we were definitely at a loss.  What is this business of calm dog-walking? 

Anyway, to celebrate my last night in Houston, we had another game night!

This time, we played the "Amazing Labyrinth" that David got for his birthday and it was such a hit!  We liked it so much that we played it twice!  (we can usually only bear to play a board game once before we move onto the next one)

The object of the game is to acquire all of the objects on the cards that you are dealt in the beginning, but things are complicated by the fact that every other rows of the labyrinth are movable... and because 4 people are moving the boards at different times, things like the bottom left corner picture can happen, where you get hopelessly stuck with no chance of getting to your next object.  All of us went through the phase Amulet is going through in the picture basically every other minute where we just despair and groan as others move the board and completely destroy your plan of getting to your object!  haha  ;)

It was such a fun night with lots of chips, guac, iron skillet chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream.  After all, what is game night without lots and lots of junk food!  right??  =)

Happy Monday, and thanks for stopping by!
--Janny

Game Night!

Hello everyone,

Last Saturday, we held a little game night/double date at our apartment with our respective boys  =)

oh, and Houdini was there too!  Can't forget about Houdini!

We began by playing "Ticket to Ride" which was a new game to both Amulet and I, but we ended up really enjoying ourselves.  Houdini wanted to help move our pieces along the board, but then got captured by David   haha

Though we put up a valiant effort, the game was dominated by David. by a lot.  I think in the end he doubled our points or something...   It's ok, we'll play again, and the results shall be different!! ;)

We chowed down on so many munchies, including this scrumptious baked brie we made while we were playing the game.  Who would've thought that puff pastry, some jam, and brie could make such an incredible dip?  

yum!!

Though we have to warn you, it's quite rich,,,  so after we gulfed this down, we moved on to some Twister action to burn some calories  ;)

We take Twister very seriously in this household.  So stretching beforehand is a must!  haha

The game started out pretty tame, though I was the first person out during the first round...

but look at this synchronization!  first, it's David and Chris, then it's David and Amulet! 

 And then, things got a little more,,, twisted

We played two rounds of this,-the second round was a bit less civilized, and all three of us ended up piling on top of one another and then falling down-and having decided that we had burned enough calories from laughing so much, we moved onto the Settlers of Catan.  LOVE this game!

Everyone was pretty civilized throughout the whole game, trading with everyone for everything they needed, nomming on more of the baked brie and cookies, and laughing at Houdini's antics.  He really likes hiding under the table and poking his head up into our hands as we're counting the cards   haha

However, all of this civilized behavior changed when we realized that Amulet was waay in the lead and was only 1 point away from winning!

Then we ordered a full-on trade embargo, and we were able to keep her from winning for a couple more turns.  This is probably when we were laughing the hardest.  I needed brick, and I kept asking if anyone had brick to trade, and Amulet kept yelling out "I have brick!!" but of course, none of us could trade with her.  I think in the course of next couple of turns, I asked for brick about 10 times because nobody else had brick, and by the end, all of us were rolling on the floor laughing at Amulet yelling out "I have brick! just take my brick! Janny you never listen to me!  Everyone has selective hearing in this room!!"

Granted, it was past 2 am, so that might have added to the hilarity of the situation, but we thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless  =D

It was such a fun night, and we're planning on doing it again soon.  Any other games you would recommend?  Let us know, and we'll definitely give it a go at our next game night!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

-Janny