Big Changes

Holy Cow.  I didn't realize how long it actually has been.  I know I suck.  Hardcore.  I'm so sorry. I have some cute pictures though, that will hopefully make up for it.

My last post was on August 20th.  Starting September 5th, I started a full time internship at a small ad agency called OTW.  I was still working at Fridays, and still taking classes, but now I was adding a full time job into the mix.  My typical day, 5 days a week, was wake up at 6:30am, go to work, go to job #2, get home at 11 or 12, get up, lather rinse, repeat.  In all honesty, it's been a repeat from the summer, so this has been my schedule since June, hence the lack of updates.  Well, I'm happy to report that as of last Friday, I was offered a full time position with OTW.  I will yet again have health insurance, paid vacation, a salary.  Only the people who have been out of work understand how amazing this feels.  It's taken 2 years f hard work and struggling, but I have finally made it.  Now, what will I do with all of my free time, now that I'll have my nights and weekends free?  I'm going to do two things: 1. Join the Junior League and start volunteering (maybe make some new friends?), 2. Start running.  I want to start by training for the "Run For Your Life" 5k on May 5th.  I can't wait!!!

On a sad note, as many of you now know, my nephew, Justin Gronroos passed away at the end of September.  Justin was a great kid who struggled for a long time with a lot of demons.  It finally got to be too much for him.  Justin's death has opened my eyes to several things.  It's easy to judge someone who is hurting, but is anyone ever really there when they need a hand?  I have decided that I need to set more of an example for the people who are around me.  Justin's death has my head spinning, but the thoughts out of context and without the entire story just don't make sense so just know that some days are better than others.  The song in the video below definitely sums up my feelings.

Kerry, Boz and Reagan have officially left Newport, and are on their way to Hawaii. Luckily, I've had a few weekends to hang out with my favorite girl.  We went to the playground and of course, I took the camera...

 A few weeks ago, we went to the pumpkin patch because Kerry wanted some pictures and I really wanted to photograph Reagan with the pumpkins.  I love pumpkins, and I love her, so photographing two of my favorite things together is like a dream come true!

This past weekend, I went home for 4 days.  My sister and her family are staying with my parents, so Reagan went trick or treating with my parent's neighbor's newborn son, Grayson.  Reagan was a bumble bee, Fenway was a bumble bee, and Grayson was a honey pot.  It was my last chance to photograph my girl while we're on the east coast.  :(

 Reagan and Grayson

  Fenway is saying "what the hell are you doing to me?"

  "You want me to do what?  You can't be serious"

  "Really Aunt Di?"

  "I just wanna get some candy"

 First House!

 Walking to house number two!

 Bee Fairy

Examining her loot!

 Special pumpkins!

It seems as though I’ve gotten back into my routine of never updating the blog.  I’m ok with it, but, I’m not sure if you are…

So, what’s new since June?  New friends, new job, new apartment, new hobbies I suppose.   I’ve made a couple of new friends and have been going out a lot more.  My friend Michael and I have gone to a concert, went to a Red Sox game and my friend Danni has become my movie buddy . 

When I first moved to Boston, I started a bucket list.  When Michael and I met, I told him about my list, and he’s been making sure that I cross some of the items off of my list.  The first was a Red Sox game.  It was AWESOME.  Fenway is such a fun park.  It’s so classic and really, just awesome.  Fenway is the oldest baseball stadium still in use.  It’s almost 100 years old!!  Fenway is almost consistently sold out, and is also one of the only stadiums that sells obstructed view seats and adds more seats every year to the stadium.  The game we went to was the day after Big Papi and O’s pitcher Kevin Gregg started a bench clearing brawl that got them both ejected from the game.  Luckily, Big Papi was able to play the next day.  We went to the game and watched the Sawx beat up on the Orioles.  I wore a Sox baseball cap, was hit on by a married 46 year old, sang “Sweet Caroline”, did the wave and drank Sam Adams.  Afterwards, we went to Newbury Street and got Pinkberry.  It was a near perfect night and I definitely can’t wait to go back!!

Take the T to Fenway!!!

Our seats!

Fun Friends!!

I met my friend Danni when I responded to her Craigslist ad about starting a Paranormal Society.  So far, we haven’t done anything paranormal, but I am moving in with her!!  I love my roommate Monica, and she has been a pretty decent roommate, but a couple of things have driven me crazy from the beginning when I moved in.  First of all, I pay half of the rent and utilities, but can never use the kitchen or living room.  Second, there is continuously someone else living in the apartment with us.  Her name is Penina, and while she is very nice, she doesn’t contribute to the bills but uses a ton of electricity.  She sleeps in the living room so when I get home from work at midnight, I can’t even go into my kitchen.  She also sometimes brings a 6 month old baby into the apartment for a weekend.  When I get home at 3 and the baby wakes me up at 6, I am not happy.  I never felt right complaining, because Penina is a political refugee and just needs a place to live.  Finally, this past weekend, I had 2 things in the fridge, the only 2 things I had in the apartment to eat.  Monica allowed one of her friends to eat one of them and she threw away the other.  I got home at 11:30, starving and looking to eat one of the two things I had in the apartment and they weren’t there.  She offered to cook me Kenyan food (turkey livers), but never actually apologized.  So on the one hand, it drives me crazy that I am never consulted about what happens in my apartment , that her friends can eat my food, but on the other, I try to put myself in their shoes and wonder how I would feel if it was my mother, or grandmother, or friend who needed a place to stay.  I would want someone to help them out.  Danni lives in an apartment that her father owns.  When her roommate left, she asked her dad if I could move in.  We’ve already figured out how to prevent the little issues that have driven us absolutely crazy, and although we will most likely get on each other’s nerves at one point or another, I think the key will be to communicate about it.  My new apartment is tiny, but it’s in Boston in Southie which is a historic neighborhood, one that is full of beer drinkin’, mama lovin’, good ole Boston boys.   My new address is:

Diana Lang

36 Woodward Street, apt 1

Boston, MA 02127

So please send me letters.  I just signed up for every cool catalog imaginable because I want fun mail. 

Other things happening recently…I started school.  I’m working on getting a certificate in substance abuse services which will take care of my pre-reqs to get into grad school for Occupational Therapy.  I’ve decided on Tufts as my first choice because their OT master’s program is rated #5 in the country, I can direct the program to be more psychologically focused rather than physically (which the BU program is) and finally, according to US News and World Report, Tufts is considered a “New Ivy League” school, meaning that outside of the big 8 Ivy League schools, there are 25 additional schools that are academically as good and selective as the big 8, but don’t have the term “Ivy League”.  Other examples are Northwestern, NYU, Notre Dame….

Right now, I’m taking a self directed learning class on human growth and development.  I think it’s fascinating but it is a difficult class.  I’m not sure if it’s difficult because I’m trying to cram an entire semester into 1 month or if I have forgotten how to study.  So far I still have my 4.0 GPA, but I’m also praying that I’ll keep that.  This coming semester, I am signed up for counseling and abnormal psychology and I’m waitlisted for addiction.  I’m so excited to start and really be in school again!

To conclude this post, I spent an afternoon with Ms. Reagan a couple of weeks ago.  It was a million degrees outside, so we decided to put on her swimsuit and play in her little pool.  Then we ate a popsicle.  We tried baking cookies but the dough kept melting.  Man, I love this kid.

Ms. R filling up the pool

She was loving the cool pool!

We started playing the “Pour the water over the head” game.

She LOVED this game!

Haha, look at me Aunt Di!!

As soon as I finish this ice pop, I’m going to get into something really good…..

I Guess It's A Brand New Day After All.....

This past week was a week of several exciting adventures.  The first adventure revolves around finalizing everything for school.  I got my financial aide in order, registered for 3 classes and went through orientation.  My plan is to have my certificate completed in the spring, get a full time job in a rehab center, finish the classes I need for the graduate program, take my GMATS, and apply for the program by the deadline of January 15th.  We'll see how well that works out....

  

Otherwise, my friend Martha came into town with her husband.  I didn't get to spend a lot of time with them because they had so many people to see.  The first day, we went to Salem and toured the Witches' Museum, the Salem Maritime Historical Park and then walked to the House of Seven Gables.  Then we had a picnic outside in the gorgeous weather.  It was a very nice day.

The House of Seven Gables was made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne's book of the same name.  Hawthorne's cousin, Susannah Ingersoll owned the house and was one of the people who supported his writing endeavors the most, so he wrote the book as a tribute to her.  The home was originally built as a two room home in 1668, but was added onto, taken apart, added onto again.  In the 1950's, the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne was moved to the lot as well.  The best part of the house is a secret staircase that was added almost 100 years ago to make an event from the book seem realistic.

The grounds were gorgeous, overlooking the water.  Fragrant lilac blooms were everywhere.  I swear, I've never smelled flowers as fragrant as the flowers up here.  First, the magnolias, now the lilacs...The sweet smell permeates the air.  It's wonderful.

Beautiful arbor

Beautiful lilacs

The house where Nathaniel Hawthorne was born and lived for the first 4 years of his life.

Where we ate lunch

This past Thursday, my sister helped make one of my childhood dreams come true.  When we were little, as in, Diana was 6, Kerry was 13, whenever she would babysit me, we would dress up as our favorite New Kid on the Block and perform the entire New Kids on the Block concert from the Hangin' Tough video that our grandparents had gotten us.  I dressed up like Joey Joe complete with the hat and a construction paper smiley face we would tape to my shirt, Kerry dressed up like Jordan with the vests, and Kerry's friend Natalie dressed up like Donnie.  We sang into hairbrushes and put on a really good show, if I do admit myself. 

Kerry's birthday is coming up and she asked Boz if she could get tickets to the concert for her birthday.  He agreed under the condition that he wouldn't have to go.  Out of all of Kerry's friends who love NKOTB, she invited me to go.  I was touched.  

The concert was at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut which was only an hour and a half from the Bosworth's house.  Unfortunately, as soon as I left, I realized that I had a completely flat tire.  After I sweet talked a guy at the gas station to put the spare on for me, I was on my way.  I was only a little late to get to Newport and we headed out.  We reached the Mohegan Sun and went in search of something to eat.

The Mohegan Sun

The Backstreet Boys were playing too, which is why it was called NKOTBSB...New Kids On the Block/BackStreet Boys

We ate at a place called the Summer Shack

YAY!!!!!

The concert was awesome.  I was amazed that I still knew all of the words to the songs.  The Backstreet Boys, who wrote mostly ballads in the late 90's weren't great.  I noticed that NKOTB had everyone on their feet dancing, but whenever BSB came out on stage, everyone sat down.  

Now, the boys of NKOTB range in age from 43-39, but let me tell you, they still have the moves.  I was amazed at how high energy they were.  They were singing and dancing and jumping around like 20 year olds. I know that the 40's are the new 30's, but....

I officially changed my preference from Joey to Donnie.  Mr. Donnie Wahlberg is a HOTTIE.  I now understand the appeal.  And when he ripped his tanktop from his body...all of the girls in the audience were swooning.  He is officially my new boyfriend.  Ha!

My new favorite New Kid...

"You've got the right stuff....baby!"

Looking Snazzy in their white suits...

Kerry's favorite...Jordan!

Donnie in the audience

All of the NKOTB are from Boston (something I just learned), so there were several shout-outs to Boston in the concert.  For the finale, the band started playing "Shipping Up to Boston", one of my favorite songs from the band The Dropkick Murphys.  It has a very distinct beginning and since I've been up here, I've heard it everywhere from a marching band in a parade, to waiting in line to see Santa at the mall.  Anyone who lives or has ever lived in Massachusetts knows this song...

NKOTB came out in Celtics jerseys and one of the Celtics players (I can't remember whom) was there to take on the finale with them.  It was awesome.  We had an amazing time.  Chalk it up to one more awesome memory with my sister. 

The next day, we spent the morning running errands, and finally went to the playground.  

We played with hats at Wal Mart...

Tried to master the pinwheel...unsuccessfully

Started to try to flip

Reagan mastered flipping over the bar all by herself!  We were so impressed!!  Aunt Di tried to go across the monkey bars too.  I ended up falling flat on my back, knocking the wind out of my lungs, scraping my elbow, and doing something to my back and neck.  Kerry was laughing so hard she couldn't even ask me if I was ok, and as soon as I could breathe again, I started laughing too.  Kerry was upset that she hadn't filmed it because we would have won $10,000 on AFHV for sure.

Finally, Boz and I went to the movies to see The Hangover 2.  It was ok.  Same story as the first one, just different jokes.  Some of the girls from work loved it and thought the story was so creative....but, I guess I just think you can't top the first.  

That was my crazy, fun week.  Here's to hoping many more weeks are happy and busy like this one!