True love

I am in LOVE- LOVE- LOVE with this house. While researching it yesterday I found that the reason that it is on the market (and has been for over 178 days) is because its owner died IN THE HOUSE! The obituary clearly states that the good doctor (there were a lot of articles about him online and he seemed to be a really great man) died at age 55 IN HIS HOME! I have not stopped thinking about it for days. I hope that everyone else is scared off by the circumstances and it stays on the market for us!

Big city lessons

We've been thinking about what we're learning from living in Boston. We've come to the conclusion that we've broadened our horizons. A few things that we notice on a regular basis are:

1. Since we see homelessness and poverty on a more regular basis, we find ourselves much more thankful to have a warm home to return to each evening.

2. We find ourselves being much more accepting of those who are different from ourselves. I used to be very offended by people wishing me a "happy holiday" instead of wishing me a "Merry Christmas" but now that I work with so many people of differing religions, I realize that it makes sense not to use a very specific greeting. We also feel more sensitive to human rights in general.

3. While I will always be a staunch Republican, I have been able to become a bit more liberal through my experiences with people of different backgrounds than myself. I think it has been great for me to get outside of small town U.S.A and get a real feel for others.

All in all, we have had our eyes opened to the world around us and for that we are thankful.

PwC knows how to get down...

We went to my office's "holiday party" last night and it was a raging success. I had been totally and completely uninterested in going, but in the end decided it was a good date night possibility. We got all dolled up (I didn't wear a dress because it is the dead of winter in Boston and the thought of freezing in transit didn't appeal to me. I was mainly alone in this stance, but that's ok. Women's rights or something like that). We cabbed it over to the Marriott- Copley hotel. It was a really fancy place. We met up with some of my work friends and headed into the party. The food was pretty good. The drinks were free. People were jolly. It was a good time. They had casino tables setup and gave us "$50,000" to play with while we were there. I found it to be a good time to learn to really play blackjack since the pressure was off. Let's just say that I dominated (Dad & Diana- I'm ready for VEGAS again now!). I walked away with enough to buy 2 raffle tickets ("$100,000") and Jackson walked away broke. I had spotted him loans all night and then his line of credit couldn't be renewed. ;) HA! Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Jackson got to meet all of the fun people that I work with and none of them that make my work life hell sometimes so that was nice. Jackson was amazed at how young everyone was at the party and I explained that the average age at my office is 27. It is pretty wild when you think about it. We stayed until they kicked us out and then helped an inebriated girl home via our cab. She was a mess and it was so far from classy that I cannot even begin to explain it. She was sloppy and it was, after all, a work function. Our cabby was so over her antics- we were, too. But someone needed to make sure her belligerent butt made it to South Boston ok and we happened to be that someone. We were happy to be home, but called the night a real success. Thanks, PwC!

Happy birthday, Grammy!

Today is Susie's birthday. While we already celebrated in person, we all know it is not official until birthday puppy appears on the blog! :) MacKenzie, Jackson and I wish you a very happy birthday today, Susie! We love you! :)

MacK is Back!

MacKenzie spent Thanksgiving and the days after with Jackson's co-worker, Stefanie. Stefanie and her family really took to MacKenzie and hated to see her leave. I, for one, am pretty happy to have my little buddy back! She's worn out from all of the excitement and has taken her post on Jackson's side of the bed. She'll be keeping it warm for you, babe!

Uptown

Sunday we headed to Upland to have lunch with my folks before Jackson had to head back to Boston. Their giant Schnauzer, Addison, has gotten SO BIG! Jackson loves playing with her. She had a milk jug that she thought was a great toy to play tug-of-war with and Jackson agreed. They had a great time playing together.
I personally prefer little Madison--it looks she was telling Jackson what she thought in this photo!
Seriously, pictures cannot capture just how big Addy really is! The funny thing is that she has no idea that she's not the same size as all of the other little dogs so she still tries to climb in your lap. That's an uncomfortable position- ask Jackson! HA! :)

We love being in Upland. It is always so nice to be home. I just feel so relaxed when I am there. We headed back to Indy and got Jackson to the airport only for his flight to be delayed. He got as far as Washington-Dulles before he had to sleep in an airport hotel. He got back to Boston at around 11 the next morning. He went to work from 12-5:30 and then caught a flight to Chicago that also got delayed. The poor kid was just exhausted. He has work training until Thursday evening just outside of Chicago in Downer's Grove. He says it lives up to its name. :) I stayed in Indy for an extra day for a secret mission. Only time will tell if this mission was worth my time or not. Stay tuned!

G-force

Saturday morning we went to see Grace play basketball for the 5th & 6th grade team from her school. She did a great job and reportedly goes by the name "G-force" during these games. I laughed.
She even got the line!
G-force had quite the fan club at this particular game- 9 people were there just to root for her! That's a lot at a little girl's basketball game, let me tell you. We had fun cheering for her. One little girl on the other team thought they were playing football, but she stayed away from my Grace or else I would have been forced to storm the court. She fouled out. That's pretty bad!

We headed back to Indy on Saturday morning. We had fun catching up in the car. Susie introduced us all to a new game for our iPhone/iTouch devices called "Wurdle" and it became a bit of an addiction. I think we will be calling each other with our high scores for months to come. It is so fun! We got to go to our church on Saturday and see my good friend Laura. She is working at the church and teaching full time. I don't know how she does that and stays sane, but she was great! After church we hung out with Heidi and Andrew. We always love seeing our friends when we're home. I ran out of time on this visit to see as many people as I would like to have seen.