2012: The Best Year Ever

2012 was a huge year. My life in 2011 and my life in 2012? Completely different. In a good way. But seriously. Things could not be more different now than they were just a year ago.

January
- We got engaged. (Not technically January, but December 28, 2011 is pretty close.... So I'm going to count it.)
- We started planning our wedding and picked a date, location and I found a wedding dress.

February
- Chuck flew to Boston to interview for LGO.

Interview Day!

March
- We found out Chuck got into MIT which meant we found out we'd be moving in a matter of a few months.

Out celebrating LGO, two days after we found out.

April
- I went to LA with my best friend to visit our other best friend and we went SKYDIVING. The decision to do this went something like this (via texting):
Liz: "Hey we should go skydiving in LA!"
Me: "Ok!"
Liz: "Seriously?!!?!?!?"
Me: "YES!"
Group text:
Liz: "Hey Emily, we think we should go skydiving when we're in LA in a few weeks."
Emily: "HELL YES."

And so it was decided.

Right before we got on the plane to jump out. So jealous of Liz's purple suit.

I promise you, riding in that rickety old plane was way scarier than jumping out of it.

May
- Chuck left his job at GE and I left my job at the Kentucky Center.

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.

 - We packed up our entire lives, said goodbye to our family and friends, and moved to Boston.

We look thrilled. This is what 16 hours in a car will do to you.

 June
- Chuck started school at MIT.

- I started a new job at MIT.

July
- We spent the 4th of July in the birthplace of America! Probably my favorite thing we did all summer.

August
- Chuck finished his first semester of grad school.
- We moved into a new apartment in Cambridge.
- We got married and I became Rachel Cummings!

Gettin married.

Thank you to the cranky desk clerk who took this picture for us at almost 3 am when we arrived at the Seelbach.

 September
- We went to Maine! A state I was pretty sure I would never visit.

- Emily visited us in Boston.

October
- We camped in New Hampshire.

- Hurricane Sandy happened.

November
- My sisters visited us in Boston!

Sami, you're supposed to lay ON the air mattress, not UNDER it.

Laura, enjoying a tasty beverage at an Italian restaurant in the North End.

- My childhood best friend Lauren visited us in Boston!

- We found out Chuckie got an off-cycle internship with Amazon and started planning to move to Seattle.

December
- End of Chuck's 2nd semester of MIT.
- Traveled to Louisville to spend 2.5 weeks with friends and family for Christmas!

2013 is going to have a hard time living up to 2012.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to new beginnings, new friendships, new challenges and everything else new that comes with a new year!

Orientation and LA weekend

This past weekend involved lots of traveling for both me and Chuck.

Chuck was in Boston for Orientation for the LGO program. Unfortunately, I could not join him because back in December I had planned a girls' weekend trip with Liz and Emily to LA. (Not unfortunate that I had a trip, just unfortunate they ended up being the same weekend.) So this past weekend, we were literally on opposite sides of the country. Seriously. On Saturday, Chuck hung out on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean and I was on the beach at the Pacific. Crazy!!

Highlights from Chuck's trip to Boston:
- It was orientation weekend at MIT, so he got to meet most of the people we will be surrounded by for the next two years. He told me that all of the LGOs and their SOs were all amazing people. We figured they would be but it was nice to have confirmation!
- They had the students do a scavenger hunt and the ending destination led them to the on-campus bar called The Muddy Charles. When Chuck first called and told me about it it, he said he was at a place called The Leaky Cauldron. The Leaky Cauldron is a popular pub in the Harry Potter series.
- Chuck got to spend some fun time with our friend Clayton who recently moved to Boston. We're excited to get to spend time with him and his girlfriend once we are up there!
- We are pretty sure we have secured housing for the summer as well as for the fall and spring semesters. Chuck got to see a sample apartment and tells me it is TINY. 550 square feet. But with an unbeatable view! Fingers crossed on this as we won't be 100% sure we have the summer and fall places for another couple of weeks.

Highlights from my trip to LA:
- I got to spend some valuable girl time with two of my favorite girls- Liz and Emily. We went on a gorgeous hike, saw Titanic in 3D, ate lots of good food, went to the beach and went SKYDIVING. And when we weren't doing all of that, we were mostly just chilling and having some quality girl time together which doesn't happen as often these days because Emily lives so far away. :( But if you visited LA, you would understand why she likes living there.
- It was a mini vacation for me which was nice and relaxing before life gets real crazy from now leading up to our move.
- I know I already mentioned this one but, WE WENT SKYDIVING.

General updates on wedding and life:
- Our wedding invitations came in and they are beautiful!
- Wedding planning is coming along nicely.
- I announced that May 17 will be my last day of work at the Kentucky Center. Sad day.
- I am actively searching for jobs in Boston and have had a couple of good leads, so, again- fingers crossed!
- After Chuck's weekend in Boston he is even more excited about the LGO program than ever, which makes me even more excited to move up there and start the adventure with him. Only about a month and one week until we go.