I Live in Arizona

I'm in Williams. I live here now. This is weird.

Got in around 5 and moved all my stuff into the spare room at Katie and Jen's. Left an hour later to go to Family Dinner which is the weekly potluck for all the staff. Although I'm kind of exhausted and didn't really have the ability to communicate in a functional way, it was fun. It made me remember exactly why I love property staff and why I'm excited about this job.

Also, Williams is as awesome as I remember. I learned tonight that at Christmas, they drill a hole in the middle of one of the streets downtown, put up a giant pine tree, have a parade and tree lighting ceremony, and, oh yeah, that block of the street is just shut down for the entire Christmas season. Because the Christmas tree is more important than a steady flow of traffic. I like their priorities.

I really hope that is just the tip of the iceberg in the funny small tourist town anecdotes.

The best part is, I'm sitting in my room with the window open and it's quiet and peaceful and feels good. I've been really bummed about moving, but I just kept thinking that as soon as I got here, I would love it, just like when I came to interview. It feels right, and that feels good.

Can't wait to work tomorrow!

Enjoy the last road trip diary!

Albuquerque is a Weird Word

But that's where I am for the night.

Arizona tomorrow.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Road Trip Diary - Arizona Edition

Yep, it's back. Road trip diary!!!

(Sorry, Mom.)

I clearly rolled out of bed after staying up late packing and jumped in the car. Please ignore my super-frizzy hair.

Countdown's On

So... I'm moving. On Monday. To Arizona.

Hmm.

Not sure what to think right now.

I've had a great couple of weeks of fitting in time with people I love in order to prepare for the move.

On Tuesday, we had an awesome Old Helias YL Team Members Who Now Live in KC Reunion. There are a lot of us. The Bonhannons, the Peaks, the Petersons, Elizabeth, John (honorary Helias Alum), Ashley, and I all ate chili, watched youtube videos, laughed really hard, and simply hung out at our house. It was wonderful and fun to see how much we stay connected at the heart even when we're not connected in the day to day.

They've decided to make it a bi-weekly tradition and I'm extremely jealous that I won't be around for it, but glad to know that they're all here, carrying on with a community that I get to be a part of long-distance and can always come back and step right into here. What a blessing.

I've also been back and forth to Jeff City a lot this month in order to hang out with my family. I didn't really take advantage of being so close to home while I was here because I was working weekends and thought I was going to be here longer. So I've been cramming it all in now.

I've been to a Mizzou game, Cardinals game, the Lake, my nephew's flag football game, and a couple of BBQs. It has been seriously wonderful and made me realize how much comfort I receive simply from seeing a familiar landscape in front of me. Driving down hwy 63 and seeing the bluffs and the trees and the capital. I feel like I've been gone so long, but I spent 22 of my 24 years of life in Mid-MO and it still very much is embedded in my heart because of it.

Lastly, I got to spend the day with my niece and nephew last Sunday, followed by dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and the kids. I played probably 30 songs on Rock Band with my 7-year-old nephew and you've have not seen hilarity until you've seen a 7-year-old belt out Eye of the Tiger. It was wonderful.

The rest of our day was taken up by a light saber war, complete with several different jedi/storm trooper/harry potter outfits. There was also some time spent caring for sick Barbie dolls. Always fun.

Here's some pics. Feel free to squeal out loud about how cute they are.

Step 1: Put on Game Face.

Step 2: Attack Sister
Step 3: Add Cape, Attack Sister Again
Step 4: Cuddle Break.
Step 5: Become Storm Trooper

Step 6: Go to Dark Side, Become Darth Vader

Step 7: Make Up Story to Go with Pictures in Book, Ignore Brother at All Costs

Oh. Em. Gee.

I just stumbled upon this virtual tour of the new Harry Potter world at Universal Studios in Orlando. It's set to open in the Spring of 2010 and I will be waiting in line, squealing loudly when that time comes. It looks so cool!

Bored

I feel like I should be blogging all the time. I mean, there's some cool stuff happening in my life.

In about 2 weeks, I'm going to have all my stuff packed up and be headed out to Arizona.

It's exciting and crazy.

But in the meantime, my life is oddly boring.

I'm sitting at home right now, and I have no idea what to do with myself. I could start packing, but it just doesn't seem to quite be that time yet. (Remember, I'm a last minute packer. And everything I own can fit in my Blazer, so it's not really that hard to pack.)

I read Taming of the Shrew. I did the dishes. I wrote in my journal. I sent a couple of emails. I had a pretty long solo karaoke session. I started thinking about how I should plan out my next couple of weeks, and never got around to actually doing it. I took some quizzes on Sporcle. I watched a movie from Netflix. (It was French and I didn't really get it. I mean I understood it, but I didn't get it.) I even pulled out a knitting project I started a year and half ago and worked on it.

I have literally nothing else to do with myself.

But I am wide awake.

I am really looking forward to having a job in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I guess I'll go watch Hope Floats for the 63rd time.

Actually, that's a great idea.

I have to go...

Yep.

Probably could've told you this without going to the website, but I enjoy having the internet confirm that I'm one of a kind.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Love, Hate, Love

I love the unpredictability of life. I enjoy the fact that I could wake up tomorrow and everything could be different, that I could be different. It's exciting and it keeps me on my toes.

But sometimes, I hate it.

Sometimes, it makes me bang my fist on my steering wheel really hard and yell, "I don't understand this." And then giggle at myself because I think about how hard I would laugh if I saw someone do that when I was next to them at a stoplight or something.

But then I think about how I don't understand things again.

I don't understand how I could be so certain I'm supposed to go to Arizona when so much of me wants to just stay here.

I don't understand why I was here for 6 months and ready to leave at any time and then a couple weeks into being excited about staying here, it's time to go.

I don't understand how I could be so excited to go when I'm so bummed to leave.

I don't understand why, when I want to talk things out nobody is around and when I want to be left alone, people are in my face.

I don't understand why I love to adventure, why I have a craving to see it all, when a familiar landscape brings me such comfort and peace.

I don't understand how to make it all work.

I don't understand this. (Bang of the fist.)

But then I come home and put my iTunes on shuffle and Tracy Chapman's Fast Car comes on and I remember that I love my life. I love to roam, I love finding more people to love and figuring out how to do that well, and I love, love, love the unpredictability.

Here we go.

Oops.

I put up the wrong video in the last post. Jenna Fischer talks about the lake a lot apparently, but her hilarious description of the Lake is at 4:25.

Headed to the Lake

So I'm home in Jeff City for the weekend. And Labor Day weekend in Jeff City means one thing for most people: trip to the Lake.

For all of my readers who are not native Missourians and therefore do not know the joys of the Lake of the Ozarks, well, I pity you. It is one of the craziest places you will ever go. Drunken rednecks on boats. Party cove. An old-fashioned main strip that houses 10 cent ski ball, more than one old time photo booth, tattoo parlors, taffy stores, screen-print t-shirt stands, mini-golf, and bumper boats.

It provided child-like joy when I was younger and debauchery-filled weekends in my teens. It is a classic Missouri establishment and I'm pretty stoked to be headed there.

I'll be dropping some dimes at 10 cent ski ball, you better believe it.

For further explanation, here's Jenna Fischer from the Office talking about the Lake with David Letterman. Hilarious.

Family is Weird

I think sibling relationships are the funniest relationships out there.

I'm at home for the weekend and my brother is here too. We are 24 and 25. We have a lot of shared history and respect for one another. I think he's great. I admire him in a lot of ways and value his place in my life.

But last night, the first time I've seen him in a couple of months, I yelled at him at least 6 times, got so annoyed by him that I cursed loudly, and punched him in the arm in retaliation for hitting me in a fight over who got to have the comfy pillows.

Yeah. Real mature, I know.

I consider myself a pretty slow-to-anger type of person. I definitely have a temper and there are some things that'll push my buttons, but for the most part, I don't anger or frustrate too easily.

You would not know this when I'm around my family.

I get irrationally angry when they talk while I'm trying to watch a movie. Or cheat when I get up from the table during a game. Or simply say something that I don't approve of.

In all fairness, my brother knows how to frustrate me and does it with great joy. And then laughs a lot. So it makes sense. But still. I should be able to control myself a little better.

But no matter how much I grow as a person, I'm likely to revert to a 15-year-old version of myself whenever I'm at home. I don't know if that's comforting or really scary. If you knew me at 15, you'd probably say scary.

Oh, well. I'm going to go watch some daytime MTV and enjoy being at home.

I'm Ready to Talk About It

Alright. I know it's been awhile. You've probably all been hanging in suspense, wondering and wondering what is possibly going on in my life.

Or you've been assuming that I've been spending my days watching old episodes of Sex and the City on DVD and going to the coffee shop for hours. (Read: continuing to do nothing with my life.)

Well, if you've been assuming that, you would be WRONG. Wrong!, I say. (Although that's a fair assumption. I can see why you would think that.)

But I actually have big life news. I know! It's so exciting!

I got a job! That's right, I'm legitimately employed. No more long whiny blog posts about the lack of direction my life has. No more desperate searches. No more stalker-like emails and resume inundation to every non-profit in the known world. I have an actual job with health benefits and a 401(k).

(Aren't you proud?)

What's the job? Well, I'll be working here.

I'm going back on property staff and moving to Northern Arizona. I'm going to be the Housekeeping Supervisor at Young Life's Lost Canyon!

It has been a very bittersweet week. I'm really excited about the job. There are only 2 jobs on property staff that I said I would do at this point and only 4 or 5 properties that I was willing to explore working at. This was one of the jobs at one of the properties. It's pretty perfect. And the more I find out about the job and the people, the better the fit seems.

That being said, I was just at the point where I really love KC. I have great, comfortable friends here. There are things I was excited about here. And I've only been here for 6 months. It seems crazy that it's already time to move again. (This will be the 5th place I've lived in 2 years- that's insane.)

But it is time. So I'm going. Oct. 1. Crazy.

I'll fill you in more on all the details in later posts. Get pumped. And if you're in Missouri, we need to hang out before I leave.