Birthday Week

Sunday I had dinner with the family I will be living with.  They are wonderful!  The dad is funny.  We had dinner at George's which is a Greek pizza place.  It is always good.

Sunday evening I went to Starbucks but they were losing early because they were under staffed.  Can you believe that?!  It was such a bummer!

Monday I went to North Hampton in Massachusetts.  Its about 75 minutes away.  Someone recommended that I go there because its an artsy town with cute shops.  I went to the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library.  His library was in the city library.  It was very small and not that great.  I was shocked!  Someone who spent good years of their lives as a public servant to one of the highest degrees gets a small section in a public library!  I think some republican women did the library for Coolidge.  At the library some people who worked there gave me some great suggestions on what to do in North Hampton.
In some ways the city reminded me of Austin.  It was a cute town with cute shops.  I bought some kitchen towels unique to New England and a clock that looks like a record.  There were some sketchy people there!  Not as nice as the Farmington Valley where I live.  I went to a restaurant for lunch that looked good and asked for chicken on the Cesar salad but they said they couldn't do that because they are a vegetarian restaurant.

Tuesday was my birthday!  I went to Yale.  It was a big let down.  Lots of sketch people in New Haven.  The school was not nearly as good as A&M.  I went to the Peabody Natural History Museum that I heard a lot about.  It was not as good as the natural history museum in LA.  Then, I went to the Yale Fine Art Museum.  It was very nice!  The museum was 3 stories and they had art from all over the world.  Museums with art from all over always remind me of the Louve.  I looked up good places for lunch.  I went to this cute coffee shop restaurant and got chocolate waffle.  It was perfect!  I got mint tea because that is my favorite but it was terrible.

I had the opportunity to work at Cake Gypsy.  My boss let me decorate some cupcakes with birthday decorations.  I thought they looked cute!

Tuesday evening I went to my Connecticut parents house.  I will be moving in with them soon.   Their daughter Erin turned 23 on October 20th (same day as me).  Mom made us chicken parmesan, meat balls, mashed potatoes (my request), green bean casserole, salad with blueberries, and bread.  I love chocolate chip cookie cake and usually have one every year for my birthday.  Pat made me a home made cookie cake that was perfect!  We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot.  Todd and Mike (Todd and Pats son in law) are so funny!  Mike has these weird looking turtles that he told us all about.  After dinner we played a good game of Taboo.  I love that game!


Thursday I Facetimed my friend Wiliam from Starbucks.  Starbucks and Central Market and probably the two places I miss the most.  William shows me around our table and shows me the workers too.  That is one of my favorite things!  Matter, one of the older men at our table picked up an empty chair at our table and showed it to me.  It nearly made me cry!  Somedays I wish I was home more than others.

Thursday I worked almost 10 hours at the country club.  My boss Chris showed me around the golf course.  It was a great view especially this time of year with the trees changing colors.  Beth who is in charge of events is leaving to go to another position soon.  I would like to take her spot.  She gave me several suggestions on how to do well at the country club.  I was so thankful for that!  On Sunday I will be representing the club at a bridal expo and today the lady in charge of member services who is temporarily taking over Beth's job helped me prep for the bridal show.

Friday I worked all day at Hop Meadow.  It was a good day!

Saturday three girlfriends and I went to Boston.  We got started at 8 and got back to Avon at 11 that evening.  It was a good full day!
Emily bought me a Starbucks drink to start off the morning.

We went to the Boston Public Gardens. It was nice but significantly smaller than Central Park (which is huge).  It also didn't have nearly as many people as Central Park (but Boston is a smaller city).

Kara, one of my girlfriends with us told us about this shopping area and we passed it on the way to the library.  We walked down this area of nice shops.  I was tempted to get a cupcake there from a cute cupcake store but it was 10 am. I thought that was to early for a cupcake but is it ever to early for a cupcake?

We went to the Boston Public Library.  It was very large.  They had multiple restaurants.   They were remodeling some of the library.  They had an exhibit about America long ago with nice patriotic music.

We were planning on going to the Skywalk at Prudential Tower.  We decided to eat lunch there instead.  It was a great view!  At Prudential Center there was a small indoor shopping area kind of like hotels in Vegas.

We walked to the Boston Museum of Fine Art.  The museum was three stories.  We only covered the first story and we were there for about 2 hours.  The museum was huge!  Sections form the museum went horizontally as opposed to vertically so we still saw a little from every section.  They had a Rembrent exhibit that was very full.  It was hard to really see the paintings closely.  The museum had a lot of Egyptian art. They also had some unique and old instruments.  Emily is a musician so enjoyed seeing that.  I really liked their contemporary section of the museum.

Next, we took a Taxi to Faneuil Hall.  After arriving I realized I left my mug I bought at the museum on the taxi.  Kara ran out with me to see if the taxi was still there.  She called the taxi company but we didn't have the specific taxi number or receipt to tell them what the number was.
We walked around Faneuil Hall and headed towards the Harbor.  It was nice to walk around the Harbor.

We ate at this amazing restaurant, Trade.  We got 4 appetizers to split and 1 flatbread for dinner.  We got 3 desserts to split.  We were thankful we had a little of many items for dinner.

We walked back to our car and on the way back went to Quincey Market.  It was not as great as it was talked up to be.  It was just a big food court.  We saw these buys doing a funny performance but bringing people in from the audience.  We left before we got called.  The performers reminded me of people at Universal Studios City Walk in Hollywood.  Walking back we saw the theater district and many other neat things.

After getting to the car we discovered my phone charger wasn't working and everyones phones were about dead.  We didn't have enough battery to get back home.  We pulled into a gas station and got a new phone charger.  Thanks to Google Maps and a charged phone we got home!

It was a great day!  We talked about everything from evolution to gay marriage to homelessness to boys and what the Lords view on all of this.  I loved our time together and our real talk.  

Freedom Retreat

I got a job at a country club and put in my two weeks at Cake Gyspy.  At first the boss was upset I wasn't there longer but understood my spot.  She knows a lot about the country club so gave me several suggestions on how to exceed there!  I was shocked that she was so helpful in my new position.  I'm so thankful!

Wednesday I started my new job at the country club.  I really like my co workers so it has been good.

Friday I went with our student ministry to a camp in Massachusetts.  We took about 50 kids.  30 girls and 20 guys.  Friday we meet in Avon and Saturday we went to the camp.  I was able to speak about some of my struggles with the girls.    I meet Sue on this trip.  She is great! Saturday we lead a session on dating and purity.  We had the most girls in our session and some great conversation.  During the retreat we had a bon fire and s'mores, a color war which was very fun and times in the chapel of teaching and singing.  The camp had the best camp food I have ever had.  It was great!   Valley is a great church and I am thankful to be apart of it!

FAMILY

Sunday, I went to The New Britain Art Museum with Gabe.   It is a new building so it was nice.  They have some very pretty pieces.  On of my favorites was by this guy from New York who paints so realistically that it looks like a picture and that you are actually in New York.

Sunday evening, friend Kelsey and I went to Abigail's for diner.  It was a nice restaurant.  They were having a profit share upstairs.  Abigail's is thought to be haunted by a ghost named Abigail that is why it's called Abigails.  At the profit share they were passing out appetizers, had tiramisu out, live music, and raffles.  It was fun!

Thursday, my cousin Stephen came into town from Nashville.  Kara came over for dinner like she usually does. After dinner Stephen asked if we wanted to go on a walk around the block.  I was exhausted because I had been working all day but I thought I can go for a walk around the block.  To Stephen a walk around the block means a walk around Grandmas whole 8 mile complex.  We probably walked 3 miles!

Friday I got off for lunch and went with Steve, Stephen and Grandma for lunch at Chili's.  It was fun! Friday evening I worked at the Tiffany Juliet House.  I was able to help Chef Rich which I enjoy.

Saturday Steve and I went to one of my favorite places Dish n' Dat for breakfast.  Steve bought me chocolate chip pancakes which I love!  It was perfect!  I really like Steve.  He is funny and a good listener.  After breakfast I had an interview at Sur La Table to be a cooking school assistant.

In the afternoon we went to my cousin Jackies wedding.   It was about 30 minutes away.  Paul and Mike were the photographers.  After the ceremony I was able to ride with Paul and Mike to the reception about 30 minutes away.  I helped hold things.  I had the opportunity to help pose the girls for one picture so they would look like girls the movie Bridesmaids cover.  It was fun to be at the wedding with so much family.

What Life Looks Like Now

Well folks, I got a job working at Cake Gypsy, a popular bakery in town.  I have been working at the pre-school in the morning and Cake Gypsy in the afternoon.   In the evening I usually have something with church.  

Monday morning I meet with Mike, our communications director at church.  He used to manage managers at ESPN.  He looked at my resume and gave me some tips about ESPN.  Mike was so helpful!

I got sick again this week which is kind of a bummer.  I was out one day.  

I had my interview at the Wadsworth Mansion.  They said they would let me know in a week.  I think the interview went well!

Wednesday, I meet Pat who is about my parents age.  I may be living with she and her husband Todd.   Pate is one of the nicest ladies I have ever meet!  She is in charge of Moms in Prayer in Connecticut and was Nurse of the year at the hospital in Bristol she works at. Before I left she prayed for me!  I have heard nothing but wonderful things about the Kenneys.  It would be great if I did get to move in with them. 

So, at Cake Gypsy we have good relationships with many of our neighboring business.  At this Japanese place one of the guys that works there likes one of my co workers.  It is funny to see him flirting with her.  My co workers already has a boyfriend and doesn't like this guy.  However, we are getting a lot of free food from it so it's working out well for us.  Friday after working at Cake Gypsy my co workers and I went to see the guy from the Japanese place.  Then, we went to another restaurant for appetizers and dessert.  It was fun! 

Saturday was a cool day.  It was 40!  I heard this is about 20 degrees cooler than usual.  

I went to have coffee with my girlfriend, Rachel.  She is such a sweet girl.  I really like her! We saw some people from church there!  I'm so glad that I am beginning to see people out that I know!  

I also went to the Wadsworth Museum.  The museum was fantastic!  It was very large.  They had an exhibit of many European paintings.  They had a nice cafeteria but it wasn't as good as the Kimballs restaurant.  After the museum I worked a wedding at the Tiffany Juliet House.  I had worked their once before.  I got to work with the chef like last time.  I was the Sous Chef!  I like helping the chef.  He's a pretty cool guy.  

After working I went to Starbucks.  I had seen this guy in his late 20's there a couple of times.  He always sits outside of Starbucks with his guitar, cigarette, and dog.  I started talking to him and asked him what his name is.  He said his name is Lon and I was one of the few people that asked what his name is and not his dogs name.  I think that is so sad!  

I'm glad my life has somewhat of a routine now.  I'm looking forward to going to another museum with Gabe tomorrow and hearing back from my interview!