how ya doin

To make my family happy I'm going to do a quick bloggie rundown before I head to work. Try to keep up. I have my second day of training today at "Fog City Diner". It's about a twenty minute walk on the water from Rach's restaurant and it took me three and half interviews to land the job. It's not really a diner- more of a restaurant disguised as a diner. I absolutely love it. I really wanted the job. I went through two and a half (halfs are my new thing I guess) days of training at rainforest cafe and on the third day (half way through) I decided I couldn't possibly be happy working there and I quit. I told them I had received another offer from a restaurant I thought would be a better fit. This was a lie, I was actually still in the process of interviews at Fog City but they were good interviews and I decided to take a leap of faith. I was in the air for several days, but my leap ended up working out just fine. Phew. I was beginning to think this luck of mine had taken a turn for the worst. The trainer I was with yesterday was on the floor starting at 11 and got cut at 2:00. She made $120 and never had no move faster than a snails pace. It seems so far that this job is going to be amazing. We actually haven't been falling in love with San Francisco like people had been promising but I think a large part of that is owed to the stress of job hunting. Now that we've both landing jobs we love and are promised very good money, it will hopefully become easier to relax and live and enjoy S.F. We've both become extremely homesick for New York while we've been here. We've even admitted to missing Boston for some reason. We miss Boston. Thats how much we like S.F so far. Try explaining that one. I think also a big part of it is that we're not in as adventurous of a mind-set anymore. We're getting settle down antsy and you look at places different when you're debating making your nest rather than just playing in the leaves for a little while. But thinks are surely looking up. We went to an Oakland A's and Yankees game the other day, obviously in Oakland, with Linda, Julia and a bunch of others. It was an absolute blast and the Yankees won. Seeing the Yankees though definitely confirmed that Rach and I are New Yorkers. It's in our blood and in our hearts. If we stay here it will only be for a few years, for school probably, but it's becoming very clear to us that the final home will be in New York. It's our home at datz just da way its gonna be! -lj

San Francisco, CA

Well, in case you wondering, we made it! Our trip was a blast. I saw three of my old Americorps teammates, saw the Grand Canyon, got to see Betty and Beau, hiked next to the Hollywood sign and didn't have to work a single day! Magnificent. We've been here for a week and half now. Our room is finally furnished thanks to the thrift stores of San Francisco and Julia, who gave us a bed and a dresser. Like everyone warned us, its a little cold here. And very windy. However, it's sunnier than we expected which we're very thankful for. We like it here but haven't yet found our "groove" I guess we'll call it. We both have jobs, thank goodness. We'll both be working in restaurants on the Fisherman's Wharf. Today was Rachel's second day of training. She LOVES it and I'm so happy for her. She's working at a family-owned Italian Restaurant across the street and a one block down from my restaurant. I'm once again going corporate. Why does this always happen!? I got hired at the Rainforest Cafe. I actually don't start my training until Friday. Linda used to work there and said she made A LOT of money. Well, I certainly better if I'm going to prance around a restaurant with no windows in a fanny pack while calling myself a "safari guide" instead of a server. Until Friday I tidy up and run errands. A month and a half with no income certainly isn't good for the bank account so I haven't taken myself to the movies as I did in Florida. Tomorrow I'm going to finish all my errands and spend the day in the city on foot. We've been driving everywhere so far, and let me tell you something about San Francisco.... it is not a city you want to drive around in. The traffic is awful and the streets are very confusing. We've only taken public transportation once. It seems a little confusing here because its not like New York where its just one system. There seems to be three or four that you need to figure out until you can get to a final destination. We've only taken the bus. Tomorrow I'm going to go on a solo adventure called "figure out the public transportation system". The name needs work. I know. I'll bring a book, a map, and my compass. Wish me luck. ...Yes, I really do have a compass and yes, I really plan on bringing it. I'm excited to have an income and some sort of routine. I'll be able to decide how much I like it here much better once those things are in line. We've gone out to dinner twice. One to a nice place and one just to a little Thai place because I wanted Thai food. We went to Zuni our second night here. I mean, c'mon... I know we don't have jobs but we needed to celebrate getting here! We had a poached egg with rabbit bacon and smoked paprika oil to start. Our other appetizer was ricotta gnocchi with spinach and nasturcium. For dinner we had steak with polenta and spring onion and also the halibut with...I forget, but it was fantastic. For dessert creme brulee and flourless chocolate cake. Everything was great- very good introduction to San Francisco restaurants. I've been reading. I've read two books since being here. Both about World War 2. My next book is about the war in Iraq, but I wish it was about WW2 because now I'm very interested. We've been renting a lot of movies because its fun and cheap. Every other time, one of us can choose any movie we want, so its fair. The movies I've been rented are all about WW2. Rach is being a sport about it though. I went to Blockbuster today while Rach is at work. She's going to kill me when she finds out the movie I got has subtitles. I got "Life is Beautiful". Considering I was about to rent "Schindler's List", she should thank her lucky stars. I'll wait until she does something that makes me mad to get "S.L". Last Sunday we went to Bay to Breakers. It's this race/party San Fran has every year. This year was the 100th anniversary. People dress up in costumes and run around Golden Gate Park. I haven't looked up why they do, but they do. We got there around 11, which was later than we wanted to, but oh well. By the time we got there it seemed that all of San Francisco was drunk and had been for a few hours. We walked the parade/race route for over an hour and got sausage sandwiches over at some tent. The tend had already run out of everything that contained alcohol. We didn't dress up, but the costumes were all hilarious. It was like halloween but with clever, funny costumes instead of scary ones. One thing that really shocked us was the amount of nudity. We saw several naked men...just walkin in the park...just hangin out.....just a normal day. Naked. Ass naked. Well...some wore backpacks....and roller skates. But that was all. We inquired the legalities of this with our bus driver. He said that in certain parts of San Fran it was legal. We didn't see any naked women. Just men. Most of whom, shouldn't have been naked, but good for them I guess. Rach has Monday and Tuesday off so one of those days we're going to spend the day in China town pretending we're Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern. I'm pretty excited about this. I love our roommates and really love our new dog, Wilson. His face is perfect and he loves to play. He also loves to take naps with me and Rach while we watch movies on the computer in our bed. Our bed is a mattress that sits on the floor. Its totally comfortable and we plan on getting a frame and box thing eventually. Hm....what else, what else, what else.... Rachel's bug bite is almost all better. She got it in Denver and it got pretty intense for a second there, but its fine now. We'll try to take some pics soon. Maybe even take the video camera for our travel channel extravaganza on Monday. -lj

Blah Blah...irrelevant.

Ok as important as it is to write some sort of general update- I'm not going to right now. However I do have quite the story. Once I sit down in San Fran (where we will finally arrive Tuesday), you will hear all about driving through the Rockies, Rach's unfortunate altitude sickness, her spider bit thats eating away her leg, almost hitting two cows with our car and other things. But for now, at this moment, there is something that I must tell you immediately. So, we arrived in L.A last night around 7pm. Christina wouldn't be home until around 9 from work so we stopped to grab a bite to eat...blah blah blah...irrelevant. Fast forward, Christina comes home, we sit and chat for fifteen minutes and we decide to go out so Christina can get some dinner. We decide to walk to the strip in her neighborhood with all the restaurants. We're walking...the neighborhood is fantastic...blah blah blah...irrelevant. We get to the place Christina had in mind and she stops outside the door. 'I don't want to go here anymore' she says. Okay. 'I think we should go to this restaurant over here'. She turns around and goes through some alley and cafe we hadn't even seen at first. A beautiful restaurant dining room appears in front of us. Coincidentally, the restaurant is called "Cafe Stella". The name of my restaurant in Denver! Lovely fact, however...blah..this fact is irrelevant. We approach the hostess and say we'd like to eat and have a drink. She takes the three of us to a table where Christina sits across from Rachel and I. After I settle down in my seat I looked up to Christina who all of a sudden had a big "secret secret" look on her face and she was leaning forward slightly to be sure that no one could hear her. 'Did you guys notice who's behind me?'. Neither of us had. We looked up and over Christina. They're was a cute baby hanging over a woman's shoulder. We smiled. We like babies. 'Aw, what a cute baby.' We say. Chistina swilveled in her chair to see the baby. She tells us, no, that's not who she meant. 'Oh.' We scan the room. I saw him first. He was sitting with a woman at a two top (a two person table) and was facing us. He was wearing skinny jeans, a plain gray tee-shirt, and a red wool hat that seemed more fitted for winter than L.A in May. He was chatting with a woman with a full head of redish purpley, beautiful, curely hair. We'd been in L.A maybe three hours at this point and what are the odds that out of all the celebrities walking around this city....this is who is sitting only feet away from us. I'll give you a moment to guess. .............. ............ .............Can you guess? Out of all the celebrities! Who is sitting next to us? You need more time? ..................... Micheal Cera! Micheal freakin Cera! My twin! I can't possibly tell you how often I hear I look like him. Almost at least once a day. We respected his privacy and never approached him. Even on his way out. The table next to us asked him for a picture which he was very nice about. You could tell though, that he wished they wouldn't have asked. I had day dreams throughout dinner of him approaching me instead saying "hey! you know you look just like me!". I would smile and tell him that he was mistaken. It was actually he who looked like me and we would have a laugh, take a picture together and be lifelong friends who look very much alike. The three of us tried to chat about normal things but kept getting distracted by my dopelganger in the bright red hat. Thankfully, he left about ten or fifteen minutes after we got there so we could gain back our focus. I wonder if he noticed at all that I looked like him (since everyone else does), but I'd bet he didn't. The best part is that on our way out Christina caught the conversation of a few men standing outside. They were I guess talking about how Micheal Cera had been in the restaurant. We walked by them since they were standing by the door. The last thing Christina caught of the conversation was "Oh, look, he's back! Oh, wait, thats not him.". Today we went on a pretty hike. Although compared to last night and the run in with my famous twin...thats pretty irrelevent. -lj

good byes and good times

We're finally in the same car! Once again a one car family. We left Buffalo yesterday and spent the night with Kate and Kate in Lancaster, Penn. The stars aligned and they "cut" someone today from Kate's job at the rec center so she gets to spend the whole day with us! Turns out, they have a Wii so guess what we've been doing for hours? Just out of the shower and she's taking us to see the outlets in a few minutes. I'm going to have to test my will power and walk through an American Eagle. I DO need a new white tee and jeans, but we'll see what kind of deals we find. Responsible shopping is the name of the game until we get jobs in San Fran. After the outlets we're getting back into our million pound car that feels like a tank and driving forty minutes to Harrisburg where more Popson family visits will occur. Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jims is always a great time. It's become an Easter tradition that we look forward to. And we also get to see Stephy who just flew in from L.A. It's also the NFL playoffs and the Buffalo Sabers have their fourth game today against Philly. I don't really watch hockey but when you have a team to root for in the playoffs it's a blast. In Harrisburg we shall stay until Monday morning. We realized this morning that the trip to Ohio is actually twice as long as we for some reason thought it was going to be so we'll have to wake up early so we can spend some decent time with my Americorps teammate Joni. It's been a few weeks shy of a year since I've seen her and I must say, I'm rather excited- I don't want to get there too late. I've been missing Florida. I miss coming home at 11 and sitting on the patio with Chris and Charlie for hours. I hate the "goodbye" part of adventure. It's so hard. Now in a few hours I have to say goodbye to Kate again. Whenever I'm around her I realize how I actually miss her even more than I thought I did- and I already thought I missed her a lot. I know the same is going to happen with Christina. This lifestyle is great but all this saying goodbye all the time really blows. Kate is starting nursing school soon and found a great school and program in the area which means this might be somewhere we'll have to look into settling down in. At least while I go to school. It's a good distance from home too, which is a plus. I'll have to look into this. Pretty nice that I can use Kate as a nursing school test rabbit and send her through first (especially if she has to buy the books first, mwahahaha). I'm blogging because the beautiful girls I'm with are busy doing they're hair. They've teamed up to try and convince me to wear make-up today. Out of their minds. We're having such a great time so far. I'm freezing though. All the time. I miss the sun and warm weather. My tan left my skin so fast you'd never think I've ever even been to Florida in my life. I'll have to take some advantage of being a mile closer to the sun in Denver. Man are we excited for Denver! Every once in a while Rach and I will just look at each other and smile. We know we're both thinking the same thing........... our life is awesome. -lj

Wiiiiiiiiiiii

So far so good. We're having fun in Buffalo despite the fact that its mid April and its been snowing. We've actually been lying lower than usual which I'm obviously all for. I made traditional Magnetti gravy last night for the family and some friends. (Basically my family's spaghetti with meat sauce). It came out surprisingly delicious. I was nervous because it was my first time cooking it without being under the strict supervision of my mother. Everyone loved it and it felt amazing to bring a piece of my home into this one. The whole house smelled just like mine for a good 5 hours. Tonight we're going out to dinner with Rachel's friend Tim and his girlfriend. Tomorrow we're going out with the family to watch the Sabers fourth playoff game (hockey). During the days we've been playing with the Wii fitness nintendo game. You stand on a board and you work out with different games on the tv screen. The board can sense how well you're doing your workout. The board will then tell you your "fitness age" according to the data it's calculated during a few fitness tests the game puts you through. All the tests have to do with balance. According to the Wii fitness, my physical fitness age is 39 years old. Thirty Nine. I did the test twice to make sure. The second time it said 38. I'm 25! I'm supposed to be at my prime age and this nintendo equipment has scientifically calculated that I'm 14 years older than what I should be. Doesn't it know I get carded for Rated R movies? Actually, come to think of it, I did see a lot of 39 years olds at the finish line of the TRIATHLON I did two years ago. ....stupid game. -lj

fluffy towels

I bought a Yankee Candle car freshener for the Honda today.  Fluffy Towels.  Tomorrow at around 9am I'll get into my fluffy flavored car and for the fourth time say goodbye to my house for, what is for me, an extended period of time.  Tomorrow I'll take a solo drive to Buffalo where Rachel has already been since yesterday.  The drive should take me around six hours.  I'm excited to see my other family (the Popsons) but always get very sad to leave this one.  Especially knowing how far I will be going.  It will officially be the farthest I've ever been from home.  

 I already miss Florida and everyone in it. I miss my coworkers and my friends.  I even sometimes think of some of my regulars from the restaurant and wonder how they're doing.  Goodbye's are always far less dramatic than I picture them to be and Florida goodbyes were no exception.  Not any less sad- just less dramatic.  We were going to stop at the beach and dramatically say goodbye to the ocean, but when the hour came we decided it was unnecessary.  We even canceled our plans to go give Patte one last Cheerio.  At the last minute we decided this idea was also over the top and the memory of our duck friend would be enough to sustain us. Besides, we didn't have any Cheerios.    It was also not so dramatic leaving Jupiter since we only drove a few hours north to visit Rachel's friend Heather in Tampa. Goodbye Florida! We'll miss you! Oh....hello again Florida.  Tampa was a great time.  We sat in Heather's living room and caught up then went out dinner at a restaurant on the water.  I wasn't feeling well that night so I sadly had to stay in while everyone went out to see a band.  We had to wake up early the next day and face our longest drive of the week to Atlanta and I didn't want to risk getting sick.  The next morning we woke up, almost on time, and finally said goodbye to Florida.  The trip to Atlanta was like pulling teeth.  Teeth we desperately needed in order to enjoy our first Top Chef dinner ever.  We thought the ride was going to take between 7 to 8 hours.  It took 10.  Also, don't forget we both have cars still and had to do this on our own.  We hit about four pockets of serious traffic.  Thankfully, the restaurant had no problem moving up our reservation to later.  We were exhausted.  Dinner was fun.  It could have been very fun.  The food was good. We probably could have enjoyed it more.  It was very unfortunate but I'm still glad we got to go.  I couldn't stop thinking of the pillows at the hotel the whole time which I wish wasn't the case.  Atlanta seemed pretty cool but no exploration was done.  After dinner we went straight home and went to sleep.  The next day we arrived at cousins Lindsey's and James' house around 2.  They greeted us on the lawn with baby Brayson and dog Broker.  They had just bought property and wanted to take us to see it.  We went for a very uphill hike with Brayson on Lindsey's back to see the property and then sat by the lake to drink a beer and throw rocks into the water.  It was so nice being in the mountains again.  Later, more family came over and we made dinner and I spent the night blowing bubbles so Brayson could run through them, laughing hysterically.  He was always brave when one accidentally popped in his eye.  I asked Lindsey if I could have him but unfortunately for me, she said no. Fortunately for you, the adventure continues.  Day four after breakfast we climbed back in our cars (which both smelled like Wendys at this point) and drove to Charlottesville, Virginia to visit Lindsey's sister Andrea and her husband BJ.  They immediately took us to Dave Matthews Wine Vinyard for a wine tasting.  It was beautiful and the wine was actually very very good.  They told us that this part of the Virginia is becoming the Napa of white wine.  The whole area was gorgeous and wasn't at all what we expected from Virginia.  The downtown, we were shocked to find, was actually somewhere that seemed...ideal for us to live.  It was young, artsy, packed with restaurants, super clean, surrounded by farms and vinyards, full of places to hike and then beach is two hours away.  If this adventure goes past San Fran, Charlottesville, Virginia now stands as a strong contender for destination number five.  Virginia.... who knew.  We were supposed to visit Kate and Kate in Penn. the next day but Kate #1 was feeling under the weather so we decided to make the final push towards Monroe and surprise my family by arriving a day early.  Six hours later I walked into my house to find my mom making homemade Chicken Soup over the stove.  We've spent the past week relaxing, losing every inch of tan we had, watching Real Housewives with my mom and eating. Eating a lot.  My mom let me make the gravy (meat sauce) and meatballs while she supervised.  It came out great and I plan on making it for Rach's family this week.  I got to see Nicole, Aunt Jackie, Grandma, Aunt Judy and Donnie.  I love my family.  We went into the city on the one super sunny day we had and squeezed about ten friends into one day.  It's been really nice to be home, especially for so long.  We really get the best of both worlds whenever we come to New York.  In Monroe we wear slippers and in Buffalo we wear party hats.  Tomorrow my slippers come off.  Oh also... we're not homeless!  It just so happens that my good friend Linda lives in San Fran.  It also just so happens that one of her roommates is moving out of his room on May 1st and her and her roommate Robin need to fill it.  We just have to go through a credit check with the landlord which should be no problem.  We're still going to wait to get there till around May tenth or eleventh though.  Funny how things always just seem to work out.  I have a lot, a lot,  A LOT to be thankful for and to look forward to.  But tonight...tonight I'm going to enjoy my slippers. -lj

nplh

I don't even know where to start. We didn't really have access to the internet on our roadtrip so a lot happened without being able to update. We left West Palm/Jupiter April 1st. My goodbye to Charlie and Chris in the parking lot at 9 am was a very sad and hard one. The hardest yet. It's much harder to say goodbye to someone when you have no idea when you'll see them again. Oh my...I just learned that Rachel has been waiting for me to watch a movie. I will tell all about our Florida to New York trip soon. I promise. We got home to Monroe yesterday evening and I gotta say, cold hands aside....there's no place like home. -lj

friends

I just have to say quick that I'm going to miss my people here very much. Very Very much. -lj

Nine days

One week from Friday. Nine more days. Nine more days to make as much money as we can. Nine more days to tell everyone around us how much we've appreciated their kindness. Nine more days to realize that we better start packing soon. Nine more days to stand along the beach. We're very very excited. We've been searching craigslist for possible sublets, making budgets, booking hotels and planning food and family stops. I honestly think this is our favorite part of adventure. It's so much fun to look forward to a huge change. And this one is going to be very big. And long. I have to say, we're indulging in this move quite a bit. Here's a rundown of our itinerary-

We leave Jupiter the 1st to spend the night in Tampa with some of Rach's highschool pals (whom I've met several times). One of them is expected to go into labor during this time so... watch for that post. Then we leave the next day for Atlanta, GA. We can't make our days as long on this trip because now we have two cars and can't split driving duties. We'll stay in a hotel in Atlanta and have reservations at Woodfire Grill. There we will be doing the tasting menu served by Top Chef finalist Kevin. Las Vegas season. I'll try to write down the dishes so I can tell you about them afterward and we can all judge them together! Next day its on to Tennessee to visit Rachel's cousins and finally meet new baby Brason (who I guess isn't so new anymore). The next day its on to more cousins in Virginia. Next day is a long push up to Lancaster, Penn where we'll stay with Kate and Kate. If its really late and we know they're sleeping and we have left over energy, we might push it a few more hours and make it to Monroe. I absolutely cannot wait for Monroe. I'm so homesick (as usual). I seriously need a family reboost. After about a week in Monroe, we head West for a week in B-Lo (Buffalo......duh). After a week of light partying (yea right), we're going to stuff all our things into the Honda and together, head to Harrisburg, Penn for a few days (Popsons are coming too). We've tried to make a habit of going there for Easter and we're afraid if we stop the tradition the Easter Bunny may not know where to go. The day after Easter we'll set back on the same route we took to Denver a year ago- since thats where we're going. How can we drive out to California without stopping in Denver for some fresh mountain air! If you've just joined the blog- first of all, welcome. I'll go over our "Denver" route. First we stop in Wilmington, Ohio for a night to visit Americorps teammate Joni. The next night is in Grosse Point, MI with Americorps team leader Emily. A night at a hotel is Chicago is necessary because...c'mon...Chicago's cool! Then its a huge long push past all the corn in America until we get to Denver. We've chosen to stay a mile high for about a week. So many people to see and dogs to hug. Denver carries such a different "home" feel than Boston or Jupiter has. Denver is.... Denver. If I had to choose right now where I wanted to settle, I wouldn't have to think about it. Hands down, Denver. I told Rachel I was going to tie myself to a tree when we got there so that we couldn't leave. I'm still seriously considering the idea. We plan on leaving Denver May 5th. Depending on how much money we've spent, we might stop in Las Vegas. Might as well try to get that money back, right? We might also stay in a hotel in between Denver and Vegas so we have time to check out the Grand Canyon. We also might then just stop in Vegas to look around and head right back out and into Cali. First night in California will be spent with sister Stephanie just a little south of L.A. Then a few days in L.A with best friends Christina and Alex. Then on the 12thish (depending on whatever we set up as a living situation) we take a beautiful, relaxing nine hour drive along the coast of California and arrive in San Fran to start our new life....again. That's a month and a half of pure adventure. Followed by more adventure. Wouldn't you be impatiently counting down? ..... Nine Days. -lj

relapse

Rachel and I spoke with the doctor yesterday. Turns out our adventure bug had only gone into remission. We started feeling symptoms again about a week ago. We both started feeling restless at first. Then we slowly started realizing that the sight of a palm tree was no longer exciting- it was common. Rachel had noticed a strange taste in the back of her throat. I wasn't aware of it at first but I realized that I was experiencing the same thing. We tried to drink some water. The taste just got stronger. Florida water is disgusting, with a sewer bouquet and afternotes of poo. We put down our glasses when it dawned on us. - We haven't tried a new food in months besides the blue fish we completely destroyed that day we went fishing. What was happening to us? How did we come to this? This wasn't us. We're foodies damnit. Three stops? Really? We throw our lives into a car, sell all our stuff, quit our jobs, paint that apartment back to white and come running back after only three stops? What kind of book can I write with that!? A short one. Too short for us. We've been lazy adventurers - must be all the sun. Time to pour the sand out of our shoes and hit the road. We're leaving Florida April first. We have Rach's grandmothers car on loan still and need to give it back. Besides we're desperately home sick. We'll drive both cars up to New York within four or five days stopping to see family and friends on the way. A week in Monroe, a week in Buffalo, Easter in Harrisburg with Rach's family and then we stuff all our things back into the Honda, put a flower in our hair, and head to San Francisco. Everyone we've met on this trip has asked the same thing. Are you going to San Francisco. Apparently everyone pegs us as future San Franciscans. Unlike Boston and Florida, this stop is actually a candidate for the "settle down" city. Denver may still be in the running as well. New York is also on the list. Speaking of Denver, we absolutely plan on stopping to visit on our drive over. We'll also stop in L.A to visit Christina and other friends. It's hard to move to the same state as your best friend but to a different city. It's just that neither of us think we would like L.A. Also, L.A right after southern Florida seems like a lot of superficiality all packed into six months. We're in the mood for some culture, some art, lots of good food and good people. Not to mention one of the best gay communities in the world. So no one panic. Keep up on the blog and readjust your clocks - time for another countdown. -lj