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

no more excuses

Ok seriously "followers"...if you can get through college or hold careers you can figure out how to comment on a freakin blog. Really now! -lj and r

14. Blog

Before my mother e-mails me reminding me how many days it's been since my last blog, I'll have to give you an update. We're here! We said goodbye to Boston with a much anticipated "Farewell and F*!% You!" Okay, so maybe our goodbyes to coworkers contained some sadness, but the goodbye to the apartment was the easiest goodbye of my life. We left one last snack for Joey (who we actually were sad about leaving) and skipped merrily into the night. We even packed our car and loaded our bike rike in the dark so that we could leave Sunday night rather than Monday morning. We spent a few very much needed days in Monroe which always does the soul and tummy good. Top Chef Allstars started on Wednesday and was the primary focus and main event of the trip. Thursday morning after a brief but pleasant visit with Grandma, and a stop at Monroe Bagels and Deli we were back on the road! For lunch we went to Pat's King of Steaks in Philly for a cheesesteak. The oringal cheesesteak. It was the most disappointing sandwhich of my life. I had to stuff it with frenchfries to make it taste good. What a joke. Should have tried Geno's. Whats with Travel Channel leading us astray? If I can't trust travel Channel who can I trust? We drove a while after that and stopped outside Baltimore for the night. Our hotel had a fish tank in the lobby with a blowfish that had only one eye. I was mesmorized while Rachel played the adult and checked us into our room. That night we decided to treat ourselves (big surprise) to Red Lobster because it's our guilty pleasure. I ordered the coconut shrimp and snow crab leg combo entree thing (as usual). It was delicious and our favorite part is the crab. Not only is it delicious but its FUN! My favorite! So we're cracking our way through and talking about how you always run out of crab before you want to and our waiter plops another half a crab onto our table! "Here you go ladies, I got you some more crab legs because your first order wasn't really up to my standards." One of the legs of my first crab had been broken off. Who cares? I had to break it off to eat it anyway. But look! More crab! We thanked our waiter about a hundred times and got crackin...(ha). Let's just say he got VERY good tip. The next day we drove through Washington D.C on a safari. This means we drove around and saw the tourist things from our car. We then headed in a straight line south down to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit my cousin Jamie. She took us out to an awesome Mexican Restaurant and we drove around the city for awhile on another safari. It was amazing to see her. I seriously have the best family. We woke up the next morning and started our 12 hour drive down to Jupiter. We arrived at around 11pm. This place is amazing. It's absolutely gorgeous. We unpacked and went to bed excited to see it in day light. We woke up to a beautiful day. We decided to go to the resaurant across the street from the condos for brunch. It's a new resaurant called Gulfstream Cafe. I plan on dropping my resume off later today. Our server was so kind and we got to chatting. After learning we had just moved there she dropped the check and told us she was going to go see if she could grab us a "treat". She went inside for a minute and came back with two ten dollar gift cards. Again...big tip. After brunch we went to the beach for a few hours. The ocean is so different down there. It's practically green, it looks like the caribbean. We went grocery shopping and cooked our first Jupiter dinner. While we were eating we remembered whey we go out to eat so often. You'd think two people who loved food so much would be able to make things that taste good. I blame some of our meal on the quality of the halibut. It smelled a little fishy and I know fresh fish is not supposed to smell like fish. Stupid whole foods. Today is get our lives together day. We have a huge to do list and I know we'll go to bed feeling so good about ourselves if we cross off at least most of the list if not all. We learned last night that Jupiter doesn't have a craigslist page. This makes finding a job way harder. We have to make sure we don't work to far away from eachother because we only have one car. It'll be a challenge to figure it out this time around but I think we're up for it. Blogging is on the list so now I can cross that off. Laundry is in the washer and Rach is at the beach right now running in the sand. I plan to do the same today but I've decided to wait until sunset. Oh two more things! First thing is that I've literally been looking all over the country for Toaster Scrambles with sausage. I though they'd stopped making them with sausage and I hate the bacon ones. Well I've found them! Hurray! Another thing is that there is a beautiful, palm tree lined, so clear you can see everything on the bottom pond about twenty feet from our porch. It looks almost fake and I love hanging out on the edge and watching turtles swim. People must feed the ducks around here (which don't look like the ducks back home) because they're totally friendly and come right up to you as soon as you walk outside. I give them crackers though I don't think I'm supposed to. I have to duck friends. I've named them Foie and Gras. Daddy helped me name them. I bet by the end of the trip I'll be able to pet them because I almost can now and we've only just met! I have to go see what else is on that to do list. In conclusion, we are happy once again. Our only worry now is getting jobs and once thats settled we're good to go. I'll try to keep everyone updated. -lj (blog - check!)

On to destination #3!!!!

December 2nd, 2010... we drive out of Monroe with Palm trees and beaches in sight!! I must say I haven't thought about Boston nearly the way I thought about Denver. I miss my friends but other than that I can't say I ache to go back. The best part about driving down to florida, for me, is that it gets warmer and warmer the further we get!! I'm so glad I got to go into the city Monday night. Even if it was a short time it always reminds me that the city isn't going anywhere. It really is my home and I'll miss it until I see it again. As soon as I stepped out of the path train til the minute I got back on I was grinning ear to ear. Everytime I go back I have a new and different appreciation for it. Also, the christmas shops were open a week early this year so that was a little bonus =) I love those things. So we're taking the "outline" approach to our road trip this time. We had originally planned on stopping and staying a lot but then we got eager to get there haha. Hopefully I will see my family soon though cuz I do miss them. Anyways... Happy December everyone!! Enjoy your shopping and holiday season... I know I have a lot to be thankful for lately. I'm getting used to this adventure thing that's for sure. Love to my second family who took such good care of us the past couple days... as always =) And to my family... see you in Florida in less than three weeks!!!! Love, Rachie

Welcome to Adventurer Etiquette 101

Well I was going to make big ol' whopping deal over our hundredth blog, my Rachie took my thunder without knowing it! She snagged number 100, that little sneak! Well, if one hundred was as interesting a number as 101 we would have one less dalmation running around, wouldn't we? So pats on the back all around to all of us. We've reached blog 101 in our adventures and the journey still goes on strong. As many times we feel Boston has tied our shoes together and kicked us in the knees, the ending result is a very good one. Rach and I are the most united as a couple that we've ever been. I think we needed a good knee kickin. Our transitions so far have been filled with lots of arguements, lots of yelling and an endless list of disagreements and discouragment. This transition however is proving to be filled with happiness, love and hope. The only thing we've disagreed on so far is which cleaning supplies to leave our subletter. (She left us toilet paper, laundry detergent etc.) This disagreement was solved when I came home to find half our cleaning supplies on the kitchen table and I was told we were taking those with us. Problem solved. Comprimising, I'm learning, is the key to success. I'm remembering how mildly stressful, albeit exciting, packing is. Last time we packed the car it was pretty much at its limit and of course, we've acquired a few things. Thankfully we just have to get it to Monroe where we can reaccess the madness and leave choice items there. Tonight, we're cooking in, keeping our minds focused on the fact that we won't have jobs soon. It will be very nice next Thursday when my direct deposit kicks in and I recieve a pay check for seemingly going on a fun road trip. I'm actually going to miss my job. I'm going to miss a lot of things. Things are always better in retrospect and I'm excited to slowly discover things I didn't know I loved about Boston. I'm sure there will be plenty of things and I feel so badly that I few bad events had to shape my feelings about this city. I'll give Boston this always though...it is absolutely beautiful. You can't argue that. I was walking down the street with my friend Ally the other day and we were talking about me not liking Boston. "The people are just mean here!" I shouted angerly. "I mean, people think New Yorkers are mean, but they're not. They're just smart asses, the people here are just genuinly assholes!" She laughed and nodded in agreement. Just then a woman tapped my arm. "Excuse me." I turned around expecting someone to start defending the Massholes in all their New England glory and suddenly felt guilty for saying what I said perhaps too loud. The woman smiled. "I just want to know if my memory is ok. Do you work at...?" She trailed off obviously nervous now that she might have stopped the wrong person. "Clio?" I suggested. "Yea! I was in there in September, you had waited on us!" (Nice that people think I'm their waiter when I get 20% of what the actual servers make) 'Oh! How are you? How did you enjoy dinner?' It was all I could think of to say. "Clio was great, the service was excellent." I told her I couldn't believe she would remember me from September. She said I had made an impression and just wanted to say thank you. Jeez. Just as I'm screaming down the street how everyone in this town sucks. It shows me for the next place not to stereotype anyone for the place they leave. Everyone should be innocent until proven guilty. I have to admit though, I wanted to chase her down the street and ask her where she was from. I'd bet ten bucks she's not from Boston. -lj

Thanksgiving

Hi guys... Rach here. I figure I always have to say when it's me because Joanna blogs a lot more than I do. Soooo it's finally here!!!!! "Hell week" as we like to call it... when really this time it seems like Heaven week. Not one arguement... not one discrepency about why, when, where and what to pack... just sitting in between the kitchen and living room smiling as bags are being filled!! I have to admit I will really really miss the friends that I have made it Boston. We all got very close in a short amount of time and I hope to keep in touch with all of them. It does seem however that even if I stayed at my restaurant most of them would be leaving as well. So it's good I am getting out now I guess. I finally told my bosses Sunday that I was leaving. I hesitated to tell them sooner because they are known for letting people go the minute they give their two weeks and I didn't want that to happen. So I gave them one week. The owner, Richard, was sad to hear I was leaving and even offered to hire Joanna so that we would stay haha. Tempting... The chef on the other hand stated, "I'm not surprised. I'm happy for you guys. Get out of here. Boston sucks. I hate this city." Well... that's decided then. As Jo wrote... we have been having a lot of fun the past couple weeks. I'm glad we got to see some of what Boston had to offer. I took my parents to the top of the Prudential building, down to Fanueil Hall, to Clio, and to Cambridge. They had a great time. It's always good for them to get away from their crazy lives. We also got to see some extended family from both sides which was nice. So today I will be heading to the South End Buttery to help package pies. Yes, Joanna is not the only one to always say yes when someone at her restaurant asks for help lol So from noon to probably six I'll be folding boxes and organizing pies for thanksgiving orders. Hopefully I can snag one for poor Jo who I am selfishly leaving tomorrow for two days. Wish we could all be together for the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Eat lots of turkey.

smoke and combustable mirrors

Being inside of a machine such as a car or a train can suddenly become very frightening when you begin to smell something burning. At least for me. At first you wait for it to pass but as the smell lingers you internaly, slowly start to panic. God help your insanity if the stench grows any stronger. This happened to me on the train today. I was in a car with maybe ten strangers only three stops away from my home when the unspecific burning smell loomed into my car. Must be something outside. We travel to the next stop. The smell remains and is getting stronger. I look around and see no smoke or signs of distress nor destruction. None of my fellow riders have broken their idle stare that seems to last their entire commute. Their noses remain uncrinkled and apparently, unaware. I sit in my seat moving my head and eyes in tiny darts searching for evidence of disaster. Nothing. If TV and movies have taught me anything it's that at any moment my train is about to explode. Without warning and I will be faced with the decision of whether to save myself or someone else. One more stop to go. No one smells that? I study my fellow travlers faces for signs of recognition. Either no one smells it or they don't watch the same movies as me. It's my stop. I'm safe. I seem to suffer from paranoia that I think manifested itself inside of me after breaking my leg. If I pass a construction site while in my car and take in a burnt tar odor, my eyes automatically go to that "H and C" gauge on the dashboard. Without any knowledge of cars I simply assume that if my car is about to blow up, the little hand will shoot dramatically toward either the H or the C away from where it permanently rests (in the middle). I constantly think that my whereabouts is suddenly going to burst into flames. Heater making a funny nose? My house is surely about to combust. Milk not steaming properly? This old cappucino machine in Clio is clearly seconds away from igniting my latte on fire. At the Bed and Breakfast in Ptown our room was freezing because I wouldn't allow Rachel to remove the iron gate infront of the fire place. Why not? The fire was obviously going to leap out and burn the whole town to the ground. I did however have a breakthrough last night. I allowed the candles in my house to be lit while I ran down to the basement to grab the laundry. Adventurers unite! -lj

10 more days

I would start by apologizing, but I'm assuming that after my ever repeating offense of desserting the blog, my apology wouldn't hold much ground. Rachel and I just fine, just busy and just about outa here! I'm sitting on my couch, new tiny laptop in, well, my lap, and reveling in the fact that I was just cut from work and get to spend some "me" time alone on this chilly Friday night. On way home I was able to read a chapter of the new book I just started "Medium Raw" by Anthony Bourdain. (I have to laugh that if I were in high school I would get points off this blog for not underlining the name of a novel. Only short stories should be in quotes however, underlining doesn't seem to be an option on this blog program). Anyway, I came to my stop on the train, shut my book and headed home. On my walk home, by the way its freezing outside, I was thinking about how I wanted to blog as soon as I got home and I then got to thinking...why? I haven't wanted to blog in the last two weeks, why such an urge today? And then I realized that when I suffer...you suffer. Two days ago I finished the book "Tuesdays with Morrie". The book had come highly recommended by several people whose taste in books I very much respect, but I gotta say... I struggled. You know I'm reading a good book when I'm blogging a lot. I read good writing, I want to write. Very simple. Well I finally finished the book, am on to Anthony Bourdain and have a feeling, you'll be hearing more from me. Last we spoke, we were going to Ptown. Ptown was fun even though apparantly the big party was the night before Halloween. We finally found one bumpin' place and I spent the next day extremely hung over. Rach and I have seriously decreased our alcohol intake since Denver and my body now rejects large quantities of it, go figure. Since then, fun events include me driving to New Haven, Connecticut to hike with best pal Christina, a really great dinner at a restaurant called Aura, the New England Aquarium and just this morning the much awaited...Harry Potter. The Aquarium was great even though the only "petting" part was a shallow tank full of starfish. Just so we're on the same page...that is NOT as fun as feeding stingrays as was the case in Denver. Once again, Denver wins. The aquarium did however boast signs that advertised a big petting portion that will be installed in April. Sorry we missed it, but I wouldn't even come back here to pet sharks. Well..maybe just to pet the sharks but only to pet the sharks! Speaking of sharks there were also signs up informing us that the sharks from the "open ocean" tank were currently at another aquarium because they were ridding the tank of some bacteria. We asked a staffmember when the sharks would be back. ..."tomorrow". Damnit! I asked a co-worker how she thought a shark would be transfered from one aquarium to another. She said they were both near the harbor and that they channeled the sharks through the harbor! Tell me thats particulary awesome. I hope its true, cause that sounds very very cool to me. Also in the past two weeks, we've mapped our trip to Florida which includes nights in Delaware, Viriginia, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. It also includes lunches in Providence, Philly, and D.C. We also chose a route from North Carolina that drives along the coast. 1650 miles and we absolutely can't wait. I'm also very very much looking forward to our three days in New York where my family awaits. Rach is going to Buffalo for Thanksgiving so she'll get to see the Popson fam then. Thankfully I got to see them when they came to visit us two weeks ago. I unfortunatly had to work most of the time and didn't get to spend anywhere near the amount of time with them as I'd like to. I hate when I don't blog for along time because I have to spend the whole blog catching up. You'd think I'd learn my lesson. But there's the catch up. hm (happy mom)? :) -lj