Jones Soda reviews, thanks to Nathan

The day before we took off for Boston, we went to Target for several needed items, including Jones Soda. Why Jones Soda, you ask? When we moved to Philly for Ian's internship, We took my Christmas present from Nathan: a Jones Soda dessert pack. On the drive, we reviewed the four different pie-flavored sodas. For our cross-country trip to Boston, we thought it would be appropriate to find another interesting Jones Soda set to review. Wouldn't you know, Target didn't have a single Jones — not even a regular flavor.

We had a lot to do that day and gave up the cause for lost. But when we went to return Nathan's car he so generously loaned us for the afternoon, he surprised us with five bottles of Jones. He's such a thoughtful brother! I felt it was only fair to post our reviews for him, even if it is a month after the fact. And they aren't as intense as our previous reviews since the flavors are more straightforward (as opposed to turkey and gravy or pear tree Jones sometimes offers).

Strawberry Lime: 90
You get a very even balance of both strawberry and lime on the sniffy-sniff. Neither flavor is overpowering the other. On the taste the flavors are also very balanced. It's a nice fresh-picked strawberry with a solid lime flavor — not as much limeade as straight lime, with the pucker neutralized by the strawberry's sweetness.

Berry Lemonade: 90+
The nose is very nice berry lemonade, like you could get at a decent sit-down chain restaurant. I can taste some blue raspberry laffy taffy, with a little bite like you'd get from tangy taffy. It really reminds me (Anna) of the summer I worked at the pool concession stand. It's sweet, but not too sweet and has a berry aftertaste.

Fufu Berry: 87
This is a solid soda, even if it doesn't have any surprises. There are some strawberry notes, and a general red berry scent and flavor, and it's not too sweet.

Blue Bubblegum: 89+
We aren't really big fans of bubblegum flavoring, but this has a nice subtle bubblegum aroma and flavor to make a more grown up drink. No hints of cotton candy and carnival rides here!

Green Apple: 89+
Another solid effort by Jones. It's a very dependable green apple flavor.
Anna: It reminds me of the summer before high school when Britni, Samantha, and I wandered around town at 7 in the morning, walked down the middle of the streets singing VeggieTales songs, and ended up at the park near the library, drinking Green Apple Jones Soda. I can't not like this.
Ian: I don't like green apple usually. But I like this.

Thanks again Nathan!

help us with our blog redesign!

We've worked hard to redesign the blog to match the new season in our lives. We sold our car and instead are using public transportation for the environmental benefits and for the savings. The green line is our closest subway. Yet "green" also reflects our growing focus on environmental stewardship — always important to us but now commanding more of our attention.

We had lots of great ideas for the new look, and couldn't decide what we liked best. So we thought we'd ask you for your opinion! The three options we designed are below. You can vote for your favorite on the sidebar poll, and if you have any input, whether it's something you love or a suggestion to improve the design, you can leave a comment on this post.

option 1


option 2


option 3

our 2009 Christmas Letter

Ian and Anna are making the digital, awkward-third-person Christmas letter a tradition. It might have something to do with the fact they collectively were only employed for six months out of the year and were moving when most families were preparing aforesaid Christmas documents. Then again, it might not.

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas

For our Christmas decorations this year we decided, with a smaller budget and eco-friendly mindset, we wanted to go green. As in planet-friendly and pocket-friendly (saving us some green). Not to mention it goes along with Advent Conspiracy.

I got a couple ideas from Jenny at ACME Gift, who said they would only be spending $10 on all their Christmas decorations. And as a retail store, you know they're going all out. The first idea is reusing packing peanuts like popcorn to make garland. This only took a couple hours and my garland is really long. I don't recommend going out and buying packing peanuts. Popcorn would be more eco-friendly. But if you have some sitting around this is a great way to put it to use. I would suggest using fishing line instead of regular string like I did.

The second idea was making tissue paper snowballs. Jenny gave me general directions but I was having some problems, so I did a google search and found more info on Martha Stewart's wedding web site, of all places. My advice is use more than the recommended 8 sheets of tissue paper (Jenny said 10) for the large ones, and the dimensions do matter. I tried using our leftover moving tissue paper with different dimensions and they looked pretty pathetic. I cut them in half to get the proportions better, then used 10 half-sheets per smaller snowball. They aren't perfectly round but look much better than my earlier attempts.

We also started a new tradition (shhh, Ian doesn't know yet it's a new tradition) of making paper snowflakes. Ian had lots of fun hanging them up in random places.

Here are some other shots of our Christmas decorations. Some things were handed down to us and some things were wedding decorations (a plus of a holiday wedding). The only decorations we've purchased since getting married are the stockings. I had my heart set on coordinating ones last year.

So what do you do with all that money you saved? You buy something, like a goat or a chicken, from the World Vision Christmas Catalog for someone on your Christmas list. Then forward the receipt to PomplaGoat (at) gmail (dot) com and get this Pomplamoose Christmas song for free (they're throwing in another unreleased song as well!)

"Always in the Season"

mistle toe and silver snow,
and ivy growing on the walls,
i wish i could erase these dreams, i do.

but all my days are running by
in shopping malls with endless lines
i don't know how i got here, do you?

somewhere between the catalogs
of what to get for him
somewhere amidst the china dolls
my vision starts to spin

'cause i thought christmas was supposed to be
more than lighting up the christmas tree
more than filling up our socks with toys
more than all of this tremendous noise

so all i really mean to say
is let's not throw this time away
i'd rather just sip chocolate with you

and if you'd like to treat me nice
don't wait for snow don't wait for ice
i'm always in the season, are you?

somewhere on santa's list
my name's been crossed off with a slash
somewhere i'm gonna find a better way
to spend my cash

'cause i thought christmas was supposed to be
more than lighting up the christmas tree
more than filling up our socks with toys
more than all of this tremendous noise

i'm always in the season, are you?

to Grandpa

(photo is BC — before Caleb)

Grandpa was an amazing man. He farmed, he took such good care of Grandma, and he was a wonderful dad and grandpa. I'm so thankful I have great memories of him before his Alzheimer's got bad. I can still see him coming inside the house after feeding the cats and doing the morning chores, all bundled up in his bomber hat, coat and overalls and saying good morning to a little me, sitting at the table in my pajamas eating one of Grandma's cinnamon rolls.

It was hard seeing him deteriorate, and even harder as I got older, knowing that Ian wouldn't really get to meet him, that he wouldn't see me graduate or be at my wedding. That's also one thing I'm joyful about now — he's no longer bound by the disease and he can see what an incredible man I married, see all of us grandkids making him proud.

God's timing really amazes me sometimes, and especially in all of this. It might not seem like it with Christmas so close, but Nathan and Caleb don't have to worry about school — they can just go be with family. I haven't gotten a job yet so I can go home without any problems, either. I got the call from Dad yesterday, right after I arrived at Sasaki for the company Christmas party, which meant I wasn't home alone and dealing with it. Earlier yesterday I read Alyssa's blog post and she talked about a song called "Christmas in Heaven." I didn't listen to the song, but I read the lyrics knowing Grandpa's health wasn't the best. It makes me happy thinking this is going to be Grandpa's best Christmas ever.

The funeral will be Monday morning — I'll fly out tomorrow and be at the farm until Wednesday. Ian can't come because of work, so I'll be home just in time for us to still spend Christmas together.

stuck at Copley Square

Sunday was not a great day for the green line. In the morning, we waited 25 minutes at the station before a train came. When it did, it went right through without stopping. Thankfully there was another train almost right behind it and we were only mildly late for church. We were glad we didn't miss too much — the band is amazing and we love Christmas music, and the teaching is so good.

After church, we headed to City Sports to pick up an umbrella to replace the one Ian accidentally left on the bus. Have you ever heard that there are only five umbrellas in the world and they just rotate? We would have waited to find one of those, except it was supposed to rain that afternoon. We headed to the Copley station to go home and make some lunch. As we got closer, we saw lots of flashing lights.

An officer was standing in front of the entrance to the subway and within a few minutes there were at least 14 emergency vehicles on the scene as well as news crews. We quickly discovered that a green line train was derailed.

There was also a photographer we're certain wasn't with a news crew.

We watched for a while, took photos, twittered. But we were getting hungry. Green line service wouldn't resume for a while, so we figured out which bus routes would get us home. It took us about 90 minutes including wait time at the bus stops. We passed the time attempting to recreate the grumpy woman's scowl from our previous public transportation story.

By the time we got home, we were exhausted and ended up just getting a frozen pizza from Trader Joe's. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, and I broke in the Kitchenaid making chocolate chip cookies. I'm so thankful for our big kitchen!

Monday, we learned a little more about the green line train derailment via the Boston Globe:

Green Line train derails at Copley Station
A Green Line trolley traveling westbound derailed at Copley Station yesterday afternoon, fire officials said. The subway line was closed for several hours while officials investigated and removed the train. About 90 people were on the train at the time, but no injuries were reported. Fire officials said the train, coming from Arlington Station, was traveling very slowly when it came off the track. The derailment sparked a small trash fire, but it was quickly stomped out. The MBTA bused passengers around the area of the accident yesterday, causing minor delays.

We also found out Fox was on the train next to the one that derailed and he was stuck down there for 45 minutes. He said the train didn't tip or anything; it just came off the rail and three burly guys worked on prying it back onto the tracks. Train derailments really put a kink in a day. Thankfully it doesn't happen very often!

a crying baby/grumpy woman fiasco

Yesterday, Ian and I took a grand afternoon adventure to turn our Kansas driver's licenses into this.

Because licenses here in Massachusetts are paper. Until they mail you the permanent one.

At any rate, it really turned into quite the adventure. Before heading to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, I got online and checked what we would need — two forms of ID and proof of address. Then I got on the bus to meet Ian.

We met near the office, ready to follow the directions I found online. After waiting in the freezing cold for 15 minutes at the bus terminal, we saw our bus drive past us on the street. It's stop was a block away. We rushed to the correct stop and caught the bus a few minutes later. Then we got off one stop past the optimal choice. After a moment of panic (on my part) and a quick pause to ask directions, we found the RMV, located in the Watertown Mall.

Walking into the RMV is like walking into the New York Stock Exchange (not that I've been inside the NYSE). After checking in with the desk and receiving a number with an approximate waiting time (40 minutes), you move to the center of the room, where there are more people waiting than there are benches. Along each wall are customer service cubicles — one wall for licensing, one wall for vehicle registration. When they announce your number, you look to see which cubicle your number is flashing over, then go to that cubicle. Even though most of the customers didn't seem thrilled, the staff was brusquely pleasant and the system efficient.

Thanks to consulting the Web site for needed documents, we didn't have any problems. My photo was appropriately goofy but avoided the deathly sick look and photoshopped hair my passport photo achieved. We also registered to vote during the licensing process, knocking out a total of three items on our how-to-move-to-Boston list.

The trip home went much faster since we'd learned the stops (the hard way) already. We hopped on the crowded bus, standing room only. Moments later, Ian snickered and whispered I should check out the lady over my shoulder. She had dirty blonde hair and a gaunt face that said "I smoke a pack a day." Her mouth was molded into a scowl revealing yellowed teeth, tipping like weathered gravestones. Her eyes glared towards the back of the bus with a surprised irritation. Then I heard the baby cry.

The woman's eyes tightened. A few more wails and she couldn't contain herself. "Put an f***ing bottle in it's mouth!"

Ian and I exchanged a glance. Her irritation was so unreasonable it was laughable. We restrained ourselves. I was worried for that mother somewhere in the back of the bus. Did most of the people share the voiced irritation of the woman? I held my breath as she shot out another comment.

Our fellow bus riders responded. "If you don't want to hear it, get off the bus." I exhaled. We would defend the mother.

"Just put something in it's f***ing mouth!" brought an even stronger reaction. The twenty-something sitting next to the woman accused her of verbal assault and marched up to the bus driver to complain, her dark curls bouncing.

The lady sitting in front of us paused from her book. "Someone should put something in HER mouth." I envisioned a bar of soap fitting under the snarling woman's curled upper lip.

It was dark as we got off the still-crowded bus. I could see the mother and baby through the glowing window, a cluster of people standing between her and the woman.

We laughed as we walked to the stop for our next bus. Public transportation is so much more entertaining than having your own car.

apartment photos, as promised

Please note, tomorrow after church we're going to IKEA with Fox, so there will be some additions — mainly more lighting in the living room and some window treatments (have the stuff, need something on which to hang them). Also, there are no photographs of the bedroom. Eventually, when less than half the floor is covered with boxes, I'll get photos up.

Here is our living room, courtesy IKEA. You can buy a lot there, even on a small budget. The sofa, both bookshelves, rug, lamp and TV stand are all new.

Here's the media setup — the new TV is a housewarming present from Ian's folks (Dane found a sweet deal online... it's one of his talents). Thanks again — it's amazing!

The bookshelf that killed us to carry up (in three flat boxes, but BOY is it heavy).

The biggest kitchen we've ever had — please remember what we had before this. In Philly it was an easy-bake oven that didn't open all the way and a pantry on wire shelving in the hallway. In Jardine at least our oven opened, but it was a hallway of a kitchen — a one-butt kitchen. Here, we can both cook AND a guest or two can sit at the table at the same time. It's like kitchen heaven.

The happy Kitchenaid, nestled neatly in it's corner.

The bathroom tile is a lot prettier looking than we were expecting (a creepy aqua-green) and thanks to an IKEA over-the-toilet shelf unit, we don't have to keep half of our bathroom things (blow dryer, makeup, lotion... okay, MY bathroom things) in our bedroom. We even have a LINEN CLOSET so the towels and bedding have a home. I feel so grown up.

So that's our apartment, minus the bedroom. Which is big, even if the closet isn't. I'm sure you're waiting on the edge of your seats to see bedroom photos. Please don't fall off. It might be a little while...

Bertha, our first turkey

Our first full week here, we got to celebrate Thanksgiving and decided to attempt a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Caleb joined us, as a fellow holiday orphan.

The night before, Ian picked up a turkey and a box of Stove Top. The day of, we took it pretty easy, getting Bertha (the turkey) ready after lunch. Mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing would wait until right before dinner. Bertha, however, required some extra attention.

Here she is oiled and massaged with some sage.

And here is Bertha and I before she indulged in her sauna. Please pretend I look perfectly domestic.

The whole meal turned out great and we had lots of fun catching up with Caleb. We haven't really spent any measurable amount of time with him since spring break 2005 (me)/that summer internship in 2006 (Ian). Then all in one week, we go with him to see a screening of The Road (well done but very depressing), join him and some of his friends for his belated birthday lunch at The Gourmet Dumpling House, and spend Thanksgiving together. It's been lovely. (Fox went home for Thanksgiving, in case you're wondering why he was not also with us.)

We packed up the rest of Bertha... the turkey (too weird using a name post-roasting) and froze it. We've got four bags of what we're guessing are a pound each, and we sent home a bag with Caleb. How's that for frugal meal prep! We'll probably do it again, non-holiday, to have some cheap and pre-cooked meat in the freezer.

Friday, i.e. Ian's last pre-work weekday, we wandered around a bit, took a test commute on public transportation to the office, and stopped at Sovereign Bank to start a checking account. I realize Bank of America is the go-to bank for people of our age here, but I researched and we decided the free checks and waiving of the fee for using "foreign" (non-Sovereign) ATMs would come in handy when we go home, where some places don't take plastic (debit or credit) and where there are no Bank of America OR Sovereign ATMs. We can work around their Monday-Friday work week, as we're used to banks like that anyway. And I appreciate they give their employees the weekends off — why should I make people work weekends for my convenience when, given the choice, I'd pick weekends off? Anyway, our decision was reinforced by Connie, the very friendly and helpful bank officer who helped us set up our account. Sold!

Sunday, Fox took us to Reunion, and we're very excited to get plugged in. It's a very passionate community and they care about the issues that are important to us — relief work, relational missions, fair trade, the environment, AND they're doing Advent Conspiracy, which I learned about last year and am excited about.

Monday was Ian's first day of work. As requested, I took a photo of him before he left. Not a great photo in terms of composition, as I was still in the process of waking up while I was attempting to take the photo.

On Wednesday, our Verizon internet modem arrived (we ordered internet over the weekend) and it miraculously worked — our official start date was supposed to be today. Super exciting and I have catching up to do (like blogging...).

Today, I applied for a job at a local independent bookstore, and also explored a bit. I accidentally got on the outbound green line car, so I decided to ride it to the end of the line. Interesting to see more of our surroundings and get some ideas for places to apply if the bookstore doesn't work out. I'm hoping it does though, because it's like ACME Gift and The Dusty Bookshelf smooshed together. I then rode the train inbound all the way to Copley Square to get a library card at Boston Public Library. Which closed 10 minutes before I arrived. So instead I took a photo of the Copley Christmas tree. They perhaps call it a holiday tree. I won't.

By the way, I took this photo around 5:15 p.m. It gets dark that early here. Lots of things to get used to, but I think I'm adjusting!