tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61630446745178160432024-03-20T04:30:55.190-04:00Somewhere Only We KnowRachel Cummingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10762405558065317616noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-11948803691265658242017-03-13T11:36:00.001-04:002017-03-13T11:38:23.720-04:00Charlie BobThis is not the shortest story, and I share some personal information (which Chuck supported my sharing), but it's got a really good ending if you have the time to read. :)<br />
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As many of you know, our journey to have a baby has been anything but easy. We experienced 3 horrible losses in the span of a year and a half that were all related to the babies having chromosomal issues. We were tested for what feels like a thousand different things to find what could be causing our losses, met with specialists in Cincinnati to talk about our options (which included either a) keep trying naturally or the extreme opposite option b) do IVF with pre-genetic screening), and have just been on an overall terrible rollercoaster of the some of the highest highs and lowest lows you can face in life. After our 3rd loss, we were undecided about whether or not we would try again and risk another loss, or do an almost sure (but insanely expensive) thing and do IVF. Around that time, we decided to start house hunting. We had been talking about it for over a year, but it finally felt like the right time. And we needed a change.<br />
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Enter: Melody. (Last name not being shared for privacy purposes.) Melody was our realtor who was recommended to us by a loan officer whose number Chuck found randomly on Zillow. The loan officer told Chuck this woman specialized in finding East End homes (which is primarily where we were looking) and that she'd be great for us. Soon after, we met Melody and she was great. She is an older woman, very experienced, very honest and straight forward and VERY Christian. We got close with Melody fast and we shared our pregnancy struggles with her as we had just experienced our 3rd loss right before we bought the house. She asked our permission to share our struggles with her Bible study and some of her other friends so they could all be praying for us and of course we said we didn't mind.<br />
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It didn't take us too long to find a house, and when we did it was a partially unfinished new build that still needed some finishing touches. For everything the house still needed, landscaping, blinds, mirrors, whatever, Melody would tell us "oh I have a guy for that. I'll give you his number." Melody seemingly had a guy for everything.<br />
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Enter: Charlie Bob. (I'd like to note here that I am not leaving off his last name to protect his privacy or identity. I actually don't know his last name and now I'm thinking he may not have one, like Madonna.) Charlie Bob was Melody's "blinds guy." While we were under contract, Melody would constantly tell us, "Go to Lowe's. Ask for Charlie Bob. Tell him you're a friend of Melody's. He will take care of you." Whenever we talked she would ask me at the end of our conversation, "have you called Charlie Bob yet?" Finally, one Saturday, Chuck and I went to Lowe's and looked for Charlie Bob. We found an employee and asked about him and his response was "Ummmm, Charlie Bob hasn't worked in here in FOREVER...." I texted Melody. She responded "Oh! Ok well here is his cell number. Just call him. He'll take care of you." She always added that part at the end.<br />
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I finally called Charlie Bob and set up a time for him to come measure our windows and tell us what kind of blinds he recommended we buy. On the day he came to the house, Chuck wasn't home yet so I met with him alone and walked him from room to room making a plan. Charlie Bob was an elderly man in very worn overalls with the sweetest, realest, country accent. He told me his life story about growing up in Western Kentucky and how he knew Melody as a teenager and how he and his wife raised their kids in a small home in Indiana and moved several years ago to St. Matthews to be closer to their kids and grandkids. We talked as we went from room to room and he wrote down measurements, starting with our first spare bedroom that we use currently as an office.<br />
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When we got to the 2nd spare bedroom, he asked me "Now what should I label this room?" I casually said "well, you can just call it the 2nd bedroom I guess. We're hoping we will have a baby someday and this will be the nursery." As soon as I said it, Charlie Bob stopped in his tracks as he was lifting his measuring tape to the window, turned around and looked me square in the face, deep into my SOUL, and said "Oh. You WILL. I'm writing Baby's Room." Then he turned around and continued measuring. And he did write Baby BR. (See pic below for evidence.)<br />
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In that moment I had major chills. He said "oh you WILL" SO confidently and so sure, almost like he knew something I didn't. Obviously our friends and family and doctors had all said this to us at some point, but something about the way this stranger said it to me felt different. I thought about it for the rest of the day, and told Chuck about it pretty much the minute he got home. He agreed it was kind of eerie and wasn't sure why he would have said that so confidently, or even at all.<br />
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Charlie Bob came back a few weeks later and installed our blinds during a work day, so my mother-in-law met him at the house for us and hung out while he put all the blinds up. He texted me the next day to see if we liked his work and after that interaction, we never saw him or talked to him again.<br />
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Ok. Ready for the part that makes the story? I found out I was pregnant a week later.<br />
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Now, I'm not claiming an immaculate conception or anything because we obviously know how we got pregnant. But for two years we tried to have a healthy baby and couldn't, and then suddenly Charlie Bob shows up at our house and BAM. Without doing anything different than what we've been doing, we are blessed with a chromosomally, as far as we know from tests we've done so far, healthy baby.<br />
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So that is the story of the magical Charlie Bob. Chuck and I are convinced that Charlie Bob is our Clarence (from It's a Wonderful Life.) We're convinced if we tried calling him again, his number would be disconnected. We're convinced that Melody has a direct line to God, that she asked him to send us help, and He did. He sent us our guardian angel, who apparently is an older man named Charlie Bob who wears overalls and does a seriously great job hanging blinds.<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-67253376161459930862017-03-09T17:08:00.002-05:002017-03-09T17:08:41.007-05:00Chuck Turned 30A couple weeks ago on February 17th, Chuck turned 30.<br />
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I tried to make his entrance into a new decade special and memorable, starting the night before his birthday when after everything he did I would say something like "ohhhhh it's the last teeth-brushing of your 20s!" which may have been more annoying to him than memorable but, it was fun for me! But in all seriousness, I did try to make it as fun and memorable as I could because he deserves a memorable goodbye to one decade (which was pretty amazing for him) and a big welcome to the next decade (which will probably be even more amazing.) Also, he's just pretty great and I really like him and planning celebrations for people is my love language.<br />
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On his birthday, he had to go into work for a little bit that morning but I got him to leave by lunchtime and we met up with his sister Shannon and 2 of our nieces to start the weekend of celebrations.<br />
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With a couple of hours to kill before our dinner plans, we weren't sure what to do so we ended up at a bowling alley where I obviously let him beat me 3 games in a row since it was his birthday. :)<br />
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That evening, we met up with our family at a Hibachi grill, where we surprised Chuck with our group gift of a ping pong table that was not only already purchased, but already set up and ready to play on in our basement because our awesome dads snuck in and set it up that morning while Chuck was at work!<br />
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As you can tell, he was pretty excited.<br />
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Then it was on to the next surprise location, Great Flood Brewery where a bunch of our family and friends were waiting with beer, cake, balloons, and some I Heart Chuckie stickers- a throwback from when Chuck ran for Class President as a freshman in high school and handed out stickers with that slogan on them for his campaign. (Yes of course he won the election, and stickers were soon banned from Eastern High School because those things were on EVERYTHING in the building.)<br />
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Henry got to stay out late and party, too!<br />
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Of course the celebrations didn't stop there, because there's always a party after the after party! A bunch of friends came back to our house from Great Flood to help us break in the new ping pong table. We played from about 10:30pm until 3am so I'd say the table got broken in pretty well. We created a bracket and held the very first tournament on the table. And because our basement is still mostly empty because we need a lot of furniture in our house and furniture is expensive, all our friends got to sit on the floor when they weren't playing! (sorry, friends)<br />
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The tournament came down to the final 2....<br />
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and the birthday boy emerged victorious! (Please pay close attention to the region names and ignore the fact that we don't know really how to draw a bracket for 13 people.)<br />
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Even though his birthday was technically over, I had one more surprise for him on Saturday which was to go to Breakout Louisville with some of our friends I had convinced to celebrate Chuck's birthday for a second day in a row. Breakout Louisville was SO. MUCH. FUN. and we all wanted to go do another one as soon as we were done. We broke out of our room but with only 4 minutes to spare. It was way harder than I anticipated and also way more fun. We felt just like Nicolas Cage in National Treasure.<br />
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And that pretty much sums up his birthday weekend! I'd say it was definitely one to remember.<br />
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Oh and if you're wondering if I spent all of his birthday reminding him of things like "awwww, first french fries of your 30s!" the answer is DUH.<br />
<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-18633874796401808472017-01-05T10:35:00.002-05:002017-01-05T11:16:11.709-05:00ResolutionsEvery year I try to come up with a new year's resolution. Most years I fail to come up with anything. Years when I do think of one, I usually fail at keeping it. Sure, "watch less TV" sounds like a great idea on January 1st when you're motivated to be a better version of yourself in the new year. But then you get home from work on January 2nd and start to make dinner and you're too tired to read and mentally exhausted from the workday so end up vegging out on Friends reruns and have no regrets because Friends is the all-time best show ever.<br />
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Here's the thing, I LOVE watching TV. Chuck and I love finding a new show to binge watch and discuss and talk about with friends. (Just started Narcos and we are already obsessed.) It's just something we enjoy doing together and always have. So why would I make a resolution to stop doing something I love? I feel like a lot of people do that. And the point of new year's resolutions isn't to make yourself miserable. It's to make yourself better and enjoy your life more!<br />
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So what if we quit making resolutions with "less" or "stop" in them and instead made resolutions with "more" and "start" in them? The less and stop resolutions seem harder and you're almost setting yourself up to fail from the start.<br />
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How about....<br />
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Take more pictures. Call more people on the phone when you drive. Go to more concerts. See more movies. Start a book club. Start a wine club. Start writing a book. Go on more spontaneous weekend adventures. Play more games. Watch MORE TV. Eat more vegetables. Try a new food. Read more books. These all seem easy!<br />
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So I've given this a lot of thought, and I am feeling pretty confident about my ability to actually keep my 2017 new year's resolution which is to.......<br />
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Eat MORE donuts.<br />
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What's your new year's resolution?<br />
<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-27181498586734807142016-12-19T15:55:00.001-05:002016-12-19T15:55:28.506-05:00A Post About CookiesThis blogpost is all about cookies.<br />
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On Friday, I hosted my 4th annual Holiday Cookie Swap Party. I hosted my first Cookie Swap in Boston with some of my girlfriends there, and it was so much fun that I've continued it every year since. The idea is this- you bake one kind of cookie. Invite your family and friends to make one type of cookie and bring it to your house. Everyone swaps cookies and then gets to go home with a variety of cookies after only having to make one! Whoever came up with this idea is genius.<br />
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Of course, you also have to test all of the cookies during the party and then vote on them too. Or is that just us?<br />
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This year we made everyone go around and say which cookie they brought and what it was. People got really into it this year as far as trying new and more difficult recipes. Some turned out really well, and some... not so much. Whether their cookie turned out great or not so great, everyone seemed very stressed by the whole process this year. I have a feeling people may not be as adventurous next year.<br />
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Baby Henry got to join us at the party even though he didn't get to try any of the cookies. :( Maybe next year, Henry!<br />
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And while we're on the subject, can we talk about how freakin' cute Henry is ALL THE TIME?!?!<br />
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After we ate entirely too many cookies, it was time to vote. This year we voted on Best Looking cookie, Best Tasting cookie, and a booby prize for "Aw, at least you tried. Maybe baking isn't your thing."<br />
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Of course there were prizes.<br />
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And the winners were.... Jennifer for best tasting- SHE MADE HER OWN CARAMEL. WHAT?- Anna for Best Looking -she made the polar bear cookies - and Laura for "aw at least you tried" because her cookies somehow became one giant cookie that was kinda collapsed in the middle and may or may not have fallen apart if taken out of the pan. It's ok. She owned it.<br />
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We had such a good time, and even though I was awake with a stomachache most of the night from too many sweets and felt like I had a hangover the next day, it was totally worth it. I can't wait to do it again next year!<br />
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(The group minus one- Pat had left already when someone said "hey we should take a group picture!" If I knew how to photoshop I would put her in but just imagine her standing to my right.)Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-87527704930785310762016-09-29T12:10:00.000-04:002016-09-29T12:14:49.732-04:00My Five Fall Must-HavesI love Fall. Who doesn't? I've seen all these online lists and magazine articles lately like "Fall Must-Haves for 2016!" and "Fall Fashion Trends!" I laugh when I read these articles because my own personal Fall fashion trends and must-haves are a little different. So I've decided to create my own Fall Must-Haves list for fun. You're welcome.<br />
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<b>#1 - The Grey Sweatshirt</b><br />
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By far the most exciting part of Fall for me is the day I get to pull the ole grey sweatshirt back out of the closet. When I was 13 I bought a grey sweatshirt from Walmart for $5 in the boys section. I wore that grey sweatshirt every Fall and Winter until I was 26, when I finally upgraded to a new grey zip up hoodie from Nike.<br />
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Nothing to wear and leaving in 2 minutes? Throw on the grey sweatshirt! Wanna lay on the couch and be lazy? Throw on the grey sweatshirt! Cold? Throw on the grey sweatshirt! It's perfect for every situation.<br />
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<b>#2 - Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix</b><br />
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Ok- I'm not all into the Pumpkin Spiced Latte and pumpkin beer and pumpkin EVERYTHING, but I AM into the Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix. Mix this stuff up for pancakes (my personal preference) and throw some chocolate chips in.... HEAVENLY.<br />
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<b>#3 - Gilmore Girls</b><br />
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Gilmore Girls is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. A lot of the show's episodes were filmed in Fall (it's set in Connecticut) so it just feels right to curl up on the couch and watch episode after episode of it once it's actual Fall. Right now is also the perfect time to watch it as the 4 new episodes come out on Netflix on Thanksgiving weekend!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-NX-hJ62e5I4xgKYFyEwDAlo5LCCeVTLDxEmBTcVVO6U-aalS3V2IAaH7vHm3pyiFZ3EQlBkB-JMV5LhYcnAyZ-9d1vTF-phshRy6yb77rij1x4cXNMyetGJoxZKQiFy0Oyjp2LOCVE/s1600/gilmore+girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-NX-hJ62e5I4xgKYFyEwDAlo5LCCeVTLDxEmBTcVVO6U-aalS3V2IAaH7vHm3pyiFZ3EQlBkB-JMV5LhYcnAyZ-9d1vTF-phshRy6yb77rij1x4cXNMyetGJoxZKQiFy0Oyjp2LOCVE/s400/gilmore+girls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>#4 - Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFviph_PrexCIyTPrk5VjKASB_TJkxUoEf2JxSiTHuGVlP4dgzZgU8nNqMa2JwH0pm8GP1RFV-ToR_am3pbDnvXCKoctfJuJY47xkt0zgmdZhN73fZVq075VI551leGoj9ztul35Fd5UQ/s1600/20111012-Starbucks-SaltedCaramelMocha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFviph_PrexCIyTPrk5VjKASB_TJkxUoEf2JxSiTHuGVlP4dgzZgU8nNqMa2JwH0pm8GP1RFV-ToR_am3pbDnvXCKoctfJuJY47xkt0zgmdZhN73fZVq075VI551leGoj9ztul35Fd5UQ/s320/20111012-Starbucks-SaltedCaramelMocha.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When Starbucks releases their Pumpkin Spiced Latte, most people go nuts. I am not one of those people. I personally think it's kinda nasty. What I DO go nuts over though, is the Salted Caramel Mocha, usually released at the same time as the PSL. Chocolate, caramel, and salt all in one delicious warm cup. Yes, please. This year they have the Salted Caramel Mocha Frappucino. It was just OK, so I'd stick with the hot version if you're going to try it.<br />
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<b>#5 - Capri Blue Volcano Candle</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOwXsRT4_Q_cd4wJG9C9Ta3jKuxK7WyVB0yN1VCZ8UI2L17EJWaRNPlYs-VmZrJgjh13L4kzwrwmEWykgLcmnfM1WfcgebqUaV8zkgoEYXHTTSUm6mbIxXpUy_HLAaqPDKXJ475-SIaU/s1600/candle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOwXsRT4_Q_cd4wJG9C9Ta3jKuxK7WyVB0yN1VCZ8UI2L17EJWaRNPlYs-VmZrJgjh13L4kzwrwmEWykgLcmnfM1WfcgebqUaV8zkgoEYXHTTSUm6mbIxXpUy_HLAaqPDKXJ475-SIaU/s320/candle.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Forget the pumpkin spiced or apple or cinnamon candles. It's all about the Capri Blue Volcano Candle. This is the best candle to ever exist, it smells up your whole house, and it is the perfect background smell for watching football, watching Gilmore Girls, laying on the couch in your grey sweatshirt, or any other Fall activity. When I searched Google for this picture, I found the candle for sale on Amazon and found a review of this candle that is too funny not to share:<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I remember where I was when the smell hit me for the first time: a mere 18-year-old who was lost in the world without a friend, without a purpose, and without a girlfriend. In a world full of uncertainty that one smell became truth to me, and that truth was: this is no ordinary candle.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That candle was Capri Blue’s Volcano, which is one of the greatest creations ever--comparable to mankind, penicillin, and the iPhone.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Since the discovery of smell as a scent, Capri Blue has been mastering the art of good smells that captivate and enslave your nostrils without apology.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Since my first purchase of the candle, my life has started to improve significantly: I have made friends, my grades have improved, my dad finally told me that he is proud of me, and my restraining order from Stacy has been lifted."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> So those are my top 5 Fall Must-Haves. What are yours?<br />
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Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-24673088843755407472016-08-29T12:37:00.000-04:002016-08-29T12:37:25.240-04:00We Bought a House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: start;">Last week we celebrated our 4 year anniversary. In 4 years of marriage we've lived in: 3 cities, 5 apartments, Chuck's sister's basement (for a summer when we moved back from Boston) and now, at last, A HOUSE. We close on it TOMORROW and move in this Saturday!</span></div>
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We have been casually looking at houses on Zillow for probably a year to get an idea of what we like and don't like so when we went out with a realtor to actually look a couple months ago, we knew exactly what we were looking for. Funny enough, the house we bought is not really what we were looking for. But we walked in and fell in love with it and think it's the perfect house for us where we are in our life right now. It's a ranch. It's a new build. It has a finished, walk-out basement. The kitchen is the definition of the Heart Eyes Emoji. The yard is small. There are built in bookshelves. We CAN. NOT. WAIT. to move in and be homeowners for the first time!<br />
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Like I mentioned, we have lived in 5 apartments in our 4 years of marriage. Two in Boston, two in Seattle, and one in Louisville. As we leave apartment life behind, maybe (hopefully?) forever, I thought it would be fun to look back on the apartments we've lived in and some of the ugliness and prettiness that sums up apartment living.<br />
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Our first apartment was in Eastgate, a students only apartment building on MIT's campus. We really wanted to live in Eastgate for our entire time in Boston, but the building is in such high demand we didn't win the apartment lottery and only got to live there for our first summer as we were subletting from someone. You might look at Eastgate in <a href="https://chuckandrachel.blogspot.com/2012/07/eccentricities-of-eastgate.html" target="_blank">this previous post</a> and wonder why we wanted to live there so badly with the 550 square feet, scary hallways, broken ovens and cockroaches. Ask me sometime in person and I'll tell you the difference in rent at Eastgate vs the rest of Boston and you'll understand. Also, the views of the Charles River and Boston were pretty unbeatable and Chuck's walk to class took approximately 30 seconds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbYfosT_P6uqc24lz_8ghlpidlbF_HXiQF14wnKJnE1b6CuTgVHfMrt4rIVkb7DMW_CxyxG2_n40tks34L4g2VpFAvzuqXExEMP4WB6E_pGgqcZMDRYBkgAxSE-aRLTOtRz9QA0pmeDg/s320/ac+unit.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our fancy AC unit in Eastgate</td></tr>
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After one summer at Eastgate, we moved to our <a href="https://chuckandrachel.blogspot.com/2012/09/married-apartment.html" target="_blank">"Married apartment"</a> in Central Square. We loved that apartment. It had the fun speaker system to talk to people at the front door that Chuck would sing into and entertain passerbyers with, a nice kitchen, a parking spot in the garage underneath the building, and some of our friends upstairs and in the buildings next to us. We also had a lady next door who I liked to make up stories about to entertain Chuck with pretty often, including the one time I tried to convince him she had been killed by her creepy cat because a pair of her snow boots sat outside her door untouched for 3 weeks straight.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhya6HoX-r6OU5MNxUUxf7RC0u4TCXDGCXy5UpvlRSrEem1UTZj2mGVRqz_BHfCzQeKhNcKNl10XX6gyQ8m4BdnOGKrSUqr7dLjJeZEO7f91QycRUfeAsEJn-8Acd0n7uLDVo3VnNF_aek/s320/photo%25283%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small but cute!</td></tr>
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In our short 6 month stay in Seattle, we lived in 2 different fully furnished apartments. <a href="https://chuckandrachel.blogspot.com/2013/02/first-impressions.html" target="_blank">The first one</a> we lived in we rented site-unseen. Online it all looked great. In person, while clean and cute, it smelled basement-y, had lumpy floors, had plumbing issues, and no cell service on account of we were in the basement of a house. Also the lady in the conjoined apartment smoked outside her door aka outside our door and the smoke crept into our apartment. Fun times.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMvrclapc9zD9Qg7PmyMLmjTQsIeWpGdCZCv7I6_BvmuUMujmWXRbi7HJbWTxSNIWn3foyzmyS8CRJ0c4zBXLmLpH-QmjZ4EvLTA_mWG4fwFzYdEuMkmRoVzbqCDwj0lLpz8Ipkei_tQ/s320/blogger-image--1076843510.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had to sit in that exact spot on the counter to get cell reception.</td></tr>
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So after about a month, we moved to <a href="https://chuckandrachel.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-new-routine.html" target="_blank">a different fully furnished apartment</a> in a different part of the city where we could walk to work and downtown easily, and most importantly, could talk on our cell phones without having to sit on the kitchen counter. That was an OK apartment. The best things about it were the location and view of the mountains from our living room and kitchen. The worst things about it were the ants we couldn't get rid of and the dogs next door that barked at every sound they heard all day and night. Also we had no AC and with all those windows it got a little toasty in there during the summer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cUCmdL2SHeeFBFz8CSrPudYZrxS6mxiZXn34sSmbBTjxGaf10m1Fd_ImALwe03uvdKgR8V-vTnXZG_8F1V6_BmNZ_Hda9N2GUVqhAoLZg9870-cZGf0GkYcy138TV4WL-11nWULBatE/s320/blogger-image-1456473402.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mountains</td></tr>
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When we moved to Louisville, we chose to live at the Meridian Apartments which were brand new at the time. I've talked all about this apartment before and how wonderful it is. We have granite countertops! The carpet is super soft! Our closets are huge! This apartment has been amazing and I really think we will miss living here but we are also ready for a change of scenery. The past two years have had their ups and downs as you know, and unfortunately now this apartment is associated with those down times. We're hoping to pack up all our belongings and leave any bad juju behind!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdMV6dnu6ssyoIl4lET3bY03bVJikvzod1lyEan7MT5A24H69cjYOYvUBrgSv1Br4EfgdOPqfD13otiSfntwc0Mkl7-VB9qxM6WqQx8pDHRC4tdY1DPYarThOXkQp8t90KeHR14Kr2FlY/s1600/IMG_5571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdMV6dnu6ssyoIl4lET3bY03bVJikvzod1lyEan7MT5A24H69cjYOYvUBrgSv1Br4EfgdOPqfD13otiSfntwc0Mkl7-VB9qxM6WqQx8pDHRC4tdY1DPYarThOXkQp8t90KeHR14Kr2FlY/s320/IMG_5571.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite pic of our Meridian Apartment. So homey!</td></tr>
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All of our apartments have had their pros and cons and while it wasn't always enjoyable sharing a wall with strangers or dealing with ants/cockroaches/dogs/cats, all of these apartments have been special to us in their own unique ways. We are so excited to move and can't wait to see what adventures are ahead for us in our new HOUSE! <br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-17701954153847261772016-08-05T10:48:00.001-04:002016-08-05T10:52:35.856-04:00Current Obsessions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here are some things I'm currently obsessed with that I'd like to share with you so you can be obsessed too.</div>
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<b>Lin-Manuel Miranda's twitter. </b><br />
Lin-Manuel Miranda, better known as the genius behind Hamilton and many other things he did that you had no idea he was involved with (like writing music for the new Star Wars and writing all the music for the next big Disney movie) has a twitter and it is pure gold. He makes references to Harry Potter and Friends regularly (two of my all time favorite things), tweets inspirational messages in the morning and at night, posts hilarious GIFs, and tweets about his current work, his adorable family and of course Hamilton. It's by far my favorite twitter account and he is slowly working his way to the top of the list of my favorite people who I don't actually know in real life.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDyEwtcJz-HpQTjIb1iG8vUo-L-M59d_HApJHdo4TVPX7adc8MHDLD0qeUz5a_lqPvNKSm_Gqt_2NZVjVZwsSDMKoC_phHgyqAzehHWxDcfSgaPx-8FOpgKK8vcQ-PHqLggn-lckMRYyE/s1600/lin+manuel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDyEwtcJz-HpQTjIb1iG8vUo-L-M59d_HApJHdo4TVPX7adc8MHDLD0qeUz5a_lqPvNKSm_Gqt_2NZVjVZwsSDMKoC_phHgyqAzehHWxDcfSgaPx-8FOpgKK8vcQ-PHqLggn-lckMRYyE/s400/lin+manuel.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Ed Sheeran on Amazon Prime Music while hanging around the house.</b><br />
I have listened to Ed Sheeran for awhile now off and on, but recently discovered that his music is perfect for "house background music." You know, music you want on in the background that you don't necessarily want to listen to every song but you just need background noise while you read, clean, cook, or eat? His music is perfect for this.<br />
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<b>Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.</b><br />
New Harry Potter story written as a play. Do I even need to explain why I'm obsessed with this right now? Didn't think so.<br />
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<img height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Harry_Potter_and_the_Cursed_Child_Special_Rehearsal_Edition_Book_Cover.jpg" style="text-align: center;" width="263" /><br />
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<b>Summer Olympics</b><br />
I. LOVE. THE. OLYMPICS. I have no idea why I love them so much, but I do. Especially the summer Olympics. I could honestly watch every sport all day every day for the entire duration of the games but unfortunately I have a job and a life and can't do that. I especially love gymnastics, swimming and track & field. Oh and diving. And the weird synchronized swimming. OH and beach volleyball. Opening Ceremonies are tonight, FYI!<br />
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<img height="266" src="https://synchronizedswimminganalysis.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/1-figure.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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<b>Flavored Water</b><br />
Chuck and I gave up drinking soda almost 5 years ago. While I don't miss it, I do miss a little carbonation every now and then. Several months ago my mom introduced me to the Sparkling Ice flavored waters and now I have an obsession with trying every brand of sparkling flavored water to find the best. I tried the La Croix in several flavors and don't care for them. Last week I bought San Pellegrino Orange flavor and didn't realize that's actually juice and not sparkling water and has 29 grams of sugar. (Why was it in the sparkling water aisle?!) So I'm sticking with the Sparkling Ice Cherry Limeade from this point forward. Until someone releases an article about why THOSE are bad for you too and then it's back to plain old tap water again.<br />
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<b>Laser Tag. </b><br />
Our company had our annual summer staff party earlier this week at Main Event off Blankenbaker. We had 4 hours of unlimited bowling, laser tag, and 2 hours of unlimited arcade games. Chuck was in Heaven. We played only one game of laser tag at the end of the night, and then I was mad at myself for not playing more laser tag earlier in the night. Laser tag is one of those things that is equally fun as an adult as it was as kids. Who wants to go play laser tag ASAP?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcffbHVxgl1YwwFmPO1KQM3XS_5wfh6KFC3Tn_xysdPWnl5fm1Kt_nRWArYlE06KTfMYG7dYsF19jHKlpCVju8SZYuveMi6Rn9AIhIqkK4JjWsJvmPZLvp1jOl4iDON5Gin5NmEPuDRc/s1600/294e24fce8c94136c1c2fee7ff34653d.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZcffbHVxgl1YwwFmPO1KQM3XS_5wfh6KFC3Tn_xysdPWnl5fm1Kt_nRWArYlE06KTfMYG7dYsF19jHKlpCVju8SZYuveMi6Rn9AIhIqkK4JjWsJvmPZLvp1jOl4iDON5Gin5NmEPuDRc/s400/294e24fce8c94136c1c2fee7ff34653d.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Actual picture of me and Chuck playing laser tag together</td></tr>
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<b>Summer</b><br />
I am not typically a summer person. I love fall the most (who doesn't?) because of all the fall things people love- the weather, football games, chili, pumpkin butter, holidays, etc. But this year I've been all about summer. The pool, the lake, watermelon, flip flops, restaurant patios, margaritas, etc. I just can't get enough! I went to Kroger this week and saw they already have Jack-O-Lanterns out front for sale and I cringed. I'm not ready for summer to be over! Stop rushing things, Kroger!<br />
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That's all for now. Everyone have a lovely weekend!<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-19768024675235745332016-07-28T12:34:00.001-04:002016-07-28T12:34:49.141-04:00SummernessRemember when I said the blog would now mostly contain cute pics of our nieces and friends' babies? Well. I'm about to deliver on that promise. <div>
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We've spent the last month enjoying our summer, spending time with friends and family, and traveling. Here's a summary of July in pictures. </div>
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We spent 4th of July in Virginia Beach with Chuck's sister and family. It rained most the time we were there so we made the most of it anytime the sun was out!</div>
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Colonial Williamsburg<br />
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Fireworks on the bay!<br />
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I love how their dog sleeps on the steps.<br />
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We've been trying to utilize our apartment complex pool this summer more than we did last summer. We've spent a lot of Saturdays at the pool and a super fun Friday night pool cookout with friends.<br />
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Chuck's other sister (who lives in Louisville) got a new puppy and he is ADORABLE.<br />
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The whole family got together to celebrate my Grandma's birthday!<br />
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We went to the lake with friends to celebrate Jen's son Brendan turning 13!<br />
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And last but not least, we hung out with this little dude a lot. I CAN'T STAND THE CUTENESS!</div>
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That's all for now. An update on the house hunting process coming soon......</div>
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Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-45605145085841245402016-06-23T12:50:00.000-04:002016-06-23T12:50:43.158-04:00House Hunters: Cummings EditionFor about a year, Chuck and I have been talking about buying a house. When we moved back to Louisville 2 years ago, we weren't ready to think about buying a house yet. There was a lot of change happening all at once and we wanted to get established in a routine again before thinking about settling down in a house. Last summer, we decided to renew our lease for another year. We weren't prepared to make all the decisions that come with home buying and also well, we REALLY love our apartment. It was brand new when we moved into it 2 years ago and because the complex let us pick our layout and then personalize it with paint and light fixtures, it really feels like a home and not a standard, cookie cutter apartment. It has granite counter tops and (faux) wood floors and really soft carpet! We don't have to cut grass or pull weeds, and best of all when the fancy light bulbs in our track lighting go out, we call someone to come replace them! We are so spoiled here.<br />
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So once again we are faced with the "lease renewal" decision and we've decided that we're ready to leave apartment life behind and find a house. I'm extremely excited to start this process but also pretty stressed about it already. You see, while Chuck and I have very similar taste in most everything and agree on what we do and do not want in a house, we have very different approaches when making big purchases.<br />
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When it comes to buying a car or a couch or a headboard for our bed or a TV or anything that comes with a significant cost, on the first day we go shopping for the thing, this is me:<br />
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...except in a slightly less bratty, rude, selfish way. I'm a very impatient shopper. I look around and weigh the options some, but typically when I look at something I know right away if I want to own it or not.<br />
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When Chuck goes looking for the same item, this is him:<br />
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....except he's not an old grandma. But man does that dude love to do some research! He always has an idea of what he wants but he needs time to process, do some research, look at every possible alternative, and make sure he's getting the best deal.<br />
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I think we can all agree that while my way of shopping is way more fun, Chuck's way is way more sensible. The good thing is we know this about each other and are able to compromise. We don't make any impulse buys, but we also don't take 6 months to buy a couch. (Just about 2 months...)<br />
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But you can see where I'm going with this. The two of us house hunting together is probably going to look a lot like me wanting to buy every house right away and Chuck wanting to buy none. We look for the first time this weekend, so I'll report back soon... Wish us luck!<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-69993710414484936522016-06-14T13:58:00.000-04:002016-06-14T13:58:08.541-04:00TMIPretty often in life, a perfect stranger tells me too much information. Sometimes I bring it upon myself by asking, what I think is, a simple question. But sometimes people just blurt things out and I find myself running late to work because the UPS lady wouldn't stop telling me her family history. I'm not sure why people feel comfortable telling me the things they do sometimes, but I think it's an inherited trait. My mom has strangers bypass 100 people to come up to her and ask for directions. HER mom, my grandma, used to spend forever at the grocery because she would talk to people in every aisle, and just when you thought it was over, she'd spend another 15 minutes chatting away the cashier.<br />
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Just for fun, here are some things people have shared with me in recent years.<br />
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Starting with the UPS lady who I mentioned a couple posts ago- I recently went to UPS to ship a birthday gift to one of our nieces in Virginia Beach. When the lady working saw where I was shipping it, she told me she used to live in Virginia Beach. I then made the mistake of asking what brought her to Louisville and she filled me in on her husband's job in the Navy, how old her kids are and what they do for a living, what she loved about Virginia Beach, and every city they lived in before and after Virginia Beach, and finally their ultimate decision to move to Louisville after he retired from the Navy because they wanted to live in the South but be close to her mom in Cleveland because she's old and not in great health but not TOO close because she and her mom have a complicated relationship. Luckily I left before she went into detail about the source of their complicated relationship or I would have been even LATER to work than I already was. <br />
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One time I saw a lady cutting cheese and ham for free samples at Kroger and she was bawling her eyes out. Everyone was ignoring her, so when I walked by I stopped and asked "Are you ok?" She then proceeded to tell me what a jerk her boss was, how mean he was to her, and how she hated her job. I mostly just stood there listening and nodding until she finally stopped crying, thanked me for listening, and gave me some cheese and ham on a cracker.<br />
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One time a doctor I went to and had never met before, told me all about how her boyfriend wouldn't bite the bullet and ask her to marry him and how she couldn't understand what his hesitation was considering they lived together and owned a dog. I also know a lot of personal information about my dental hygienist and dermatologist. <br />
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This story I was reminded of by the recent passing of Muhammad Ali. I was working downtown before we moved to Boston, and I was walking to lunch one day when a guy stopped me and my friend and asked if he could tell us a story. He said he was here for a work trip and had just been at the Muhammad Ali Center by himself wasting a few hours. He said the video at the beginning of the museum ended, the door opened, and Ali himself was wheeled into the room. So he got to meet Ali and have his picture taken with him and he was FREAKING OUT about how cool it was and just had to stop someone and tell them about it. (He showed us the picture too.)<br />
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I get asked for directions all of the time, even when I'm a tourist in another city. I've also been asked for restaurant suggestions, my opinions on hummus in the grocery store, and don't even get me started on dressing room conversations at clothing stores. There are so many more stories and a lot I'm sure I've forgotten. Some I wish I could forget, like the person who told me about her family member's vasectomy. And even though I joke with my friends and family about how annoying it is to constantly be stopped by people or spend way longer in a place than I intended because of these instances, I really don't mind being the random listener or recommendation giver or direction giver. Maybe people think I have a friendly face or I look like I know where I'm going. Maybe when that lady saw me choose my hummus without hesitation she knew she could trust me. Or maybe I just look like a sucker.<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-77733495355021187602016-05-23T12:44:00.000-04:002016-05-23T12:44:02.873-04:00My Mom Took a Skull on an AirplaneIn April our family took a trip to Denver to see Sami and Austin where they moved this past August. It was the first time we've all been on a trip together since Myrtle Beach in 2009! Sami planned out our entire trip and made sure we saw all the best parts of Denver, and also took us outside the city to Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder, and Golden. We had perfect weather the entire trip and we ran our butts off. While the parks and restaurants and sites were all glorious and unforgettable, perhaps more memorable were some of the things that happened just in our Air B&B or in the rented minivan that we all 7 rode around in for the long weekend. (Shout out to Dad who drove the entire time and endured the opinions of 6 backseat drivers!)<br />
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First of all, on Day 1 of the trip, we were exploring the Red Rocks Amphitheatre when my mom got a news alert on her phone. "Prince died!" she told us. We were shocked! You see, the last time we were all on vacation together in the summer of 2009, Michael Jackson died. Our entire beach trip became unintentionally Michael Jackson themed as every radio station played his songs, stores put up tributes to him, TV stations played his videos and movies about him... Well, sure enough, our Denver trip quickly became Prince themed. The minivan bumped "Kiss" and "Party Like it's 1999" that week more times than I want to remember. Now we are worried to go on another vacation all together because it seems every time we do, a pop star dies. And we can't lose Justin Timberlake!<br />
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Another memorable event was on Day 1 when we noticed that the spice cabinet in our Air B&B was meticulously organized, labeled and ALPHABETIZED. The owner of the Air B&B was a 30-40 something year old single male. We became convinced we had a Dexter situation on our hands. Who else is that anal and organized besides a trained, skilled serial killer?<br />
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And speaking of creepy things, I should tell you about the skull. You see, Sami is in Denver to get her Masters in Anthropology. She is an archaeology nerd, so naturally we often buy her things like Laura's most recent Christmas gift, a skull painted with chalkboard paint that is also a piggy bank! When Sami flew back to Denver after Christmas, she didn't have room to take all of her gifts, so my mom made sure to pack the skull with her to bring to Denver. But instead of packing it in her suitcase like most people do when they travel with skulls, she brought it in her carry-on. Imagine the look on the TSA guy's face when he saw this thing go through the scanner at the airport.<br />
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Because Denver is spread out and we visited places outside the city, we spent a LOT of time in the car together. (We flew to Denver, just FYI. That would have been a serious road trip to drive from Louisville.) The time in the car gave lots of great conversations. We learned about how Laura's friends supposedly led "an uprising" against her in the 4th grade and she's still not over it. We discussed Sami's fear of boats and Mom scared her by saying she thinks her fear of water comes from when she was "submerged in ice water as a baby" before her heart surgery, which led Sami to believe she was killed and brought back to life until Dad chimed in with the important detail that just her body was put in the ice water, not her head/face. On the last day, I had an outburst in the backseat when my sisters were trying to convince my dad to stop for restrooms 20 minutes from home. I was arguing that we should not stop so close to home and when they kept trying to overrule me I shouted "I NEVER GOT SWIM LESSONS AS A KID AND YOU TWO DID!" I have no idea how stopping for the bathroom and swim lessons are related, but for some reason I had a middle child moment and needed to know why I was never taught to swim and only taught to float. And now that I'm thinking about it, like Sami I should probably ALSO have a fear of boats because if one I'm on ever sinks, everyone else will swim to safety and I'll just have to float until someone rescues me.<br />
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Austin and Chuck are brave men.<br />
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Besides sight-seeing and riding in the van, we did a lot of other things too. We played a lot of games in bars. (Side note: if you have never played the card game "Exploding Kittens," do yourself a favor and order it on Amazon NOW and play it ASAP.) We walked a LOT and Austin lied to us constantly about how close certain destinations were to keep us from getting discouraged. We ate a ton of good food. We toured a whiskey distillery (because, duh). We climbed a mountain, sort of. We looked for Peyton Manning. We debated the origin of elk (are they a mix between donkey and deer?). We went from place to place with a schedule but also with no real agenda at the same time.<br />
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Of course the mountains were breathtaking and the elk everywhere in the park were amazing and the food was great and getting to see Sami and Austin's new 'hood was fun... but the best thing about the vacation was knowing that our family could go literally anywhere in the world together and have a good time.<br />
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But, unfortunately we'll never get that chance, you know- because of the whole pop star thing.<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-52115745578800481582016-05-17T16:02:00.000-04:002016-05-17T16:02:42.818-04:00Don't Call it a ComebackI miss blogging. I realized this one day recently when I randomly got the urge to blog. I didn't even have an idea of what I wanted to write about, but I just wanted to write something. So here I am. I loved blogging when we were living in Boston and Seattle. It was something fun to do and a fun way to keep everyone at home updated on our adventures in other cities. Now that we're back in Louisville, I see most of my friends and family who read the blog regularly, so I haven't felt the need to keep posting pictures and updates on our life. I also got the feeling no one would really care to read that this weekend, Chuck and I alternated between binge watching Boy Meets World and New Girl episodes. But look at that- here I am telling you anyway!<br />
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I have no idea how often I'll write or what I'll even write about. But to kick things off again, here are some things I may blog about moving forward.<br />
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- The time Kroger moved everything around and I almost had a panic attack.<br />
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- Cute photos of our nieces and our friends' babies.<br />
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- Stories from our Denver trip with the fam including my middle child outburst in the backseat of the minivan, the creepy spice cabinet at our Air B&B, and how my mom took a replica skull through airport security.<br />
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- My quest to become BFFs with the ladies of Hi-Five Doughnuts.<br />
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- Thoughts on the Windows Surface I got through work and how I will escape to Mexico with mine if they ever try to take it away from me.<br />
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- My self-imposed Panera ban and thoughts on hypochondria and how those two things are related.<br />
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- An occasional sappy post about how awesome Chuck is because he's really cool and deserves at LEAST a good blog post every now and then.<br />
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- The mystery surrounding people's constant need to tell me private details about their life when I ask a simple question, or sometimes when I don't ask at all like the UPS lady that told me she moved to Louisville from Virginia Beach because her mother lives in Cleveland so she wanted to be closer but not TOO close, because well, ya know she and her mom have never gotten along that great but now that she's older she really felt she needed to be closer just in case....YA KNOW????<br />
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- Musings on TV shows, recipes, and daily life occurrences.<br />
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- Whatever else life decides to throw at me and Chuck which judging by the last 2 years, could be anything all the way from AMAZING BEST THING EVER to "You thought you had the worst day of your life already but surprise, it's actually today!" (Hopefully more of the former than the latter.)<br />
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Let's do this!<br />
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(Here's a pic of Chuck and his youngest niece at Derby, because I know the cute niece and baby pics are the only reason anyone will look at this blog from this point forward.)<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-61196249592355170042014-08-26T11:04:00.000-04:002014-08-26T11:15:10.427-04:00The Last Three Weeks in BostonChuck graduated from MIT on Friday, June 6th. The three weeks leading up to that day were CRAZY. A lot of "end of the year" activities happened and we were busy non-stop. If we weren't at a school activity, party, dinner with friends or some other fun thing, we were at our apartment trying to pack. Sleep was always the last thing on our list of to-dos.<br />
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Some days we had so many activities, we had to run (or I should say "Uber") back and forth between events. Like the night we went to Sloan Follies because Chuck sang and played with the Rolling Sloans, then went to Fenway Park for a retirement party for Don Rosenfield, the LGO director and then back to Sloan Follies because Chuck had to sing with the a capella group. Phew. I'm exhausted by it all over again just thinking about it!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the room where Don's retirement party was held.</td></tr>
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While the rest of the MBA class flew to the British Virgin Islands for a graduation trip, we flew to Louisville over Memorial Day weekend for my cousin's wedding and our friends Shane and Liz's wedding shower and bachelor/bachelorette parties. My cousin's wedding was AMAZING. Most of us cried through the entire ceremony because it was so sweet and then the reception was awesome too.<br />
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As Matron of Honor, I was in charge of the planning for Liz's bachelorette party and had to plan most of it from Boston. Thank God for my sisters and cousins who helped me pull it off! That weekend was way too much fun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liz's parents and mother-in-law accidentally crashed a part of the evening. So we took a picture with them.</td></tr>
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When we got back to Boston, I finished up my last week of work and that's when the lack of sleep really began. Chuck's dad came in that Sunday to stay a night and then head to Foxwoods for a few days. My sister and her boyfriend Austin arrived in Boston Monday to spend the week sight-seeing and exploring both with us and on their own in the city. Tuesday we got a break from driving to the airport, but Wednesday we were right back there to get Chuck's mom and sisters, and on Thursday we picked up my parents, Laura and my Grandma!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Gold at some Sloan party on the Harbor.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My last sailboat picture. :(</td></tr>
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Besides the actual graduation on Friday, Thursday of that week might have been my favorite day. During the day, Sloan held a convocation just for Sloan graduates (the graduation Friday was for ALL MIT students- undergrad, graduate, etc.) at a theater in downtown Boston. The Dean spoke, a student speaker gave a speech that made everyone laugh and cry and want to change their lives, and there was pretty music.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chuck and his classmate/friend Marcus</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfie in the T station</td></tr>
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After the convocation, we ran back by our apartment for a short bit before heading back into downtown Boston to the Prudential Center to go to a Sloan reception at the top of the Pru. Besides the top floor of Eastgate apartments, the top of the Pru offers some of the best views of Boston. It had been raining all day so I didn't get many good pictures, but did snap one of MIT's campus from the top.<br />
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Like all good Sloan events, there was tons of free food and of course, drinks. Oh and this sweet ice sculpture.<br />
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After the event at the PRU around 10:30 (told you, sleep was always last) we headed to one of our most frequented spots in Cambridge, the Asgard. On Thursday nights they always have live band karaoke. So naturally we had all of our visiting family meet us up there where we caught up on our day and enjoyed some karaoke. Of course we participated, too.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the siblings!</td></tr>
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Around 2 am when the restaurant closed, our ginormous group wreaked havoc on the streets as our family felt inspired to create the human MIT and then human LGO in the middle of Central Square.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, that's my Grandma- enjoying watching our crazy antics at 2 in the morning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't stop laughing at Austin as the L.</td></tr>
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Then we walked home and quick anecdote:I decided to take my shoes off and walk barefoot through Central Square and then spent the following 3 days convinced I had contracted a disease from it. I do not advise walking through Central Square barefoot, ever. I think Chuck and I finally crawled into bed around 3am and set our alarms for 6am because he had to be somewhere a little after 7 to get in line for Commencement. </div>
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I'd say we made the most of our time in Boston in the final weeks.<br />
<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-82757323921415586242014-08-21T08:46:00.000-04:002014-08-21T08:46:31.241-04:00Reverse Bucket List***<i>I wrote this post on May 1 and intended to post it sometime towards the end of our time in Boston, but obviously never got around to it. So here it is now, just for fun. </i><br />
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I just invented the term Reverse Bucket List.<br />
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Moving to Boston for MIT was an amazing decision and experience for us for several reasons. Yes the two degrees Chuck will have soon are awesome. Yes the people we've met are wonderful. But on par with those two things I'd say are the experiences we've had just by living in two different parts of the country. Chuck and I were both born and raised in Kentucky and while we had both traveled some before we moved to Boston, the amount of traveling we've done in the past two years is more than we've done in our entire lives. I tried to count the number of plane rides we've taken and can't because it's so many. I've tried to come up with a list of all the cities we visited and can't, because it's too many to remember. So what I did come up with was a list of basically "things we probably never would have done in our lifetime but did because of where we lived." It's almost like a Bucket List, except written AFTER the fact. Hence: the Reverse Bucket List. <br />
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So here's the list: Things We Probably/Maybe Never Would Have Done But Did.<br />
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- Skipped rocks on Lake Champlain <br />
- Ate lobster rolls in Maine<br />
- Practiced dunking at the Basketball Hall of Fame <br />
- Fed horses at a farm in New Hampshire<br />
- Drove the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler, Canada<br />
- Went to a beer festival in Portland, Oregon<br />
- Listened to live music in the park underneath the Space Needle<br />
- Took jumping pictures in the middle of the Badlands in South Dakota<br />
- Cheered the Red Sox on at Fenway Park in the same season they won the World Series<br />
- Saw the Battle of Little Big Horn site, Mt. Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse monument all in the same day.<br />
- Hiked on Mt. Rainier<br />
- Took our car on a ferry to the San Juan Islands<br />
- Rode bikes around Stanley Park in Vancouver... twice.<br />
- Visited NYC twice in the same month.<br />
- Went white water rafting on a river in Washington State. (Chuck, not me. No thanks.)<br />
- Had Easter Brunch on a boat on Lake Washington<br />
- Toured the Vanderbilt family summer "cottages" in Newport, RI.<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-14017626141139026382014-08-16T13:01:00.001-04:002014-08-16T13:01:23.898-04:00Life happenedWell. It's been 3 months since my last blog post and I have no other excuse besides I've been busy living life. Not that I wasn't living life the past two years, but I at least had 30 minutes every now and then to sit down and write a blog post. It may sound crazy and you may be thinking "yeah right" when I say this- but I honestly have not had a free 30 minutes to sit and blog since my last post. Our lives amped up that weekend and have only just begun to slow down a little.<br />
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Here is a recap of what we've been up to since May 17th.<br />
- My cousin's wedding in Louisville<br />
- Elizabeth and Shane's wedding shower and bachelor/bachelorette parties<br />
- Final celebrations and end of school events at MIT<br />
- We hosted our entire families in Boston<br />
- Chuck graduated (I don't think he and I slept more than 4 hours a night the entire week of his graduation)<br />
- Chuck was in a wedding for our friends Clayton and Christen on the Cape<br />
- We road tripped to Louisville with our UHAUL, Chuck's parents and my sisters<br />
- My BFF Elizabeth and Shane got hitched and we were both in the wedding<br />
- I flew to Minnesota for my best friend Lauren's bachelorette weekend (and made $1800 in Delta travel vouchers from taking later flights both on the way there and the way home. Cha-ching!)<br />
- We drove to West Virginia for Chuck's classmate's wedding and stayed at a resort all weekend<br />
- We spent 4th of July with family and at the Lake<br />
- We drove to Minnesota for Lauren's wedding, which I was in<br />
- We took a vacation to Playa del Carmen for our delayed honeymoon/yay Chuck graduated/we better take a vacation before we start working again<br />
- We finally moved into our new apartment and got settled<br />
- Chuck started work at Amazon<br />
- I interviewed for jobs and recently accepted an offer <br />
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Add on top of all those things: cookouts with family, dinner dates with friends, church, church meetings, shopping for things for our apartment, setting up insurance, cable and electric, Gamenight friends events, and probably a bunch of other stuff, and that's been our summer.<br />
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I begin work on Monday and hopefully we will FINALLY have our new routine in place. As a person who thrives off itineraries and lists, I am pretty excited to get into a routine again. Not to take away from our summer of craziness though- it was the best summer ever.<br />
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Hopefully over time I can share some pictures with you of all of our summer fun. For now, I will leave you with a few pictures from our resort in Mexico, where I daydream about at least once a day.<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-47575875804739576522014-05-17T14:03:00.002-04:002014-05-17T14:03:33.671-04:00Family GraduationsLast weekend I took a quick 48 hour trip to Kentucky for my little sister's college graduation. Unfortunately, Chuck had a class presentation to attend from 9-4 on the same day of the graduation, so he couldn't make the trip with me. So Friday morning, I caught a flight to Louisville for a very short, very busy weekend.<br />
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Saturday we were up bright and early for a full day of graduation fun, but not just for my little sis! My cousin Ethan graduated from UofL that morning. My cousin Caitlin graduated from UK (in the same ceremony as Sami!), and Sami's boyfriend Austin graduated with his Master's from UK that morning. So many graduates! So many smart people to celebrate in one day!<br />
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We started the day in downtown Louisville at Ethan's graduation. I was so happy it worked out that I could be home for Ethan's graduation too. I'm so proud of you, Eth! You're da bomb!<br />
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There he goes! <br />
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Oh and there goes Russdiculous! <br />
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Chuckie made it to Kentucky with me, kind of! <br />
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Our bros<br />
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Proud parents<br />
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Proud girlfriend<br />
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Afterwards, we got on the road and headed for Lexington. Once there, we met up with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and their grandma and grandpa for a late lunch/early dinner at a popular steakhouse in Lexington.<br />
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The graduation started at 6pm, and ended 1 box of popcorn, a bag of M&M's, 6 dead iPhones and 2.5 hours later.<br />
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Sami and Caitlin got to sit together and walk across the stage back to back since they were both graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences.<br />
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There they go! <br />
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Sami and Cailtin- UK is probably really sad to see you go and the real world is really happy to see you join it. :) I love you both and am so proud of you!<br />
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Proud family <br />
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Proud parents <br />
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Proud sisters <br />
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Proud boyfriend <br />
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Oh and we later made Austin put his cap, gown and hood on so we could get some pictures of him and Sami in their gowns together. :) <br />
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No big event in the family is complete without the 5 Hagan Girls and Chuckie picture. Not quite the same as having the real Chuckie in the picture but the sentiment is still there. :)<br />
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Of course, the celebration didn't end once the graduation ceremony was over. We made a
stop at Graeter's for some ice cream, a liquor store for some celebratory drinks and then our parents' hotel room
for an after party, before going back to Sami's and crashing from a long and exhausting day.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgt2FVJh7G7jxnPQFhMI_ZCDu4ZbSH8GeQ6GSfY3XqhQmo4BBCTvN-24dxET6X0fiMuB6Bs_CPoa2wBgiCqkSKg1uIYLycsuIoYeH0nXJfR7Iiybw5e0l4mnNnM3iygkGp0AEDsaMyoI/s1600/photo+4%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgt2FVJh7G7jxnPQFhMI_ZCDu4ZbSH8GeQ6GSfY3XqhQmo4BBCTvN-24dxET6X0fiMuB6Bs_CPoa2wBgiCqkSKg1uIYLycsuIoYeH0nXJfR7Iiybw5e0l4mnNnM3iygkGp0AEDsaMyoI/s1600/photo+4%25282%2529.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uncle Tony carried Chuckie around for a little bit.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Sunday morning we had a Mother's Day breakfast, I helped Sami pack up her car since she was moving out later that day, and then mom drove me straight back to the Louisville airport to head back to Boston. The weekend was short and sweet and tiring as I knew it would be, but I couldn't miss my little sister's college graduation. I only wish my other half could have made the trip with me. He hated missing all of the graduations but I hope the graduates know he was there in spirit and was thinking about all of you all day! He probably felt like he was there all day too considering all the pictures I was sending him. :)<br />
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Chuckie and I head to Louisville again next weekend, Memorial Day, for my other bro, Aaron's, wedding (yay!!!) and some Liz and Shane wedding shower and bachelor/bachelorette party fun! Wedding season is upon us!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3Aq1FI3ZJ6FY6ZdFesNIPI6Qu4inP5FzXo5TGc3kiU_KyY1PZt-NanRVvr0EsgYY49UwEoQeNLDPJ73zVLKvUDmWO1K9aL7hM98WL68wM0gY4fAqMidRtiGcULv7jkQnD0Jhaa1pOQY/s1600/photo+2%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3Aq1FI3ZJ6FY6ZdFesNIPI6Qu4inP5FzXo5TGc3kiU_KyY1PZt-NanRVvr0EsgYY49UwEoQeNLDPJ73zVLKvUDmWO1K9aL7hM98WL68wM0gY4fAqMidRtiGcULv7jkQnD0Jhaa1pOQY/s1600/photo+2%25284%2529.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm gonna go graduate now. But first? Lemme take a selfie"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-80481415810412483012014-05-14T11:51:00.002-04:002014-05-14T11:51:41.637-04:00Spring GalaOn Saturday, May 3rd we went down to Newport, Rhode Island for the Sloan Spring Gala. Every year, Sloan hosts two formals- Fall Ball and Spring Gala. We haven't made it to any of the other formals, so made a point to get tickets for the Spring Gala this year, our last chance to get all fancy with our Sloan/LGO friends. <br />
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We drove down to Newport Saturday morning with our friends Brittany and Marcus. We stopped for lunch and then toured one of the Newport Mansions, The Breakers. If you don't know (which I didn't before doing a lot of research), the Newport Mansions are the former summer homes of some of America's richest families in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Several of them were built and owned by members of the Vanderbilt family. They were all similar to the Biltmore, but smaller.<br />
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Still, the mansions were ridiculously huge, especially considering the families only spent 3 months out of the entire year living in them! They didn't allow any pictures inside any the mansions (during tours), and people were watching us like hawks so unfortunately I only have outdoor pictures.<br />
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The back of The Breakers<br />
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After our tour, we found a liquor store to get the fixins for Mint Juleps, since it was Derby Day in Kentucky after all, then headed to the hotel to watch some Derby coverage and get ready for the Gala.<br />
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That evening, it was finally time for the Gala! The Gala was held at the Rosecliff Mansion, and it was beautiful.<br />
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Is this real life? <br />
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We took a ton of pictures, enjoyed a cocktail hour on the back porch and in the yard, and then had an amazing dinner in big tents on the lawn. I felt like we were at a party in The Great Gatsby, except our party was a lot more tame and not quite as lavish... <br />
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After dinner, there was of course dessert, and then a DJ and a dance party. It was packed, really hot, and really fun.<br />
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This picture is crazy. Our friends Jan and Orion are partially disappearing from the picture Back To The Future-style! (They're glasses and hats were green, so disappeared with the green screen behind them.)<br />
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The LGOs at Spring Gala!<br />
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The next day, we slept in a little and then went to a late brunch, accidentally happened upon a parade, and then toured one more mansion, Marblehead, before heading back to Boston.<br />
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The mansions were incredible and the self-guided tours were great. I wish we had more time to go back to Newport and do more tours or spend more time exploring the town. It seemed like a really fun place with a lot more to see and do! It was also fun to learn some history and Chuck and I may or may not have developed a small obsession with the Vanderbilt family and watched a documentary on the family and read a ton of Wikipedia later after we got home. Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-9443231425065860432014-05-08T11:22:00.000-04:002014-05-08T11:22:29.732-04:00The Last C-Function: USA! USA! I've written about C-Functions on the blog before but in case you forgot- these are the "Cultural Functions" held on Thursdays throughout the school year for Sloan students by Sloan students. A different club or group hosts each one and picks the theme (Korean, Brazilian, Chinese, etc) and then plans entertainment, food, music, etc. for the evening. We've been to some pretty great C-Functions in the past 2 years, but last week's was BY FAR the best. It was USA themed and hosted by the one and only LGO! <br />
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The LGOs did an amazing job with the night. The food, the decorations, the entertainment, and the music were all perfect. Everyone dressed in their best patriotic outfits and wore their MIT USA swag that was sold throughout the week.... We ate, we drank, we danced, and then we went out for an after party and closed down a bar even though many of us had to be at work the next morning or some, on an airplane at 7am, because... YOLO? <br />
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My favorite part of the evening was when the Rolling Sloans performed a few songs. The band was SO good and I'm not just saying that because my husband happened to be the bass player... :) <br />
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Here are the pictures. They mostly speak for themselves.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDTNSuJwUIxGJar17nRGtvydcCAkuKy0DAWDeMIn4bMO6O1sAALMcXQWzNJ7b_N9geTdPjASjYLZeUS6eV-MMCthghaNeHiOZFSuN6e9UqgDkJbkBUW2jZFbCXgfN-8VSpJro8JEkP64/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDTNSuJwUIxGJar17nRGtvydcCAkuKy0DAWDeMIn4bMO6O1sAALMcXQWzNJ7b_N9geTdPjASjYLZeUS6eV-MMCthghaNeHiOZFSuN6e9UqgDkJbkBUW2jZFbCXgfN-8VSpJro8JEkP64/s1600/photo.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ana takes themes very seriously.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our hosts for the evening- Andrew and JS</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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At one point there was a push up contest- first the women and then the men. It should be noted that the man in the French Fries costume won the men's competition. And yes, he did his push-ups while wearing the costume.</div>
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MIT's undergrad breakdancing club performed.<br />
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The band!<br />
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My dude.<br />
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I took a selfie with him. While he was playing.<br />
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LGO FOREVER<br />
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Chuck and Captain America AKA Dan at the after party.<br />
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If you couldn't tell... a good time was had by all.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-37350254137081121992014-05-01T09:36:00.001-04:002014-05-01T09:36:27.350-04:00Boston Marathon 2014On the Monday Pat was here visiting, Chuck and I both had off from work/school because it was Marathon Monday. For my Kentucky friends: imagine Oaks Day in Louisville. That is kind of like Marathon Monday here. Schools are closed, most people have off work (and if they don't, they're probably "sick" that day) and everyone is out doing SOMETHING, whether they are at the main event or not.<br />
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Boston's weather hasn't really gotten nice yet, but on Marathon Monday this year, it was perfect. High 60s and sunny all day. As you'll see from my pictures in a second, Boston was really showing off. We couldn't have wished for better weather to be outside in all day. Chuckie, Pat and I got up early and walked from our apartment over the bridge into Boston to find a spot on the race route. We tried to time it so we would get to the route before the elite runners ran past, and we timed it perfectly. We found a not-so-busy spot on the route right at the "1K to go!" point.<br />
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We saw all of the elite runners come past except for the wheelchair leaders who had already passed. First were the women.<br />
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Rita Jeptoo- who set the course record for women with her win!<br />
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Meb Keflezighi (yes I had to look up that last name)- the winner of the men's race and also the first American to win since 1983! USA! USA!<br />
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We stuck around a little while longer, tried to find some friends we knew were nearby but failed, and then decided to walk towards the finish line. Once we got through the checkpoint to get on Newbury Street (the road parallel to Boylston/Finish Line), we found that the area around the Finish Line had reached capacity, so they weren't letting anyone else in that area. So we walked Newbury Street, got a cupcake at Georgetown Cupcake, and then continued all the way to the Boston Public Garden to start the search for a lunch spot.<br />
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We cut through the Common which we found was also runner headquarters. Hundreds of runners who had finished the race at that point were all over the grass in the Common. They all looked exhausted and most of them had their shoes and socks off, just letting their feet breathe. I wanted to congratulate every single one of them but then we never would have had lunch, so I resisted.<br />
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We walked and walked and walked, and eventually ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe near Faneuil Hall because there was no wait and we could sit outside.<br />
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It was so awesome to see thousands of people limping all over the city throughout the day with their medals hanging proudly from their necks. I seriously admire anyone who can run a marathon, or even a mini marathon for that matter. I can barely run 1 mile, so to run 26.2 and still be out walking around, eating lunch, shopping... well that's just amazing to me.<br />
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The Marathon was basically perfect this year which is what I think everyone needed and hoped for after last year. It was awesome to get to be a part of it and witness something that is such a big part of Boston's history and culture!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-48666637136574317902014-04-29T10:17:00.001-04:002014-04-29T10:17:28.698-04:00We Heart VermontLast weekend, Chuck's mom, Pat, came up to visit us in Boston. Like my parents, she had come to see us in Seattle but hadn't spent much time with us exploring Boston/the Northeast. She arrived on Friday and we did the typical North End dinner and pastries that we always do with our visitors.<br />
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Saturday morning we started a weekend road trip- beginning with Salem, MA and ending up in Burlington, VT.<br />
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In Salem, we explored the town, took a history tour (which became a private tour when we were the only people signed up for it), and ate lunch on the water. It was cool to hear the history of Salem and learn new things about the town, but he didn't really talk about witches enough for our taste. We wanted to hear the juicy stories! Oh well. We saw a lot of cool landmarks, including the hall where they filmed a major scene from everyone's favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus. We saw real historical landmarks too of course, like one of the oldest remaining houses in the U.S. and the second oldest cemetery.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hocus Pocus shooting location- where Bette Midler sings "I Put a Spell On You"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2BM0Verp5UoYFRD7vSr6ps4Nrl6qu-KyCrkPCvCR5ZtObv7WD9UpnIg1gMBDaMMfxehvcvnzOiqJm97wXi8f8HoewHh6lEyW0XbAOSNwknF-2PsySIsDOYOTEn2pI5BASGnNOKmfG3Y/s1600/photo(12).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2BM0Verp5UoYFRD7vSr6ps4Nrl6qu-KyCrkPCvCR5ZtObv7WD9UpnIg1gMBDaMMfxehvcvnzOiqJm97wXi8f8HoewHh6lEyW0XbAOSNwknF-2PsySIsDOYOTEn2pI5BASGnNOKmfG3Y/s1600/photo(12).JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I want this house.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from lunch</td></tr>
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After Salem, we drove to Vermont towards Burlington and took a little scenic detour along the way. Vermont is famous for it's old covered bridges, so we looked on a map and tried to find some that weren't too far off the beaten path. While searching, we also found there was a place called Quechee Gorge, aka Vermont's Little Grand Canyon. So obviously we decided we had to see it. <br />
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The best way to see it is from a bridge, and we found it was pretty freezing when we stood out on the bridge. So we snapped a couple pictures and ran back to the car. Picture Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon. That was us.<br />
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Then we found some of the covered bridges. This red one was my favorite.<br />
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Finally we made it to our hotel outside Burlington, and after checking in we decided to drive into town to find Church Street. First we stopped at Lake Champlain to snap some pictures because the sun was setting and it looked really pretty.<br />
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It reminded me a lot of Puget Sound in Seattle and for a second I missed living in Seattle and also thought about moving to Vermont.<br />
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After the lake, we walked around Church Street for a little while but most places were closing and it was kind of chilly, so after about an hour we left. We found a Texas Roadhouse right by our hotel, so of course we had to eat there. :) It was great, as always.<br />
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Sunday was Easter, so we headed into Burlington again for an Easter Brunch at a place called the Bluebird Tavern. It was delicious.<br />
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After brunch we walked Church Street again and got some truffles from the famous Lake Champlain Chocolates.<br />
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We then decided to go on another scenic drive, this time to a little island in the middle of Lake Champlain. We found a state park and got some pictures of the lake from a campsite within the park.<br />
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Before heading back to Boston, we made one last stop- at the Magic Hat Brewery just south of Burlington. Our tour guide asked why the 7-8 of us on the tour were touring a brewery and drinking beer on Easter, to which we responded "why not?" The tour was short and sweet and at the end we got to do a free tasting. Magic Hat isn't my favorite beer but we all found one or two that we liked. <br />
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And with that we ended our trip and headed south to Boston! We love Vermont a lot and I wish we had explored more of the state in our time here. I guess we will just have to come back someday for a vacation! Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-40421090297960837692014-04-17T11:46:00.000-04:002014-04-17T11:52:13.432-04:00Parents' visit and the Party TrolleyThings are getting crazy around here. Between school, work, dinner dates, bridal showers, birthday parties, karaoke, seeing a friends' play, staying out drinking margaritas on a Wednesday night until 1 am because "soon we won't be able to see each other," etc etc- we've been non-stop busy lately. So, I'm a bit behind on posting about my parents' visit to Boston but, better late than never, right?<br />
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Two weekends ago, my parents came to see us! They visited us in Seattle last year and are coming up for Chuck's graduation (just for a couple of days) in June, but they haven't had a chance to just see our place and life in Boston and explore the city. They figured they better come see us before we leave Boston, which is less than two months from now. (Cue: mixed feelings of sadness and joy.)<br />
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They arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and while I was at work, Chuck took them to explore Harvard and HBS. My mom wanted to see my Grandpa's dorm where he lived as an HBS student back in the 1930s/40s. I met them after work at our old stand-by, Border Cafe. We had some margaritas, dinner and then just made our way home to relax the rest of the night.<br />
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On Thursday they drove to Western Mass to visit my aunt and uncle all day and that night we had sushi at Thelonius Monkfish in Central Square. I have walked past this restaurant for almost 2 years and never gone inside and found now that was a huge mistake. We've been missing out on amazing sushi less than 2 blocks from our apartment. Booooo.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We taught my parents how to play Pandemic. We're obsessed. </td></tr>
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Friday my parents and I explored the city and walked about 50 miles. Not really but it felt like it. We walked down Newbury Street, Boylston Street, bought lunch at a food truck parked right next to the Boston Marathon Finish Line, wandered into an old church and happened upon an organ concert which we proceeded to sit and listen to, walked through the Boston Public Garden, Beacon Hill, found Acorn Street- the most photographed street in America, and watched opening ceremonies of the first Red Sox home game at the Beantown Pub while we enjoy Sam Adams and pretzels. And that was all before 4pm.<br />
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That night we made our way to the North End for Italian food and Mike's Pastry. Late that night, my parents went to bed and Chuckie and I walked next door to the infamous "3 Class Party" at Fort Awesome. It is the only time every year where all 3 LGO classes (the 2nd and 1st years, as well as the incoming class who is in town for Open House weekend) are in town at the same time. So obviously, they throw a huge party. And obviously they have a flip cup tournament between the classes to determine who is the best class and OBVIOUSLY the LGO '14s won because they're the best. And obviously I'm biased. Sorry!<br />
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Saturday morning we woke up bright and early (my parents, well rested, Chuck and I- not so much) and headed for the Sam Adams Brewery tour in South Boston. This was definitely the highlight of my parents' trip and of my life. Just kidding, kind of. The tour is free, and pretty short, and at the end they do a tasting and teach you about the different beers. Our tour guide was hilarious and kind of a smart ass, which made the tour a lot more fun. During the tasting, someone asked him how many beers he drinks a day to which he replied "That's rude. I don't come to YOUR work and ask you how many beers YOU drink a day." Our guide then advised us to take the "Party Trolley" to Doyle's for lunch. My friend Ana had told me that the party trolley was a must, so we decided to go for it. And I'm SO glad we did. Let me set the scene for you: a party trolley with flashing lights, a disco ball and loud pop music, being driven by a possible ex-convict who has the best legit Boston accent you've ever heard who also happens to be hilarious. It was seriously the best 10 minutes of my parents' trip. And then he dropped us at Doyle's where we had the most delicious onion rings I've ever tasted and a tasty lunch and of course, more Sam Adams.<br />
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I'm starting to feel like I could have written a much shorter blog post about their visit in just two sentences: "My parents came to see us in Boston. We drank."<br />
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After our amazing, life-changing morning, we went to Fenway to walk around and take pictures and observe the atmosphere of Fenway right before a game. Then, we were tired. So we went home, made a Trader Joe's run, and then spent the evening at home watching the Final Four games and stuffing ourselves with cheese and grapes and chips and salsa and WATER.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy tried to be nice and duck under the camera so he wasn't in our picture.</td></tr>
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I feel like my parents had a great trip and got a very accurate view of life in Boston: lots of walking, lots of eating, lots of Boston accents, and lots of drinking. Yep. That's pretty much what it's like here.<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-84943965510667932672014-04-02T10:08:00.001-04:002014-04-02T10:08:28.500-04:00Spring Break Last week was Chuck's spring break. We decided a few weeks back that we wanted to get out of the city for the week and go South, hopefully to somewhere a little warmer. So, we did go South but unfortunately it wasn't any warmer than it was in Boston. But that's ok. We had fun anyway.<br />
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The first weekend of the break, we drove down to D.C. which is only about a 6.5-7 hour drive. (I know 7 hours is a lot but after driving from Seattle to Boston, 7 hours is like a piece of cake to us.) We stayed Saturday-Monday, left our car parked the entire time and used the Metro and our feet to get us everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE.<br />
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Day 1:<br />
The Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.<br />
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After the monuments, we were starving and wanted to watch some basketball games, so we headed to a restaurant in Chinatown called the Redline which someone had recommended to us. The atmosphere was really cool and there were huge TVs everywhere, but it took so long for them to seat us that by the time we got a table, the restaurant had turned into a club and we were pretty much the only people ordering food. Oh and people were dancing all around us and the bouncer stood right next to our table and kept leaning over me to look out the window. Awesome. We were mad at first but then we just had to laugh. It was pretty ridiculous.<br />
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Day 2: <br />We hit a few of the Smithsonian museums, walked around the Capitol, ate lunch at a hole in the wall place with the locals, walked to the Jefferson Memorial, hit a another museum, and then ate dinner at a place in Arlington called "Ray's the Steaks"- a place our friends and former D.C. residents had recommended as the best place to get an inexpensive steak dinner in the city. They were right. It was so. good. <br />
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Oh yeah- forgot to mention. I'm obsessed with the Metro. It made me never want to ride the subway in Boston or NYC again.<br />
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Day 3:<br />
We got to the Capitol bright and early (seems everyone else had the same idea) to try to get on a tour of the inside, took a tour of the inside, got passes to go into the gallery to watch the House in session (which lasted 5 minutes and not a single representative was present...), visited the Library of Congress and then last but certainly not least, stopped by the original Georgetown Cupcake to get some treats to take to our next stop- Virginia Beach.<br />
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Monday afternoon we drove 3ish hours from D.C. to Virginia Beach to spend the rest of the week with Chuck's sister Shawn and her family. This was our 3rd time in Virginia Beach in 7 months. It's starting to feel like our second (third?) home.<br />
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I hardly took any pictures because most of the time we were just doing normal family things. We ate dinner together every night, Chuckie and I took lunch to the girls at school and ate with them in the cafeteria, we played Wii, we played Chess and Scrabble and Clue, we went to the park, we took Caroline to praise team rehearsal at church..... We really tried to take advantage of the fact that they still want to hang out with us and think we're cool. Soon they'll be teenagers and probably think we're boring old people!<br />
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On our own, we saw Divergent at the movie theater, walked the mall, had lunch on the beach and then walked the beach even though it was pretty cold, visited a historic house, the deWitt Cottage, on VA Beach that was owned by one of my Grandpa's cousins (and visited by my Grandpa as a kid) and is now the oldest remaining house on the waterfront, became regulars at the Starbucks up the street from Shawn's house, did crossword puzzles, drove to Norfolk and ate lunch and watched a glass blowing class... On our last night in town, the girls had a sitter and the adults went to a local brewery and then a Cuban restaurant. It was the perfect ending to a great vacation!<br />
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Oh. And I may have spoiled the family dog, Zoe, a bit much while we were there. This is how she started greeting me in the mornings when I got out of bed. Ready in position for me to rub her belly. <br />
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Overall it was an awesome trip. My only regret, now that I've gone back through pictures, is that we didn't get any pictures of us with the nieces. I guess this just means we'll have to go back to VA Beach sooner rather than later! :)<br />
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<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-14211007493710248722014-03-21T09:42:00.000-04:002014-03-21T09:43:01.930-04:00NYC, y'all<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This past weekend, the sisters, Chuckie and I traveled down to NYC. I had a very strict and packed itinerary planned out for us and we followed it pretty well, but unfortunately weren't able to fit EVERYTHING in... There was just too much to do.<br />
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Saturday morning started at the World Trade Center Memorial. The weather was gorgeous, so the memorial had a long line and a big crowd inside. <br />
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After the memorial, we headed north to the High Line- a park made from an old, abandoned railroad track. If you're in NYC and looking for a place to just walk and get some good pictures of a different part of town, this is the spot. </div>
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At the High Line, we met up with our cousin Megan and her boyfriend G who drove in from New Jersey to hang out with us. The 6 of us drove from the High Line to our hotel near Central Park for a little pregaming and UofL game watching before our dinner reservations. We played the game Heads Up on the iPhone and laughed a lot.<br />
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Dinner that night was at PJ Clarke's- an American restaurant across the street from the Lincoln Center. I'd highly recommend this place to anyone looking for relatively decent dinner prices and a view.<br />
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Once dinner was over we cabbed it to Times Square, mostly for photo ops and people watching.<br />
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Oh and we had a good time photobombing just about everyone around us for 15-20 minutes. Some people are going to get some nice surprises when they get home and look at their pictures up close. :)<br />
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After a lot of photobombing, we made our way to McGee's Irish Pub. It was inspiration for the bar MacLaren's on How I Met Your Mother (one of our favorite shows) and the cast of the show has been known to make appearances from time to time. As an added bonus, the pub is Irish and it was St. Patrick's weekend, and also the bar was 3 blocks from our hotel. Sadly, we didn't run into Neil Patrick Harris, but we did rack up a large bill and played more Heads Up and laughed a LOT more. (Yes we played a game at a table in the middle of the bar and yes people stared at us and no we did not care.) <br />
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Sunday morning we were all miraculously feeling great, (I said it was a birthday miracle!) so after some showers and checking out of the hotel, we got Starbucks and walked around Central Park.<br />
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Next we were back in a cab heading south to meet some other cousins for brunch at Baracca's. The food was delicious, the Bottomless Sangria brunch deal was fun, and our company was great. <br />
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After brunch we headed to the Met- Sami's one and only wish for our NYC to-do list. We basically ran from gallery to gallery and decided the Met needs a whole weekend to itself to properly see everything and in a way you're not just running past it. But what we did see was awesome. Who isn't impressed by standing a foot in front of an actual Monet?<br />
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After the Met we went on a hunt for ice cream, which proved impossible as it was after 5 pm on Sunday and apparently no one serves ice cream (at least not where we were) after 5pm. So we decided to start the drive back to Boston and look for ice cream on the way home. After 2 hours of driving and no ice cream, we caved and stopped at a McDonald's for some McFlurries and milkshakes. It wasn't quite what we had in mind but, desperate times call for desperate measures.<br />
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Monday was St. Patrick's Day. We slept in a little, watched some TV, and left the house in time to have lunch at Border Cafe in Harvard Square. Yep, we had Mexican food on an Irish holiday. Then we spent the afternoon shopping in Harvard Square, playing Scrabble in a Starbucks (because why not?) and mostly just chilling. We redeemed ourselves later that night and made our Irish ancestors proud- we had drinks at an Irish restaurant followed by dinner. Oh and we had birthday cupcakes. <br />
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That night we watched The Departed and then just like that the trip was over. :( I think we made the most of our time in NYC and we especially loved getting
to spend some time with cousins we don't get to see a whole lot. <br />
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Highlights of the trip (besides all the sight-seeing and food):<br />
- Laura, Sami, Megan and G got into a cab behind mine and Chuckie's and Laura got to say the line "Follow that car!" just like she wanted to.<br />
- We watched Newsies Friday night before NYC which gave us some really good taglines for the weekend like "Headlines don't sell papes" and "Awww, Crutchy."<br />
- I kept calling the Empire State Building the Eiffel Tower<br />
- Playing Heads Up in the bar but especially when we had to act out "Losing Keys" and G threw his actual keys halfway across the bar.<br />
- We took a birthday shot called a chocolate covered pretzel and it changed our lives.<br />
- Laura and Sami took some of the cupcakes home to Louisville with them and live tweeted the journey with the hashtag #travelingcupcakes.<br />
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Happy belated 21st birthday, Sami and happy early 30th birthday, Laura! <br />
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Next week is Chuckie's Spring Break and my huge project at work is finished and turned in, so we are taking the week to get out of town and relax. Chuckie's sis invited us down to Virginia Beach for the week and since D.C. is on the way, we decided to stop and spend the weekend there before ending up in VA Beach. I haven't been to D.C. since I was 14 and Chuck hasn't been since he was 21, so we are excited to explore the city together and have a nice little vacation week. Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-55437717840521132272014-03-19T10:27:00.000-04:002014-03-19T10:27:01.937-04:00Highs and LowsIn high school, my favorite part of youth group every week was at the end of the night when we went around the circle and shared our "highs and lows" or "glads and sads" from the week with each other. It gave us a few minutes to celebrate the happy things with each other and sympathize with each other on the not-so-happy things. Last week was the ultimate week of highs and lows, and since I obviously don't go to youth group anymore, I will share them here. <br />
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I don't want to recap the "lows" in too much detail because I don't want to relive all of it right now, or in the future either really. Last week, my Grandma passed away. She was one of the greatest people I've ever known and she was the best Grandma. My sisters and I were lucky to grow up 15 minutes away from our Grandparents and got to spend virtually every holiday and birthday with them, spend the night at their house often and go over for brunch after church or dinners on the weekends. You know all the good Grandma-like things that Grandmas do, like let you have an extra piece of candy after your parents said no, or take you shopping with them and spoil you? Well she did them all, plus more. Not only did she treat us like royalty, she was also funny as heck and a fiesty little woman. She loved all of her family fiercely, especially my Grandpa (and her 6 daughters, 16 grandkids, 25 great-grandkids, and 2 great-great grandkids!) and we all loved her back just as much. So Chuck and I cancelled everything in Boston and bought last minute plane tickets home to be with family for the memorial service.<br />
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When we arrived at my parent's house, we found out that our family dog, Lucy, was sick. After a few days of medication and no improvement, we took her back to the vet the morning before the memorial service. My dad got a call right after it ended saying that Lucy was not going to get better and it was recommended we put her to sleep. So, my parents, sisters, Austin (Sami's boyfriend), Chuckie and I went to say goodbye to her at the vet, immediately after saying goodbye to my Grandma. It was pretty much the worst. We got Lucy when I was 15 and we all had our own special relationships with her. She liked to drive Dad crazy by running through his newly raked leaf piles in the Fall. She liked to give Mom "hugs." She liked to crawl on Sami on the couch. She liked to sleep at the end of Laura's bed. She liked to flop down in front of me and force me to rub her belly, a trick I accidentally taught her that she never forgot after the very first time. Lucy loved everything about her life and her family. She was a good dog.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucy and I still kept in touch even when I was in Boston.</td></tr>
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If all of that, plus lack of sleep plus stress wasn't enough already, Thursday night when we had only 3 hours to sleep before we had to head to the airport, Chuckie got violently ill and stayed that way, even while we were traveling through airports all day. I've never seen him this sick in all the time we've been together. It was like a nightmare that wouldn't end. <br />
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Friday afternoon we got back to Boston, along with my sisters who have had plane tickets to come up and see us for months. We had a whole weekend planned in New York City to celebrate all of our birthdays- specifically Sami's recent 21st birthday and Laura's quickly approaching 30th birthday. The weekend just also happened to be my actual birthday so we celebrated that too. Friday We used Friday as a day of rest so we could actually try to enjoy our weekend in New York. We slept most of the day, showered, went to the grocery and bought all kinds of food and then went home and ate it while we watched Newsies. It wasn't quite the day we had planned for months but, it was necessary down time. <br />
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The "highs" of the week came Saturday and Sunday when we were in NYC. There is something so energizing, no matter what state of mind you are in, about being in THE big city. There's just nothing else like it. Our cousin and her boyfriend met up with us Saturday and we did some sight-seeing, had dinner and went out. I can't remember the last time I (personally) had as much fun as we did on Saturday night. Sunday we met up with more cousins for brunch (at a place with bottomless sangria...yum) before some more sight-seeing. The weekend was busy, funny and a great way to celebrate our birthdays. I have a lot of pictures so I will post them in a separate post soon.<br />
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Again like I said earlier- we had some of the lowest lows and highest highs all in the same week. Thank you to everyone who was there for our family last week and has reached out to me or them. It means the world. And thank you to New York City, for giving us one of the best weekends ever, when we needed it most.<br />
<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163044674517816043.post-90571910906522437452014-03-08T11:33:00.001-05:002014-03-08T11:33:28.256-05:00Letters to Boston As the reality of leaving Boston creeps closer and closer, I've reflected on some things/people/places I like and dislike in Boston and written some short letters to them. Enjoy. <br />
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Dear Pepper Sky,<br />
I am so sad that it took us until January 2013 to discover you. I regret those 7 months we were in Boston and failed to recognize your greatness. Your Pad Thai is one of the best things I've ever eaten and I'm afraid I will never find another like it. Whether it's in the restaurant or take-out, it's always perfection. I will hold every future Pad Thai to your standards.<br />
With Love,<br />
Your number one fan and customer<br />
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Dear Boston Pedestrian Crosswalks,<br />
I love the power you have
over cars, buses, bikes, and taxis. You are the most powerful crosswalks
I have ever witnessed in my life. I love the power I feel when I walk
across a large, main road during rush hour. Because you are there, I
have the power to stop buses full of people and it feels amazing. It's
the closest I will ever get to having a superpower. I wish crosswalks in
other cities would take note.<br />
Love,<br />
An Adoring Fan<br />
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Dear Upstairs Neighbor,<br />
You are the loudest walker I've ever
heard. You wake up earlier than us and go to bed later than us. And you
stomp the whole time. You also move furniture a lot, vacuum suspiciously
frequently, and run some kind of machine that also makes noise. What
are you doing up there? We're not sure if you are a Dexter, a Walter
White, or maybe just a hairdresser or work-out enthusiast. But whatever you are, it's loud. I
want to leave you a note asking you to be quiet but I'm not a grouchy 79
year old woman so I won't. Also, Chuckie won't let me.<br />
Not with love,<br />
Your annoyed neighbor<br />
<br />
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Dear T,<br />
I love you and hate you so much. I love that I can easily travel around the city without sitting in traffic. I hate that people invade my personal space when it's overcrowded in the mornings. I love that Chuck and I never have to decide who will be DD because we can just take the T home. I hate that you are sometimes ridiculously delayed which makes me late to work. Once we're gone, I will simultaneously miss you and be happy to be rid of you forever.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Sometimes happy/sometimes grumpy T rider<br />
<br />
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Dear Hi-Fi Pizza,<br />
The only reason I am slightly ok with visiting you is because I found out
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck used to get their late night pizza there when they
lived in Cambridge back in the day. I think you are kinda gross but Chuckie loves you. You've brought him so much joy. When he's ready for the 4th meal at 2 in the morning, you've provided it. You may have the greasiest pizza I've ever seen but I guess that's all there is to eat at 2 am. One thing I know for sure is your to-go bags (aka the pizza on a paper plate shoved into a brown paper lunch sack) are second to none. <br />
Fondly,<br />
Rachel on behalf of Chuck<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Really Old Yellow Lab in our Apartment building,<br />
You are so old and so cute and you make my day every time I see you in our hallways. I didn't know dogs were allowed in our building and I see a lot of your hair collecting on the stairs, but it doesn't bother me because you are adorable. I wish you lived with me.<br />
Love,<br />
Dog Whisperer<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Snow,<br />
NOBODY LIKES YOU.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Rachel and 98% of all people ever<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13015881675261987795noreply@blogger.com0