It's a Google life

I think everyone can agree that Google has transformed life in some form or another and now that Jason works for Google I feel like Google has become a way of life. We have lots of Google water bottles, notebooks, frisbee, back pack, and shirts. Jason lives and breathes Google every day working there of course and then even after work we go our mini golfing, to dinner, to movies, etc, with a lot of his colleagues. Of Jason's immediate colleagues he's the oldest one and the only one married so we're getting a somewhat college social life in a way that we never felt with Harvard. It's a good thing he has me and the church to keep him from completely being sucked into Google land, which is pretty awesome. :) It's been fun and luckily his colleagues have been so good to me and it's been so fun to get to know them. Anyway, here's what the last month has been like with Google...

 About a week and a half ago Google sent Jason to a conference at Harvard of all places which left me here for 5 days knowing hardly anybody and with nothing to do. So naturally I did a 2000 piece puzzle of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It's amazing how much time that ate up! And it took all 5 days, I finished 5pm the day I went to pick him up. I'm puzzled out for the moment but I know this section of the ceiling unbelievable well. 

 This is from going golfing with his colleagues. It was also very educational as I found out Blackbeard was here in Charleston, how cool is that? 

And lastly Google had a company day at the beach last Friday which was great. Very fun to be able to spend his work day with him.

Oh also, it's finally out in the news what Jason and his team are doing in Google. Check it out here

Modern Day Princess

So I'm not one to idolize and go crazy over celebrities, however did you see the pictures of the royal family after they had their baby? So adorable. In my opinion it's such a nice image to have a happy family that we just don't get in popular media. 

Also can I clone all of her clothes?

The Beauty of Food

Is it July already? What a whirlwind month June was. July's challenge will be settling in which sometimes is the hardest part of change for me. So the 4th of July was, well fairly quiet. Since we're new to the area and still putting the house together we didn't do much but we did go grocery shopping so the weekend definitely included good food which is what really matters anyway, if only we had people to share it with ~ we're getting there. Jason got both Thursday and Friday off so hello 4 day weekend. Thursday we put a grill together that was given to Jason as a graduation/birthday present by our wonderful friends the Heaths. We've used it every day since we set it up and oh man it's so good!  

Friday we made it to the beach and swam in the ocean. I definitely can get used to that. 

Saturday was date night to Trader Joes, we sure miss being within walking distance of that place but parking spaces are readily available here so it's a trade off. 

Then Sunday included flourless chocolate cake with homemade ice cream which I'd say was a success. I've already had a piece today and I'm waiting for Jason to get home so I can have another one but on second thought I think waiting might be overrated. 

The rest of the weekend in between was spent putting our lives together here, balancing the budget, taking things to goodwill, and watching movies with popcorn. Jason's loving his job and just got called as a stake technology clerk because he works for Google so of course he has mad IT skills. We now know to say that he's working in EDUCATION first before we mention Google. As for me, well....here comes my quarter life crisis that has been staved the last couple of years. I've been looking so forward not having to work which has been wonderful you know taking naps whenever I wanted, watching the Next Food Network Star, listening all day to NPR, finding recipes on pinterest, etc. I know it sounds awesome and it totally was but sometimes it's nice to have a sense of purpose and do something that is fulfilling. This week has started out MUCH better mostly because I had a car. Today's accomplishments: working out, playing piano, actually getting ready for the day, going to Costco and only coming out with 4 items (cheapest run yet!), and making these things below - sweet corn tamale cakes with salsa and southwest sauce accompanied by fish tacos for dinner. I was so excited that I pulled out my new serving dishes that I got for my wedding. And then I waited and waited....and waited....and waited for Jason but unfortunately Jason got detained with his church calling already so I just enjoyed them to myself, he's lucky there's still some waiting for him ;). Anyone want to come to Charleston? I promise we'll eat well and go to the ocean, what more do you want for summer really?     

Properly Introduced

One full week in Charleston down for Jason and one half week for me and I'd say we've done pretty well at being properly introduced to the South. Friday night and Saturday we gave up our unpacking to go taste what Charleston has to offer. Thank you to all our friends that made that possible.

First of course I have to show you that we actually have a fully functioning kitchen! That was my project Friday while Jason was at work. I assembled the table, pot rack, and unpacked everything all before lunch. I felt pretty accomplished. 

Then I had some family friends that had rented a beach house on Kiawah Island that invited us to come have dinner with them for a night. They had all rented beach cruiser bikes so while dinner was cooking we took a ride down to the beach and it was beautiful! I can definitely get used to this. I thoroughly enjoyed the waves and the beautiful beach and Jason enjoyed finding the gigantic sea slugs and crabs. Welcome to the beach lifestyle.

On Saturday some friends from our ward took us to see a Southern Plantation. It was so beautiful! It reminded us of the gardens in Europe where we got engaged. And it's right down the road from where we live, we will definitely be buying a summer pass. After the gardens we went to a restaurant and had shrimp and grits and hushpuppies. Oh and lets not forget the best chocolate pudding I've ever had.

This is one of the oldest oak trees ever. It is so old and heavy that they have supports holding it up.

This is the front view from where the mansion used to stand. Unfortunately it was burned down by Union soldiers.

Going from North to South has been so interesting from a history perspective. In Boston all the history was just mixed right in with everything new. It was there but sometimes I felt you had to hunt for it. Also everything in Boston definitely has an American twist or just flat out American spirit. Here the history is emphasized in the city and the plantations were made to rival with their English family. Much more European than expected. Fascinating. Simply Fascinating. I think I'm being bitten by the history bug again....finally. Time to start on some good historical reading.

We made it to Charleston!

After one long car ride and a wonderful stop in D.C. we made it to Charleston! I know we only drove 16 hours to get here but I feel worlds away from Cambridge, MA. We are very excited to be here but we are really missing Cambridge which we felt like was finally home. Although we're excited to embrace the southern life down here in the South there are a few things in Cambridge that we will miss and I don't want to forget what life was like there. Here are a few key differences we have noticed.

1. Public Transportation: Charleston has NO public transportation. We are staying out in a suburb of Charleston while we find an apt and the first day Jason asks me how I feel and I say very ironically that I feel claustrophobic. Sure the houses are big and spaced out, etc but I don't feel like there's anywhere to go and certainly not anywhere to walk to which after being in a place where you hardly ever used your car and yet there were also places to go makes this seem very small.

2. Families, particularly kids ages 8-15: There are a good amount of families here with more than one or two children and there are actually kids between 8-15, who knew? It's totally catching me off guard. We were in a restauraunt yesterday and this guy walks up the stairs and behind him were trailing about 4 girls and I thought it was a soccer team or something. No, the wife came up the stairs last and I then noticed that all the girls were different ages, just a family. That will take some getting used to.

3. Pace of Life: Okay so everyone in Cambridge moved really fast and there were massive amounts of people always going places or doing things. Here everything is slowed down. Most of all the people talk really slow and it takes about twice the time to have a conversation. Along with this, everyone in Cambridge felt like they had something they invested themselves into whether it was school, church, work, escaping global poverty, etc. You don't get that sense here and we really miss that. I hope that's something we can continue.

4. Friendliness: So people in MA and people here are very friendly. However, the friendliness here totally throws me off. Random people will just have a conversation with you and say hi when you cross them on the street. One of the first lessons I learned in Cambridge was put your head down and just keep walking.

5. Welcome to Consumerville: It is amazingly easy to get to stores and fast food here! And they have about every store you could want. I thought that would be really nice for a change but this is actually one of the things I'm really sad about. In Cambridge it was really hard to get to stores so you usually figured out how to do without things because it was too much hassle to go to the store. Our fast food eating was pretty much nonexistent and grocery shopping, or any shopping for that matter felt like a huge accomplishment. Because of these things we lived on a lot less and spent our money towards going into the city to see something new or rather we became consumers of culture. I realize now that I prefer life that way. I'm afraid of buying too much here and forgetting that I can actually live on a lot less and still be very happy. Also where's the challenge? I'm sure I'll find it no worries (like bugs, snakes, humidity)

In short although I am very excited to be in Charleston I also really miss Cambridge and sometimes I'm really curious as to why we need to be out here. Anyway I'm sure I'll learn more on that later. Here are a couple pictures from our town home that we found which we are definitely warming up to and our excursion into downtown Charleston.

April Showers Bring May visitors

Now with work over and the giant decision of what to do next in process I finally have some time to blog about the wonderful people who visited us in May. We love visitors because it gives us a chance to see things we haven't yet. First my good friend Mackenzie from Joy school visited us. It was so great to have her stop by! Among other things we took the time to visit Plymouth rock which was cool. I actually had a decadent come on the Mayflower which was great. Here's a few pics from the weekend.

I'm lazy so I won't figure out how to rotate this pic but at Plymouth they actually had a statue of the same Indian as on BYU campus, crazy! Apparently there are a lot of famous Mormon sculptors.

This is what's left of the famed Plymouth rock that they supposedly all walked on. Pretty cool!

Of course we had to hit the amazing delicious homemade ice cream in Lexington. One of the many things I love about New England-they definitely do homemade ice cream right!

Isn't my friend Kenzie beautiful! She is so motivated and such a great example of loving life, it was such a joy to have her over and between her and Jason I felt very spoiled and well taken care of. Thanks Kenzie for coming!

Next bring on the Family! Jason's cousin Cole was the first to come out for graduation. He flew in before Memorial Day when we went hiking through the Berkshires on our "strenuous" hike. Cole was such a joy to have around, exploring everything with Jason, helping me out in the kitchen, sharing all these cool things he's learning about the gospel, what an amazing kid and so easy to have around. He leaves on his mission this week.

And finally we got to enjoy the whole family! Jason's mom flew in right before graduation. That day happened to be a rainy New England day so what better thing to do than go to Maine?  

Each of Jason's siblings told his mom to do something while she was in town so one thing was see a lighthouse...check! We also hit a quilting store where she got a quilt, threw a rock in the ocean and enjoyed more homemade ice cream and delicious burgers.

Then it was my family's turn to come and join us. We took everyone on the freedom trail on a very hot and humid Friday. Then on Saturday we just took my parents to the Boston Harbor Islands and Concord. It was awesome!

Us all waiting at the gift stores while moms shop. Typical.

Everyone at the USS Constitution

We had to see the duck statue before we left, I'm so glad we did! Jason's mom also loved it.

Always have to hit the Republican/Democrat sculpture thing. 

Isaac insisted on walking on the red line.  

Dad eating Mike's Pastry. It's a must on the Freedom Trail. 

And this would be us on George's Island with an old civil war fort.

And this would be me looking awesome. There's almost nothing that feels so powerful as standing at the helm of a boat feeling the wind in your face. Definitely owning a yacht one day just to feel powerful.

And we finally made it to Trinity Church. It pales in comparison with Rome Cathedrals but in American, wow!

And finally this would be my mom and I at the site of the battle of Concord and Lexington. Isn't my mom so classy?

And I think that about wraps it up for May!

June

Last week our future looked like this...

(a black hole)

And now it looks like this...!

Hello Charleston, South Carolina!

Jason accepted a job on Monday to work with Google on a two year fellowship near Charleston, South Carolina. It's really about 30 minutes outside Charleston but hey. We are so excited! They need him down there in a little over two weeks which means we are leaving Boston next week :( Then we get to jump in the madness of finding housing and flying to Utah to get our stuff that's still out there. Talk about going somewhere completely opposite from Cambridge, MA. First of all it's a confederate state and the first state that left the Union which is kind of the exact opposite of here. I'm a history nerd so I pay attention to that kind of stuff. We're excited though to experience the southern hospitality and southern plantations and beaches. Apparently it's easy driving there and a lot more small town but still quaint and historic. We sure will miss walking to work and all the quirks in Cambridge though. We are so excited for the adventure, South Carolina here we come!