Erie and Ohio

I think Rachel and I brought the wrong kind of zyrtec for our travels. I remember last year, taking the little allergy pill in the morning and receiving a nice little jump to my step and a remedy for my embarrassing, over exaggerated sneezes. Unfortunately,for this season and this bottle of Zyrtec, this is not the case. First of all I've spent over 15 minutes popping all the pills out of their child/joanna proof casings in order to save room and consolidate them into one bottle. Now every time we take them (which we have now made the joint decision to stop doing) we are absolutely useless to the world and cannot keep our eyes open. Where I'm going with this is... our last day in Buffalo and the ride to Erie, PA I sadly missed because I was asleep in the front seat. Rachel had to drive due to my Zyrtec- induced fatigue. In my head all this months I pictured this first drive away from parents and familiar faces to be full of fist-pumping excitement, woo-hooing and an uncontrolable state of euphoria that one would expect when embarking on such an adventure. Well I was just sleeping within then minutes and my woo-hooing was sinfully replaced with figuring out how to fold my sweatshirt comfortably under my head so that my head didn't bump up and down on top of the protruding door lock. Speaking of that door lock my friends... it has happened already. And as everyone would expect, it was completely my fault. Rachel and I both have keys to our car. I locked them both inside with one non chalant, I can't wait for breakfast movement. Both of them. Inside the car. All doors locked. In the parking lot of Tim Hortens In Erie, PA. After a very lovely evening with Gina and Dustin and a very fun dinner with this wonderful couple, we relaxed in front of the TV (one of my favorites) watching Bizzare Foods ( my other favorite!) and playing with cute small animals (must I say it?) All was going well on adventure so far and we were ready for anything! And then I locked the keys in the car. AAA (thanks mama and daddy popson) was there in half an hour and all was well. We got time to charge our phones and have a yummy breakfast. No harm done I say, and now this tiny hassle has taught us (and by us I mean me) a lesson and it shant happen again. We arrived in Wilmington Ohio at five in the evenening on Tuesday. It was so great to see Joni. She took us around her adorable town full of hopeful people and lots of individuals dedicated to service. The people here are fantastic and it was the perfect town and we had the perfect host to show us our first point of discovery; Wilmington, Ohio. I give the place two thumbs up for sure. In about an hour we will be heading for Grosse Pointe, Michigan to visit Emily and discover Detroit and Ann Arbor. My keys are now attached to my pants at all times with a Carabiner. -lj

Buffalo!! =)

So after a 6 hour drive and 3 stops along the way we made it to Buffalo by 8pm last night. It was a very sleepy ride for both of us as the emotional stress of everything is finally catching up with us. But our actual leaving date for denver is fast approaching so the excitement is coming!! When we stopped at Wendy's to get a snack, the woman in front of Joanna said to the cashier, "Can I have an order of the sesame boneless chicken pieces but just a la carte?", the woman behind the counter, seemingly confused replied, "Um...sure. So do you want fries and a drink or anything?" The woman ordering then repeated, "No...a la carte please." Finally, the woman taking the order turns around to look at the menu and says, "alright...what's an OLIVE CART!" Not sure which is funnier...that the woman was saying a la carte at the fast food restaurant, or that the cashier had no clue what a la carte meant. Oh this adventure should be full of fun haha Off to shop and get breakfast with my mommy. It's a gorgeous day for Buffalo... cook out later?? xoxo, Rachel

NECK REMEDY PLEASEEEE

Does anyone know a good pulled-neck remedy??? It's been a month now and I can't stand seeing joey in pain anymore. Nothing seems to work, not even a chiropractor. If you have the magic answer please tell us. =(

our adventure baby

It's a very strange feeling to actually start something that you've been planning for so long. Rach and I made this decision nine months ago while we were laying on the beach talking about how something different needed to start in our lives. Talking about how we felt stuck. Stuck, unsure and feeling that life could be so much bigger than what we were experiencing. So the idea of our big adventure was thus born. We wanted to experience something big with free spirits and open arms. That conversation while tanning in front of the ocean on Coney Island was nine months ago. And time appropriate, our adventure was born today- nine months later. We've planned so hard. Not a day went buy when our plans were not discussed. We never, even for one day, dropped our idea or our passion for wanting to do it. We handed in our keys to our apartment today. The final step of many. When we first moved in we were so positive that we would spend years in the apartment together. We were settling down. Now today, we handed in our keys and got into a car along with everything we own, and we drove out of New York City. It's amazing how things can change. After the sadness of leaving our apartment and amazing landlord rushed through us, we were left singing, smiling and full of the excitement that 9 months earlier we felt our lives were missing. Now we get to spend a few days with my family. In a few days we'll go to Buffalo and spend of few days with Rachel's. And then the Intro, preliminary, base camp or whatever you want to call it section of the adventure is over. I'm extremely grateful that we get to spend some time with our families. Almost all of my anxiety about this adventure is centered around leaving my family. My dad, my mom and James. Having them close is such a constant comfort. Right now I see my separation from them being my biggest obstacle. I guess I should just consider myself lucky to have such an amazing family that gives me separation anxiety. Not everyone is so lucky. I've never planned for anything for nine months before. Two or three months maybe, but never nine. With that much planning its very hard to understand the emotional reaction to when the event actually happens, For a long time, I felt almost nothing, Goodbye job, goodbye friends, goodbye apartment, goodbye New York City. I've lived here since I was 18. I've grown into an adult here and I've learned pretty much everything I need to know about myself for this stage in my life. I want to make myself better. I want to be smarter, funnier, more aware, I want to have more compassion and I want to be able to have more fun. It's one thing for someone to know who they are. It's one thing for someone to know who they'd like to be. It's a totally different thing though when someone knows that who hey are can be so much better, I want this trip to make me better, I want to read more and strengthen my ability to carry on an intellectual conversation. I want to listen more and remember to ask you next time i see you how the interview went. I want to be a person who who's up with cookies after my friend has had a bad day. In conclusion, this is not as simple as an adventure. This is an exploration. I want us to explore our country and I want us to explore each other and our selves. I think I know who I am so no need to soul search. I know who I want to be though. And one major goal for me if to become that person, We started something so big and exciting today and to be completely honest,,,,,, I couldn't possibly be happier about this brown eyed girl sitting on the couch next to me. Without her, I would never have the courage to do something like this. But thanks to her, I get to run around the country looking for life, love, hope, fun, art and without her I don't know if I would even care about anything enough to look for it. Everything I experience is enjoyed 20x more because she is experiencing it with me. Today was the first day where I get to travel the country and experience it for everything it is. I'll get to be an explorer. A hippie. A free bird. A crazy kid. A well traveled individual. But the best, best, most bestest part.... is that I'm doing this ALL. This whole thing. From the moment adventure was conceived on the beach until the day we decide where we're settling down.... We're doing it together. Me and my full time buddy. Honestly....i can't help but feel a little bad for anyone who's not me tonight. lj

Made it to our first stop =)

All the stress, 9 months of planning and craziness is over!!! All that's left is enjoying our adventure. Such a relief. Pulling out of the city brought up a lot of mixed emotions...which I was starting to worry if I would feel anything at all. But overall, it gave us an unbelievable feeling of excitement!! I know for me it's been a while since i've been this excited about anything so it all feels so right. I said to jo in the car... we're closing such a huge chapter. But then we both thought, we're kind of starting a whole new book. Our lives have been pretty amazing thus far, which makes me think that this next book will be even better. When I think back on my life so far I feel so lucky for everything. So... here we go! Day 1...we're up in Monroe, NY until Thursday just relaxing with family. Lets hope this rainy weather doesn't stick around too much longer. And whoever is reading this right now, I hope you have a great week =) xoxo Rach

Joanna makes me laugh EVERY DAY =)

All the stress and sadness aside...we find so much to laugh at every single day. Like Joanna deflating the air mattress hahaha

Cafe Orlin

Well, after having my last brunch ever at Cafe Orlin I felt the need to write a little note just to make sure that all those dang dummys over there know how much I love and will miss them. Last Sunday when you all came to our party I remember looking over and thinking, "i'm leaving my family". And that's what you all are. We laughed, we cried, we made fun of eachother, we talked about eachother, we banged, we partied, we did it all. And I'm going to miss each and every one of you so so much. Good luck with those east villagers, cappucinos, and pota-hota-wata's. LOVE LOVE LOVE TIMES A MILLION. Please keep in touch, Love Rachellaa xoxo

and oh...

p.s. Rach and I would love it if you commented on our posts so that we knew people cared about our blog. thank you. lj

final countdown

So today is Thursday and we're leaving NYC Monday. I have been living with a pretty badly pulled neck for nearly three weeks now and have developed an extremely bad cold. I have yet to experience any actual emotions about leaving in only a few days or quitting the secure job with benefits that I've had for over a year. I wish my body would stop manifesting its feelings in my physical discomfort. Ailments aside, things are going along smoothly. We have made the decision to sell all of our furniture rather than store it since moving our crappy furniture is going to cost more than its worth. I'm very happy with our new decision and the furniture is selling pretty well. Our stoop sale is this Saturday and hopefully we can get rid of most of our stuff there. The goal is more to not have to throw a lot of stuff out rather than trying to make money. But a few extra dollars are always welcome. We went to get our bike racks yesterday in Nyack. We called before hand to make sure they had the one we wanted, they said they did. After taking a detour to Nyack off our usual route from Monroe to Brooklyn, a man with a very roundabout way of speaking told us that our new bike rack would be delivered to their store on Wednesday. Delivered to their store. In other words, they have to order the item we need and they, in fact, do not carry the rack that we asked about only an hour before. Nice. This means that we have to take an extra trip to Monroe on Sunday specifically to drop the bikes off at my house since they need every inch of cargo space our car offers. This also means that on Wednesday, we have to drive back to Nyack and pick up the rack that absolutely better be there. I mean, the intelligent men who, apparently, didn't understand the first question we asked, said it would be there, so what could go wrong? For the rest of today and tomorrow, Rachel and I are living in a sort of 'moving limbo'. We are at the point where we can't so much take further steps until we see how successful our stoop sale will be. The nights that have been previously spent packing and "passionately discussing" which items to bring, sell, or my favorite, throw away, have now been replaced with nights of finding things and corners to clean, scrub and clear. I still attempt to throw everything I see away. As our huge To Do List shrinks, we're getting more and more excited about what all this work and planning has been for. Nine months is a long time to be planning something. Especially the past two months have been much more about the planning and less about the what we're planning for. It's starting to sink in that "it" is finally here. Smiles and laughing are coming more freely and we're really starting to allow the excitement to take over the stress and sadness that comes with leaving home. Only small, final steps have to be done now before we're officially professional adventurers. After working this hard for it, we absolutely can't wait. Three and a half more days. Oh no wait...we have to get the bike rack Wednesday. damnit. ...idiots. So three and a half more days and like...a little bit of Wednesday. -LJ (love joey)

19 days left!!! SO WEIRD!!!

So...we only have 19 days left in NYC. It's starting to really set in. New York has been my second home for almost 7 years!! But everything is really coming together so we're getting very very excited. We only have one room left to paint back to white... of course the biggest... so anyone that wants to help that would great =) We had a nice weekend apart with our families for easter. I'm going to miss everyone so much. But hey, ya gotta grow up sometime right? Going on an adventure is growing up! lol For now... it's off to the park to enjoy the sun w/jo before we work all weekend. Love, Rach