I’m probably  definitely going to piss a few people off with this post, but isn’t that the beauty of the Interwebz?

Let me start off by stating how proud I am of our city and really, our entire country, for rallying behind Boston and The One Fund. In the past week alone, The One Fund managed to raise a staggering $20 million dollars for victims and their families. Impressive to say the least.

However…..

This is where it gets a bit dicey.

When is enough…enough? Since the bombings, a whole crop of new merchandise has sprung forth branded “Boston Strong”: t-shirts, baseball hats, sweatshirts, heck I even saw Yankee Candle creating a “Boston” candle. (What does that even smell like? Baked beans? Lobster? A Dunkie’s Medium Regulah?) It seems like the line between “let’s raise money for charity” and “let’s get our brand promoted” is becoming a bit hazy.

What’s more, I can’t help but feel a bit of good ole’ Catholic guilt for the amount of money and attention Boston’s received as of late. Maybe I’m an asshole because I escaped the event unscathed, but I can’t help to think about the poor people in West, Texas. Last I heard, 15 people had died and over 200 have been injured. So where are their funds and t-shirts and overly-scented candles? Why is their tragedy any less horrific than ours? Both were unexpected and both resulted in mass injuries.

I read a fantastic article on Monday about Boston Public School students in the wake of this event. It discussed how children living and attending school in our city’s more impoverished areas aren’t nearly as phased by this as the rest of us seem to be – violence and death are an unfortunate common occurrence in their neighborhoods. I don’t want to delve into the race and socioeconomic undertones here because that’s a whole gaggle of trouble in itself, but I can’t help but wonder…

What about everyone else? Where are the brilliant ad campaigns and fundraising drives for the other innocent people in our society who have been injured too? And at what point will our Mayor and Governor say, “Thank you – that’s enough. We’re good here. Let’s help others now”?

I don’t know – maybe I’m just the grinch-iest grinch there ever was – but am I a completely cynical jerk face for feeling this way?

What are your thoughts on the Boston coverage and subsequent aftermath?

Thank you so much for all the kind words, tweets and thoughts on last week’s post following the Boston  bombing. I’m so happy to see our city rebuilding and rebounding stronger than ever. It feels strange to jump back into mundane blog topics while all of this is still so present in my mind, but a gal can only take so much news before she needs an escape from reality.

Amidst the tragedy last week, I celebrated my 29th birthday the day after the marathon. At that time though, it seemed so inconsequential. I was prepared to let my birthday slip quietly by (with a few cupcakes, of course). Fortunately, Sean had other plans in store…

Surprise tickets to see The Book of Mormon! Major husband points for this guy, please. I’ve been dying to see this Tony-award winning musical for a while, but tickets were outrageously priced and sold out almost immediately in Boston (Don’t even get me started on how ticket offices are ruining it for us little guys).

Despite already being in sweatpant-mode on the couch, we popped a bottle of bubbles and rallied. We had something to celebrate after all!

If you haven’t heard of The Book of Mormon, you’ve been living under a rock I’d highly recommend checking it out. Created by the infamous duo responsible for South Park, it is equally engaging, heartwarming, and completely inappropriate. It’s most certainly not for the faint of heart.

Sean snagged us some fantastic seats and we got our Bible-thumping, politically-incorrect fun on for the evening. Please put on your party pants and get tickets if it comes to a city near you. Several days later and I’m still catching a certain gentleman singing the songs around the house (ssshhhhh…you didn’t hear that from me though)

How do I even begin to talk about yesterday’s tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon?

I don’t think I can accurately express the sheer panic we felt in those first minutes. It’s not something I can write, but I can feel it with all of my senses. I can still hear the guy next to me screaming frantically to the cops, “what is happening?! Please help us. What is happening?!” and I feel my best friend’s hand grabbing mine as we ran to safety. When I close my eyes, I see the woman standing next to us, who was clutching her two children and crying into her cellphone. There are snapshots of yesterday permanently engraved on my soul and I will never forget them.

But rather than focus on the trials of yesterday, I think it is more important to shine a light on the triumphs of our beloved town. Beyond Boston’s trademark accent and iconic sports teams lies a city with heart. The essence of this day has been engrained in me from birth. I was born on Marathon Monday – my mom pacing the halls and watching the race from her hospital bed – and the spirit of the sport has stayed with me. It was there as I ran my first Boston Marathon last year, the cheers from the crowd engulfing me as I trudged through the Newton Hills and then carrying me home down Comm Ave to Boylston.

Yesterday was horrific. We cannot deny that. But I refuse to let anyone take away that true spirit of our city and our race. Instead, let April 15th represent the good of people: the strength and courage and humanity of the thousands (and thousands) of people who came from all over the world to support friends, family, and even strangers. It’s about the people we witnessed running toward the bombs to help, the overflow of blood donations at our hospitals, the comfort we find in our fellow Bostonians open homes and open arms. This is what Boston is all about. We’re a city who didn’t win a pennant for 86 years, but still believed, “next year will be our year”. We suffer through long, cold, and bitter winters just to revel in the first glimpses of spring along the Charles River. We’re proud of our town, with its cobbled streets, college kids, and crappy subway system. We don’t take shit from anybody. Try to knock a Bostonian down? Not only will they get back up, but they’ll be sure to smile in your face while they do it.

Boston, you’re my home and you can bet your sweet ass I’ll be at the Boston Marathon again next year, cheering louder than ever.

Ladies and gents, we have a table and a glorious one at that.

Our crappy iPhone pictures don’t even do it justice. If I could, I would invite each and every one of you over to bask in its glory. We’d break bread, drink a little too much wine, and take turns caressing the knots in the wood. Trust me – Sean and I have been doing it all week, it doesn’t get old.

The staining process ended up being pretty easy (says the girl who wasn’t even home while it was done). Sean methodically went around the table, staining and wiping. Stain, wipe, repeat.

We originally planned on having the bench on one side, two chairs along the opposite side and two chairs at either end, but we thought it looked weird. We also didn’t want to hide the table legs behind a bulky chair.

For the moment, we’ve relegated the bench to the guest bedroom and will pull it out next time we have a bigger dinner party. In the meantime, I am obsessed with the chair/table combination. It’s a match made in heaven.

This project has been one of the best DIY tasks we’ve undertaken…and I’m not just saying that because I barely did anything (well, maybe that has something to do with it). It was relatively stress-free and when you get a finished product like this for under $150, you can’t help but feel a little bit giddy over it.

Major kudos and thanks go to Sean for tackling this table! Sooooooo…what’s next, dear?

 For the first two posts on our table-building adventure: check out here and here