A new beginning in Baltimore

My favorite part of our home -
a little tea station!

One month ago, I was packing up all of my belongings. ALL of them. I found that I have a lot of belongings.

Tony and I were preparing to start a completely new chapter in our lives in Maryland. Though we're only one state and four hours away from home, we're learning to be independent.

Since the move, we've made our little one bedroom apartment a home.  Tony will complete his fourth week of work tomorrow, and we've already had plenty of visitors.  I drove to the university for the first time, and it's a pretty easy drive on Route 1. 

Off to work with boots,
lunch, and laptop

We're very excited to be sewing our lives together, but there has been so much activity that we haven't had much time to take a breather.  Not that I would ever complain about that!  We're so blessed to have such loving and supportive families that helped us move and supported our furniture fund (aka, we didn't buy any furniture because they donated their old bits to the cause).

Our location in Maryland is very nice because it is so close to various sights. We're forty minutes from D.C., less than a half hour to both Annapolis and central Baltimore. The University is only about a half hour drive as well, and it is both beautiful and overwhelmingly huge. I can see us walking around campus one weekend each month and still not seeing everything by the time I graduate!  Even the town we live in is quaint and historic, and it has an old-fashioned shopping area with antique shops, a tavern, a French bakery, as well as numerous other attractions.

We did have the opportunity to visit Annapolis with Tony's parents and cousin last weekend. It was a lovely city!  I enjoyed
the painted houses, unique shops, seafood, and of course the atmosphere that the Chesapeake Bay gives the coastal town.  We only spent half a day there, but I could immediately see the draw to living in that area. It was so historic and beautiful; we'll definitely be back soon.

A Leap Across The Pond

It's been a crazy few months, especially this last one.  Graduation was May 17, and as quickly as it started, that chapter of my life is over.  Tony and I took the rapid change by the horns by leaving the country three days later.

We flew to Scotland first.  After landing in Glasgow, we took a bus and then a train to Stirling, with little more than three hours of sleep to run on.  The lack of sleep was something we'd quickly have to get used to; when you're traveling the world, there's no time for sleep.

Stirling was a beautifully small town.  We were there for three days, which was just enough to pack all the must-see items into.  A college friend and sorority sister, Hillary, welcomed us to her small flat, showed us the sights, and recommended good cuisine for us to try.  She even introduced us to many of her friends from uni, who were from all over Britain.  In our short time in Stirling, we fell in love.  We tried haggis, neeps and tatties, beans on toast, and Tuttle tea cakes, and we washed it all down with hard cider and Irn Bru, the most popular soft drink in Scotland.  

We saw the River Forth, the Stirling Castle, the university, the William Wallace Memorial, and the Stirling Bridge, which Wallace took his troops across to fight the British centuries ago.  We hiked a baby mountain (as I like to call it, though it could be more accurately considered an enormous hill) called Dumyat, and it took most of the day.  The views of the town, the hills, the flora and the fauna, were all spectacular.  
We also saw Edinburgh, the capital.  We took a magnificent 12-hour mini-bus tour from there; it was called the "Scotland in a Day" tour.  Tony even dipped is foot in Loch Ness (though no luck in spotting Nessie).
I became enamored with the white sheep that dotted the green hillsides, the rampant plaid garb the citizens sported with pride, and the genuine spirit of the land.  The music was magical, the flowers were breathtaking, and the accents, of course, were beautiful.

For some insane reason, we decided to take a 12-hour Megabus the next day to Milton Keynes, England.  It was miserable and resulted in foggy head the next day (due to another night without sleep), but it was affordable, and it got us there.
My cousin Drew picked us up where the bus dropped us off and took him to his home.  Admittedly, both Tony and I were a bit nervous with how well we'd get along with Drew and his wife, Sonja, just because we see them so infrequently.  We hit it off wonderfully.  I've never felt so at home outside of Pennsylvania!  As soon as we got there, we were greeted with hugs, cups of tea, breakfast sandwiches, and a wagging tail of Bear, the lab.

We saw the Windsor Castle, where the Queen spends much of her time; we had a cream tea in the Cottswolds; and we endured the chilly rain and overcast skies like champs (more or less).  Of course, we spent a whole day in London and saw Big Ben, the Westminster Abbey, the houses of parliament, the Supreme Court, the Tube, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye (and much more!).  We chowed down on fish and chips and steak pie, Scotch eggs and British biscuits, and lots and lots of tea.  I must say though, that I enjoyed nothing more than spending time with family across the pond.  We played tons of games, laughed, ate and drank, and were generally merry the entire time.  I didn't want to leave!




But, of course, we had to.  Our next stop was Germany, where we would meet a college friend and roommate of mine.  Drew and Sonja drove us to the airport at the unkindly hour of 4, and we had a quick layover in Brussels (so quick we nearly missed our connection... though it was actually the same exact plane we had gotten off of).  As soon as we got to Berlin, we learned that our luggage was missing.  Bad news + no sleep from the night before (surprise)! + general fatigue from traveling, meant that we had to make an effort to keep our chins up.  But with Tony by my side, it's hard to resist his natural optimism (plus, the bags were delivered the next morning).

Farrah took us to see the Brandenburg Gate and the Parliament building, and while we were there, we bought a currywurst at a hippie festival! Delicious! We joined her family for dinner at a restaurant near her house, right next to a lake.  We had wiener schnitzel and other unpronounceable German cuisine and really enjoyed it.  I learned how green a capital city could be; the flora was rich, and people rode their bikes everywhere, all the time.  We became familiar with the S-bahn, one of Berlins railway systems, as we visited the East Side Gallery/the Berlin Wall, a concentration camp called Sachsenhausen, and beautiful botanical gardens.  Every morning, we had the typical German breakfast of various meats, cheeses, and fresh bread from the bakery; and every night, we would have wonderful homemade family dinners.  Farrah's family welcomed us in so graciously.

After two and a half weeks of adventure, it was time to head for the airport one last time.  On the way home, we discussed our favorite memories through our exhausted smiles.  I feel so fortunate that we took this opportunity to do something amazing together before we dive into our adult lives together!  It took a lot of courage (and money) to commit to this voyage, and we will look back on the tons of pictures we took, and the painting of London we bought, and the cases of Irn Bru that weighed down our luggage the whole time, with no regrets.

Post-Grad Reflection

Graduation.

I haven't had a moment yet, in this whirlwind of activity, to realize that the chapter has ended.  I know no one really cares what specific parts of Mother Fair I will miss, but I think writing them out would be cathartic for me.

Walks around the lake and through the bio trail
Dressing up for Halloween
Formal functions
Laughing in the kitchen with my closest girlfriends until my eyes actually start to leak profusely
Relationships with professors
Jazzman's coffee shop
Visits to the Tavern, the Silk Road, and other small shops in town
Making sure that there are at least three errands to run before venturing into New Castle or Hermitage, because otherwise it isn't worth the trip
Inventing errands so that you can justify a trip to town (spontaneous dates to frozen yogurt, or a liquor run)
Easy access to workout facilities
Strenuous voyages to the fourth floor of Thompson Clark to visit the best academic department on campus
Laying out on a blanket in the grass on sunny days to study
Lazy weekends
Tuesday is Monday
Free laundry facilities
Knowing every face that walks by
People that hold doors for you when you enter a building
Learning
Amish horses, buggies, and people -- especially their adorable children
Babysitting or tutoring professors' kids
Living within an 8-minute walk to any of your friends' living spaces
Sigma Kappa anything: chapter meetings, mixers, jokes, decorations, chapter room, Ferg Hall, Greek Week, Sing 'n' Swing, philanthropy events, TUB table, smiling faces, getting to know new sisters, recruitment

But I won't let the closure of this era depress me.  I'll think about leaving behind the horrendous potholes, the Sodexo food that makes me ill, the expenses, the immature drunkenness outside my window at 3AM... on a weekday.  I'll come back again, for graduations, for homecomings, for sisterhood.  I'll give back to the college that gave me so much.  I'll keep in touch with those who meant the most to me.  I'll move on, because that's the best thing there is to do.

Traveling Sola

It's currently 5am, and I've been up for two hours already.  I am sitting at a terminal in Pittsburgh Intl Airport, waiting for a plane that will take me to JFK in New York for a long layover before catching another flight to Orlando.  This is my first time traveling alone!

I've long been looking forward to this chance to get out of the Westminster bubble (and I'm not going to lie - escaping the cold has been on my mind since before I booked my ticket).  But truly, I'm traveling more for business than pleasure.  I'm spending tomorrow at the University of Central Florida to meet graduate students and faculty.

My mother and I drove down to Maryland on Sunday and spent the day exploring D.C.  We then spent the night in a hotel and visited the University of Maryland the next day.  These college visits harken back to our time spent together four years ago, when I was deciding where to spend my four years after high school graduation.

This time of exploration and uncertainty is familiar, but also very different.  I spent my undergraduate years an hour from home, but this is a chance for me to get out of Western PA and become more independent.  Another difference is that I'm not totally alone in this either - instead, I'll have my best friend by my side.  In a way, this is a beautiful thing because I don't have to fear facing the unknown by myself.  On the other hand, it is very hard to plan our futures together!  Tony is applying to jobs while I'm applying to graduate schools.  We're still waiting to see where we'll be living, and we're hoping that our fates align, and we end up both following our dreams... in the same place.  There are lots of questions that we can't answer, and decisions that haven't yet been made.  We graduate in about a month and a half, and hopefully by then we'll know more.

Until then, we wait.

Detox Day 3

Day three was a day of apprehension.  By the time this day rolled around, we were used to our new diets, but anxious for the next day of liberation.  Breakfast was green and tasted like plants, but I managed to drink half of it.

By the time evening rolled around, we could smell sweet victory.  The afternoon juice wasn't bad - definitely my favorite out of all, but who's to say it was actually tasty, or if it just seemed so after all the nasty beverages?  It was made of pineapple, carrots, and ginger.

Our last veggie drink of the detox is pictured to the left - broccoli, spinach, apples, and ginger.  Want to know a secret?  It was horrible.  Tony and I watched each other as we took turns sipping, gagging, and wincing. 

To add to the inhumanity, we were making oreo balls for the bake sale at the school where I am student teaching... AND WE COULDN'T LICK THE CHOCOLATE OFF OF OUR FINGERS.  It was pure torture.  How unnatural and anti-instinctive is it to wash melted chocolate off of your hands at the sink?  After smelling all of the chocolatey goodness, we couldn't choke down the broccoli drink.  I felt guilty dumping it, so I put it in the fridge pretending that my roommates might want some.  They won't.

We finished our detox with homemade almond milk before bed.  The nut milks were pretty good, and we had two a day throughout the detox.  It was a fair way to end the cleanse, even if we kind of cheated by not drinking ALL of what we made... But truly, we didn't eat a thing - didn't even chew gum or mints - throughout the whole process, so I call that a victory.

Detox Day 2

Day two was easier than day one.  It may have been that our bodies were adjusted, or that we felt like we were making progress, or that we were just keeping our mind off of our lack of food.  We were busy in class or at work or at school.

During the evening, we had to make another avocado drink… The avocados were slightly more ripened, but barely.  Neither of us could choke down the entire smoothie.  We drank maybe half.  It was terrible.

We spent the rest of the night preparing our “food” for the next day.  Without a juicer, this detox is really difficult.  Most of the drinks are juices, not smoothies, so we have to puree them in the blender and then strain them.  It took us probably three hours each night to prepare for the next day, with all the washing, peeling, chopping, blending, and straining.  Also, the detox would be much easier for me if I was still taking college classes instead of student teaching.  I’m away all day, so I have to bring my drinks with me.  Finally, because I go to bed early, I spend almost my entire night preparing my meals when I should be grading tests or working on lesson plans.

I think that this detox is a good experience; we will benefit from it for certain.  All I know is, we are so excited that we’re almost at day three.

Detox Day 1

Buying the ingredients for the entire detox was an experience.  All together, it cost Tony and I about $150, which seemed like crazy at first.  But then we thought about it: $75/person for three days = $25/day... which is about the same as you'd spend for one meal if you went out to dinner.  Plus, it's all produce and nuts, which are HEALTHY expensive food.  For a once in a while thing, it seems fair to me.


The detox plan is all provided in a book by Dr. Woodson Merrell, simply entitled "The Detox Prescription."  It gives different types of plans as well as the science behind nutrition and healthy eating.  I bought it on my Kindle for only about $11.

Choking down my green breakfast :(

Well, let's get down to it.  We started the day with a green smoothie for breakfast: spinach, lime, cucumber, and avocado.  Lamentably, the avocados we had bought were nowhere close to ripened.  They were rock hard.  So when we made out smoothie, there were chunks of almost crunchy avocado throughout.  It was TERRIBLE.  I would highly recommend using ripened avocados, if you're going to try it out.  The drink wasn't good, but we choked it down, and continued throughout the morning combating cucumber burps.

Around noon, we made homemade almond milk.  It's not bad!  It was a mess to make, though.

Already, I'm craving pizza, and Tony is planning out what we'll eat for dinner on Wednesday.

Samedi Gras

My roommates and I have talked about doing a detox for a few weeks now, but there was always some reason not to.  Truthfully, they were usually good reasons.  First, Katherine was on a special diet for her post-cancer therapy.  And then it was my birthday.  Priorities, people.

 

Honestly, it can be really hard to be on the same schedule as your roommates when you’re all busy college students.  We hardly have time to sit down together for dinner once a week.  Recently, though, Tony and I were discussing the cleanse anew and decided, what better time than before spring break?

I had heard about “The Detox Prescription” for the first time when I watched Dr. Oz (for the first and only time… Don’t judge.).  It sounded really interesting to me, because it detoxifies the body and packs all the essential nutrients into three short days.  This quick ‘diet’ consists only of smoothies, juices, and milks – it’s all liquid.

Tony and I decided to start this Sunday and finish on (ironically) Fat Tuesday.  For us, then, Saturday was our Mardi Gras – we snacked all day, went to a late lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and had a meal of only chocolate brownie ice cream.

We spent the evening washing, peeling, chopping, and de-seeding all of the ingredients for tomorrow’s first day of the cleanse.  Tonight, though, we’re finishing off our "Samedi Gras" right: down at the fraternity house.  Tomorrow, we’ll be ready to detoxify.