An update from the land of hamsters...

So it is about that time again... where I fill in all of you dedicated blog followers (all 4 of you I am sure) on my recent endeavors in the wonderful state of Nude Hamster..I will start off by saying that I got lost yet again.. I know shock.. last week on my bike ride.. It was a beautiful scene in the New England area Thursday as I ventured off onto the back roads of Durham.. I decided that after I had ventured all over the town of Durham (all three miles of it) that I was going to need more roaming ground to keep up with my normal time of an hour and a half bike ride.. I then thought to myself that it would be a good idea to help time and mileage go by faster to venture into the town of Dover that is about 6 miles away down a two lane high, country highway.. I know what you all are thinking if you have read my past blogs.. Kristin you are dumb..you know that you and 2-lane country highways do not have a good track record..well guess what my friends.. you are correct... I did not get lost this time on this route; however, I just got dominated by the hill mountains I had to bike up every 5 seconds. I drive this route everyday to the gym and I never noticed how brutal the hills were on it.. I am talking like journey to the edge of the Earth steep and the fact that as I am cruising down the highway like Lance Armstrong junior.. I realize that I was moving unusually slower than usual.. come to find out.. my bike was broken.. I guess the 23 hour haul was too much for poor little Barrett the bike..she was stuck on gear one and wasn't budging...in case some of you do not know about bike gears much gear one is the gear on the left handle that controls the dominate resistance and push your bike gives you.. 1 being the lowest.. so at this point not only was I battling the hills of the highway..  I was also going nowhere while in the process... like cartoon going nowhere..I think that I remember a scene from when I was a kid watching a cartoon about Reggie Rocket (from Rocket Power) having a broken gear on her bike and just pedaling in motion.. yep... call me Reggie Rocket.. because I was simply having the hardest time of my life biking, sweat pouring off me all over the road and of course.. tye dye bandana on my head.. who knew Rambo rode bikes too.. Anyways as I finally made it to Dover I wanted to explore more.. which results in me getting lost in yet another round about in New England.. yep.. don’t ask me how I do it.. but  those things will be the death of me.. I either take the wrong exit or just go around in circles until I reach the point of ultimate dizziness... I finally figured out where I was after 30 min of being lost in the back streets of Dover and made my 6 mile bike ride back to Durham where I barely made it to work on time again.. which leads me to the next statement of this blog... when I am driving these 2 lane country roads hate me as well.. it never fails that I get stuck behind an 18-wheeler, cement truck or one of those ultimate speed followers ( you know who you are) who cause me to have road rage and open my selective vocab so early in the morning.. I do nothing but laugh at this fact of the highway hating me and now have resulted in leaving the gym 10 min earlier to leave room for those lovely slow vehicles that give me the chance to expand my vocabulary everyday...

This past weekend was by far the busiest/fun weekend I have had so far.. I started my Friday night off by a few Chewbaccas, dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, a trip to GNC (duh) and Alex surprised me with the fact of TCBY BEING IN NUDE HAMSTER!!! yes that is right folks there is a TCBY and a PRETZEL SHOP (just for you B) that are connected to one another in the mall 10 min from my place.. yep.. I can live here for sure now ha and finished my Friday off by seeing yet another movie with Alex that was by far the worse movie I have ever seen in my life.. I will not tell you what I saw because I think that making you suffer like I did is only the fair thing to do.. I joke.. don’t go see seeking a friend for the end of the world.. you will find yourself dozing off ( yep the whole nodding of your head and waking up franticly as it falls down thing), playing with your broken Toms (like myself) and potentially wishing that you saw the animated movie Brave while watching it.. and lastly you will be crying at the end of the stupid thing.. however I do not want to be bias and I totally encourage you to go and give me your opinion on how horrible it was :) Not to mention Friday night it monsooned all in Alex’s jeep that the window apparently doesn’t roll up in and I left him in the monsoon as I ran into the movies (really southern of me I know) I finished my weekend off by hanging out with Mary..aka my new hamster BFF.. she took me to her friend’s house right outside of Boston.. as we drove through yet another New England monsoon that I don't know how Mary could even see out of her luxury vehicle to drive.. so I treated her to a classy meal from Burger King until we got to her friends house where I got to meet people, laugh, have a good time and sleep on a hardwood floor all at the same time :) I really did enjoy myself as I found myself making new friends.. I don’t know if they liked me because after I have been drinking I buy them $40 worth of Dominos, give them my alcohol or just make them laugh.. but they liked me at the party..they really did ha I slept quite awesome on the hardwood floor as it wouldn’t give any for a cushion, had no pillow/blanket and in the midst of the night had a beer poured all over my face.. But in all honesty I had a blast and am so fortunate to have someone like Mary to be there for me and help me get to know more people...she's my God send. more great news coming out of Saturday night was the fact that Brooke got her flight to come out to be with me for my birthday and over a week!!! I am soooooo happy I will get to spend time with the bestie in the land of hamsters and get to go on granola adventures and granola men hunting with her!! I can't wait! 

I ended my weekend by coming back to Portsmouth and spending  the afternoon at the beach with Mary where we learned a few things about the beaches around here... people hate us...and parking it terrible.. two very relatable things.. AS we drive searching for a spot we finally did for FREE and of course it was a parallel spot.. So us being as smart as we are had the plan of Mary getting out of my car and standing in the spot as I turned around to line up for the spot..Mary got called a dumb whore and cussed out by people who were yelling at her for saving it.. I of course come to the rescue by getting the spot and making a complete fool of myself trying to park that Mary has to do it for me.. keep in mind my car is about 2 times bigger than hers.. we then get dirty looks the whole time she is parking and I think there might have been a honk or two in-between. AS we walk to the beach access road I get yelled at by a woman because I wasn't in the walking lane right on par.. she yells "What is wrong with you..what are you doing" and I just show her my Southern charm by smiling and talking bad about her to Mary as she drives away.. the beach was relaxing and just what I needed.. I got in the Atlantic ocean for the first time.. where we bonded nicely as I introduced myself to it by peeing in it.. better than a "wave" anyday haha get it?? wow I got jokes..

I ended my weekend off by getting to see my friend TORI who was in town seeing her aunt that lives on 15 min from me.. Tori and I enjoyed our first lobster roll together and got to walk on the beach to see the wicked awesome sand sculptor competition! I absolutely loved getting to see her and meeting her wonderful father and aunt! We walked on the beach for a while took some granola photos and looked at all the jersey look alike trash on the boardwalk.. I hope when I hang out with her tomm there will be more epic blogging material to add to her visit here! It is so great to see a familiar face in a not familiar surrounding! 

Today has been like every Monday.. busy busy busy I have three sales meetings with Matt tomm and am happy to say that I am enjoying my job alot! I like what I am doing and am eager to learn more and more and help as much as I can while getting experience in the office.. I think everything will all fall together for me if I just stay positive about everything going on in my life.. just need to have confidence.. speaking of which lee lee sent me a mighty sweet magnet that I read every day that helps me out with that it says.. "Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do." Bam.. straight and to the point..

I will close with a few more random facts:

1. All last week it was 10 degrees hotter here than in Memphis

2. AC units for windows are the best inventions for New Englanders like myself :)

3. Alex and I cannot put together an AC to save our lives and will not be starting an AC business anytime soon

4. The gas station by my apt has the best ICEEs ever and I may or may not of had one every day last week

5. We had a heat wave last week and you would have thought the sky was falling looking at the news stations

6. Beer pong up here is called Beruit.. have no idea why but I just pretended like I did

7. Purchasing 400 thread count Egyptian Cotton Sheets was the best investment I have made besides my AC unit (thanks mom and dad ;) 

8. Sleeping in the nude when you have nothing but a window fan cooling you is a bad decision.. you will wake up with bug bites all over your body.. I mean everywhere.. 

9. Sorry is that was too much

10. Refilling a candy jar to make it look fuller doesn't help with the whole stop eating it thing..just in reality makes you eat more..

11. Hope Solo is on the cover of Vouge..

12. Everyone go purchase it now.. (sorry ran out of facts but hate odd numbers)

Kristin's First Granola Weekend

Well it has been a few days since I last blogged and I have reasoning behind it.. Nothing bad luck or extravagant wise has happened to me since my mini half marathon last week.. However there has been exciting news over the week/weekend..Brooke finally decided where her internship will be and can now relax for a week or so before she starts stressing over living situations.. she will be taking her talents to Knoxville and I couldn't be more proud of her.. lets see applying at 17 places..getting 11 interviews and 4 offers isn’t half bad if you ask me.. she doesnt brag on herself so I minus well.. hate her cause she is awesome.. like her best friend of course :) I am so excited for her to go and get more experience in a hospital and city setting.. even if it is where the I am not going to even type their mascot name resides.. I am so proud and happy for this new chapter in her life!!

To add to the exciting news of the week/weekend I would like to say that in the fact that I was mighty granola.. like I am considering making a comic book series starring me.. "Granola Woman." Simple to the point..joke. But lets see.. my weekend started out grand on Thursday when I made a new friend.. a ginger friend at that from the gym.. she pulls off being a complete jerk and as nice as anyone could be to a redneck all at the same time. I simply awarded her number three on my friends list here.. which consists of.. three people. yep. awesome ha anyways after following my mother's orders and making a friend.. I completed my last two work days of last week with calling about 80 different restaurants within the area to help start up this new idea we have for local restaurants.. I got use to the hang up real quick and rude people rather quickly as I was reminded of the harsh rejection percentage in sales.. especially when you are calling on the phone.. I will prob now think twice before 1. cussing out the salesperson who calls my cell every other day 5 times a day 2. hanging up on them immediately or 3. playing along the whole time and sound like I am interested to only throw in a quick bug off line to them.. ha I have learned how it feels to be on the other line of the phone.  However, all of my calls turned into 6 meetings this week that I am beyond excited about..

Now for my weekend extravaganzas... the day finally came on Friday.. the releasing of my most secretly anticipating movies of the hear.. Rock of Ages.. yep that's right.. I am a sucker for musical.. not just any musicals though.  I mean Tom Cruise in leather pants after plastic surgery to make him have better pecs?? who doesn’t want to see that ha. all in all the movie was outta of 1-10 about a 12.. for what I was awake for at least.. now before you think to yourself.. wow must of been such a great movie that you couldn’t stay awake for..come to a halt with those thoughts..I was accompanied by my first NH friend Alex on Friday to the movie.. yep. made him go to a musical.. the consequences of being in my life ha and we went to a local organic flatbread pizza place where we ate a whole large pizza and had drinks.. not to mention we bar hopped over to another place that we were going to kill time before the movie thinking that we would get a normal size small mixed drink... um...they serve pint sizes there ha . my kind of place. this was also where Alex and I got our celebrity identities from the bartender.. him being Bradley Cooper and myself as Kate Hudson.. lets just say don’t ever tell people after they have been drinking that they look like celebrities.. because for the res of the night we thought we were.. calling each other by our last names and giving a dollar to St. Jude to put a paper star on the wall at the movie theater..Signing it Kate Hudson and Bradley Cooper of course.. ha let's just say I wasn't very clear on judgment as I spend $13.25 on a popcorn bigger than my face and a pint of water.. I deserved a nap in the movie.. after it started for 3 seconds.. Alex said he tried to wake me up which I do not recall and I told him to stop. that the music was soothing to sleep to.. but after that 15 min snooze I was wide awake enjoying my $12 movie.

Saturday was an adventure in itself as I decided that it would be a good idea to climb a mountain and gain granola points. I drug Alex along so I wouldn’t get eaten by a black bear or  if  I were to fall off the mountain someone could get it on video.. We ventured to Mt. Cochurao? It was an hour and a half away in Albany, NH and was a 10 mile trail all the way up.. as we stopped to grab lunch at a local grocery store I learned something new in NH.. it is okay for husband and wives to go in the same public restroom and then come out saying not to ask.. yep that happened and lucky Alex had to go in after them.. also buffalo chicken up here means something is really hot not just mild and there is a biker weekend here like every weekend... I better invest in a leather bandanna to blend in.. as we approach the mt. Alex and I both lose service..which means our GPS is no longer available which means this is the part where I tell you something awful happens..  this is the part where I disappoint you and tell you nothing did ha. we found the trail opening down a random dirt road and started the journey in high spirits.. we even found walking stick..mine being named Waldo and Alex's being Axel (he must have still been on the Rock of Ages kick from the night before) as i begin to hike.. I ask myself why I was doing this again.. and thinking about how nice my couch was back at the apt and how there was a law and order marathon on TV I could be watching.. however I just continued to tell myself that if I wanted to be granola and the new New Hamsteran I wanted to be.. I needed to climb this mountain.. it was "cute" at first.. little rocks that me and Alex called God's stepping stones placed perfectly for our feet and peaceful little nature made creeks that ran down the sides.. the occasional log that you had to cross to get over a patch of water.. Alex giving himself a bloody nose by hitting himself with his walking stick.. you know the normal coordinating things you encounter on a hike.. then.. I am just going to be blunt with this statement... this hike turned into hell. the sit of boulder city was upon us the whole way up.. I am talking get on your fours and climb fool.. it was never ending.. in between Alex and I cussing at the mountain and Rhianna playing in the background on my speakers.. it was quite peaceful and relaxing.. honestly God's creation of that trail and mountain site was breath taking.. we finally made it past the signs directing us to the top and explaining to everyone if you had to remove human wastes be sure to get 200 feet away from the creek and dig yourself and your poop and toilet paper a 6 inch hole..yep true life ha we made it to .5 miles from the summit at the anxiously waiting Liberty Cabin that the signs were talking up to be an extravagant place.. ha and that it was.. if you were a hippie..to describe this cabin to you in one word I would choose.. Woodstock.. no joke these people I think permanetly live on this mountain.. there were 4 guys lounging on rocks smoking rocks as well I bet and listening to heavy metal form maybe 1990? there were two people making love on each other a dude who was opening and eating a fresh bag of trail mix that he prob got a helicopter to drop to him and a girl laying out on a pool raft reading her nook with a pack of cigs resting on her chest.. it was a site to see.. as Brooke's dad would say.. they needed a tent for their circus.. ha so as me and Alex arrived with Kelly Clarkson what doesn’t kills you makes you stronger blaring on our speakers.. we knew that we didn’t belong nor were we welcomed to join in on the Woodstock 2012 party ha so we to climb..on the trail.. which we thought was the trail at the time.. but looking back I am quite sure that it wasn't ha we made it as far as we could by scaling the mountain side a few times and climbing on nothing but mountain to see if there was any more place to walk.. there wasn't so we turned around and ventured for the hike back down..however the view from how far up we were was gorgeous.. words cant describe what it was like looking from that high up with everything below you.. like you are on top of the world.. it was so beautiful and totally worth the hike up... to continue on the hike down.. is a complete unbeautiful story.. ha who said that going down a mountain would be harder than going up? I SAY IT NOW. you are completely tense going down a mountain afraid of slipping and falling.. like I did oh 20 times.. I slipped one time and got a rock right between my bottom cheeks.. yep talk about comfort ha. Alex had his share of falls too though.. it got to the point that Alex and I would just say yep when we heard the other slip or stub their toes on a rock.. ha my legs felt like 100 pounds just to lift on the way back and not to mention we passed through mosquito lane on the way back down because being as granola as we were.. who would of thought to pack bug spray? I remember at one point on the way down Alex and I agreeing that this was past the fun part and was miserable.. the trail never seemed to end and when we finally made it out to the clear of the trail.. we were never more happy to see the car then we were.. it was a moment of embrace like winning a gold medal, like finding water in a desert drought..it was glorious.. we made it back into Durham smelling like a..mountain? and constantly having spasm of hitting ourselves thinking bugs were on us..i have never felt so good after a shower..I did laundry for the remainder of the night and talked myself into not feeling sore until the next day..

Today.. I am beyond sore.. the only other time I have been more sore is after my half marathon. My calves feel like they have needles pushing on them when I walk and my legs are short rubber bands that can barely stretch..not to mention the number keeps going up on the bug bites that I find ha I treated myself to the beach today were I rewarded myself with a sunburn.. who thought that beaches up here would be as radiant as the ones in the South? ha I joke I didn’t put on any sunscreen just tanning oil and am regretting it now. I was entertained by two twin boys about the age of 4 that decided to make bird angels aka snow angels..and being exposed to the group of people at the beach who like to wear layers.. I am talking jeans, longsleeves and pullovers to the beach and just snoozing..Weird? what’s the point? anyways as I sit in my living room feeling more and more granola by the second in my LL Bean pullover from Good Will.. 12 bug bites that itch every 5 seconds and a hearty bowl of waffle cone ice cream.. I feel like I have conquered a mountain or something.. which I have.. I am blessed to be surrounded by God's beautiful creations.. going to the mountains and one day and the beach the other isn't a bad weekend if you ask me.. now off to bed for a 5AM workout.. watch out.. I will close with my new NH phrase.. suns out, guns out... peace and blessings

Kristin takes the scenic route..

As I sit in the same place I was about the same time I did yesterday as I blog.. I am still haunted by the wonderful odors of chicken salad.. Not due to the fact that the smell still hasn’t gone away.. but the fact that it is out in the open giving off its' odor in order to de-thaw.. yep. that's right folks.. I have managed to freeze everything in my fridge...even my shredded cheese has icicles on it.. Who knew that setting 8 on the cold scale of an appliance would be so intense? However.. I should have gotten the hint when I noticed that after drinking all my bottled drinks that my throat would get freezer burn.. there's your sign.. My chicken salad has been a living nightmare since yesterday and is still haunting me as it lies on the counter frozen completely..like I put my fork in and out came all of the chicken salad in one chunk...too much? ok I will stop.. not only is the chicken salad haunting me.. it is joined by the annoying motion detector beep that goes off every 5 min outside my hall, my dirty dishes sitting in the sink staring at me and the obnoxiously loud sounding fan I have in my bathroom.. Lets just say peeing in the dark is a new hobby of mine..at least there isn't a constant ticking noise of a clock hand in here. that would require my wall clock to work.. work meaning that it has a second hand.. but they ran out of those at Good Will so that explains why it is always 5 oclock somewhere as I enjoy my night cap and type.. I feel no guilt. Before I talk about my magnificent day I forgot to state the most important fact that I have learned to help with my schedule of GTL Wearing protective eyewear in the tanning bed is a NH law #386 to be exact, I was reminded of this today as I was questioned as to where my eye protection was located, when I purchased it and if I was certified to have it..okay joking on the last part just needed a little humor.. Now off to my day..

Before I start this story I was everyone to know that I will admit to getting lost in my car, walking around town or even on a highway.. but never would I ever admit to getting lost while running.. it is just not right for such a sporty person like myself to admit to that.. like getting lost while doing a sporty action is not an option for me.. until today.. I woke up to the lovely sunrise around 5:30 duh to my window box fan leaving my curtain open for exposure to the first lighting of the sun at the earliest time ever and rolled over.. Snoozed about 5 times and then decided that cussing myself out for being lazy and not getting up wasn’t doing much good.. at this point it was past the time cut off to drive 20 min to planet fitness run n shower so I told myself that it was a beautiful day to explore and go for my first NH run outside. I was feeling confident with my red bandanna on as I step outside my apt ready to conquer the running trails of Nude Hamster. I was feeling great as I passed by my neighbors of the SAE house who had defiantly burnt their midnight snack as it smelled like burnt popcorn on the street.. made my way downtown mean mugged some kids at a bus stopped and enjoyed my forest trail run in an area around the campus call College Woods.. it was beautiful as I dodged all the roots and stumps feeling like Rambo/Rocky training for a boxing match I came across a breath taking waterfall that I ran over a few times like a little kid pacing the floors waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve.. I looked for other paths in the trail and noticed another one that consisted of a bridge that had missing pieces of wood.. I tried to run on it anyways..after about the third step on a loose board almost bouncing back to hit me in the face..I decided to turn around and climb the Mt Everest trail that I thought would lead me to more woods.. it however lead me to a cute little back road highway that I thought was a short loop back to the Durham campus..little did I know that this sweet little highway would turn into my ultimate enemy on this run that was quite honestly a nightmare. After dodging snake turns on this 2 lane country road, rolling my ankle multiple times in the gravel, reneging through a few prairies and the occasional grasslands for 50 min I tapped my running shoes and realize that I wasn't in familiar territory anymore.. keep you in mind all I have is my apt key and nano Ipod with no GPS or tracking device in it on me.. At this point panic comes over me.. I don't know where I am, where I am going or where to go.. I found myself looking at each car passing by and as I saw UNH stickers going the opposite direction of me I was concerned.. however there was a gut instinct in me that I knew where I was going.. I then came across a sketchy van that was actually a school bus.. this man literally had like an old deliver pizza sign you put on your car on top of his van that said school bus.. he was over in one of the many pebble pits I was running on and I pondered on asking him I was even in the right direction towards Durham.. but then I realized that would just lose all the pride and dignity I have for myself if I asked the creepy guy in a van that clearly was probably an undercover pedophile for help.. so I continued to run..yes run not stop due to the fact that I am that rude person who always makes comments of people you see running outside and when they stop as you pass them in the car I usually give the "push it you wimp" comment. I couldn't drop to that status as well.. if I could avoid directions from school bus man I could run the whole way.. after about an hour.. my knee starts to act up.. and at this point I am crying.. I am sure all the opposing vehicles are wondering 1. why is that dumb blonde running on this two lane highway? 2. why is she crying? 3. why does she look like Rambo with that dumb bandanna? 4. Sucks to be that girl and 5. I would stop and ask why she looks like she is on the verge of a breakdown but then that would make me nice and I can't do that...I'm a New Englander. ha (joke) I cannot tell you how close I was to throwing out that old hitch hikers thumb and pray to God that I wouldn't get a serial killer picking me  up.. I was almost o this point until I saw my sign.. It felt like a mirage but was it..Could it be.. THE TRAILER PARK.. yep never had I been happier to see a lot full of sheet metal on wheels.. it was the common landmark that I remembered.. I was going the right way! after seeing my mirage that was real i then noticed a welcome to Durham sign.. thats right you guys I wasn't even in the town of Durham.. i managed to cross country run myself to two different towns then back to Durham. ha yep it's possible after laughing at myself for that move and continuing to run like Rambo.. the only thing keeping me going was the Eye of the Tigers on repeat on my IPod.. I finally got back to my apt maybe 30 min later.. sweat covering my body, tears dried up on my cheeks and a swollen knee...lesson learned here. .maybe stay local when it comes to granola field trips?

I left my apt at 6:50 and did not return until 8:#0 and had to be at work by 9.. I was excited to use my shower for the first time, but it was not excited for me to use it as my shower curtain did the opposite effect of keeping water in the shower but decided to flood my bathroom floors.. I got to work and had a better day! Came home to frozen chicken salad and then attempted dinner 2 of a bowl of cereal.. that managed to fly off my coffee table to the floor... no worries I ate it.. It’s a tight budget in New Hamster.. Looks like a night full of DVR and bed at 10:30.. 5AM workout.. Who’s pumped up? I am.. literally..

Operation Chicken Salad

I know this whole experience is a time to embark on  an adventure and discover things about myself... As I sit here in my apt that smells like a mixture of eggs, chicken and a slight hint of sweet pickle I have come to one conclusion about myself..I cannot by any means cook, open a can good or mix ingredients together.. well in New Hamster at least.. or should I call it my new term that my first friend Alex taught me.. Nude Hamster. The past few days have been emotional and full of some adventure as well... Mom and I enjoyed her last few days here by going to the grocery store, target and Wal-Mart to get me settled before she left.. I cried my eyes out leaving the airport yesterday and miss her and my dad so much already. Not to mention them being gone has made me miss Brooke more.. (told ya I wrote about you) The reality of me really being 23 hours from everyone sunk in last night as I attempted to sleep in this apartment alone...which surprisingly was a success.. I got up at 5 this morning worked out at my new getaway Planet Fitness and worked from 9-4... Words can't describe how great it was to have mom up here for a week..we got to bond and it was so comforting having her here.. I cant wait for her and Aunt Laurie to come see me in the Fall.. maybe by then I will be somewhat of a local and know all the wicked places to check out.. Even though yesterday was a sad day, seeing my mom off who had an airport experience like no other.. consisting of stalling the flight taking weight off, returning back to gates to make flight leave 2 hours late and having a long layover in ATL..she finally made it home!! I had adventures of my own yesterday as I was given a tour from my first real life New Hamster friend Alex.. who I work with... even though he says he is a born and raised New Englander.don't let him fool you.. I came back from the tour of the town of Durham, Lee and Portsmouth still full of questions with no answers as Alex's common answer to everything was "I dunno.. and I never tried that before.. I mean Alex come on you are from Mass and haven't even had lobster? yep. that just happened called you out to all the kinfolk down in the South.. don't worry yall it will make me feel atleast a little bit more Northern than him for a second..All in all I give the tour 5 stars.. We went to a local state park that was absolutely stunning.. filled with forest, prairies and walked out straight to the river, I got to touch the Atlantic Ocean? for the first time and even got to go off the coast on the beach where I was granola and climbed on the rocks as rats..yes rats.. and fish jumped out at me... I even got to see a breath taking (like myself) ha sunset and got to see back roads and was yet reminded again about how small Durham really is and finished the night off at dinner at Red Hook brewery where I was too embarrassed to embrace my beer allergy and struggled through having a few swigs of brewskey.. but my turkey pita was divine..it was a fun night!...I am so fortunate to actually have a nice person up here to hang out with.. he is one of the few Yankees that doesn't look at you like you are on drugs for smiling at them or offering to open the door.. which leads me to my next section of this blog.. I will title it the things I have learned about Nude Hamster:
1. Never say mam or sir... you will get the eat you know what and die look
2. Pizzerias are a common eatery up here.. I am talking like I counted 10 in a 5 mile radius.
3. The town of Durham closes at 6pm
4. It is the law to recycle.... you must obey or you could get arrested..
5. No texting and driving.. you will get locked up no joke
6. The only place you can buy liquor is at a state store.. but bright side its an outlet so prices are cheaper.
7. Try not to smile too much.. Yankees will think you are up to something and more than likely frown back at you
8. learn how to use the term wicked... it makes you blend in
9. girls enjoy their shorts super short and tshirts rather snug.. my t shirts make me look like a hobo to them
10. jorts..that is right jorts are accepted up here along with cell phone clips.. which leads me to my next #
11. everyone can stop bashing me for dating Jersey shore jorts freshman year.. he was nearly just showing off northern fashion to the south
12. good luck finding your way around any part of this state.. i get lost 99.9% of the time
13. round-abouts are NH's bff..one on every other street
14.you will need mixing bowls in your kitchen.. so if your mom offers to buy you some for you're kitchen and you think they will not be needed they are...transferring food between skillet and Tupperware to mix ingredients make a mess and the smell of eggs and pickles to float even further into your furniture.
15. clam chowder can and will give you food poisoning ask lee lee
16. being nude is totally accepted up here and i love it
17. don't be afraid to light up in the middle of Portsmouth.. the 50 year old hippies that live there seem to do it like its human nature.
18. allergies till exist up here.take your meds.
19. I tend to have a thing for hitting curbs when I drive up here..repeatedly
20. Parking spaces up here are different..takes me 3 times each time I try to park
21. Not everyone from Durham likes UNH..weird I know
22. Frat houses are my neighbors... yay for the Fall semester
23. I have heat but no AC..good thing I like the nude
24. no matter where you are in NH you are either 20 min from the beach or mountains
25. I will more than likely die of frost bite and snow domination in the winter because from what I have heard no snow this past winter means a WICKED one coming up. solid.
26. Never clam to be from Maine...you will be hated in Hamsterland
27. Never clam the state you are from up here.. just say you are a New Englander and its understood you belong
28. The one finger salute is a popular gesture up here.. when all else fails just throw the bird...

I will stop there.. all-in-all the past weekend was great and this week seems to be starting slowly but surely.. I will close this blog by explaining the title more in detail..operation chicken salad.. As i arrived home from a long day of work at the office after realizing inventory database I have been working on for the past 4 days was last years' info, getting blister the size of mt Everest on each toe and receiving my first parking ticket.. all I wanted to do was make some of lee lee's famous chicken salad watch tv and sleep.. that was not the case.. I first attempt to boil eggs.. which thank God for the best neighbor I could ask for Ms. Coleman to be back up on that one because I almost made my apt erupt like a volcano. .cranking the eggs up to high having a half scrambled on in the pan as it leaked across the sink into the skillet.. I discovered that you only need to boil eggs for 20 min.. not 45 :)... so as I am rescuing the little chicken eggs, I get out my new food processor and am feeling pretty confident.. I am talking like Paula Dean confident.. the eggs are peeled sweet pickle check.. dash seasoning check and can chicken and can opener.. check.. everything it out ready to go all I need to do is start mixing it.. one would figure that a 21 year old would know how to open a can good.. apparently not this one.. however I blame it on the device malfunction. The dollar store can opener my mother got me not only broke on the first turn..partially due to my abnormally large muscles.. but was also a left handed can opener,,I know what you are thinking..those don't exist.. trust me they do.. anything from the dollar store is possible.. so as the can opener decides to work on and off and punch random holes into the can.. chicken juice leaks everywhere..I am talking both sinks.. my clothes phone and floor.. finally after breaking the last piece of plastic off the opener.. I say a few choice words and head to the local grocery store which is..10 miles away.. duh. As i get to the grocery store I have never heard of or been to before.. I find myself scrambling for 10 minutes to find the aisle and come to the only one offered, last can opener in stock for 14.99.. no worries.. Hannaford's took the card. Thanks Dad and Mom.. ha I get back to my apartment where I fail to park successfully in my parking lot again and am greeted by the chicken and egg flavors being embraced in my living room.kitchen and bedroom.. as I get back to the sink to attmept to open the demolished chicken can.. which I am 99% sure I have lead.

Aluminum poisoning from now.. the opener works like a charm and takes 3 seconds to open.. I successfully chopped everything up and realize I have no mixing bowls so I do a little mixing procedure that I only have attempted with a cocktail before.. the tossing pack and forth from container to container method.. it worked..Miserably.. I am talking I found egg and chicken in places I didn't think were possible while trying to cleanup..in my hair on the floor in the cabinet in the toaster on the stove.. on the couch on the coffee table.. i dunno who said chickens can't fly..because eggs sure can... I eventually said forget the chicken salad throw it in a bowl and go to my room for the febreeze to do some damage smell control.. which I ended up half way through the apt inhaling as I was spraying myself as sprayer was pointed at me.. and then trying to light a candle with no fire.. that's always fun..staring at it doesn’t do much and them attempting the last cleansing try of the apt by opening the windows..which I was later joined by Mr. Huge mosquito who probably wanted to join in on the delicious smell in my kitchen as he clung onto the fridge for his dear life I proceeded to be a ninja a kill him with my can opener receipt form the grocery store.. I think that concludes the operation for the night.. long story short.. I will be sticking to frozen foods, cereal and milk and the occasional call in/delivery.. I will put my Paula Dean skills to rest for at least a month where I will then try to attempt Mac-n.cheese which honestly sounds like a night mare at his point.. well I think Mr. huge mosquito brought his family with him as I itch my skin off writing this blog.. gotta get air somehow.. insects are our friends right? At least I won’t be sleeping alone tonight..

The World of New Hamster

So.. as you all can tell... I have failed miserably about this whole me blogging like everyday/ every other day thing.. I have an many excuses behind it..a combination of many events have happened over the past week..and I would like to first clear the air that Brook was the one behind the idea of me blogging to all you die-hard followers out there ha...gotta give the little people some credit for my stardom on the world wide web... there is one thing for certain I know about NH  and it is an easy explanation.that explanation begins crossing the state line of NH... it loves to rain here... I think that over the past 6 days that I have seen the sun for maybe 4 hours of them? It has rained everyday I have been here and the temps have been in the 50's.. However, this lovely weather has been a great conversation starter among the local folks around here as they tell me.. "This is not normal NH...you must of brought it with you because last week it was in the 70's.." I hope that the great land of hamsters proves that to me sooner than later..

Let me start now where I left off from last blog.. the last drive on Sunday consisted of 4 hours in the car with my father and I arguing over every turn and exit to take..we are defiantly not like Louis and Clark.. we are more like Dumb and Dumber when it comes to direction... actually I just feel like a lost puppy up here when it comes to driving... I have gotten lost every time I have gotten in my car to go down the street or only 5 miles away... I think I am New Hamster street illiterate... Well my father and I finally crossed the state line and continued to show our tourist ways by stopping at the first rest stop and taking pics o the sign next to the highway...when I say next to it.. I mean like 4 feet away from the oncoming traffic..ha we even attempted and 8th grade pic pose.. as we help the camera out in front of us and tried to take a pic...yep... we did that. ha it was so great to be in NH..it was also great to see that not even a mile after the state line there was another exit that consisted of a liquor store.. my type of country :)..We made it to the town of Durham which makes Stark Vegas look like NYC... it is a small college town that consists of 3 blocks..it closes down about 6pm during the summer and is exactly like Starkville when school is out of session.. Don't think that I hate it here.. I really do like it.. makes it feel like I am in Stark again..just 23 hours away... ha  So dad and I went exploring before we had to pick up Lee Lee from the airport... did a drive by of the gym, checked out a street I could be living on and where I was going to work.. Then after that we got lost on the way to get mom from the airport and fought the whole way until it reached that awkward silence..you know the one where you can hear a pin drop and both of yall know that you said things you didn't meant to say, but at the same time all you want to do is laugh at the silent moment? yep.we picked up Lee Lee who was a big girl and  flew all by herself! We loaded up my car and heading back to Durham to show mom the hotel and see if we could squeeze in a housing option trip before we had dinner with one of my bosses...on our way back we found my new summer hot/fav spot.. that being a nude park.. the motto being SUN SWIM AND SAIL..so of course we went into the entrance to find where it would be so I could go with all my friends I have here. joke. on the friends part not the nude park.. if you don;t know this staying at a nude community is a personal goal of mine.. I love the idea of it and the whole fact that New Hamster has one only 3 miles from where I am living is just the big man giving me a sign that I need to be here...

 We ventured to  Dove, NH where we met sweet Barb who showed us where I would be staying..in a small efficiency.. not a one bedroom but and efficiency... ha It was really well kept and had everything you could want if you were staying for a short period of time..sure it was only as big as my closet at home.. but she was too sweet and talked me into wanting to live there by her caring and compassionate heart.. hell she offered to make me whoopee pies.. do I know what those are? nope.. but I love Barb and want to hang out with her and eat the,.. 100% ha After we left Barb's we went to a really nice restaurant to have dinner with Matt.. who is a great guy and co-worker..he took care of our dinner and helped explain the town to us.. even if where we ate was haunted by ghosts and had buffalo heads all over.. it was very local.. made me feel like a New Hamsterian. To conclude this night.. I do not know if the ghosts at the restaurant or Matt.. but oh how that food gave the gift that kept on giving to Lee Lee that night.. the gift of her being able to see her dinner over and over again... in the toilet as she threw up until 2AM...we blame it on the clam chowder.. those damn New Hamster clams gets her every time.. ha I guess that the imitation clams we eat back at home don't cause the reaction she experienced her first night here.

The next day I got up and went to the local gym had a sweet omelet from the Holiday Inn.. the imitation egg type only of course ha  and went to my second living option.. that being Anne's place.. or should I saw musty basement... Anne rents rooms to students at UNH to stay for a low rate.. on her downstairs floor where there is a kitchen bathroom n living area.. sounds like a good deal.. until you see it... the place you are renting is more of a basement full of storage that has mothballs lingering over every corner... the other catch to this was I would have a roommate..her name being Frier.. you thin German monk right? nope a non-English speaking Asian who was too busy playing with her bf in the front to meet me.. we'll we will see ya never Oyster River home ha.. after this I crossed my fingers and called Matt who said he had a plan lined up with a local property and it turned out perfectly..I now have a place not even a mile from work that is a one-bedroom apt..! Even if my neighbors smoke abnormally large amounts of mary jane.. i am fine with it! The only catch was that I didn't  have any furniture.. if you remember from my last blog.. I am a traveling gypsy.. only brought my tv and clothes. But that all worked out as well as we found a great deal on a living and bedroom set of furniture for a great price to keep at Rent-A-Center. After we checked out the place with Matt.. he took us to lunch, introduced me to the office and people and everyone was so nice. It is like a family here within the athletic dept.  After our tour we went to get me a new bank account that took over an hour and a half to get done.. as we are finishing up papers Lee Lee comes in with a I am going to blow chunks face.. so.. we leave call Matt and he takes us to an urgent care place where Lee Lee gets two rounds of fluid and IVs and shots to get back on her feet from the clams that claimed her!


The last night dad was here we went to Portsmouth and had a wonderful dinner on  the bay and some froyo.. weather was great going and walking to dinner but on the way back dad and I were greeting by a monsoon that we had to walk in for 6 blocks to my car.. i dunno what it is.. the rain is just drawn to me. Dad left yesterday after we had lunch with my head boss Justin and of course went souvenir shopping..we drove him to the airport and as I cried my eyes out reality sunk in more.. that I was really going to be up here alone and that none of my family or friends will be minutes away anymore. this is a big step and I think I am ready to take it just have to have faith that it will all work out... I hope it does... I know it will.. just can't lose hope.
The past few days we have been getting my life together in the new apt.. getting lost and saying goodbyes.. it has been sad.. scary..and exciting all at the same time.. Today I worked all day and we had faculty field day.. which consisted of all the coaches and administration within the dept competing in childhood field day games... it was a lot of fun.. sure our team finished in 6 out of like 8 but it was good to make new friends and get to know everyone in a fun way.. it is so awesome how close everyone is..after work mom and I rearranged my new furniture and organized my room.. got pizza for dinner and relaxed the night away.. I dunno what I am going to do when she leaves..we have been each others' support for the past few weeks.. I will be fine though just dread taking her to the airport.. enough of this sappy ish I am off to bed.. 5:30 workout at Planet Fitness..and then work until noon! Gonna help mom with furniture moving and finishing room.. I will blog tomm or Sat no doubt... I can't wait for more wicked (NH lingo) awesome adventures to come.. goodnight from the land of new hamsters..

My Excellent Adventure Begins!

So here is my first blog.. I hope I don't disappoint all of those who have been anxiously waiting to hear about my adventures that lie ahead of me. I would first like to explain my reason for this blog.. I am embarking on a wonderful journey to the great land of Durham, New Hampshire. That's right, New Hampshire. However, that will be the only time that I call it that... from this point on this state will always be referred to as New Hamster because.. it simply adds character. If you ask me..I honestly think it just rolls off the tongue better and I will propose the idea to the NH government to get it changed..we will see if that works..I mean i don;t seem why not.. New Hamster's motto is "Live Free or Die." I am just trying to live free by freely renaming the state.

Moving on.. the reasoning behind this blog is mostly for my overly caring family to look and I guess the few friends I have to be entertained by my life in Yankee Land...I guess i should mention that I am moving to New Hamster to pursue m career with the wonderful company of Learfield Sports.. I am working at the University of New Hampshire with Wildcat Sports Properties as a Sponsorship Coordinator for a year.. I am beyond excited to gain experience and knowledge to help me further my career... I  am so blessed to have this opportunity and am going into it as a positive thing... unlike most who have a different opinion of my decision...now for the reasoning behind the title of my blog. If you have heard the reasoning I am sorry to bore you again with it.. but secretly I know you want to hear about it again. OK..so the term "granola" is a "trending" term nowadays to describe let me think.. only the perfect stereotype of a person ever.Granola basically describes my quest for the perfect male to be placed into my life.. don't get me wrong here..my #1 priority is my job and the opportunity I have..but NH has opened a new door of males to me that I have never been exposed to before. a guy that is granola is the perfect combination of sporty and beautiful. My dream granola boyfriend that I am describing here drives a Land Rover and has a kayak and bike rack on it..preferable in black.. he has shaggy Brown hair and wears a bandanna on the weekdays while he is switching back and forth between kayaking, hiking and mountain climbing... we will go on outdoorsy trips every weekend and he will serenade me with his guitar playing skills next to a camp fire. He will of course have a dog a lab or a retriever and he will smell shower clean but yet still has a hint of the outdoorsy smell on him..he wears chacos cause he has a reason to and has a little scruff to his face. His name will be outrageously random like Chaz or Stan and he will have perfectly sculpted biceps..all I am asking for is like 2 and a half bums...I will find him.. he is out there in the wild and adventurous lands of New Hamster and I will bring him to the lands of Tennessee.. then I will accept with arms wide open the teasing and I told you so from Lauren, Brooke and all my family and friends who have bets on this magnificent event occurring.

So the day finally came yesterday... the saddest day of my life thus far.. leaving my home of 21 years to embark on a 23 hour car ride with my father. There were tears shed the whole time before and during my departure until about mile 83 outside of Memphis. I hate goodbyes so I usually just say I said my see ya laters to my amazing family and friends...knowing that I wont be a matter or minutes from everyone makes me scared and worried.. however I know that the big man upstairs is going to take care of them and myself and I just have to have faith that it will all work out.. One of the hardest thing about this move was leaving my absolute other half and best friend Brooke.. the person that has been there for the past 3 years and has lived with me for 2.. I am still having to keep reminding myself that she isn't going to be in NH and that I will have to do this alone.. I cry the most about this I think..I hope time will just make it easier..

I have traveled over 1100 miles in the past 2 days and have gone through 8 states.. It has been quite the bonding time with my dad and I have learned alot about myself, him and the states I have been in.. This leads me to the first conclusion of the trip and that is... my dad is quite the talker.. I don't know if you realize this but from Memphis to Bristol,TN/VA i maybe got to listen to 1 song on my new Cd that I was so excited to play.. I am about 99.9% sure that if I were to take a test on my dad's career life and viewpoint on the North I would get an A+.. there were even some moments when I wish I didn't hear the things he told me..which leads me to my next new knowledge of the 23 hour drive... don't trust a lawyer as your travel lodge agent.. what I mean by this is my dad's best friend is a lawyer and sure knows how to pick out hotels for us to stay in not... our first night stay consisted of staying in a Super 8 motel on the side of the highway in Bristol,Tn/Va due to the location being right on the border... we were looking for the Travel Lodge but apparently business was so great with the Super 8 that the two just combined... first red flag... second red flag,.Samiri checking us in at the front desk and the parking lot being almost empty... third red flag... NASCAR paintings in the lobby... fourth red flag... a broken air condition in our room... fifth red flag... my father being paranoid the whole night looking at every car that came in after us to make sure they weren't "creepers" in his term.. sixth red flag... dad's purchase of a coke in the vending machine being from Christmas time...yep... had the holiday polar bears on the can. I also learned a great thing last night... Virginia really is for lovers... as I listened to the two lovers in the room next to us make love noises as our AC was broken.. I slept in layers and over the sheets.solid.

Today we left the great land of Bristol to find that the next exit over would of been the ideal stop..which leads to another fact... my father and I pick out the worse exits to take.. like Bunea Vista? which had more rednecks that Miss.. I mean this in the nicest way possible.. some Quaker village in PA that lead us to the ghetto and a somewhat Amish community that seemed to have an orthodox temple and 3 pizza shops.

We did have a fun pit stop in our trip today to Hershey,PA where we journeyed through Chocolate World where I learned more than I need to about God's wonderful creation of a coca bean.I made a game along the way of taking a pic next to each state sign... that was fun.. West Virginia, VA, CT and PA were nice enough to display their signs at welcome centers. We drove 5 miles off the interstate for the Maryland sign, settled for a NY police sign for NY and NJ..well the jerks didn't even have a welcome center.. but that's okay..i have enough memories of that wonderful place and the people that come from it already so I took the rain check with a smile.

We settled for a high class Ruby Tuesday dinner and now here I sit in a nicer hotel that I made my dad let me pick tonight so I would not have to get my long johns out for sleepwear again. We only have about 3 hours left until the destination and then will go get LEE LEE from the airport 45 min from Durham and she will join in on all the fun.. and I am sure will make my blogs more interesting... I still do not know where I am living and kinda sorta feel like a gypsy moving to New Hamster.. a sporty gypsy that is.. with clothes and bike rack trucking 23 hours from home.

I hope that his blog wasn't too disappointing I know I left out some details.. but I'm over it and pops is complaining every 5 seconds in between this wonderful western movie on TV to turn off the lights.. maybe I will get my swole on in the morning.. cause let's be honest I am on edge and my father has called me a few selective names tonight.. haters gonna hate.. until next time...