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....

top of the world

It's been so long since my last post and so much has happened that I think I'm just going to have to time travel and split it up into a few posts. We're gonna go back about two weeks now and go back to the weekend my cousin Nicole flew into Denver for two days. She came in on a Friday night and thankfully, Betty was kind enough to pick her up from the airport since Rachel and I had to work. I was running around my restaurant trying to coordinate seating, serve wine and explain the difference between cherry salad and carrot salad to my tables when I looked up and saw Betty and Nicole standing by the door. My family is here! Being a very family oriented person, I've been extremely homesick for my family and seeing such a familiar face standing in the entry way of my restaurant was like a cozy little blanket. I ran over and exchanged hugs and asked how the trip went. I kept having to bounce away from the conversation to fill a water or clear a table. I introduced Nicole and Betty to my coworkers as they whizzed by holding water pitchers and dirty plates. I told them to go next door and say hi to Rachel and that I'd probably see them tomorrow since it was already nine thirty and we were still slammed. The next day we all woke up early (early for me) with expectations to drive to Mt. Something (?) and hike up. While we were driving we realized that if we continued up the road, we would reach Mt. Evans. Remember Mt. Evans?? If not, please revisit one of my first posts and learn about it. Well, of course I got super excited and pretty-pleased everyone in the car and got them to agree to skip the hike and drive up to the Evans summit. Well it seemed to take forever. We were in Bettys car which is pretty high tech and the GPS told us our elevation the whole time going up which was really cool. We got out a few times to take pictures and marvel at the pristine beauty of the world very few people lived in. Finally we made it past the tree line and got out again to stand infront of Summit Lake. The wind was freezing and we were absolutely not dressed properly. I got out and walked about the lake as long as I could stand the cold and then jumped back into the car where everyone else was already comfortably at a livable temperature. We continued up. Mt. Evans is a huge tourist spot so we were far from alone. There were so many cars and people and even a lot of frighteningly fit bikers that probably started biking around six that morning all the way to the top! We parked the car in the highest parking lot in the country

and got out and started snapping pictures. The summit was still a five minute hike up from the parking lot. I was so excited I practically jogged up. Betty and Nicole were feeling a little affected by the altitude and decided to stay by the parking lot. Rach and I stood on the top, took a picture and stood for a few minutes in complete wonder. The air was thin, but it was perfect. It was so beautiful. We were completely surrounded by mountains in every direction. We didn't stay for long because poor Nicole who had been at sea level the day earlier started feeling a little woozy. We all started feeling a little funny I think. We drove down and me, Nicole and Rach all passed out when we got home. After our naps, Rachel went to work and Nicole and I had a nice dinner at my restaurant. Then I took her downtown and showed her Denver. It was a really great weekend and I love that Nic and I got to have some one on one time. Well thats post number one. I'm in NYC right now and I'm sure you'll hear all about it in six months

(just kidding, it will be soon). -lj

You want to get a beer?

Sometimes people come into our lives that you never expect to meet. These are the people who's intention was never to change, enrich or influence the way you look at anything but they just happened to anyway. Rach and I made such friends the other night. The owner of my restaurant actually has two restaurants and sometimes he switches around employees from one to the other. Alicia recently joined our Stella team from the other restaurant. We were always friendly and got along nicely at work but we never had really long conversations. Her boyfriend Keith comes in every night to pick her up and sits with us while we finish up. I shook hands with Keith the first night I'd met him (a few nights ago) while he was sitting down eating dinner. About half an hour later I turned a corner to find him trying to spin around 360 degrees on his leg. Well...on his peg. I tried not to look so surprised. How did I not realize this dude had one leg? I made a joke about him being able to maybe go twice around....he said once he had. His energy was so friendly and full of life and his smile was to put it simply, adorable. We all said good night and parted ways. The next night while the shift was ending and the staff sat around to our late dinner, Alicia and Megan were talking about Keith. They were discussing how crappy the location of the other Stellas was. During this past Christmas party there Keith was stabbed outside by some random nutcase and was in the hospital for a few months. I asked Alicia if she minded me asking what happened to Keith's leg. "He lost it in Iraq". Can you get more of an intense answer than that? At that moment Keith came in with his Pirate like swagger and brilliant smile. He sat down and started eating with us. We all talked about his stabbing and he showed me his scar. He almost died but he was stabbed in the liver which pretty much grows back like a lizard tail. He was telling us that if this guy is convicted, he could get 18 years in prison since Keith in technically an "at risk" person. Joking around he explained that it was like stabbing someone in a wheel chair. Rachel was sitting with us too and since we were the only ones who were really just getting to know Keith, we were kind of just staring at him in amazement. He was the coolest, happiest person at the table. Our comrades were obviously more used to it but Rach and I were blown away. As we got up Keith asked if anyone wanted to go next door to get a beer. Rach and I decided to join him and Alicia and thus started the epic evening of "the other night". Keith left a few minutes ahead of us while Rachel stayed with Alicia and I while we closed up the rest of the restaurant. When we finally arrived at the bar Keith was sitting on a stool with four half full pint glasses of Guinness in front of him with a very menacing smirk on his face. A half full pint of Guinness can only mean one thing. The bartender with an identical smirk, was working on filling four shot glasses with a combination of Jameson and Baileys. Our "do you want to get a beer" night was about to start out with an Irish Car Bomb. This is the absolute opposite thing of "going out for a beer". We took seats next to Keith at the bar and took deep breaths before dropping our shot glasses into the beer. We were all able to drink the whole glass before the Baileys curdled. When I tilted my beer away from my mouth the shot glass dropped to the bottom and splashed excess curds of carbomb in my face. Nice. We ordered a few normal beers and headed to the Game Section of the bar. Keith and Alicia introduced Rach and I to the joys of hunting electronical deer with plastic guns. After a few rounds of digital death, Rachel and I suggested we switch to pool. As is the common case with whoever we play pool, Rachel and I lost the first game. Keith set off to use the restroom and before he got back, the bartender came over to the pool table and set down four shots of something orange and fruity smelling. Keith returned. "What are these?" we asked. Keith said he didn't know. All he had told the bartender to do was give us four shots of something yummy. We took the shots down and were pleasantly surprised that they tasted like Hi-C. I'm not sure how it happened, but this was the first of many orange, fruity, Hi-C shots throughout the night. We planted ourselves at the bar and talked about any and everything. You'd think we were a group of friends that have known each other for years. It was an instant match. At one point this guy who is a regular at the bar, Jacob, came over and started talking to me. I had got caught up in a drunk (he was drunk) conversation with him the other night. He's going through a hard time and I feel bad for him. Although it's hard to have a conversation with him, he's our age and we tried to throw him into the banter. After a few minutes with Jacob this big, Mexican guy enters our side of the bar from across the room, points at us and says "your an f*#$in' faggot", then turns and leaves. We stood there for half a second and stared across the room in amazement. Then, as if we were all wired together, at the same moment (keep in mind all our shots), we started across the bar. "What the hell did you just say?! What's your problem!?" We were in full attack mode. We were PISSED. We turned the corner expecting a further hateful remark. Instead we saw this huge guy with his head down heading out of the bar. "I didn't mean it" "I'm sorry" Keith told him he should go home. The guy told us he was leaving. Although still mad we realized that he was actually talking to Jacob. They were friends and unfortunately, its a phrase guys toss around. He wasn't talking to us. We went back around the bar to where we were sitting and ordered more drinks. Five minutes later the big dude came over to us almost in tears. "Guys please, thats not me. I'm so so sorry. That's not me, that's not me". His eyes started filling up with tears. Whoa...we had made this guy feel even more worse than he'd made us. We told him it was ok and we believed that he didn't mean it at us but that you couldn't blame us for our reaction. Rach asked what nationality he was. He said Mexican and Rach asked him how he would react if someone had shouted "Beanie" across the bar. The guys eyes filled up again. He was at the bar for about ten more minutes and he looked like he was going to cry the whole time. He felt absolutely awful. He totally didn't expect there to actually be two gay people in the group of five of us sitting at the corner of the bar. We shook his hand and promised him that there were no hard feelings. We also explained how offensive we took the term and asked him to maybe think twice about keeping it in his vocabulary. Soon, it was last call and the four of us were definitely not done baptizing our new friendships. We came to our apt and kept the party going. Rachel was the first to drop and headed to bed. Keith was next. Keith and Alicia slept over because there's a rumor going around that drinking and driving can be dangerous. We gave Keith and Alicia our bed and Rach and I slept on the couch in the living room. Alicia and I stayed outside and talked until about 6:30. She told me that Keith joined the army when he was 17. He enlisted two days after 9/11. After being in Iraq for two months a missile hit his vehicle and they had to amputate what was left of his leg. Keith's general had him promoted twice while he was in the hospital so that Keith now has the retirement of a 20 year vet. We talked about our families, our relationships, religion, almost everything. We only stopped because Rachel popped her head out to warn us that Betty would probably wake up soon so we should head to bed. It was a really, really great night with two seriously amazing people. We complained the whole time that we were just now becoming friends when Rach and I were leaving so soon. These are two people I'm definitely going to put in effort to stay in touch with. -lj

I have lots and lots to tell...

first of all...may I just say that one of the scariest things in the world is to see a spider in your bedroom... then turn around to do something....and then turn back only to find yourself unaware of the spiders location. Spiders folks... a big problem in our house lately. Freaking frightening. Aside from the spiders, a lot of exciting things for me to blog about. First of all, Nicole (my beloved cousin for those of you who don't know) will be arriving this coming Friday night for a visit. I was only able to request Saturday off, but I'm so excited and I am counting down the days until she gets here. Rach and I have been looking forward to a hiking trip to Rocky Mountain National Park and we find no better reason for a visit than showing Nicole the incredible mountains that we cherish so dearly. Now I know most of you have never been to Colorado and have never seen the wilderness of the Rockies first hand. There are songs about it for a reason. They are absolutely spectacular. There is nothing more humbling. Personally, not even the ocean can make you feel so at mercy to nature. We humans have a tendency to think this is our world that we are given to play in. The Rocky Mountains are a constant reminder that Mother Earth was here long before we were making stones into wheels and will be here long after. Rachel and I have noticed that there are a lot more car accidents being picked up on the side of the road then we are used to on the east coast. When her parents were here, every time we were in the car, they made comments on how hard it must be to keep your eyes on the road while surrounded by such beauty. The mountain range is always there, and it will always, always, demand your attention. I can't wait to share these mountains with someone that is so close to my heart. I don't think she realizes it, but Nicole has always been a role model to me and I'm so excited to finally be able to show her something that will undoubtedly have her in awe. It's one thing to look at a man made structure and be amazed, but it's a whole other realm when you stand inside of something that you can't explain. The nature that is accessible from Denver, Colorado is something that is not within reach through anywhere I have been in the US so far. I think my appreciation for nature has been multiplied by about a million because of a trip Rachel and I took a few days ago. About two and a half hours south of Denver there is a place called Canon City. In Canon City, Colorado lies the Royal Gorge. Please take a moment away from the blog here to google this gorge. It is one of the biggest in the US, perhaps one of the biggest in the world. It sits around an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level and exists far deeper into the actual Rocky Mountains than Denver does. Denver is about a twenty minute or so drive from the foot hills. The Rockly Mountains can be seen by turning your head to the west, you can't possibly miss them unless you're blind. If your blind, you can probably sense they're presence anyway. So with a full day plus the next morning off of work, we decided to head to Canon City to see this famous Royal Gorge that we've been hearing about since we got here. To make the trip not only more rustic but cheap, we stayed on a camping ground rather than a hotel for $60. Our cabin consisted of one double bed, two bunk beds and a door. It was small, primitive and there were mountains not only located to the west, but to two other directions as well (I'm not quite sure which ones). Bottom line is, we were IN the Rocky Mountains. We arrived at Canon City around one in the afternoon and after checking into our cabin went straight to the Royal Gorge. What makes the Royal Gorge so magnificent, besides it's depth, running river and overall beauty is the Royal Gorge Bridge that connects one side to the other. It's the tallest suspension bridge in the world. When I tell you that you haven't had your breathe taken away....you better believe that that I mean that nothing has ever left me standing in a communication-less state than this bridge has. The bridge is surrounded my a theme-ish sort of park. There are little shops, a train to ride,a petting zoo and a few animals on display in the park around the bridge. We paid our twenty dollars per person and walked around the park. We pet some goats at the petting zoo, took some pictures of buffalos and the biggest deer we've ever seen (even in the movies), went into a few shops, saw some of an old western reinactment, and walked across the bridge. While we walked across this incredibly tall bridge we peered below and watched the Arkansas River flow from one end of the gorge to the other. When I say the bridge is tall I don't mean that you drive across and the column like structures supporting the bridge tower over you...I mean that the distance from the wooden boards that support your feet to the river running its coarse under you is so far that you could fit a New York City building between the space. The river looks like a trail of condensation left from your air conditioning unit. Standing on the bridge and looking at the water reinvigorated a yearning that I've had since I stepped foot in Colorado. I NEEDED to go white water rafting. I saw what the river looked like from the bridge. I NEEDED to see what the bridge looks like from the river. A five minute phone call to a local white water rafting outfitter, and we were scheduled to depart at 9am the next day. After walking the bridge, buying Rachel a necklance and purchasing Kangaroo and Ostrich beef jerky, Rach and I headed back to our cabin. It was getting really cool out so we changed and Rach asked one of the staff where the best place to go for dinner was. Without hesitating, this one guy told us to go to White Water Cafe. So off we went. Not thirty seconds after we sat down did I notice something excited on the menu. The people of Colorado have adopted a very peculiar dish they call their own delicacy. Rach and I have been wanted to try this dish since we've gotten here but the dish is somewhat hard to find and we haven't been able to make the trip to the resaurant near Denver we know prepares it. Well, just our luck, I look down at the bar and BBQ menu before and I see it.... acting as if it was just another item on the menu, there it is. Rocky Mountain Oysters. Deep fried of served with cocktail sauce. 'Fried oysters??? But you can find them in restaurants easily you say. Well, my bloggy buttercup.... not these bad boys. Fried oysters may be common Creole cuisine, but Rocky Mountain Oysters are a whole other ball game. Ball game...that's exactly what they are. They are balls. The thinly sliced and deep fried testicles of a bull. In conjunction with our culinary feats that we are determined to undertake, we immediately ask our waitress for an order of this Colorado legacy. We made sure to order a strong drink (a blue moon with orange juice and a shot of orange vodka) to help our adventurous appetites be happy and strong. We took a video of the first bit. Since I am so technologically challenged, I'll leave Rachel in charge of posting the ordeal. Long story short, there were a lot of fried reproductive organs left in the basket for the server to take far, far away from us. It was a stormy night with plenty of rain and thunder. In Canon City there's basically nothing to do if the thrill filled outdoors is closed for business. For Rachel and I this leaves two options. The first option is Shark Week on Discovery Channel (how fun is that?!) and the other one, which due to our primitive lodging was chosen....is to drink as much as we can. So that we did. After our offensively off-putting oysters and below par sandwiches we decided to drink until our we pee breaks were separated only by ten minute intervals. We drank fast and called it an early night since we had our first ever, white water rafting adventure early the next morning. We arrived, with not even a touch of a hangover, at the Echo Canon Rafting office at 8:15 the next morning. We blindly signed a waiver that probably relived the company of the responsibility of our accidental death and sat around for almost an hour in our orange life jackets and helmets while about 60 other people signed their own lives away. Poor Rachel was super scared and I was trying to cross my fingers as tightly as I could hoping that we would go through rapids that would endanger our lives. Finally, a very adventure by nature looking guy loaded everyone onto the bus that would take us to our launch site about ten minutes away from the Echo Canon offices. We got off the school bus turned adventure transporter and stared at the river while the guides double checked the rafts and equipment. There were five guides attaching paddles and such to the rafts and Rachel and I immediately started observing them so we could decide which guide we hoped would take us down the river. Our eyes passed slowly and methodically from guide to guide until we saw her at the same time and looked at each other in confirmation. Out of the five guides, there was only one girl She was tan, blonde and totally jacked from guiding rafts down the river all summer. We stood in the crowd and waited patiently for our names to be called so we could be ushered to our designated raft. Two names down and her raft was still empty. Good sign. Another party called... they went to another guide. Again, a good sign. "Cappola party?" The guy that had given a safety speech on the bus ride over finally called our name. We stepped forward and meekly raised our hands for fear that looking too enthusiastic would make us looks like dorks in the presence of these outdoor gurus. "You two are with Krista." After a quick, undetectable glance of excitement towards each other, we awkwardly introduced ourselves to our guide and remained quiet until the other people in the our raft were told that they would be riding with Krista as well. After a few minutes of safety and 'what to expect' talk she pushed the boat into the river and everyone climbed on board. There was a family of four in the raft with us. A mother, her two daughters and one of the daughters boyfriend. Everyone had they're own paddle and Krista explained the commands that she would be yelling. We all did some practice strokes and then we were good to go. Our journey down the river lasted around two hours and even included some 4 scale rapids. Rapids are rated on a scale from 1-6 depending on their intensity. The highest level is a six and can only be done by kayak. We floated under the Royal Gorge Bridge and paddled in the very spots we were stared down at in awe and wonder the day before. That day before we found the bridge extremely impressive and at the top of our list of "Most Beautiful Things We've Ever Seen". Unexpectedly, the bridge was even more sobering and magical from below. It looked as if someone had installed a photoshop program into my eyes. The entire rafting experience stands as one of the best in my entire life. You're in awe the minute you arrive at the launch area to the second the bus pulls you away and the river disappears from view. We chatted with Krista the whole way since we were toward the back of the boat with her. I wish Canon City was closer so we could go rafting all the time. It was unreal. After rafting we came back to Denver and I had to rush to work and be there by four. Well, I'm exhausted and I think this post is long enough. See you all soon.

how bout them red socks?

So much time has gone by my little bloggetts, I just don't know where to begin! I apologize once again for my absence, I realize that it has been a very long time since my last entry. To start off, Rachel's birthday week was a complete success. The surprise went smoothly and we had night after night of birthday debauchery and madness. Since the family left, Rach and I have been to the Museum of Natural History, Water World and have been working hard. We haven't really hit any new restaurants since we are usually working at night. Water world was super fun. It is exactly what you think it is, it's a water park and we had an absolute blast. At the museum we finally saw the Bodies exhibit that has been touring the country for a few years now. It was definitely cool but I don't think I was quite as blown away as I had been promised. But it was definitely very interesting and it was inspiring to be around something that must have taken so much time and effort. Did you know that if you took a single person's circulatory system and unraveled it and stretched it into a line that it would wrap around the world twice?! Holy freakin moley! The cool thing about the exhibit is that everything is real. The lungs, the muscles, the everything is all from people who signed forms to allow their bodies to be used in the exhibit. At least I think that all of it was. Most of it definitely was. The images that were especially arresting for me were the embryos, which were set in little tubes from 2 weeks to 30 weeks or so. You saw how this little tiny bug looking thing grew into a baby. Another image that really grabbed me was the image of a lung with emphasyma and the lung of a smoker. The smokers lung was completely black. The lungs with cancer and emphasyma looked like they had already died and started to decay. Very frightening images. After the Bodies exhibit we went to the Planetarium. There, Whoopi Goldberg narrated the story of our stars and made us feel very very tiny. After that we went to an Imax movie called "Hubble" where Leonardo DiCaprio led us through an exploration of space through NASA's Hubble telescope. We got to watch astronauts go to space and repair the telescope and then traveled through images captured by it's lens. I'm still confused about how the thing works but it can see light years away so we can look into the past which frankly, boggles my mind. I don't understand how we can know so much about space. Like, how the hell do they know all this stuff! Hats off to the smartie pantses over at NASA. Jeez. So this is the cool stuff that we've been doing instead of blogging. Oh oh... last week we rode our bikes to downtown and swam in the little canal where there's a tiny little beach and tiny little rapids for kids to tube down. Imagine my disappointment when I saw this and didn't have a tube. While I played around in the water looking for treasures, Rachel laid out on her blanket and read her magazine like an adult. While she was there, she shared her shade under a tree with a girl in a wheelchair. I came back from the little river and found them chatting. This girl moved her wheel chair around by moving a pen around a touchpad attached to her chair. She had no used of her hands but could move her elbows and shoulders. I was introduced and Rachel told me that when she was 17 years old, this girl had lost control of her car and tumbled down a cliff. If she had broken one vertabrae higher, she would have been completely paralyzed. Where her car fell, there were only two houses anywhere around. A firefighter that lived in one of them heard the crash and saved her life. Rach and I rode our bikes back to the house with a new and very real sense of appreciation for our lives and our ability to ride our bikes. It's sad that sometimes we need another person's tragedy to be reminded of how good we really have it. Life can change in an instant. Far too quickly for us to waste time ever feeling sorry for ourselves. So maybe your curious about this entries title. Well...my fellow adventurers, we have officially landed ourselves a new home. After posting a sublet plea for anywhere in the country on facebook and hoping that fate would decide our next spot of exploration, the adventure Gods answered our prayers and is sending us to B town. We found a sublet through our good friend Cassie and will be living in Boston from Sept 1 till the end of November. We're especially excited about the New England fall. The pretty colors, the crisp air, the smell of apple cider and pumpkins.... we can't wait. We also know that it's gay friendly because well... duh...marriage is legal! Don't worry family and friends, we won't elope and deprive you of what one day will be the most funnest, super cool, outa sight wedding receptions of all time. Also, another great part about swinging over to Boston is.... we're going to spend a few days in New York along the way! Thats right... get your party hats out and put your game faces on because we're comin home! Both Rach and I have collectively spent maybe three days in Boston total so there is lots of exploring to do. If you know anywhere we should hit up when we get there, let us know. Lot's of my friends have lived there and they loved it. Now I'm just dealing with the anxiety of telling my job we're leaving. Boa has known forever but I don't know how to tell my boss. The people I work with are great, but he's kind of an asshole and I'm afraid if I give him two weeks notice he'll screw me over for two weeks, which I can't afford. I think I'll tell my coworker Megan first, who I really like, and ask her for advice. She's worked for Tom for 9 years so if anyone would know how to handle the situation it would be her. We're excited to move on, but we're extremely sad to leave Denver. We really love it here and if we were ready to settle down, I think this would be the place. But we're just not ready. And you never know... your life can change in an instant so you have to live everyday with all your heart. So for this next chapter in adventure, we'll be switching our beloved red rocks... for our sworn enemy the Red Socks. Funny how that worked out huh? Rach and I decided we'll go to Fenway for a game but we're not brave enough to wear any Yankees clothes. Maybe we'll wear them under our hoodies and if there are lots of Yankee fans to protect us we'll take the sweatshirts off. Now the new countdown begins...three weeks and two days left with the mountains we've grown to love so very much. -lj

I'm 25 years old

So I have finally recovered from my birthday week! My parents came into town the morning of my birthday, of course after being delayed in Chicago. And to my surprise, my best friend Melissa was with them!!! Thanks to Joanna my amazing girlfriend who knows the best present ever!!!! So long story short we had a blast. We took them all around downtown and up to red rocks and out to eat about every 2 hours haha. By the end we had drank and ate ourselves to the max. We even contemplated them staying til Sunday. But everyone has to get back to "real life" eventually. Good for us we're on an adventure so our "real life" is pretty exciting anyway haha. As for now... we are deciding our next destination and trying to enjoy the last 4 weeks in Denver. We stayed here a little longer then anticipated but that's ok. It's amazing here. Any ideas or suggestions for our next journey feel free to post =) Also, if anyone knows someone who needs a sublet that helps too!! Happy end of July everyone... onto August soon. xoxo

oh i give up

no paragraphs I suppose...whats that about I wonder?

alright that didn't work... testing... testing..