This was a "Milestone" week

Fidelity Investments is closing the office building I work from in Marlborough sometime in the first quarter of 2010. They are moving half of the workers to Boston and the other half (my group) to Smithfield, RI where they own a big, shiny, new office building. They told us about the move over the summer. We had to sign a statement by the end of September indicating our intent ("Statement of Intent") to either travel to Smithfield, RI  with our job or leave. So, at the end of last week, I told my boss that I will not be going to Smithfield. Right now my commute is about 90 - 100 miles per day depending on which route I take. The drive to Smithfield is a minimum of 150 miles per day. And it's not an easy drive; they're very hard miles between Lynnfield and Smithfield. So, it wasn't too much of a decision for us. And, since you know Neal and me, you know the timing could not have been better. Even so, it was a milestone decision for us and will represent a major change in our lives.

I have been working from home on Friday's for the past couple of years. Unless I have to be in the office for some reason, you'll usually find me working from my kitchen counter which converts nicely into 'command central' for about 8 hours every Friday (okay - maybe 7 hours). It took me a few times to get disciplined and be productive from home but since I got used to it and got into a routine, it's been great. A couple of years ago, the Friday afternoon commute from Marlborough to Lynnfield got really heavy and now they are routinely 2 - 2 1/2 hours long. So this informal work-from-home arrangement was just fine with me.

While I might have been able to work a deal to officially work from home a couple of days a week and go to Smithfield on the other days, there were not guarantees that my department or Fidelity would support that as a long term or a permanent arrangement. So, I'm taking the severance package and leaving. Key West here we come!!!

Enough about that for now. I'm sure they'll be more to come between now and when the fat lady sings early next year. So, for now we'll return to our regular scheduled programming.....

....which starts with Friday night dinner. Because of our 'milestone' decision this week, we had a little bit of a celebration on French Night. Although the move is still several months off, we did want to recognize the 'decision' event. So, Neal stopped at the market on his way home from the office to get some fresh ingredients to make dinner.

He got several really nice cheeses, fresh breads and my favorite crackers. It was Friday so I was working from the kitchen counter and had no commute!

For dinner, he got chicken at the market. Now chicken may not sound like a just-quit-your-job-milestone-dinner. But here's the twist.....we prepared it following a 100% French recipe. It was so much fun! We were able to read and understand pretty much everything in the recipe.

But just to be sure, we decided it would probably be a good idea to validate.....

Dinner was Poulet Chasseure (chicken hunter), French style green beans served almandine, risotto (which we shaped through a short round mold before we plated it), salad with fresh raspberries, pecans and baby arugula greens in a raspberry vinaigrette, fresh French bread and bottle of really nice wine.

For dessert we had a layered chocolate mousse with coffee in front of the fireplace. It was a really nice celebration!

Saturday was such a beautiful day. We worked outside for most of the day. Neal took down the awnings which is nice because now the Fall sun will warm up the house without fading the curtains. But with the bushes down and the awnings off, the house looks really, really bare now! Even the Mum's we planted last weekend  seem to get lost.

On Saturday afternoon, Matt and Amy stopped by to visit. It was great to see them!  They had just come from Peabody BMW where they turned in the black BMW for a brand new BMW 325i series!!! Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it because they can't pick it up until Thursday so it will be a long week for them! But, it will be well worth the wait, I'm sure. If you want to see what it looks like and have yesterday's Boston Sunday Globe their new car is the feature car on the front page of the Automotive section. The car in the picture is red and I believe they got a silver colored one but you can see what it looks like. It's certainly a beautiful car. And I'm sure it will great fun to drive. Congrats to Matt and Amy - can't wait to see it!!

On Sunday we didn't do too much because it was rainy and cool. So, we slept in and then Neal made some homemade pancakes w/syrup and lattes for breakfast. Mm-mm good!

Then we watched the Patriot's game and the Red Sox (swept by the Yankees - can  you believe that!) and I did some regular housework and inside the house stuff, went grocery shopping, did the laundry, etc.

For supper, we made homemade pizzas. They were delicious! This one had pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, basil, shredded cheeses and fresh ground pepper.

Here it goes into the oven...

I think it looks done...

Mmmm, that was delicious!

So, after being my office all day Friday, a wine and cheese bar Friday night, breakfast counter in the morning, snack bar on Saturday afternoon, and a pizza parlor on Sunday night, it was time to clean up the kitchen, turn off the lights and give it a rest - it earned it this weekend! Hope you all had a great weekend whatever you did. See you all soon!