Blessings

I love my blog. I really, really do. Why? Mainly because it is all mine and I can (within reason...and maybe sometimes not within reason) write and post whatever I want on it. I was a little bored tonight- as Jackson is still out of town- so I read back through a few entries I had made on the Petefish Post recently. I loved them. It is insane how quickly we forget all that has been going on in our lives. I really enjoyed looking back on our game plan for the move to Boston and comparing it to how things really went. Remarkably, nearly everything went EXACTLY as planned. One cannot ask for much better than that unless that plan included hitting the lottery! :) I still pinch myself sometimes because things just came together so very nicely for us here in Boston.

Anyway, I feel like the blog is a good reflection tool for me. I get to see the good, the bad, the cute (Alex, MacKenzie, etc.) and the not so cute (my Becker CPA review books). A lot of people ask me how I find the time to keep up on the blog. It is not always easy. Occasionally if I get behind a few days then catching up feels like a chore, but it is so worth it. I really think that I will keep a blog/journal for as long as I live. I really encourage all of you to do the same. You do not have to keep a very public journal like I do, but writing things down is so helpful.

The times that I notice God's work in my life the most is when I reflect back on past worries or concerns and see how He handled them for me. I am truly amazed by God's grace and love for each one of us. I think sometimes we need a gentle reminder of all that He does. Tonight, my blog did that for me and it made me happy.

Tomorrow is a big day for me at work as I will be introduced to new clients, new teams and new assignments. I got kind of a lucky break at work and get to be in an even more exciting role than I had anticipated. I am pretty nervous, though, as I am still new and fresh out of graduate school. I feel like I am going to be running to keep up with my new colleagues who are much older, wiser and smarter than myself. I'd appreciate any kind thoughts and prayers you could send my way throughout the day tomorrow- thanks!

6 months?!

Seriously. Stop it. Alex is just cutest thing. I love that he's sporting his fishy pajamas from Aunt Ninny with his teddy bear snuggled close and his thumb in his mouth. What a doll!

I love this face- he looks like he's seen a ghost!
"Give me a hug!"
His stuffed animal, whatever it is, still creeps me out something awful. (Side note: I know that I bought Kylie a Boppy cover so why is Alex slumming it on a naked Boppy?!)

I decided today that I must really love this kid because I already began fretting that his big 1st birthday was smack in the middle of my busy season at work. Have no fear, dear blog readers, Aunt Ninny feels a cough coming on around April 1. Speaking of, I cannot believe that this precious little guy will be 6 months old on Friday! Where does the time go?!

Happy Birthday, Shannon!

Today we wish Miss Shannon Duggan a very happy 27th birthday! We hope you have a great day, Shan! Love you & miss you!

Plymouth Rock

This is random, but as we were making dinner last night we looked out and saw this HUGE ship going by our window. I kid you not, this is the largest ship I have ever seen. I'm still not sure what it was. It was cool, though.
This morning was Boston's Race for the Cure breast cancer walk. We thought of you, Meg Lewis. (A quick update: our friend Meg has now been cancer-free for 18 months! Woot! She's a rockstar and God is good!)
Today we ventured down to Plymouth, Massachusetts because we just could not imagine living here for one more day without seeing the landing place of the pilgrims. Ok, so that's not true. Jackson had been craving nachos from Moe's Southwest Grill and the closest location to us is down in Plymouth. I figured while we were there, we might as well stop and see the rock. There it is.
They have the rock behind metal bars as too many people were trying to chisel off pieces to take as souvenirs. Honestly. I know. Idiots. It was not all of that exciting, but whatever. We saw it.
We got a real kick out of making jokes about being where the pilgrims had been. When we were at a stop light in town I joked that pilgrims had been stuck at this very light, too. It was funny to us.
The Mayflower II- a supposed exact replica. There was a charge to go onboard so we skipped that part of it.
It was not the prettiest boat I'd ever seen, but it was large.
Near the Mayflower II was this little breeding ground for jellyfish. Isn't that creepy?! If you've seen the movie "Seven Pounds" then you know why this was so weird for me. I kept wanting Jackson to put his finger in the water. He didn't. Wimp.
From Plymouth we headed down to the beach. The water was freezing. The beach was mostly empty even though it was a 90 degree day so we enjoyed that.
I love the Cape Cod style of homes built all along the beach. It looks like a Nicholas Sparks scene to me.
Jackson enjoying a little time at the beach. I think we both got a little sun today.

We are officially weird, by the way. Today while eating at Moe's, we spotted a Wal-Mart. There are simply not Wal-Marts (or decent Targets for that matter) in Boston. We were so excited to go do our grocery shopping there as it is so much cheaper than going to the small stores in the city. That's right, folks, I was excited to see a Wal-Mart. Someone please help me. That's just sad.

On a final note of the evening, do you remember how my car was supposedly all messed up according to the Audi dealership here in town? Jackson took my car to another place to be inspected and it was FINE! They tried to scam us out of <$1,000 for absolutely nothing. Pigs. I'm so glad that we didn't fall for their tricks!

BECKER

Meet my new best friends until just before Thanksgiving: Becker's CPA exam review books and materials. Ugh. I get sick to my stomach just thinking about how much time I will spend preparing for the first of four parts of the exam. Sigh.

"Your future is spotless"

I get daily emails from Rev. Run- a former member of the hip-hop group Run DMC.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Good morning, the saint and the sinner are just exchanging notes. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. God is Love Rev Run Isn't that just so true? I love those emails.

Yet another reason...

why I do not like Canada.

Jackson is in Toronto for work this week and since it is in Canada we cannot talk on the phone without paying $0.79 a minute. Ugh! I know we could do some kind of internet-based telephone, but we probably will not. Grr. I am just glad that it is him having to listen to Canadians say "about" and "out" and not me. (I hate the way they pronounce "about" and it sounds like "aboooot" and do not get me started on how rude the French Canadians are in my Grandma's retirement neighborhood in Florida!)

After all of my internal whining- I'm good at that- I realized that military spouses kiss their loved ones good-bye for a lot longer than 3 days so in the grand scheme of things I'm doing pretty well. That is just another reason that I salute everyone associated with the military. They give up more than we can imagine. Thank you! (Especially one Mrs. Megan Parton!)

For now, it is just me and MacKenzie holding down the fort. We will be fine. Lonely? Sure. But fine.

Lucky "Ducks"

Alex was dressed appropriately for Grandma & Grandpa Duck to come and visit. (I still cannot believe that my parents are all grandparents. When did you all get so old and leave me behind in my youth?! ;))
My Mom and Guy went to Southern Indiana over the weekend to visit Baby Alex. I got such a kick out of him sound asleep in his car seat with his fingers still on his duck. What a sweet boy. I got him the duck and he obviously has taken a shine to it. :) It makes me happy!
The "little" guy has gotten so big. Keep in mind that my sister is a really small girl (maybe 5'2?), but he looks huge on her! I almost cried. He just looks so peaceful there. I guess he is a real cuddle-bug.
Guy is known for his love of khakis with an orange shirt so Alex dressed to impress. I laughed at this photo for hours! Isn't he just a doll?!

Red Sox game

Today we went for a cruise of Boston Harbor. It took us over to the Navy Yard in Charlestown (a suburb of Boston). It was really cool to see the city from the water.
The building in the middle of this photo is our apartment home. We live on the right edge- as you look at this photo- on the 8th floor with the corner windows.
We loved seeing all of boats out on the harbor.
The bridge seen here is a double decker bridge with traffic going one way on the top and another way on the bottom. I hate it because it is old and looks like it will crumble shortly.
A big Coast Guard ship on the harbor.
The bridge at the end of the "big dig" tunnels. Isn't it so pretty?!
A different view of the city from Charlestown.
Jackson on the cruise.
Jackson pretending to shoot Navy cannons.
Susie and Jackson waiting in line to go tour the U.S.S. Constitution.
He was excited.
Oh my gosh. Look at the smile on Susie's face: she loves this sailor. His name was John Fisher and boy was he cute. He got to come right to this job after bootcamp. We decided it was because he was too gorgeous to be stuck on a ship with a bunch of other sailors all of the time. Susie is quite the cougar. ;):)

The inside of the ship.
Susie was a good sport for all of the silly photos that I wanted to take.

This "Bell in Hand" is the oldest bar in the United States.

We took in a game at historic Fenway Park today. We rooted the Red Sox onto a 6-0 victory over the Blue Jays.
Even though the Red Sox are no longer in contention, it was still a packed game. We were able to scalp tickets with a face value of $47 for $30 each. Woo hoo. I will admit that scalping is quite stressful and I hate it.
We all had hotdogs and Susie had a beer. I got a lemonade and it was the first non-water drink that I had had in over 3 weeks. Needless to say it tasted pretty darned good to me!
I laughed because John Hancock is where Jackson works now and you simply cannot escape that name here in Boston. All of the history seems to be related to him and the company itself sponsors all kinds of things in the city.
My favorite Red Sox player, David Ortiz, up to bat. He didn't play so well. :( They still won. :)
Go team!
It was a great weather day. It was a bit chilly this morning then it was warm and then it got chilly again. I was quite prepared with my oversized fleece zip-up. I love it. Bring on Fall!

Jackson insisted that we record the 7th inning stretch and called it a "blogging tradition." Whatever. Here it is.

We had a really good dinner tonight of salad, lobster and baked potatoes here at home. We love living by the fish market to get fresh lobster for $5.99 per pound. Now we are all settled in to cheer the Colts on to- hopefully- a victory! :) It was a great weekend!