Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Photos Photos Photos

Hello again everyone,
It has been a little over a week and we have done some pretty awesome things so far since moving up to Mass.  I'm sure you all have read about our crazy dance club night. We also had a chance to cross off one of my boxes on my bucket list:  Seeing the Blue Man Group!  What a great show.  I encourage you to go see it if you ever get the chance.

So in addition to all of these fun activities we have captured some pretty amazing shots (if i do say so myself).  Katie and I are entry level photographers currently honing our skills in "The Athens of America" as coined by William Tudor.  Katie has already posted some great shots of Fort Revere Park and I'm sure you will get to see some of her fantastic shots of Boston.  I have so many shots to put up but for now here are some of my favorite shots of the Bean-town Architecture :

A Little Boston Fog

More fog please with the Custom House Tower Clock


Sam Adams... A Patriot (and delicious beer)


Three building back to back looked like a massive fortress







On way to The Blue Man Group
--Drew

Monday, July 8, 2013

Dance Disaster

It’s a warm Saturday night.  Katie and I had just gotten back from a long day of shopping, exhausted I collapsed into the couch next to Drew.  “I think I want to take a long bath.” Drew says with a sleepy smile.  “Hmm a night on the coach sounds great. “ I add.  

Katie looks woefully back at the two of. “I’m bored.” She declares.  Inside I have to laugh, Drew and I are not used to such constant activity and Katie’s energizer bunny attitude shames me into action.  I grab my lap top and state, “Alright well it’s 10 pm, let’s see what Abington’s night life looks like.”  Drew and Katie laugh at me simultaneously.  Abington is a small quite town on the outskirts of Boston. The main population here is suburban families and retirees. Yet, I always did love a good challenge.
                
I started scrolling through my goggle search announce destinations aloud, most of which were bars or bowling allies. I look up at Katie to see if anything caught her attention. Her blank stare, let me know she less then enthused to spend her Saturday night at  Joe’s American Bar and Grill. After a few more moments I struck gold, “Katie there is a night club 20 minutes from here called Vincent’s. Cover charge is only ten bucks.”  “Do you guys want to go?” Katie asks tentatively with a twinkle of excitement in her eye.  

I sigh and working up my most energetic  smile say, “Sure we do! Don’t we Drew!”  Drew says nothing. I can see the panic forming in his eyes at the thought of giving up a relaxing bath to be designated driver for his wife and her best friend. Even worse, I might expect him to dance too! I elbow him in the ribs and with a little coaxing, he slowly nods and states, “why the hell not.”
                
After a feverish rush to get “nightclub” hot, we rush to the car to try to make it to the club before midnight.  As we arrive we see a packed parking lot and bouncers out-front.  “This is a good sign.” I declare aloud. Surly a busy nightclub is an indication of a good time, right.
                
As we walk in the bouncer looks slightly amused to see us. Is it something we were wearing? Were we overdressed, under-dressed? I don’t do this sort of thing often. It could be any number of things. The bouncer asks for ID, and when seeing our PA licenses nods his head as if had just solved a riddle. “You guys are from PA, huh?", he says with a smile. Well, have a good time.”  While trying to unravel the Bouncers mystery statement we walked through the entrance and into the lobby.  
                
While paying our cover charge, anticipation and excitement flooded me.  Katie and I were ready to get our dance on.  Bring on the Usher, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Flow Rider and Pit bull!  After paying we finally entered the big black door. The club music flooded my ears and bright, neon, yellow, blue and red lights shown down on hundreds of people.  For a moment I was completely disoriented. Wait a minute was that Billy Jean, by Michael Jackson playing?!

As my eyes adjusted to the lights I realized my mistake and everything made sense.  I now knew why the bouncer thought we were out of place!  Unfortunately,  Katie and Drew had realized it quicker than me. “ Jenae, you brought us to a elderly night club!” Katie declared loudly over the music.  To my horror I realized they were right. There was not a single person under the age of 40 in the entire room!  There were hundreds of inebriated older people bobbing awkwardly around the room with rhyme or reason and certainly without rhythm!

“This is awesome!” Drew declared loudly.  “ It’s the funniest thing I have ever seen! Check that guy out over there.” Following his finger I saw which dancer had caught his eye. The middle aged gentleman was shorter in stature and dressed head to toe, Michael Jackson style  with a white top hat, white jackets, undone tie, and white pants.  He also had sequined silver socks and 1 matching silver glove.  To describe this mans unique form of dance would takes hundreds if not thousands of words.  Let’s just say, his signature move was taking his right ankle and tucking it behind his neck while gyrating with his hips and making a grand sweeping gesture with his left arm.  In short, it was one of the craziest and most entertaining drunk dances I have ever seen.
                
The night was filled with many such spectacles. There was the lady who loved spinning in repetitive circles and attempting scissor kicks. We also saw jazz hands, a man jog dancing in the corner, and my personal favorite, the grandma grind.  There were of course several shinning stars in this club. One couple in their late fifties actually had great moves and did an impressive salsa dance.  While it’s true the good dancers were few and far between, everyone was having a good time and cutting loose and we enjoyed every minute. While we did not get a lot of dancing in we did have a lot of laughs.
                
At the end of the night we all agreed we had learned three valuable lessons:
                               
                                1. Never let Jenae pick out night clubs.
                                2.  A night out beats a night on the coach.
                                3. A travel experience might not be what you expect, however, it could be even better
                                    if  you embrace it with a good attitude. 

--Jenae

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Arriving and Exploring Fort Revere

 So in the span of a couple of days we all ended our jobs, moved to Massachusetts, and started our new jobs. Luckily my packing wasn't nearly as epic as Drew's and Jenae's (see video below). For one I'm one person. Also my car is the size of a glorified roller skate so I had to pack like a minimalist. The trip up here was an exercise in navigation and trust. Navigation because it's a five hour drive. Trust because my slightly neurotic/OCD/lovable cat Mia found out that just because I was leaving the car for a cup of coffee it did not mean I was abandoning her to the world. Luckily she didn't cry bloody murder the entire way up to Boston. 

We arrived at our new home in small little Abington outside of Boston and set up our new apartment. And the next day, off to explore the world we began! The three of us found ourselves on the beach in Hull, MA and made our way up to Fort Revere Park. It's ironic, at least for me with my love of history, that the first adventure that we took on this trip was to a historical site. Fort Revere is an old military fort dating back to revolutionary times. It provided quite the sights as well! It sits on a hill overlooking the water and town. And for lunch? Seafood of course. I would say that's a good start. 

Check out the pics! Excuse my subpar photography skills. Hopefully that's something that will improve as we progress! 






















How Dreams Become Realities

So...a week in Boston and finally I have made my way to the blog! Being part of a blog will be the first of many new experiences for me.

So I suppose a little introduction is in order before we begin. My name is Katie. I'm a fairly new ICU RN with 2 years of experience. I have an avid love of adventure in all of its many forms. My dream job and interests growing up were archaeology with a side of sociology with a pinch of psychology, but alas I became an RN instead! When people ask me now if I feel I made the right career decision I would definitely say yes. If those same people would have asked me 3-4 years ago when I was in nursing school my answer probably would have been different. Despite being broke, burned out, and having very little resources (and time) at my disposal, my dreams of traveling and discovering the world, its cultures and its facets,  persisted and grew. Two mission trips during college, one to New Orleans and another to Honduras, just made this desire grow. Luckily I met a fellow ponderer in arms in my nursing classes named Jenae Martin, now Jenae Lockhart. Instead of going out and spending our money that barely existed at the bars, we spent our crazy college days having marathon discussions about the world over a cheap bottle of wine and dinner in our tiny 2 room apartment. And so a friend was made.

Our last year of nursing school, Jenae and I talked about how being a travel nurse would be a dream job. A job where you could make money and have someone else pay your living expenses as you travel the world? It sounded like it would almost make nursing school worth it! As Jenae got married that year we discussed doing a 3 month assignment internationally together. After we returned to the states Jenae would go back home  and I was planning on continuing traveling in the states. Sometimes though, life does give you the best of both worlds and we discovered Drew wanted in on this traveling adventure! And so a year after we graduated, another year of planning began. After deciding that California was our ultimate goal, we decided that staying on the east coast for our first assignment would be an easier transition. So to one of my favorite cities on the east coast...to Boston we go! After a few nail biting interviews and negotiating between two recruiters Jenae and I both landed jobs in the same hospital just outside of Boston! And the rest as they say...is history. Or in this case, the beginning of a lifetime full of a wide variety of experiences.