happy love day

Ok ready? Set... go... Rach and I kept fighting and fighting so we decided on a split. We had two weeks left in the condo together and fought less but hung on to our decision. Two weeks were up and Rach's parents drove a car down so now she has her own car. Rachel moved in a friend of a friend in Jupiter and I moved in with my new good pal Chris, a girl from my job. I live in West Palm Beach and am now the world's fourth largest contributer to the process of warming our planet. I live with Chris and her boyfriend of five years Charlie. I love them dearly and think of them, especially Chris, as a blessing. I don't know what I would have done without them. After a few days of sleeping alone in my new bed I realized that my decision (as usual when I make big decisions), was the wrong one. At that time the standing of the relationship was not broken up, but barely seeing or talking so we could "figure things out". I realized after talking to some dear friends (christina and kate) that our lifestyle had made it impossible for Rachel and I to have time for establishing individual lives and were therefore, smothering eachother and the relationship which was now on its way to disappearing. I wasn't having it. I made Rach go on a date with me and took her to the beach and to see the rehabiliting sea turtles (which was awesome). I put on my most charming smile and explained what I believed had gone wrong and how we could fix it. After lots of charming smiles which I'm sure got pathetic after five minutes she started smiling back. Long story short, we love each other very much and are enjoying having date nights and re-establishing romance. (Charming smile gets em every time). Unfortunatly, my new home does not have internet and has seperated me from my blog. I'm sorry. This time it is not my fault. Rachel and I are sorting out plans at this point to move back in together (hopefully she can come live with me, gotta talk to Charlie) in March. We're staying another month and are deciding, unfortunatly, how to round up our adventures to a close. As fun as it is, the freedom of the road, we've learned, actually offers little freedom and we are starting to look at a "larger plan". One that involves careers, benifits, family and vacations. One that is going to start out of course with school, long hours and lots of of work. Right now we're probably heading back to NY in April, staying in Monroe for a month while we re-establish jobs in the city and decide on new degree paths. There is some talk of one last adventure to California but financially, this might not be the smartest decision. We will see how things go. Rachel's chef Eddie is opening a restaurant on the Jersey Shore over the summer and has been relentless in asking us to there promising we will make more money than we ever will any summer of our lives. This is also an idea we're throwing around. I'll try to visit my local Panera Bread more often and update you more. I know I say that all the time. When all is said and done at the end of this "break", it was the best thing for us that we could have done. We're very happy and have a renewed appreciation for eachother and a new respect for our relationship. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Think about everyone you love today and ask yourself if you've been taking it for granted. -lj

And change of plans!

Alrighty... well... the man that I live with has informed me that because he is going through a divorce and they are battling with money and their son that I won't be able to stay after this month. Haha... awesome. Now what to do....

I was wrong

There is a lot of culture and diversity in Florida. I just have not explored enough of it. I also live in a town that is mostly retirees.

In need of people my age haha

xoxo,

Rachel

How dare us....

So selfish we are to not post for almost a month!!! My deepest apologies to our followers. Let's do some updating. We are still in Florida... for a couple reasons. First and most obvious, the weather. It was impossible to pack up the car and attempt to get anywhere when the entire country seems to be under extreme weather crisis. I'll stay in 80 degree la la land. Secondly, it is technically "Season" here, which to everyone down here really means "Busy Season" they have just abbreviated it I guess, so for the most part our restaurants are pretty busy. Jo's is a little newer so they still have good days and bad days. Mine is steadily busy but the inevitable over-staffing is occurring so not every night is as lucrative as I would like. For December and January, thanks to my awesome family, we were able to stay in their condo down here. But of course since it's "season" it makes the most sense to make money on the place so they rented it out. As Jo and I scrambled to make up our minds about our next move we came to the conclusion that maybe it would be a good idea to live separately for a bit. I'll spare all the details, or let Jo describe it all since she is the better writer. I am living with a 24 year old beautician, a 50-something year old mad scientist/musician with a 13 year old Justin Beiber look-a-like son, a golden retriever named Sully, a beagle named Snoopie, and a fish. Boy did my life change drastically. I must say though that I have only been here a week and am learning an insane amount about life and myself. This whole adventure has taught me a lot but now I'm thinking it's just showing me how weird everywhere is and that New York is where I'm meant to be =) Or that stereotypes really do come from truth. My boss Yosi from Cafe Orlin in New York said before I left, "Don't get stuck in Florida. I spent a year and ran out of there. I need culture and so do you." It seems that people are either born, raised and stay here forever, or people escape from their lives and hide out here. It is interesting to say the least. I hope to see more parts of Florida before we depart. As for now, everything is sort of up in the air but I'll figure it all out eventually. Any other 25 year olds out there questioning everything??? I miss my friends and both my families a lot. I love you all =) Happy Super-bowl Sunday everyone!!!!! Go Packers!!!!

xoxoxo,

Rach

So lots of things to talk about. One is that my trip home to Christmas was a total success. Christmas was great and a blizzard snowed me in for an extra five days. At first I was devastated and frantically called every airline looking for an earlier flight than the one on the 31st that I'd been moved to. Flights were an average of 500$. I had just started my job at Gulfstream at was nervous that I'd lose my job. Once I called my boss and heard "Well, you didn't make it snow.", I relaxed and enjoyed my time with my family. I consider it the best gift I got this Christmas (and I got some cool stuff). When I came back my job welcomed me and asked how my time at home was. I'm very lucky.

I've been walking on the beach a lot. It's only a five minute walk from my house and when I have nothing to do I stroll over. I love living near the beach. I could spend hours there. I've learned that I'm very good at choosing a line to walk in that keeps the wash of the waves less than an inch from my feet so my shoes don't get wet. Rachel always tells me that I operate on a different plain than other people. When I walk on the beach I feel like the water, the sand, the shells and the birds are all on the same plain as me. The water will wash up and go back the moment before my foot comes down and my shoes don't get wet. I'll sit and stare out while the sun sets and three times now I've caught glimpse of a dolphin on manitee in the water that no one else seems to see. The beach is a really magical place for me. It always gives me the feeling you get when you read a poem that you really understand except there are no actual versus on the beach. It's just salty air, strong wind and rhythmic sounds synced with the feeling of knowing its possible to see something extraordinary. I'm really going to miss the beach. I won't miss having sand in my socks though. I really, really hate that. -lj

...to the airport I go...

Hi everyone =) Rachel here. Hope everyone is getting all their last minute, oh shit i forgot that person, what about those decorations, damn i burnt the potatoes, shut up uncle EDs...accomplished happily. As I'm trying to clean every nook and crany of our condo I realized something pretty cool about what we're doing. So far everywhere that we have been... within the first couple of days, we make it our home. It's not just some random place, we really make it our own. It's almost like we get to practice making a home before we actually have a permanent one! haha well let me tell you... i must say we're getting pretty good at it. It's as "christmasy" in here as it can be for florida. And as I'm anticipating leaving to pick my family up at the airport I pictured that scene in Home Alone where they are all running through the terminal... how interesting it is that movies are based on reality. I'm sure they are doing that exact thing right now haha. Can't wait to see my family. Will definitely miss my other family in Monroe and of course I'll miss Jo. This is the longest we've been apart since americorps! I know gag you.. boo hoo haha. One of these years it would be great to all be together. Ya never know. Anyways... I feel really thankful this christmas for everything. I'm really lucky. And after the all the mumbo jumbo is over it comes down to spending time with the ones you love. Enjoy, happy holidays, happy new year... eat a lot... laugh a lot... and if you drink... well then drink ;-) Love you all. Love, Rach xoxoxooxox

quick update

So we've both got jobs. Rach is at a nicer Italian place called "Samanthas" and I'm once again going corporate at "Gulfstream Cafe". We don't make much money now but "season" is supposed to start next weeks so we're hopeful. I like my job more than she likes hers. Weather's been ok. Patte now comes into our living room if we leave the doors open. We love her. We've been spending our time working and getting the house ready for the Popson clan. I'm leaving for Monroe on Thursday for Christmas. Can't think of any fun stories at the moment but I thought I'd drop in and give a breif update. -lj

my own fountain of youth

So for the sixth night in a row I'm at home while Rach is at work. Slave drivers. I just walked in and am trying to think of something to do for the next three and half hours. We've been here for a week and half almost and I've been to the movies four times...two by myself. See, every weekday Mike and D get here at 8:30 and work till about 6. We try to stay out of their way and I especially try to stay out of the apt from 4-6 while Rach is at work. Twice I've filled that time with the movies which is a few stores down from Rachel's restaurant. I love going to the movies. At this specific theater there's this old guy who works the ticket booth. The first time I went alone it was to see a movie that happened to be rated R. After I asked for the ticket he said "I'm going to have to ask you for identification. The movie is rated R and you have to be seventeen." He said it like he was breaking bad news to me. I was half amused and half offended that this man thought I was a fifteen year old boy. I showed him my ID and he said I didn't look that old. As with everyone else I show my ID to, he didn't notice that it was a girls ID. Today I went to see the Disney movie "Tangled". Again, alone. The same man was working. I asked for the ticket. He then asked if I worked there. I said no. He explained his question by telling me that a lot of kids worked there. Ok. Moving on. He started printing out my ticket. "Do you have your student ID?" ...no...I don't have my student ID. I'm 25 and graduated college almost four years ago. I started to say no when he said "well, you're a student" and proceeded to give me a student discount. He said it as if he felt stupid to even ask me to prove I was student. He obviously decided for himself that I was in high school and wouldn't have a student ID. It saved me a dollar. These things happen to me a lot. Maybe I should be offended, maybe not, but ya know what? .......................... I'm going to be one hott fifty year old. -lj

click click click click click

we saw a dolphin today at the beach. life is good. -lj

hook, line and...patte'?

I'm pretty sure we told you about the two ducks outside, Foie and Gras, but after I blogged last we realized there was a third duck as well. We decided to name this one Patte'. (We work in restaurants, what do you want from us?) Well we consider all these ducks our pals. When we step outside, if they're around at the time, they'll stop what they're doing to come hang out. Sometimes we feed them Honey Nut Cheerios even though there's an obvious sign that says not to. We've really acquired a soft spot for our little duckies. Well a few days ago, Rach and I were sitting in the living room sipping coffee and watching TV. Every morning Mike and "D" come in at 8:30 to do constuction on the bathroom so they were here as well. We glanced outside the sliding glass doors that seperate the living room from the patio and saw Patte' sitting outside our door. This was not unusual becomes sometimes the ducks hang out on the patio and stare inside waiting for us to come out. We went outside to say good morning. When we first walked out we could tell he was standing funny. His mouth seemed slighted opened and his head was pushed down and cocked to the side. Rachel noticed she could see something yellow by his neck. We walked behind him to investigate. We were terrified to realize that Patte had a fish hook stuck through the bottom his beak so big that he couldn't close his mouth. To make it a million times worse, the other (hooked) end of the fish hook was jabbed into his wing. He couldn't even move his neck because the double sided hook was so short. We tried to approach him so we could see if we could help him. We still hadn't touched our ducks and he obviously didn't want to be touched. It was obvious however, that he wanted help. He was just standing at the door of the patio waiting for us to come outside. Mike was outside too and called the manager office to see who we should call. They gave us the number of some non profit animal sanctuary. Rachel called while I tried to further assess poor little Patte's situation. I kept wondering how long he'd been like this. All night? My heart was beating so fast and my fear quickly turned into anger. You're not even supposed to fish in the lake! What kind of asshole leaves these things around? Pate's must be so scared. The animal sanctuary informed us that they do not come get animals, but if we wanted to catch him and bring him in, they would help him. Mike said he would catch him for us and Rachel and I went inside and lined a big box with a beach towel. Rachel went outside and started the car while I returned outside with Mike. Once I was outside with the box, we cornered poor Patte' and through a blanket over him. "D" held him down to see if he could get the hook out. It was really in there, on both ends, and we didn't want to further hurt our duck friend. I pet Patte's head while Mike was at least able to cut the linking piece so that he could at least move his head again. We gently put Patte in the box and I took him out to the car. We drove the ten long minutes to the animal sanctuary, reassuring Patte with soothing words the whole time. We finally got there and had to walk past a huge mountain lion in a cage and some parrots to get to the animal hospital. When we got there, we were so relieved. The supervisor was standing right where we walked in. "Hey, what do we have here?" She says. "A duck." Since we had called I figured they might be expecting us. I handed her the box containing our injured friend. As she took if from me she asked if I wanted the box back. I told her it didn't matter as long as we got our duck back. "We can't give you the duck back." Wait, What!? "What do you mean?" She explained to us that they weren't a vet, they were a non-profit. The duck was a non-native invasive species and once we turn it over to them, they are now in charge of it and cannot, by law, give us our pal back. For a second Rach and I just stood in disbelief. This duck had a great home...it had friends. "What will you do with him?" "Well, if we can get the hook out then we try to find it a home." We didn't understand...this duck already had a home. I asked if Patte' would have the opportunity to fly back to his original home once he was placed in his new home if he so chooses. The answer was no. He would be living in a confined sanctuary. She told us she'd give us a few minutes to think about this. We would have to choose whether to leave him in their care, or try a vet who would probably give it back to us. The superivisor had to go outside to speak to animal control and we were left with someone else who worked there. A really sweet girl around our age. She saw we were upset and explained the law to us again. She told us that we'd have to lie to the vet a little and say that we planned to get Patte's wings cropped and that we had a good home for him. She wasn't sure how much a vet would cost. We also knew that taking him to a vet would mean more time with the hook. I asked the girl if they killed animals if they couldn't find them a home. I absolutely did not get the answer I wanted. Now this decision was really hard. Patte' had come to us for help and now he might die because of our decision. The girl lowered her voice. "Did you try to take the hook out yourselves?" We told her we had tried but didn't try hard. We didn't know anything about ducks and didn't want to hurt Patte' further. She glanced outside and bent down toward the box. In five seconds she had the hook out of his mouth. She fumbled with the wing for a bit. She stood up. "Ok, I can get the hook out. But not infront of my boss. Just say you've decided to take him to a vet". Our eyes shot open. Was she serious!? This girl was about to risk her job and break the law for us and Patte'. She ran in the back to get pliers. She came back quickly and got to work. We heard two loud clicks and watched her slide something shiny and silver into her hoodie pocket. Then the pliers followed. She looked at us and smiled. We scooped up the box and thanked her probably too many times and way too loud. This was supposed to be a secret secret operation. She hurried away from us with a quick "you're welcome" since we obviously weren't playing it as cool as she asked us to play it. Talk about an act of kindness. We took our pal home and fed him Cheerios outside on our patio. Where he belongs. -lj