I'm Sorry!

Because I didn't want Carrot Top to be the first thing you see when visiting my blog,I thought I'd write anything for a moment or two.

I'm sorry you had to look at Carrot Top. I really am. I know it was scary.

So, Andy and I are off to Massachusetts tomorrow. It's true. And crazy and amazing. It's the first true leg of our relocating process. We're leaving New Paltz at 8am and driving to Pittsfield.

Andy's driving Earl, our old Cutlass Ciera grandpa car, and I'm driving Samantha (or Sam - you guys name your cars, right??) our cute and new sporty little black Pontiac Vibe which is seriously an awesome car. Mom is riding with me, because, you know, I only have a permit, blah blah blah. Harvey is driving his car and bringing some of our suitcases. We are all hauling plenty of stuff.

We'll get to the condo, drop our stuff and then it's off to Northampton, where we are meeting our realtor and looking at houses! Excitement! We've fully prepared ourselves by watching House Hunters and Property Virgins all week long.

Here's to starting over and trying out a new place. Goodbye New York, I love you but need something new!

Vomitness

The last thing I needed to see today when I checked my favorite gossip website, Dlisted, was this picture of Carrot Top, the has been prop comic turned vomit inducer. Well, he always one, but now more than ever.

DisGUSting.

Big Big Things!

Gosh, we've been here for four weeks now and we've definitely accomplished some things!

- Andy got a kick-ass job at the first hospital he interviewed at. It was his first choice, and seems like a really great, progressive place to work. He starts next Monday.

- I am making progress on reversing the effects of the I'm-30-and-am-without-a-driver's-license syndrome of which I suffer, and picked up the old driving manual and even took my 5 hour pre-licensing class yesterday.

- We bought a new car! Yes, a real, new car. 2009 Pontiac Vibe. Metallic Black. It rocks, and pictures of it and me in it will follow.

- We found a place to live!! We will be renting this condo in Pittsfield (where Andy's job is) temporarily - for at least three months - while we house hunt in the Northampton area. It's beeyoootiful and is an amazing place that we'd totally never be able to afford in NYC. Pictures of that will follow, too, when we move in, this Saturday!!

That's it for now. We're happy but totally freaking out about how much we're doing and how's it's just a lot all at once. But it's great, so who are we to complain?!

OMFG!

Dude - Where Is GOSSIP GIRL?!

Living at mom's, I thought maybe we'd had a DVR war and her shows somehow won out against GG this week when I checked upon my return from Michigan.

Alas, I've just checked itunes, the CW website AND tv.com and have discovered that there was NO new episode this week, and in fact there won't be till March 9th.

Why? WHY????? The sadness is quickly enveloping me and I'm feeling like I'm in withdrawal. I need my Gossip Girl and my Chuck.

So sad.

Visiting Nana

We're back from Michigan, which was an adventure unto itself. Mainly dealing with my 92 year old grandmother and the madness that spins around her and her husband in their new apartment (and no, it's not assisted living).

But that fun basically revolves around organizing daily medication doses into baggies (she keeps throwing out those pill holders everyone in the family keeps sending her!), trying to convince her husband she should have two hearing aids instead of one, and of course no trip would be complete without the visit to the doctor to get her toenails cut. And no charge for it!

Yeah, you know it was fun.

Actually it was. Nana is great and just laughs her ass off at everything. We also had a lovely time at the Valentine's Day dance at the Moose Lodge. Here's some pics!




We said we were on a diet... and so they took us to "Wing Night" at the Vets Club... fried chicken wings, onion rings and fried mushrooms... not sure how many Weight Watchers points this was...









Nana at Tim Horton's - isn't she adorable?











Another day at Tim Horton's, Nana's favorite place for soup and frozen cappucino









Nana laughs her ass off about her dying hearing aid!










Andy dances with Norma, the single woman who came to the dance with us.

Oh, And Those Awards...

I'm not big into watching the Grammys, really haven't been since I was a sophomore in High School and the Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam were nominated for things. But since I'm at my mom's and she's a musician, I did watch it last night with her.

I really enjoyed Radiohead's performance. They just rock. The other high point (hee hee) of the night was when Whitney first came on to present some award.

Mom and I are sure she was on the pipe.

Unfortunately I can't find a clip. Sorry.

But, if you DID see it...what do you think - was she high as a kite or what? She did a lot of eye-closing and thinking while she was up there. It wasn't as exciting as old Anna Nicole Smith high-points-at-awards-shows, but it was enough to make us wonder...

Only One Week?!!

It's a shock to realize that we've been back for only just a week. It seems like we have done so much. We are right back in a semi-normal way of life. As normal as not working and living with your mother can be.

After seeing great friends in the city last week for the two days we were there, we came up to New Paltz, where my mom and step-dad have a house.

We got Earl (our tan '93 Cutlass Ciera, inherited from my grandfather, named after my great-grandfather who owned a Harley Davidson shop) out of the garage and discovered, on the way to fix a leaking tire, that the brakes weren't working!

After a trip to many fix-it garagey people (can you tell I'm not a car person?) we finally had to leave it for a couple days. Because we were going to Northamton the next day for Andy's interviews, we had to rent a car.

Thursday we were up bright and early. We drove in the rental car (using a GPS system, which was awesome and spoiled us and which we subsequently bought at Circuit City's
going out of business sale) and easily got to Andy's schedule interviews on Thursday & Friday and a meeting with a mortgage broker to see if they'd laugh in our faces when we told them we aren't yet employed, nor have been for 7 months, and want to buy a house.

All interviews went well, with one in particular being an amazing RN job where the even have a wellness program for employees (and hopefully their spouses) that includes yoga and aromatherapy. Yes, please!!

The mortgage broker did not laugh in our faces at all and said she'd get back to us and it was likely we'd have to wait 90 days after employment start to get a mortgage, which was great news.

Now we're just waiting for job calls and then will get settled with a short-term living situation in Northampton or the surrounding area.

Returning to Northampton and driving around the Berkshires, we were reminded of why we want to live there. It's such a great town - it was lit up and lively on Thursday night in town, despite the cold, and it's just such a great area with outdoorsiness and shops and everything. We can't wait! We didn't take pictures this time, but here's some pictures from last year.



We are going to my grandmother's house in Michigan on Thursday, so it might be a while before I post again. Have a great week!

What's Next?

Now that we are back in the U.S. things are about to get really exciting.

Sure, sure, Prague and the European travels have been thrilling and exciting and all that, but NOW we’ll be getting into “real life” fun.

We will be experiencing the joys (or horrors?) of relocating to a completely new place:
- job hunting
- buying a house (or making due with some kind of short-term housing)
- making friends
- adjusting to a new (small) town after living in NYC

The first step of getting back into the real world after 7 months of not working and taking time to relax/write/explore/travel/do whatever the hell we want?
Cell phones.

We bought them yesterday.
With new phone numbers…Massachusetts phone numbers!
Crazy, right? We don’t even live there yet. I know.

God, we’re back in the real world, all reachable with phones and everything.
We bought the phones and signed up for the plan… and I didn’t know whether to be happy or to start crying.

Ack! The real world!!

We're Back!

We survived the flight and are alive. It was smooth and easy and I didn't even take my anti-anxiety pills!

I was pretty hopped up on head cold meds and the sickness made Andy and I essentially deaf with the pressure from the flight (my left ear is still stopped up), and I did have a glass of wine with lunch on the second flight, but overall I was really calm and just enjoyed the flight.

Now we're back in NYC staying with mom and step-dad, had Saigon Grill for dinner, and got plenty of sleep. NYC is overwhelming! That's how I felt last night when we ran across the street to Duane Reade for cold medicine. After being in Prague it is so strange to be back.

Still a little jet-lagged after waking up but I think the onion bagel Andy just got me from Hot N Crusty should help.