We did it!

Attention Attention!! Rachel Popson and Joanna Cappola have officially gone an entire 24 hours without spending ANY money and didn't walk into a SINGLE restaurant! All 3 meals were prepared, cooked and eaten IN our apartment. We even stayed within the healthy criteria of our new diet. Man did we eat healthy yesterday! The first sucessful day of following a diet is key I think. Because after that you just feel guilty for cheating because then it knocks you off a track. It's much easier to keep saying "The diet starts tomorrow". Saying "The diet started yesterday" holds a lot more weight....no pun intended. We also went on a run yesterday around Jamaica Pond which is a huge pond just a few blocks away. I wore a sweatshirt on the run which is something I've never done before. I took a cold shower afterward and there was still heat radiating from my head. We didn't spend all of yesterday in the apartment however. We decided we needed a map of Boston since we don't know where any of the neighborhoods are in relation to eachother, or in relation to themselves for that matter. Triple A gives free maps to their peeps, who we are, so we decided to drive to the Boston office and get some free maps. Driving in Boston is ridiculous! It's so confusing! Barbera (our GPS) took us to the only office the internet says is in Boston. Imagine two girls from Kentucky just moving to NYC and unexpectingly driving into Times Square. Barbera took us right into downtown. We never found the place and still have no maps. The whole trip took over an hour. It got us out of the house though and we got to see some of Boston. We spent the day sending resumes, writing some letters, I played some guitar and going back and forth convincing eachother (successfully) to go for a run. We also started a very unhealthy habit yesterday. We know from being devout LOST watchers for so many years that you can watch any ABC tv show online. We decided to choose one to get into. After spending all day being economical and healthy, we needed some sort of guilty pleasure. We chose "The Bachelor Pad". Very attractive men and women living together in a beautiful mansion looking for love and competing for money. There's betrayal, scandels, manipulation, sex and drama. We're HOOKED. And we feel awful about ourselves because of it. One of my biggest concerns about going out with friends tonight is that we probably will have to wait until tomorrow to see whats next. I'm disgusted with myself. Anyway... At the beginning of the day we got a package from Aunt Jackie. She had made us a photo album of some memories of Denver. We sat on the couch and went back in time. We look at pictures of mountains now the way we used to look at the Manhattan skyline. The album is amazing and we're so thankful. Today we woke up early, did laundry, ate some healthy omega rich oatmeal, sent some resumes and we're going to spend the day with Caitlin and Jim. Good day to you all! -lj

We're gettin there...

There's a hurricane a comin! I've been doing a rain dance since we got here due to the fact that our apartment is void of air conditioning and we decided to arrive in Boston during a heat wave. It's been in the 90's outside and I'm sure in the 100's in our apartment which doesn't get the occasional breeze of the outdoors. The apartment in equipt with a tall, white fan that we literally carry with us from room to room. On the positive side, it has introduced us quickly to the electical system of the apartment and we already know where all the outlets are located. The apartment is really cute. Now. When we got here it was cute too since we weren't looking too closely. At a quick glance and walk through its adorable. After Leslie (the apartments normal inhabitant) left and we really got a chance to look around more closely we learned that the apartment was pretty filthy. Well....very filthy. It took us five hours on Wednesday to clean the place and it was not a glamourous task whatsoever. I had a four hour tantrum during the time. Rachel was very patient with me and allowed me to stomp around the apartment while I cleaned making loud noises and moving things with more force than necessary. Finally as it started looking better I started feeling better and settled back into a normal heart rate. While we were cleaning we noticed a few things that we have become accustomed to using on an every day basis were missing. We knew there was no cable when we got here. I held back my tears and decided that would be ok. It's 2010 and you can watch TV online if you must. But wait...where is the microwave and toaster? Good thing we don't have TV because we wouldn't be able to cook our TV dinners. Mommy says we can meet her half way and grab a microwave but Rachel and I have been hearing how unhealthy microwaves are for you (we don't know why though) and decided to give the lifestyle a shot. If you think about it, they probably aren't good for you. How can heating up food with no actual heat be ok? We went grocery shopping and pledged to eat the groceries since we have no jobs. Last night we did end up going to a local bar for a cheap dinner because they apartment was just too damn hot. Especially to cook in. Today. Today we pledge to eat only groceries. We're excited for the hurricane. I've never been in a hurricane! You'd think after all the post-hurricane related things I've been through I'd have a more responsible perspective. I don't. I'm pumped. We've dropped off resumes to some local restaunts. There are two right next to each other right down the block that we really want. The restuarants are Ten Tables and Bon Savor. Rachel applied at Ten Tables and I went into the other. The owner of Bon Savor said she was hiring and that she'd look my resume over. I'm feeling hopeful and you shouldn't give out resumes on the weekends so I'm glad I can give her a few days to look it over before I start the search again. It's right down the block and would be so convenient! And its cool! I hate searching for jobs and starting them. Especially when I know that nothing could ever top Stella. Tomorrow Rach's friend Caitlin and her fiance Jim are gonna be in Boston and we're excited to see them. Then on Sunday we're going out to dinner with Rach's Uncle Dave and Aunt Jess since they're in Boston for the weekend as well. Our only stress is jobs and obviously money. We're liking it here more and more and I know as soon as we have jobs we're really gonna start loving it. We're excited for football season and looked up a Buffalo Bills Bar to attend when it starts. Unfortunately they don't play preseason games and we had to watch the Giants/Pats game last night at the bar down the street. The Bills bar isn't as close. We'll have to learn the public transportation system for that bar. The past two nights (besides dinner) we've spent in watching Apocalypse Now (yes, it took us two nights to watch). On Wednesday night we went to Mr. Bartleys Gourmet Burger, supposedly the best burger in Boston. Travel Channel, Food Network and lots of local magazines told us we wouldn't be disappointed. I gotta tell ya though, I don't think anything will ever be as good as FLIP. We were totally disappointed. I mean, they were good.... but burgers you cook at home are good too. They weren't special and the place didn't even have beer. How do you not serve beer at a burger joint?! The restaurant was located in Cambridge right near Harvard. What a cool area. We were so jealous of all the students...you really don't know how great college is until its gone. Just like anything else I guess. It made us both feel stupid being around all the smarties and we decided we'd pressure our children and make them attend Harvard so we could live vicariously through them. Maybe our smart children will be able to explain to us how microwaves actually work. -lj

still some rocks in my socks

I've obviously had to call upon time travel i order to keep everyone up to date. Technically I should be writing about our first night arriving in Boston (which was tonight). About how we love our apt but have to dedicate our entire day tomorrow to cleaning the damn thing since it's previous inhabitant is in law school and I guess has not had the time to do so. But first, I must go back to our last few days in Denver. The last few days in Denver consisted of lots of hugs, packing, promises of keeping in touch, toasts of last drinks, financial planning, tearful goodbyes and saying "see you later" to people that we then, never actually did have the pleasure of saying goodbye to. Monday night Betty invited the neighbors and some of our work friends to a beautiful patio dinner. We all ate well and had a marvelous time. We called it an early night for Rachel and I had to get some sleep if we wanted to be ready to go at 8am the next morning so that we could make it to St. Louis by nightfall. We were able to have a private goodbye to Betty and Beau that morning. They were the only ones that could pull tears out of our eyes. It was so hard to back out of the long driveway watching the two of them standing there and watching us leave. I couldn't help but be especially sad knowing that poor Beau couldn't have understood when as the day past, we never came back. Betty said the left for the day and when he came back the first thing he did was run into our rooms to see if we were there. Obviously, we were not. I hope in my heart he knows I love him and that I'll see him again one day and that i'm looking forward to that visit. I really feel that he was my dog for three months. He was one of my best friends there. Everyone who knows me well knows how much I loved dogs. Well, I really bonded with this one. Our last night in Denver he and Ridely (the jack russel next door) slept in our bed with us. Saying goodye to Betty was just as hard. She had become our family. Waking up in the morning now without her there sends a feeling of loss and missing through my gut. I wish I had taken less naps and spent more time with Betty while Rachel was at work. Saying goodbye to Denver was extremely difficult. We had never imagined we could get so attached to somewhere you only lived at for three and a half months. We became attached to Betty, Beau, the house, the neighbors, Ridely, the mountains, our jobs, our friends, our neighborhood, or mountains....these things we didn't know before now helped define us in the morning as we woke. On Tuesday hugged tight, got in our cars, and it was all gone. We certainly had excitement up ahead but there was still the cloud over our car reminding us of everything we were leaving behind. When we originally left new york it was because we felt stuck. Same thing after same thing but never going anywhere. Our reasons for leaving Denver was simply because it was part of the plan, We're travelers. Explorers. Discovering pioneers. We can't stop now just because we found somewhere that makes us happy. And who knows...maybe it only made us so happy because we knew we were leaving. We weren't stuck there so why be afraid of it? I'm excited that we left Denver but it was very very hard. We really did have an amazing time. We met amazing people and we had a much harder time saying goodye than I thought we would. But we did it. We left. How I figure it....I have such a better and bigger heart after Denver because of all the amazing people and things I had to fit inside. Boston will do the same thing. No one's place will ever be taken, but new places will form and I will die with the worlds biggest heart. Because of all I allowed to take in and then go find even more great things to take it. I can't imagine not knowing the people I became close with in Denver. There must be people here that I'm going to meet and i'll think "I can't imagine my life without your presence. " No one will ever be lost or replaced. My heart will continue to grow on my adventure as I let more and more people in. So we've arrived in Boston tonight. Our apartment is great however its dirty and we have to clean the whole thing tomorrow and its not air conditioned. Not big deals. We will clean and live within five feet of our big fan at all times. We're very excited and we're thrilled that we get to act like we're married once again! more tomrrow and some pictures if your lucky -lj

Boston here we come!!

3:00pm.... Tuesday, August 31st 2010

We venture to Boston, Massachusetts!!!!!

What a great adventure so far....