I Heart Peanut Butter

How this year is flying.

This weekend Joe has Saturday-Monday off so we are able to have a normal Memorial Day Weekend, well normal in my world. Saturday morning he and I are heading to Summit Hill Campground in Washington MA to camp until at least Sunday with Steph, Dan, Andrea, Jason and some other people. Then the plan as of right now is for Joe and I to do an overnight backpacking trip at Mt. Greylock, it could turn into a day hike, still not 100% sure. I need some time this week to look into the route we will take, was going to pick up a 50 Massachusetts Hike book at EMS yesterday when we ran to grab a few things but I didn’t. So very much looking forward a weekend in the woods, a little bit of car camping with friends and maybe some backpacking in the Berkshires.

I did a double up and over at Wachusett this weekend and my knees hated me, each day they are getting better. I have been going to the Cascade Trails a few times a week to run/walk and go up as much as I can for Worcester hiking trails. I will get back into prime hiking shape if it kills me.

I have a significant amount of catching up to do here, but I have been overly busy. With  school done until Labor Day I have some time, not much free with a lot happening this summer but a bit of time to write.

Anyways after a lot of debating we have decided to stay in Worcester for the time being and more because I would like to move to Vermont, NH or hell out to the Pacific Northwest in the next couple years. While I am a gypsy, Joe is not so much and I know some drastic move will happen once he completes school so I can stay put for the most part right now. So back to looking for places in Worcester because I can not stay where I am at, I am sort of tired of a landlord that doesn’t do as they say and bitches about the noise of shutting doors, there is a reason she has had a different tenant each year. Hell look at the foot high grass in the yard right now. Lazy Landlords.

So if anyone knows of a place:

• 1-2 bedroom
• Hardwood Floors
• W/D Hookups or W/D in Unit
• Good sized modern Kitchen, we cook A LOT
• Modern (meaning no Wood Panels, Yellow or Green Appliances or tiles) Clean, Spacious and Bright, I need light.
• Accepts two grown male cats
• Has storage or at least a place for all my stupid outdoor gear, including Kayak
• In Worcester
• Between $800-1100 a month, would be nice if it included some utilities
• Not too far from 290/Mass Pike, currently take Van Pool out of Auburn and may drive again at some point.

My love affair with Worcester is over I think. The only thing keeping me here is my friends, and that I question if it would be okay for me to leave and I can keep all them close even without being in the Woo. I think tonight being the last of the Dive Bar Thursday Music Series is sort of an end of an era for me, I think it is almost wishing me to go away to find something new and exciting. Thursday Nights over the last 5-6 years for me have involved a lot of dancing and being so overly happy, with great music, friends and beer. But it is all ending tonight.

What does Worcester still have for me except the promise of friends and cheaper rent. I think I am over it all. I don’t frequent all the spots I did for so long, things are changing but not growing. I’m bored with what the city offers, this is big for me as I have always been the #1 Cheerleader of Worcester and all the greatness. But I have ate all the places, I have dug my feet deep into the scene that is Worcester. It is a just a very large small town, and I am over it.

Worcester I don’t love you anymore, I will make due but other places are calling my name. The funny part is it isn’t Boston, which is still very much a moving possibility, but the worries I have about overly expensive rents makes me not want to move there, I am sorry but NO place under 600 sq feet is worth $1,500 in my mind. I want to be up north or out west, but I am just not feeling it anymore.

I moved to Worcester in December of 2006, about 6 1/2 years ago, in this time so much has occurred in my life, so much. But I stay for all the wrong reasons, because for once I have this amazing social network and I am scared to walk away from it, because at 33 it is really hard to start all over in the friend department. My unhappiness with Worcester will at some point start to creep into my unhappiness with life, been there, done that.

Worcester it isn’t you, it’s me, well maybe it is you.

There are a few things in my life I hold dear, that justify my existence, that make me still feel like myself. The refusal to let go of who Crystal  is fully. I see so many adults lose passions, hobbies go out the door, the things that once matter to them so much gone, because life got in the way. I let go of making art daily a few years back, which still aches underneath it all, my daily life got too busy, I was trying to balance so much and the simple idea of sitting for hours endlessly sketching and painting no longer fit into my world. In the last 5 years I have been doing school pt and ft, trying to balance work and school is a task on itself, this has led to me not reading for enjoyment anymore. I pick up a book and get thru a couple sections/chapters and then place it down in order to attend to some other portion of my life. By the time I find the time to get back to the book I need to start over, Wash-Rinse-Repeat.

So last night Joe was trying to dig into my psyche, find greater meaning to what I do. Why I use Foursquare (it is a game, I want to be Mayor of all the places) why I tweet and use Facebook so much, well not anymore than the general population. But he wanted to see what would happen if I just gave up my blog, as if he uncovered some greater reasoning for me writing other than I have written my whole life. It is part of me, it is my own personal journey, at this point I am not sure I have more than a dozen people who read my post, because it turned from a Real Estate-Political-Life Journey blog to this, somewhere I come back to when the words need to come out.

I do it for me, it has always been for me. I have been journaling for most of my life. I am all about the collection of data, in every aspect of my life. I have 20+ years of journals in a tote back, I have almost 8 years of entries here that to me are a journey. I barely remember things from being 14 but when I pick up an old journal and start reading I am 14 again.

So being asked to “give up my documenting of my life” will never happen, if it isn’t here it will be somewhere else, some other medium. It brings me contentment to write, it centers me, it puts life in perspective. All very important attributes to a “hobby”. What do I have left that is MINE, that can’t be taken away. I have had so little time for knitting, friends, hiking, free time or writing as of late and holding onto these things that make me…me.

I am Crystal Anson, and this is what I do! I refuse to become rusty, old, unable to find a creative outlet. I never want to be the level of jaded to think as an adult I can’t express myself the way I find fit.

In little over a week I will have 16 weeks free from school work and I imagine it will be a good time for catching up with myself. I am not ready to give this up just yet, it may start to make a transformation soon but it will not go away.

So much has happened in the world, well even in a smaller portion of the whole world, that being Boston. I was overwhelmed and too busy to write as things went along.

Last Monday when the bombs that went off at Copley Sq at the Boston Marathon occurred I was at home working on endless school work, friends checking in on Facebook that they were at the finish line and they were in fact okay. Imagine if this would have been available at the September 11th 2001, WTC attack. Thru the means of social media I was able to follow my friends to make sure they were able to get out of the city without much trouble. Most it took until late hours of the evening. I remember thinking how glad I was that I was not at work that day or I may have been stuck. My assistant was having a hard time getting back to Quincy due to the trains being shut down, I almost wanted to drive into the city to give her a ride.

I suppose the rest of the week was a blur, maybe in the sense that finding who did this heinous act of terror occupied the minds of everyone. It was all we could talk about, speculation about random pictures people had seen from the marathon circled sites like 4Chan and Reddit. The Green line was running but passing by Copley Station in the dark. Thursday day the President addressed Boston at the service here in Boston, Thursday night they released pictures of the suspects, roughly at 5:30pm. Within 5 hours said suspects were identified in Watertown and then began a 20+ hours chase, where the first suspect was brought to BIDMC, and died and the second had darted off. Friday morning I awoke to what had been a very active 7 hours of news, friends who had not slept because they were following what was happening. I came into work, despite all officials saying stay put, the trains were halted  taxi’s were taken off the road. Boston looked like a very clean post apocalyptic scene.  I sat at work more occupied with the chase and stuck on Twitter & Facebook unable to concentrate on anything else. Ended up leaving around 2pm when it was said all those at work no longer needed to “Shelter in Place” there and could head home. So I wasn’t the only asshole on the road.

A full city lock-down  plus that of 5 or so suburbs was unprecedented, but it is as if all the citizens were like “Here I am going to stay out of the way so all the officials can do their jobs”. Still amazed at the community that is Boston.

Friday evening I had plans with Becca, we were going to look at REI and then Whole Foods. During this time in the late evening the reports came through that suspect #2 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been located in a boat located in a Watertown residents yard. He was brought to BIDMC in serious condition and he is still there now in fair condition.

I shared some thoughts on Friday that some agreed with and some didn’t. I stated that I wanted him brought in alive not just for an explanation  because in my own mind I believe the older brother was the ring leader, that the cultural norms of other ethnicity’s is that family trumps law. Your older sibling says jump and you say how high. It may seem outrageous to us American’s but this is the way much of the world works. I did not excuse his actions, but knowing he had gone thru the Cambridge school system, had many friends and was a “regular” college student made me believe that he may have been pushed to some degree. Also I believe in the rule of law, I also believe in doctors doing their job without bias. I wanted to see him go through the court system, I wanted to see that doctors would still save his life because that it the oath they took.

In the days since he has been communicating with investigators via written responses, due to a self inflected gun shot wound to his neck/jaw. They have decided to charge him with the use of weapons of mass destruction, in Federal Criminal court and not as an enemy combatant. Also a lot more of his older brothers past has come to light but much more is to be learned I am sure.

Either way this made for a very interesting week. The Onion posted this yesterday: “I guess when my older brother said…” which seems to me what his real defense may be, not that it would work but seems pretty close to what he may say.

Either way I am sure justice will be served for the 4 lives taken and the around 200 individuals who were injured, some to the point of amputations.

So many things happening.

Well looks like Joe and I will be moving to the Boston area if not right in Boston in June. Currently we have Rich’s apartment in Medford if we want it, good price but the apartment has a few things that I am iffy about such as carpeting, wood paneling on the walls, a very 70′s bathroom and drop ceiling. So we are continuing to keep an eye out for a couple weeks, I have contacted a few places and hope to hear back. Ideally we would like to stay centrally located near a train station/stop. The idea of walking home from work also appeals to me a great deal, I have started walking most if not all the way from work to Government Center about 3.8 miles after work. Need to be active!

As much as I am excited about moving, I am still worried that my friends will forget me or I will feel isolated, funny how you can feel alone when you live in a city. I have worked hard to have the life I have in Worcester, to develop relationships and so much more. But the commute is becoming too much, I finally got the cost down with the Vanpool but now my day is so long, I am gone from the house 12-13 hours a day and only 8 of those am I working. So moving close will give me a little bit of my life back, which I need at this point.

Lets see if I go through with it this time, moving again…

The past couple week have been a little crazy. Between being gone 12-13 hours a day for my commute and work (which I need to believe is for the good since I am saving so much money with the Vanpool) and a new class that is more or less kicking my ass and causing many hours of school work a week, I have had little time to enjoy things as of late.

Been over 2 weeks since I have posted which more and more is becoming the norm, well St Patrick’s Day weekend we went out that Friday night with the gang to celebrate Julie’s B-Day, I had one too many cocktails but somehow survived. We went to Nick’s and had a great night which I haven’t been going out much as of late so it was needed/warranted. That Saturday Joe and I grabbed breakfast and he had to work that night, I hit the gym and somehow hung-over was able to get a good workout in. St Patrick’s Day Sunday we had to try to escape the West Side, but due to parade and race traffic on Park Ave that was almost impossible. We went across town to brunch at Mezcal and happened to meet up with Renee and Justin, which post my parents house for dinner we ended up at The Lucky Dog with them for drinks.

The following weekend was PaxEast which I posted some pics but not all of them. Had Rich’s place for the weekend to stay although getting from Brighton (close to Chestnut Hill) to the BCEC is not easy no matter where you are coming from, but it was a place to stay. Thursday night Joe and I had dinner with Jen, chatted to her about what we were looking for in an apartment in the Boston area etc. We were going to meet some of his friends but they were hoping around Boston so instead we grabbed drinks at Deep Ellum and then headed to the house to sleep. Friday morning we got home, I had a dentist appointment back in Marlborough. Then we grabbed food, ran to the bank and so on to make it to the BCEC for PAX around noon, we met up with Ben who had a pass for us in exchange for helping him out to promote his new game.  The day was handing out flyers, talking up Ben’s “12 Bit Game”, 8-Bit music, and games, oh and a lot of walking. Friday night incident #1 happened, my old debit card was stolen and someone had a field day with my card at Walmart in Connecticut and my bank account was drained. YAY for limited money for the rest of the weekend.  So Saturday morning we headed to the bank to put in the dispute and get myself a new debit card. While walking to the car I tripped and cracked the screen on my phone #2, YAY. So this set some moods in me for the weekend, no cash and a broken phone. Saturday then involved a lot more walking, then out and about at night with Joe’s friends for drinks and good times. Sunday was a tough one, getting out of bed at least, Ben had used the couch that night and we needed to get him up early so he could get back to the BCEC. We made it there around noon; we took the train/bus to the BCEC, which ended the Pax weekend at Atlantic Beer Company with his friends. Lots of walking, playing games, and Sunday we finally were able to play some board games, which had it so we came home and I ordered 3 off of Amazon. It was a fun weekend even with no money and a broken phone.

This past week was a lot of school work, I can’t even think why Statistics is taking me so long, oh well on Week 4 now, and the next 4 weeks should fly by. This weekend I ended up spending about 6 hours in the ER in Marlborough due to lower abdominal pain, they did test, and exams and still was inconclusive. Could be a cyst or some other issue but they sent me with care instructions, directions to follow up with my MD and some pain meds, great time and yeah all those hours there screwed up most of my weekend. Yesterday was a day of grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, baking for the Game of Thrones night at Mike’s house and a quick stop at Joe’s family’s house. Needless to say I am tired and need another day off, but need to save PTO for summer.

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks. It involved friends b-day parties, PaxEast  Mini Hikes and as always good food and drink:

next weekend…

So heading to the weekend of board games and video games, fun times. Lucky to have Rich’s house to stay at in the city for the weekend, even though it is a 45 minute trip on the T to get to the BCEC. I already started a schedule on Guidebook of what I want to check out, and I will be helping out with Joe’s friend Ben’s booth for Barnyard Intelligence for his new indie game he is releasing. I am kind of excited to see the t-shirt as it has a big red barn in the logo. Well here is to going to my first PaxEast event. 

I am trying to just breathe and allow things to happen as they should, I have had a large amount of anxiety as of late, the problem is everything contributes to it and nothing seems to help. I think I am trying so hard to hold onto the girl who has it all together, but all of a sudden I feel no matter what I do I can’t grasp onto the control.

This winter has been a time of not enough physical activity and moving from a job I ran around all the time with and then would hit the gym or trails afterwards to sitting for much of 12 hours a day between working at a desk and sitting in traffic, I am having a hard time with my weight loss, I have managed to gain 10 lbs back from fall til now, I am sure most and more will come off in the spring but looking at myself I am disgusted. I am still down 10 lbs from last winter but I was doing so awesome, it really isn’t even the weight that bothers me. Honestly it is the fact that I feel like jell-o or fluffy as my mother said about herself the other day. I was pushing hard, getting 4-5 workouts in a week and hiking every weekend, this winter not so much. My limited time home has been an issue, I have school around being gone for 12 hours a day and then I need to maintain my life the best I can from friends, Joe, or housework. I just have more things to do than I have time to do them. Which is my biggest stress as of right now.

Other than that things are stressful at work, no matter how much effort I put in I feel like it is not appreciated  because me coming in a changing things within the department changes things across the hospital and people are naturally reluctant to change.

Also having Joe move in recently while a great thing produces its own stress, I mean it is a large change in life. We also are figuring out where we may be living come September, Boston is now on the radar. As much as I would prefer to live in the city and be near work, it is a lot to think of picking up and moving where I can’t just go to my friends for dinner or meet up for coffee/knitting. I am trying not to think about that as much as I should because I also need to think about my finances and future. More on this at another point.  Meeting up with Jen next week and she works along with a rental agent here in Brookline, so we will see.

Hoping to get things straightened out soon, back on the trails regularly and hitting the gym.

OMG!

So much has been happening and I have little to no time to ever document it. Or maybe I just don’t care like I use to. Scary when all the things you know to be true start changing, like who are you without something that has been part of your life for so long, like my almost 8 year old blog.

Well the last time I wrote it was right before heading up to Portland for Joe’s B-day. Which was also right before he was let go from Smokestack, right before he officially moved in, right before I started taking the Van Pool to work.

So anyways Portland weekend, as foodie as Joe and I are, we really need more than two days to try to stuff all that food in our bellies. We got to Portland that Saturday morning and hit up Local 188 for brunch, the food was stellar and the drinks were to die for. We then checked into our room at the Inn at St John’s and then randomly headed up to Newcastle to go to Oxbow Brewing, I was in love a random Farmhouse Style beer brewer in the woods of Maine, works for me.  By this time it started snowing, which became the theme for the weekend, in true New Englander fashion that did not stop us. Got back to the hotel, got changed and figured out where we were headed, we blew off expensive fancy place to eat at The Great Lost Bear, which had a great beer list and decent food. That evening we grabbed B-Day dessert at Gritty’s, we had Black Fly Stout’s and Black Fly Stout Chocolate Cake. After that we walked around a bit and ended up at Novare Res, the best beer bar in the Northeast, particularly for their rare and extensive beer list. Also having a friend in Worcester who knows the people up there allowed for us to get a beer on the house, it matter who you know.

We headed back to the hotel, but we were already pretty tipsy, so other than trying to go somewhere local to the hotel we gave up, hell we had another day ahead of us.

Sunday we had woken up and headed to Bintliff’s, for what just may be the best brunch I have had in some time. I had Lobster Benedict and Joe had their Smoked Salmon Platter. After this we decided to head to the Bier Cellar, which due to all the snow coming down was opening late and in the process my windshield decided to crack all the way across, not fun on a snowy day. We grabbed beers to go at the Bier Cellar and then headed into Old Port. We parked the car and proceeded to head to Paris in the Morning (great cafe), The Thirsty Pig, Even Tide, Duck Fat, and Bar of Chocolate. Which meant yummy dessert and cocktails before heading home in a foot of snow 140 miles, I was so tired when we got home.

That week was eventful as Joe moved in and because he wasn’t working he had plenty of time as I started taking the Van Pool to Boston and he had the car, it all worked out. He has since started at Snow’s until something else comes along I believe, money is money. Hopefully he will get back to school in the fall and get that completed in the next year or two and be able to find a solid position with benefits.

Other than a busy week I have fit in knitting and a night out with Kelly, while Joe had a couple of his friends over some game playing. Last weekend I worked at EMS and his friend Becca had a NARP at her house in Shrewsbury so post work did some socializing and Joe got to game with some friends. There has been a lot of meals cooked by my wonderful boyfriend, don’t tell but I love his cooking more than my own, what do I have to offer now.

Been really busy with work, finals for school and trying to get acclimated to having another person living in the house full time, it is coming along. This past weekend we finally had a couples date with Amelia and her partner Jose which made for a pretty awesome Friday night and Saturday I co-hosted with Mike Purtell to have a Game Night with friends, which was much needed.

Overall things are good, in general I have been a little anxiety ridden and really needing to get on some trails, come on spring I need longer days.

Trading in some comforts to save money it seems. So I went through the process to do some consolidation of my debt, got caught up and will be ahead this coming week on some bills, and now I am joining a Van Pool leaving Auburn, then hopping the train to the office. I did my first run today, it seems I will be trying it all out this week and making a decision by Wednesday so the leader of the Vanpool can send the dues to everyone. As of right now Joe is not currently working so he can bring me to the Park & Ride in the morning and then in the afternoon. We will figure out the details more as time goes on, but it seems like the way to go. Roughly 180-200 a month for the van pool and then another 70 for the Charlie Card for the subway. Which is about half of what I have been paying to get to work per month, and still less than the VERY long ride on the Commuter Rail.

Hoping soon that I am not feeling so financially stretched and stressed.

Been super busy as of late or overly tired. This has been the longest week at work, even as a 4-day work week. This past weekend was pretty chill, we got to the gym each day, Sunday we originally had plans to go to Birthday Dinner for Joe, his mom and his grandfather but we had some snow and folks didn’t want to drive. Really just a chill weekend with some homework doing, Crystal time on Saturday evening when Joe went to work and catching up on Game of Thrones. 

Trying to get this day over with, have a bunch of errands to run tonight and pack up for our weekend in Maine. The adventure is that some measurable snow will be happening this weekend, so running around Portland should be tons of fun. Sunday is Joe’s birthday and come SNOW or High Water we are going to have a great weekend of eating, drinking and relaxing. Been about 2 years since I have been up to Portland and Joe has never been, so this should be fun.

Spots we maybe hitting up (yes this weekend is about food and drink):

• Novare Res
• Great Lost Bear
• Duck Fat
• Hot Suppa
• Vignola (for Brunch MAYBE)
• Gritty’s
• Local 188
• Nosh
• East End
• RiRa
• Fore Street
• EvenTide
• Bier Cellar 
• Sonny’s 

We are staying at The Inn At St. John’s in a room with a Jacuzzi, YAY

I hope to hit up some cute shops and spend a little time at the hotel I paid for, hoping not to get snowbound but being able to romp around Portland in all winter glory.

Been a busy month so far between some hiking, big storms names Nemo, and good times. Here is the month so far… enjoy

It’s not that I am hater of Valentine’s Day it is that to me it is the least romantic day of the year. Just like I will freeze when I am put on the spot, the idea of having to show gestures of love and admiration towards someone on a selected day of the year makes minimal sense to me. Maybe it holds its place as a day that people celebrate because most of the world has forgotten how to show they care about people or it requires far more work than they are willing to exhibit on a regular basis. I can say since I was 17 I have only been single 3 Valentine’s Day, yet I still have never cared for the holiday all that much.

I suppose I also care for it less because I have a guy in my life that shows his love for me daily, who showers me with compliments I am a bit too humble to accept or just plan don’t see myself the way he sees me. We take care of each other, we contribute what we do best to the relationship and build on that each day. I guess because I get this from him daily that I have little need for some form of token to show he cares about me. I could care less about horrible chocolate that comes wrapped in a bed heart shaped box or for stuffed animals or balloons, and mostly I despise roses. Sure there are plenty of other flowers I enjoy but roses to me require no imagination, unless of course they are garden roses with their layers of magnificent flower petals.

I suppose also I have always fought against the norm, the grain and I are not friends. I suppose I don’t easily give into social norms. Surprise me on a warm day in May with flowers that represent spring and new, but please oh please let me be on the 14th of February.

Relationships are a tough balancing act between losing ones self and maintaining who you have always been. I guess in the reality of the fact that Joe and I are pretty much already living together and most likely that will be the case fully by March I have my own inner battles of self occurring.

It doesn’t mean I don’t want it, it doesn’t mean I don’t love him. It means I am thinking and when making important life decisions one must do just that. I suppose my worry last night is I will no longer have “Crystal Adventures” where I know this is not fully true, I worry about it. I have spent most of my life being able to pick up and do what I want when I want to do it. I understand how relationships work and that I need to give some of that freedom away in order to join my life with another. But I also know I need to be me, which means I am not always rooted to those around me and where I currently reside, also I need to know that if I want to take off on a trekking adventure at some point in my life, be it for a month or so that I can do it. I have had long-term relationships in the past, and why did they fizzle or did I just stop caring around the 5 year mark, well because I felt trapped, unmotivated and unable to breathe in the sense of small amount of ME time I require.

Understanding why I couldn’t grow within the relationships in the past makes me aware of decisions I must make in order to have potential long term happiness with Joe. I am very happy with him at this point but I need to maintain all the other parts of me for this to be the story down the road. So if I want to head to the Dolomite’s for a couple weeks or Mongolia for a month or two at some point when the opportunity presents itself I will need to do it and would hope to have his blessing. Of course I want us to travel together but knowing me, I need some time to myself to do things that bring me happiness also. I am not resisting the notion of being a couple, I am figuring out how it best works for me.

I am not all that difficult, I am not looking to have an open relationship or be in a poly relationship, my need for me time I believe is normal and a healthy attitude towards two people being together forever and not wanting to kill the other. Will I take trips with my friends or solo in the years to come. Yes, yes I will. I worry about feeling suffocated, for as much as I love having someone around every now and then I just need an escape from everything, no matter how hard I try to change or someone tries to change me, I will always be a free spirit stuck in a world of conformity and white picket fences.

I would like to believe that Joe is with me because of all of my eccentricities and I believe that all my silly adventures and bad choices over the years have only grown me to be 100% with being a little odd, not fully fitting in and finding those who make me feel as if my behaviors are standard for a good person.

This past weekend was the Blizzard of 2013, Nemo!

I need to catch up on pics from the last month or so this evening and write more about this past weekend. Sorry I love all the snow and we were able to get some decent powder filled snowshoeing in this weekend, awesome!!!!

The fact that I spend most of my money is not news to anyone, the fact that I have racked up some debt in the last few years is also not a unknown fact. The thing is I wanted to be able to live the life of my friends, who most make more money than I do. The last three years I have had a hard time living a life I had come accustom to without the use of credit cards, add in there 10 months of unemployment, a hefty car payment plus all the other bills that just add to this and you have a not so healthy financial outlook.

Months of feeling stressed out about debt that I have not been able to pay down has led me to thinking of bankruptcy just to lessen the weight on my shoulders of crushing debt. The fact that it is costing me roughly $500.00 a month just to get to work is another issue I need to deal with. Honestly nothing in the world causes me more stress than potentially destroying my financial self. Why does credit score matter so much, well I may need a new car or maybe someday I would like to buy a home.

So I am trying something, not as extreme as bankruptcy. I had looked into a organization last year for that would consolidate my debt, charging a nominal fee for this service. Throw all my debt into one simple payment each year and I will have it paid off in just over 3 years. 3 years of living without the use of credit, that is the thing you are accepted in this program but you are unable to use the credit cards or get new ones during this time period. Am I really ready for 3+ years of Cash is King mentality. What is scary is I don’t have my credit cards to fall back on anymore, what if my car needs work? what if I have some stupid money emergency and I don’t have any savings, that is what scares me.

I can only buy what I can afford, which while making a nice hefty payment for the next 3+ years to pay off my debt is not much, but by that time my car if I keep it will be paid off, my credit cards would be paid off and all I would have is my Student Loans. Imagine how much stress would be gone. As Joe likes to mention I will not be in a position where I am underpaid for my skill set forever, hopefully in a year or two that changes also.

Problem #2 to solve is the price to get to work each week. I am paying roughly 80 a week in gas just for work, and on top of that every 6/7 days of work my Fast Lane/Easy Pass ups once again for another 40+ dollars. I am spending about $500 a month to get to work. My option is to start taking the commuter rail. The monthly Zone 8 T-Pass is $315.00, which would save me money, help with lowering the amount of miles ratio to the age of my car (meaning I won’t need to buy a new car in a year, thanks to already have 65K miles on my 2010 Subi). It takes about 3 hours rt a day but I have school work I can do on the train and when I don’t have classes I have books I am still needing to read. So I get back into Worcester for 7 pm but being done with my school work and the rest of the night is mine. YAY!

None of this is easy for me, and my likes to spend money on eating out and drinks boyfriend needs to help in this process. As we move closer to living together some sacrifices for both of us with regard to spending money will be helpful in the long run.

Super Crazy sales have been occurring at EMS, due to annual inventory this coming Saturday. There has been Green Tag items which are marked down as much as 75-90% off. Last night I went in to see if the Sorel boots I wanted were still there, but someone beat me to it as they were marked down from over $200 to $26.00, damn you woman with a size 11 foot.  So instead I picked up a new pack, not that I needed a new one but it is one I have had my eyes on for a couple years and never wanted to spend the money, because as a collector of packs I don’t really need one. But grabbed the Gregory Jade50 in the lime green color from last years line for under 50 bucks. Also needed a new headlamp and grabbed a skirt for $3.98. So deals can still be had at the Northboro EMS.

In the craziness that is my life I have a hard time keeping up with things, things being EVERYTHING. Currently I have a sink full of dishes and piles of folded clean clothes in my bedroom. I sometimes wonder if being so busy is even healthy, I mean so busy without having children to raise. I so get that a mother who has a couple kids schedules she is juggling, a job, a house and a husband to make happy would lose her shit on occasion.

Other than two cats I am only truly responsible for myself. Well anyways this week Winnie my new hire started so it has been a new challenge of making sure she is trained and feeling good about the work she is doing while I am able to complete my 1,000,000 other task at hand. School work is a bit much this week, I have two papers due by Sunday and I haven’t started either one of them, which means I am in for a very exciting Friday and Saturday night.

Thursday I got my new glasses, sort of in love with them, matte black Ray Bans, they pretty much rock.

This past weekend Joe and I headed to the Dive and met up with some friends, it was a better than Thursday night at the Dive. In the morning I made us yummy breakfast and enjoyed a 3-Beans by Sixpoint, their Baltic Porter which is pretty damn tasty. We mostly just hung out until we both had to be at work that night, I dropped him off at work and heading to EMS to work my once-in-awhile shifts I get scheduled. Now that they want me Perm PT and not just seasonal I may be working more. Saturday night Joe got out of work and was starving so we first attempted to The Greyhound for food and beer but a private party was happening and that was a no-go. So we grabbed a beer then heading to VIA for the late night menu, another late night in my life.  Sunday morning we awoke and headed to Putnam for Breakfast at Bill’s and then to my folks for a little while before heading to Hartford to hang out with Scott. We ended up eating at this place called BarTaco in West Hartford with Joe’s friends Ben and Scott, some drinks, some yummy foods and we got home around 8:30 that night, I was overly exhausted.

This has been a busy week with school work, errands to run and life. Tuesday Joe met me at work and we headed to Sara’s Sixpoint Tap Takeover at Canary Sq in JP, had some delicious food, some wonderful Sixpoint beers and then headed to another bar for more beer and some Trivia. Ended up home and in bed after 11, oh well I will sleep when I am dead.

Today I am happy it is Friday, it has been a long week, I am exhausted and happy to be able to be a bum in the AM, believe Joe and I are going to meet the manager for the Canal Lofts tomorrow to check out the rest of the building, I really hope we can get in there, we will see.

Life is changing

I am very happy with the changes that are coming down the pipeline, but they are just that changes. I always seem to do something to keep it interesting, maybe those who know me believe I make big relevant changes all the time. I have to say most of the time they are safe changes, I play it safe much more than people realize.

Joe and I have discussed a lot as of late, especially since we just submitted an application for a loft rental across the city, yeah moving in together is a big deal. I started this blog a couple months prior to the last time I met someone and moved in with them, over 7 years ago. Funny at 33, I have adult decisions I have made that are over a decade old, when did this happen.

Joe stated that since I have already lived with significant others that it wasn’t that big of a deal for me, as he has not. I would say it is the complete opposite, it is a huge deal for me, as I know personally what the cost is if it doesn’t work out. I also know I am 33 years old, I am playing for keeps at this point not looking to play house and it is just as easy for me to stay living alone or with a roommate. Honestly I miss living alone a great deal, I love my roommate as we were already friends and our schedules make it so we are not home much together. But I really loved living alone, but I am glad I had a chance to live with another great female and have that type of arrangement at least once in my life.

I moved out from the lofts the first time in October of 2009 3 years and 3 months ago, it has been that long since I have officially lived with a guy, Joe is at the house most nights and has most of his belongings within my house, but we are not paying bills together yet.

The last few years have been interesting, to say the least. I think I finally came into who I am, although I will still grow and change but I get me now, I understand where I want to be, the things I want to do. I believe that I know enough to know who I would want to spend my life with, at this point Joe who is amazing and puts up with my antics is that person. I am far from perfect and sometimes I worry that maybe being alone is how I should be, as I am less critical about things, I judge less and I just don’t have to worry about someone else’s feelings so often. Much of this does not come naturally for me, I am a good person but I struggle with not expecting from others the amount that I expect of myself, I am pretty hard on myself and it is a daily challenge to allow myself to not try to aim for perfection.

I have not been so happy with myself as of late, my workouts have seized to exist, hiking has been at a minimum, I don’t have much time to do things that I normally do. But it isn’t because I have someone more than it is because I kept a very busy schedule prior to adding a person into it. Relationships are about compromise and I need to understand that Crystal can’t continue Single Crystal life because there is just not enough time in a day to do all the things.

So as much as this is a change for Joe, it is a very large change for me. I honestly didn’t think I would be here with someone again, I believed I would be the 30-something who dates forever, endless amounts of dead end relationships. I have come to terms with that I just may not have the “Happy Ever After” with someone else, so I just focused on how to have that with myself. That has always involved lots of friends and being active. BALANCE is hard to find sometimes.

Learning to rely on someone even a little bit is tough for me, I worry even though he is not anyone I have been with before that the ending is always the same. But I know better than to blame someone for the faults of those prior, I just need to trust more. Trust myself, Trust the people in my life that they won’t let me down. I feel blessed/lucky that I have met someone like Joe, he pretty much rocks to the point I wonder if I deserve someone who rocks.

I am not sure what I am saying but I don’t care if I had lived with 100 guys prior to Joe, this is about he and I, this is us wanting to make this move together, it is new, it is different it is not the same as previous adventures. It is equal amounts of scary and awesome, thinking what if it doesn’t work out, but what the hell if it does, we are awesome and we continue to be awesome.

I have been busy as always, I am a little tired because I keep a later night than I normally would to be able to have “Joe Time” each night and I still wake up between 5:30-6 for work. I am getting to old for this !!!

Well the last week has been busy, I went to the eye doctors last week and I will have a new pair of Matte Black Ray-Ban glasses hopefully by this Friday, YAY.

We had some more snow, I worked a bunch and Joe and I made lots of amazing drinks and food. Pretty much sums up the last week. This weekend both of us had to work on Saturday night so we went out on Friday night to see Cirkestra at Nick’s, his sister and Jackie joined us for a bit. Saturday we did some errands, made breakfast and hung out in bed most of the afternoon, I needed a lazy day.

Sunday we headed out with the Sunday Hiking Group to Swift River, we did about 6 miles with them around the River and up some big hills, only about 700 feet of elevation but I need to break Joe in carefully so he will still want to hike with me and do bigger hikes come Spring. It was a cool but beautiful day we finished the hike back at the trailhead drinking yummy beer and sipping on some scotch with the group. He and I headed home, I wasn’t feeling so great but we went to Smokestack for dinner so he could also see some of the game, yay football is DONE.

I had Monday off so Joe and I headed to check out EMS, ran around the mall a bit and grabbed lunch with just enough time for me to bring him to work, where I was super productive and got a shit ton of things done, felt good. I have been so busy as of late that I forget to do shit.

Well it is hump day, Joe and I made soup and cocktails last night, finished the rest of Breaking Bad until the Summer, I can’t wait to see what the last 8 or so episodes will be. So Tired I am, pics will be attached later on.

So the new job, other than the amount it is costing me to get to work each day, so far so good. In the month I have been here I have completed almost the WHOLE hiring process for the Medical Records Audit Clerk/Purchasing position, I have my new hire starting on the 28th of this month. Look at that I hired someone, I weeded out a few good candidates from 30+ resumes I was handed, interviewed them and hired one, which I am feeling really good about.

I like it here, I am still getting my feet wet with much of the happenings, I have been reminded I am a manager and no one really tells me the process in which things need to be done, I am glad I am good at taking action when needed. I may have found my perfect fit for this time period in my career, it is not a money making position at this point it is a career move, and I think it was a very smart one to make. I have also recently decided that I would in fact take over the Privacy Officer role here at the hospital, which to me is a great move, the more experience the better.

Well Manager Crystal’s lunch is over so back to work

Already thinking about the next move, yes another physical move. It won’t be until at least the end of May when the current lease is up but it is there, looming in my head. Joe and I have discussed the idea of staying in my current place, as much as I wish this would work for me it really doesn’t my landlords are lousy landlords and I don’t ever feel relaxed living there.

So I have been looking and he just tells me I am looking too soon. I understand this I do but I like general ideas of what is out there at this time, I looked into the Canal Lofts on Water Street, we could get a One Bedroom plus Den, where all utilities are included, situated both near his work and by the train station so I can honestly start taking public transit to work. I contacted them and they stated there was a 6 month to 1 year waiting list, but we are both interested in exploring this. I would make sure with my landlord that I could go month-to-month once the lease is up until we could move into the lofts. In that time period we will look at other options too but the location, amenities and what we both want are all in the Canal Lofts.

If not there then find another townhouse or large apartment with outdoor living. Or hell who knows Liz will be moving in with Dana, maybe Joe and I will just stay on Brownell for a while. I am not sure what we will do for sure but it has been the topic of discussion.

And yes this means Joe and I are going to be moving in together, much of his things are already at my place, we already spend at least 6 nights a week together and we both want that more. So another official milestone in the life of Crystal will be occurring soon.

Finally feel like a human again, spent almost 2 weeks sick and I am still battling this nagging cough but feel overall much better. Joe headed to DC on the 3rd of January and I got stupid sick, just in time for my birthday, seems about right. So all these wonderful things I had planned didn’t happen. I went home early from work on that Friday and then stayed in bed until Saturday night when my Annual Birthday Game Night was occurring at Kelly’s house.

I was so close to canceling the night, I was so sick but I took a hot shower and lots of meds and made my way to Kelly’s house. The biggest surprise of all was my Will showed up, a couple trains and a couple buses from DE to Worcester, MA. It was the best of surprises I could have had. So this meant that Sunday was no longer a stay all day in bed and feel bad for myself on my birthday day. We went with the crew to brunch at the Abbey, then he and I went to Smokestack, Crompton Collective and then met up with Kelly & Matt to play Settlers at the new Greyhound, which is fantastic by the way. We left around 5pm to head to Boston to pick up Joe. Originally Joe and I were going to dinner at Eastern Standard but due to my sickness we cancelled that and grabbed Anna’s in Brookline with my cousin instead.

Monday I was not feeling any better, I dropped Will off at the train station and went back to bed. Joe was awesome and took care of me all day, cooked me yummies and I got more rest. Tuesday night he made us amazing fish tacos and fancy cocktails. Other than work that was pretty much my week.

This past weekend Joe had both days off, which was a nice surprise, so Saturday we bummed around a bit, ran some errands and then went to see Django Unchained and have dinner at Samba with his friend Eric and his finance Erica. We ended up with a fairly large sushi boat for two. We made a couple stops on the way home and then drank some scotch and watched Brave, perfect night it was.

Sunday I brought Joe hiking after we made breakfast. It was his first time ever hiking and I give him credit for the slushy, snow filled trails at Wachusett. I was still somewhat sick and slow, so he was okay with that. We had a fabulous time and I almost have forgotten what it was like to think it was all so pretty as those trails I have done hundreds of times. We grabbed lunch at the Boynton, a quick stop at That’s E grabbing the Zombie Dice game and home to drink Old Fashion’s while playing games. A quick diner of Bread Soup and Fingerling Potatoes was made, another great weekend night.

This week started uneventfully, it is back to school work for me this week. Monday I finally made it to knitting with the ladies, last night Joe and I made an amazing dinner of Chile Rellenos, Pozole, and Rice and watched the last of Season 4 of Breaking Bad.

Sick but I have had some great times in the last couple weeks.

Pictures to come later…

The New Year came and went without much of a hoopla, I suppose I wanted and needed it to be that way. I attempted to make it something fun, I grabbed dinner with Jen, Matt and Chad at Smokestack then we headed to Mikes for a celebration. I suppose the mellow nature of the shindig, my increasing exhaustion and fighting a cold (yet again) made it so I didn’t want to be out and about. Joe worked until 10:30 at this point I really cared about ringing in the new year with my boy, but at the same time didn’t want us to both have cars in Millbury, being tired made it so I was not in the mood to keep drinking nor drive home late. So I said goodbye to my friends and headed to grab Joe so we could have New Years together. After running by Nick’s and deciding to just head to the Dive, really where else can you have a non-New Years Eve celebration on New Years Eve than the Dive.

When we arrived at the Dive, Justin and Renee were right behind us, so it was nice to have friends (new ones for me) who are also a relatively new couple to have fun positive thoughts of the future. At midnight Joe said something cute along the lines of being happy it was a new year and we get to have each other for a whole year. His positive attitude about relationships or inparticular our relationship is both refreshing and nerve racking. I sometimes hope that I can live up to who I am to him, sometimes I don’t feel I can. Either way it was an early night home drinking tea and to bed by 1:30.

Yesterday  morning we got up, neither one of us hungover, which is a nice thing. Made a great brunch at home of Frittata, muffins, juice, pom seeds. We bummed around for a bit, then laid back down until around 2pm, when his sister and Sara both text him saying to be at Osaka for 2:30, their pre party party. So we got ready and went for sushi and cocktails. I dropped Joe off at the Bowling Alley, went and did some shopping and home to clean until he was done at his party. He was a tad bit drunked and I was tired so my level of patience was not at its best but whatever, all was good in the am.

Now I just want this crazy day at work to end so I can go home and have dinner with Joe, as tomorrow I drop him off at the airport prior to working, and he is gone thru the weekend. Coming back on my birthday and we have reservations at Eastern Standard for dinner. This weekend involves working at EMS, possible hike on Saturday and then Game Night Saturday night.  YAY for fun

As always I am setting some ambitions/goals for myself for 2013. This past year I may have obtained one or two of my goals but I was very much set back for most of the year. The few hundred miles of hiking sure as hell helped.

1. Obtain my RHIT, this has been on the list for awhile, but now I have an employer that is pushing it and it will be the Golden Ticket to my future.
2. Focus on health, always on the list, but I have a little ways to go, although I have come a long ways. The last few months I have been beyond busy so my workouts have suffered, my hikes are nonexistent. This needs to change. I have a Groupon for Bikram in Auburn, a GC for X-Core and a cheap gym membership. Need to kick the new year off well.
3. HIKE MORE, I did some crazy amounts of hiking this past year, a few good backpacking trips but 2013 needs more hiking (every year needs more)
4. Just be present more, I have felt very distracted as of late
5. Focus more energy on school, the last two terms I have been overloaded with life and not putting 100% into my classes, make this last year of classes count.
6. Gain some control on my finances, learn to budget better, this is ongoing in my life I have struggled with not spending within my means for years.

I think that is a healthy good start, overall 2013 is a year to rebuild what was torn down in the last year. Hefty goals but all obtainable.

I can say without a doubt that 2012 has not been my best year, other than finding a new job at the 11th hour and meeting a pretty fantastic guy who I hope to make many new memories and go on many adventures with into 2013.

I am not 100% sure if I am going to do a full blown “2012 Recap” post like I do each year, who knows I may get a bottle of wine later and decide to rehash all the happenings, maybe just a photo post of the “Best of 2012″. In all honesty I want to take this year and forget a lot of it, it was challenging for me.

Much happiness occurred my sister and my brother both got married this year, I went on many hiking and backpacking adventures, I was able to forget I was an adult for part of the year and deliver flowers as my job. But I felt it threw me off my goals a bit, I became tangled and unfocused, which doesn’t work for me all that much.

At the end of August starting chatting a bit with a guy whom I always thought was pretty cute while being out and about, then beginning of September we decided to see what happens, the start was a little confusing but we figured it out. Since then I have spent much time getting to really know what makes him tick, the time we spend which is a lot more than most people choose to spend but shit we like being with each other, it is easy. We are now interlocked into each others lives, it may be a bit quick, but it feels right. I worry sometimes that things happen fast and fizzle but  I don’t feel that way at all, he is caring, supportive, funny, genuine, happy, smart, loving, adventurous, and my #1 cheerleader. I sometimes think he believes in me more than I believe in myself. If only we saw ourselves in the manner those who care about us see us. I have enjoyed the ride so far and look forward to so much more in the future with him. However, I need to let go of the past in the sense that things, other relations have not worked out for me. I have to understand those were not the right fit for my life and Joe is not either one of those. He could be everything I have said I wanted and I may be scared that I don’t deserve that, my own insecurities of who I think I am can’t get in the way.

This past year was a significant blow to my ego, self esteem whatever you want to call it. I suppose the losing my job in February and after many interviews I was still without full-time employment for 10 months. I am in not the best place financially but 2013 will change that, I will put in the effort and bust my ass, it will pay off in the end.

I suppose I just want it to be next week, I want it to be 2013, I want my 33rd birthday to come and I can wipe the slate clean. I will enter the New Year with a lot of greatness in my life. A great relationship, a new job in my field, a great roommate, amazing friends and family, and my health.

Sorry 2012, you can kiss my ass !!!

Here is too more love, hiking and great times in the New Year !

I am at a crossroad, I finally am seeing this blog as more of a chore, an obligation than somewhere I can share my life, record my happenings. I have started looking into moving it into a book format for my own keeping.  Anyways there will be more on that in my end of the year post.

As of the last week I have been busy, seems to be the norm as of late. Friday night I was scheduled at EMS but due to a late day at work and being very much burned out from a very stressful 2nd week at the new job I found a replacement. In reality I just wanted to go home and relax, then spend a nice evening with Joe but the evening started off as me celebrating with Jason and the crew his 38th year on the earth followed by the End of the World Party at the Dive, Joe met up with me when he got off work. We awoke on Saturday and did a bunch of running around, went for brunch at the Abbey and so on. A quick trip to Gap Outlet as I had a 40% off your whole purchase so we both scored some deals. Saturday we both had to work at 4pm so I dropped him off at his house around 2ish, got some cleaning done and then headed to work. It was super busy at EMS, as it was the Saturday before Christmas, so the night went by quickly.

Sunday was a day of Breakfast Pizza, Christmas Celebrations at Joe’s Uncles house where I got to meet most of the McCann side of his family and then home to relax, wanted to go see The Hobbit, but some back and forth between us trying to determine if it was worth seeing the less stills per seconds version of 3D or not. So we just said screw it as I had to work on Monday morning and I wasn’t wanting to get out of a movie late. We watched some Netflix, I finished knitting my cowl and it was a chill night.

Monday I headed to work for about 4 hours, light commute made it an easy morning. I got home to Joe heating up my lunch, doing the dishes and made a French Press of coffee, I really do have the best boyfriend in the world.  We had some things to do before heading to Putnam for celebrations with my family, it ended up being a better night than we expected. My mom is having a hard time with it being the first Christmas since my grandmother passed away, my grandfather was doing well until the Sauce’ was done and he thought my grandmother would have been the first to try it. We were looking through some pictures I had never seen of my grandma, including their wedding picture which was my grandmother is pill box hat and awesome suit dress. My mother also gave me the ring I have wanted for some time that belonged to my grandmother, I am not wearing it today because the gold band is very thin and I need to get it rebanded, Drinks, Laughs, and Dancing was had at my folks, we headed home to relax by the tree and spend a quit night at home.

Also was able to see my friend Jen, who may or may not be moving back to New England. With a job offer in Boston I may get to see her more than a couple times a year.

Tuesday was Christmas, Joe and I woke up, made drinks and I made us some delicious waffles. We bummed around in our sweats, then decided to open presents. He got me a case of the Apocalypses Dunny’s which after those I need ONE more which I may end up ordering on eBay or something. He liked his gifts, I think he is excited to use the Molecular Gastronomy kit I got him, and I am excited to try what he makes. We then were late getting to his parents house but gifts were opened there and then we headed to his Aunts/Papa’s house for dinner and more Christmas Celebrations. His aunt made Shrimp Scampi and many delicious things. I have eaten way too much in the last couple days, my body hates me. We got home at almost 8 last night and settled in to a couple hours of Breaking Bad, tea drinking and snuggling. It was a good day!

Well back to work today, and a next to similar week next week except I loss my time with Joe a bit due to his work party and then leaving for DC for Magfest, well at least I get a chance to miss him, but will be weird, the longest we will not be together since we met. I am such a girl sometimes. But that will be my birthday weekend so I have plans for a Game Night at Kelly’s and then brunch on my birthday. Also I should be picking up Joe from the airport on my birthday so we can do dinner in the city, maybe Eastern Standard since he hasn’t been there before.

OMG !!!

A new job has been had, I started on Monday of last week, the first week was a kick in the butt, I was thrown to the wolves more or less. Between a new commute into Boston, trying to finish up this term of school, keep some resemblance of a life and juggling my still sort of late nights with Joe and early mornings where I must drag myself out of bed in the dark again, I am doing A-Okay. This past week I was also in charge of feeding and checking on Chuck, Rich’s very fat cat, while also getting ready for a weekend in New Jersey with Joe for his friends Holiday Party.

Saturday morning we woke up, finished packing up the car filled with beer, sleeping bags, homemade chili in the Crock-Pot and Cornbread I had made. We drove to North Western NJ with some detours for breakfast and then at Ikea in New Haven. We arrived mid afternoon at Tino’s house and then went out with everyone to the Asian market and a couple other stops, bought some NJ beers at the Shop Rite. The night was full of games, Cards Against Humanity, Excessive drinking of good beer, eating of yummy food and ended with about 7 of us sleeping slumber party style on the floor in the living room. We awoke in the AM to drink coffee and say our good-byes after a relaxing morning. The drive back was a bit rough if only because of the amount of big beers I drank, when will I learn more than one over 10% beer in a night will do me in. We had mentioned heading to a brewery on the way there but decided that would be a great detour for the way home. We stopped at Defiant Brewing on the way home, drank a couple great beers each, bought a bottle of their 2012 Christmas Ale and two glasses then headed back on the road. It was a great weekend trip, followed by lazy Sunday night on the couch watching ELF and eating delicious pizza. This week has been a tiring week so far, haven’t caught up on sleep and Tuesday night is date night with Joe as it is his  night off during the week. We went out for sushi and drinks, a quick stop at The Dive for a beer and then ran to the store, home to relax.

Right now I am dealing with the “I just want 2012 to be over with” Really I just want it to be the 2nd week of January with life sort of on a normal routine.

I’ll post the past weeks pics later today…

Contemplating making this mostly a picture post, if only because I have been so busy.  Simple Recap: A fantastic friend filled Going Away party for Brad, Thanksgiving weekend as he moved on to San Fran for a fabulous job, the weekend the Momberger clan was in the Woo, great night. A day of running through the woods with both Joe and I sick trying to find a Christmas Tree, only to give up and buy one, and decorate it beautifully. Lots of amazing food being cooked, bought and consumed, ahhh Winter you will make me fat, not good. Went for a solo soul cleansing hike at Pack Monadnock after finally feeling like a human again, for once.

I worked more at EMS, Stopped working at Sprout and Started today at Arbour HRI Hospital in Brookline as their Medical Records Manager. I have spent as much time as I can with Joe prior to starting this new job that makes it a little harder and time a little more precious that we have together, although he still has managed to spend a good percentage of time at my house, anxious to see if we are able to keep it all amazing with less time together, but we have Sunday’s and Tuesday nights, I have less than 2 weeks left to class and then 3 1/2 weeks free to get use to my new commute, new job and refocus on health and fitness. It has been a very BUSY past couple weeks, currently trying to get all my school work complete in time for Joe and I to head to New Jersey this weekend to Tino’s party, should be a great time. Food, Drink, Games and awesome people, I’m excited.

Anyways here are some pics, over the next couple weeks I will need to focus on my end of year post, figure out my direction for the year 2013 and all the greatness that will come with that.

I haven’t written since November 24th… Going to work on this now.

Here is a secret I have been living life, been super busy. Now a new job, a great boyfriend, busy schedule, shit I haven’t even had time for hiking as much as I like.

I have been really bad at this blogging thing in the last few months, I have been living life and leaving little time for things such as this. Well lets see what has occurred since the last time I wrote.

Well on the 10th of November was Sara and Mike’s Engagement party, since it was the weekend that the Smokestack was opening, but the night they were closed Joe was able to go with me, instead of showing up late, which was a nice and welcomed surprise. It was a great night with lots of friends celebrating two great friends engagement. I certainly drank too much that evening as someone brought a bottle of Bowmore, once I have the taste of petted scotch on my lips it is all downhill from there.

The next day I made us my Sunday Fritta and we played a couple silly games online for a bit, read thru some silly Reddit post (when did Reddit replace the Sunday Paper), that evening Joe didn’t need to work but we wanted to check out the new Smokestack as patrons so headed to dinner and a couple beers there, then to the movies to see Skyfall, best of the Daniel Craig Bond movies yet, if I might say so myself.

Pretty low key week as normal, go to work, go home work on school work, spend some time with Joe, spend some time with friends. All pretty low key. Grabbed some Belmont Veg on that Thursday for lunch, I am always impressed with how damn tasty the food is there, but never seem to make it up to Belmont Street, now living on the West Side, all the way across the city for veggie food,when I have Lovin Hut next door. Tasty Skateboards and Pretty Things Beer did a collaboration, so that equated to a pretty awesome night at The Dive, that Thursday.

Friday night was a low key night for me, I needed my rest as the next day I had plans with Rich to run the Spartan Race at Fenway, what the hell was I thinking, I was not ready for this race, but I finished (not well but I finished) and it was humbling to show where I need to improve (oh my upper body strength is lacking) and where I did well. We had a 3:30 start time so I headed to Boston for noon, we hung out, headed to Fenway around 1:30, killed some time eating snacks at Boston Beer Works, then checked our bags in and got ourselves ready for the race, yes I raced with a man with a giant bunny suit and a gas mask on, Ether Bunny.

The course was insane, but so well planned out, they used every inch of usable space at the park, it was a lot of work but pretty fantastic, I believe I may have done about 300 Burpees that day which was not all that fantastic.

Spartan Race Fenway: Watch as one racer shows all the obstacles, all 23 minus the need for most of us to do LOTS of burpees !

I was very happy I did it, but if I am going to next year I need to train, and train hard, which is now one of my other goals, to complete both Massachusetts Spartan Races next year, the one in Amesbury and the one at Fenway. I want mud and I want stairs.

Upon returning to Worcester I went and had a post race beer and dinner, much needed. Sunday we had woke up needing breakfast, I through some random I need food post on FB and my friend Christine was like, hell come to Providence and eat at Julians with me, so we got ready, text Robert to let him know we were going to eat 2 blocks from his house and headed to Providence for brunch, great decision. Sunday night I had Kelly and Matt coming over for dinner, so Joe and I ran a bunch of errands, to get him a new dress shirt and tie, tea and a stop at Lush for me, then over to Whole Foods. We got to the house took a nap then decided to get moving on dinner. We prepared oysters with a mignonette sauce, homemade Pesto Steelhead Trout, Roasted Brussel Sprouts & Purple Creamer Potatoes, and then gluten-free brownies for desert. They arrived at 7, we had cocktails and beer then ate and decided a game of SmallWorld was in order, yay Joe finally got to play it. It was a great day with great people.

This past week has been rough, I was hurting pretty bad from the race, my muscles rebelled and I was trying to do my normal routine and had trouble with that, bad Crystal not training properly. Tuesday Joe had off work, so after I was done with work we had plans to do some baking, a few pies and we needed dinner. So after running errands to get all that we needed for what became a LATE night of pie baking, we grabbed dinner at Mezcal, yum $2.00 tacos and margaritas, don’t forget yummy guac. Upon getting back to the house we started pie making, first time making my own pie dough, not so bad. We made an Apple Pie, Dutch Apple Pie and a Pumpkin Pecan Pie with Whiskey Butter. Other than the 2 1/4 cups of Bourbon used for the pie we drank half the bottle in the form of Manhattans and Hot Toddy’s. We had a couple small fixable mishaps but the pies were tasty and out of the oven by midnight.  Wednesday I was able to grab lunch with Joe post getting out of work, we headed to Vietnam Cafe, I grabbed a Tofu Bahn Mi and he got Pho, then I got him back to work and I went and got some things done at home. We ended up at the Dive for Thanksgiving- Eve for a couple beers but overall an early night.

Thursday awoke and headed to Connecticut to have dinner with my family, was a little rough as my grandfather left before dinner as he was not able to act happy in front of everyone. It is the first holiday without my Grandmother and it only has been a couple months, so kinda rough. But all the food was grand either way. I left around 4 to go to Joe’s family and have desert and drinks. We stayed there until 7:30, was suppose to head to Kelly’s but I was not feeling well nor was Joe, so we decided tea and a few episodes of Breaking Bad was in order.

Yesterday I worked, later than I planned so I called EMS and they didn’t end up needing me to come in, my next shift is on Monday, yay. Joe was out of work early, slow day being Black Friday they didn’t have much traffic. So we ran to grab food at Peppercorns and call it an early night, I was out not long after hitting the pillow.

Happy Saturday here we are, neither one of us has to work today, Joe has a wedding tonight and I have a party for a friend I will be attending, so going to run some errands, maybe make a stop at Jack’s Abby and Christmas Tree Shop, cause tomorrow we are cutting a tree down in my grandpa’s woods for the house. Trying my best to get into the Christmas mood.

So this week has been pretty chill, Sunday Joe and I headed to Julian’s for the New England Fall Beer Festival, ran to some grocery stores and markets as it was a big dinner he was cooking for his sisters birthday that evening. I was in charge of garlic bread, and being the first time I have met most of his family I was all worried I would somehow mess up garlic bread. I showed up at his families house with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Chip cookies I made and two large loaves of garlic bread which involved roasting a lot of garlic and getting the food processor all full of butter. That night went fairly well without much of a hitch, I was nervous but one of his aunts made it easy for me to be there while he finished cooking dinner for 13 people.

Monday was homework, gym and then get ready for us to head to the postponed That’s Entertainment Halloween Movie night at the Elm Draft House, it was Bettlejuice and Ghostbusters.

Tuesday I had a busy day, I had an interview at Arbour HRI, then I had lunch with Jen in Brookline, followed by turning in empty containers from Lush and MAC for free new products, then going to EMS to do all my new hire paperwork, oh yes PT seasonal position at EMS has been obtained. Then I rushed back to Worcester to vote, it was a busy day. Joe had training at work plus he needed to deal with a faulty graphics card in his PC so I headed to Mike Purtell’s for Election Coverage, Kelly, Brad, Chad and one of Mike’s other friends showed up for chili and drinks. YAY, Obama 4 more years !!!!

Wednesday it was starting to snow, a Nor’Easter was planned so after work Joe came over, we went on an adventure to the bank and grocery store after he found out he didn’t need to work, he cooked us a yummy dinner and I cleaned up the kitchen. Seems to work well.

Still was cold, snowy and crappy yesterday but I went to work then came home, moved the bedroom around, put the chest downstairs as a coffee table and then Joe came over with a couple amazing beers, one being Tart of Darkness by Bruery, a sour stout, so we got sours and both got our International Stout Day badges on Untappd (yes we are that big of dorks). Watched a few episodes of Community, South Park and then I was out cold. So tired.

Happy Friggen Friday,grabbed breakfast at Miss Worcester, off to work, tomorrow I have training at EMS from 2-7pm, then we are heading to Mike and Sara’s Engagement Party. Sunday is the Grand Opening for Smokestack, can’t wait to check it out!

Saturday after the Dive Bar Dogfish Head Bash Joe and I planned on meeting his friends Justin and Renee at the Hangover Brunch, before I had to be at Jess and John’s Wedding. It was a little rush, I was a little bit hungover(not badly since we didn’t get to the Dive the night before until after 11pm)

I had to run to the wedding by 12:30, it was at the Italian-American Club on Lake Ave, a great wedding it was and great time with friends. I was suppose to head to the after party at Jess’s and then the After-After party at Beatniks, but instead I picked up Joe and we cooked a yummy dinner then headed out to Beatniks for a little while but both of us were exhausted, so home and in bed before 11 I believe.

That Sunday was a day to relax, had all these large ambitions. I made us a frittata for breakfast and we got hooked on Reddit for a few hours, then Joe needed to go home to do a few errands and go help his aunt with her computer. Hurricane Sandy was on her way, sort of planned a “Hurricane Hibernation” where we had tons of food and things to bake. He made it over later on Sunday night which allowed me to clean the house and get some school work complete. Monday was lots of rain and lots of wind, we ended up meeting with Sara and Mike Hendrickson for lunch at Bollywood, we all wanted Indian food. After that we headed home, prepared in case power was loss and hung around cooking, dancing and being foolish the rest of the day. Joe made a habanaro simple syrup and then prepared some margarita’s, I baked some Dark Chocolate-Pumpkin Brownies which seemed to be a big hit with people. Then to top of the day I made a delicious pizza, seriously it was a Hurricane Day Of Food. Halloween Night we handed out candy to the kids in my neighborhood, then headed to Haiku for sushi, pretty chill Halloween it was.

On Thursday Joe showed up after winning on a scratch ticket with a bottle of Jameson, which earlier in the day he sent me this video How to Make Irish Coffee, it was so on for the weekend. He also brought a couple bottles of beer over, one being what will most likely be the last Big Pumpkin beer of the season, so I decided at 8pm to bake some pumpkin bread, yes I did.

The next morning I decided that I would take the pumpkin bread and make french toast with it, yes it was amazing. Since we had been eating so much yummy food as of late dinner was healthier, I baked some Steelhead Trout and Asparagus, we drank another beer that he had picked up. Then we put the Jameson with the Coffee grounds to steep overnight. Later that night we headed to Wreck-it Ralph with Chad, a lady friend of his and Joe’s friend Rebecca, GREAT MOVIE.

Saturday morning I made us another frittata, while Joe started the process for the Irish Coffees from the straining and then whipped cream making, what a delicious breakfast we had. We had planned to hit up Pioneer Brewery, BT’s and then my friend Kelly in Connecticut was having a fire and drinks at her house. We somehow also ended up at my parents house to eat the BT’s prior to heading to Kelly’s. So yes Joe met my family, well some of them.  We went to Kelly’s for a few hours but since I was driving and there was no option to crash on the couch this time, I just behaved myself.

Have you ever had such a good time living that documenting is near impossible  well that hasn’t been me for the last 7 years until the last few weeks. The last post I put was on the 20th of October, now it is the 9th of November. Joe has been off work while Smokestack moves from their old Harding Street location to the new Green Street location, so that has allowed us to have a lot of adventures.

The first weekend of the 20th, Joe’s friends Jay and Amy have their annual Halloween NARP, which allowed me to meet a large amount of his friends and have a great time dressed yet again as Girl Version Mario. That was an all weekend celebration which involved us taking those from out of state to Austin for their fall beer festival, drinking prior to a party is a solid time. The Monday we both had free, so I mentioned a mini road trip so we headed up to Brattleboro to check out Tim’s new Brewpub Whetstone and I wanted to show Joe around one of my favorite towns in New England, I believe based on the availability of good beer, the best coffee shop in NE and an amazing food co-op he could see why I love it so much. Due to him not working and me with a limited work schedule at this time we were able to do silly things like grab breakfast at Miss Worcester, cook lots of meals and bake a crap load. We both were truly spoiled when it came to quality time together.

On Thursday the 25th we headed to Providence after I got out of work to eat at Farmstead which comprised of cheese, pumpkin waffles and fancy cocktails, then headed to Aaron’s show in North Providence for the H.B. Lovecraft Exhibit and a detour into Putnam to show Joe Stomping Ground and drink Butternut Squash Martinis (Oh My).

Friday after many failed attempts at Joe getting all his co-workers and friends onboard he and I ended up heading to Six Flags after I worked for Fright Fest, have to say I have never went to Six Flags at night but limited wait for rides, great Halloween fun and the 3 extra Haunted Attractions made for a perfect fall night, we then headed back to Worcester to make it to the Dive Bar-Dogfish Head Halloween Bash, where I was lame with no costume and Joe changed in the car into (Cartoon) Dexter the Later Years. We were booted out of the Dive at 2am, what a great week it was.