Six Months

Six months ago I moved back to the US.  Crazy, yeah?  Yeah, I think so too.  So much has happened!  So much has changed!  But, one thing hasn't changed.  I haven't stopped missing Thailand.

In honor of my six month anniversary back in the USA, here is my video.  You should probably watch it again.

GMA

Watch Good Morning America tomorrow morning, Friday the 8th, between 8-9 am!

Something very cool is going to happen.... just watch it!

Le Tired

But I am le tired... Another super long day at the bakery, but I just found out that I'm not allowed to discuss it. My lips are sealed. And unrelated post will be up tomorrow! Nighty nightsky!

I'm so excited!!

First of all, let me apologize for the formatting. I am borrowing my mom's iPad for a few days, and it does not like paragraphs or tabs... I am really excited for Madison. Correction: I am really, really, really excited for Madison. Last week my dad and I went out to visit and to find a place for me to live. I had us booked with a few different apartment showings on the first day we arrived.  Some were better than others.  But after two full days of searching, visiting and deciding, I found a place! It is absolutely beautiful and in the most perfect location! The apartment is on Williamson Street, or Willy Street, as it is affectionately known by the people of Madison.  Directly below my apartment is an Apple store with a very nice selection of products and male employees!  Across the street is a coffee shop.  A few doors down from me is a cafe. There is a pet supply store one block east and a delicious restaurant with an impressive happy hour one block west. Behind my apartment runs a bike trail. And two blocks south is the beach. Come on! Does it get any better? While in town we went to multiple restaurants and multiple happy hours.  The food was delicious and the beer was awesome.  One morning my dad had duck confit hash, and I thought he was going to change his mind and skip Abu Dhabi for Madison.  The beer took his love of Madison to a whole new level. On Wednesday morning we headed out to Verona to visit the Epic campus. I had forgotten how big and amazing it was! And with the weather in our favor we were able to explore the grounds more than I had during my interview. We took a self- guided tour and explored places that I had not yet seen! There is an entire wing modeled after New York City! It is complete with a delicatessen, subway car, and even a rat! My dad was clearly overwhelmed by the campus and referred to it as Disney World a few times.  I only became more excited for my move.  I can't wait to find more hidden treasures in the office, to be able to work in such an interesting and creative environment. Three different moving companies came to my house to give me quotes for the move.  And after approval from Epic, everything is booked!  Yes, I'm a little nervous, but mostly, I'm just excited for June 26! Two days of driving before setting up my new life in the land of cheese.   I'm excited just writing about it! And please come out to visit me! I plan on getting an awesome pull out couch, so guests will always be more than welcome! Is it June 26th yet?!

Out of Retirement

Those of you that keep up with my twitter feed (it's on the right side of the page) may have read that I have come out of retirement. Yes, as of today, I am no longer retired. I am back in New York City and back at Hot Blondies Bakery. We are Going to be featured on Good Morning America on Friday with gilt.com, and things are crazy. Everything in Saratoga is packed and ready to go, so I don't have much of anything to do there! Having time off sounded like fun, but I get bored too easily. All of my friends are working every day, including my sister and my mother, leaving me without much to bide my time.  I had discussed the possibility of this happening with Laura and Lorin before I left, but I wasn't sure how busy I would be and how feasible it may actually be.  When I received an email from them last week asking me if it would be possible, the wheels were set in motion.  This morning I left my house at 6:15 to drive to Albany. From there I jumped on the Megabus without working wifi and fell back to sleep. When I woke up we were about an hour outside of the city and it was pouring rain. Shoot! I forgot my umbrella!  There was lots of traffic going through the tunnel, and the rain seemed to slow us down, so we arrived about 30 minutes late. I grabbed my bag, rolled up my pants, and I started walking. The bus stop is only about 15 blocks from the bakery, so I put my hood up, my head down, and I walked.  I arrived at the bakery, keys in hand, to find that the door was being propped open by a delivery man. I snuck in behind him, walked up the stairs and into the disaster zone. I gave Laura and Lorin quick hugs and spun around in a daze. Boxes we piled higher than I am tall. There was only a small path from the door to the front of the shop where I was going to leave my bags. There were hundreds of pounds of flour, sugar and brown sugar leaning against itself in the corner. Billions of calories of butter were stacked near the door.  "Holy smokes! This is crazy!" "Haha.  Welcome back. This is nothing!" I didn't think they were serious when they said that it was nothing. Boy, oh boy, was I wrong! About two hours later, or 400 blondies and brownies later in bakery time, the bell rang. The delivery man on the other end asked Lorin to go downstairs. All of thirty seconds later she was back upstairs in a rage.  "He's refusing to bring it upstairs. There are too many pallets. We have to bring it up ourselves." And so, the bakery that I thought was packed to the brim when I arrived, was about to become a lot more cozy. 17,000 units more cozy, to be exact. We ordered boxes like you wouldn't believe.  For the Gilt sale Laura and Lorin had to agree to be prepared to ship 5,000 shipments within three days. 5,000 shipments means: - 5000 box bottoms - 5000 box tops - 5000 shipping boxes - ridiculous amounts of tape - multiple humongous rolls of paper for stuffing - more red ribbon than Santa and his elves could ever imagine And that is just the packaging materials! I took a brief break from baking peanut butter chocolate chunk blondies to organize the 17,000 new additions to the bakery. I felt like I was playing Tetris. But losing this game of Tetris would be a problem. I wasn't going to get a "new game" option when I accidentally boxed myself in. Or boxed us out of the bathroom, for that matter!   Miraculously, we made it happen, and I hit the ovens.  Now, at 8:15 pm, I am on the train to Garden City. Aunt Jane just called to tell me she is taping The Bachelorette and has spaghetti waiting for me! Dinner, trashy television and an early bedtime are on the agenda for the evening. Tomorrow morning, I'm back to baking. Gosh, I just love this!

Another great day in Saratoga

Last night I went out to a friend's camp in Galway, a town just west of Saratoga.  It was a small group of friends from high school.  The house sits on a small lake, and although we didn't partake in any lake activities, the view was gorgeous.  We spent a great night drinking beer, catching up and laughing.  There was a lot of laughing.

Liz in her "camp attire."

This morning we all went our separate ways, but not before I was invited to the kickball game later that afternoon about a hundred times.  I didn't commit, but knew I would probably end up there.  I went home, attempted to get my affairs in order for the coming week, and then I hit the gym.  I swung by home, picked up Wilbur, and we headed to the park.  When we arrived, what I saw was perfectly Saratoga.  And exactly what I love about this town.

The team, New Kicks On The Block, had an iPod blaring music over the kickball field.  There were parents, family members, friends, significant others and dogs of the players littering the sideline.  There were coolers of beer, coolers of water, and orange slices.  And the field was filled with many of my very good friends from high school.  Everyone was very excited when I arrived, but unfortunately I was late.  Somehow I received incorrect information, and arrived thirty minutes late... whoops!  I still watched them keep their undefeated record and crush the other team.  After the game finished, they quickly put together another pick up game while I chatted on the sidelines.

After a quick clean up, we all jumped in our cars to head downtown.  The kickball league is sponsored by Peabody's Sports Bar, so of course we had to head there.  The players, significant others and dogs tagged along for more beer and discounted appetizers.  We took over the outdoor patio area as the sun dried the puddles from the brief rain storm.

It was wonderful to be sitting in Saratoga with friends, old and new, just hanging out.  One of my friends came over and asked, "you know, you don't have to hate Saratoga so much."  I looked at him and was completely baffled.

"What do you mean?  Hate Saratoga?!"
"You just keep moving away!  But this town isn't as bad as you think it is."
"Are you kidding me?!  I love Saratoga!  I adore Saratoga!  Yes, I have to move for my job, but I'll come back.  I WILL come back.  This place is awesome!"
"Oh."

I'm not sure what signals I had or have been giving to make him think that I hate Saratoga, but let me clear the air.  I love Saratoga!  And this day was the perfect example.  I'm going to miss having so many friends around.  I'm going to miss the chance to be on a team with some of my very best friends for the past 10 years.  I'm going to miss downtown.  I'm moving to Madison, but that is not because I hate Saratoga!  It isn't even because I dislike Saratoga!  I'm moving to Madison for a job.  End of story. I have every intention to come back to Saratoga.  It may be three years from now, or it may be thirteen years from now, but it will happen.  I will be back.  This town is great.

I WILL make friends!

In my search for a new car my dad keeps reminding me of the Saab that is sitting in the driveway.  Garvey just bought himself a car, and my dad will be leaving the country for the year, which puts my parents in possession of too many cars and not enough drivers.  The plan was to sell the Saab, but my dad can't seem to part with it, and has offered it to me on multiple occasions.

Now please don't think of me as a spoiled brat for turning it down, but I have my reasons.  For one, I was really excited to buy myself a car!  This is the first time in my life that I will be making a significant purchase- like a car.  This is also the first time that I have had a significant enough salary to make such a purchase.

But, there is another reason.  While I was shopping for cars I made a list of my non- negotiables.  On the top of that list is four doors. After driving the Saab, and being a passenger in countless other two door cars, I know what a hassle they can be.  The massive doors, the seats that must be flipped, the seatbelts that are at the most awkward angle ever, and I could go on.  But as I attempted to explain this to my sister she said, "Meaghan, what do you really care about having to flip the seats for people to get in the back? It's not like you have any friends in Madison that you'll be driving around!"  I further explained the hassle by saying that just putting groceries or anything in the back seat cannot be done without flipping the seats.  When I realized that she wasn't going to understand I said, "you don't even have your license!   You wouldn't understand."  I walked away from the conversation feeling a bit down.  I do have one friend in Madison, but I fully intend to make more.  And Erin had only reaffirmed one of the things that make it hard to move to a new place: the lack of friends and family.

Two weeks later when the topic of the Saab came up with my dad, he again urged me to take the car.  I told him I would consider it, but I was still hesitant.  I again explained my dislike for two-door cars.  He looked at me sideways, as in, what is wrong with only two doors?  I then went into my spiel about friends getting into the back and having to get out of the driver's seat and flip the seat for passengers.  My dad chuckled and said, "but you don't have any friends in Madison!  Who are you driving around in the car?!"  This time I snapped.

"I do have a friend!  Caitlin lives there!  And seriously?  It's a new town, of course I don't have a ton of friends!  But do you really think I won't make any friends?  I have every intention to have a ton of friends there!  And I intend to have them be passengers in my car!"

And with that, our conversation was over.

As more time has passed, I have decided to take the Saab.  If the car is really just going to be sold, I might as well take it, right?  And, even though it isn't my dream car, it is pretty great.  The car is also Wilbur's favorite, because he can open the window with his paw.  (Thank goodness for child safety locks!)  I have plenty years of life left to have my dream car, or more appropriately, dream cars.

On June 26th Wilbur and I are heading west in the Saab.  Hopefully the top will be down and the weather will be perfect for our ride.  And when I arrive in Madison I will be thrilled to jump out of my seat to let passengers into the back!  By George, I am going to make friends... lots of them!  The more the merrier!  Anyone want to be my friend in Madison?

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

Happy June 1st!  Happy new month!  And happy summer!

Oh my goodness!  Where did the last 21 days go?  What have I been doing that I haven't been able to publish a single post?!  Trust me, I am wondering the same thing myself!  I have missed this little blog.

But, with a new month, a new temporary living arrangement, a new car, new furniture and a new condo (gasp!) I have been quite busy, and I have a lot to catch you up on!

I still have a handful of posts sitting in my drafts that I simply haven't had enough time to finish writing and edit, but not to worry faithful readers, you have lots of stuff coming your way!

My goal this month is to write a post every single day.  And considering June is my month of unemployment, this shouldn't be too challenging.  I just hope you won't mind if I jump around a bit.  I still haven't told you anything about The Kiwi Bergers trip to NYC!  I have to write about my sister's final performance, the Hot Blondies Bakery booth, moving home from NYC, visiting Madison, WI with my dad, and getting a condo!  Gasp!  I still can't believe I have it!

Then how about the fact that my dad is moving to Abu Dhabi?  Yeah, I have to write about that.

I'll write about Madison, furniture, cell phones, moving, baking and anything else that may come to mind. So stay tuned, because it is going to be a great month!  I can feel it...

But first how about a few little photos?

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge the last weekend I lived in NYC.

Packing up my life for Madison, WI.

The two things Madison is known for: beer and cheese curds.

Lake George: where I should be spending the rest of the month.  Mmmmm.