http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/7-things-you-will-miss-when-you-move-away/
and, do you want to see a holiday greeting video that i put together? why yes, yes you do!
here
changeover
it’s been a really weird summer; with the job/housing situation, it’s been almost a flurry of a summer, and when the leaves started to get that really slight fall tinge a few weeks ago, i started to feel melancholy because, where’d my summer go? i had no garden, no canning, no evenings on the deck, no swimming at st john’s, no farmers’ market every week, no real cooking of any kind, no outside adventures for chasey, and especially no nate time. the last three months were a blur of driving, working, and fretting.
but then i think about autumn, and i get a little giddy. yes, winter follows, but there is nothing like harvest time, pumpkins, orangey yellowish reds, sweatshirt weather, the smell of fallen leaves, burning of said leaves, cool nights with big yellow moons, crunchy frost on the ground, baking baking baking, witches and ghosts and spookiness, and hopefully this year a drive through SE minnesota.
and it means that a mere one season away, spring will be here and hopefully next summer i’ll have a garden. plus i will look exceptionally fashionable in my new raking fox sweatshirt from woot.
i miss
not only does driving back and forth take its toll on my current life, but i miss a lot of other stuff that has taken a backseat while this whole commuting thing takes over my life.
1. cooking, for real. not the chicken breast and sweet potato i put in the microwave every night, but real, actual cooking. chopping, frying, baking, shopping. ugh. i like to make food but right now it doesn’t make sense.
2. not driving. i miss my 15-minute commute
3. all the kitties in one spot. in the same vein, i miss the door to my bedroom when sophie comes and stands on my head every morning and meows in my ear. stupid cat!
4. st. joe running. my running route in st. joe is awesome. relatively flat, goes to csb, scenic. i can choose another route with hills if i want, that’s also scenic. traffic is slow and the shoulders are large. my route in austin is static, hill up one way, then down the other, and it’s ok scenic, but you can only handle so much farmland.
5. nate. 🙁 as much as i didn’t see him before, i see him even less now. boo.
loans
i went through all the stuff in my filing cabinet yesterday and got rid of like half of the stuff in there. i was going through my student loan documents, and i had a lot of forbearances when i first got out of st. ben’s.
well, really. i was working for $7/hr at a newspaper when csb pretty much said, YEAH! you’ll get an AWESOME JOB right AWAY! YEAH! uh, no. i applied for a deferment, but the cutoff for that was such that we’re talking a difference of $10. TEN DOLLARS. really??? so, i had a lot of forbearances in 2001-2003. and if i remember correctly, some of my reason for going back to school was to get my payments deferred (crappy reason, but you do what you can).
if there’s one thing i wish i could have st. ben’s do, is tell them to tell their students that no, an awesome job is not guaranteed right out of graduation. i’m glad i’m making the big bucks now, but those first few years sucked.
lists
1. i just read a “get more interaction from your blog” blog. it said lists are one way of getting more response. ok!
2. vacay is in less than two weeks! woo!
3. nate gave the go-ahead for looking for an apt. here. i’m off to stewartville after work to write some phone #s.
4. i drove home from roch on friday, and the temp dropped 30º over the course of 170 miles. weatherdude says that’s not unusual for winter, but it is for summer. #climatechange,losers.doyougetit?
5. and because this is a list, here’s an even #. i’ve nothing says list like a good ol’ 5.
blah
this driving is really getting to me. it’s been a month, and i’m ready to be done already. not only that, but it’s pretty much draining the bank account. it helps that gas prices are slowly going down, but it has to go down a lot to make a noticeable difference in the amount of money i’m spending driving between austin and rochester and then up to st cloud on the weekends. come on st. joseph!! do your buried upside down thing!!
it’s getting to the point where it almost makes as much financial sense to find a cheapo place in rochester. i wouldn’t mind doing that, but nate goes back and forth. every day he takes on a different view on that one. i think it would depend on how much the rent would be. i don’t know. can i just whine a little bit? i’m missing my summertime because of this. i like the job, but i want to be settled. yucko. on top of that, everyone in austin seems to think it would be ideal for us to live in austin; nate can work at walmart in austin and i can commute to R and back. that makes NO sense. i could see if there were no walmart in rochester, but there is. and the rent difference between the two towns does not make up for driving 90 miles a day. plus it’s a dumpy town.
to top it off, i feel like i should be offering to pay rent soon to kathleen and george. aahhh. i wonder if should put my student loans on forebearance until we figure this crap out. that’s a lot of rolled over interest though. hmmm.
coincidence or inspiration?
there seem to be a lot of people on my facebook feed who are doing couch 2 5k or equivalent. does correlation equal causation? not sure…i know i inspired megan for sure, but other than that, maybe my age group has suddenly gotten health conscious?
i’m slowly but surely getting through nikki’s pics. i’m always so impressed with myself! especially since i’ve never done indoor photos before. some are a little harsh from the flash, but nothing a little p-shop can’t fix. makes me wonder if i should do more weddings — maybe if i had a wrangler. i need a loud cohort.
i love summertime. i love being able to sit outside comfortably. the birdsongs. the frogs in the pond. the sound of traffic. citronella. the smell of lake. freshly cut grass. even sweating i like. i love my deck! i’d prefer a rental with a deck, and hopefully nate’s and my next home (in the country with acreage) will have a deck (and if i’m lucky, a porch, too!). mmmm summer. i think i’ve come to the conclusion that every season but winter is awesome. they are equally awesome in what they best represent and i love them all. and i really hate winter.
vroom
i’ve been driving a lot. turns out my back doesn’t really like it. ah well.
5k finished!!! woohoo!! it rained, and liz and i almost didn’t want to run it, but by the time we got to the registration table, we were soaked through so it didn’t really matter anymore. i still don’t know my results, but my legs hurt more than they ever have in the past, so i either did really well or my not stretching out afterwards was a bad move. (i’m thinking the latter.)
nikki’s wedding is next weekend, so this weekend, in addition to the 5k, i went to her bachelorette party. pretty fun! it made me realize i’m getting too old for some stuff though 🙁 ah well.
i’m home for 5-6 hours, then i have to turn around and head back to austin. i’m doing laundry, got my last paycheck from merrill, figured out my business taxes, then i’m going to go take a nap. my sleep schedule has been all over the map lately. time to smooth that out.
too long!
i really am slacking, which isn’t cool because i’ve had some time available.
i’m down 50 lbs, which is pretty cool, especially since it’s mostly been from running. another reason to keep doing something i really don’t like to do! ok, avoiding corn syrup helps too, i suppose, and i’ve been trying to refrain from eating after suppertime. but if there’s a cupcake available, i’ll eat it. i really should go out today, but it’s 80+ degrees out and a little windy. not sure if i’ll make it. maybe a mile.
my new job starts on monday! i’m so anxious i could power something with my anxiety right now. i know it’ll be fine and that everything will be awesome once i know my way around everything, but that transition is a killer. not to mention i’ll be commuting and seeing nate not much at all until this house gets sold. i’m feeling sad already. but the kitties are coming with me, so that will help a little.
nikki’s bachelorette party is next weekend, then her wedding is the weekend after that. i’m taking the pics and really bouncing back and forth between putting up an external flash ubrella and just doing an on-camera flash/diffuser. the on-camera will allow more freedom and flexibility, but the umbrella will be a little bit better light (i don’t think by much, but it will be a little better). i think my p-shop skills might compensate for the lack of umbrella, so i’m leaning toward on-camera. that’s what i did at branden’s wedding and that turned out fine.
anyone have any ideas for a unique bach. party photo i can do with the bride and bridesmaids? i’ve seen the mug shot one floating around, but i’m thinking something more…literary… hmmm… thinking cap must come out.
tonight’s my last get-together with coworkers from merrill 🙁 it’ll be good but sad. i know i’ll miss some of them, and i’m hoping that when i’m up in the stc area i’ll get to see a couple. i saw newsleader coworkers last christmas, so there is hope 😉
bday came and went. nate and i went to ciatti’s and i made my AWESOME chocolate cake again. NOMG. i also cleaned the carpets and painted that weekend as well. this selling the house thing is a pain in my rear. i wish someone would fall in love with it already! st. joseph is buried in my backyard, so i’m hoping he does his stuff pretty soon!
me
