Liberty Land

In honor of Halloween (and no one wanting to talk about their advertising accounts at 5 pm on the Friday of Halloween) I have had a little extra time on my hands to post a little update.  So a few fun things that have happened over the last few weeks.

1. Madonna Concert -

I know I might not seem like the typical Madonna concert attendee (and I probably would not have gone if the tickets were not free), however, I can confidently say that it was one of the most ridiculous/amazing things I have ever seen.  She is 50 years old and she jump roped across the entire stage like 3 times then grabbed a mic and belted out the rest of a song…it was amazing to say the least and clearly this was just the beginning - if you ever get the chance to go please do it.

2. Pumpkin Festival

Seriously, one of the most awesome things I have done in Boston.  They were trying to break the world record for having the most carved pumpkins in one area…last count I heard there were 32,000.

http://www.campsunshine.org/pumpkinfestival/b_photos.html

3. Bought my first pair of boots…not so noteworthy at first glance..but since it has been averaging a temperature around 40 I figured it was about time. I know they look like cowboy boots..but I’m just easing into this northeastern thing right now - one step at a time -

http://www.stevemadden.com/item.aspx?id=46550

4. Discovered Anna’s Taqueria…ITS AWESOME…kind of like Moes but better.  Seriously.  If you come to Boston we can check it out together.

http://www.annastaqueria.com/

5. GEORGIA FLORIDA GAME THIS WEEKEND - I can’t believe it is that time of year again.  Although it does make me a little sad that i will be sitting in an alumni bar in Boston instead of cheering on the second row at the game, I will enjoy it and cheer on the dogs in good company!  Please keep in Mind, Gators wear jean shorts..copy and paste this in the browser its pretty cute..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7BZI_ROwMo

6. And last but certainly NOT least a little video from some of my friends in Atlanta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxlwYP0HNdc&feature=related

Hope October is winding up to be a great month for you all.  Send me Updates! Happy Halloween!

Much Love!!!!!

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground.  Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it!” - Wilferd Peterson

This is a quote that my friend Bonnie sent me in a card recently.  I really love it and thought that you guys might like it too!  I think it really speaks to the kind of people that I have gotten to know in Boston, and it is my hope that the same is true in your life.

Here are a few fun pictures and updates.  I know its not much - but I’m trying to improve from the last month of no updates!

Much love!

Chick-fil-A - So last week I got some friends from work to go check out Chick-fil-A at the mall about 20 mins away.  Lindsey brought me some coupons last week so I could introduce some of my northern friends to the chicken sandwich.  It was awesome!  I told them the whole Chick-fil-A story and we ordered so many different things from the menu so they could try them all.  I think I created 3 new fans of chick-fil-a in the north!

Later on in the week we went to Cirque dus oleil.  This is Marissa and Dani in front of the tent…i would highly recommend it!!

Just thought I would include some pictures of Boston from the last two weekends! It has been absolutely beautiful!! Look at how yellow those trees are…I hear that the leaves turn even brighter before the fall off here.

Michael came this weekend and we strolled around Harvard not realizing that it was Octoberfest.  Apparently, its a really big festival that happens every year in Harvard square.  This is the longest sofa in the world.  it was unbelievable.  I know you can’t really tell how long it is…but trust me it was crazy!!  Not to mention it was red…which I would argue was for the big game on Saturday…Go dawgs!!

Seeing that it has been OVER a month since my last post, I guess it goes without saying that it is time for an update. The past month has been absolutely incredible. Settling into, what I know lovely refer to as “My City” has been phenomenal. I think it will be best described in a top ten list of the past month. This could get long, but I will try to make it worth it! In no particular order:

1. The UGA Alumni Bar

Every Saturday that the Dawgs play, there is a bar in downtown Boston that hosts the UGA alumni in Boston. Unfortunately, most of the alumni are a little older than I. This has provoked Carly and I to recruit some aspiring Georgia fans from the Google office. I think we double the population of Georgia fans between the ages of 21-24 at the bar each weekend. So while you may be baking in the sun in your cute dresses and bow ties, we are eating bar food (did I mention that the waitress knows my name now?) and cheering our hearts out among a group of 40 - 45 year old alumni…I know you are jealous!

2. Excursion on a Pirate Boat

Who knew work would take us on field trips?! Every quarter our office takes us on a fun trip somewhere in Boston. Recently they have learned how to make Sushi and took a duck tour. Our off-site was a cruise around the Boston Harbor on a “tall ship.” This tall ship was pretty awesome as if cruised around the Boston Harbor. Just imagine a pirate ship, with a crew that actually lives and works on the ship year round. It was awesome and we took some great pictures while we were out there!

3. Glass Blowing

If one field trip wasn’t enough, a week and half later we had the opportunity to go glass blowing as the small business services division. We trekked down to South Boston and designed our own lobster made of glass that our good friend Chris made for us. Here are some pictures of afternoon’s event.

4. Fenway Park

I finally made it!!!!! I was sooo excited!! I was walking through the snack kitchen at work one day and my friend Dustin said he had some extra tickets to the Sox game. He has a friend who can call in tickets every once and a while so he said the seats would probably be good. I agreed to go to the game without a second thought – LOOK AT THESE SEATS! I guess there is a reason they call it “America’s favourite baseball park”

5. Woodward dinner

So through a series of run-ins and hear-say, I figured out that there were 6 Woodward Alumni in the Boston area. We contacted everyone and we all went to dinner about a week ago. It was one of the most entertaining nights I have had in Boston. We sat at dinner for two and a half hours catching up about what we all had been doing and where everyone else from the Woodward world is now. I think we will be getting together rmore in the future, but it is certainly fun to see how my two worlds are colliding in Boston.

6. Trip to NYC

I live sooooo close to New York City. There are multiple options for getting to the city, train, china-town bus, bolt bus, mega bus, OR by car. Since I had to leave the firebird in Atlanta, I usually am left with only the other four options. BUT the weekend I wanted to go my friend Tamiz was going to visit his girlfriend in the city. We drove together on Friday afternoon and arrived in the city in only 3 ½ hours! It was great! I stayed with Grace and got to play with her and Kbar for the entire weekend. Unfortunately, there was a hurricane going through the northeast (its weird to say that word…I actually live in the NORTHEAST), so we stayed inside and ventured out for good food. I think I will be going back often to see friends and maybe experience the city more since I live so close by!

7. My visitors; Tim, Lindsey Smith, Grace

Everyone at work makes fun of me for the amount of visitors I have. BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! It has been a month of visitors that is for sure. Grace came from New York one weekend and it was fabulous. We went out dancing one night, went to the market near the North end and walked around the city during the day. Tim came for a surprise two night stay as he was transitioning jobs from Martha’s vineyard to Washington DC. We tried to get tickets to go to the Sox Game, but apparently the park sells out every night and its not quite as easy as Turner field to find $5 seats in the outfield.

This past weekend, Lindsey Smith, who I worked with at Chickfila came in town! It was awesome! We toured Boston like we were veterans of the city. We went to brunch in Harvard Square, walked through Beacon Hill, spent time out on the long wharf, and visited an outdoor arts market. We had fabulous weather, as the fall weather rolls in. My friend Michael is coming this weekend for his fall break from Duke…I am sure there will be fun stories to follow!

8. We have already turned on the heat in our house

Apparently fall in Boston, does not just mean the changing of the leaves and a long sleeve t-shirt like it does in the South. We are talking jackets, gloves, scarfs, vests, and closed toe shoes. If you can believe it, flip flop season is over! Although it is hard to admit, I have enjoyed getting dressed up for the cold. My roommate, Meredith, from Wisconsin helps me out on the laying technique and the appropriate jacket for the fall. We all walk to work together and enjoy the trees changing colors.

9. I GET TO GO TO CHICKFILA TOMORROW

This one may be the most exciting so far…I CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE SOME CHICK-FIL-A!! Lindsey brought some coupons so I could take some people from work to Chick-fil-a in the mall. Five people from work are going to go with me to the mall to experience Chick-fil-A for the first time. I will let you know how it goes.

10. Going home for Christmas for 14 days…that’s write count ‘em

In other news, I booked my tickets home over Christmas and New Years. I am so happy to tell you all that I will be home for 14 days!!! I can’t wait to catch up with everyone and spend time at home! I know it is far away, but I thought I would stir up some excitement prior to coming!! Yayyyyy

I know that was a really long update, but I wanted to include some fun pictures too! I will try to do this one a more regular basis. I love you guys and hope that things are going well wherever you are in life! Send me updates, I would love to hear how things are!

Ps – I did not spell check/grammar check this prior to posting so I apologize for all of the mistakes above.

MUCH LOVE

So I declared this Friday at the office “red and black friday” in honor of the first Georgia game on Saturday!  Being in Cambridge is great because very few people actually have college aligences - so i just recruited them all to cheer for Georgia!  We all dressed in red and black and are going to the alumni bar tomorrow in Boston!  I got a much bigger response than I ever anticipated and am pumped for the season up here!! Here’s a picture of half of the crew at work!!

Hope all is well with everyone! Much love!!!!

Now that I have to deal with other customers in a customer service setting I probably should stop sending things like this. BUT I was really mad when I got back from the laundry mat…so I thought you guys might enjoy the ridiculousness of it all as much as I did…

The first day…

Really, the first day for so many things. The first day of waking up before 8 am all summer. The first walk to Kendal square. The first meeting of 15 other new hires. The first time I sat at my desk at work. The first day we blew the fuses in our apartment (and subsequently couldn’t blow dry our hair before work). And the first time I was given the option to play ping pong, rock band, and pool during work.

SERIOUSLY – rock band, ping pong, and pool…WHAT THE HECK!? Let’s just say it was a great first day! There are 15 others starting with me in this 2 month long training extravaganza. We have all come from different places in life but seem to all have so much in common. I have a feeling this group will be good friends at work and outside of work. It is so important to work and move as a community and I hope that as a part of this group I can encourage unity and growth.

Throughout the day we introduced ourselves probably 10 times. It was interesting because not one of these 10 times did I hear mascot rivalry, or “go dawgs…sic ‘em” from anyone in the room when I said that I went to Georgia. Which it quite the contrary of the culture at the old Chick-fil-A. I think that there are going to be so many news things that I learn from the people up here, simply because we are from different parts of the country.

Of greater interest: My rating of the cafeteria….If you can believe it, the cafeteria actually rivals that of Chick-fil-A. The food was excellent and the snack rooms are something that are going to get me into quite some trouble. After all…my dad calls me Snack-a-roni for a reason… who would have thought I could have m and m’s, trail mix, chips, cereal, coffee, espresso, and Starbucks cold drinks at my disposal?! I hope that this will be a place that I am challenged, can push myself, stand out, and make an impact on the organization and on the people that surround me.

Just wanted to send out an update! I hope that you guys are being challenged or finding a place to stretch yourself. You are all remarkable –

Much Love!

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, The ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn burn burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the idle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes “aww”! - Jack Kerouac

Geez what a GREAT Sunday!

Today I woke up knowing that it was my last time to sleep in late on a week day for quite some time. I decided to go to a church called Park Street church this morning as recommended by a friend. IT WAS GREAT! I loved it! I sat down next to the only other person who looked under the age of 50…I think he must have been in high school, which made no difference because he was not interested in small talk of any sort. Then a girl about my age sat down next to me and asked me if it was my first time at the church. After an hour and half church service, lunch, and icecream I discovered that this girl is doing almost the same thing I am in the city and was just looking for friends around her age.

After this encounter, I have spent the remainder of the day feeling very blessed. Thanking God for friends, relationships, family, a job, the apartment, my roommates, the opportunity to explore, etc. I just felt so at peace and like I was truly in the right place. God has provided in so many ways and it was been so cool to see it all unfold. He knows us each so well…and for me in particular he knew I needed new friends and encouragement that I can find a community here that is loving and exciting.

I made my way to Harvard Square to go to this coffee shop called Peet’s Coffee – apparently is really famous or something…I found it and sat down to read for a little while. As an added bonus I got to watch a free Shakespeare play on the lawn in front of the building. It was a cool spot…so anyone who wants to come we can go check it out again!

In other news, I found out that my hammock fits on our front porch, which is great news! I also found out that even I can mess up mac and cheese…for those of you who thought that was impossible…it is not. I forgot the milk and butter element and was left with a cheese power mix and boiled noodles…Meredith (My new roommate who is awesome!) came to the rescue.

I am reading this Book called “The Big Moo.” If anyone is looking for a leadership/organizational inspiration book I would recommend this one. It is a great collection of essays and points of wisdom that were written by influential writers. The proceeds go to charity for the book and it is a really quick read. I wanted to leave this with something that I really enjoyed from the book. So go out and have an insanely awesome day knowing that God will provide and wants the best for you!!!

Much love to you all!

“You are not a cog.

You are not an assistant or an administer

You’re not a gofer or middle manager, either.

No, you’re creative. A valuable asset to your family and community. A person who can make a difference to an organization.

You are capable of having an impact, leaving a legacy, creating things that are outstanding.

You are not ordinary.

In fact, you are remarkable.

Now, hurry. Don’t let yourself (and all of us) down.”

Hi Friends!

Well I have officially been here for six days!! It has been an insane weekly, but such an awesome transition from life in Atlanta to Life here! When I got here my friend Kevin was up in Boston for his job training so he picked me up from the Airport and we hung out for the weekend. My apartment is a 1920s building and my landlord Horace is hilarious (I think he has parties every weekend where him and his friends play dominos in the back yard). We live in a cute area of town which is about 10 minutes from the T (subway for those non-native Bostonians) and about 15 mins from work. Each building has its own flare and its just nice to stroll down the street and check out everyone’s flowers/yards.

I painted my room, bought a bed, and unpacked a bit before my mom got here. I introduced Barbie to the subway - lets just say she likes it more than MARTA…but that’s not saying much. In typical Barbie fashion my room has now been outfitted with the latest trends in home decor. Complete with a hanging ceiling lamp, a compact desk and shelving unit, and pictures from college scattered throughout my room. I have to admit I have never appreciated her talent as much as I do now. It is so nice to be in a room that is comfortable and decorated with things/pictures of familiar people in this time of HUGE transition. My friend Tim got here on Wednesday and Mom left on Thursday…Tim and I explored the city and I certainly enjoyed more familiar company. As of this morning, I have officially entered the city for the first time without a companion in tow. It already seems familiar and I am starting to recognize streets/subway stations - which is really nice. This town/city is a busy place but much smaller than I originally thought.

Work starts Monday - AHHHH I CANT BELIEVE IT IS ALREADY HERE! I’m sure it is going to be so fun and so overwhelming all at the same time. I am excited to meet my coworkers and get started with this new phase of life! I hope everything is going well! I am going to Post some pictures soon!!!

Much love

I am moving TOMORROW…lets just say it again…TOMORROW. Which is weird. I shipped everything I own (except maybe the firebird - dad might argue otherwise) in 9 boxes a few days ago and am expecting them in Cambridge on Monday. My mom is coming to move me into my apartment on Monday and we will spend a few days breaking in the city! I am living in Cambridge in a three bedroom apartment with two awesome roommates who will also be working with me.

I start work on August 4th and can’t wait to see who I’m working with, what we are doing, and how my life (for once) is going to contribute towards a positive net income. I just wanted to get this off the ground so that I can keep everyone updated on life in Boston.

Much love to you all! Please stay in touch and send me updates!

Sara