I Miss Boston

A little while ago when we were still in Boston, I wrote a post about all the things I missed about Louisville.  Chuck is going to Boston tomorrow for his "midstream review" and will be reunited with all of the LGOs and SOs and I'm extremely jealous, so it got me thinking, I should write a post of all the things I miss about Boston!

Two weeks ago, I started this post with a list of things and pictures that I love and miss about the city. Between the time I started this post and today, the bombing of the Boston Marathon occured. The shooting of an MIT police officer occured. A car chase leading to Watertown happened, ending in a shootout and a 20 hour manhunt that shut down the ENTIRE city for a whole day. Boston was not the ideal place to be for those 5 days, and Chuck and I were glued to the news on TV, twitter, emails, and the Boston police scanner all week.

Imagine watching CNN and seeing bombs go off on a street you've walked down several times with friends and family, and knowing that several of your friends still in Boston were probably somewhere along the marathon route watching. Imagine 4 days later, your husband gets a phone call and text alert from his school, letting him know the school is currently on lockdown due to a shooting on campus. Imagine turning on CNN again and seeing BLOOD on the ground on the campus you lived on, worked on, where your husband goes to school, and where many of your friends are AT THAT MOMENT. Oh and did I mention that all of these events, including the marathon bombings, took place less than 1 or 2 miles from our apartment in Cambridge? These are our streets and our hangouts and we've now learned nothing will make you feel as angry and protective as seeing someone reek terror on them. It was so hard to watch this from across the country, but I can't even imagine the fear and anger that our friends and all Bostonians felt.

So you may think it's weird to see a post titled "I Miss Boston" after all of this has taken place, but I truly miss it and oddly enough, even more after what's occured. I know we weren't in Boston for very long, and we won't be for very long when we get back there in September, but Boston is our home away from (Kentucky) home.

Seattle is temporary and feels temporary. We live in short term housing and have none of our own furniture, kitchen utensils, decorations, etc. All of that is in our apartment in Boston, waiting for us to come back. So while I am selfishly thankful and glad Chuck and I were not in Boston last week, because I know we would have been SOMEWHERE along the marathon route watching and cheering, and somewhere on MITs campus on that Thursday night an officer was shot and killed,  I miss it more than I ever thought I would and can't wait to get back there.

No offense to Seattle or anything, but in our short time here, I've definitely discovered, or more, CONFIRMED, that I am and always will be an East Coast kinda gal. I love the scenery here and the nice weather and my jobs and the 3 story Target stores, but that's pretty much it. I'm kind of a planner and a person that likes order and stability and I can't really say the same for Seattle. Nothing illustrates this statement more than the Seattle bus system. Will the bus be on time? 15 minutes late? 6 minutes early? Who knows? Who cares? That's pretty much the attitude about everything here. No one is in a hurry to do anything and everyone here tells me, that's just the "West Coast lifestyle." The East Coast moves a lot faster. Well, I'm from the East coast. I make an itinerary for everything. I like plans. I like calendars. I walk fast and if the bus says it's going to arrive at 4:33, I want it to be there at 4:33.

I digress.

Onto my list, created two weeks ago before all the madness. Besides the amazing police department and the people of Boston with their northern accents and constant use of the word "wicked," here are the things I love and miss about Boston, in no particular order.

Mike's Pastry. Oh how I miss standing in the long line to get a sweet and tasty Cookies and Cream cannoli wrapped up in the little white box with blue writing and a string tied around it after eating too much Italian food in the North End.

Riding the T. I know I've complained about the dirtiness and often crowdedness of the train before and I DO love having our car out here in Seattle with us, but sometimes I miss the ease of just walking out the door and onto the train to get somewhere quick, without the worry of "where will we park?"

Our things.  We are living in a short term, furnished apartment right now. As I said, we have none of our own things here. Sitting on a couch that isn't ours, cooking with pots and pans that aren't ours, etc. We literally have our clothes, a few electronics, and a couple blankets with us. I miss our TV and our couch and our blender and picture frames and DVDs. I know that may sound petty but your things are what make your home feel like YOUR home, so without them it just feels like a hotel. (Some people might say your family is what makes your home feel like home and while that is true, your stuff is also important. Just sayin'.)

Friends. I miss the big LGO and SO community. The craziest (and coolest) thing about LGO is that you gain an instant group of friends. When we all moved to Boston last May, most of us knew no one else in the city, so we bonded together to take on the city and the program.  How close did we get during that short time? Well, I will admit, I shed a tear or two after we said goodbye to our friends before we left for Seattle. And I think they are the main reason I keep saying I "don't like" Seattle. I miss karaoke Thursdays and game nights and nights at the Asgard and Toscanini dates and C-Functions and birthday parties and parties in the dark during a city-wide blackout and everything else we were doing in Boston.

Do your friends go straight from a Pajama Party to a karaoke bar, still in pajamas? Ours do.

 

 

The city. I love downtown Boston. The mix of old and new buildings, the brick and cobblestone, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, the North End, the Boston Common, the movie theater on the Common, Newbury Street, the Prudential Center, the Charles River, Beacon Hill... I love that on any given night, Chuckie and I can just go to dinner at a restaurant where Paul Revere used to hang out.  I love that when my girlfriends and I are bored, we waste time eating near and walking around HARVARD or having drinks on a friend's rooftop in one of the most famous and oldest neighborhoods in the country, Beacon Hill.  I just love it all.

Seattle doesn't have buildings like these....

 

 

 

Ok, I know I've been kind of harsh on Seattle in this post so here are a couple of pretty pictures so you know it's not all bad here and we actually are getting out and enjoying ourselves and our surroundings. 

I wish more than anything that I could go to Boston with Chuck tomorrow, so I could hug our friends, eat at a Dunkin Donuts and shake a Boston police officer's hand. But, I will just have to wait for September. We are trying to enjoy our time in Seattle and take advantage of this amazing and crazy opportunity to live on the West Coast and have this experience, but I'd be lying if I said we weren't already counting down the weeks and days until we are back "home" in Boston.

Until then, we're going to keep thinking about the people and families affected by last week's tragedy (like we have been non-stop since last Monday) and pray that Boston can heal and come back even stronger of a city than it was before. Boston Strong!

Mt. Rainier

When my parents were in town a few weeks ago, they wanted to go see Mt. Rainier up close and personal. So one of the days I had off work and a day that Chuck could leave work a little early, we got in the car and headed south towards the mountain. It was mid afternoon when we headed down there, so our plan was to just drive around a bit, maybe take a short hike to a lookout point, and mostly just see the sights and snap some cool pictures.

We discovered on the long drive, you can't accidentally go to Mt. Rainier.  There's really only one or two ways to get there and they're not obvious. You have to mean to go there. It was a scenic drive though and when we finally reached the entrance to the park we were really excited! 

Our first stop was just inside the park at the visitor center Longmire. We got some great pictures from this stop and bought some Mt. Rainier souvenirs in the gift shop. 

In the gift shop while my parents and I shopped, Chuckie learned all about bears, just in case we happened upon any while we were sight-seeing.

When we finished shopping and taking pictures, we got back in the car and headed further up the mountain towards the next visitor center and lodge, Paradise. We stopped a lot along the way to get pictures!

When we finally reached Paradise, we felt like we had driven up the entire mountain. Mt. Rainier looked HUGE from this spot and we were sure we had driven as close to the top as possible! My dad googled though and found that Paradise is only located at 5,400 ft. Mt. Rainier is 14,410 ft. We weren't even halfway!

We couldn't do too much exploring either because of all the snow. We walked on some 10 foot snow walls and looked around a little, but there wasn't much else we could do. Dad and Chuckie were braver than me and mom and went up higher on the snow piles. Of course they wanted us to take their picture representing the Cards at Mt. Rainier.

After the long drive back down, we were starving and my dad had his heart set on eating at the Elbe Bar & Grille, a place we passed on our way to the park earlier in the day. My dad has this thing about eating at local restaurants when he's on vacation. His famous line is "We're in a different city, I'm not eating at an APPLEBEE'S," which is funny because I'm pretty sure my parents never eat at Applebee's at home... Anyway, He refuses to eat at any chain restaurant when traveling. I understand his rule and even like it, except for when he chooses questionable places like the Elbe Bar & Grille or anything with a name like "Chat n Chew" as he's done before.  We all gave in though and after getting some pictures of the town of Elbe, we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.

 

We saw a couple of "characters" in the parking lot and almost turned around and left, but dad was determined so we went with it. And in the end, it turned out not so bad after all! It was a small joint, full of locals, country music and Wheel of Fortune on the big screen TV. We had some drinks and pizza and enjoyed some people watching. And since we enjoyed ourselves, now dad thinks he can talk us into any restaurant on vacations. Given our experience in Elbe, I may be more open to the idea but I'm pretty sure I will still never eat at a place called the "Chat n Chew." Sorry, dad!

The Hagans visit Seattle

It was so nice to have my parents in town last week for 5 days. It's always nice to have visitors and be with people who really know you well. This was a nice vacation for my parents and felt like a vacation for us! We loved showing them around and exploring things with them that WE haven't even seen yet.

It was just an added bonus that they brought us Easter gifts, treated us to many meals, were some of the cleanest house guests ever, did laundry, stocked our kitchen with food and other items we're lacking, AND cooked dinner for us after Chuck and I both worked all day! Yep. They spoiled us.

Parents are the best.

While we worked all day Monday, they explored Pike Place Market and the Space Needle.

Here they are with one of the fish guys.


My dad also has a great video of the fish guys yelling "Go Cards!" right before the throw a fish over his head.

On Tuesday they were on their own for a little while in the morning, so they took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and had lunch.


They said it was fun but that really the ferry ride was the main reason to go. Chuckie and I will have to go on a nice day!  That night, Chuck scouted out a restaurant for dinner, and we ate at Senor Moose, voted Seattle's best Mexican restaurant in 2012. And it totally was. The food was incredible and they had a crazy list of margaritas- some had jalapenos and cucumber in them- and they were gooooood. You can't go wrong at a restaurant with a wall full of tequila.

 

On Wednesday morning I drove my parents to the University of Washington's campus. We parked and walked around to the bookstore and to the Quad where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We made a pit stop at Savery Hall, the building where my Uncle's office was when he was a professor at UW back in the 70s.

Later that day, Chuckie got off work early and we made the long trek to Mt. Rainier. That was one of the coolest places I've ever been, and I took a lot of pictures so, that will get a blog post of its own.

Thursday my parents weren't scheduled to fly out until 10 pm, so we had the whole day to continue exploring. I drove them around Fremont, our old neighborhood, and we did some shopping. Then we drove north to find my aunt and uncle's old house from when they were living here while my uncle taught at the university. We found the house and found it was for sale!  My mom considered buying it. She was really excited to see the house again. She came to Seattle and stayed in that house a few different summers while my aunt and uncle lived here, so she has great memories there from her teenage years.


The rest of the day and evening we just hung around the apartment, ate all the leftovers from the week and made sure they had everything packed up.  It was a great visit and we were sad to see them go... But- we only have to go a few weeks without seeing them and all the rest of our family. We go home for Derby in just a few weeks!

 

Louisville- The 2013 National Champions

We did it. We won the National Championship!

And it couldn't have happened to a better group of guys. Having a husband who is a megafan, I know way more about these players than the average person should really know. Chuckie makes sure I know where they are all from, how tall they are, what they've said after each game... I follow them on Instagram. He tells me their stats after each game. And even though we've lived in Boston and Seattle for this entire season, we have found a way to watch almost every single game this season. So I can truthfully say, I feel like I know this team personally and I could not be happier for them. The hard work and humility has paid off! Congrats, Cards!

Anyone who knows me and Chuckie knows that we are BIG Louisville fans. We own way too many UofL t-shirts, way too many UofL blankets, and just way too much UofL STUFF in general. But we can't help it- we just love the Cardinals!

Though we both went to the University of Kentucky for college, we both grew up Louisville fans. My parents have always cheered for the Cards and my grandpa was one of the biggest UofL fans I've ever known. He held season tickets to football and basketball for years, and refused to give up his season tickets until he was almost 90 years old and just couldn't physically go to the games anymore. He was a superfan, for sure.

Chuckie grew up in an all Louisville household too. One of his sisters was a Louisville Ladybird (the best dance team in the country) and his brother-in-law set records as a wide receiver for UofL's football team. Chuckie used to be a ball boy at the basketball games and has had Louisville posters hanging in his room for as long as I've known him. And if you have ever watched a football or basketball game with him, you know he is a passionate (and kind of intense) fan. Thank God my family raised me a Cards fan or I don't think Chuck and I would have ever worked out.

Louisville has not won or even played in a National Championship game since 1986, the year before we were BORN. So to say we've been waiting for the Cards to play in or win a National Championship for a long time, well that's an understatement.

Yesterday was the longest day ever. The anticipation of the game was rough. And right before gametime, we were both so nervous we couldn't sit still. Chuck couldn't eat. I couldn't stop burping. (It's what I do when I'm nervous. I know it's weird.) We had a couple of friends over to watch the game with us. While the rest of us sat and watched the game, this was Chuckie.

He does not sit during games.

I wish more than anything that we could be in Louisville celebrating in the streets and attending the parties and parades. But we are celebrating in Seattle and will remember this for the rest of our lives! Finally, we've witnessed our team take the biggest trophy of all. Ahhhh. Victory is sweet. And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find yet ANOTHER job so we can afford to pay for all of the National Championship paraphernalia Chuckie is about to buy.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend this year was extremely exciting for us here in Seattle for multiple reasons.

For starters, Thursday night as I left work at Niketown, I saw I had several missed texts and phone calls from my best friend Elizabeth. As I was walking outside, she was calling again. Seeing as it was midnight on the east coast and a school night for Liz (who is a teacher) I knew she must be calling about something important. When I answered, she told me that her boyfriend Shane proposed to her earlier that night! Liz and Shane are engaged!

 

Chuckie and I are so so so so happy for them and all the excitement ahead!  They are going to be so happy together and have a beautiful wedding and life. The hardest part of being in the LGO program is that we are not home and able to celebrate in person with our friends and family when good things happen to them. But, that's just part of it and just means when we ARE together in person, we have to celebrate that much harder. :)

 

 

Friday after work, Chuckie and I had dinner and then colored Easter eggs!

 





They were brown eggs, so the colors came out really different!

Saturday we drove up to the outlet mall and did some shopping, had lunch and then came home to prepare for my parents' arrival. That preparation included buying some tulips. Because it doesn't feel like Easter until you have tulips, right?

My parents arrived late on Saturday night. For their first day in town, Easter, we went on an Easter brunch cruise on Lake Washington and Lake Union. A few weeks back we had been looking for something to do for Easter while they were here and found this brunch cruise online. My dad bought the tickets and we've been praying for good weather ever since. Well, the weather more than delivered.  It was the sunniest and warmest day in Seattle since we've moved here. It could not have been more perfect. (Well, except for my eye infection that appeared Sunday morning. Would have been a little better without that.)

Our boat!

Bloody Mary party.

Parents on the front of the boat.

As soon as we stepped onto the boat, they handed us champagne. That's my kind of boat cruise.

After the cruise, we headed back to our apartment where we changed into our Louisville shirts and got ready to watch Louisville vs. Duke to see who would go to the Final Four. But I already knew we were going to win. Just look at my perfect Midwest region bracket for proof.

It was so nice to watch the game with other Louisville fans (my parents) instead of in a restaurant in Seattle alone like we usually do. It was also nice to have my mom here so that when Kevin Ware went down with his injury, I wasn't the only one in the room crying.

After the victory, we went to our favorite Seattle hangout, Yardhouse, downtown and had some drinks and appetizers to celebrate. We walked to and from the restaurant and had some amazing views along the way.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. We did much more with my parents during their stay, but I'll have to save all that for another post or two. Too many pictures for one post!