Blizzard Charlotte (aka winter storm nemo)

This is a month late, but in February we got hit by a pretty impressive blizzard. All the weather channels were predicting Massachusetts would get the brunt of it but Connecticut got a surprisingly large amount of snow. We kind of did our own measurements and I think at our house we averaged around 26 inches. But after the snow plows threw all the street snow to the side, it was definitely a huge amount of snow.

And of course CT was highly unprepared to deal with this much snow. Luckily David was able to work from home until the buses started running again. Our complex basically dug ourselves out enough to get our cars out to the road. David and I walked half a mile down the plowed empty streets to buy ourselves some snow shovels that we might not need again. We shall see.

I don't know what order these pictures will upload but one is our street when it just barely started to snow. One is our parking lot - our sad, snowed in parking lot. One is David measuring the snowdrift outside our front door right after we woke up. The other is the back entry way.

Boston!

We went to Boston last weekend!
We spent Saturday seeing some sites and headed home that evening - the east coast is a little different than anywhere else in that you can drive for an hour and be in two states.

Here's the list of what we did in Boston (and Salem...):
Salem visitors center/ walk the line around the city (and buy Girl Scout cookies along the way!)
Memorial benches for those executed in the Salem witch trials
USS Constitution!
Walk to Bunker Hill
Walk UP to the top of the monument
Walk DOWN and have your legs quiver when you reach the bottom
Walk to the Old North Church
Go inside, sit down in a really old pew.
Walk to Paul Revere's house
Have awesome conversations with the people working there - learn stuff you've never read in any books/museums
Walk up around the corner to Mike's Pastries (cannoli! LOBSTER TAILS! - go watch the Cake boss video of how they make them)
Go to dinner at a fun Italian place that gives you So.much.food.
Walk back to wherever you park and conveniently take a nap on the way home while someone else drives.

A great way to spend a Saturday!

December 2012

Better late than never, right? Here's our run down for December(so long 2012!):

Things we did not love so much:

- crazy storms which led to a 3 hour slow drive through winding roads and the sheet of ice we call our parking lot

- our air bed getting a hole. twice. The first night, the leak was on the outside, so only the middle was still inflated, basically meaning we slept on a mini-island. The second night, the middle had a leak, which means we slept in a giant TACO. 

- trips/vacations not being long enough. Basically I could go on vacation full time.

- trying to go to lunch and EVERYWHERE good being closed and ending up going to Mcdonalds. Not what we were going for....

Things we loved:

- trips to NY/FL

- Birthdays!

- skyping with Nathan one more time before he comes home from his mission

- being called as YM leader (just David)

- not paying attention to our budget (*which means this might be on January's "not loved" list...)

- our baby Christmas tree

- CHRISTMAS. 

- candlelight

- seeing Will and Lisa

- new iphones!

- Family Olympics *may be on someone else's not loved list*

We went to Jacksonville, FL as our Christmas present to each other! We went to hang out with our friends, Andrew and Laura, who are still in Provo going to law school. Laura's parents and brother were so, so kind to let us stay with them and invade their pre-holiday plans. And it was SO MUCH FUN.

We spent a day at Island of Adventures in Orlando and had a blast. It was a great warm day (which was awesome because we got soaked on one ride unexpectedly....), not too crowded, and um hello, DELICIOUS butterbeer. *we recommend the frozen slushy version. YUM.  We also spent a day in St. Augustine acting like tourists, taking too many pictures, eating lunch at an Irish "public house", touring the San Marcos fort, eating tons of fudge, and exploring the area and the beach. We laughed a lot and were so sad the days went by so quickly.

Butterbeer!

Harry Potter World

Under the bridge in Jacksonville

This was after David randomly jumped on Andrew's back to take a picture.

We also went to NY a couple times (not including the time we went just so they could drive us to the airport). We spent Christmas there and it was nice to see Will and Lisa as well. Lots of talking, playing games, CANDLELIGHT, and also the 2nd annual Allred Olympics. David and I bought each other iphones a week and a half before Christmas and we have not put them down since. We also talked a lot about the traditions he grew up with versus the ones my family has and which ones we want to do. Lots of fun to think about. Our NYE celebration was super low-key --- as in, I fell asleep at 9, woke up at 11:30, watched the ball drop and went to sleep again 10 minutes later. We went to Les Miserables on New Years Day and loved it.

The dance-off portion of Allred Olympics

The winner!

Our 2012 podium

Two months

TWO months, folks. We have lived in our beautiful little slice of the world for 2 months!

I find myself constantly looking at all the charming houses I see. The new England style is everywhere and you see all varieties of colors. The Christmas decorations are out, too. The golf course around the corner sets up a loop of Christmas lights that you can pay to drive through if you want (we don't). We can easily see them as we run errands.

David is getting more and more involved at work (hooray!). He still has really slow days sometimes which means he can either study for his next test or update himself on current events on the internet. He took his last test on election day and passed.(HOORAY!) We won't get the official results until after Christmas though.

He is humoring me and spending his nights with me before I lose him to more after-work studying soon. Since the colder weather is here and we can't go explore the coast just yet we are trying to find more things to do close-by. We found a movie theater that does $5 Tuesdays which makes for a great mid-week date. We do miss the dollar theater though.  (Sometimes I even find myself thinking things like "FIVE DOLLARS TO SEE A MOVIE?!" Then I eat something and appreciate ONLY paying $5.)

We like having my family close and have probably overstayed our welcome. We put our air mattress in our car so Lisette won't have to give up her room every time we come down. But we just love how close they are. ALSO, the drive on the Merritt Parkway is one of our most favorite drives in the whole country. (And after driving the ENTIRE length of I-80 this year, I feel entitled to say that.) It really is that gorgeous, especially in the fall.

After a surprisingly lengthy and intense hiring process that took over a month (so weird.), I started working as a receptionist for the sports medicine department of a hospital here. So  far I am really enjoying it. (Plus, I love having a cool security badge haha) They have a great office overall - in terms of efficiency, staff, systems, resources, etc. It has been a fairly easy transition for us. Our commutes and our hours are basically the same as well. We are trying to budget and save our money so sometimes it feels like we still live the college life but without the stress.

I've been trying to read a lot lately and have enjoyed working my way through other people's book club lists, thanks to a pretty good library system statewide (which doesn't means tons when you live in a teeny state....but still.)

I'm trying to think of other important things I can tell you, but now all I'm coming up with are 1) I cut myself pretty good the other night making dinner and 2) I really need to re-dye my hair...... both of which tell ME I should probably stop writing. I will leave you with a picture of our mini Christmas tree that makes me happy.

The one where they learn about camera remotes.

While we ripped out the carpet on my parents' stairs, Anna and Emma learned about camera remotes.

Poor Georgie got dragged into modeling too.

Cuties :)

Guilty Pleasures

Let's be friends.
NOT the "oh you have a happy life and cute pictures" friends. (Although, I love you too! Trust me, I do.)
I mean the you-know-what-gets-me, I-know-what-gets-you, we-can-talk-about-ridiculous-things-together kind of friends.

Let's start with stuff we like to hide: guilty pleasures. You can judge me all you want (feel free, but I KNOW you have some too).
Then we can get past that and talk about all our ridiculousness for hours and it will be glorious.
Here we go.

1. Celebrity gossip.
  Why yes, I do read People magazine/people.com. And very often. (usually every day) You guys, I'm way past the whole "they look perfect" issue people have with magazines. I read them because I like feeling normal and seeing gorgeous dresses/outfits, and for the GOSSIP. Seriously. Celebrity gossip is quite possibly the BEST non-committal, non-serious conversation topic ever. Why talk about weather when you can talk about so-and-so's divorce/who dumped whom/who said what?

2. Sleep
I regularly sleep in. No, I don't get up early to exercise, read my scriptures, breathe in the quiet silent world. All that quiet makes me sleepy. So  I go back to sleep until 10, 11, noon..... No regrets, people.  I love days when I am up early and get lots of things done and feel accomplished and superwoman-ly. But folks, my days are OPEN right now. I can sleep in and still get every thing done by the time David comes home. People, I AM A BETTER PERSON. Trust me. Mean Nattie comes out when not enough sleep is in the equation. Some days I'm in pajamas until 4. Comfiest days ever.
(*Disclaimer: I know this will all change when I have kids/start working. Which I'm okay with - why else would I be willing to have them? - but until that happens and nothing requires me to get up, I'm sleeping in.)

3. TV shows
I watch lots of them and enjoy the ridiculous-ness of them all (gasp!). Ridiculous/cheesy/awful plot lines? Perfect. I'll take them all. I'll even think about them as I wash my face or make dinner. Let's see - any cop show is great any time, comedy-dramedy makes for great laughs (and sometimes ugly cries, ahem, Parenthood), reality TV makes me realize I'm not as crazy as I think, and any tension-filled love story gets me hooked. Clear eyes, full hearts, CAN'T LOSE.

4. Target
I'm addicted. It is really, really, really hard for me to not buy anything every time I walk in there. They have things on clearance I never knew I needed! I can spend hours walking around this store picking things up and putting them back down. I pretty much love everything they have in their store. I also try to hide things I buy. But David is unusually good at noticing new/different things. So sometimes I hide them and then don't use them for a couple weeks to try to ease them in --- doesn't usually work, FYI.

5. Baby 
No, I do not have a baby nor am I pregnant. However, that has not/will not stop me from consuming birth stories from everyone and anyone and bawling over them, reading every "things I wished I'd known" list known to Pinterest, shopping the baby section at Target, making a list of things to buy when we do have a baby bean.  Just planning ahead, people.... right?

6.  Pop Music
I like the "dumb stuff". There I said it. Most recently, the mash-ups from Pitch Perfect. But I also love the stuff by One Direction, Selena Gomez, blah, blah, blah. I like the other "cool" stuff too, but man, dumb upbeat cheesy songs make me sing along and dance in the car like an idiot and who doesn't want to do that?

via

7. Sugar binges
 Sour gummi worms, black jelly beans, red vines, peachies, tootie frootie tootsie rolls, etc. Sometimes on my work break, I would go buy a bag of [fill in from above list] and EAT IT ALL. In the car. By myself. Wouldn't look at the calories or ingredients. And sometimes I'd get a stomach ache afterwards. Oh well. Live in the moment, right? And those moments are just so good. (Ice cream is also an acceptable substitute.)


Seven is enough right? If you're completely overwhelmed by my openness and don't want to talk to me again, that's okay. Come talk to me when the new season of the Bachelor starts. I'll just be over here debating whether or not to get some high-calorie sugar item but knowing that means I probably have to get dressed for the day.

What are your guilty pleasures??
You know you want to tell me. Getting it off your chest will feel GREAT, I just know it!

Tomorrow is the month mark for us moving into our apartment, so I guess it is about time for an update. :)

Sometimes we look around and do not really believe that we are actually here. There are so many things we love about being here. Fall and everything that comes with it has been great. The leaves are so gorgeous and I keep seeing things that look like they exist only in paintings. 

We are loving our apartment. We decided to go with an apartment in a quieter area instead of one in the more popular urban area and it is a great fit for us. We ended up living right on the bus line, so David takes that to work every day. It is 4 miles from his work to our apartment so it is a really quick ride.

David started work on the 8th. He is enjoying it a lot more now that the basic training stuff is over. They have been kind of busy working on a project with a deadline. He is taking another actuary test next Tuesday(!) so he has been putting in lots of hours studying after he gets home from work. One perk of his job was him being able to work from home during Hurricane Sandy. It was not so bad for us up here - mostly just a lot of really strong winds and rain. There are some trees down but we never lost power. (As I write this, my parents still do not have power. They are expecting it some time next week. I am even more aware of how lucky we were up here.) Halloween was not cancelled in our town, but we still did not have any trick-or-treaters. Lucky us, we get the whole bag of Snickers to ourselves!

In the time we do get to spend together, we have been watching lots of sports  - between BYU football/basketball, RSL soccer, and the Jazz games starting - and Netflix. We also like to go drive around and explore the neighboring towns. The picturesque scenes seem to be everywhere we go.

I have been trying to find ways to keep myself busy. Trying to buy some things we needed for our apartment.  Looking for jobs. Sleeping in. Going to the movies by myself. Going to mother's group/play group without a child. Teaching myself photoshop. Teaching myself the real way to take pictures in manual. Making lots of Thai food. Registering the car and changing my license - the DMV is just so fun.

 The biggest thing I have been having a hard time with is not being able to find a job/have anything to do that I really care about (that does not involve spending money). I am at the point where I sleep in a lot, because hey what's the point of getting out of bed just to go sit on the couch and be on the computer. I did get called to be the Primary pianist, so that will be exciting. Primary is always so fun.  But our life is really great and we really are so, so blessed to be where we are at.

And because we all know how much better blog posts are with pictures, here are some I took recently. 

Top one is just of an area by a shopping mall.

Bottom two are from Wethersfield Cove. 

Maybe next time I will finally be able to convince David to let me take pictures of him.....