Toronto Trip

Our last day of work was last Thursday, and John and I started off our unemployment with a mini-trip to Toronto!  After a crazy Friday morning of running errands (would you believe that on our first day of unemployment we couldn’t even sleep late!?), John and I made our way to Toronto Friday afternoon.  When we arrived, the weather was a bit crappy, but we didn’t let it stop us from having some fun!  We checked into our hotel, and quickly started exploring Toronto despite the freezing rain.  There were some great sites to see, and since it was my first time visiting Toronto, we did a lot of walking and exploring.   

We ate at this amazing restaurant called Trevors and had the most delicious food and drinks.  John had a regular Jack and coke, but I had a really awesome cocktail made with champagne, pomegranate vodka, and pear puree that was so delicious.  Then we shared an order of poutine with goat cheese and foie gras and also enjoyed a trio of mini-kobe burgers with garlic butter sauce.  The food was amazing.  After dinner, we did a bit more exploring and headed back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to check out a breakfast restaurant called Le Petit Dejeuner.  We knew it was going to be good when we stood in a line outside for over a half hour with about 25 other people.  And once we got inside, it was DELICIOUS!  In addition to each having the most amazing mug of hot chocolate we have ever had, John had eggs benedict and I had Belgian waffles with strawberries and Chantilly whipped cream- YUM!  

We did some more site-seeing after breakfast and trecked around the city for a bit before meeting up with Rachael, Sabab, and Kevin, who met us in Toronto for the Swedish House Mafia show on Saturday night.  The show was really good and we had a great time!  After the show we got some more poutine (we had to have our fill while in Toronto, of course) and then went to bed.  This morning we woke up, had breakfast, and made our way back to Buffalo.  All in all, it was an amazing way to kick off our unemployment and start off our adventure!    

Saying Goodbyes

This past weekend was such a blast!  Friday night I went to a happy hour with a several of my closest friends at work.  I wanted to keep it low-key and was so happy to be able to spend some quality girl time with my favorite work ladies (minus Deb and Sandy).  It was great to enjoy my last Friday working for Citi!  Only three work days left now – our last day is Thursday, because Friday we kick off our unemployment by going to Toronto for the weekend for Swedish House Mafia’s final tour!

Favorite Work Ladies

On Saturday John and I received some GREAT news – that someone signed a contract for an offer on the house!!  We excitedly signed the contract papers and are now hopeful that the home inspection goes smoothly and the buyer’s mortgage is finalized!  Everything has been falling into place for us and we are now very prepared to move and getting so excited with each passing day!  2 weeks from today is our final day in Buffalo, I can’t believe it’s here already!

Over the weekend our last roommate moved out, as well.  I’m really sad since now the house is VERY empty (we’re down to a bed and kitchen table), and Rachael was a great roommate, but it’s amazing how everything is coming to an end to start this new beginning!  Now John and I just need to start packing and vacuum-sealing all of our clothes so we’ll be able to fit them in the car!

Last picture as roommates taken Saturday night

Saturday night we had an AMAZING time at our first goodbye happy hour!  So many people came out to celebrate with us and wish us well on our trip.  It was so fun to be able to see friends that we haven’t seen in quite a while, and it was great just to catch up with some of our favorite people before we leave!  For those of you who weren’t able to come to Saturday’s happy hour – we’d still love to see you!  Try and stop by our happy hour on March 1 at Average Joe’s at 9pm!  Below are some pics from Saturday.

Two Weeks Notice

John and I gave our two weeks notice yesterday! The quote to the left is really what got me through the stress of the day and the nervousness that I was feeling about giving my notice. However, after meeting with our managers, the reality of our trip and how soon we are leaving began to set in! We are eagerly counting down our last few days at work (6 more work days, wooo!!) and are getting excited for our readily approaching departure date.

We have also been doing very well with selling pretty much everything we own and last night we sold all of our bedroom furniture but the bed. We are now suitcase living and are hoping that what we have left fits in the car once we start packing (keep your fingers crossed for us, it's going to be a challenge).

Now all we need is for someone to make an offer on the house and we're golden :-)

Itinerary

Last night John and I spent several hours mapping out our journey!  Below are the tentative dates of when we will be in each place.  The plans may change depending on hotels and friends’ schedules, but here it is!  I’m getting more and more excited every day!

March 5-10 – Fairport/Rochester, NY

March 11-16 – Paramus, New Jersey/NYC

March 17-19 – Wake Forest/Durham, NC

March 20 – Jacksonville, FL

March 21-26 – Miami, FL for Ultra Music Festival

March 27 – Panama City, FL

March 28-30 – New Orleans, LA

March 31-April 2 – Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

April 3-5 – Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM

April 6-7 – Phoenix, AZ

April 8-9 – Flagstaff, AZ

April 10 – Sedona, AZ

April 11-12 – Grand Canyon, AZ

April 13 – Zion National Park, UT

April 14-17 – Las Vegas, NV

April 18 – Arrive in San Diego, CA

Making Moves

A few months ago John and I were talking about what we want to do and where we want to go during our lives.  After 18 months at Citi and having our fill (well, mostly my fill, John doesn’t mind as much) of less-than-perfect Buffalo weather, we decided we definitely needed a change.  We made the decision to move – to a booming bigger city full of new adventures and better opportunities (the American dream, right?).  We came up with the tentative plan of applying to major cities throughout the US, and settle on one once we found a job.  In the meantime, though, we decided to take a trip to California to see what all the rage was about and scope out some possible cities to apply to.  Needless to say, during our road trip from San Diego to San Francisco, we fell in love – with basically the whole state!  There is a reason that The Mamas and the Papas wrote a song entitled “California Dreaming” (and have you read the lyrics? That’s us!) 

After our trip in July we decided to narrow our job search to two major cities: San Diego and San Francisco, but were willing to make the move to somewhere in between.  Our original California ETA was sometime in late June of 2013, but as time elapsed, the Buffalo winter set in and we became continually unhappier with our current jobs.  After putting my house up for sale in December and starting to apply the first day of January (what a GREAT new year’s resolution), our new departure date is now the beginning of March! 

And so it begins, my friends, the journey across the country.  A follow-your-dreams type of adventure that only happens once in a lifetime.  We have no jobs lined up, no specific destination, and no set plans.  We are going to road-trip across the United States, arrive in San Diego some time in mid-April and begin applying.  We decided that life is too short to waste being unhappy or disappointed, and not one person has advised us not to go (speak now or forever hold your peace).  Everyone we’ve told about our plans just says, “Wow, I wish I had done that when I was young.”  So here we are, two “young” adults, maybe slightly crazy, probably completely insane, but we couldn’t be more excited to see where life takes us over these next few months.  And this blog now exists so that you can see where we are each step of our journey – enjoy reading!

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“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn.  Climb that goddamn mountain” –Jack Kerouac