Guess what?

There was a turkey walking around the parking lot at my apartment today.

That's weird, right?

I tried to get a picture to prove it, but he was a fast piece of poultry.

Interesting

I just took a quiz on findyourspot.com about where I should live. The interesting thing is that 3 cities in Connecticut were in the top 24, 2 Connecticut cities were in the Top 10.

Here's the list:
1. Portland, OR
2. Hartford, CT
3. Baltimore, MD
4. Providence, RI
5. New Haven, CT
6. Boston, MA
7. Seattle, WA
8. Albuquerque, NM
9. Worster, MA
10.Medford, OR
11. Denver, CO
12. Milwaukee, WI
13. Cincinnati, OH
14. Bend, OR
15. Corvallis, OR
16. Carlisle, PA
17.Chicago, IL
18. Danbury, CT
19. Eugene, OR
20. Frederick, MD
21. Charleston, WV
22. Norfolk, VA
23. Long Island, NY
24. Salem, OR

I can eliminate a lot of these, because I am certain that living in the cloudy Pacific NW is not again in my future. And for sure not Ohio or New Mexico. I am intrigued by the Boston and Chicago options though. And my old stand-by Denver, of course! I'm glad it made the list!

For any of you taking bets...

Which I am sure is ALL of you, by the way.

I ordered cable today.

So, I lasted almost exactly 3 months without trashy TV. Pretty good for a gal counts pop culture as one of her greatest pleasures. :)

Satellite will be installed next week, and the countdown is ON!!!

Boston Rocks!

I had an amazing 24 hours in Boston last month. It was so great, in fact, that the part of me that likes being in new places, making new friends, and doing scary things wants to move there someday.

The other part (the sane, home-body part of me) calls that part an idiot, but that's neither here nor there.

If you think I didn't do Ride the Duck Tour while I was there, you would be really wrong. I did it, and quacked with the best of them! It was actually a great tour, and gave me a lot of history about that beautiful city and gave me a layout of the land.



Then I made lots of new friends! Well 2 new friends, actually. I knew everyone else. But we had the FUNNEST night EVER! Many refreshing blueberry vodka drinks (you would be surprised at how delicious, actually) that led to dancing our booties off! Becky was the ringleader of the team and brought us all together, but we all fell in love with each other and had a great night.



My favorite part, though was Sunday before I left, and sadly there is no photographic evidence. I got to have brunch and spend some great time with one of my oldest friends Marnie Quinn! I love, love, love her and she is more amazing than she has ever been! I am so proud of all her kick-ass-ness! Plus, she now lives in Boston, so I have another good buddy on this coast!

Time will tell, of course. But, maybe I am an east coast girl!

I heart Denver

This happened:



No, it was not on purpose, and yes it was pretty embarrassing at the airport when the strangers were laughing at us. But, we have finally just accepted that we have the same brain, and apparently the EXACT same taste in clothing.

Then we went to Keystone and drank some beers, listened to some tunes, and played some very competitive farkle. (not that competitive actually, I won by lots and lots of points. I wish I was that lucky in Vegas). It should that be noted that after playing for at least an hour, Marc never did learn how to score the game. It was impressive, actually.



And then Ben and Lisa slept on the deck. They are my only friends that can decide to sleep outdoors on a whim and have all the proper equipment in their car. I was super impressed.



I went to Oakesdale, (the most exciting town in Washington, for those of you who didn't know), for a few days to meet my new nephew, Sam. He is so cute and looks like just like a miniature old man. Here are some of my favorite Dingman family pics. I love all those kids A LOT! I really wish they lived down the street from me so I could see them every day!



Recap: Ellie the dog is W-E-I-R-D, Emily takes really funny pictures, the little boys have excellent fashion sense, Sam enjoys sleeping like a Buddha in my lap, Maddy is beautiful inside and out, and Tanner is a teenager who likes to disappear to places with cooler people, so I only have 1 picture of him from the whole trip.

Back in Denver I spent some quality time with my favorite babies in town! (including my furry one)



My last few days in Denver were hectic, but fun. It was only the second time in over a decade of friendship that I was in town for Melissa's birthday. So, we celebrated with some amazing Italian food at Carmines and a picnic in the park. There is not photographic proof, thank goodness, but we played picnic games, drank beer, and I went to the airport before dawn after going to bed only 2 hours earlier. Oops...

My plans for the flight home were this: SLEEP. However, since Jesus knew that I was hungover, looked and felt like holy hell, He wanted to play a joke on me. So, He sent a gorgeous, tall, super nice, muscular, rugby player to sit next to me on the plane. Well, obviously sleep was not an option. My new soul mate could not see me do the head bobbing-plane-sleep thing that I was planning on doing! So, I stayed awake and watched him talk. It was wonderful. Now, if there is a slightly younger version of him who is not happily married with kids, could he be sent my way please? Thanks.

Now that I am back in CT, I have to say I am happy to be here. It is still ridiculously humid, and I still have no AC, no cable, and no money, but it is my place for now. And I'm going to make it work, darn it! I missed my classmates after not seeing them for so long, and the crazy part of me even missed studying.

I am grateful for the trip home, it did amazing things for my heart and soul, and I am sure I will be needing another one soon! But, for now, I'm back where I need to be.

I had an amazing trip home, it was so busy though, I think I need a vacation after my vacation! I loved every second of it! I had 4 days with the family in Washington, and 4 days in Denver. It was a great pick-me-up from my homesick funk, that is for sure.

And, I must say, I am happy to be back on the east coast. I'm ready to dig back in, and figure out life out here!

Pics will be posted as soon as I have the energy to upload them.

I also owe a blog on Boston. Don't let me forget. :)

Connecticut would be perfect...

If it were in Denver.

That's right, you read it. I'm homesick.

I completely love my SRNA program and all my classmates, but in a perfect world, I would to relocate them all to Denver with me.

If you talk to my friend Melissa, she will tell you not to listen to this because last week I was talking about finding jobs in Chicago and Boston. But, every time I visit a new city I decide to move there, and I was recently in Boston. It usually lasts for a week after the visit until I realize how much I hate being lost, making new friends, and adjusting to a new place.

I miss dry heat.