This is SUCH a busy week for me.  Here’s the deal:

Saturday 6/28 - Brew Fest (it was fantastic - except it rained a bit)

Jeanne and Me.  She worked at a Brewery table.  I was in charge of giving away the free beer tickets to the bands, so I got a super cool apron to wear. Aprons are so handy - I held my car keys, iPhone, my tasting glass, and the free tickets in that little pouch.

Dad looking oh-so-cool in his hat.

Jason working at the Boulder Brewing Co. table

Trevor, Dad and Liz talking about stuff (notice the CIA-like ear pieces?) I have mine on in the picture of me and Jeanne, but I was obviously better at hiding mine!

The crowd

Sunday - Worked all day at Macy*s

Monday - ARC event at Destare (I got down there at 3pm, and we raised $5,000!)  I also got some awesome prizes in the silent auction.

Tuesday 6/30 (today) - Lunch with Jenny from Macy*s, and then dinner at the library to celebrate everyone who was a volunteer.

Wednesday 7/1- nothing in the day - then going out with Jason for my birthday

Thursday 7/2 - My birthday!!!!  I’m turning 25.  Plus, the first day of the Fitchburg Farmers Market!  Then, something fun at night?

Friday - Longsjo Race the Fitchburg State criterion which goes right around my house.  That night, Beers For Good is working an event for the Longsjo Riders and volunteers.  I only wish that Emiliano was coming back this year.  Here he is in Fitchburg in front of the library last year:  (he’s all the way to the left - the only rider in yellow/green)

Saturday is Independence Day!  I’m helping out in the parade in the morning.   Trevor is checking with the guy him and my dad play boccie with, so we can watch the fireworks from his building’s roof. During the day, I might work at Macy*s cause it’s time and a half, and they need someone to help them close up.  I’ll be out by 7pm, which means I’ll be able to make any cookouts.  I could also use the money for England.

Sunday - Another fun day of the Londsjo bike race - this time it’s the downtown criterium.  A bunch of us always get together and hang out at The Boulder to watch the race on Main Street.  It’s such a fun time in Fitchburg.

I’ll try to keep things updated - but I’ll be very busy in the upcoming days!  Next week (starting July 4th) Jenny from Macy*s has a week vacation.  We’re trying to think of all sorts of fun things we can do together before I leave for England.

As for England, I just purchased my coach ticket from the airport down to Megan, and vice versa. I don’t get into Southampton until after midnight!  I’ll be exhausted after leaving at 9am (midnight England time is only 7pm Boston time) - but it will be bed time for me, AND Megan and Mac.  Perfect timing.  On the way back, I leave England at 6pm, and get into Boston at 8:35pm (1:35 London time).  By the time I get back to Fitchburg, it will be 10pm - bed time AGAIN!  This trip is nothing but perfect timing.  Usually, trips TO London leave at night - 6pm, and then get in to London at 7am.  I’m ready for bed, but the Londoners are just getting up.  It is NO fun.  This time, however, everything will work out fine.  I’ll wake up after a full night’s sleep, and be ready to start my day - just like Megan and Mac.

Time is running out for the brew fest!

There are four of us who are planning everything:  Trevor, Liz, Dave, and me.  I am the only one who is not employed by the City of Fitchburg.  Trevor, Liz, and Dave all are taking today and tomorrow off of work.

Today, Liz and Trevor had to drive to Danvers (shout out to Maria!) to pick up five kegs of beer.  Then, we all went down to Riverfront Park and cleaned up the park a bit.

I have no idea what is on plan for tomorrow - but I’m sure we have a lot to do.  The tent is being delivered at 8am.  The lawn of the park was mowed today - and we are suppose to flag the sprinkler heads so people won’t run over them (again), but we couldn’t find the person with the key to the faucet.  We knew who had the key, but we couldn’t get a hold of them.  Things aren’t looking good on getting the sprinkler heads flagged - but I guess now we can say “We tried to flag them, but so-and-so didn’t answer their phone!”

I think I have a headache now from being out in the sun too much today.  But after two straight weeks of rain, it’s nice that the sun is back.

I had a dream last night that I got a new orange kitten.  I wanted to name it “Scully” but it was a boy cat  (I even check its underside to be sure).

I mean - can’t you see that little kitten being named Scully?

I got signed up for a version of Mass Health - Commonwealth Care.  I can’t get health insurance from school (cause I’m not 3/4 time - I’m only taking 6 credits, and 3/4 time is 7!).  I also can’t get health insurance from Macy’s because I don’t work enough.  Plus, with my internship starting in September, I won’t be able to get a full time job.

Here’s my new health plan:

Monthly Payment:  $0
Going to the doctor:  $0
Copays for medicine:  $1 or $3

With Blue Cross, I was paying $10 every time I went to the doctor, and my meds were $10, $10, and $23 a month.  That is QUITE the difference.  I’ll go from $43 a month to $5.  Holy crap.  Niiiiiiiiice.

I DO work at Macy’s, and so I do pay taxes.  It’s not like I’m getting this health insurance without putting anything IN to the system - cause I am.  And I have been paying taxes for the past 10 years to Massachusetts.  It’s about time I got something back!  Heh.

Brew Fest is THIS Saturday!  If you don’t have your tickets, go to www.beersforgood.com to purchase them online.  They are still only $10 online (although we only get $9.50 - cause PayPal takes some money) - but they go up to $12 at the door.  We realize now that maybe we should have made them $15 at the door to encourage people even more to purchase them ahead of time.

I am VERY excited about my internship, and can’t wait until September (but first, I have to go to England for a month!  Whooo!!!).  Anywho, I realized while I was there that I was going to be on my feet a LOT.  Right now, my “dress shoes” for comfort are my crocs.  They’re a little silly, and not that dressy.  I looked at Macy’s, and found these cute shoes that I’m going to buy the next time they go on sale:

They’re cute, comfortable (they’re Naturalizer!), and they have a bit of a heel, which is good cause some of my pants are a bit too long (I swear, I’m shrinking - and not my waist!).  Because they’re such nice shoes, they’re $79.  Eek.  But luckily, Macy’s has them, and I have not only my 20% discount, but Macy’s also now lets their employees use coupons!  So I can use a 20% coupon on TOP of my discount.  Whooo!!!  That brings them down to $50ish.  That’s still a lot of money, but they’re a good brand, so hopefully they will last for a long time.  Plus, I’ll wear them every week, at least three times a week.

I have just been very busy… and right now, I am too tired to write a lot.

The Brew Fest is a week from tomorrow.  We have a LOT of things to do still, and next week will be a very busy week.  That’s a good thing - but the weather has been very dreary, and I want the sun to come out so I can walk downtown (the Fest is downtown, as well as where everyone works).  I would much rather walk downtown than drive, because it’s only a bit over a mile.  Want tickets?  They can be bought online at www.beersforgood.com  Get them early - cause the price goes up at the gate!

I leave for England in 3ish weeks?  I’m very excited.  I need to start making a list of things I want to do.  Bike and jog around town is top of the list!  I just need a map of Southampton with Megan’s house circled, and I’ll be fine!  As long as I can get back to their house, I’ll be all set.  Two times ago that I was there, I got lost in town, Megan didn’t answer her phone, I got on the wrong bus, and I sat in town and cried.  That will NOT happen again.

I had an interview at a hospice house yesterday, and I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!  It’s up in Merrimack, NH.  That’s good for several reasons:  a) it’s only 45 minutes away, and mostly back roads.  Not bad.  b)  New Hampshire has no sales tax, so if I need anything big (computer, camera, iPhone), I can buy it in NH.  c)  I pass by this super cheap liquor store, so I can stop for stuff for Jason or my dad three times a week and d), my friend Eric lives in the Merrimack/Nashua area, so if there is a bad storm, then I can probably just stay at his house and not have to drive home.  I should keep a change of regular/work clothes in my car (and an iron!).

The internship is 600 hours, and I will be there Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays starting September 1, and go until March-ish.  I’m very excited. I think I am going to need more clothes.  Heh.

Tonight I am going to maria’s house in Danvers (about an hour away) - and we are doing dinner, and then I’m sleeping over.  Hopefully we’ll have a lot of fun.  Not sure what we’ll do - even if we just play games, watch a movie, and eat, I’ll be happy.

Off to pack for Maria’s!

I did the 5k in 28.44 and placed 567/  with a pace of 9:16.

My dad finished 620th with a time of 29:38, and a pace of 9:34.

Larry did it in 20.16 and in 116th place!  He had a pace of 6:44.  And he’s 55 years old!!!!  Good crap.

It was very hot, and I had to stop a couple times because I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I was so hot!  I finished, so that’s the important thing.   I do not like running when it that’s hot.  Jogging, perhaps, but not trying to run quickly.   I also don’t think I’m going to try to run a half marathon again, because I think running for that long would suck diddly.

We each had BEERSFORGOOD.com t-shirts to advertise our beer fest.  Mine was a cool tank top that Jason helped me make.  The two of us were up until 11pm making multiple shirts with iron-on paper.

After the race:  (Larry, dad, and me)

Mike, Trevor, and Amy.

Jason came to cheer me on, but I didn’t get a picture of him.  Probably because he failed to wear his Beers For Good t-shirt.  Fail!

After the race, we got free food, and FREE BEER!!!!  Everytime we got in line for beer, we each grabbed two.  I don’t drink beer, so I was able to hold them for other people.  Whoever finished theirs first got dibs on mine.  I was happy with G2 gatorade and my water.

Not bad for a $25 registration fee.  Free t-shirt, free food, and free beer.  Not bad at all.

Friday afternoon Beers For Good went down to the local am radio station to record an ad for our brew fest. When I get the finished product, I’ll see if I can post it. It was a lot of fun, and made us (me, at least) feel very professional.

Tomorrow starts my week of cancer treatment at Mass General in Boston. Tomorrow and Tuesday I have to go into Boston to get a shot in the butt (insert inappropriate joke here).
I have to go into Boston just to get a shot! One tomorrow and one Tuesday. The shots each cost $2,000, so they are *special* cancer shots.

This week consists of:
Monday - Shot in the butt
Tuesday - Shot in the other cheek
Wednesday - Drink small amount of radiation. Meet with ladies from Hospice center in Waltham to confirm internship!
Thursday - No Boston! Two meetings in Fitchburg, both at Destare (I can’t get awayf rom that place!)
Friday - Whole Body Scan (WBS) which tests to see if there are any thyroid cells still in my body

Friday night - Fancy dinner to celebrate being done with my diet! (unless there ARE thyroid cells, then that’s a whole other story)

Wish me luck! Anyone in Boston wanna hang out any day? Let me know!

Hot off the presses! 

The chili came out really good!  I started it kind of late - around 2.  It simmered on the stove for three hours!  But it was good, and everyone really liked it.  Trevor said it was very good for my first chili, but he would recommend adding in celery when I am sauteing the onions.  I thought it was a good suggestion - it will add it something fresh, and a nice crunch.  There’s a lot left over, so when we got home, I packaged some up in tupperware for my dad and Larry for lunch tomorrow.  I guess it will freeze nicely, and we can use it for a nachos topping, or as a filling for burritos.

We were at Liz’s house watching the game (Liz is a member of Beers For Good, and helped organize Brew Year’s Eve).  She somehow got on to the topic of energy, and solar power, and she mentioned that she had a solar powered water heater!  It’s been in the house for a long time, and still works.  We all went into the room and saw how it hooked up.  It was pretty neat, and I told Trevor that I would want one of those in my mini house.  We started talking with Liz about my mini house, and I pulled up the plans that I liked from the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.  The three of us looked at the plans, and found that it actually lists specifics about the width and height, and how large each room is and everything.  Liz got out her tape measurer, and we decided to see just how big my mini house would be.

We were able to measure it out perfectly in her house so we could all visualize where the house would be.  Liz pulled out 18 feet (the length of the house) and stood down at a weird end, (where there is a piano and a wall in the way), so I had her move down to the other end so we could get an area that was open.  She had a wood stove in her basement (we were in the basement which is finished), which was the exact point of our measuring.  The 18 feet went out to the end of the stove, and then it cut across to the wall perfectly the other 13 feet (or so).  It was big enough for a full sized couch, and I was able to see what it would look like to cut into the room with the bathroom and kitchen.  We were also talking about what it would look like if the loft didn’t extend the whole floor, but was cut open, so you could see up into the loft.

Kind of like this, but on a smaller scale:

I would also want the one wall (right near where that hanging light is), to be a lot of windows, especially up top, to get some light into the upstairs loft.  I could also do a skylight over that open area.  Then, it could look down over the living room area.  Also, with a banister like the one in the picture, it could be removeable, so that I could hoist furniture upstairs.  We started talking about the loft because I was asking how I would get a bed and desk upstairs.  Trevor said that I would have to build the house with the furniture already up there.  I mentioned that I wouldn’t even need a bed (he was talking about me having a big bed that I’d have to put together, with a head board and everything), and I said I would just get a mattress and boxspring and set it on the floor.  He didn’t like that idea, and said “Yeah, or you could just live in a trailer.”  He thinks that not having a bed makes it even more white trash-ish, I guess.

We all decided that once it gets nicer out, we’ll go out in our side yard and measure out exactly the size of the plans I’m looking at.  Then we will get a real feel for what will fit where (will a double bed really fit where they have it pictured?).  Liz also said I should take a look at her shed, because it’s about the size I’m looking at.

Or, I could just buy this house from Home Depot for $10,000.  It’s 240 sq ft, but probably no loft.

The night was fantastic… we had about 300 people in attendence, and it was a great night.  We all had lots of fun planning it, and we definitely had fun that night.

I think we are all glad that it’s over so we can rest.  We can’t rest for too long, because soon we’ll have to start planning the second Nashua River Brewers Festival.

Pictures:

Setting up:

The crowd:

Mom and dad at midnight.  Dad is checking his iPhone to see if the band was counting down correctly.

Liz counting money that people had donated.  Rather than tipping the beer pourers, we had a donation jar for the library book fund.

This is us with musician Johnny Girouard, my friend Sally’s dad.  He played at our event for free!  He was wonderful.

The next day - Clean up!

We have a ton of left over beer - we spent the day cleaning, and drinking.  Lots of drinking.

Liz vacuuming.

The Armory (where we held the event) was the Emergency Shelter during the Ice Storm fiasco.  We all went and cleaned up the Sunday before the event because the Health Department post-poned the official government paid cleanup until after our party!