This post is dedicated to my loving father, Steven Wayne Leavitt! He just had surgery yesterday so I want to try to make him feel better or at least smile for a minute :). Dad, you have an adventurous side that caused you to be injured, but what's life if you aren't fully living? I'm sure when it happened you were enjoying 72 degree weather in the sweet California breeze. I didn't get a text of that, but it wouldn't have been the first! You definitely have inspired me to be brave(and maybe a little cautious at the same time). Years ago, your biggest fear was bungee jumping and what did you do? You went bungee jumping! You are so courageous! And I hope that I have some of that in me as well :). I hope that you feel better, your lucky to have Dawn to take care of you! And little Aries to make you smile. I love you and am so thankful for you!!
Oh and Drew is NOT getting a motorcycle, you alone(and Tanner) fill the family quota for motorcycles :).
Last month we went to Arizona for my best friends wedding! Kandyce looked beautiful as a bride and her reception was stunning as well! I am so happy for her and hope that her and Ian have a wonderful life together, they make the cutest couple! We then went to California with Drew's whole family which was soooo much fun! We had a beach day, a day at Knotts Berry Farm, AND 2 days at DISNEYLAND! Huntington Beach was quite cold and it wasn't sunny out at all...but Drew was brave and went in with me :). We boogie boarded and body surfed which made me really miss living there or at least close enough to go frequently! Knotts was full of young teenagers, but it was awesome and they have some super fun roller coasters. Disneyland definitely wins for cleanest, prettiest and most all around enjoyable! We LOVE Disney! Haha.
While we were there we found out something really special...WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!! Yep! I'm pregnant :). Kinda cool that we can tell our little toddler that we found out we were having him/her in Disneyland. We were kinda freakin out in the park for a bit...then we got really excited. I know that this baby right now is all part of the plan. I feel so blessed to have this assurance! I am so excited to have this baby. I will love it so much! I can't wait to hold baby :). I have been looking forward to this my whole life and I can't believe its time! I know me and Drew will make the most amazing parents! we are the best team and I know in my heart that no one would have been better for me than Drew. He will make an amazing dad! So that was really the big highlight of our trip. Then telling all of our families was really fun! It has been really cool watching Drew react to having a baby. He feels this new huge responsibility to really work hard (not that he didn't before :)). He's been taking such good care of me and has helped me cope with work and 1st trimester so well. I know I am so lucky! So there you have it. This is a big big year for us! Drew is finishing up school in 3 weeks. Then we are moving to Concord into a free place that we can stay in to save money! We will stay there until we have the baby because there are such good hospitals here this is where we want to have it. And Drew will be working on starting a few new businesses/jobs. The baby is due February 19th and after it is old enough and we are ready, we plan to move back west to California. Very exciting stuff! Our life is changing in so many ways and it feels like we are entering many chapters and once, but it is making our life really fun. It feel so good to have a plan!!!!! I love plans :).
This past weekend was Drew's graduation ceremony! Drew's parents, Carly, and Denver flew in from Jamaica to be there which was super nice cuz they've been traveling to different countries for the past week (check our their business E3 Imagine)! My dad, who is a HUGE support to us and wouldn't have missed Drew graduating for the world, came into town. Dawn couldn't make it being in an intense esthetician program (she finishes up next week :))! My mom and Kevin would have loved to be there, but my mom was working :/. We started out the big day with the ceremony! We got to listen to speakers Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Kenny Garrett, Mavis Staples, and Michael McDonald who received honorary doctor of music degrees from Berklee! The speakers were REALLY inspirational. Drews name was called, he walked his walk, and we cheered his name!! We ate at two of our most favorite restaurants. Max Brenner by the baldman for lunch! They have amazing food with a great atmosphere. We even had chocolate fondue! We then got rained on trying to shop around Newbury....for dinner we went to 94 Mass Ave. Our good friends Quinn and Claire came, Jake, and our boss friend David. Great restaurant as well. So all in all it was a really fun day spend with family and friends that are a big part of Drews life!! He still has a summer semester, but it will go by fast. I am so extremely proud of him for pushing through school, work, recording his cd, and being married at the same time! That is a lot to handle :). It's so crazy to think that we are soon moving into a different chapter of life. We feel ready though! We have been in Boston for almost two years now! We are coming up on our two year anniversary in August! Crazy crazy crazy. We hope to move west to California so we can be close to family and the fact that we both love the beach and perfect weather :).
This past weekend was my brother Parker's wedding! AHH SO exciting!! Because I have been in Boston, I don't know his new wife Shannon very well YET, but she is so so cute and very nice and makes my brother the happiest I have ever seen him! They were glowing their wedding day. Everything was perfect! Me and Drew had a little trouble getting to AZ because we tried to fly stand-by not knowing it was spring break for the elementary school kids on the East Coast! Bad..bad..bad. We ended up not being able to even buy a flight out until the morning of their wedding day and got there just in time! Few! It was very stressful to say the least, but we were so relieved with everything going to smoothly and with flights and timing.
It was a short trip, but so nice to see everyone the two days we were there!! My mom and Kevin were in their new house and we LOVE it!!!! It is so perfect for them :). It was great to see my Dad and Dawn and Tanner; happy we got to have breakfast on Sunday with them!! We saw Kate and Clark's awesome garden/backyard and chickens, SO NICE! And we hadn't seen Carly since she had been home from her mission so that was so so good!!! Love you Carly, so excited for you to be on the east coast with us in June!! We got to meet Denver's girlfriend Celeste who I adore...they both seem so happy!! Yay! And Catie looks gorgeous in my prom dress she is going to be wearing! Liz and Steve are busy busy getting ready to go to Jamaica next week on a business trip! WOO! We miss everyone already!!!!!! Love you all!!!!
The idea started when we couldn't get a dog in our apartment, but wanted SOMETHING...cats are sometimes boring...and that's when we came across these...Bengal kittens....they are not just any kitten, they are bred from mixing an Asian Leopard and a black domestic cat. That's how they have such beautiful coats with awesome personality traits. And because of their more active temperament we got TWO! HA! They have been so much fun to have around! They play play play, but are also VERY affectionate and LOVE people! I'll post fun videos every once in a while :)
It's that time of the year again! It's officially cold outside and leaves and turning beautiful neon colors. This year it snuck up on me so fast...I usually anticipate this time of the year, but I was just so caught up in life that it came with surprise! I actually liked it this way. I LOVE buying seasonal things...just the other day I was at Bath and Body Works and bought my favorite "Vanilla Bean Noel" lotion and got this exciting feeling inside. It's very interesting that such simple things can enthuse us! Yesterday my wonderful husband took me to a Pumpkin Patch/Farm in Lexington. The drive was beautiful. We left with two PERFECT ;) pumpkins, apple cider, a caramel apple, beautiful flowers, and an awesome plant to take care of. I think that these things in life are so important. Drew and I were just talking about how we could either stay home and hang out OR go out and make memories that we'll never forget! Our house is now more "homey" and "festive". Soon the ivy on our building will be sticks and it'll really look like Halloween. It's so cool how the scenery here actually fits the time of the year (I'm used to Arizona, what can I say?). I love Boston so much. It's crazy to actually realize how much history happened here. I've been watching the tourists lately admire the old buildings and beautiful churches that I am just so used to seeing now. I forget how beautiful the architecture is here until I stand there for a second and think about it.
Just some thoughts :) ohhh and for my Drew... I want you to know how grateful I am for you. You are my passion, obsession, and I can't live without you.
Helllllllllllllooo! Long time, no blog? It's been a busy and crazy around here! The last month has been full of a lot of fun and new memories with family. It started out with going to Disneyworld for ANOTHER week with my side of the family! My mom and Kevin, Parker, Katie and Clark, Andrew and Janie, and me and Drew all stayed in a big house outside of the parks. It was a BLAST! Seriously, what's better than the happiest place on earth with parents, siblings, and cousins??? I will say that it was HOT! The one evening I decided to change into jeans was a regretful decision. The humidity is killer, but it wouldn't be so green without it right? The house had a pool we got to cool off with on our breaks so that was niiiiiiiiiiice! Parker is all about the food in Disneyworld, he would get an egg roll in china, rice candy in Japan, fish N chips in London, and a Beaver Tail in Canada if it was his choice! And his favorite attraction is Philharmagic. Mom loves the rides and her favorite park is EPCOT by far while Kevin loved his experience of performing in the American Idol Experience(GOOD JOB KEVIN!). Andrew had a fun time showing Janie around for her first time there and of course enjoyed being with the Dressler family on vacation! Both Katie and Clark are all about good old Magic Kingdom with classic space, thunder and splash mountiain. Drew and I's favorite park is Animal Kingdom...we LOVE the yeti ride and are thrilled about The Dinosaur ride being a type of Indiana Jones from Disneyland. And of course the AMAZING African Safari you get to go on and see lions, giraffs, hippos, gorillas, and many many more in a jeep-like tour. On one of our days, Mom took us to a state park where she used to go with alligator infested waters that you can take a canoe out on! We saw a big momma rise to the surfacce of the swamp right in front of us and passed by two baby ones. It was slightly nerve-racking, but EXTREMELY awesome! Thanks Mom for getting us to drive an hour to have an amazing experience :). So all in all, it was VERY fun and we are all so happy everyone was able to pull it together and come! Thanks parents for planning it all.
When me and Drew came back home to Boston, I was left with my last week of work and Drew had a birthday! 25...pretty crazy, but still young :). I decorated our place with happy birthday ballooons and streamers. I got him an engraved sterling silver guitar pick that he opened before I went to work. The sentimental gifts are the ones he loves the most! That night we had some friends over for a get together with cake and fun. Sadly, a couple of them moved this summer, but it was great to have them over one last time. So Drew had a good day! That Friday ended my nanny job with a good goodbye for now. That leaves both me and Drew current job hunters.
The next day we left to go to Arizona for Drew's sister, Tara's wedding! Our trip was filled with a lot of preparing for the wedding, Tara and Zach's cute music video, the actual wedding and reception, games, banana grams, rockband and banana grams with my family, my mom's birthday, quading, and more banana grams :). We hadn't stayed at Steve and Liz's yet for a visit and it was really nice to be around for all the wedding stuff. Weddings are so much fun! And of course Tara and Zach's was a blast. It was fun for me and Drew to be so reminded 9 months after ours of the great memories made. This time we were able to relax, eat, talk, and DANCE! Congratulations Tara and Zach, we hope you had fun in Costa Rica!! WOOO! Your wedding rocked and never forget one of the most fun and meaningful day of your lives.
We planned to head back to Boston that Saturday after the wedding...but why go back when you can go to Cali??? So that's what we did. Dad and Dawn had this genius idea for us to drive back from AZ with them to their house in Huntington Beach then fly back home after we got our fill. We went to a few beaches, including crystal cove(a favorite), shopped, hung out, met baby Ares who is ADORABLE, and went up to LA for a nice double date with Rob and his awesome girlfriend Tatyana(the observatory is SWEET!). So Dad, I know you were sick, but thank you both for the great little break before we headed back. It was great to spend a little time with you guys and we wish you luck with baby Ares and the new company that you are starting!
Yesterday(Wednesday) we flew home sweet home. It is so nice to be back in our little apartment in this big city living our lives. We had a wonderful time seeing and spending time with all of our family in this past month! Our next thing is to both find jobs...I have a few leads and Drew is gettin there. We love you all and we'll see you next time!
Tuesday, April 20th, we flew out our producer from LA (Robb Gilligan) for the recording of Drew's demo cd. Starting Friday night, we were apart of what is called a "lock out", where we put in 14 hours a day for recording. Through Drew's buddy Mitch the drummer, we had a piano (Jeff), electric bass (Marty), and electric guitar (Matt) come in at different times to record their parts. This went really well! Each guy was extremely creative. They fit their part with the others in a way that made every song unique, dynamic, and really just the way we have been imagining. First, were the drums. We could honestly not have been luckier to have Mitch on board-in fact I need to say something specifically about Mitch, without him The Boston Project would have never happened. He started out helping Drew with all of the aranging for his songs, and quickly became a co-writer/co-production manager/best friend. And he rocks at drumming! Second, was the bass. Thanks to Marti, the songs (especially "Into The Snow") were getting a beat we loved. Third, was the piano. With the lights turned down, Jeff's piano was sensational. The feeling we all got as he played away to the music brought a few of us to tears...it was exactly what was needed in the songs. Fourth, we recorded the electric guitar. This took the whole day on Sunday. It was tricky figuring out how dirty or clean it needed to be to fit each song. Matt has an amazing talent that created the rock sound that we wanted. Our last day in the studio was Monday, with acoustic guitar and vocals. Drew has a special talent of playing EXACTLY with the click, which not many can do. And when it came time to sing, he miraculously managed all three songs with out his voice dying! It was strong the entire time. The First few nights we got home sometime between 2 and 3, but the last night it was 4am! We needed to take Robb to the airport at 6 so we ended up just staying up, taking him, then going to sleep at 7am and waking up at 2pm. And yes our bodies were very angry with us, causing stomach and head aches and lack of energy. What role did I play in all this? I picked up/dropped off the instrumentalists that came in for a period of time. This actually turned out great because I got to know each one. My other role was making sure the guys were all fed and happy. So in the morning, before we left, I made breadfast and meals for later and got snacks together. I took lots of video and pictures! And made sure Drew was relaxed when he needed it (pep talks, massages, ect.). This experience has increased my knowledge of the creation process of music drastically! I have found that I hear music differently now too. Picking out each instrument in a song, and hearing how it is mixed (what instruments are in front/back so you notice them more/less). ANYWAY, what now? Well Robb is going to mix the songs. Making them all ready to be put onto a demo so we can shop it around. Until then, we will be gigging with the band around Boston and working on the other ten songs that are in pre-production. Needless to say, this experience was far more incredible and rewarding than we could've imagined! Thanks to everyone that helped make this possible. Keep your ears out for the upcoming demo!
