This rainy week is just about distroying me, so I’m posting pictures today of sunshine.

Oh, sweet glorious sunshine. Come back to me…

The South End in Boston is one of those places that you don’t really hear too much about if you’re not from the city. Frequently confused with Southie (think: The Departed), the South End is located between Back Bay and South Boston. No train lines run there (except the Prudential stop off the E line) so it’s not a place that’s often visited by tourists.

Newbury Street in Back Bay? Everyone knows that.

Beautiful Beacon Hill? Historic and very often visited, and rightfully so.

The North End? I’ll take an Italian pastry please. With chocolate ricotta cream.

Charlestown has the Bunker Hill Monument and Kenmore is home to Fenway Park.

But the South End? It’s a hidden beauty and one of my favorite places to be.

They have beautiful brownstones and lots of parks, and they have a good amount of little independent shops that are always fun to pop into, too. There’s the SOWA Open Market to hit up on Sundays— an amazing indoor/outdoor flea market that’s one of the largest and best in the city of Boston. Oh, also, if a friend is visiting, I usually take them to either breakfast or lunch or dinner in the South End (or all of the above) because, in my humble opinion, there is no better food anywhere than the food you can find there.

Daaah! I am craving a Buttery Biscuit even as I type this.

SO. AMAZING.

Want to take a walk? Let’s go…

So beautiful, right?

Yeah, all that sunshine and pretty made me feel better, too.

And seriously I think the real live sun is supposed to come out this weekend, so I’m thinking of hitting up the SOWA Open Market this coming Sunday. Who wants to come with?!

I’ve been Boston camera happy lately and I hope you don’t mind. Just yesterday I decided to head into the city after work to enjoy the sun and shoot some signs of the changing seasons. It was just one of those afternoons where you feel like you’ve got the whole world in front of you, and you’re looking straight at it and soaking it in for all it’s worth. As I walked along the Charles, I noticed a quote in a plaque right near one of the benches by the edge of the river. It said simply, “Life is like a bowl of cherries.” And I loved finding this because it’s true, life has it’s sweet days and life has it’s days with pits. I’m glad to report that yesterday was of the sweeter variety.

And, well, friends, if my memory serves me correctly, summer seemed to have come last week, right with the entrance of spring. And then this week, it seems to have left us, just as quickly as it came. But I know it only left for a little while. It’s coming with the budding flowers and blue skies. It’s coming in the longer days and gorgeous sunsets. It’s coming with busy weekends and spring cleaning– in the crisp cool mornings, in the busy afternoons, and in the anticipation and excitement of only 10 more weeks of school!

Spring is here and summer is coming.

It’s coming!

This past Sunday Zanner and I were totally tourists. We woke up early and had a pancake breakfast party, spent some time lounging on the couch, and then headed out to the Museum of Science for the afternoon. After our museum adventure I was planning on meeting some friends for dinner, so we took a stroll through the Back Bay to kill some time. Except with me, you’re never killing time, you’re stretching it out and soaking it in. At least, when there’s picture taking involved.

I love this part of Boston like no other. Back Bay is where I spent my first few years out of college. In my first real venture to a city I lived right in an apartment on Beacon Street. Back Bay is where I first fell in love with this town. It’s the place where I discovered the Charles River, and the perfectly gorgeous tree-lined Marlborough Street. It’s where I discovered the Commonwealth Mall, Copley Square, the Boston Public Library, and how easy it is to spend an entire afternoon on Newbury Street, yearning for pretty things and eating ice cream while doing it.

Sometimes being a tourist in your own city is important. It makes you look at things harder, makes you appreciate the beauty that’s there. Because if there’s beauty in a city, it’s here, my friends. It’s here.

{all images © anna e. burns | please link with love.}