PEM's Native American Fashion Show + Intersections

When I was attending Salem' So Sweet Chocolate & Ice Festival last Saturday, I also hit up the Peabody Essex Museum to check out two of its' exhibits- the Native American Fashion Show and Intersections.  

The Peabody Essex Museum is considered one of the oldest continuously operating museums in America with its' roots dating back to 1799 with the founding of the East India Marine Society. 

The Native American Fashion Show included fashion spanning the last 50 years of both Native American designers as well as non-Native American designers, who have been inspired by the culture.

I heard about this exhibition last year. I knew it was well recieved, but I still had no idea what to expect when I walked through the PEM's brick and glass exterior. Once in the exhibit, I was left speechless. 

This dress was my favorite. I love the fiery water colors and the head piece. Now if only Cher wore this to the 1988 Oscars.

I don't wear slippers but if I could wear these ones I would! 

The exhibit also displayed street style for us common folks. 

Following that, I went to the newest exhibition at the PEM, which actually opened that day . It's called "Intersections" and it was designed by Pakistani-American artist, 

Anila Quayyum Agha. The significance of the suspended figure, which reflects shadows on the all four walls, is that we are all the same. 

Salem's Oh So Sweet

This weekend Salem, Massachusetts hosted its fourteenth annual, Salem's So Sweet Chocolate and Ice Festival! Though I loathe the winter, seeing the pristine blanket of snow  made all the festivities I saw on Friday and Saturday magical. 

My favorite part was seeing all the ice sculptures. 

Happy Superbowl Sunday, Everyone! 

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The Celtics Vs. The Magic

I’ve completed my first full week of spring classes and on Tuesday I started feeling not so well mentally and physically.  It hit me that I’m graduating in May and that I have much to accomplish within the next fifteen weeks. Additionally, I started experiencing random pelvic pain. Whenever Friday rolls around, it’s always a great thing, but this past one was especially so as I felt it helped me recover from earlier this week. 

The existence of Web MD and Google has made us all become unofficial doctors, and I was happy when I left a medical center on mid-day Friday that what I had wasn’t any of the horrible conditions I found on the scariest depths of the Web. After the appointment, I went to the Celtics Game with my boyfriend, my best friend, and her boyfriend. The Celtics played the Orlando Magic and we got the tickets for a discounted price through our college, Salem State University. 

The Celtics won 113-94. We thought it was going to be a close game, with no shot for a Gino, but in the third quarter the Celtics pushed the lead all the way up to twenty seven points, marking their fifth win in a row! The Celtics are currently in fifth place for the NBA Eastern Conference and hopefully we will see them in the playoffs, which start in April. I will be seeing them again on February 25th when they face the Milwaukee Bucks, who are in thirteenth place for the Eastern Conference, a place behind the Magic. 

Another aspect that made Friday’s night game awesome was it was Isaiah Thomas’ first game since being named an All-Star. Every year, the NBA has an All-Star Game, which is a game played between the best players on the Eastern Conference and the best players on the Western Conference. Thomas is the first Celtics All-Star in three years. It’s a big deal he was selected as many people told him he could never be a professional player because he’s 5’9." 

Source: NBA.com 

It’s not going to be  easy these next four months, but as I take this Sunday to prep for my next week of school, I keep the Celtics on my mind to help me stay motivated and positive. My boyfriend credits his favorite sport team as the reason he returned to college a few years ago and this month we celebrated him earning his bachelors degree! May it be a successful spring for the two of us and the Celtics! 

Read my first blog post about the Celtics here: http://wickedblogger20.blogspot.com/2016/01/first-celtics-game.html

TD Garden 
100 Legends Ways 
Boston, MA 02114 
#617-624-1050 

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Life Alive

After much deliberation, my boyfriend switched his minor not only to graduate early but to set his trajectory towards the right career path for him. Though I knew right away I would miss doing homework with him on Sundays and talking about classes, I was over the moon. In celebration of his academic achievement, we got lunch at Life Alive in Downtown Salem. 

Life Alive was packed that day with the lunchtime rush. Every time somebody came through the entrance, the cashier had to ask them to file at the back of the line. 

We both got the Sufi Poet- red lentil humus, cranberries, raw cashews, cucumbers, granny apples, shredded carrots, sun-sprouts, spring greens, and Balsamic Vinaigrette. Eating pure, clean ingredients always makes my body feel new. 

What I love about smoothies is they're cool and refreshing whilst being a meal in itself. This right here is the Lust Alive Smoothie- strawberries, bananas, candied ginger, cinnamon, raw cacao, ice cream and rice milk. 

Life Alive is the perfect place to go if your resolution is to take better care of yourself or you are about to start a new chapter of your life. Though my boyfriend and I are still figuring out our futures, I know with the assistance of feel good food from Life Alive we won't be as overwhelmed. 

What's your favorite stress-release food? Have a great weekend! 

Life Alive 

281 Essex Street 

Salem, MA 01970 

#978-594-4644

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First Celtics Game!

If there's one thing people from Massachusetts collectively love it's sports. In fact, if I were to personify the Bay State as a person in a bar, they would be bragging about their  prestigious teams. On Friday January 15th, I went to my first ever Celtics Game and I couldn't have asked for a better time! 

Basketball was actually invented in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, but the NBA wasn't founded until 1946. The Celtics have the most NBA titles with seventeen championships; they won in 1957, 1959,1960,1961,1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968,1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986, and 2008. The Celtics banners are proudly displayed up by the rafters and they always have one pristine banner blank to motivate the team. 

The home of the Celtics is the TD Garden. It opened in 1995 and it puts on about two hundred events per year, including games and concerts. It was second time at the Garden this past Friday having seen Katy Perry there in 2014. 

The Celtics were facing the Phoenix Suns that day. I purchased the tickets as a Christmas present for my boyfriend, a massive fanboy of both the sport and the team. There wasn't any particular reason why I had us go to this match other than I thought it would be fun for us to see a game before heading back to college. After my boyfriend gave me a historical background on the team, I was happy with my choice. The Celtics and Suns faced each other in the 1976 NBA Championship and many basketball enthusiasts consider Game 5 to be the greatest game ever because there ended up being three overtimes! Additionally, fan-fave Isaiah Thomas played for the Suns just last year.

The Celtics won 117 to 103! They acted fast and never allowed the Suns to get ahead. Guard Marcu Smarts made his first triple double of his career at this game, which was the first Celtics triple double to come from a non starter since January 16, 1971! A triple double is when a player makes a double digit number in three of the five statistical categories- points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. Smarts earned ten points, eleven rebounds, and ten assists as well as making two steals and two blocks.

Whenever the Celtics win by a landslide, the TD Garden plays a clip from Dick Clark's American Bandstand where a group of people are dancing to the Bee Gees' "You Should Be Dancing." Fans go nuts when when this dancer clad in a Gino Vannelli t-shirt comes on. This tradition is known as "Gino Time" and it is not uncommon to find people wearing the shirt at games. 

My goals that night were to appear on the jumbotron and win a t-shirt  thrown into the crowds by one of the cheerleaders and they both happened! 

I'd say this January's theme has been that of love and  basketball. Not only have I started watching the Celtics for the first time in my life, my boyfriend and I have started playing together. 

Another reason that made that the game special was seeing mentoring programs being recognized as my boyfriend is a mentor himself for a behavioral service. There was a mentoring program doing a 50-50 raffle and a women was honored for her work with high risk teenagers. 

Attending the game, I discovered a person can learn a lot about happiness and perseverance by taking a page from a Celtics fan's book. They have literally seen basketball giants come and go and consecutive championships followed by decades with no titles, yet their passionate for the team is unwavering. 

Have you ever been to a Celtics game? What was it like? 

TD Garden 
100 Legends Ways 
Boston, MA 02114 
#617-624-1050 

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Gulu-Gulu Cafe

My heart broke when I learned the news of David Bowie's death this past Monday, January 11th. I am an Anglophile- my favorite musical genre is British pop- and so far, 2016 hasn't been a good year for beloved entertainers from across the pond. To help me cope, I went to a place I knew would know how to throw a tribute to the icon's passing- the Gulu-Gulu Cafe in Salem, Massachusetts. 

The Gulu-Gulu Cafe is a hispter-esque yet unprentious  restaurant that serves rare beers, coffee and fresh food. It is situated right next to its sister restaurant, the Flying Saucer Pizza Company, which I reviewed last year (http://wickedblogger20.blogspot.com/2015/01/flying-saucer-pizza-company.html), and was named after a cafe in Prague where the owners met and fell in love. Aw, how cute! 

Everything the Gulu Gulu offers uses delicious ingredients, including all of the craft beers they have. This past year, they won the North Shore Magazine's Reader's Choice for their beer menu and recently they  started their own beer membership. 

I ordered the Essjay on a spinach wrap-hummus, red onions, greens, strawberries, apples, and cranberries. 

My boyfriend got the Orange Walnut salad; mixed greens and arugula with oranges, spiced walnuts, cranberries, feta cheese & pickled onions. For $2, he got to add bacon.

The Gulu Gulu isn't just great at night, but for breakfast too! When I have a sweet tooth craving in the morning, my favorite thing to make is a waffle sandwich with peanut butter, Nutella, strawberries and bananas. 

Just like the Flying Saucer Pizza Company, the Gulu Gulu's mascot is a pug. 

I sat right near this drawing. Bowie's bewildering body of work was heavily played that night on the sound system above. If you're a big music lover, the Gulu Gulu is a must as they feature live acts five nights a week. 

There are many lessons one can learn from David Bowie; he created anthems for the alienated and for musician had a rock-strong marriage to his second wife, Iman. However, what I admire most about him right now was his ability to make art until the end of his life. My aim is to be like Bowie, which is to never stop doing what I'm passionate about, even when I'm under pressure with other areas of my life, and one of those things is this blog. 

Gulu Gulu Cafe

247 Essex Street 

Salem, Massachusetts 01970
#978-740-8882 

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Coffee Time Bake Shop

Yesterday, it snowed for the fist time this winter. Though it is normal in most places for snow to fall in December, it was especially surreal to see it happen Tuesday as four days earlier on Christmas it was 65 degrees! It was that slushy, wet  kind of snow that qualifies the shoveling I did that day as a workout. I was in Salem that morning, but before I drove home, I went to Coffee Time Bake Shop to enjoy my favorite meal of the day. 

I'm one of those people who gets mushy on New Year's Eve because it means I have to wait another year for Christmas so appreciated all of Coffee Time's decorations, especially these frosted, gummed dropped gingerbread houses.  

I ordered egg and cheese on a croissant after hearing they make the best croissants.

My iced green tea. 

 Coffee Time uses only the finest ingredients and time-tested recipes in their muffins, hand-cut donuts, bagels, scones, bismarks, cannolis, eclairs, tiramisu, and cakes. Their coffees are just rich as they are strictly brewed from Swiss water processed Columbian beans. 

Another thing to love is it's a family owned and operated bake shop that has been serving the North Shore for over thirty years. You can feel that sense of community and endearment in the way the employees take customers' requests and thru the holiday cards they receive, which were displayed on their counter. Though I have no knowledge as to what the winter of 2016 will bring (living in New England means expect the unexpected in terms of weather), I know that I can rely on Coffee Time to keep me satisfied. This eatery not only leaves every customer happy and satisfied, but it is also "open early...open late." 

Happy New Year's Eve, Everyone! 

Coffee Time Bake Shop 
96 Bridge Street 
Salem, MA 01970 
#978-744-0995 

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Marblehead Rail Trail

Look hard enough and you’ll find a serene escape buried behind Salem, Massachusetts’ bewitching downtown and its' ever-expanding university- the Marblehead Rail Trail- a 4.1 mile trail that connects Marblehead, Salem, and Swampscott.  

The first time  I ever walked the Marblehead Rail Trail was back in August, which was the first time my boyfriend and I hung out together Stateside. I met my boyfriend on the Germany trip I went on with my college back in July, and we spent hours along the Marblehead Rail Trail talking about anything under the sun. 

I am a senior at Salem State University, and every year I make it a goal to find new things to love about Salem because I've had moments during my fours years where I have taken my historically rich and cultural city for granted. It is that reason I started my blog last year-to prevent myself from falling out of love with my home. I never want to forget the hidden gems that are around me even though I've now been to Europe.

For my boyfriend and I, going new places is one of the ways we keep the spark alive. We both love the outdoors, and in particular, being by the water. We like to describe our relationship as being aquatic as many of the first milestones in our relationship have taken place by the water; the first time we hung out in Germany was when we went swimming in Munich's Isar River, the first time we kissed was by the Boston Harbor after we went on a Duck Tour, and he asked me to be his girlfriend after a day spent on Plum Island (read my blog about Plum Island here: http://wickedblogger20.blogspot.com/2015/01/plum-island.html). 

The Marblehead Rail Trail not only provides views of the Atlantic, but it is also one of those secret places along the North Shore just waiting to be unearthed by you and a person you wish to be close to. 

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Salem Ghost Tour

If you thought Salem, Massachusetts was just famous for witches, think again! In the bewitching downtown you can hunt for not only witches, but ghosts as well!

Voted the #1 thing to do in Salem in 2009 by NBC’s Official Best Tour of Massachusetts, the Salem Night Tours conduct 75-minute tours into the supernatural world of our historic New England city. Guided by a licensed tour guide, you will journey through cemeteries, former sites of the 1692 witchcraft trials, and famous locations of folklore and legend. The use of flash photography is highly encouraged as many visitors have had spirits appear in their pictures. As a resident of Salem for the past three years, my favorite thing about the Salem Night Tours was that they offered information I had never learned before!

For example, next to the Dunkin Donuts on the corner of Washington Street and Norman Street, lies the Joshua Ward House, one of the most haunted houses in America. The house was originally owned by George Corwin, a former High Sheriff of Essex County, Massachusetts during the 1600s. He was a belligerent man who earned the nickname ‘The Strangler’ because many accused witches died at his hands. Giles Corey, the well-known victim who was eventually pressed to death, was the last to suffer under Corwin’s hands. Corwin passed away at the age of thirty, but at Corey’s sentence, which you get to see on the tour, he cursed Corwin and all the Sheriffs of Essex County.   Because many people had ill feelings towards Corwin, he was buried in his house until it was rebuilt in 1784, the foundation of the original house is all that remains. After the house was completed, George Washington actually stayed there during a visit to Salem. This is why Washington Street is named Washington Street.

But it was in the 1980s when Carlson Realty made the house its headquarters, that people started discovering its haunted happenings. Doors would shut on their own, objects move, lights turned on and off by themselves, and burglar alarms would continually go off. The grizzliest paranormal activity that has occurred there has been the apparition of two women. One of them is an old lady sitting by the fire and the other is younger women who stalks the upstairs.

These women are believed to be two of the women Corwin brutally murdered. In the 1990s, a man named Dale Lewinski captured them while trying to take a picture of the Carlson Realty staff.

The Joshua Ward House wasn’t the only place I enjoyed visiting, I also liked the Gardner Pingree House, which is the house the American board game, Clue, was based on.

On the outside, Gardner Pingree is an idyllic Georgian house, but its skeletons would shock you! But don’t worry, I didn’t ruin everything for you! The greatest thing about the Salem Night Tours is that no two tours are the same!

Salem Ghost Tour 
127 Essex Street 
Salem, Massachusetts 01970 
#978-

Glazed Doughnut Shop

June 15, 2015 

In my previous blog post, I talked about summer bucket lists and recently I got to check off one of the items on my personal bucket list by visiting my high school friend, Jen, in her adoptive home of Amherst, Massachusetts. It was my first time visiting this Pioneer Valley town and I completely fell in love with its quaint urban setting,literary history, and prestigious academia. Since it was National Doughnut Day during one of the days I was there, Jen and I  hit up Amherst’s fun and creative doughnut shop, Glazed! I apologize in advance if you are participating in Junkfood-Free June!

Glazed Doughnut Shop produces delicious doughnuts with a variety of glazes and unique toppings. They are made by hand everyday, nice and fresh for you. Though I don’t have any dietary needs, I like that this place also carries an assortment of gluten and vegan-free doughnuts. If you have a minimum order of $10 you can have your doughnuts delivered for a $2 charge! 


Here are some of their flavors I brought home for my family and friends- cookies ’n cream, peanut butter, caramel, and coconut. Some of their other signature items include orange ginger, maple bacon, and lemon raspberry. 

 

   

Don't tell me you're not drooling! 

Another cool thing about Glazed is it’s story. 

“Owner/operators Nick and Keren Rhodes grew up in Amherst, Ma.  In fact we are Amherst High School sweethearts.  After living in New York, and Conneticut, a stint in medical school, several businesses, and two children later, we find ourselves back in our hometown sharing what we love.  High quality, delicious, gourmet doughnuts.” 

This fall I will be a senior in college and I still have no idea what my dream job is. There are just too many things that excite me and make me curious. A  question I’ve grown to hate lately is “what do you want to be when you grow up?” because you're asked that question from a young age, and everybody always expects you to answer it with a type of job, and it just shatters people with this idea that your worth and identity is measured solely through a career. We need to take ourselves as seriously as the act of eating a donut. I really like that Nick and Keren Rhodes are the type of people who believe in the idea that our lives can be multi-purpose because I don't believe that each person has a one, true calling. To quote Oscar Wilde, "between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll.The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!" 


19 N. Pleasant Street
Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 
(413)-230-6811

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New England Aquarium

June 1, 2015 

While I have been catching up with high school friends these past couple of weeks, the one topic that has come up in every conversation has been that of summer bucket lists. Hearing more people talk about making lists doesn't surprise me because I know for me at least I never feel so energized, motivated, and positive when the sun's rays hit me. I think creating a summer bucket list is something everyone should do because A) this season never lasts long enough and B) it will encourage you to live out your best one yet. But before you grab your nearest pen and pad, I feel it is important for me to emphasize why you shouldn't become too attached to your list. 

I am a chronic over-achiever, so for me lists are my best friends, but sometimes being that way can have negative repercussions- I don't have enough time to accomplish everything I set out to do, stress knots in my shoulders, and I am forced to write out even more to-do lists that would make even the most organized cringe. The lesson to learn here is while it's good to have items on your bucket lists, it's even more important to be adaptable because we're only capable of what we're meant to do. 

A place I'd recommend all of you to put on your summer bucket lists is the New England Aquarium in Boston. It receives 1.3 million visitors a year, is a global leader in ocean exploration and marine conservation, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages.  And if you can't find the time to visit the Aquarium, just keep swimming! Happiness isn't about accomplishing everything you have on your to-do list, but how much fun you have along for the ride. 

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New England Aquarium

1 Central Wharf 

Boston, Massachusetts 02110 

#617-973-5300