Last days in Boston ...

Yet another way overdue post - but no one can blame us because the past few months of our lives have been CRAZY!

Jeffrey GRADUATED!!! I'm so proud of him (sort-of feel like I'm his mother at times) and still can't believe he made it through 4 years of incredibly hard work. He's actually been officially done since the end of April. You may all now refer to him as "Dr. Jeff West, DMD." I think back to that first semester when he would come home from Gross Anatomy smelling like formaldehyde ... and let's just say that he's come a long, long way.

And for other inquiring minds ... yes, we are moving. Moving to Chapel Hill on June 7, living with my parents and brother for a little over a week, then moving into a Glen Lennox apartment on June 19. Jeffrey will be working for Howarth Family Dental Center in Raleigh (http://www.howarthdental.com) and I'll be working remotely at home, still with Brightcove. We haven't yet sold our condo in Boston but we're hoping for the best. Everything sort-of came together during Susan's wedding weekend (April 19th) though it took quite a while for Jeffrey to decide which job to take and then to negotiate the contract. I hope to post again and add photos from Susan and Ryan's wedding and other fun events later.

We are very excited about moving back home and being closer to family but there's so much about Boston and the Northeast that we will miss. It's already been incredibly hard saying goodbye to friends and reflecting on the wonderful past 4 years here. I think fear and sadness concerning change are pretty universal so there's no need to dwell on those things here. Suffice it to say that through our many mixed emotions Jeffrey and I are both overwhelmed with thankfulness for the past 4 years of our marriage - we have learned so much from Boston and from those we met in Boston - and we hope that we have given back just as much as we've received. When we are saddened by the thought of leaving our Boston family we are encouraged, too, by all that we have to look forward to in NC.

I have a dance performance this Friday and Saturday (blocking was Wed. night and dress rehearsal is tonight) and we are planning on helping Tim and Trista pack their van on Sat. morning (they are moving to Wilmington, NC). We have an open house on Sunday and, after that, we'll probably start packing! I've added just a few photos below from the past month or so - mostly graduation and 'going-away' events. The next time we post we may actually be in NC.

Thanks for all the memories, Boston. You've taught us how to live in 340 sq. ft., order groceries online, try new food, walk EVERYWHERE, squish into subway cars, layer our clothing, buy only what we really need, and appreciate all that our melting-pot country has to offer. We've learned to love better, judge less, read more, eat healthier, and give without holding back. This city truly is a wonderful place.

JEFFREY PASSED!

Just a quick post to say that Jeffrey passed his dental licensure exam (CITA) with flying colors so, once he graduates in May, he will be able to practice dentistry officially! We found out about 2 weeks ago and are still excited and celebrating that he never has to do that again! The next step is job hunting for him :-)

Stay tuned for some photo updates of the past few weeks ...

Romance in Vermont

Last winter (2007) I really got the winter blues in Boston. Jeffrey and I decided it would be fun to spend a weekend away - get out of the city - and find a moderately priced bed & breakfast in New Hampshire or Vermont that had fireplaces and all that fun stuff. Then we started looking at the nightly prices and came to the conclusion that it was just too much and most weekends were already booked anyway.

I'd kind-of forgotten about our northeast b&b plan until, this past November, Jeffrey mentioned that he found one at luxurylink.com and he thought we should bid on it (check out luxurylink.com if you've never seen it before - you can get great deals there). So we bid on a package for us to stay at the Juniper Hill Inn in Windsor, Vermont - and we won it! We ended up booking 3 nights for last weekend (Feb. 7-10) - it's a coincidence that it was right before Valentine's Day but we definitely didn't feel the need to celebrate last Thursday because this trip was the epitome of romance and relaxation!

Our schedule consisted of eating an AMAZING breakfast every morning (included in the price - I had the best raspberry pancakes I've ever eaten in my life) where we usually took the seat in front of the fireplace, reading in front of the fire in our room, touring around Windsor, Woodstock, and Quechee, buying cheese and maple syrup at Sugarbush Farms, eating again (we ate a lot), going snowshoeing, and drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies while spending our evenings playing Scrabble and doing puzzles in the house library. The inn we stayed in (juniperhillinn.com) is very old with a long history and we also got a great tour of the home from our host, Robert.

This may sound boring to some - but it was super fun for us (see pictures at the end of this post). We needed the break, seeing as the next couple of months are going to be crazy for both of us. Jeffrey takes his dental licensure exam next weekend in Chapel Hill and I'm going down as well to help him transport his patients and such. The following weekend I'm flying back down to the Triangle to go to a shower/bachelorette party for Susan (my college roommate), two more showers/parties around Boston the next weekend for my friend Brooke (who now lives in Colorado), visiting Lindsey Blanton over Easter (best friend from childhood) in Nashville, TN because she just had her baby on Feb. 13 (Harper Grace!!!! Yay!!!), Brooke's wedding the first weekend in April in Denver, CO, our church-wide retreat the following weekend, Susan's wedding April 19 in Raleigh, NC, the we get a little break until I go to NYC with my girls (Beth, Trista, and Jenny) for fun and debauchery (just kidding, Mom & Jeffrey) and Jeffrey graduates from dental school May 18th. Whew. I'm tired from writing that.

This list also doesn't include Jeffrey finishing up procedures on current patients so that he can graduate or the numerous social events we attend (we're popular, so there are many of them, of course. j/k - we have good friends - they make us feel very loved even though we're not that much fun). Our daily life fits in there somewhere as well. And Jeffrey and I thought we could fit a 3 week trip in there to go backpacking in Nepal after he graduates ... I think that trip is going to have to wait little while, for sure :-)

Also, congrats ML and Chris on the birth of Harper! I can't wait to meet her! Until next post ...

Alaska photos

I added links to the sidebar that point to photos and video from our Alaska trip.

Slackers

That's us! Well, I guess Crystal is really the slacker since I'm the one that updates this blog (how fun is it to talk about yourself in the 3rd person?). So it's been way over a year since the last time I posted and how in the world am I supposed to do a recap for that much time!? I barely remember what has happened over the last year :-) I'm going to do my best to be thorough and succinct in this post and then try to stay more up-to-date in the future - as well as add more interesting things like photos of us and our friends/family instead of random videos of dancing small people :-) (see my last post as reference point).

I've decided that, instead of writing a book, I'll try to categorize our life and then hit the high points in each category.

Marriage:
Freakin awesome. Jeffrey and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this past July and we are so glad that we were able to spend the first years of our life together in Boston (no offense, family and friends, but it was good for us to be on our own away from you all :-) ).

Church:
Super duper great. Jeffrey and I helped kick-off a 9:15 classical service at Citylife this past year, which has been a great growing experience. Our community group grew so much last year that we had to split off into two groups - and Jeffrey and I both think Boston is the first time in our lives that we have seen community 'work' so well. We have amazing friends here who are intelligent, thoughtful, accepting, and who love the city and love each other.

Family:
Our nephew, Jack, was born last April and he is so precious! We definitely don't get to see enough of Lydia and Jack but, when we do get to spend time with them, we are thankful for every minute. Jay and Emily will be moving their family to Birmingham, AL in July for a one year orthopedic fellowship. Tiffany is halfway through her first year at UNC-Chapel Hill, Garrett spent the fall semester in Copenhagen studying abroad, Jenna started her job a nurse and helps deliver babies ALL the time, and Brett continues to improve his golf professional resume as head golf pro at Raleigh Country Club. The Dysart parents are finally empty-nester's and are loving their new identity and the West parents are doing great as well (both sets of parents visited us in Boston in 2007). We've had some rough spots with extended family health over the past year or so but it has led us all to prayer and submission to God's sovereignty - and, thankfully, everyone is doing well or at least improving in amazing ways.

Work/School:
I'm still working at Brightcove as a Software Engineer and LOVE IT. I work for the best company - seriously. My co-workers are so much fun, the technology is engaging and challenging, and I enjoy going to work every day. I take dance class all the time and have continued to teach and perform when I can (I put dance in the work section because it's really much more than a 'activity'). I did a technical review for the book Object-Oriented Actionscript 3.0 about a year ago (you can see my picture in the book if you find it in Barnes and Noble or whatever). Jeffrey is almost done with school (graduates in May) and is finishing oh so well! He sees patients all the time now, did a residency last May at a community health center in Roxbury, MA, was selected to be a Teaching Assistant at school, and is getting ready to take the last part of his dental board at UNC-Chapel Hill in February. He's had a great experience at Tufts Dental. We don't know where we will be when he graduates but we're focusing on Chapel Hill, NC and Boston, MA.

Travel:
We took a big trip to Alaska last August with our friends Stuart and Emily - where we backpacked through Denali National Park. It was an incredible trip - I can't write about it b/c there's too much to tell, but I will post pictures later. We've also been all over New England - camping, hiking, going to the beach, touring, outlet shopping, skiing, leaf peeping, etc. We live in a very fun and beautiful place. Jeffrey and I are taking a Vermont B&B ROMANCE trip this weekend to just enjoy each other and play in the snow so hopefully we'll have pictures to post next week.

Kids:
Our 3 year-old dog, Gus, is doing great and now pees and poops in all the right places ... most of the time. No plans for human kids right now :-)

Activities:
Jeffrey is now roasting his own coffee beans (using our oven) and possibly training for a marathon (training for the Boston marathon time frame but he might end up doing a different one). He was elected as a deacon at our church last year and is still totally obsessed with beer (hence the beer club membership his parents gave him for Christmas). I've also discovered a new obsession of mine - Core Fusion (http://exhalespa.com). It's a killer workout, created by dancers, and I LOVE it! I wrote a book during the span of one month (http://www.nanowrimo.org) and go to see as many dance performances and musicals as I can (we have some great companies come through Boston). Jeffrey and I have also become quite 'green' lately (intentionally) and, as of late, try to think deeply about what and how much we consume. Seeing pristine Alaska had a lot to do with this mind/heart change (plus, lots of reading) and we have big plans for how we are going to conserve resources in the years to come.

Ok, I said this wasn't going to be a book but I guess it is. Oh well. Pictures to follow ...

Get your groove on ...

Ok, so I know Jeffrey and I never update this blog and do a really bad job of keeping everyone up-to-date with our lives ... and this post isn't really going to help with the 'keeping you up-to-date' goal. But, when a simple 2 minute video has the ability to change lives, one must share it. My co-worker, Keith, sent me this clip this morning and it has truly affected the way I understand and experience the art of dance.

Let it change your life too ...

The California Adventure

Our latest endeavor ...

Enjoy sun and sight in Monterey and Carmel, CA - backpack through Yosemite for 3 days and 2 nights - take San Francisco by storm.

We haven't been busy with much. Just took some pretty cool photos recently.

Enjoy!

http://www.dotphoto.com/Go.asp?l=jcwest&P=42C6&SID=89510&Show=Y