Subject Line: Just a thought

This is a little e-mail exchange Job and I had the other day. I know, it's a bit saccharine, but I just love Job's reply. Such a typical Job response, it made me smile like a goof for a long time at work.


Rachael: I love you to the moon and back!! You are the bacon to my eggs, the jelly to my peanut butter.


Job: You are the coke to my tostadas con salsa, in fact you are the salsa in my tostada, you are the lime juice on my pepino!

 That my friends, is very high praise :)

Missing Family-Archive Draft

{I am happy to report that since this sad moment my family has visited several times, and I have been out to see them. But there will always be those moments of missing them.}

I got a little teary during and after talking to my mum and little nephew over skype. And I am not one to cry that often. I have only been gone for a grand total of 5 months. I am so not good at being away from family. At least I have the most important family here with me. But sometimes a girl just needs her mum/niece/nephew/sisters/brother (in addition to her husband of course ;)

Job-another one from the archives

 This one made me laugh, and then kiss my husband.

Job has over 1000 friends on facebook. I would say excessive and a bit ridiculous except for the fact that the large majority really ARE his friends. He actually knows them. Imagine that. I love that he is outgoing. He makes friends wherever he goes.

But another thing about Job is that he totally speaks his mind. He doesn't mind saying what he thinks, and he will be completely honest with you. And I have discovered that is a good thing (the majority of the time ;). So even while being somewhat blunt and very honest he still has lots of friends. Which leads me to believe people like honesty. Breaking news, huh.

Job has a fake smile in his repertoire. He uses it a lot when I insist on taking many pictures of him at odd times or weird places. I like his real smile the best, but his fake smile makes me laugh :)

Job is passionate about things he does. Violin, music in general, cooking, church and his callings, missionary work, me (ha couldn't resist ;), and so much more. I love that.

He let's me cut his hair. That is really nice. Especially considering how it sometimes looks after I cut it.

 This man is a cleaning machine. It is he who makes sure our house is always spiffy clean. So if you ever doubted whether you could eat off our kitchen surfaces, worry no more because those things see a Clorox wipe 3+ times a day. I know, I'm spoiled.

I kind of love when he gets into certain chick flicks. This man is the ultimate because I swear he has the best qualities of both genders (ok now, don't take that weirdly.....) I'm just sayin' he is one sexy hunk of a man with all the associated traits and qualities, but can also sit down and brush my hair while watching a ridiculous t.v. teen drama, all the while throwing in things like "she is such a bee-otch" or "She doesn't deserve him, what is he thinking?!". Best of both worlds, I am telling you.

He has this little dance that never fails to get a full-out laugh from me. Let's just leave it at that.... ;)

He holds my hand while he is the one driving (which is 100% of the time when we are together) even if we are in crazy traffic, on the highway, or lost. Sometimes I have to gently place his hand on the wheel to avoid certain death, but oh how I love holding that hand.

As if either of those needed an explanation ;)

Adventure--Found among the archives

 I found this post I wrote a few months back lost amongst the drafts of my blogger today. I don't know why I didn't post it, maybe I just wrote it for my own release of emotions and didn't feel the need to post it. But looking back on it is interesting. Some of those scary, unsure things have become less scary, and known. Others are still up in the air. But the last paragraph still, and always will, stand (coincidence the last two posts have had chayote in them. We really don't eat it that much ;)

"Sometimes I put on my happy face and think "this is all part of the ADVENTURE!!! (!!!) Caps and extra exclamation definitely needed.

But sometimes not knowing what will happen in the future is a tad scary. Right now I don't know how long we will stay in our beloved Boston, I don't know if my Jobito will be able to stay in the U.S. with me (sounds dramatic maybe but true. We are going through a green card renewal and anything could happen), I don't know when babies might come into our little family, I don't know what's for dinner tonight.

But I do know the gospel is true. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, and is with Job and I every step of the way on our ADVENTURE! ;) I know I love that man named Job immensely, and forever. I know I have a chayote in the fridge I should use for dinner. Those are all good things to know. Those things (even the last, it is nice to know we can eat :) give me so much peace through the major uncertainty I sometimes feel."

Taaake me out to the Boston Pops

Because I am not able to access pictures from my trip/graduations/important stuff, I am putting off blogging the big stuff to bring you another date night post. Because I love date night. Have you noticed yet?

Job asked me out on this week's date and took me to sports night and Dropkick Murphys at the Pops last night.

 (I really don't even know what's with that JVD looking thing going on. ew.)

Let's be real, I am not a hugely athletic or sporty person myself, but I love to go to live sporting events, I always get a little emotional at the olympics, Boston marathon, etc... and plus, living in Boston has made me loyal to the awesome teams here.  So this was a really fun night to celebrate the amazing teams Boston has and some great athletes that have come out of this city. And of course, enjoy the fantastic music.

And I really loved it because I got to hold Job's hand, sing 'Sweet Caroline' with my hands in the air, and watch people scrambling all over symphony hall to catch flying t-shirts.

Some cruising around with the moon roof open, nachos, and an episode of Fresh Prince added a nice finishing touch to the evening.

Date night well done lover, I now must attempt to come up with something awesome for next week's date. Be prepared for awesomeness.

Job's recital

I have neglected to document a very important moment in Job's life and academic career. Bad wife. I haven't forgotten I just keep putting it off. Along with about 20 other posts I need to write.

So now, I present to you, Job's Graduate Violin Recital

First off, I can't find a digital copy of one, but Job and a friend of his made these awesome invitations which he passed out to friends and community members. He took this whole recital very seriously and worked so hard. He gave about 5 pre-concerts at senior centers, churches, community centers etc... and passed out invites there too. As a result the recital hall was packed to the brim with so many people who appreciate his talent. It was a great feeling.

                        Getting ready at home-                                           Warming up in the green room
                    clipping fingernails is a must for
                                 a musician :)

 After with his amazing pianist Nomin.

A few more of the professional photos he had taken

 What an incredibly handsome man I married. I love him a whole bunch.

(He had some other great pictures too, but I can't seem to find them on our computer at the moment...and I just really want to get this post up now seeing as it is months overdue ;)

Bravo Jobito, it was an beautiful concert!
This recital was in December, and now he has just graduated with his Masters!! Woohoo, special post about that coming right up.

How you can tell it is the opening game of the season for the Red Sox today....

• My first clue was when my patient came out of the house today wearing his red sox shirt. Then noticing that everyone (EVERYONE) was wearing red sox gear. Sheesh, I gotta go shopping so I can fit in here ;)
• Bus driver had the game turned up on the radio thanksverymuch. And everyone knew to be quiet. Don't mess with a Bostonian and their Red Sox.
• High fives all around when we come into home!
• Me forgoing my usual radio line-up on the commute home from work to tune in to the game. I am usually a strickly live sports kind of gal, but not today. It's opening day people!
• Traffic. And lots of it.
• Job's school is near Fenway park and he can hear the crowd in his classes when something good happens. I'll bet he's hearing a lot today :)

Go get 'em Red Sox! 

 

via

 

A little snippet of life lately

• Relax
• Forget Folger's, this is the best part of waking up.
• My patient made me an Easter egg! Cutest thing ever.
• I spy a jones soda.
• Woody's Pizza cannot be beat. Our favorite place to grab a Boston pie and chat.
• A jaunt about town for date night.
• Craft time.
• 3 cheers for actually doing things you pin on pinterest!
• Fresh Asian noodles and veggies, one of my favorite "go-to" dinners.
• The new yoga position Job learned the other day and came home to show me. Impressed wife here!  (image)
• "I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling"
• You know, just another chair meal.

You know what? Food.

It is a goal of mine to invite people over for Sunday dinner more. I just selfishly think that I don't want to mess with what we have going. It's pretty darn low key and wonderful. It usually involves either

A) picking up the Italian dinner waiting outside our door from our landlord, dividing amongst plates, adding veg, and done.

Or B) Making homemade Mexican food together, lots of taste testing, and eating it from our living room sofa (a dining chair makes a lovely little makeshift table).

I mean, we think it's great, but I don't know if others would go with the whole eating off a chair thing for Sunday dinner. And then I think, "well maybe they {guests} only like sitting on the floor and eating cheerios for their Sunday dinner" and I of course don't want to mess with something great like that.

However!! I shall overcome my love of lazy Sunday afternoons once in a while so we can share a meal with our friends. Because whenever we do I end up loving it too. It's so fun to share a meal with friends!
And local friends reading this, please don't think I'd rather be sitting on the couch eating tacos when we invite you k? We really do love to have people over, promise :)

New goal. I wrote it here, it can't be undone. ;)

The view from Wednesday afternoon

Once in a while, the stars (and schedules) align and Job and I get to go to school and work together. It's great when that happens, especially when it is such a beautiful day outside! For 15 min. of my 30 min. trip into work I get some great company, and we both get to enjoy the view--of each other! ;) Might not seem like much to anyone else, but for us, it couldn't be any better than this.

Getting on board

Job and I had a wonderful date this afternoon at a hip little sandwich shop in Cambridge, and then to hear Leonidas Kavakos and the BSO perform. 

We had stimulating conversation, took a walk enjoying the Spring blooms in Boston, and just enjoyed each other's company. 

And to top it all off, this is what I got as I dropped Job off to school:

Job:  Oh no honey, we didn't take pictures of our sandwiches!

So cute. I fell in love again. This guy is not only getting used to my taking pictures of everything, he is now reminding me to!


Don't worry hun, we'll remember next time! ;) I love your guts.

{I did however snap this little gem outside the restaurant. How sweet. And to think I didn't even remember to call.}

The case of the mysterious shirt circles

The mystery: several of Job's shirts suddenly had a large, identical round stain on them, mid torso. No clues as to how these stains came about. They seemed to appear overnight. Like crop circles....

and they were driving us crazy!

Many moons later....

Job arrived in the living room one morning with a bottle of spray oil in his hand, and a sheepish grin on his face. He had solved the mystery.
Turns out as he was cooking breakfast for us lately, he propped the can of oil on this chest to take off the lid, leaving a nice circular stain of oil on several shirts.

Thank goodness for Shout and a sense of humor. We thought this little mystery was quite amusing ;)

My therapy

I finished work today feeling stressed, under appreciated, cold, hungry, and all around grumpy. I was ready to lay it all out to Job in one big vent sesh once I got home.
But then I walked in to a clean home (courtesy of the man), a crock-pot meal I had been inspired to make the night before, and Job completely knocked out cold on the couch under a blanket, looking just as cute as can be.
Suddenly I had 3 things I really love all around me. My Jobito, a clean home, and good food.
So I forgot about all that other stuff and crawled under that blanket with Job and we napped there, awkwardly cramped on our teeny tiny love seat we call a couch. It was wonderful.

Life is nice like that sometimes.
A whole lot of the time.

A day in Vermont

Job and I took a glorious day trip to Vermont last week while he was on Spring Break. We were both still busy that week, but we luckily both had Wednesday off to spend some time together. I really needed this little trip. It was refreshing and great to get out!
Let me take you on our little journey....

6:30am-All packed up and ready to go. As usual, I packed about 3 weeks of food for 1 day. At least we are never hungry on our trips.

7:30am-On the road! I like to travel in complete comfort, which of course includes mis-matched socks and sipping hot chocolate from my thermos.

9:00am-A stop for breakfast in Manchester, New Hampshire. We hit up the Red Arrow diner, which has been voted one of the 10 best diners in America. It was this cute tiny little place. Despite them forgetting to put my hollandaise sauce on the side of my corned beef hash eggs Benedict (how's that for a 1st world problem huh! ;), we were happy with our meal. Old fashioned diner food is always good on a road trip. Bellies full, we hit the road again

11:00am-Toured the Joseph Smith Birthplace in Sharon Vermont. We have been wanting to go for a while now (it's on our BBL after all :) and we really enjoyed our visit. It was a peaceful place, and we enjoyed the spirit that we felt there.

1:00pm-Time for a hike. Quechee gorge was our choice. It is off season so it involved us getting a little creative and sneaking around the fence finding alternative entrance. It was an overcast day so we didn't do the full hike. {I appreciate my city boy husband agreeing to go on the hike at all :) He knows how much I love this kind of thing. Thanks bun!} We mostly hiked around a little so I could have an excuse to eat the homemade granola bars I made. Look at me being a crunchy granola girl. Literally.

Around 2:00pm it was about time to eat 25 different kinds of Vermont cheese. So we stopped in at the Quechee gorge village to hit up their free cheese tasting buffet. Well yes, that does sound a bit like heaven. I love cheese cold, and this was not so cold, but it was oodles of goodness nevertheless. We also picked up some maple mustard dipping sauce, and a bottle of maple syrup. We obviously like eatable souvenirs.

3:00 (ok now I am just making up these times. I have no idea). We tossed around the idea of going home vs. driving an extra hour out of the way to visit the Ben and Jerry's factory. Guess which one won.
We took a tour, visited the ice cream flavor graveyard, discovered Chunky Monkey is our new favorite, and convinced ourselves we were doing a good deed by supporting a very eco and socially responsible company. {you too can be a do gooder! Just head to your local grocery store, pick up a pint of Chunky Monkey, indulge....}

5:00pm After that we started our journey home. Which involved much singing, a delish picnic-in-the-car dinner, and oohing at every frozen waterfall along the roadside (they're BLUE!)

Vermont, we really liked you.

Thanks for giving us a little breather from regular life.

Love,

The Salazars

Summore Vermont Pictures

I wasn't kidding. There really was a lot of singing.  

And oops, two exact same pictures of me. *sigh* I am not going to go back to change that.

One of those long-ish posts...

Poofy hair and car crushes are good and all, but I've decided it is time for a good old fashioned update.
Here's just a little bit about what's happening with the Salazar's:

We got a new car....oh you heard that? Ok....

I've got nothing then.


Naw just kidding. Here's the low down. For real.


Job is finishing his last semesters of his Masters! It has gone by so quickly and we have loved going through the program (oh yes, I meant "we". I feel I have gone through this program with Job! ;) We are really hoping to stick around Boston for a while longer though. We have fallen in love with Boston, and New England in general. We have some things in the works which might allow us stay, so we'll keep you updated :)
Job is doing very well his last semester (as he has done through the whole program. *Brag, brag*. No just kidding, I am just happy for him :). They have kept him extra busy lately but he is always considerate of me and makes time to spend with me. I am very grateful for that.
He has been loving his callings at church, especially working with the primary kids (ages 3-11) during singing time. I peeked in to watch him teach the other week and it was so cute. He does a great job and I am excited to watch him teach our kids some day.
Job is taking a fun elective this semester-yoga for musicians!  I love yoga and I wish I was better at it. He is now far surpassing my abilities and is becoming quite the yogi. He comes home and teaches me cool moves.

I have been enjoying my job a ton! I realized I never actually posted what I do for work. I have the wonderful opportunity to work with a young boy who has many physical disabilities and also is developmentally delayed.  He needs care 24/7 so I am a private duty home care nurse who works with him. I just can't describe how special this boy is to me. First of all, he is awesome. Such an extraordinary boy. One of those guys who everyone likes. He is so sweet, and I am learning a lot from him. I feel like I am getting a teeny glimpse into what it might be like to be a parent, and I feel blessed to be able to work with such a great individual. He is seriously a hoot, I wish I could have my friends and family meet him. We chat, read books, watch t.v., sing a lot, and go to school together (at a special school for kids with severe special needs so I get to observe his and other children's therapies which is cool. I am learning a lot there too). And of course I do plenty of nursing care in there as well ;) With his various needs I am getting good experience in as a nurse and am learning some valuable nursing skills. I feel it is a really good fit for me right now, a good mix between enjoying using my nursing skills I worked so hard to develop in school, and working with kids which I enjoy a lot. So, that's that in a nutshell :) I really like my job and feel blessed to have it.
I also am enjoying my calling as a Relief Society counselor. Our ward is great.

We are still loving our little home. There is an open room for anyone who wants to come visit :)

I feel like this Winter has been extra mild just for us. I know, it hasn't just for us, but I kind of feel like it anyways. So we really can't complain about not having heat in the car for most of the winter. It has not been too bad at all.

Eating healthy has been going well lately. I feel like we have done a fairly good job throughout our marriage, but it is always fun to has a new burst of commitment and try new things, which we have lately (like soy and almond milk, extra veggies in our diet, new whole grains, packing all of our lunches, vegan and vegetarian cooking etc..) Now for me to just get into exercising....

I am very happy with our simple life. We have each other, we have learning opportunities every day. We have the gospel and our families. We have fun chances to see and do things around our area. We have it good.

 From a recent walk on the beach.

Man, I feel like a Woman

Flash Back Friday be darned (just for this week though. Don't darn it for longer than that). I had the greatest Women's Day yesterday and just have to share. Did you know it was women's day yesterday? Cool right?!  Last night before bed I prayed for all the wonderful women in my life and am so grateful for the influence they have had.

So now,

10 reasons why I felt like an awesome woman yesterday: 

1. Had a Doctors appointment in the morning. Taking charge of my womanly health! Go schedule a pap smear ladies.
2. Started a new cleaning schedule and whipped our little home into shape. I love taking care of our little heaven on earth with Job. It feels so good to have a clean home.
3. Ate a killer salad and fruit for lunch. I feel like I got enough vitamins and minerals to last me a week in that thing. I love green food. (it had spinach, feta, tuna, wheat germ, capers, cucumbers, avocado, balsamic and olive oil dressing, etc...) It made me feel recharged and ready for the day.
4. The weather was in the 60's and sunny. Enough said.
5. Took a energizing nap before work.
6. Headed off to work with the sun roof open, windows down, and music blasting.
7. Shortly after arriving at work was given a substantial RAISE out of the blue. Woohoo!
8. Discovered I love blueberry tea.
9. Once I arrived home I was greeted with a kiss and a "Happy Women's Day!" by my sweet Jobito. I didn't even register it was women's day until this point actually.
10. Proceeded to get spoiled like a queen for the next few hours. 

Here's how that went down:

All new natural lavender bath products for me as a gift and part of the night.

Camping out, living room style

P.S. (pre-script) My little sister scoffed when I told her we did this. "pshbm, that's cool". WHAT DO YOU KNOW!? ;) It's cool, ok.
Love you Ren.

We had Grease, a puzzle with alligators, popcorn, colorful little lights and candles, cookies...what else is there to want? (except Grease is a scandalous movie! I had forgotten ;)

Yup, we slept here. And then we woke up and ate panettone bread pudding for breakfast here. And then we canceled our plans for a hike due to rain. And then went back to sleep right here. Good story huh?

We think so too.

P.S. (post-script this time. Sheesh, confusing)

Our little Owl friend missed us in bed that night. Always watching out for us, what a guy.

R.I.P. Hubert

Yes, you read correctly, our Hubert is gone. We sold/junked him. I teared up. That's very sad to admit, but goodness he has a lot of memories attached to him! I was so sad to see him go.
And honestly I'm not even a car person. I really do not care what kind of car I drive, what it looks like, etc... I just like a car that takes me on little adventures. And Hubert did that.

So in weirdo blogger style I gave him one last little photo shoot, and a memorial of some of the previous blogs posts about him (I edited the list down believe it or not). Yes, he was part of our lives. No pets or kids for us, we dote upon an old hooptie.

Trip across the country
Date on top of the car
Car stats
A plug for roadside assistance insurance
Life's little car hassles
A car this great
He's holding on, we're grateful

In a few days I'll introduce the new little love you'll be hearing way too much about. I know it's soon, but you kind of have to be with cars. I think Hubert would approve. (I'm not crazy guys.)

WHAT'S in your bag?!

Have you ever read those "What's in my bag" blog posts? They were all the rage a while back. Well the few I read always went something like this:

"I have lipstick, mascara, my credit card, a mirror, and an advil"

Well, I was cleaning out my bag the other day and realized that the contents were perhaps slightly less glamorous.

On any given day my bright polka-dot tote contains:

1 sphygmomanometer
1 stethoscope
4 pens, 2 pencils, and 1 notebook
3 books
4 sterile normal saline bullets
1 random non-latex glove--bright blue (it's such a hot color right now)
1 bottle of heavy duty hand cream
and a bottle of advil

Hmm, any guess what this gal does for a living? ;)