listing

its getting closer!!! not counting moving day, its down to single digits! only 9 days till I leave spokane and head on down to San Diego!!


My most recent feeling about leaving has been nostalgia.
I said my first really rough goodbye (unless he can make it up to spokane for my going away shindig) to one of my longest running friends, when I visited Pullman (also probably for the last time).  I've been concentrating so much on all the good and how excited I am, that I have been ignoring all the people I'm going to miss like crazy.


Also, today was my first really day of packing.  the walls in my apartment are bare now, and there are boxes scattered around.  Its hard to tell if I'm coming or going.  I cried a little packing up all my frames and pictures.. taping them shut in a cardboard box knowing I wont see them until I get settled into a place at the end of the summer and my parents bring everything down.  I also know it will probably be twice as hard to reopen the box and see all my friends smiling faces- hard copies of my favorite memories.


I was grabbing some dinner to go at a market by my work when I ran into my friend/favorite barista.. He's also moving, and we talked about getting ready to leave Spokane and he said something that has stuck in my mind all day.. "its a good thing you're leaving before you hate it, otherwise you'd never come back"


this is true.  I'm not leaving spokane because I hate it, I'm actually more fond of it than most people..
I just cant be here right now.. at this point in my life, and might morph into a pile of dust if I had to keep living my life as it is right now, for another day. If I didn't get a job in San Diego, I would have found another reason to move somewhere else. to keep my spirits high about visiting and coming back, I decided to have a list of why I like "home" (spokane, LCV) that I can refer to, need be, at a later date.


1. people. My parents live here, so I obvs have to come visit them
2. I love the Asotin County Fair.. actually I hate the fair.. but I love to hate it.. so many high school memories involve the fair.
3. Pullman/AXO my beautiful sorority and beautiful sisters.. well.. my sisters are leaving Pullman too.. but.. still. litb
4. my Pier1 family!  the most amazing women ever :)
5. Fazzaris Pizza.  if you know- you know.


Also, I'm worried I'll get down there and ask myself.. why did I move down here.. every time something goes wrong. (I predict this to be a longer list)


1. No matter where I am, I am within 5 miles of a Baja Fresh, and Baja Fresh has an unlimited supply if my favorite food: pico de gallo.  They call it a "condiment bar" I call it an all you can eat pico buffet.
2. job. duh
3. sunshine. No more monthly tanning bill!!!
4. Im one step closer to starting a beachfront waffle house in San Diego called the "sandy eggo" GET IT?!?
5. I watch pandacam on the San Diego Zoo website (pretty much watching pandas hang out on live camera) all the time, and now I can just go to the zoo and watch panda cam HD.. #winning!
6. I can FINALLY go see the grand canyon!! Every time my family goes to Vegas, I try to talk someone into taking a day trip and seeing it.. now my dream can be a reality!
7. Its easier to bribe people to visit you when you live in a desirable location. sun, surf, the zoo and close proximity to disneyland and LA.. much more fun than doing.. well.. nothing in Spokane.


all logical reasons.. and of course many more. thats just what I came up with off the top of my head.


putting things in perspective.

Houston, we have a problem

I jinxed myself, the first flaw in this master plan of life has emerged. 

the student housing situation has fell through as she has decided to stay in the San Diego area for the summer and is no longer sub leasing her apartment! AH!  

The good thing is I know two months "ahead of time" so I'm not further 'behind' than I was.. and I'm not really that behind.. at all. And if I want to still do that, there are 100s of students looking to sublease for the summer. So again- not too worried. 

The good news is, the woman who started this whole San Diego moving adventure knows a guy who is renting out a room in his downtown apartment.  Also, price wise- its on the bottom end of what I was hoping to pay (very very bottom end.. meaning, it was probably the lowest I thought I would find)  BUT he wants it leased out by May 1.. I wont even be down there "permanently" until May 16th- and I wasn't hoping to have to start paying rent until mid June.. But the price is definitely right and the location is one I probably would't have been able to afford on my own.. so I might have to bite the bullet (or whatever they say) and just take this "ideal" apartment now.  I'll get an e-mail tomorrow morning with all the details- I'll see if its too good to be true!

In equally as not exciting news- Im beginning to part with furniture in my apartment that I swore I would be taking down with me.. I need the money and less crap. sooo I'll be starting over in that area.. but if im moving in with someone, it sounds like I wont need anything anyways. So maybe it will work out.. 

I'll find out tomorrow when I get more details from that email!

Crisis averted? 

come together, right now

What recession?!  Today I found out that my transfer is official and I will continue to work at Pier 1, keeping my same position in management which was really exciting!  I assumed I would go in as just work a few hours a week as an associate, but they randomly needed a new sales manager the week I move down.. so this is very great news for me, my wallet and my future rent collector!! I get to stick with Pier 1, and the extra job will help a lot financially. 


Also, I feel very homeless in life.  I haven't really lived at home with my parents since I graduated high school, and have been floating all around between the Pullman and Spokane WSU campuses over the past four years.. I don't really consider myself "from" anywhere anymore- I have a house, but I don't really have a home.  Pier 1 has been a consistent thing in my life since moving to Spokane, so I'm really happy I will have something I "know" upon my arrival in San Diego. The women that I work with are such a big part of my life here- I really do count them as a part of my family as far as living in Spokane goes.  


When I get to San Diego, I will be staying with friends, as well as house sitting into late June- so I have a month of rent I don't really have to worry about, and a month of time to find a great place.  I've been looking at places I would be interested in living- but I don't quite qualify to even apply, which has been making me very anxious.  Most (legit) places require a few months of local employment history, which I simply wouldn't have.  Also, I don't know exactly what my pay checks are looking like ect.. and I dont want to be rushed into moving into the first cheap apartment that will let me move in on craigslist, I want a great place. A place that I can consider my first real home.  After the last 4 years, and especially the first 2 months of SD living, I'm really exausted from temporary living and temporary plans..  I know its not going to be the biggest place, or the nicest place, but it will be my own place that I worked for.. and I think that will mean more than anything.  


Today I added one more temporary housing place on my list.  
Tons of UCSD and SDSU students are trying to sublease their apartments/rooms for their summer vacation.  I decided to take up one of these rooms for many reasons.  
1. The rent will be a little bit cheaper, for a little bit longer
2. Its 3 more months I have to establish employment history/figure out just how much money I'll be taking in each month
3. I can research in what part of the San Diego/La Jolla area I want to live
4. I can make friends my age!!! 


I'll be sharing an apartment until mid/end of August with (I think) 3 other girls (maybe only 2), who I believe are all finishing up their junior year , so they are just a year below me! After an appropriate amount of facebook stalking, the girl whose room I'm moving into and I decided we would all get along great and I'm REALLY excited! I think my stress levels went down from 5 mental breakdowns a day to probably just one.  


Of course all this business of things going my way just leaves me waiting for something to go wrong.  Im crossing my fingers it wont! 

my life is a country song

"What are you doing after you graduate"


Two weeks ago I would probably have a more accurate guess on how to cure cancer than answer this question. 


"I'm moving to San Diego, I got a job" 


I can now reply. I've been letting it sink in for a week now and it still sounds weird. 


"oh really? thats so exciting! are you excited"


yeah, so excited to empty my savings account into something I hope works out. I need 5 jobs. 


"yeah! I cant wait! the weather there is perfect all year"


I truly am forever grateful for a fantastic opportunity that somehow fell into my lap.. 
(incase my family is reading this and is worried, I don't really need 5 jobs.. maybe only 3)


Whenever someone asked what I was going to do when I finished college, I always said.. Oh, I'm not sure.. walk off the graduation stage, get in my bug packed with all my clothes and drive to the east coast...?   If I would have known I was going to be half right, I would have saved a little lot more money and bought a little lot less clothes over the course of four years. 


I wasn't dead on, but I was damn close. 


I accepted a potentially great job offer 1,186 miles away from the 2 square mile "cow town" I grew up in.. the type of town you picture when you hear a country song with county fairs, gravel roads, and floating down the river on an air mattress with a case of beer your stole from your parents. A fun fact: it also has highest zip code in the contiguous US; 99403. I loved growing up there- but its easy to shine in such a small town, and I learned from my own, and others mistakes that the world doesn't care who you were in high school.. I have yet to decide if this is a good or bad thing.


After 4 years of college, Im more than ready to graduate, meaning I cant wait to not study for another test, or write another paper.. but I'm less than ready to live "on my own" meaning I killed a quesadilla and set off the smoke detectors in my apartment last week.  Live and learn, right?
But life happens weather you're ready or not, and all my signs were screaming to take the opportunity so many miles away.. and its not like I have a file folder full of job offers and I can scratch my chin thinking which one I should take.  Im more than aware- if you get a job, take it.. because that one offer is probably it. Besides- by choosing to move to San Diego alone saved me a future $70,000 in loans I would have taken out to go to grad school in New Orleans.. Additionally, I heard the weather isn't as nice there... So really- I'm saving money. (and will keep telling myself this until further notice)


Long story short; small town girl packs her closet in her vw beetle and drives to southern california the day after graduation to live the life she has only experienced in her wildest dreams. My life is a country song.


Fast forward 8 months to when said girl runs out of money, drives home, car breaks down- catches a greyhound bus, and shows up on her parents door step with nothing  but broken dreams and a killer tan. 


Wish me luck!