Happy to be a girl...

So...first day of training at Marliave was a success!! It's a little more upscale than I'm used to but it's worth the learning experience. And they all said they make great money. So I train there officially starting Saturday. I'm excited to challenge myself instead of walk away and find an "easier" restaurant. Tonight I train at South End Buttery so I'm hoping it goes just as well. The managers at Marliave said they have no problem working around my schedule if I choose to get two jobs =0) The best thing I must say though about temporary unemployment is that you can do whatever you want everyday. So Jo and I have been getting up early, working out, cooking, reading, etc. And I said to myself the other day "Gosh i really like this whole not drinking, being healthy thing. I feel great! Why aren't we always like this?" Then I worked one night back in a restaurant haha and the first thing I wanted when I got out was a beer. There is a just something about the industry I swear. Not to put the blame solely on it, however I will put most of it haha. So i wrap up my first night of "stagging" which apparently isn't training. It's more like volunteering because you don't make a dime and you have to run around and prove to them that you're awesome. I jump on the T a few stops and get out at Mass Ave to walk the 15 blocks to Joanna's job. To my hilarious surprise there happen to be 3 meat head college guys headed my way with a 30 pack each of keystone light in their hands. I couldn't help but burst out laughing which prompted them of course to say "heyyy you wanna come to the party???" "I think i'm too old but thanks!", I replied. When the little devil instead of me just wanted to shout, "HELLL YEAAA I DOO!!!!" Oh well. As my mom said, in another lifetime i guess haha my days of that are over. So I make it to Jo's restaurant and creepily pass the windows hoping she sees me...which she does. So i continue on down the block to find a place to watch the rest of the Saints game and grab that beer that I so desperately need. I first come to a place called the "Other Side" bar. Lets just say it definitely wasn't "my side". They were really rude at the door. I walked in anyway, turned around and walked out. Ok next place. Came upon Cafe 47 which Jo and I had had lunch previously and it was much nicer. I was greeted at the door by a nice woman who sat me in a perfect position to watch the rest of the game. My server Erika came over promptly and brought me a beer and a glass of water. Perfect. And the fourth quarter just started. So 15-20 minutes later Jo comes in, we order a pizza and are discussing our restaurants when some guy behind the bar wants to take down the New Orleans Saints football that was nicely placed above the liquor. Clearly he was a Brett Favre fan as he had a shirt on with his name on it. And my smartass decides to say "hey hey hey" when he tried to take it down. Ok, i'm sorry, but if you cannot partake in some playful football banter then watch the games at home. Well clearly I learned MY Boston lesson real quick. He continued to take it down, flip me the bird, and told us our meal was on him that we can kindly leave. Holy shit. What? Are you serious? Of course we didn't because I don't care what some idiot says, I want to finish my pizza and beer. Then of course he apologizes saying he really will get our meal, the server apologizes, the owner clearly already left for the evening blah blah blah. I tried to go over to be like "no hard feelings man i was just playing around. I'm actually a bills fan haha" but I was greeted with insane beer breath and realized the reason for his actions was pure intoxication. So we left a nice tip for our waitress and left. At first I thought, I'm never coming back here. Then I thought, I am very happy to be a girl otherwise we would have gotten into a bar fight. Then Jo was scared she would get her ass kicked. Then we both thought, hey 4 beers a large pizza and it was only $20 cuz our waitress was so cute... i'll run my mouth all the time for that hahha!!! Longest story ever short... Boston really does have crazy fans. So I guess maybe I'll stick to Bills bars, or just cheer quietly hahahahahhah.

Happy Football Season everyone!!!

Love,

Rach

ya know what...

Ya know what I won't ever get tired of? That person in the subway, or in this case the T, that is talking out-loud to no one in particular yet everyone can hear him. He doesn't care if you are listening, nor probably cares if anyone is even on the train with him. He easily frustrates anyone and everyone around him because people may be reading, or trying to relax on there way to wherever they are going. However this person never bothers me but rather makes me smile and even laugh a little every time. They always have so much to say that I feel bad because maybe they don't have anyone to talk to. They could be a "crazy whacko" but who isn't in their own way? And if they happen to actually direct their conversation at me, i will gladly go along with it until my stop comes, no matter what else I would rather being doing. Anyways, moving on. Hi everyone... Rachel here. It's been forever since I've written on here. Jo is just so far in the spotlight I couldn't interrupt her grove =) However, today I felt since she is off at her first training shift and I am here alone all night, why not blog? Since being alone is one of my least favorite things, for a whole bunch of reasons, at least writing for a bit I won't be so lonely. First things first. Sam (meaning Sam one of the regulars at Boa)... if for any reason you actually have checked out the blog I have to tell you something! I have no other way to get ahold of you. On my last shift at Boa my friend and very loyal customer Sam came in and sat on the back patio. After a little while he gave me a very nice compliment on the shirt that I happen to be wearing and for some reason it really stuck with me. So much so that it gave me such confidence that I wore that same shirt to my interview yesterday. And to my pleasant surprise, i landed the job =) or at least start training on Friday!! So I owe Sam a thank you. Thanks for giving me the boost to go get the job without even knowing you were doing it =) Sometimes a little thing can go a longgg way! I miss Denver the most right now. It's easier to not miss NYC as much up here because they have so many similarities. And as always I miss the b-lo. But Boston seems pretty cool so far. I'm training at a place downtown tomorrow night. Similar to the places down near wall street and the area is very similar too. Then on friday I train at a place called South End Buttery. It's a cafe by day and neighborhood-feel restaurant by night. I'll only have to work at night which is cool so if I can do both jobs that would be ideal. Roll in the dough!! I have felt very eager lately to go back to school, or at least learn something. Really i just want to go "back to school" shopping haha. So if I find something cool to learn about it... i'll let ya know =) Oh... great to see familiar faces this weekend and today. My friend from home Caitlin and her new fiance Jim came Saturday and it was a blast. And Sunday it was really great to hang out with family. My uncle Dave, aunt Jess and three cousins came in. Then today we got to spend time with Cassie and Joe who are recently married!! All great things. I'll try and put some pics and videos up. It's so much easier on facebook but if you can't get to facebook then I should try harder to put them up! Hope everyone is having a good week so far. Thanks for reading =)

xoxo,

Rach

the announcements continue

Lunch with Cassie and Joe was fantastic. They're moving to DC tomorrow which truely unfortunate. They're a really fun couple to hang out with and know a lot of cool things about Boston. They were kind enough to buy us lunch as a welcome to Beantown and gave us lots of tips and fun ideas about things in the area to do. Again, we're really bummed they're leaving. Next on the agenda for today is my apologies for not writing about our visit to New York. I plan to give our New York weekend its own entry either tomorrow morning or when I get home tonight. Home tonight? Joanna, where are you going? Well.... I will be at Clio from 4-10ish learning the ropes and seeing whether Clio and I "are a good fit". The interview went really well yesterday. The two managers I spoke with were shockingly young and extrememly cool and laid back. I'm training tonight with another back server and I guess if I do a good job, I'm hired. No, I don't know if I get paid tonight. No, I don't know if I get fed. No, I don't know how much I would be making if hired. When I know these answers, you will be the first (after Rachel) to hear them. I'm a little nervous about tonight. I hope I can live up to how much I talked myself up. I'm glad its not a weekend and it'll be a little slower. I'm hoping this place isn't completely out of league and I don't end up embarrassing myself. I'm sure it will be fine. I also just realized that my last five sentences start with "I". Narcissist. -lj

publick announcement

A few things this morning... 1. A Restaurant Review: We went to a beer pub last night called "Publick House". They're beer selection was nothing less than extrememly impressive. It took forever to choose our beers. I've only ever seen one other beer menu this complete and once I remember what that place in NYC is called, I'll let you know. Joshua, do you remember? We ordered mussels which were underseasoned and there were frankly just too many of them. We ordered the smaller appetizer version and I seriously think the cap on how many mussels one can fish in a season has just i been lowered because of our appetizer. It was a total waste of food and an unnessesary portion. I couldn't help but wonder why the chef was ok with giving away so many mussels at such a low price point. You should always wonder about large portions of cheap seafood. Seafood is expensive for restaurants to serve. They obviously make that money back on salt and pepper since they used virtually none on the dish. Our entrees came while we were still eating the mussels, which I was grateful for because if they had waited till we were done it would have added an hour to our meal. I ordered the short rib and Rach got Fish and Chips. There was some sort of spice I couldn't pin point on the short rib that I didn't really like and it was totally overcooked. Probably because it sat in the window while Rachel and I tried to make a dent in the probably 40+ dish of mussels. Rach liked the fish and chips. I don't think I got a good bite because my mouth was coated in whatever spice or herb that was in the short rib. After two and a half beers (we shared the third) we left. The service was very good although I wish she was more helpful with my beer selection. But she was nice and attentive. I'd go back for a beer but not for food. I was going to save this and finish later, but i'll post it now and post again later. going to breakfast with cassie and joe!! -lj

a fear continues...

I'm reading up more on Clio. The restaurants chef has a James Beard Award, has won Iron Chef America, and the restaurant has been named one of the best restaurants in America by Esquire magazine. I'm screwed. -lj

clio

Well, I got an interview. It's for a back waiter at a restaurant called "Clio" located in the Elliot hotel. I've don't think I've ever even eaten at a restaurant this nice let alone worked in one. If I work there it's going to bring my resume up about twenty levels. I'm excited about the prospect of working in that caliber of restaurant but I need a haircut. Thats a weird thing to stress about, but its not like I have money to go buy a nice outfit and get a hair cut for this interview. The owner sounded really cool on the phone and I feel I can definitely tell him anything he wants to hear. I'm gonna study up on the menu and convince him that if he hires someone who's learning he has the advantage of having someone coming in every day trying to do better than they did the day before. My biggest worry is what to wear to the interview. I have to invest in some shoes after this. My interview is on Tuesday at 2pm. Keep your fingers crossed for me and say a prayer to the culinary gods. -lj

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....