A Visit from The Bunny

About 8 months after we started dating, Ryan convinced me to get up at some ridiculous time like 4am to drive to Connecticut and pick up his new "toy"...a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit. It was pretty mint at the time, only had about 60k miles and had the original paint, seats, everything. There was not a tear in the seats and the carpet even looked brand new. To be perfectly honest, I was not terribly thrilled with the new purchase because even though he got a great deal on it, I knew he was going to be pouring money into it in short order. Soon enough, the bunny had new paint, exhaust, rims, luggage rack, etc etc. I even chipped in and got custom floor mats for Christmas one year. Soon enough, we decided to sell my Toyota (still kicking with my brother in law on daily trips to Mass!) and the bunny became Ryan's daily driver. It was a small car, but solid.



We ended up buying a townhouse in 2006 and it came with an uphill "s" shaped driveway. Nearly impossible to get up in the Jetta, which I was now driving. In fact, my poor neighbors had to bail me out and push me up the remainder of the hill that I couldn't climb several times last year. So, a few days before Christmas '07, we decided to buy a car with all wheel drive. This way, when it was snowing I could drop Ryan at work 5 minutes away and continue down to Lowell, MA for my job. Our little parking lot did not have enough room for 3 cars, so the time came when Ryan decided to part with the bunny.

He posted it on eBay and immediately had a buyer...a kid in college in Rhode Island. He and his friend drove up with a banker's check and picked up. We were initially weary...would this kid really take care of the bunny like Ryan did? Needless to say, it was a sad moment when the bun drove out of our driveway for the last time last February '08.

I got home from work this past Friday to find Ryan in the garage with a pile of car stuff. Apparently, the new owner had called and was stopping by on the way back from Vermont to pick up some extra stuff (accessories for the bunny) he didn't take when he bought it.

I asked Ryan, "Are you going to be sad?"

He said, "Jeez, Kendra. I hadn't even thought of that." Oops.

Soon after, the unmistakeable sound of the exhaust came up over the hill. The bunny looked great! The new owner loves it and has driven it over 20k miles in the last year... it is now pushing 100k and still running strong. The best thing was that he kept everything the same as Ryan had it, all his stickers, everything. Other than a funky front left wheel, the bunny looked fantastic...thankfully! It was a great hobby for several years, Ryan poured a lot of energy into that little car. It is nice to see that it lives on and is being enjoyed as a "daily driver" 24 years after it was made.

Here is a photo of the bunny (with Ryan and his Dad) in it's glory days....winner of the local VW show for "Best Daily Driver".

So, all in all...good stuff. What a cool visit!

A Visit from Wilbur

My dear friend, Wilbur, surprised us with a call Saturday morning. We were expecting snow that night and had planned to stay inside and wait it out (there seems to be a lot of that lately). So, Ryan and I were out for a walk Saturday morning when the phone rang in his pocket....Wilbur. "Listen, what are you doing because I want to come and see you guys..." We haven't been blessed by a visit from Wilbur in over a year, even though he lives right in Boston. (Oh, his real name is Will, by the way, but I have never called him anything else...it suits him and he loves it).


Wilbur and I worked at Old Navy together eons ago when I was a manager there. The job was dreadful but the people were a lot of fun. So, we forged a quick friendship and haven't looked back since. So, Saturday night we went to Ryan's and my favorite local place... Strange Brew, picked up some Chinese food and headed home to wait out the storm. Wilbur and I played some Bananagrams (kind of like Scrabble but more fun) and watched old episodes of Will & Grace...which is what we always end up doing when we are together. No one appreciates that show more than us!

A brutal game of Bananagrams. We also can't miss a photo opp with Coodie (or at least his paw). And, how flippin' cute is Wilbur in that pic?

I'm not sure what I was reacting to, but this picture cracks me up. This was supposed to be our "sad face".... no reason just for a fun photo.

And the next day....we slept in a bit. Ryan cleaned the 8 inches or more of snow off the cars, shoveled the back deck and the walkway while Wilbur and I made a huge brunch. Blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs. It was delish!

What a great surprise visit! Thanks for coming, Wilbur - we can't wait to see you again!

And so it goes...

Back to work after consecutive long weekends. Brutal.

We had the most relaxing New Year's weekend ever. No, we didn't go out for New Year's Eve...did anyone? It was freezing cold, the snow had just stopped and we were in no mood. We had a nice dinner out and came back to chillax at home. I fell asleep on the couch to have Ryan wake me up for midnight...just barely made it!


Skip to yesterday (Sunday), we slept in and went for a long walk (see above for my super creative photography skills). It was nice to get some fresh air after being cooped up all weekend. Then, we had our best buds over for a nice lasagna dinner. What a way to kick off the week! We had to do something fun...we both had that dreaded "Sunday night and I have to go back to school" feeling. Remember that?

Brrrr...it was cold. At least the sun was shining.Dinner with Scoop, Kate and Chris. Yes, I baked a lasagna! Thanks to Kate for the salad and yummy dessert.

Here we go....into 2009!