Winter is here!
I was surprised to see a snow weather warning the other day.
As the the sun started to set, the rain became frozen white flakes drifting from the heavens. Winter has arrived! A blanket of snow covered the ground with in a few hours. A beautiful blanket...
After the disappointing fall foliage I was excited to see snow. The sun always seems to shine a little brighter with snow on the ground.
It surprises me when I look back on my life and I wonder how I came to love the snowy culture so much. I grew up in a family who craved sun, sand and waves. They enjoyed the occasional snowy vacation, but never craved it more than maybe once a year. Now I live a life where snow is part of my career!
I've falling in love with New England. I do miss dearly my warm beaches with great swell in North Carolina, but the rolling mountains in New England with their magical weaving rivers do something special for me.
I hope one day to share my love for this geography with my family.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Back on the Job Search
I thought I had found a wonderful job that filled all the criteria on my wish list. It paid good, it was only 4 days a week, it ended when rafting season started (that was a bonus more than a requirement), it involved traveling, it was something different,and I had afternoons and weekends off. Well, it seemed awesome...
UNTIL
...this week rolled around.
I got a little nervous when I stopped receiving the flood of emails about what was next, paperwork I still needed to sign and etc. Yesterday, being the nervous niddy I get to be, I sent an email out to my supervisor saying HEY WHAT'S UP?
No reply.
I got a weird feeling in my belly...
Today I check my email and see that I've received one from someone else (I'm assuming he is probably the "head honcho") that says they are postponing the start of training aka the job till early December, MAYBE EVEN EARLY JANUARY!
OH SHIZZZZ.
Well, does that mean I'm back on the job market? I don't know yet. I could always pick up a few extra shifts at Ludlow until the job got started, but that isn't going to pay the bills (but only dip into money I don't like to touch).
***SIDE NOTE***I'm one of those people who prefers to live off of each paycheck while having money safely stashed away that I can use if I decide to do something special. Now that doesn't mean I like to spend my whole paycheck... I just don't want to exceed what I make each month in spending, nor do I want to depend on a paycheck to scrap by each month. (I'd prefer to stash some of the leftovers away also... Like my dad always said "Try to save a dollar a day, you'll be very happy one day." I'm assuming that "one day" meant when I retire, not when I want to go out and buy a new computer.)
Okay, I'm done rambling back to the story...
So now what is next? Do I let this job opportunity go away, or do I try to find something I can quit as soon as everything is up and running? These are all questions I really don't want to think about, but I must. I am a grown up. As my dad once told me, "Liz, you became a grown up the moment you moved out of my house and went to college. You have just chosen not to accept the fact until now." (I think he was talking about how I am constantly moving for seasonally for jobs. My mom just calls me a "peter pan.")
***SIDE NOTE*** I found out while filling out paperwork for this job that I have lived in 14 different houses in the past 17 years. CRAZY!
Wish me luck. I'm going to start job searching for something to refill my bank account. At least I have two extremely part time jobs lined up right now (web design and ski instructor on weekends).
UNTIL
...this week rolled around.
I got a little nervous when I stopped receiving the flood of emails about what was next, paperwork I still needed to sign and etc. Yesterday, being the nervous niddy I get to be, I sent an email out to my supervisor saying HEY WHAT'S UP?
No reply.
I got a weird feeling in my belly...
Today I check my email and see that I've received one from someone else (I'm assuming he is probably the "head honcho") that says they are postponing the start of training aka the job till early December, MAYBE EVEN EARLY JANUARY!
OH SHIZZZZ.
Well, does that mean I'm back on the job market? I don't know yet. I could always pick up a few extra shifts at Ludlow until the job got started, but that isn't going to pay the bills (but only dip into money I don't like to touch).
***SIDE NOTE***I'm one of those people who prefers to live off of each paycheck while having money safely stashed away that I can use if I decide to do something special. Now that doesn't mean I like to spend my whole paycheck... I just don't want to exceed what I make each month in spending, nor do I want to depend on a paycheck to scrap by each month. (I'd prefer to stash some of the leftovers away also... Like my dad always said "Try to save a dollar a day, you'll be very happy one day." I'm assuming that "one day" meant when I retire, not when I want to go out and buy a new computer.)
Okay, I'm done rambling back to the story...
So now what is next? Do I let this job opportunity go away, or do I try to find something I can quit as soon as everything is up and running? These are all questions I really don't want to think about, but I must. I am a grown up. As my dad once told me, "Liz, you became a grown up the moment you moved out of my house and went to college. You have just chosen not to accept the fact until now." (I think he was talking about how I am constantly moving for seasonally for jobs. My mom just calls me a "peter pan.")
***SIDE NOTE*** I found out while filling out paperwork for this job that I have lived in 14 different houses in the past 17 years. CRAZY!
Wish me luck. I'm going to start job searching for something to refill my bank account. At least I have two extremely part time jobs lined up right now (web design and ski instructor on weekends).
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Look at what is waiting for me at home!
Since I'm not home, Tylan is busy baking away. Look at this delicious treat he made from the apples we picked the other weekend!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The places we go!
I have been on the OBX all week enjoying the little bit of time I get to spend with two of my best friends before they each embark on a life changing adventure.
On Saturday, my friend Michele is heading on a road trip across the US with two of our other friends (Mary Claire and Katie). They are doing the bottom half of the US then heading up the western coast and eventually transplanting their lives to Colorado until future notice. I wish them the best of luck!
Casey on the other hand, is leaving Monday to drive down the eastern part of the US to almost as far south as you can go, the Florida Keys! Her boyfriend Kyle and her are moving to Key Largo for a year or until they decide to do something else. In addition, Casey plans on traveling to Europe in November! Boy do I wish I was in her shoes for the next few months! JEALOUS I AM!
As sad as it is to see my friends get scattered across the US like a spilled bag of Jelly Beans, I am very excited to hear about their adventures. Also, that means I now have a place to come stay when I want to go visit Colorado and Florida... oh yeah and someone cool to hang out with at those locations.
I can't blame them for wanting to see the world. It's what I'm doing moving to Boston and all those other states I have lived in before. I'm just really happy I get to see both of them this week.
Spending time with friends like that is like hitting the refresh button on your life.
(Something Michele said to me.)
Thank you Michele and Casey for being part of my life. Thank you for teaching me how to live, love, talk about my feelings, and be a caring friend (and many other random things I shouldn't mention on a public blog). Most of all thank you for being who you are!
Best of luck ladies!
On Saturday, my friend Michele is heading on a road trip across the US with two of our other friends (Mary Claire and Katie). They are doing the bottom half of the US then heading up the western coast and eventually transplanting their lives to Colorado until future notice. I wish them the best of luck!
Casey on the other hand, is leaving Monday to drive down the eastern part of the US to almost as far south as you can go, the Florida Keys! Her boyfriend Kyle and her are moving to Key Largo for a year or until they decide to do something else. In addition, Casey plans on traveling to Europe in November! Boy do I wish I was in her shoes for the next few months! JEALOUS I AM!
As sad as it is to see my friends get scattered across the US like a spilled bag of Jelly Beans, I am very excited to hear about their adventures. Also, that means I now have a place to come stay when I want to go visit Colorado and Florida... oh yeah and someone cool to hang out with at those locations.
I can't blame them for wanting to see the world. It's what I'm doing moving to Boston and all those other states I have lived in before. I'm just really happy I get to see both of them this week.
Spending time with friends like that is like hitting the refresh button on your life.
(Something Michele said to me.)
Thank you Michele and Casey for being part of my life. Thank you for teaching me how to live, love, talk about my feelings, and be a caring friend (and many other random things I shouldn't mention on a public blog). Most of all thank you for being who you are!
Best of luck ladies!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Harpoon Race
Columbus weekend was eventful to say the less. Friday afternoon we loaded up the truck and headed to "camp" in Greensboro, Vermont. Greensboro for those of you who haven't visited, is a tiny quaint town in northern Vermont via a lot of back-roads. The town surrounds Caspian Lake and the beautiful rolling Barr Hills.
With fall here and almost gone, we had to do some summer clean up. Tylan and I scrubbed and winterized all the lake toys. Luckily, we left the aluminum canoe out to play with. As the sun started to set, Tylan and I enjoyed a fantastically relaxing canoe paddle across the lake.
Saturday evening we celebrated Carol's 65th birthday with quite a feast of a meal! Our standing rib roast took forever to cook, but boy was it worth the wait! Carol took great delight in not taking part of the cooking this one day of the year we celebrate her.
Sunday morning Tylan and I woke semi early to head south to the Harpoon Brewery. There we meet up with Paul and Kristen (plus Anya) as we psyched our selves up for the morning adventure, a 5k race through the hills. We all did pretty well considering the physical shape we were in. Tylan (~28 minutes) finished first out of us all, with myself (31 minutes) and Paul (~40 minutes) finishing shortly behind.
My one of my favorite parts of the race was the adrenalium you get running in a pack. You felt you could never just stop and walk. It was a silent selfish "hurray" whenever you passed someone, but boy did it feel good! The pack also helped you maintain a constant speed which was nice when you're tired and being timed.
In addition to that, I really enjoyed that the last ~0.5 mile was ALL DOWN HILL! I knew my legs could move that fast, all I had to do was just let gravity do it's work. (And hope when it came time to stop, I could do it safely!) Which was good in my case, because the rib roast in tummy from the night before was still painfully trying to be digested. I willing to except whatever help was out there.
Though, as I made the last turn, gravity plus a girl walking blindly on the edge of the crowd almost made my face have a date with the pavement. I'm happy to say my face is in the same condition today as it was when I started the race... no road rash scars made to create daily memories of the race.
The race concluded with us drinking our free beers and eating tasty brats. The sun had officially come out to play, and it felt almost like a early summer warm day. I bet a few of us walked away with some unexpected sunburn. Luckily Kristen, the good mom, remembered even in October you should bring sunscreen for the beautiful Anya.
We spent the night in Ludlow after the race and eventually made our way home Monday. With fall in the air we craved those delicious baked goods that come out this time of season. This is how we came up with the great idea of stopping at Alyson's Orchard on the way home.
I felt like I was in heaven being surrounded by all types of different apples as far as the eye could see! (For those of you who didn't know, apples are my FAVORITE FOOD in the entire world, I do believe I could live off of apples.)
We have great intentions now of making all kinds of delicious baked goods... though, another race might be in order after eating all of them! (haha)
With fall here and almost gone, we had to do some summer clean up. Tylan and I scrubbed and winterized all the lake toys. Luckily, we left the aluminum canoe out to play with. As the sun started to set, Tylan and I enjoyed a fantastically relaxing canoe paddle across the lake.
Saturday evening we celebrated Carol's 65th birthday with quite a feast of a meal! Our standing rib roast took forever to cook, but boy was it worth the wait! Carol took great delight in not taking part of the cooking this one day of the year we celebrate her.
Sunday morning Tylan and I woke semi early to head south to the Harpoon Brewery. There we meet up with Paul and Kristen (plus Anya) as we psyched our selves up for the morning adventure, a 5k race through the hills. We all did pretty well considering the physical shape we were in. Tylan (~28 minutes) finished first out of us all, with myself (31 minutes) and Paul (~40 minutes) finishing shortly behind.
My one of my favorite parts of the race was the adrenalium you get running in a pack. You felt you could never just stop and walk. It was a silent selfish "hurray" whenever you passed someone, but boy did it feel good! The pack also helped you maintain a constant speed which was nice when you're tired and being timed.
In addition to that, I really enjoyed that the last ~0.5 mile was ALL DOWN HILL! I knew my legs could move that fast, all I had to do was just let gravity do it's work. (And hope when it came time to stop, I could do it safely!) Which was good in my case, because the rib roast in tummy from the night before was still painfully trying to be digested. I willing to except whatever help was out there.
Though, as I made the last turn, gravity plus a girl walking blindly on the edge of the crowd almost made my face have a date with the pavement. I'm happy to say my face is in the same condition today as it was when I started the race... no road rash scars made to create daily memories of the race.
The race concluded with us drinking our free beers and eating tasty brats. The sun had officially come out to play, and it felt almost like a early summer warm day. I bet a few of us walked away with some unexpected sunburn. Luckily Kristen, the good mom, remembered even in October you should bring sunscreen for the beautiful Anya.
We spent the night in Ludlow after the race and eventually made our way home Monday. With fall in the air we craved those delicious baked goods that come out this time of season. This is how we came up with the great idea of stopping at Alyson's Orchard on the way home.
I felt like I was in heaven being surrounded by all types of different apples as far as the eye could see! (For those of you who didn't know, apples are my FAVORITE FOOD in the entire world, I do believe I could live off of apples.)
We have great intentions now of making all kinds of delicious baked goods... though, another race might be in order after eating all of them! (haha)
Thursday, October 6, 2011
From the perspective of a commuter.
Yesterday I ventured out onto the train for a very successful travel. (Go Liz!) I ran into a pack dog walker! I was quite impressed with her skills. She was listening to music, eating an popsicle, and walking about 6 dogs! Maybe I can get a job like that. My journey also lead me to a few other interesting sites. Check out my collage to see what I saw.
I meet Tylan in the city where our evening took an unexpected but enjoyable turn. We had a few errands to run on the south side of Boston, though finished those sooner then we thought. Neither of us craved sitting in some 5 o'clock traffic so we stopped for a drink instead.
We tried out some great seasonal ales at John Harvard's Brew House, a pub I'd definitely suggest. Try out their October Stout! Very delicious.
Before I left on my adventure into Boston, I had compiled all the necessary ingredients into a crock-pot for a delicious meal of Sweet and Spicy Black Bean Soup. I was trying to be a great girlfriend, one who had dinner prepared for when we got home.
I was very excited upon our return to walk into a house consumed with the aroma of the dinner i'd prepared earlier.
Sadly, I had the definition of awindows moment and put the temperature at "warm" rather then "low." Therefore, it never cooked! All I had to show for my hard work was a pot full of warm raw ingredients. Oh silly me, guess that means we will have Black Bean soup tonight instead.
In lieu of my tragic attempts at cooking, I feed my boyfriend apple cider instead for dinner! Go me!
I meet Tylan in the city where our evening took an unexpected but enjoyable turn. We had a few errands to run on the south side of Boston, though finished those sooner then we thought. Neither of us craved sitting in some 5 o'clock traffic so we stopped for a drink instead.
We tried out some great seasonal ales at John Harvard's Brew House, a pub I'd definitely suggest. Try out their October Stout! Very delicious.
Before I left on my adventure into Boston, I had compiled all the necessary ingredients into a crock-pot for a delicious meal of Sweet and Spicy Black Bean Soup. I was trying to be a great girlfriend, one who had dinner prepared for when we got home.
I was very excited upon our return to walk into a house consumed with the aroma of the dinner i'd prepared earlier.
Sadly, I had the definition of a
In lieu of my tragic attempts at cooking, I feed my boyfriend apple cider instead for dinner! Go me!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
After a long exhausting run around Wakefield's lake I receive a text message from my boyfriend.
Tylan: Are you coming to my softball game tonight?
Liz: Yeah! That was my plan!
My plan was enjoy my twisted teas while watching Tylan from the bench. Well that wasn't quite his plan. He then informs me:
Tylan: Great, because you are playing!
Liz: What? I don't play softball. I play soccer. ?!?!?!
For those of you who don't know me well, I am very blind. My depth perception is poor. And my hand eye coordination is slim to none. (How I can be a good raft guide, I don't know but I figured that one out.)
Once we arrive at the field, the team captain thanked and welcomed me to the team and handed me a jersey and glove. Now this is the good part... You know how any team jersey you have has your name on it? Well my was "floozie." At first I didn't know what that exactly meant. I laughed because it's a funny sounding word, right? Everyone else was laughing. My mind was going from slushies to clumsy to spacey. Oh the things that go through my head. Not until later did I actually find out it meant a "sexually loose female, slut." (Thanks UrbanDictionary.com) Haha. Nice one... thanks guys!
All four times I got up to bat I was counted as an out in some way (I hit the ball twice!). I even made it to first base ONCE, but was tagged out. (I think that's the correct softball lingo.) I almost even caught a pop fly! The best contribution I made was when played catcher. Tylan, who played pitcher, said I was distracting, I thought I was great! I even made friends with the umpire who told me about his son who recently went to Las Vegas and won a beer pong competition!
We ended up winning the game and I even got invited to come back and play during the play off next week! We shall see how that goes!
Liz: Yeah! That was my plan!
Liz: What? I don't play softball. I play soccer. ?!?!?!
For those of you who don't know me well, I am very blind. My depth perception is poor. And my hand eye coordination is slim to none. (How I can be a good raft guide, I don't know but I figured that one out.)
Once we arrive at the field, the team captain thanked and welcomed me to the team and handed me a jersey and glove. Now this is the good part... You know how any team jersey you have has your name on it? Well my was "floozie." At first I didn't know what that exactly meant. I laughed because it's a funny sounding word, right? Everyone else was laughing. My mind was going from slushies to clumsy to spacey. Oh the things that go through my head. Not until later did I actually find out it meant a "sexually loose female, slut." (Thanks UrbanDictionary.com) Haha. Nice one... thanks guys!
All four times I got up to bat I was counted as an out in some way (I hit the ball twice!). I even made it to first base ONCE, but was tagged out. (I think that's the correct softball lingo.) I almost even caught a pop fly! The best contribution I made was when played catcher. Tylan, who played pitcher, said I was distracting, I thought I was great! I even made friends with the umpire who told me about his son who recently went to Las Vegas and won a beer pong competition!
We ended up winning the game and I even got invited to come back and play during the play off next week! We shall see how that goes!
Monday, October 3, 2011
The outfits we wear.
While helping my boyfriend drop off his car at the shop this morning, I ran into a funny situation. It was early so I threw on a sweatshirt over my night gown and the next thing I knew I was going to have coffee with him before I dropped him off at the train. I had to tuck in the silky night gown like a long shirt so it would give me away hanging out below my sweatshirt.
It just makes you think about the outfits people where and the stories behind it. Do they really have that much of a lack of fashion to wear that... or were they like me in the case of the "hurry up and run out the door asleep" mornings or do they just have a fashion taste like Lady Gaga?
It just makes you think about the outfits people where and the stories behind it. Do they really have that much of a lack of fashion to wear that... or were they like me in the case of the "hurry up and run out the door asleep" mornings or do they just have a fashion taste like Lady Gaga?
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