The Lights Fest

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Certain things have made it to my bucket list solely due to Instagram. Places like, Iceland, Petra, the hot air balloons over Cappadocia, Turkey, the White Sands National Monument (crossed off!).
The Lights Festival was also one of those things.

Boston: Women's March

Boston, January 21, 2017

Boston: Boston Marathon 2013

Yesterday tragedy struck close to home.

It's unsettling to think that bad things can happen anytime, anywhere.

Lives were lost, so many brutally injured and the rest are in shock, that a city, just trying to host a marathon, can't do so in peace.

I was supposed to meet Danielle yesterday at the finish line at 3pm, and was talking to Ana on Twitter about doing the same.

I was hesitant to leave the house, taking longer than usual to get dressed, dilly-dallying in the weirdest way, which is strange, because I'm always up for photographing events in the city and normally would have been out much earlier.

I was half an hour late, I got there at 3:30pm, wondering why so many people looked distraught, some crying. I wondered why everyone was on their phones. I wondered why there were so many ambulances and cop cars racing by, more than average for a marthon, I thought. Then I overheard someone say there were two explosions at the finish line.

I'm so thankful that both Danielle and Ana are safe, and that those we knew who were either running or volunteering in the area are also okay.

I'm so touched by all the family and friends who reached out via phone, text, email and tweets, even Instagram friends who reached out, and I thank you for your thoughts and concern.

We continue to mourn those who were killed and pray for those who are injured. Boston is one of the strongest cities that I have come to know since living here, and I know that we will be able to persevere.

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Boston: Marathon, 2012

It's interesting that Greece is currently being featured on the blog, because the "marathon" race comes from the legend that a Greek soldier Pheidippides ran from the Battle of Marathon (a town in Greece) to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated. He ran the distance of 42.195 km or 26.2 miles, later established into the marathon sport at the 1896 Olympics in Athens.

And so, it's very exciting to be in Boston during THE Boston Marathon. Although I wasn't able to see the runners actually RUNNING, I managed to catch a bit of the aftermath close to the finish line near Arlington Station. It was HOT, people. At 4pm it was still hot, and I couldn't imagine how the runners got through it.

Bravo to everyone who ran.

Boston: Bruins + The Yellow Bees

I'm happy to introduce my niece's blog! It's called The Yellow Bees. She, along with a group of friends from school have started this blog where they post about the jewelry they make and the things that they are involved in.

My niece recently posted about the Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs game we went to at the TD Garden where we had amazing box seats.The Bruins won 8-0. Yep, that's right.

I'd love it if you would stop by and say hi to The Yellow Bees!

Boston, Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel: Dress for Success

I had the honour of capturing the Dress for Success luncheon on Friday January 27 held at the historic Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.

Dress for Success is an incredible organization which provides professional attire, career guidance and network support to women looking to find work. This year marked the 11th year of empowerment of 6,800 women.

The event was emceed by WCVB-TV's Shayna Seymour, with speeches by event co-chairs Rosalin Acosta and Lois Cornell, Chair of the Board of Directors, Jacqui Budd and Executive Director Kim Todd. The auction part of the luncheon was conducted by John Terrio of AuctionKnights. Awards honoured Boston's First Lady Angela Menino, Rick Condon and Jacqui Budd and were presented by Co-Founders Enith Levine and Nancy Schneider.

Over 400 guests were in attendance, including many of Boston's familiar faces such as NECN anchor Bridget Blythe, Wanye Budd of Goodwin Procter, Dan Kramer and Annette Goubeaux of Neiman Marcus, Kristen Daly, Tara Goodwin Frier and Margrette Cardone Mondillo from Goodwin PR, amongst other sponsors and supporters of Dress for Success.

Thank you to Kim Todd and Emmy Whitney for the opportunity to cover this fantastic event!

Boston: New Wing Photo Contest Winner

Between Jan. 19 and 21, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum asked visitors to help tell the story of the opening of the new wing by posting photos on their Facebook page or on Twitter (@gardnermuseum).

I'm happy to announce that I won first prize (jazz concert tix!) for Thursday Jan 19 with the following shot (via Instagram and posted on Twitter: @hoggerandco).

You can see the rest of my photos from the day, here.

Thank you ISGM!

Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opened a new wing on January 19 and I was there to capture the spirit of the day. Loved spending time in the gorgeous and retro Richard E. Floor's Living Room.

One of the highlights was meeting artist Cesare Pietroiusti and taking part in his workshop which took place in the Claire and John Bertucci Education Studio. The artist's project is the production and distribution of free drawings - 3500 to be exact. Using varying mediums (from salt-water to tea, coffee and ink) the idea is to create a work of art that you leave behind for someone else to take home the following day. Each sheet of paper had a different condition on the bottom. That day it was:

"The holder of this drawing commits to give it away, three months after having received it, to a person of their choice who lives south of them"

The medium of the day was dark Boston beer, how perfectly. And at the end of the day I was so happy to come home with both coffee and salt-water art created earlier this week. I loved how the adults and elderly who took part in the workshop sat at the tables in child-like wonder playing with the medium, totally engrossed in the whole process. I certainly spent a long time in

The 2nd floor's Special Exhbition Gallery is absolutely stunning with it's magnificent high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. A wonderful place to have work exhibited, to be sure. I also sat in on a fun performance in Calderwood Hall, the new space for acoustic events.

The gorgeous exterior and beautiful brightly lit Cafe G complete the new wing.

It was my first time visiting The Palace, the original Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which opened back in 1903. Photography was not allowed which allowed me to really immerse myself in the iconic works of art as well as be enveloped in lavish antiques and their history.

I could have been there longer, and I was already there the whole day! :) Time flew by, it's a mesmerizing place to be in Boston.

Boston: Celtics vs. Raptors @ TD Garden

I went to my first ever basketball game tonight at the TD Garden (many people don't know that TD stands for Toronto Dominion) and it was extra special because it was the Boston Celtics vs the Toronto Raptors. Whaa-!

We had spectacular seats and were surrounded by green jerseys, hats, balloons and other memorabilia. It was hard not to cheer on the Celtics, but there was no booing for the Raptors from us! The Celtics won 96-73.

The best part of the night? Likely the drummer outside North Station who had a whole audience dancing to his tunes and us bopping home.

Mindy Kaling Book Signing

If you've checked out my "Links" page, you'll notice that I list them under "Blogs I've Read that I Like"; an ode to Mindy Kaling's "Things I've Bought That I Love", which has since been resurrected into "The Concerns of Mindy Kaling". Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere, you're aware that Mindy, not only an accomplished writer, producer, director and the actress we best know as Kelly Kapoor in The Office, has also recently published a book, "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)."

The book is hilarious, heartfelt and had me bursting out into laughter throughout.

When Mindy tweeted to the world that she'd be at Harvard Book Store for a reading and signing of her book on Dec 5, she caused the site to crash leaving many of us unable to purchase tickets to the event.

Taking place at the Brattle Theatre, some of us who were not lucky enough to get tickets, waited in the rush line and as we waited, Mindy strolled by with a smile. Most of us were rendered speechless by her presence and soon the moment was gone. Then we found out we couldn't get in as the theatre was at capacity with those who had tickets. Disappointed, most of the people in our line decided to leave.

Except for the three of us.

I met Sailaja and Torey. Sailaja had been waiting since 3:20pm and was fuh-reezing. The three of us decided to wait it out in the hopes that they'd let us in for the book signing part, at least.

An hour or so later, they did.

We got to meet her, tell her about our wait in line, tell her about our blogs and got this photo.

I also love that Mindy's holding my card in the photo I took of her, which gives me hope that she may see this post, someday.

Be sure to hop on over to Brown Girl Magazine for a recap from Sailaja's POV.

Here are the photos from the event.

Meg's Dance

My niece performed in the IANH dance last weekend. She did a fantastic job as did the other students in her dance troupe. So proud of you Meg! xo

Halloween: FRIDA KAHLO

A few years ago I was Frida Kahlo for Hallowe'en. It was the easiest home-made costume for me to pull off, I loved doing it. So much so, I did it again the following year for a work Hallowe'en party. Here's what you need:

Dark hair or wig with hair that is already pulled up and away from the face.
Flowers - I like red Carnations
Hairpins - bobby pins
Dangly earrings
Spanish looking attire - ie. a full length skirt in a bright colour or ruffled, tiered skirt
frilly top or bright spanish-looking dress/shirt
a shawl
red lipstick + blush
mascara

Simply part your hair down the middle, into two sections, and french-braid your hair starting from the bottom of your scalp (from you neck) up to the top of your head so that you can pile your hair up at the top of your head. Tie the braids and pin the end of the braids at the top of your head. Hide the pins by pinning flowers (carnations) at the top of your head. Apply the mascara in a thin layer between your brows making it look like a uni-brow. You can also fill the rest of your brows with the mascara to add to the thickness. Put on some blush, lipstick, wear your earrings and outfit, wrap yourself in the shawl and you're done!

What are you doing for Hallowe'en? Are you dressing up? If so, what as?

Happy Birthday To Us

A and I celebrated our birthdays together again, this year. Last year we did the spa and dinner. This year we did it with strawberry picking at Springridge Farm (fantastic place btw!) followed by a picnic in the park. There was lots of sunshine, not so many strawberries, lots of laughs and a few tears. Thanks to N, who was the only boy at the party, for capturing all the fun moments of the girls!