All settled...Finally!

I have had multiple requests for pictures of our place. Well, the day for pictures is finally here. I was holding off because the place was still a wreck with about 6 boxes left in the living room. After a final trip (well...really two trips) to IKEA to purchase a TV stand, bookshelf, and file cabinet...our new apartment can now be shared! This weekend Jeremy worked hard constructing our new furniture, and we hung curtains and pictures. The apartment is now beginning to feel like home. Here are the pics....

So there you have it, the living room, office/eating area, and kitchen. We still need to acquire a table and chairs....hopefully soon! There is a bedroom and a bathroom, but I didn't take pictures.

Along with finally getting our place furnished, I started my new job on Monday!! The first week went really well. I am working at Casey Family Services (a non-profit agency that deals with foster care programs). Right now it is just a temp position, but I am hoping it will turn into a full time job or give me some good connections. I am doing administrative work along with helping to plan conferences. All I can say is that any company with a delicious coffee machine and free/water & sodas is A-OK in my book!

Now onto the weather...

The weather was beginning to change to Fall earlier this week. At night we were down in the 40s and mid 60s during the day, but it heated up this weekend to 80. Let me just tell you...we are NOT prepared for Winter. I went for a run on Wednesday morning in my "winter" running clothes. These running garments were resesrved to December through January (maybe February) in San Diego. I have no idea what to do when it actually starts to get really cold.

I am judging that it is starting to turn to Fall by one tree in front of our house. Some of the leaves are already turning red and orange. I am excited to see Fall, if that one tree is any indication it should be breathtaking.

I did purchase two full length jackets at TJ Maxx this weekend. I couldn't decide which one would be better, so I bought both. One is a wool jacket and the other one resembles the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man. Jeremy had a great time standing there watching me. The look on his face was one of pure retail loathing. I wasn't planning on buying a jacket when it was 80 degrees outside, but I want to be prepared!!!

That is all the new haps in New Haven for now! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Liquor, radio stations, and snakes....Oh My!!!

So this blog is kinda ragging on New Haven, but after this, I think we have found all the oddities of this place.

First up....The Liquor Wars.

All Californians...please take a moment to thank your lucky stars that you are able to go to any local Ralphs, Albertsons, or convenience store and purchase beer, wine, and liquor.

I need a moment of silence. Alas, that freedom has been taken away from Jeremy and I. Not that I usually buy large amounts of alcohol or make it a priority to drink on Sunday...but shouldn't I have the choice. Connecticut is another state (like Utah & Colorado) that still have blue laws enforced. If you didn't know, blue laws are "a type of law designed to enforce moral standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest. Most have been repealed or are simply unenforced, although prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages and occasionally almost all commerce, on Sundays are still enforced in many areas. Blue laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores. In some places blue laws may be enforced due to religious principles, but others are retained as a matter of tradition or out of convenience." Wow! Doesn't seem like these laws are ridiculous and outdated!


In addition to the inconvenience of needed to plan ahead, in New Haven they don't believe that my ID is real. Story time! So...last weekend, we had a lovely day in Branford at the "beach". I put that in quotations because the "beach" had no waves and had boats docked extremely close to shore. Anyhoo, after a day at the beach, a group of us decided to make dinner, so we went to the store to get some food and beer. I said that I would buy the beer and when I got up to the register, I gave the checker my ID and she said I wouldn't be able to buy the beer. I was bewildered! What? We had to call the manager and then I was able to make the purchase. My ID was also questioned when I was buying some wine at the liquor store and the guy asked me if my ID was really a real California ID. I almost started laughing and wanted to invite him outside to look at my license plates. I can tell that this is going to be a problem for all of our years here, since I never plan on getting a CT license.

Now onto...Radio Stations

Right now, one of the things I am missing most about San Diego and California in general is the variety of great radio stations. Radio stations have themes in California. You have oldies, rock, alternative, classical, pop...you get the idea. Here in good ole CT the radio stations are SO random. One moment you are listening to a White Stripes song, so you think you have found an alternative rock station, but then Celene Dion comes on. WHAT? Of course, you don't want to listen to Celene so you change the station, you find what you think is 80's, but then comes Shania Twain. AHHH! The insanity!!! The sheer madness of it all!!! Why does no station follow any kind of format? The only station that seems to have a theme is the oldies station. Basically, there is not one radio station worth listening to and we are no longer hearing any new, current music. Now, this isn't a big problem when we are at home because we can stream Internet radio, but in the car....ugh, words cannot describe the frustration.

Last but not least...A party with snakes?

Saturday seemed to begin normally.... We were invited to a block party, so we went to the store to pick up supplies for skip n' go naked juice. The block party was fun and everyone was enjoying our special juice. Once the block party was over we all decided to stop by a party that a grad student in the biology department was throwing. Now, when you think house party...what do you think of? Close your eyes, let's get a visual of what is typical of this kind of party. People talking, music playing, cheese and crackers sitting out, dancing? Well my friends, none of that compares to this house party!!! In your visual did you picture people sitting and talking and holding snakes???? Yes, that's right snakes!!! When you walked in the door to the house party, did you picture yourself smelling a funk? Was the funk the pee/poop of a snake? NO I DON'T THINK SO!! Normal people don't have a party like this. This guy took us on a tour of this room that was filled with snakes and if that wasn't enough....tarantulas!!! Jeremy shot across the room when that little guy was pulled out. I swear, this was the weirdest party of my life. At least all of the people we went there with thought that it was the weirdest party ever, so that must mean that they are normal and did not expect it to be a hands on biology party.

I know this blog has been filled with gripes, but I really don't know what else I can gripe about after all of this. Nothing can beat the strange snake souiree!!! Next up....it's getting chilly...I have a new job...1 more trip to IKEA should finish off the apartment!

Adios Amigos!!

Weekend Update

I hope you all had fun labor day weekends. Jeremy and I managed to keep ourselves busy. It weather was really nice, although I hear that in CA it is hot, hot, hot! Thankfully it was pretty mellow here with a nice breeze and NO humidity! Thank goodness!

So friday night we met up with some of Jeremy's fellow students for drinks and dinner to celebrate one of the students defending his thesis and officially becoming a PhD. The margaritas were flowin' and it was nice to be out and about.

Saturday was a big day for me because I got to go to a spin class at the gym. Yeah! I joined Bally's for a month to try it out. I've been running and cycling around town, but I have totally been missing the gym and spinning classes! It was great, except I was the only one in the class. Hopefully on Tuesday when I go again, there will be some other people there. After my trip to the gym we had plans to go into Branford, a town about 5 minutes away, to check out Branstock. We had read about Branstock in the local paper and it sounded fun...a day of bands, booths, and fun. But upon our arrival to Branstock, we got the feeling that maybe this wasn't going to be a day of fun. The town of Branford was really cute and nice looking. Branstock however, was another matter. It looked as if everyone there had stepped out of the "Smells like teen spirit" Nirvana video. Not kidding, it was the town that grunge forgot. The band onstage was a bunch of high school students, they were ok, but once they were done the WWF style wrestling began. There was also a couple of sad tag sales going on. For those of you west-coasters, a tag sale is the word over here for garage or yard sale. Basically, there wasn't much to do and the wrestling was humerous, but really terrible. We decided to stick it out until the reggae band came on, but that proved to be a waste of time. We left after the second song. All in all, Banstock was great for people watching, but I don't think we will be attending next year.

Sunday we started out on our trip to visit Phin and go sailing, but a stop at Dunkin Donuts needed to be made in order to get us ready to brave the CT drivers. If you don't know, Dunkin Donuts is huge out here. There are more Dunkin Donuts than Starbucks if that puts it into perspective. The slogan of the dominant donut chain is "America runs on Dunkin" and let me tell you I am becoming a believer! Let's change that to "Schacalieu runs on Dunkin." It is some yummy, yummy coffee. Don't know about the donuts though, if you know me, you know that I do not eat that kind of fried goodness.

Sailing with Phin and Carla was great! It was a really nice day, could have been a bit more windy, but it was still fun. It took a while for Phin to get the motor started, some technical difficulties, but once it started, it was full steam ahead. Phin gave us some lessons on what we needed to do and now I know that port side means left and starboard means right. I also got to steer the ship, which was lots of fun. I'm steering and saluting at the same time in the picture! Jeremy learned how to tie a knot. No one lost their cookies (although I think all of us at one point felt a little sick) or fell overboard. Here are some more pics of the day.

This is Phin starting the motor, this was pretty much his position for about 30 minutes before we left the harbor.

It was really beautiful out there. We were sailing around the Long Island Sound. It was really cool that you could see the New York Skyline from out there!

After sailing, it was time for relaxing. We watched Steel Magnolias, which wasn't a good idea because I was bawling!!! I have no idea why Jeremy agreed to watch it with me, he just kept laughing at my crying.

Yesterday was labor day, so no work! For me that really means nothing right now though. I started out the morning with a nice little run and then we went downtown and checked out the 20K race that was going on. If I had known about it before and had money to spare I would have trained and registered, but I was just a spectator this time. Probably a good idea since my knee has been bugging me. After the race we relaxed at home and then got ready for a BBQ at Jeremy's professor's house. It was a nice little party with a lot of great food. We brought the famous 7-layer bean dip. Oh, little known fact about CT...refried beans do not exist! I about had a fit in the grocery store. The only ones we could find was refried black beans and there was only one kind. There is no rhyme and reason to the grocery store here....there were olives placed in 3 different aisles!!! Ugh, don't get me started, we were so frustrated!!! But I digress.... Once the night got movin'...the guitars and bango's got pulled out. Yes, Jeremy's professor is an awesome banjo player! It was a fun party, we got to mingle some more with the other students and professors.

Today is Jeremy's first day of school. No....I didn't take a picture because he did not pick out a special outfit. So, hopefully that is going well and he is learning all about what is in store for him.

Peace out!