stonington on sunday

sunday afternoon we were planning on going to the beach but the forecast was 40% chance of rain. after getting drenched last time we attempted a beach day, we decided to head to stonington borough and shop, then run some more boring errands. of course it wound up being a gorgeous day, but that was just a bonus.

the borough shopping was not all it was cracked up to be. the store i was most interested in was closed and the clothing stores all seemed geared for women with my style but in about 20-30 years and after multiple children and lots of wine and cheese. nice stuff but not for me now. i was annoyed, because jeremy was in the mood to buy me clothes and i couldnt find a single thing i liked.

we went to target and the mall and still... nothing. he bought jeans and we bought a drying rack at target (which actually excites me... it is a sickness i know but clean laundry makes me pretty happy).

i had mild luck at tj maxx and got a couple of new things for work.

the best part of the day was walking along the boardwalk in stonington and looking at the water. public access to the shoreline was easy and the path was a beautiful walk. no one else was on it so we felt like we owned that part of the ocean for a little while. pure bliss.

beaching with the hamptons

yesterday jeremy and i drove up to cape cod to meet up with his aunt, uncle and cousins. it was a beautiful day for a drive and an even more beautiful day to spend at the beach. we met up with them inhyannis and drove to yarmouth to find a couple of different beaches.

we spent the day combing the shore for shells, soaking up the sun, and catching up. i hadn't seen the hamptons since may 2009 and jeremy just saw them very briefly when he was driving here from la in august.

we ate at the skipper where we all had wonderful fish and seafood meals (except paigey - she got the meal voted most likely to catch fancy crabs). i had a massive fish taco that looked like it could eat me, but i sure showed it who was boss.

it was a fabulous day with perfect weather. we couldn't have asked for a better day off or better people to spend it with.

all rained out

yesterday for our day off we decided to go to the beach. we went to ocean beach park, a place my dad visited as a child. it wasnt terribly sunny as we were driving over there, but there was only a very small chance of rain so we figured the sun would come out eventually.  after paying $14 for parking and finding a spot, clouds started rolling in. dark clouds. we stayed for a few more minutes trying to decide if we should pack up and go or see if it blew around us. the rest of the beachgoers packed up and were out of there. we decided to follow suit and as we were trekking back to the parking lot a couple of rain drops started to hit us. then a couple more. then we were caught in a torrential downpour. by the time we made it to the car we were drenched. we could barely even see to drive home. after drying off, jeremy decided to go get a board to put up a shelf in my closet. after we changed into regular clothes and started doing other things, the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon. figures. we will have to go back to ocean beach another time. a sunnier time.

but at least now i have a place to store things in my closet! :D

we found a beach!

everyone here seems to bring an umbrella to sit under at the beach which seems to me to be the opposite reason of why anyone would go but...

there is a state park not too far from our house with a great beach. for a weekday during the summer it wasn't too crowded. having mondays off means we don't have to fight the weekend crowds which is nice. soaking up the sun, listening the the waves lap against the shore... just what a body needs after spending the weekend dealing with one drama after another.

soooo if you are looking for us anytime over the next several weeks and it is a monday, check rocky neck state park beach. :)

Fourth of July

last sunday we spent the evening at the mystic seaport. they opened their doors to the community. there was live music and we could explore the grounds to our hearts' content.

we finally got to see some tall ships, one of which they are restoring (and you can watch the restoration work) to be as close to the original as possible.

there is a cute little village (cowtown style) representative of the villages that were all along the coast in ports during the 18th century. the whole seaport is of course on the water so we sat and watched the boats drive by and the swans swim around. it was lovely.

after leaving the seaport we wanted to do something else patriotic so we found a great little sushi restaurant and ate raw fish til we just about exploded. great sushi specials on sunday nights!

training post 2: all work and no play...

during training we spent a lot of time learning and working and on duty (we carry pagers when we are working or on duty overnight in case of emergency and have to be on site during those times), but not all time was work time. we managed to spend some time at the various beaches around kittery and down the nh coast. one weekend we spent some time at various beaches, examing creature in tide pools and soaking up a little vitamin c, then met ryan and stephanie in hampton beach and drove up to maine and went out to eat. it was great. we sat outside by the water and ate fish and watched the sunset. could life get any better? 

memorial day drive

on memorial day jeremy and i decided to drive up the coast of maine and check out some of the local beaches.  beaches here are not like those in california (which prolly doesnt shock anyone). there is lots of rocks, and most of the ones with sand are manmade. maine has lots of lighthouses too.

this is the cape neddick lighthouse. it was constructed in 1879 and had a bell in it to warn sailors of the rocky point. it is on a little island several yards off the coast, so to get to the ligthhouse itself there is a little cable car that goes across. it looked really rickety and im glad they werent letting the general public try it out.

i hope that lighthouse keeper got hazard pay! it is fully automated now so people rarely use that cable car.

it was a gorgeous day and so cool to see a diffferent part of the coast. the best part is the highway that follows the coast is rt 1 and the freeway in ca is the 1 so if you squinted it felt like we were back in la. the ocean actually smells different up here - cleaner - imagine that. :)

red hook 5k

my first race in new hampshire was after we had moved to maine for training. it was a 5k which i trained for with a group from the local running store - runners alley. there was a runners alley in manchester and another in portsmouth (about 5 mins from kittery, maine) so when we moved i was able to keep going to running group. it was a fun experience to meet people and see members from both the manchester and kittery groups while running the race. i was hoping for a pr but didnt even come close to my best time.

it was a fun race though nonetheless and every racer got tons of free food and a beer at the end (it was sponsored by a brewery). jeremy came (as the official race photographer he isnt allowed to miss races after all) and had a good time as well. there was a band and tons of people there. not as big as a race in los angeles of course, but still a wonderful time. next up on the list is registering for a race here in connecticut - im hoping krish and i are in tri shape by next summer - right krishy???

training post #1

on 0ur third day at kittery estates we took a cruise to the island of shoals on the thomas leighton with several of the residents and a couple other staff memebers. we passed the bridges taht connect maine and new hampshire, the portsmouth naval shipyard, a lighthouse, and old prison, and several little islands (some of which i ran to from portsmouth with the 5k training group). it was a little bit cold, but we learned lots of things about the history of that part of the coast and what battles were fought there, as well as enjoyed the fresh sea air.

holiday residents get to enjoy lots of amenities, and a bus that takes them to (often free) activities is only one of them. luckily for jeremy and me, we get to enjoy some of those benefits as well. there were tug boats and working boats out on the river and they each tooted their horns in ackowledgement as we slowly cruised by. it was really fun and a wonderful experience. the thomas leighton also takes people on booze cruise and other, different cruises to the islands of shoals area.

i'm tired

yesterday was our only day off last week and we spent it continuing to unpack, making a trip to the storage unit and driving around in search of free wi-fi because the cable man didnt come as promised. sheesh.

there is a lot of work that needs to be done in our new building, but there is also so much potential. the residents are awesome and we have lots to work with. it is going to be a big job to get everything back in shape though. we've been working 12+ hour days most days and not just sitting at a desk: moving furniture, serving food and pouring coffee, walking all three floors inspecting things, and answering phones. every night i lay in bed bone tired - i've been sleeping 10 hours a night (and thats a lot, even for me). as you can see 12+10 = 22 which means there isnt a lot of free time right now. i am way behind on blogging and catching up on emails because of no internet access in our apartment, and returning phone calls, mostly because when i can talk it is usually an inappropriate time to call someone because of time zones (unless my california buddies would like a call at 4:30am, or central timers at 6:30am. i'm guessing not so much).

we have a pile of stuff on the floor to mail: our nephew's birthday pressies from two weeks ago, postcards from maine, and a fun gift for my favorite person in nashville. who has the time to go to the post office? (and it is only .7 miles away. i know. its sad.)

thankfully we have most everything arranged in our apartment. there are only two boxes left to unpack and some shelves and pictures to hang. jeremy had to redo my closet yesterday because i piled too much stuff on one of the bars/shelves and it tore out from the wall. so that was awesome. i gave away tons of clothes and accessories before we moved and i feel like it multiplied again while in storage, but at the same time i feel like i have nothing to wear. so that makes plenty of sense, right?

hopefully within a week or two, after we get internet in our home and after things settle back to a normal hectic pace at work, we can catch up with everyone individually. for now, know that i think about all of you constantly (and im not just saying that - i really do). i will try to update here as much as possible in the meantime.

also, know that we are having fun as well as working. all work and no play makes meaghan a dull and cranky girl!

book review: shut up and kiss me

Shut Up and Kiss Me

Christie Craig

from the back:

welcome to precious, texas where fistfights serve as dinner theatre and fire ants rain from the sky. the locals are usually very friendly, if a bit eccentric. no pictures please, or you may find yourself a guest of the county morgue.

photojounalist shala winters already had her hands full bringing tourism to this backward, podunk town, but her job just got tougher. pictures can say a thousand words, and one of shala's is screaming bloody murder. now she has to entrust a macho, infuriating lawman with her life - but she'll never trust him with her heart.

trusted or not, sky gomez isn't about to let a killer get his hands of shala's nikon - or any of her more comely assets, for that matter. her mouth might move faster than a piney woods roadrunner, but all he can think about is how good it must taste - and how she'll never escape true love.

my review:

one of the authorss who blurbed the book said that christie craig reminded her of janet evanovitch, a favorite of mine. this book had wild escapades, awkward situations, and sweet romance. the two main characters were great, but the supporting cast made the book even better. sky's foster dad and brother cracked me up. this isn't serious fiction, and i loved it. i actually laughed out loud more than once. i will be looking for more books by christie craig in the future.

groton rhymes with rotten

although there is nothing rotten about it! we are moving to groton next weekend! woot! this friday will be our last day of training in kittery and then we get to go get our stuff out of storage and move into our new apartment. heres me, beyond thrilled.

a week from tuesday we start as co-managers of windham falls retirement community.

there will be many challenges and new things to learn but we are ready!

groton has tons of cool things to do and see. high on jeremy's priority list is a connecticut fishing license and the purchase of a kayak. high on my list are new heels and a new ipod. we have to wear super ugly non slip shoes while we are working and my feet are really upset about it. a couple new pairs of heels will go a long way towards evening that out.

can't wait to get settled, find a gym and a church and meet some new friends!

thankfully, we are only about 2-ish hours from our friends in new hampshire so we will still see them all the time. steph has already saiid she will be kidnapping me to go see eclipse when it comes out and she and ryan will be coming down to go play at the casinos. woo hoo! and cara (from la) has family in ct so i get to see her next spring too!

who else wants to come visit? we are across the water from nyc!

book review: secrets of eden

Secrets of Eden
Chris Bohjalian

From Publishers Weekly:
Starred Review. Bohjalian (Law of Similars) has built a reputation on his rich characters and immersing readers in diverse subjects—homeopathy, animal rights activism, midwifery—and his latest surely won't disappoint. The morning after her baptism into the Rev. Stephen Drew's Vermont Baptist church, Alice Hayward and her abusive husband are found dead in their home, an apparent murder-suicide. Stephen, the novel's first narrator, is so racked with guilt over his failure to save Alice that he leaves town. Soon, he meets Heather Laurent, the author of a book about angels whose own parents' marriage also ended in tragedy. Stephen's deeply sympathetic narration is challenged by the next two narrators: deputy state attorney Catherine Benincasa, whose suspicions are aroused initially by Stephen's abrupt departure (and then by questions about his relationship with Alice), and Heather, who distances herself from Stephen for similar reasons and risks the trip into her dark past by seeking out Katie, the Haywards' now-orphaned 15-year-old daughter who puts into play the final pieces of the puzzle, setting things up for a touching twist. Fans of Bohjalian's more exotic works will miss learning something new, but this is a masterfully human and compassionate tale. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

my review:
chris bohjalian has written several books that many people love, but this was the first one of his that i have read. the first thing i noticed that i wouldnt have connected with a year ago was that it is set in vermont and new hampshire. after living here, reading things that take place in cities i have visited makes it much more real. the story started a little bit slowly for me. i had a hard time connecting with stephen, but as the story progressed and more details were revealed about this town and the main characters, i became fully engrossed in the story. i really didn't know what to expect from this author, and the ending was not at all what i thought it would be. it was a really book and i can't wait to read more of his work! if you are a fan of chris bohjalian or if you have never read any of his work, i think you would still enjoy this story.

still waiting...

everyone keeps asking the same questions. including us.

so, no, we don't yet know exactly where we will be placed (still probably in connecticut) or when we will be finishedwith our training (probably in about a week).

we are learning lots and making friends. last night, the owner of a moving company that works a lot with holiday had all of us over to her house for a cookout. it was really fun. she is a connection we will be able to use in ct, so that is exciting.

we have been doing a litttle bit of exploring in portsmouth and kittery. downtown portsmouth reminds me of berkeley and malibu mixed together with waaaaay less people.

i've been running with the portsmouth runner's alley folks and our 5k is this sunday. it is going to be really hot and my first race in a long while so i am a little bit nervous. my goal is always to PR but i am not confident that its gonna happen this race. still excited for it though!

today we spend time with the executive chef and tomorrow we are both housekeeping. it has been fun to learn all of the jobs of the people we will be supervising. i think the kitchen jobs are my favorite so far, although enrichment/activities is fun too. there is a great staff here - i can only hope that the staff at our building will be half as great!

as soon as we know something more solid about our job placement and actual address etc, we will let you know!

in training

we have been in training for about a week and a half. we are learning tons of stuff that we can take to our new building, which will probably be in connecticut (but we still havent received the final word). the residents and staff here at kittery estates are great. everyone has been so nice and helpful to us. i am falling in love with a couple of the ladies here and am going to be really sad to leave them.

however, i am very excited to have our own apartment again and be settled. all of our stuff is now in storage in middletown, connecticut except for our clothes and cats. we have a cute studio that we are staying in during training and its great, but i like my own bed and furniture.

cricket and rumpy like the studio bcause they can keep eyes on both of us all the time. rumpy keeps trying to run out inthe hallway and meet everyone that he sees walking past the window all day long.

we've been pouring coffee, giving tours and making phone calls. there is still tons of stuff to learn but so far so good!