Casey's Patch Collection

Newport, Rhode Island

In January, my boyfriend and I took a weekend trip to Newport, Rhode Island. Also known as the "City by the Sea," the "Sailing Capital of the World," and "America's Society Capital," the small city sits right on the southern coast of Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island. I hear that the city is mobbed all summer by vacationers, so I really enjoyed our jaunt during the winter off-season.

Known for its famous mansions along the water, we first took a tour of Cornelius Vanderbilt's 70-room, 65,000 square foot summer home called "The Breakers." After the tour, we strolled along the gorgeous Cliff Walk, a public walkway bordering the shoreline of the city. Throughout the afternoon, we hosted our own pub crawl and ended up at the oldest tavern in America for dinner, the White Horse Tavern, which opened in 1673.

The next day we visited several other notable historic sites. We took a tour of the oldest synagogue in America, Touro Synagogue, which in 1946 was designated a national historic site. We then took a walk to see one of the oldest baseball fields in the United States, Cardines Field. A local historical debate continues as to whether baseball was played on the field prior to 1900, or if baseball wasn't played there until 1908 -- which is the earliest documentation of the stadium's construction. As we continued our walk, we stumbled across the oldest house of worship in Rhode Island, the Quaker Meetinghouse, established in 1699.

By that time, we thought that we had seen all of the significant historical sites that Newport had to offer. That was until I realized we were walking by the oldest lending library in America, the Redwood Library and Athenaeum!!

Before we left Newport to head back to Boston, we played a round of Geo-caching and found a micro-cache hidden behind the town movie theater, we stumbled across the grave of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and we picked up some truffle oil for Aaron at a local gourmet food store. On our way back to Boston, I navigated us through New Bedford, Massachusetts so that we could make an important pit stop -- Frederick Douglass' first home as a free man.

All this being said, we had a wonderful weekend in Newport! This is just one example of the many adventures we have been on so far and with many new patches to prove it!

Craig's Kempo Karate Academy

The eight-month hiatus has ended; I have recommitted myself to my blog. Featuring at least a patch per week from my ever-growing collection, I will continue to document the stories from my travels and experiences (and as always sincerely appreciate my loyal readership). 

Today I am highlighting a relatively new addition to my collection. Most of my patches are safely tucked away in a 10-year-old Ziploc bag. This one, however, is proudly sewn on the breast of my karate gi. In November of last year, I decided to take up a new hobby, and of all options available to me in the Boston area, I chose to take a chance with Shaolin Kempo Karate. After nearly six months of training, I can honestly say that I have found a new passion.

Three nights a week, I drive a little over a mile from my apartment to Craig's Kempo Karate Academy in Watertown, Massachusetts. The adult class ranges from an intimate 4-5 students to around 12-13 students. My karate mates range from their teenage years to their fifties, and the belt ranks range from white to third degree black belt. Renshi Craig teaches us new skills in each session -- I've learned kicks, punches, blocks and counterstrikes, fighting combinations, club techniques, forms, and weapon techniques. Occasionally, we'll get our chances to spar in the ring with our classmates, and we have recently begun to learn grappling techniques, or ground fighting. In March, my friend Michael and I went through an extremely rigorous test, and we each advanced to the next belt rank (this post today is proudly coming from a newly achieved yellow belt)!

Aside from the new skills I have developed and am continuing to improve upon, I have really enjoyed meeting the wonderful people who work at and take classes at the dojo. I always look forward to going to class, seeing my karate friends, and learning new material. 

I'll end this post with the words that we often recite before beginning our karate training -- our school creed:

I will develop myself in a positive manner and will avoid anything that could reduce my mental growth or physical health. I will develop self-discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and others. I will use what I learn in class constructively and defensively, to help myself and fellow man, never to be abusive or offensive. I will develop black belt excellence by achieving modesty, courtesy, integrity, self control, perseverance and an indomitable spirit.