Welcome to the East coast

I left work at 1:30 today. I took the mail downstairs and headed to the train station. I had to stop at an atm so I was probably on the train and to Quincy by 2:15. And that is when the cluster started.

At 2:24 I noted the time. I was sitting in a line to get out of the parking garage. I was texting Justin saying "And the delay begins." I figured it was just slow because they only had one booth open. I was in the line to get out of the parking garage for 20 minutes. TWENTY MINUTES.

Justin text messaged me and said he looked at google traffic and I was not going to like the result. At this point, I was still positive. I thought I would just hit a little delay getting onto 93 and then I would be okay for the rest of the way. No. It took me an HOUR AND A HALF to get from the parking garage to exit 20B. I know that means nothing to you but thats approximately eight miles. It took me an hour and a half to go eight miles. People were getting out of their cars on the merging ramp to brush the snow off their back windows. People were getting stuck in the snow. A semi was sitting there squealing his tires. He was stuck ON the ramp making it hard for people to get around him.

Oh and while I was sitting in the line to get out of the parking garage, my gas light went on. Thankfully, I made it to the gas station in time. It was about 4:30 p.m. when I got there. Had to wait in a long line and clean off my wipers because the ice was so bad on it that I couldn't see through the blur on my window. And within less than a city block of the gas station, I was having a hard time seeing out of the windshield again. But I trucked on. I decided to stop at the service plaza which was 5 exits away. Don't know how long that took me...but the NEWS was at the service plaza covering the weather. There were a lot of people there scraping off their windows and things.

I made a potty stop and then got back onto the highway. Just past exit 12, I was going 20 miles an hour and my car spun out. I did a 180 and landed head on with the guard rail. The snow actually stopped me from crashing into it. But I was stuck. This man stopped and asked if I was okay then put in a call for someone to come help me. At this point it was after 5. I was so frustrated I just burst into tears. Scared, too. Having no idea how long I would be stuck out there. Luckily another man stopped, too and the two of them were able to push me out of the snow.

So on I went. I had to drive VERY slow the rest of the way home but finally I got to Fall River. We live in a very hilly area so I knew it would be tough going my normal way. I tried to go a different way and I got stuck about half a block in. My car wouldn't move. And do you know that people just kept driving by me? Some of them had the gall to honk at me. I had my hazard lights on. Did they think I was just sitting there for fun? I couldn't believe my luck. SO CLOSE to being home. This was probably at around six p.m. that I'm stuck. I called Justin just furious that no one was helping me and he said he would come shovel me out. I decided I wasn't gonna sit in that street much longer and watch people shovel their driveways and not help me.

I reversed my way back down the hill and tried going up our street. That didn't work either. Justin walked down with a shovel and unfortunately that wasn't working either. He told me to get in and he backed down to the hill and we took a different route into Fall River.

Of course parking on one side of the street is prohibited but there were no spots in front of our house so Justin parked me on the other side. He just got back actually. He went and moved my car to the right side of the street.

What a complete cluster. I can't believe no one would help me as I was OBVIOUSLY STUCK.

I can tell you what, I am not going to work tomorrow. Its our Christmas party so we're only working till 12:30. I am not making the effort to deal with traffic tomorrow. I'm moving Saturday and I am not ready at all. I need to go get my money since I Wasn't able to do it today bc the bank is closed now. fJLAKJFKA

CLUSTERRRRRRRRRR

The rest of my vacation!

Here is the rest of my vacation.
Friday morning I could not sleep so I went downstairs and found Kim and Michael reading the paper. Kim made me some fresh orange juice and they went off to get ready for the day while I watched Saved by the Bell the College years on tv. Then I started to get ready and basically just sat around and waited for Kim to be ready to take me to the airport.

Michael gave me a hug before I left. Aw. And he invited me back. Yay for dad liking me. Such a lovely man. I said bye to the pets and Kim and I were off. I didn't want to leave Vegas. I really had such a relaxing time while I was there but there was fun to be had ahead.

Kim and I had an interesting chat in the car. She asked if I got along with Jennee (Justin's mom) and I said I did and then there was a conversation that I shouldn't repeat on the internet. If you really want to know ask me personally ;)

Got all checked in at the airport, found me an outlet and some wireless and I just hung out emailing Casey and talking to people before my flight. There was a SLIGHT delay with my flight but it only put me in Santa Ana twenty minutes late. There was a lot of rain in Vegas. The only day it did rain a lot on my vacation so that was nice. The plane ride, however, was horrible. SO much turbulence and it was constant. It never let up. I am so glad it was a short flight.

I landed and went down to baggage where my bag came on a different conveyor belt thing (I cant think of the right word) than Justin's did. Wanda *Justin's grandma* called me and said she wasn't going to park, just circle around so I met her right out front when I had all the luggage.

She looked exactly like Justin's mom only shorter and older. And as I talked to her I noticed that Jennee and her talk exactly alike as well. I instantly liked her. She was so nice to me and so friendly. She suggested lunch and mani/pedi's. Who was I to disagree?? But actually, as I sat there getting my nails done I started to feel a little guilty that she was paying for all this stuff. And it only got to be more of an issue for me. I can't really explain it. I think I Was just so overwhelmed with gratitude that it built up and built up....and well I will get to that later.

After the nails we went somewhere lol..Oh we went to CVS where we picked up some photos she had and also printed out some of her granddaughter Morgan. Hilario moment-The photo lady was talking to Wanda and says "There are some great pictures of her in that batch!!!!!" (Looking at me). I don't know if Wanda noticed but apparently photo lady thought I was Morgan. Um...lol ok. Morgan is 14. The only similarity is that she has brown hair and glasses. Bwah. Hilario.

We left and went to Wanda's scrap booking party. She wasn't going to stay but she wanted to introduce me to all her friends. The scrap booking store was really cool. The ladies were like "OH We recognize you from the pictures!!!!" Wanda had been working on an album for Justin and I and she was showing the girls photos of the two of us. How cute and grandma like is that?!?!?!

She bought me a kit where the album is basically set up for you but you can insert pictures and do journals and put ticket stubs and things like that into it. It's really cute and I didn't even ask for it but she just...gave it to me!!!!! I will probably make it me and Justin's vacation scrapbook.

After that we went to the movies to see Enchanted. It was really cute..but super cheesy.

Moving on. After the movie we made a stop at the Rocky something or other chocolate store then to a bakery place and got salads in case we got hungry. Then we went to her apartment. She asked if I wanted to get online and email Justin, which I did and then we looked at scrap booking stuff with 28 weeks later on in the background(what an AWFUL AWFUL MOVIE) before putting on a better movie and winding down for the night.

I fell asleep almost instantly and woke up at 8 am to get ready to head to San Diego. Wanda packed up and we hit the road. Had brekkie at IHOP..the best place in the world. Heard from Justin while we were there. ..Took the PCH scenic drive down the coast. Very neat. Went through LAGUNA BEACH. It made me feel very Hollywood to go through that town lol

Got to San Diego and Wanda decided the hotel she booked for us didnt look very nice so screw that and we went on a journey for a better one haha. She decided on the Hacienda in Old Town San Diego. Very southwest. We got adjoining rooms for Sat night. Both suites. Around 1pm we headed to the airport and waited for Justin to get back from Houston. Soon as he did we went to lunch and then headed back to the hotel where Wanda and Justin napped for a while.

They got up around 7..we went to the Hardrock Cafe and had dinner...it was loud and we sat at the bar so we wouldn't have to wait an hour for a table. I felt sorta bad that I couldn't interact with Wanda too much at dinner. We looked around in the gift shop for a lil bit. Justin got a shirt, I got some hardrock pins that Wanda says I can turn into magnets since I am collecting them now.

Tired again, we went back to the hotel and pretty much passed out!

8 am on the dot Sunday Wanda comes rapping at our door "GET UP! We're GOING TO SEA WORLD!" I groggily open the door and say "what? why?" She previously said the weekend was no good for Sea World but the sun was shining and it was a lovely day so she changed her mind. She had made us reservations to have breakfast with Shamu! HOW CUTE IS SHE?

So we got ready really fast and went to Sea World!!!! The breakfast was so neat. It was delicious and it was cool that we got to watch the whales up close. I won't go into details about our day but we went to all the shows and even went on a water roller coaster. (We are insane, as we froze the rest of the day)

Wanda left around 3 to head back to Santa Ana. I hated to see her go...After she left Justin and I saw the pet show and then talked about going home but after I burst into tears we decided to stay till park close.

No, I didn't cry because we were going to leave. Someone described it best when they said that sometimes your heart fills up so much with happiness that you just have to let out the feelings and it comes out in tears. Thats exactly what happened to me. My gratitude for everything that Wanda did for us had just become too overwhelming and I just started to cry. I was thinking I hoped she didn't think we took advantage of her....I don't know if I actually said that outloud. But Justin hugged me and made me feel better...and we decided to stay for the final Shamu show where I cried some more because Christmas music makes me cry.

And that was the major details of my trip. You don't need to hear about traveling home. Thats boring stuff. Anyway, it was so wonderful and I miss Justin's family from the west so badly. Such nice people and I can see why Justin is such a sweet person. He comes from lovely people.

There you have it! Great vacation! Now its super pack mode since we move in a week!

I figured while I had some time I would type up my adventures of the last few days. I know once I get back to Massachusetts I won't find the time to update since we're moving in two weeks.

Anyway! I will start with last Saturday. We had a pretty stressful day. Justin was trying to find out when his flight back from San Diego would be so he could figure out what to do about transportation. We also didn't know who was taking us to the airport. Corey had friends coming over and wasn't sure what time they would be gone and Joanna had plans and Justin's mom didn't like the idea of taking us to Boston. Well with about three hours to go we got Corey to agree to drive us. We spent most of the morning playing Rock Band, touring with our band “Sons of Krypton”. Loads of fun. Finally it was time to leave and we got to Logan in decent time. It's amazing how close Boston seems when it isn't 7 a.m.

We got checked in pretty quickly and headed to our gate where we sat for a while. Nothing much to report. Boarded and took off. I didn't realize how long the flight would really be until Saturday. We were expecting six hours but we got to Las Vegas around 10:30 PST. I fell asleep for a little bit on the plane and woke up as we went over the Rocky Mountains. That was SO cool. I've never flown that far west before so it was an adventure. We munched on snacks the entire flight, as JetBlue has a “take as many as you would like” mentality. Anyway, luggage in hand we got a cab and headed towards Justin's dad's house.

Michael was awake when we arrived to the house so I got to meet him a little earlier than expected. We sat up and talked to him for a while before turning in for the night. Michael has an English accent which is so cool. They really have a nice house. Very desert and southwest.

Sunday morning we got up fairly early, still being on Eastern time. Kim, Justin's step mom was in the kitchen preparing some things for our cookout later in the afternoon so I got to meet her. We pretty much just relaxed and stood around most of the morning. I think we went in the hot tub and then took showers as well. We had some food out under the tiki huts in the back by the pool for lunch. It was a nice opportunity to talk to Kim and Michael and eventually the conversation turned to what Justin and I had planned for the future. All of the questions came from Kim and Michael told me I could run the other way if I wished haha. She ended up cornering Justin and asked him some awkward questions about us. But she made him pinky swear he would be faithful to me haha. After he was released we decided to take a walk to downtown and see the shops. We weren't gone long really. I think when we got back we went back to the hot tub, as our legs were burning from the walk. Kim had been upstairs having a nap so we didn't see much of her for the rest of the night. After the hot tub Justin and I decided to watch The Da Vinci Code. It was really good!!! Michael watched a bit of it with us and then we watched some of the Fox cartoons before going up to bed. I fell asleep before Family Guy was even over! I have been so so tired lately.

Monday was Michael's birthday. Kim had to work but Michael took the day off so we hung out with him. We hot tubbed and got ready and headed into town with him to do his errands. Michael had a sweet BMW from his dealership. I'm talkin a $90,000 car here. It was a SWEET ride. We had some breakfast at Einstein bagels in the middle of errand running. We sat out in the sun and that has really been the only time I felt warm outside at all this week lol. It's been super cold. After errands we came back to the house and I don't know why I went upstairs and got under the covers but I did. And I fell asleep lol. Justin and I had a nice long nap until just before three. Then it was time to go see American Gangster with Michael. Justin treated us. The movie was really good but REALLY long. We were starving when we got out of the movie. We met up with Kim at a restaurant in the same building that the movie was in and had a really nice dinner. I had chicken parmigiana. It was sooooo tasty. It was Michael's birthday dinner and according to Justin it turned out really expensive lol. I didn't see the bill but Justin says it was a lot.

After dinner we wandered the casino looking for a five dollar black jack table for Justin to gamble. It was his first time in Vegas since turning 21. He turned 40 into 50 so thats cool. After we got back home ...I don't remember what we did.

Tuesday morning we got up early, got ready and Kim took us to the bus terminal so we could catch The Deuce to the Strip. So exciting!!! We rode the Deuce down to the Wynn hotel and got off there to start our tour. We saw a LOT the first day. At the Venetian we went to the wax museum which was loads of fun. We took a ton of pictures. Justin forgot his memory card in his computer so he felt bad about that but I took plenty of pictures. We got a lot of good ones. After the wax museum we continued the tour. I can't remember the exact order of things but we saw everything on the north end. We went down to Caesar's Palace which is HUGE! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOGE. Holy crap that hotel is ginormous. We got hungry while we were there but everything in the Forum shops at Caesar's is so expensive so we made our way over to the PH which used to be the Aladdin and we found ourselves a sandwich shop that was fairly inexpensive. Then we hopped back onto the Deuce and headed to the Stratosphere. We wanted to be up there went the sun went down but unfortunately it was taking too long so we just left. Then we headed north to downtown Las Vegas. We went to the Fremont Street Experience which wasn't much of an experience lol. That's where the famous cowboy is but he wasn't lit up yet so we didn't get to see much down there. Not much of an experience until the sun goes down.

We got back on the bus and headed back south in hopes of catching the volcano eruption in front of the Mirage. The bus ride back was so long and stuuuuuuuuuuupid. But we got to the Mirage to find out eventually that we still had quite a long time until the eruption would happen anyway. At 5:30 we tried to make it down to the Bellagio for the fountain thing but we weren't going to get there in time so we turned around and stood at the Mirage and waited. THEN we walked down to the Bellagio to see the dancing fountains. We wandered through that hotel before stopping to see the show. It was so cool!!! And the music was Luck be a Lady from Frank himself!!! I loved it. We decided to call it at night after the dancing fountains so we wandered around to find a bus stop. It was cold out so my jeans were chaffing my thighs and it hurt really bad. :(

There was a cluster with the bus once we got to ours. Unfortunately about a month ago they changed the route and we missed the stop we wanted to take. We were on the bus a REALLY long time and we were all over the place. I felt so bad for Justin. He really beat himself up over it :( But we finally got home just before ten. Michael was just about to call and see where we were in our travels. Having not had anything to eat since our sammiches we ate our left-overs from Monday night and then went up to bed. Completely exhausted we slept in on Wednesday and took our time getting ready. We hot tubbed and eventually headed toward the bus stop around 12:30. Got to the strip with no problems and stopped at the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign to take pictures. Then we walked up to Mandalay Bay and over to the Luxor. That is a COOL hotel!!! From there we went to Excalibur and out across to New York New York. We just took pictures for a while since we were going into NY NY for a show that night. We went over to MGM and saw the lions the went to the M&M store, the Coke store and Gameworks where we decided to have lunch. It was pretty much the same price as an Applebee's meal so it was really great. We were so tired but still had a lot to do. We did a lot of wandering around before heading to the NYNY. My legs hurt so badly because of the chaffing. It was hard to walk around.

Did a little bit of gambling at the roulette tables! I wasn't ballsy enough to continue gambling after I won five bucks so I decided to just be happy with doubling my money. Next time I go to Vegas I will be sure to save up. This trip was more for meeting Justin's family..not spending tons of money. We had so much time before seeing Zumanity so we basically just wandered around for a while before the doors opened.

Michael and Kim got us tickets to the show as a Christmas present and it turned out to be really fun!! Its Cirque De Solei.It was so cool though. Its really amazing what people can do with their bodies. We had to catch a bus straight away because we didn't want to miss the last one home. We thought we got lucky when we saw our second bus pulling up as soon as we got to the station but they did a little short tour around THEN went back to the station. So it was nearly 11 when we actually got back to the house.

This morning (Thursday) Justin had to get up and get ready quickly because Kim was taking him to the airport for his flight to Mexico.

Michael and Kim had to work today so I was just alone in the house with the animals. I read for a while and napped and since then I've been watching television. I took a shower, did some laundry and Kim just got home from work so I am going to go!! I should be able to post this tomorrow since there is free wireless at the airport. Tomorrow morning I go to Santa Ana to meet up with Wanda (Justin's grandmother) to start my weekend in California!!!

And here I am, in the airport. I have tons of time before my boarding so I will try to upload some pictures. I dislike that I have to resize them on flickr bc it takes away from the quality!!!!! But you guys can see them in person at some pt. So there it is! Sometime I will update about California.

I just wanted to update and say that things are going well in Las Vegas. Justins dad and step mom are very nice. Today we are going to the strip for the first time. No wireless here so I don't have a whole lot of time..

I did get an email from the job in Newport and they aren't going to fill it right now....so I guess my search continues. I need to find something really quick though..especially now that we're moving to Rhode Island. Sigh

Feliz................Thanksgiving

Hi guys. I just spoke to some of you on the phone. All of you are over at Vic n Tina's and it sounds loud and busy so I am sure you're having fun!! I had requests to give some details about life lately so here I am. I know this is less personal than a direct email but this eliminates me having to type and retype the details to everyone. I hope you don't mind.

So, as some of you may know, Justin and I have been looking into moving from our Fall River apartment into something spacier. We finally found a place last night. It's in Portsmouth, RI. The house is about two blocks from the beach and in an area of Portsmouth called Island Park. The house is small (in fact I am having doubts about how we'll fit everything into the house...mostly because the place is a mess right now). One bedroom..your standard kitchen, bathroom and living room.

It has a small fenced in yard with a white picket fence and a trellis. There is a small deck built off to the side in the yard, enough for a couple chairs. The front door leads into the kitchen which is considerably larger than the one we have now. More counter space and cabinet space as well. There is room for a small dining room table as well. The house is recently remodeled so it has new carpet and he painted recently. It needs a scrubbing though. I saw three spiders in the bathroom :( :( :( The bedroom is directly off the kitchen. It has wood paneling..which reminds me of Grandpa's haha. SMALL SMALL closet so I will have to experiment with some under the bed storage for my clothing that doesn't REALLY need to be hung up. The weird part...there is a "window" in the bedroom that looks into the living room. With shelves...it's odd. We'll be putting up a curtain on it for sure. The living room is long...I THINK all of our living room furniture will fit into it...I hope.....at least the essentials will fit, I know that. The bathroom is not a bad size either.

It's really not too bad. I will feel better when I get in there and see how everything fits though. I can't picture it in my head and it is overwhelming me. We're meeting with the landlord tomorrow night to give him a deposit. We move in on the 15th.

I am glad that I can finally get my car registered here..and officially become a resident of the East Coast. But its also overwhelming to me because I still work in Boston. HOPEFULLY that will change when I get back from vacation and talk to the lady from Newport. Newport would be a fabulously close job. Living in Psmith and traveling to Boston will tack on an extra 20 minutes to my commute every morning so I don't really want to do that for long.

As far as my upcoming vacation, Justin and I are flying to Las Vegas Saturday night. I will be in Vegas until next Friday when I fly to California to hang out with his grandmother and then on Saturday Justin will fly back to San Diego from Mexico and we'll spend the next couple days in San Diego together before flying home on Monday. Then its back to the real world.

As far as Christmas....I have no idea how I am going to get home for Christmas. Plane tickets are extremely expensive. And now that I have to come up with the money for our new place PLUS pay my bills for December its becoming more of a possibility that I cannot afford it. It sucks because coming home for Christmas would be perfect. I could fly out on a Saturday morning or late Friday night and come back the 26th and only have to miss a day of work since I get Christmas Eve off. I really am not sure what to do. It's stressing me out to think about it though so I am going to just go on vacation and figure out life afterwards.

And no, I am NOT getting married in Las Vegas. When I get married you guys will know!

Hm what else?? Oh, my phone is broken. I will have a new one by the time I get back from vacation. We bought one on ebay and it will probably get here while Im gone. So that should get me through until my contract is up and I can switch to a number out here!

Alrighty..I am going to go now. Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving. Check out my flickr site(link posted in the last entry) for pictures from my day.

I don't think I've shared this link with you all...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25177514@N00/

Thats where I am uploading my photos now. Plus, all the ones from my old yahoo account are there now that yahoo merged with flickr.

Btw...my diploma finally came. Only a year and three months from the day I officially received all my credits.

Okay so I finally have my holiday plans figured out. Thanksgiving will be spent with Justin at his mom's in Bristol. Saturday, the 24th Justin and I are flying to Las Vegas to stay with his dad and step-mom. As of right now,(My plans stay the same..its unsure whats going on with J) Justin will be there with me until the 29th when he flies to Monterray Mexico for a gig. I will spend one more night in Vegas and on the 30th I will fly to Santa Ana, CA where Justin's grandmother will pick me up. She says we're going shopping. I will spend Friday (30th) in Huntington Beach, CA and on Saturday(If Justin ends up having this gig in Mexico) Wanda and I will pick Justin up from the airport and drive to the Pala Casino in Pala California where Draw the Line has another gig. We will stay in California Saturday night and roam San Diego Sunday. Then Monday morning I am flying out of San Diego to Detroit...changing planes and flying into Providence. It will be a LONG LONG day of travel for me.

I have no idea when I am going to come home for Christmas..especially bc now I have no extra $$ for an airplane ticket. But it will get figured out..

Also when I get back from vacay I will talk to the lady I had the interview with. Fingers crossed. I am so so tired of working in Boston!

So the good news is that sometime next week I am meeting with a lady from a law office in Newport to discuss me working there. Keep fingers crossed.

The other news is that I am sick. Well not really sick so much as I am physically exhausted and my muscles are killing me. So I didn't go to work today. It's money lost but I really needed a day. Plus Justin is leaving today until Sunday so I really am glad I am getting to spend the afternoon with him..even if I'm not doing much.


My last post was about this: Justin is in Mexico for Thanksgiving. Well, he's flying out on Thanksgiving and is HOPING that from there he will get a flight to Las Vegas. If he doesn't..wherever Tricia sends him he will change his flight and spend the week with his dad/stepmom before the Draw the Line gig at the Pala in California on December 1st. Well we were talking about me going. I would fly out to Las Vegas on my own, get to meet Justin's west coast family and then fly home from California. So I started looking at flights and they were so expensive. Like 344 for a one way. Unbelievable. But I think I maybe found a way. I can get a one way ticket out of Boston to Las Vegas for about 139 and then a one way from Cali to Boston for 159...which is cheaper than doing one flight for 344. So yeah..I am trying to budget and figure out how Ill be able to pay for it. I already don't get to see you guys until Christmas..I want to go SOMEWHERE. And I really want to meet Justin's family out there.

So thats that. Im gonna nap

Money is the root of all evil.

True statement. It's completely ruined my plans for Thanksgiving/the week after.

Another week has passed. Work last week was frustrating on many levels. This isn't the place to put people on blast but lets just leave it at: Lawyers are hard people to work for..even if you AREN'T writing their letters and drafting their documents.

However, I sent my resume to a law firm in Newport as a suggestion from our friend Corey who works at the computer place that they use. She got back to me the next morning and said she was going to be on vacation until Thursday but when she came back we could sit down and discuss the possibility of me working there. Hopefully something will come of that.

This weekend was fun. Friday night, Draw the Line had a local gig. I met up with my friend and her husband for dinner then we had a blast at the show! Sat morning Justin and I got up and hit the road for Maine. Draw the Line had a show in Newry at Sunday River ski resort. The drive up was really rainy and gray. So that was no fun. But today when we drove home there was a lot of sun and no clouds. Very nice. Maine is really pretty!

Anyway other than that stuff, nothing new to report! Almost time to start winding down and get things started for the week.

an update is in order!

Happy Sunday everyone! It's an absolutely beautiful day here in Fall River. The sun is shining and the sky is really blue. No clouds! and when I look out the sky light I see the trees from miles away and they are so pretty! I sometimes forget that it is October and I am surprised when I look around me and see red and yellow and orange leaves.

Today we're going to go see an apartment in Warren, RI then go do our laundry/have dinner/watch Transformers on the home theater at Justin's mom's house. Yesterday we saw two other apartments. One in Fall River and one in Bristol, RI. The one in Fall River was pretty decent for the price. It would be what we're paying now but we would have two decent sized bedrooms AND an eat-in kitchen as well. The bathroom is small but it is what we're used to and there is plenty of closet space. However, I realized while I was laying in bed this morning that I don't remember seeing a stove or fridge. That might be because they were cleaning it but it's something to consider.

The second apartment, in Bristol, RI was on the third floor of a pretty run down building. The ceilings were pretty low, the living room an awful shade of orange and the bedrooms SMALL. The bathroom was a little more spaced out but still the overall feel of the place was a little run down. And he said it was move-in ready ....I wouldn't move into it as it is now. I think it needs some cleaning. I have a feeling if we lived there I would feel too closed in.

So we'll see how this place in Warren is. This one isn't available until January 1st, which would give us some time to get things in order around here.

Work is going well. This past week the commute was much less insane. Now that I am used to it, here is my basic routine.

5:50 a.m. alarm goes off and I hit the snooze once or twice. Get up, start my laptop and go to the bathroom. I fix my hair, put on makeup and usually brush my teeth. Then I get dressed and start the coffee while I check internet stuff for about ten minutes. Get everything together and I am out the door and in my car by around 6:40 a.m.

This past week the commute to Quincy to catch the T has been around an hour. Usually I hit traffic at around exit 19a and I get off at 21a. Then sometimes there is traffic once I get onto 93 but nothing crazy. I've been catching a train that gets me into Boston at anywhere from 8 to 8:15. I've been able to catch up on my reading while on the T for the most part.

I get to the building, check in with security(they finally recognize me) and head up to the office if its after 815. IF not, I refuse to go upstairs because I will start working and have all my morning work done before 8:30 if I do that!

Leave work at 5:30 and I am usually at home around 6:40-7:00 depending on traffic. Rinse, lather, repeat. It's pretty exhausting but I do what I have to do. So if you are ever looking at the clock around 5pm Central time and you are bored, give me a call because I am most likely in traffic and bored!

Anyway, thats all there is to say for now! I do actually have NIU/degree related news but I really don't feel like getting into all of that right now! Let's just say that I am unhappy with the people doing paperwork there!

Hope everyone is good!

Spoken like a true Bostonian

Hello all!! I am on my lunch hour(a REAL hour, too.) sitting in the lobby of the building I work in. Free wireless!! Yay! First of all, I just wanted to thank you guys who have been leaving me comments. If there was an easy way to respond I would but I am reading them and I appreciate it!!

So work week two has begun and so far the commute has been a LOT easier than last week. I've made it to the train station in an hour or a little over yesterday and today. Much less stressful. However, I wish that meant I could leave later, aka sleep later but I cant because I just don't know what the traffic situation will be day to day. Oh well.

There has been chatter around the office about a discussion to hire me full time, directly through this firm and not my temp agency. As much as I love it here, they would have to offer me a lot of money for me to continue this commute, ESPECIALLY since Justin and I are looking at apartments in Rhode Island. I won't worry about it unless my supervisor brings it up to me though. Meantime, I will continue looking for work around home.

This office that I work in is filled with people who have very thick Boston accents. I have confused people asking for Ian to be asking for Ann. I thought this one lady was saying Kyle or Col when she was saying Carl. COMPLETE ABSENCE OF THE LETTER R in this city. I love it though! I found myself using "wicked" as an adjective on occasion. Hey Dana how are you today? Ugh, wicked tired, you?? ;)

Today is dragging by very slowly. I have some things waiting on my desk to keep me busy though.

Well I will end this for now! I hope everyone is well. Miss you mucho!

this got longer than i expected

Well. It would take too much of my brain power to really go into detail about what the last two weeks have entailed. Lets just say that I had a short experience of travel with the band and ended up with a cold becaus of it (Thank you Ship and Peretto hah) It was exhausting...but a lot of fun. I was very glad to be home when we were though.

..except when we found our fridge had been open a crack for three days. YAY all the dairy stuff was spoiled. We're still using the ketchup, butter and bbq sauce..The Butter because it was sealed and I always left sticks of butter out on a butter tray back at home and when I had my apartments in college. It smelled fine and neither of us have died from eating it..so I think we're good to go. All the other suspicious items have been thrown away.

So on Wednesday of last week while I was sitting around doing absolutely NOTHING but feeling miserable, I emailed my account exec at the temp agency I am with to inform her I was back in town and she could continue to throw job ideas at me. She calls me about ten seconds after the email was sent and we set something up that day for a job in Boston on Friday.

Cut to freaking out about Massachusetts transportation on Thursday night. It was all very lame and I am still not pleased with the way the employees treat commuters. Thats another story for another day. Maybe I will get to it. Friday rolls around and its a very long boring useless day. I did TWO letters for this law firm. TWOOOOOOO TWO TWO TWO in the entire five hours I was there. What on earth. However, it should be somewhere between 80 and 100 dollars in my hand just for those two letters so I can't complain too much.

While I was at that firm I get a call from my temp agency and they wanna know what I think about some jobs. Cut to about five minutes later, I have a job and I started Monday. The weekend was very nice and relaxing and then I had to go to bed early on Sunday and I hated it. REAL WORLD ALERT. No more glorious vacation and waking up whenever I want to. Oh well.

Anyway the details of this job dont need to be shared. Basically its in the heart of Boston and it doesn't pay well lol. Especially for what commuting is costing me. So I am continuing to look for another job much closer to home. However, I REALLY like the people that work there so far...I mean..its a big firm compared to what I am used to..the job is easy easy easy and they really have it together there. I am not doing any legal secretary work which is sorta lame but if they ask me to do that, I am asking for a pay raise. What I do keeps me busy and on my feet. Maybe I'll lose a few pounds with all this walking around Boston!

Okay okay I must share some interesting commute stories.
A. Friday I am at the station with plenty of time to catch the 4:40 train to West Roxbury. However I have no idea how to figure out what track its going to be on. Reminder..this is my FIRST TIME riding a train from South Station..ever. So I wander up to a conductor and she says "What line?" I tell her and she huffs at me and says "You're in the wrong area! You probably missed your trian!" and TURNS AROUND. I wanted to be like UM LADY I DIDNT WANT THE TRAIN LEAVING RIGHT NOW THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED. So I am litterally so exhausted at this pt...(Oh yea I forgot to mention I was wandering around Boston for an hour and 15 minutes with no clue as to how to find the street I wanted...) that the conductor's rudeness almost made me cry. I composed myself and figured out ON MY OWN how to find the track my train would be on.
B . Monday night I am RUNNING to the train station after work. I got let ou 15 mins early and thought I might be able to catch the 5:32 train to Bridgewater instead of the 5:55. Well I went the wrong direction after leaving my building and basically, no I didn't meet that train. But what I did encounter was RUDE conductors who don't like to answer questions. There are voices on the loud speaker saying this train boarding and last call for that train and yada yada yada. Well since I was cutting it so close and had no idea what name I should be looking for on the screen(since I was taking a different train) I ran up to a conductor and asked NUMEROUS times what train he was standing in front of...and he ignored me. FABULOUS. He didnt even look at me. So I gave up on trying to catch that train and wandered over to another conductor to ask what name i should be looking for on the screen. He answered my question, without looking me in the eye and was pretty short with me.
C. Today ..Oh today how grand you are. Alright last night was when I made my post about the cost so we won't get into that. This morning I need to make ONE stop at an atm before the train so I can have cash. (of course..no vendor at this station so they charge you two extra bucks to purchase the ticket on the train). But less than halfway from hom my gas light comes on and I decide not to take the risk of running out before hitting the service plaza or the train station and I pull off an exit that takes me like..two miles to the gas station. Then traffic getting back to the interstate is horrible.

When I finally get to my exit it takes me 15 minutes to get to the train station(should have taken about 5). My train is there already and I freak out because I cannot miss this train, or I am getting back on the highway and driving to Boston. I stuff two bucks for parking in a random slot and I have to literally jump on the train as is it taking off. But I am on it. Breathe easy.

The conductor comes around to get tickets and I tell him what I need and he says to me "You know you can buy your ticket at *Insert name of store I cant pronounce or spell* beforehand." and I said, "Yeah I just dont have time in the morning to make that stop." He says to me, "You should make time. We like it better when people buy their tickets from vendors."

uH WHAT? You do not speak to someone like that. SORRRRRY Traffic was bad and I lost abotu 20 minutes sitting in it. SORRRRRRRRRRY that you get to make MORE MONEY OFF OF ME!!!!!

Oy.

D. Coming home tonight ...no major bumps in the road aside from getting a $2.75 service ticket for not paying my parking in the correct slot. Oy.

But the best part..is that I went to the Subway line on my lunch break..to buy a sub card bc I am going to try that way of commuting out for a while..and the only worker that was down there WAS SO HELPFUL TO ME. I started walking towards him and he was alert and ready to ask questions. I told him I was new to the area and he advised me on what my best action was. T-Subway workers WIN over T-Commuter rail workers. By far.

Thats all she wrote for now. I am sure there's more..but I need to get to bed. Six am is an ugly time of the morning

working

I had my first day of work in Boston today. Unfortunately after budgeting, I can't afford to keep this job. I have no money to commute into Boston. It's $13.50 a day...or I can buy a monthly pass(for November..it won't let me get one for October) for $223(which means I have to continue to shell out $13.50 a day for the rest of October).... I cannot afford to do either. I could stay there and stick it out until I find a job closer to home but like I said. I can't afford to commute to Boston in the meantime.

So I guess I am going to have to find some retail job closer to where I live, making way less than I deserve to make and working horrible hours with no insurance because I need to be making money somehow.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Boston travel

I have to say...one thing I miss about Illinois is the transportation to Chicago and around Chicago. The Metra sites and El schedules were SO MUCH EASIER TO UNDERSTAND than the transportation in Boston. And of course I live a bit of a drive from many of the stations. So the ones closest to me have obscure times.

I will be leaving super early tomorrow so I can arrive in Boston an HOUR early just to avoid parking in Boston and paying money I don't have. Stupid train times.

Bottom line is that I have to find a permanent job that is WAY closer to me than Boston. The frustration I went through to figure out everything for tomorrow is not at all worth the pay I will get with this temp agency. I'll gladly make exactly what I was in IL to work closer to home.

Oy. I will update on how it all went tomorrow night or Saturday

http://niu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138171&l=f5124&id=30800106

Oops, forgot the picture link!

Welcome!! Bienvenido!

hey hey hey! I promised a few of you that I would get a blog set up when I got to the east coast and I completely forgot that plan. So here I am finally doing it. I figure this way I can send the link to everyone and you can read and comment as you see fit. I'll still send out personal emails once in a while though...and send them to me too. It makes me happy to see people are thinking of me!!

As of yesterday, I've been on the east coast for four weeks! A month tomorrow. YIPPIE!! I am surviving nicely. I was hired on with a legal assistant temp agency a couple of weeks ago and finally today something came through for me. It's only for 4-7 hours on this upcoming Friday but they are paying me four bucks more an hour than I made at my last job so it will be a nice lil paycheck to get me started!

Other than looking for a job, I have been spending time at Draw the Line gigs. They have all been local up until this last weekend when I rode down to Reading, PA with the band for a tribute band festival on Friday night. Good times. Exhausting times. We got back to the hotel around 2 or something...maybe later and we were up again to hit the road at 9:30. Drove back to Rhode Island where they had a gig in Cranston. Got home from that around 2:30 and was up at 7:30 to take a trip to Washington D.C. Justin's friend and bandmate Steve drove down with us and we dropped him off at his fiance's house before heading into D.C.

Justin has a friend from HS who lives in Arlington. We stayed with him and did some sightseeing Monday all day and Tuesday in the morning. We probably walked about 5 miles on Monday and my body was HATING me for it! Plus I had a cold. But the weather in D.C. was amazing and I got some great pictures. I posted around 60 of them on facebook so I will link that at the end. I have way more though. All together, Justin and I took well over 500 pictures.

Not much else to report around here. One thing I have learned living out here is that I cannot plan ahead for anything. A lot of what I am doing is dependent upon Justin's schedule. So don't be offended if I don't have answers for the time being!!

The east coast is treating me well. I do miss everyone a LOT and I know I am missing out on great times but I am glad I made this decision. It was about time I did something instead of thought about it until I decided it was too hard.

Well, I am off to the grocery store to restock our fridge. Unfortunately while we were home for six hours Sun morning before leaving for DC We left the fridge open a tad..so I need to replace some things in it!! Then its WATCHING THE CUBS GAME!!!

GOOOO CUBBIES!

Love you and miss you all!