Tuesday Bluesday

My week started out very well, until I was on my way to work Monday and got a speeding ticket for going 30 mph through the toll booth, which unbeknownst to me, has a speed limit of 15.  I don't think I helped matters when the officer asked how fast I was going and I said probably 40 - I didn't know the toll booth had a speed limit!  What is the point of having an EZ Pass if you have to slow down that much?  I also did not have my registration with me, which did not help matters. Then, on my way home from work, I was going through the toll booth and the worker ran out screaming at me. I didn't know what to do so I panicked and drove away.  Apparently, MA is not as tech-savvy as VA, and so not all of the booths have the EZ Pass sensors.  The one I went through that said "Cash Only" was in fact, cash only. Ooops. So we will see if I get a ticket in the mail for that one. FML.

In other news, here are some articles and links that have kept me entertained over the last few days.

Real Housewives of any city is my guiltiest pleasure, and I spent a good hour yesterday cracking up at this.  Although I probably shouldn't admit that.

This one will be relevant if the weather ever gets nicer. Although we do have a grill in our chef grade kitchen.
We looked at some of the apartments mentioned in this article.  It's crazy how real estate markets differ in every city and what exactly affects them. When we were apartment hunting here, it was fascinating to see the incentives that each building offered to stand out from the rest - in DC the apartments were much more standard and cookie cutter.  They featured amenities like a pool, gym, movie theatre, etc.  In Boston, we looked at one complex that had a gift-wrapping station on the main floor, another that had an entire bike storage, cleaning and maintenance area for your bike (totally wasted on me), ones that had entire art galleries in them, and another that offered to build an entire California closet for me, and lastly one that had a guest apartment in the complex that could be rented out for guests.

I thought this was an interesting article on women working in the Obama administration, particularly the public's opinion on his lack of women in the administration.  I thought that Ruemmler, Monaco and Rice made some interesting points on the gender dynamics of the West Wing, particularly Ruemmler's opinion that men get out front and in the spotlight more.  I definitely agree that a large part of the gender issue is that women do not take as strong of a stance or ask for what they want the way that men tend to do.  I read Lean In last year, which also did a good job discussing that perception.

Lastly, this quiz, since I am now an official New England resident.



Love this quote.

Random Catching Up

Happy Hump Day everyone!! We spent this weekend getting unpacked, and sadly did not participate in any sort of St. Patrick's Day shenanigans. We did take a break on Saturday to go to The Buttery for brunch and some delicious cocktails.  I was very happy to find a drink similar to my favorite in DC at the Brixton called the Riot Sling, which is made with Gin, Lemon, Honey, Earl Grey and Ginger Beer.  The Buttery's similar cocktail was made with vodka, but I definitely plan to order it next time with my liquor of choice.

I've learned through this moving process that I am definitely not a natural at any sort of home renovating or DIY - not that I ever really thought I was in the first place, but this move has definitely confirmed. Since we have a very open floor plan (ie our bedroom has no walls), we decided to get curtains to separate the living room and bedroom a little better. We have now been to Bed Bath & Beyond and Target multiple times to return wrong-sized rods, and one-sided curtains that clearly would not work.  We finally have the rod up, which was a task in itself, and now have one set of curtains purchased. Because of course Target was sold out of the ones we liked, so we have to order another one online. Overall, I feel like unpacking and settling in has taken much longer here than any of the other moves, but I think part of it is that a) we have a lot more stuff, b) we get distracted easily by things like going out to dinner and exploring our neighborhood and lastly c) I think we are being a lot more thoughtful about where we are putting things and trying to be as organized as possible in our smaller space.

Last night, Paul and I decided to go to a spinning class at Recycle Studio near our apartment. We both decided that we needed to get serious about getting into shape before Naples, and now we no longer have gym in our building.  That's not a big problem since I hate gyms, especially the ones that come in apartment complexes.  They are just beyond un-motivating to me. I need to be at a class where I am constantly moving so I don't get bored, and where someone is yelling at me so I don't get lazy.  I took a boxing class once last year and loved it, but I couldn't find any near our apartment.  I figured the best way for us to attend a class would be something that we could easily walk to, especially in the cold, so I thought spinning would be the next best thing.  I had no idea what to expect since neither of us had ever taken spinning before.  We looked at getting shoes before the class, but figured we should probably try it out a few times before really committing ourselves. Anyways, as most of you probably know (and I should have), spinning is HARD.  I don't really know what I expected but it was intense!  The girl leading the class was seriously the most in shape person I have ever seen - her butt didn't touch the seat at all and her legs moved so freaking fast, all while she yelled at us. Paul and I were definitely the slowest/most out of shape in the class - and there was a lady spinning whose due date was YESTERDAY. Even she was spinning like a maniac - that is serious commitment.  Thank God your feet get locked in or I most definitely would have flipped myself off that bicycle at least a million times.  There were multiple times where I would try really hard to keep up with everyone, and then I would slow myself down because, like, would I rather be the best newbie in the class, or accidentally knock out my front teeth when I crash face first into the handlebars. So, yeah, that was my experience with spinning. Despite the agony that my body is in today, I am definitely going to go back - I need an intense work out to kick me into shape before Naples! We'll see what happens after that...

This sums up how I feel right now:

I'm baaaaack

Hello everyone! I'm back!!  It's been a few months, and life has been crazy.  I've decided to bring this blog back to life, so hopefully that means you'll be seeing many more posts from me. 

Now, where to begin with my updates?  I suppose that the most important thing to start with is that this blog is no longer DC-based.  That's right, I am no longer writing to you from our nation's capital.  Instead, I've moved north to Boston (or rather, Bahhhstaaan as they seem to say here).  It all happened crazy fast too.  

Here's how it happened:

Back track to a mere 6 weeks ago, when shortly after the holidays, Paul attended his usual quarterly training in Dallas.  Now, we knew that promotions were often made at this training of the year, and we knew the chance of Paul getting promoted was high.  December and January were definitely a "limbo" time period for us where we held off planning ski trips with friends and things of that nature in case of any move.  We knew the rumors of the cities that would be available, and out of the options, Boston seemed the most likely, as well as the one we'd like the most - but nothing was guaranteed.  We held our breath for what seemed like months, as his co-workers, supervisors, and our family and friends all asked us if we were moving, how we felt about it, and so on.  Paul and I tried not to talk about it because we didn't want to jinx anything, and we had no idea what would happen!  Moving forward to the last week in January - Paul's mom and brother visited us for MLK Jr. weekend, and then Paul left for training on Wednesday (which gave us little time to discuss anything that might happen over the next few days!).  Paul interviewed on Thursday AM and at 4pm on Thursday, he called me while I was at work.  I stepped into the hallway and listened to him say, "We are moving to Boston!".  The very next day I put my two weeks notice in at work - so crazy!! Paul came home that Friday night, and then flew to Boston that Sunday! 

In between then and now, there has been all sorts of craziness from apartment hunting, to my celebrating my birthday (eek hello 24!) to moves being delayed by snowstorms. We thought that apartment hunting in Boston would be much easier than in DC, and we stood corrected.  Searching in January meant a terrible selection, and our desire to live in the heart of Boston meant sky high prices and not very much space.  Throw in being a pet owner (yes, we got a dog! more on that later..) and we were basically screwed. After spending Saturday look at some awful places that would never work for us (no parking, no washer or dryer, 5 floor walkups), we ended up deciding to take over the loft- style apartment from the girl who's position Paul was taking over.  Even that wasn't a guarantee as the owner of the condo was thinking about selling.  

To make a long story short, we ended up getting the loft (with an increased rent of course).  Next came the process of the movers.  Because of a big snowstorm on the East Coast, our move was delayed and we couldn't get into our new apartment until March 1 - two weeks from when  we already had our movers scheduled.  We decided to go ahead and have the movers come as planned and keep our things in storage while we stayed in a hotel.  Looking back, that might not have been our best plan.  It was very difficult to find a pet-friendly, extended stay hotel to stay in for two weeks!  I went a little stir crazy and ended up on an impromptu trip home to MI to clear my head and spend time with family and friends. To add to the stress, our building does not let people move in on Saturdays, so our move was delayed another two days!

Now, flash forward to today and we are living in our new apartment and loving it!  We still have boxes and things everywhere, but we're hoping to get those all unpacked this weekend.  We love our new neighborhood, and I even have a part-time, temporary job.  I'll share more on those things later - I am pretty sure I am getting carpal tunnel from all this typing.

Happy Friday everyone!!