Getting used to this place.

During non-work hours, we manage to keep ourselves busy!

horsing around amazon headquarters with some tuckies that work there (and some that don't)

Jamie has friends to watch sports related things with and I take reaaaally good photos of them,

Our friend, Kellie, who was in Jamie's fall study group first year moved in with us temporarily/indefinitely mid-November.

We've hosted some gatherings.

And have entertained the slew of out-of-towners that somehow end up in our little pocket of the country:

Sarah's parents took us to brunch.

Modern Korean food with Lara (T'12).

Restaurant week & windows 8 launch with Katie from Boston (T'12).

Randomly running into a T'13 and her boyfriend on the streets.

Rebecca and I loving stripes at a farmers market.

Rebecca (T'12) got to spend lots of time here with Geoff's (T'12) Seattle family. 

We hope to see them a bunch whenever they're in town.

Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen.

I clearly decided to not brush my hair for this one.

Katherine, visiting some family, and taking the time to help Sarah find a place to live.

Trish came to town for a bit and we've made trips to Canada, Portland, and twice to southern California since moving here at the end of August (photos to come).

In the meantime, I was doing a lot of work to make our place go from this:

to this:

Onward ho! Off we go!*

*ok, not until mid to late summer

Thanks friends and family for coming along with us on this fun journey of relocating to New Hampshire for 2 years (with a brief stopover in Rhode Island). After 1.75 years of researching, interviewing, filling out applications, sending out resumes, interning, taking classes, costuming (duh),  tutoring, working, and traveling, we finally know where we're headed after investiture in June.

If I ever go to the hospital, you better believe I'll expect to see McDreamy by my bed.

Just like last year when figuring out the best internship/location for our summer, Jamie has been in recruitment mode since the beginning of the school year. Just before Thanksgiving and his 5 week respite in Australia, we were weighing the option of two offers; one Boston/RI (could be rosenbaum neighbors), the other in New Jersey (whaddup, debi!). What we ended up concluding was that neither job was a good fit for him, that this taking-two-years-off-from-work was the time for him to find something fabulous, and that he ought to risk turning down those offers in favor of continuing the recruitment process (eep! hernia-inducing for this risk averse couple). As you might imagine, even in a smaller program like Tuck, this place is like a huge stressball of stress with everyone vying for employment in the same time period and within many of the same companies. I've been going back and forth between holding my breath and shallow breathing since the fall. Luckily, he ended up with a strong possibility that we held onto until recently (NYC) and a couple of weeks ago, found out that he got an offer in Seattle.

And so the discussions started up again.

We both know New York pretty well; independently dreaming of living there at some point. The allure  has somehow grown even stronger now that we're only 5 hours north (within reach) and living in such a remote area makes us straight up crave the hustle and bustle (ok, maybe not quite within reach).

Seattle? Eh...we didn't know Seattle that well (i guess we still don't know it well), but luckily, we had planned a pretty light on travel spring break and had flexibility to rearrange flights/hotels to squeeze in a mini visit to the Pacific Northwest a couple of weekends ago. So we shifted the flight to New Orleans a bit (more on this later), packed for much cooler weather, and headed across the country.

And we were incredibly pleased with what we experienced. 

We went on a 2.5 hour walking tour in one neighborhood:

It was all about food = awesome.

We like food.

Cupping aka coffee tasting = fun.

We like coffee.

Stayed at the first Ace Hotel (palm springs one is still the best).

I like Aces.

We met up with a graduated Tuck friend = steve hooper.

We like him. I call him "Hoop-da-loop" behind his back.

We even hit the gym.

(yes, it's a bloggable occurrence)

We got a tour of Jamie's future office, met some of his co-workers for lunch one day and coffee another, got a 4 hour city tour from a real estate broker, watched a super terrible comedy show, walked around everywhere, ate a TON, and got a real feel for the city. 

Turns out, we like Seattle.

So, start planning your vacays, folks. We'll be back on the west coast and Sea-Tac (seattle/tacoma) airport is much easier to get to from anywhere than it is to get out to New Freaking Hampshire. I expect to see you on my doorstep for a lengthy visit once we get out there. Can't wait to see y'all.

A note from the dog.

Packing = done.

Just in case you guys thought I was kidding about loving the most awesome toy ever, I'll have you know I have no love for other toys. The squeaker is still going strong even though I play with it every single day, I chase it into other rooms, I bring it to people, I sleep on it. Nothing else gets as much attention as my Chewish Bagel This one's the bee's knees. 

Thanks again, Christine.

Pack, pack, pack it up.

I'm knee-deep in packing/cleaning (again) as we are t-minus-5nights from moving out of FRI (friggin'rhodeisland) and back to idyllic Hanover, voted #6 in Best Places to Live. 

On our agenda from now until Sept 12th:

• Clean out our subleased apartment and move our belongings/cars (holding one for a friend interning in Seattle) back home. Jamie will be a TA for a week-long summer course back at Tuck.
• Try to squeeze in a visit with the Rosenbaums while they're at the beach house in Connecticut.
• Fly to San Jose (CA) and head out to Carmel/Monterey for a whirlwind Tuck wedding weekend + quick meet-up with Jamie's mom and stepdad (we haven't seen them since May2010).
• Back across the country for a stop in Orlando. 
• Down to Cancun for some sun-soaking and stocking up on some hard core warmth before hunkering down for our second New England winter (bring it, snow. bring it).
• Then Jamie will jet back up to Boston for a school meeting while I bid him adieu in Mexico and head over to Chicago. He's a little worried about leaving me at the beach (or airport) for the few hours between our flights, but Mrs. Cuneo taught me enough elementary Spanish to communicate with the federales and stay out of Mexican prison. I think I'll be fine. 
• Hang out in Chicago for some days with devon, trish, katherine, etc. before flying home to what will probably be a perfectly autumnal New Hampshire.

Um. Just realized that's about a month's worth of plans.

While we've loved the opportunity to get to know the one other Tuckie here, Debbie and Jamie are starting to dress alike. We gotta get out of here:

pink collared shirts + jeans

they didn't call each other to plan their outfits and it wasn't an isolated incident this summer.

And finally, New Hampster*!

*My buddy, Max, has zero problem pronouncing Jamie & Hudson, but New Hampshire and Leslie totally throw him for a loop. Instead, we are New Hampster and Wessawee! And I love it.

We did it!! 

3000+ miles across the country in this big yellow truck.

View of the back of our building.

View from the living room & back door.

It's been what the locals call an "unseasonably warm" with a record 28 days over 95 degrees. Because our new home doesn't come with air conditioning, I'm forced to believe this is an unusual occurrence. Every attempt has been made to survive the first extraordinarily warm weeks: sleeping downstairs, getting a powerful fan, drinking gallons of iced coffee, hitting up the movie theater mid-day, and taking cold showers (me). Our unpacking has been frustratingly slow because I haven't wanted to lift a finger, let alone move things out of boxes. Little by little, it's getting done and we're settling in nicely!

In the meantime, it's been fun to explore our new 'hood. 

The New Hampshire version of "shopping".

only stores east of the mississippi

Loads of farmers markets, but the stands are so super small!

Baskets of 20 tomatoes, 8 stalks of broccoli, etc.

Small-scale farming....weird.

Delicious, crusty bread (note: 8 loaves).

Forget learning how to knit.

Can't I just wrap one of these around my neck?

We discovered some great wood-fired pizza.

Found our local post office and held mail.

And some days we just sit and stare at how large the sky seems here.

These two have been LOVING all the sunshine

All of my target and old navy clothes are madly coming in handy as I haven't lived in weather above 65 degrees in 5 years. San Francisco hasn't prepared me for this many days in a row of sundresses and tank tops! It's been borderline spectacular (aside from the being-sweaty-all-the-time thing).

Cross Country Journey (part 5).

A big, huge thanks to Katherine for housing the three of us for so many days, including an impromptu extra day (y'all know I have a hard time leaving Chicago).  We had a terrific time with you: long chats, yummy meals, STARBUCKS, and even a blind group date (!). Hopefully, you'll get a chance to come up here sometime soon.

Hudson loved the chance to stretch his short legs for a few days in Chicago and take a break from the trembling vibrations of a diesel truck. We took him down the Wiggley Field (dogpark) to run around, take a short dip (he's not a fan of the ole H20), and he even attempted to befriend Katherine's cat every.single.day. 

Hudson trying so hard to be friends with Otis

But as much fun as we were having and as heartbroken as it made me, we couldn't stay in Chicago forever....eventually (and reluctantly, on my part) we headed back on the road. A third of the country left to go until we got to our new home...Jamie was eager to get this thing over with.

yay. the truck. again. yay.

And what did we see on this leg of our journey, you may be asking yourself?

the open road.

small homes.

large homes.

factories.

and corn.

lots and lots of corn.

as far as a dog's eye could see.

Umpteenth night on the road: Buffalo, New York.
for the record, we typically made hotel reservations the night prior to our stay. partially to create a destination goal, partially to ensure we were getting a good deal, and partially to stay away from creepy locations.
-------------

Btw, did anyone catch the significance of the "large home"?
Here's another shot:

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It's alpha phi, you guys!

Syracuse, NY....aka the first chapter.

• In 1886 Alpha Phi became the first women's fraternity in America to build and occupy its own chapter house.
• In 1902, Alpha Phi called the inter-sorority meeting that resulted in the formation of the association now known as the National Panhellenic Conference. This was the first intergroup organization on college campuses.
• The Greek letter Phi is pronounced "Fee". It is a common misconception that this pronunciation is because Phi follows the vowel Alpha. However, the pronunciation of Phi as "Fee" rather than "Fi" actually results from the fact that the organization adopted the Greek rather than anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation of the letter because it sounded more feminine.

My two favorite "Notable Phis":

Alice Waters (Gamma Beta - UC Santa Barbara)

Kimberly Williams (Beta - Northwestern) -  (uh...FATHER OF THE BRIDE!)

Cross Country Journey (part 4 + meeting piper).

lots of water towers, but this one was my fave...smiley.

stopped by a mall in iowa

(where trish used to live!)

we cruised over a major waterway

it was HUGE!

I hardly remember this part of our trip because we were racing the clock to try to beat Devon getting discharged from the hospital. She had Piper and Patrick all ready to get home for the first time as a family and I was hoping to catch them at the hospital before they left (to give them private family time at home). It was a super stormy day and Jamie did such a terrific job of keeping our truck on the road....I think we were listening to Sweetness At The Bottom of the Pie (hilarious read). 

But all the while, I was thinking of how many life events I've been able to go through with Devs and how lucky I was to be able to meet her first born child within the day. We've been friends since the 7th grade and I was going to meet her baby so soon?? I couldn't stop grinning and kept our rest stops super short this day.

Eleven years ago...

omg, look at my crazzzy acrylics. i must have thought they were so hot.

We finally got to Chicago with a gorgeous rainbow floating over the city. It was a huge arc across the entire sky and I couldn't get a picture because we were busy trying to exchange our moving truck for a rental car! By the way, fun moving tip....when renting from a nationwide trucking company and wanting to safely long-term park, you can leave it with them on their official lots. It worked out great for us to leave it at the O'hare lot (locked at night), rent a car from the airport, and get around Chicago in our own ride (public transportation with a dog can be a little tricky). 

Once we got into town, I abandoned Jamie at Katherine's, and raced over to the Larkins for a quick visit, to hold Piper for the first time, cry, and sit with my friend....a new mom. It kinda blew my mind. Patrick escaped for a quick nap while we girlie-chatted in the living room with the baby. She was so gracious to let me come over that first night.

The next morning:

Me = so proud.

Piper = grinning as best she could. (i think her tongue was out!)

Devon = not looking like she got discharged the night before. pretty.

Dev wanted to take a picture kissing Piper.

I joined in on the fun.

There have been a few times in our lives together that folks have thought us an actual couple. The few that stand out in my mind:

1. Showing up for evening swing dance lessons in northern orange county one summer while we were home from college.
2. Mass pre-summer emails sent out to future camp co-workers were signed off as "devon and leslie". Led to many a confused reaction when we tried to explain our non-couple status upon arrival.
3. We moved into a big, yellow house in Sacramento and sent out "New Address" postcards. Our high school english teachers returned it with a HUGE house plant and a super sweet "congratulations on your new home together" card. We hypothesized the card must have led them to believe we finally pulled the trigger and purchased a home as a couple. 
4. And most recently, the photo above. 

It's like piper is OUR baby, devon!!