beantown

Charles River

Acorn St. in Beacon Hill

Amy & I in the Boston Common

I have a $1350 front row seat to tonight’s lightning storm from my window. It’s the best view of the city I’ve had all summer, and I can’t see a thing. Manhattan needed the rain tonight. I needed the rain tonight.

“If thou fill thy brain with Boston and New York…” -Boston native, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don’t underestimate Boston.

Amy and I wondered how spending a weekend in New England could compare to our Euro couch-surfing experience. Although English isn’t quite as fun to pronounce as Dutch, it took us no time to realize that we had plenty to see in Boston. After a noisy reunion inside South Station, Amy and I picked up right where we left off in Glasgow… We checked into our hostel that overlooked Fenway Park and had a chill Friday night on Newbury Street catching up over used books and fro-yo.

Saturday started bright and early at a spot Amy had read about called Café Vanille. Nothing says, “Good morning Boston,” quite like an Americano in Beacon Hill. And just like that, a weekend of history was in the making… We laid down on Acorn Street. We met a rock star on the Charles. We ate Boston Cream Pie. We went everywhere a stranger named Tina told us to go (including Jamaica Plains, Boston’s modern-day ghost town). We got lost and sat in a movie theatre lobby. We saw the Harvard Yard and Boston Common. We ate falafel. We made Ivy League friends. And before we knew it, Amy and I were saying goodbye at South Station on Sunday promising that this was only the beginning of a travel tradition in the making.

I feel much more American now that I’ve been to Boston. We may have skipped out on the Freedom Trail, but we just kind of made our own. I mean, travel is all about taking ‘roads less traveled’ anyway, and that little Italian bakery was totally worth it.

In other news, it was exciting times at DETAILS this week! Emily, a new intern from Northwestern, joined our team and we’ve totally clicked. We even had every intention of meeting at the Rockefeller Center at 5 a.m. this morning for a breakfast picnic before seeing John Mayer play the Today Show. You can probably guess what happened to that idea… Nevertheless, I’m stoked to have Em around. I also got to work on some big projects this week like my very own proposal for DSQUARED, and I helped RJ book a band for an upcoming event. We had our editorial walk-through for the September Issue on Monday, which always reminds me of the passion that lead me to this city and Condé in the first place. I love seeing the final product of something I’ve been even the tiniest part of. … And this was great: “Yeah, what are you gonna do? It’s a boob. And a gun,” said Editor-in-Chief Dan Peres, during walk-though. “And yes you can hunt in a Rolex.”

So, I’m trying to wrap my head around having just two more weeks in Manhattan. I was thinking how much my settings have changed over the past year. One flight takes you from one world to the next. Scotland to North Carolina. North Carolina to New York City. New faces, new streets and transition after transition. It’s beautiful.

One consistency: the presence of God. “Then we will exclaim, ‘He has been here all the time!’ At critical moments in our lives it is necessary to ask God for guidance, but it should be unnecessary to be constantly saying, ‘Oh, Lord direct me in this, and in that.’ Of course He will, and in fact, He is doing it already!” (My Utmost…7/20)

reunited

I’m headed to Boston in the morning. There’s no other face I would want to see more than the familiar one I’ll meet at South Station… Amy Volz reunion.

Some of my best travel memories are with this girl, and it’s about time we add to our collection. We met in the airport the first day I arrived in Glasgow. We walked down the beach in Ayrshire, Scotland. We sat at Big Mouth Coffee Co. and planned our hippie coffee shop and travel guide company. We got stuck in Amsterdam. We met Dutch boys in Utrecht. We binged in Brussels.

Tea party, Paul Revere, the Revolution. Looks like we’ve got a little more history to make in Boston…

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my sin, oh the bliss

Elaina & JD

Pops & Mom at Amy’s

I watched one of my best friends here get baptized yesterday morning. I felt like I was standing with family as we walked back to support JD. In that moment, I was assured that God brought me to Manhattan to be right there. Can you imagine a scene more beautiful? A man God sought out for His glory sat chest-high—humbled by sin and covered by love—ready. “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…”

I watched a life begin again, and I felt the water wash over me just the same.

At the beginning of the summer I said that God meets us where we are, but what an understatement. God pursues. He fights for us. Christ faced abandonment on the cross so we would never have to. Unfathomable love. Surrender every second and every thought, and we owe Him still more. So, that’s it… I lose daily battles, but He has won. As inheritors with Christ (Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:6-7), we are victorious because He was first.

Absolute power. Answered prayers. I’ve been too inspired lately to write about it. Words have seemed too small, but if I’m a journalist, that couldn’t last.

I think two brilliant new friends may have something to do with the inspiration overload. Although I was determined not to make friends this summer, something rare and beautiful has begun in my friendship with JD and Elaina. I first met them about three weeks ago in that Wednesday night prayer meeting mentioned in my last post. Since then, we’ve spent days together, constantly in awe of Jesus and the love we have for one another. Sometimes we can only shake our heads and smile at the three-week-old bond and brutal honesty we share.

Meet JD (J. Elquist, you’ll see that in lights one day… or on the president’s favorite suit): He is a gentleman, a fashion designer, and a steadfast, born-again leader.

Meet Elaina: She is an artist, a Georgia peach made for Manhattan, and God’s love truly emanates from her.

We can’t stop talking about Christ and His living words. After making breakfast for dinner (classic, right?!) to celebrate J last night, it wasn’t long before the three of us were praying together on my bed. On the 4^th, watching the fireworks above the Hudson together from a Chelsea rooftop, we couldn’t believe the view that we call ‘home’. Three in eight billion, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This past weekend, my parents came for a quick visit! I walked them to death and fed them back to life—the life of a New Yorker. We explored the villages, ate cake at Magnolia and lattes at Think, people watched and I even managed to get a back scratch. We started Saturday morning at Amy’s, the same bakery that we ended our Big Apple vacation years ago… There was something special about that moment—sitting at the same window together—just grown up and grown closer. I was glad I could share my world with two of my favorite people.

A few more lessons learned:

1. Ugly people shouldn’t attend DETAILS parties.

2. Don’t under dress when grabbing Stumptown Coffee.

3. Renting a bike to cruise the Hudson is a city must-do.

4. Stick with Jack’s Sat. morning cycling class, the brawny Swedish man on Wed. plays elevator music and sounds like a character from Mario Kart.

5. Hibernate and lock your doors for Pride weekend.

6. Even “grunters” in the gym can listen to Taylor Swift.

Next stop Boston.

soon

I’m overcoming a 24-hr. bug and a little writer’s block, but I had an incredible 4th and can’t wait to write soon… Love you guys x