Friday, August 28, 2009

New Blog. Read That One

http://servingandsurviving.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 3, 2009

Hey, I'm still here, still alive. Still unemployed, but I have a 2nd interview at Starbucks today. Hopefully that happens.
Jessica and I are setting out on an adventure in a little less than 2 weeks - we are driving to Stockton, CA to see Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp play at a minor league baseball stadium. Then we are driving back up the coast and camping. Awesome.
My new big thing is canning - I'm going to make pickles and who knows what else. I'll let you know how that goes.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I love this town.

I love it here. Today I went to the YMCA with Lori and worked out - love the Y here. Sitting on the stationary bike is so much nicer looking out at the city and beyond that, the bay. Then I made the BEST OMELET EVER. Goat Cheese and Tomato with herbs fresh from my "garden" (aka my porch).
Following the consumption of the best omelet ever, I headed down to Fairhaven to visit my favorite shoe store. I was hoping they would say: "We need you! Come back to work!" what they said was: "We will probably need you in August or September," Which is actually just fine with me.
I continued to wander around Fairhaven, stopping in Village Books, and not buying anything, which I think is a major accomplishment. I peeked into Pacific Chef, looking for canning supplies, and discovered that they were hiring. So I dropped off my resume and chatted with the manager a while. Cross your fingers for me - although working in a kitchen store would be almost as bad for my bank account as working in a shoe store. Mmmmm kitchen gadgets.
I had heard that Avenue Bread had gluten-free bread so I headed there, next. I bought a loaf, I've yet to taste it, but it looks pretty good. They had gluten-free polenta cranberry cakes which I had to try, along with a cup of coffee. I sat there and read The Cascadia Weekly and What's Up Magazine, checking out what's going on in town. Tucked in the pages was an ad for Fairhaven Pizza's new gluten-free crust. Seriously? I love that place. I love pizza. Life is good.
Now, continuing to unpack my apartment... I'm almost there, I promise!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Arrival

I moved in!
Saturday, thanks to my lovely family, all my random belongings were trucked to Bellingham and shoved into my new apartment. I'm still unpacking and organizing and re-organizing. Discovering the joys of having an entire (albeit small) bathroom to myself. Something that hasn't happened to me since about age 8. Not to mention the kitchen! All of the stuff is mine! (And man, I have a lot of stuff.)
I will post pictures as soon as I feel it's decent - right now it looks like this:
box box box emptybox pile of books box half-empty box

Sunday, May 31, 2009

hey internet, what's up?

It's June. Or will be, in 2 hours.
I'm moving to Bellingham at the end of the month - probably on the 27th.
I've been stage managing a show at Jet City Improv - FUNBUCKET!! And a few weeks ago I ran lights for a sketch comedy show at Live Girls! Theater in Ballard - that was awesome.
I'm nervous and excited to move to Bellingham. I know it's going to be a great place to start a theatre company and a great place to live, but I also feel like I'm putting my entire life on the line right now. I guess I am, and that's kind of the point.
I'm doing it, and that's the important part, right?
So, if you have a few extra (hundred, thousand) dollars laying around and want to donate to a new non-profit theatre based in Bellingham, let me know.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

so much happening.

A lot has transpired in the past week.
To summarize:

SCT doesn't have many classes for me to teach this summer, I can apply to teach at the zoo but I'm not so sure I'm into it.
Since I won't be working at SCT this summer and since they won't accept my AmeriCorps money, I cannot afford to do the Italy thing this year. (I fully intend to do it next year, hopefully Tad and The Chief will play Italy together!)
Since I won't be working in Seattle this summer and I probably won't have a job in the Bellevue School District in the fall, I have decided to:
Move to Bellingham in June.

I was strongly considering moving to Bellingham this fall, especially if BSD wasn't going to hire me back. (Which, considering the budget crisis they are in, will most likely not happen.) I have been thinking that now is the time to start my theater - there is $50 million going to the National Endowment for the Arts, I really have nothing holding me back, and if I keep putting it off, well, like I said - I don't want to be 40 and wondering why I never did it.

Now seems to be the perfect opportunity. My friend is (was) looking for someone to sublet her apartment, walking distance from downtown B'ham, for a price you couldn't really hope to get a room in a crappy house for in Seattle. A one bedroom! No crazy roommates! And if it's terrible, her lease is up in September and I wouldn't be obligated to stay.

The combination of no job this summer and the available apartment is just too much to say no to. I will miss a lot of things about Seattle, but it won't be that far away. And really, when I break it down, the pros of Bellingham seem to outweigh the pros of Seattle. Which is a bummer, because I wanted to make it in the "real world," and Bellingham still doesn't feel like that to me.

What will I leave behind? My family, but 1 1/2 hours away is way better than 2600 miles or however far away Austin was. An awesome theatre community - but I will be creating my own. Fantastic people - well, much like my family - it's a lot closer than Austin.

If you are wondering what to do with your life - move to Bellingham and start a theater with me!!!

Move to Bellingham, we'll hang out. Move to Bellingham, we'll go all out.... oh wait, that's not how it goes. But really, Bellingham is way cooler than Bremerton.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Another month passed...

I'm still here, still loving being back in the PNW, despite our crazy weather. We had a brief week of beautiful spring, then it snowed. And snowed again. And is basically freeeezing. But I'll take it.
What I've been up to:
I've begun stage managing the late-night show at Jet City Improv. It's pretty awesome. If you find yourself in need of something to do at midnight on a Saturday, come see it. Bring friends. Bring music for me to play, something crazy to put in the Funbucket. Buy a drink. Laugh.

I've also been trying to face the fact that I'm turning 25 soon and still have no idea what I'm doing with my life. In light of that, I've decided that my children's theatre needs to get started soon, for fear that I will be 40 and wondering why I never did it.

I'm trying to get money together to teach at a drama camp in Italy for a month this summer, that will be pretty cool. I need $525 for the TEFL training (Teaching English as a Foreign Language - it's a drama camp with the underlying mission to teach Italian kids English) and money for plane fare, the rest is taken care of by the program. They organize a home stay and pay you a salary. All in all, it sounds like a pretty awesome experience. I have some of my AmeriCorps education award left and hopefully I will be able to use that to pay for the training.

And that's the update for now...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Department of Lame

I just wasted 40 minutes of my life driving to, being at, and driving home from the department of licensing.
That's time I will never get back.
And I still have a Texas driver's license.
And I apparently will for quite a while.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

And that was January....

Howdy, friends. Long time no update. I've been alternating between too busy to post and unable to think of anything good to write about, but it's been over a month and so I guess it's time for a quick recap of the last few weeks.
We had a lot of snow. Seattle cannot handle that much snow, everyone freaked out and the city pretty much closed down. Not just the city of Seattle, but the greater Puget Sound Area. It was insane.
I got to work at a SCT break camp (unfortunately only one day, because of that pesky snow) and it was wonderful to see my beautiful friends as well as see the fantastic performance of The Wizard of Oz. I missed SCT like you wouldn't believe.
Christmas was snowy and crazy.
January 5th I started my new job. I'm working at an elementary school in Bellevue, where my mom works as well. I'm a one-on-one aid for a 1st grader who has Cerebral Palsy. It's challenging but rewarding and for the most part a lot of fun.
Being back in the Northwest is great. I do miss a lot of things about Austin - not having to make sure I'm wearing at least three layers, one of which is waterproof; The Flying Theater Machine and all the people involved in that; BBQ; Talleri; my cute house; walking to the corner store.... lots of stuff. But being back here is wonderful. I love walking around Capitol Hill with my best friend and going to shows in Ballard and being at Seattle Center and with my family and hearing seagulls and smelling the ocean. It's definitely where I belong.

I still have a bunch of photos that I need to upload and post from the drive home from Texas, but the one thing that seems to have been lost in the move is my camera case, which contains my cord to connect my camera to my computer. Bummer.

As for things to come, I'll be 25 in two short months, I'm going to Las Vegas at the end of March and Maui via Portland in April. I'm also planning on going to New Orleans for Thanksgiving - 2009 is going to be the year of travelling! Hopefully the first in many to come. My big travel goal is to go to Ireland before 2010 is over.

I'm going to a superbowl party tomorrow and I realized I have no idea who's playing... oh well, I'm making guacamole and that's all that's important, right?

Happy February!