surprise surprise

Boy did I get a lovely surprise yesterday! I was walking around my apt about two hours before I had to leave for work and I get a phone call. It's my Aunt Judy. "Hey, Uncle and Donald are in the car driving home from Koscos! Whatcha doin?" I told her I was just hanging out and gonna leave for work soon. I could hear I was on speaker phone. "How's your job? What kind of food? Where is it?" I answer. "Where's the restaurant at? Back Bay?" asks Uncle Donald. Already the fact that they are called me, both of them, on speaker phone on their random drive home from "Koscos" is strange to me. I tell them more about the restaurant. They proceed to ask me several questions about where I live, how do I get to work, how long does it take me. Confused at their joint curiosity I answer all their questions. "Hey, I need your address cause I want to send you something." Now I'm thinking...this is so weird. Why would she call me from the car asking me my address. Why not just email me or ask me while she's at home where she could comfortably write it down? Already very suspicious, I tell them. I know somethings up. Could they be in Boston? I've been very close with my Aunt and Uncle since birth and I knew there was something about this call that was out of the ordinary. I tell them my address. I forgot to specify whether I lived on a street, or court or drive. (I obviously don't want to get my address on creepy internet). This here was the give-a-way. Uncle Donald, who probably would find a long speaker phone in the car conversation obnoxious, cheerfully and "innocently" asks me, (for privacy purposes lets say I like on Smith Street), "Smith what?" And that was all I needed. They were obviously punching my address into a GPS. That HAD to be it. They should have rounded out the questions with some none location and time based questions! I answered his question and told him Smith Street. I told them they should come visit me soon (95% sure they were already on their way), told them I loved them and hung up. I brushed my teeth quick, fixed my hair and made the bed. If I knew my godparents they would be here within fifteen minutes. I sit in the living room and watch a little TV. As I happen to glance out the window, sure enough, guess who's rolling up the street, braking awkwardly trying to figure out which was the right house. I knew it! I jumped up and ran outside to greet them. I think my being outside jumping up and down surprised them more than the original plan was supposed to surprise me. They parked and I ran over and gave them huge hugs. "What are you doing in Boston! I knew you were on your way!" Man, they're the worst sneeks ever! "How did you know! We came for our anniversary and guess what!? We're staying at the Elliot!" They were even coming to Clio for dinner! What makes this story so ironic is that I had literally JUST emailed aunt judy forty minutes prior trying to convince her to come to boston for their anniversary and eat at Clio. We've always been on the same page me and Aunt Juju. They drove me back to the hotel with them and surprised me again when she told me that Rachel and I could stay with them on the pull out couch. ME!? Stay at the Elliot!? Hell yes! I texted Rachel the good news. We didn't even care that we didn't have anything to sleep in (turns out aunt judy had brought us stuff). I said goodbye and headed downstairs to work. At the pre-meal meeting the manager announced I had family coming in and they were to receive VIP treatment. Nice. So I stared at the clock all night and couldn't wait for eight o clock to come. Finally it did and they sat down. The kitchen was awesome and sent them out some free tastings with their meal. I was happy to show off all I'd learned and tried to run as much food to them out as I can. Unfortunately, once the food is ready, whoever is in the kitchen takes it, but I tried to hover in the kitchen a lot so I could run they're dishes as much as possible. They said the food and service was excellent and it really made me like my job more. It's a good feeling to be proud of the restaurant you work for. After they left I only had about an hour left. After work I walked down the street to grab a crappy burger and meet Rach on the corner. We took our food and went up to the room where we all sat and hung out for about an hour. It was such a great day, and even better because I never saw it coming...well...not until that suspicious phone call. I'm so grateful to have family that I'm so close to share so much love with. Poor poor Rachel had to get up early for yet ANOTHER double (since she's such a good person and employee) and the three of us went to her restaurant for brunch which was very delicious. Thank you to Aunt Judy and Uncle Donald for such a wonderful and touching surprise! I love you both so much. -lj

a long story from long island.

So its pretty late but I just want to tell you quick about our time in New York. We woke up early in Harrisburg, PA after a fun night of catching up with Rach's family and went through Newark to NYC. We actually had to drive through the city without stopping because that day, we were heading out to Long Island to see my Aunt Judy. Aunt Judy has been like my second mom since I was little so we were really excited. We waved to the city and promised we'd be back the next day as we continued for the island. Over an hour went by and finally we had only a few turns left until we'd be pulling up the driveway and met with my first "welcome back to NY" hug. We pulled up, got out of the car and stretched. We'd made it! And what a beautiful day! What will Aunt Judy have planned for us today? It's always something fun! We walked around the back and peeked through the window. I've always gone in through the back since I was a kid. We didn't see anyone inside so we let ourselves in. Little dog Roxy greeted us first. Surely Aunt Judy's voice would soon be bouncing off the corners of the house and into the kitchen. "You're here! Is that my god daughter!?". We played with the dog for a moment and anxiously waited for the voice. Another moment. What's with this dog's haircut anyway? And where was Aunt Judy. Perhaps she's hard at work in her office? I ducked into the office expecting to find her at the computer wrapped up in whatever she was doing. I was disappointed to find her assistant (jeez, wasn't she alarmed that people just walked in?). Her assistant looked up at us. "She's at the beach with her friends." I smiled and said "oh okay, thank you." I turned around and walked to Rachel in the kitchen. I was still in ear shot to the office so I used my secret secret voice. "She's at the beach with her friends!" "What?" "I don't know thats what she said, she's at the beach with her friends." "Aunt Judy's at the beach?" "Yea" "Why did she go to the beach?" "I don't know." "Did you tell her we were coming?" "I texted her this morning we'd be here around one but she didn't text back". "Well did you call her?" I looked at Rachel a moment. "No." We were both still using secret secret voice. "Joanna why wouldn't you call her?" "Because I texted her." "But she didn't respond." "No" "So then why didn't you call her?" "Well if she didn't respond to her text why would she be around her phone to answer it?" Rachel stared at me now while she tried to make sense of my logic. "Joanna I don't understand why you didn't just call her, now what do we do?" We stepped outside and stood by the pool contemplating our next move. "We could wait here. Do you want to play in the pool?" Sometimes my unwillingness to grow up in endearing. In situations like these I think it makes me frustrating. Rachel didn't seem thrilled about entertaining me pool side all day. We both know I can't lie still by a pool for more than five minutes. I need someone to throw things to the bottom so I can retrieve it and then they have to throw it again. "I guess we could. Do you even have your bathing suit?" Her question made me realize that no I do not. It was packed somewhere deep in who knows which of the ten suitcases compacted into our car. I thought for a moment. The longer I had to think the worse I felt about not just calling Aunt Judy to begin with. I tried calling Aunt Judy. No answer. At least so far, my theory was right. "Are you hungry?" "I guess I could be hungry." "Want to find somewhere to eat and then we'll try Aunt Judy again?" "Ok I guess." So back into the car we go. As long as I've been coming to Aunt Judy's house I couldn't think of a single place to go get food. We hit the "food" button on the GPS and chose the place that sounded most like a bar. We needed some bar food and a beer. We took the first few turns toward the mystery restaurant. As I looked around I realized that this was the way we would go when we go to the beach. "I think this is how we get to the beach. You want to go try to find Aunt Judy? We have nothing better to do." There was a touch of excitement in my voice about this perspective treasure hunt. I knew which beaches Aunt Judy hung out in. Rachel typed in everything we could think of into the GPS that would possibly bring us to the beach. Nothing worked. Using my "extra special" sense of direction I managed to get us to some sort of bay. Ok, well at least we made it to a coast. We chose a direction and followed the coast. After fifteen minutes I decided we should turn around and try the other way. After another ten minutes, my phone rings. Aunt Judy! "Where are you?! You're here!? I didn't know you were coming so early! Come to the beach!" "We're trying Aunt Judy! We're trying!" She gave us directions and told us she'd meet us so that we could park our car and she'd take us to the beach. Turns out a was right the first time and we turned around again. I just hadn't gone far enough. Finally we saw Aunt Judy waiving to us in her pink beach skirt and sunglasses. I finally got my big hug and we all set off to the beach. Aunt Judy's friends were there waiting for us and we immediately sat down to mudslides and chicken fingers. Perfect. We had a great time at the beach taking walks up and down the water, running to the waves and running back up and finding cool shells to play with. Aunt Judy gave me a pair of spandex pants and a sweatshirt to wear in the car since my clothes were drenched by the end of the day. While we were walking to our car the decision was made to go to a nice dinner. Umm...hello? I'm in spandex. Everyone thought it was funny and told me I "looked fine". I was so happy to be among family that I accepted the fact that I looked like a 10 year old little boy and we went to a beautiful sunset dinner on the bay. We came home, sat outside and drank wine, woke up and went back to the beach! Oh I love Long Island... After some time at the beach, unfortunately, Rachel and I had to leave the island and meet our friends in NYC. Long Island, as always was amazing. -lj (gyl)

makers and gingerale

Where to begin... well we really do love Boston. We're pretty surprised about it since Boston was never on our "wish list" of cities in the first place. Its absolutely beautiful. Since we finally have jobs we figured it was ok to go out on the town Saturday night. We went to the Prixe Fix dinner at Aquitane, a restaurant on the south side a few blocks from South End Buttery (Rachel's restaurant). After an extremely disappointing meal (still a good time because we judged it together) we decided to keep our night going and to go to Buttery for a drink. Partly because we wanted a drink and partly because I wanted to see the place. It really is adorable. Almost as if Rach and I would open it ourselves. It's elegant but homey with a fire place in the downstairs dining room. The primary color of the restaurant is brown which we always like for some reason. We sat at the bar and I met all the new coworkers, all of which seemed super sweet and really fun. We ordered a round of drinks for ourselves. While we were sipping at chatting with each other, Liz came upstairs and I finally met the Columbian lesbian who has been training Rachel. She's hilarious and a huge smart ass. I liked her immediately. She said it was a little slow tonight and she'd try to get cut so we could all go get a drink elsewhere. With the perspective of our first friend on the horizon, we decided to stick around and have another drink. As this drink is sipped the restaurant and our spirits begin to pick up. Liz comes over and mentions going out again when they're done. Well we like our seats here at the Buttery so why would we wait for her at another bar where we know no one? Another round. And just to be clear... we're not drinking beer or wine. We were probably at that bar for a good four hours. Wow, looking back it didn't seem that long. We were having a really great time with each other. Rachel and I haven't been out just the two of us in a very very long time. It was nice to be reminded that we can sit and talk for five hours straight with no effort or pauses. Well finally the servers are done and the two of us, Liz and another server Whitney go down the street for a few drinks. We play "get to know you" and have a great time. We go outside and get ready to leave when someone Liz knows shows up. "Let's have one more drink!" says Liz. "Hey! Why not! Let's go! Everybody in!" We stand at the bar and watch Liz order for us. I've been very careful all night to stick to one liquor. Three shots of tequila show up on the bar. Rach and I stopped talking and stared in horror as flashbacks of college nights flickered behind our eyes. "Welcome to Boston" Liz raises hers to toast. Down they go. People really ought to stop drinking tequila shots after twenty two years old. Rachel and I locked eyes and we used the remaining strength and balance we had to keep the shots in a downward path towards our stomachs. It was a rough battle for both of us but luckily, the fermented agave obeyed the laws of gravity and settled into our bodies with promises of torture in the morning. At that moment the lights in the bar came on. It was 2 o clock. Lovely, our first night out and we close a bar. We all decided it would be a safer and less expensive plan that the two of us sleep at Liz's house. We stop and get some random, open-late Chinese food and bring it home. We eat the greasy food and climb into the extra bed. Liz has to be at work at 8:45 so we get up around 8, tequila keeping it's promise and ride the train home. When we got home we plopped into bed for three hours and woke up in time to go to the Bills back bar at Fenway to watch some football. Even though I felt much better after sleeping, I didn't drink and sipped on water while I watched the first Sunday football game of the season while gazing out onto the Red Socks baseball field. It was pretty nice. After the game Rachel and I decided to go grocery shopping. We were in the store for over an hour. We LOVE grocery shopping. We've been on a pretty healthy kick lately so we promised each other that we wouldn't get that drunk again and we looked at the nutrition label of everything we bought. Back on track! Tonight I have to leave poor Rachel home while I go to work at Clio. I have a few more days of training, which doesn't bother me since I don't know what I'm doing, and my first day of official work is Saturday. Saturday. Are they nuts? The busiest night? I better train hard till then! -lj

Happy to be a girl...

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

Happy Football Season everyone!!!

Love,

Rach

ya know what...

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

xoxo,

Rach

the announcements continue

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

publick announcement

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

a fear continues...

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

clio

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

We did it!

Attention Attention!! Rachel Popson and Joanna Cappola have officially gone an entire 24 hours without spending ANY money and didn't walk into a SINGLE restaurant! All 3 meals were prepared, cooked and eaten IN our apartment. We even stayed within the healthy criteria of our new diet. Man did we eat healthy yesterday! The first sucessful day of following a diet is key I think. Because after that you just feel guilty for cheating because then it knocks you off a track. It's much easier to keep saying "The diet starts tomorrow". Saying "The diet started yesterday" holds a lot more weight....no pun intended. We also went on a run yesterday around Jamaica Pond which is a huge pond just a few blocks away. I wore a sweatshirt on the run which is something I've never done before. I took a cold shower afterward and there was still heat radiating from my head. We didn't spend all of yesterday in the apartment however. We decided we needed a map of Boston since we don't know where any of the neighborhoods are in relation to eachother, or in relation to themselves for that matter. Triple A gives free maps to their peeps, who we are, so we decided to drive to the Boston office and get some free maps. Driving in Boston is ridiculous! It's so confusing! Barbera (our GPS) took us to the only office the internet says is in Boston. Imagine two girls from Kentucky just moving to NYC and unexpectingly driving into Times Square. Barbera took us right into downtown. We never found the place and still have no maps. The whole trip took over an hour. It got us out of the house though and we got to see some of Boston. We spent the day sending resumes, writing some letters, I played some guitar and going back and forth convincing eachother (successfully) to go for a run. We also started a very unhealthy habit yesterday. We know from being devout LOST watchers for so many years that you can watch any ABC tv show online. We decided to choose one to get into. After spending all day being economical and healthy, we needed some sort of guilty pleasure. We chose "The Bachelor Pad". Very attractive men and women living together in a beautiful mansion looking for love and competing for money. There's betrayal, scandels, manipulation, sex and drama. We're HOOKED. And we feel awful about ourselves because of it. One of my biggest concerns about going out with friends tonight is that we probably will have to wait until tomorrow to see whats next. I'm disgusted with myself. Anyway... At the beginning of the day we got a package from Aunt Jackie. She had made us a photo album of some memories of Denver. We sat on the couch and went back in time. We look at pictures of mountains now the way we used to look at the Manhattan skyline. The album is amazing and we're so thankful. Today we woke up early, did laundry, ate some healthy omega rich oatmeal, sent some resumes and we're going to spend the day with Caitlin and Jim. Good day to you all! -lj