Take Me Somewhere

It bothers me to no end that there is this huge, amazing world out there and I only have so much free time and financial resources to commit to its exploration.

Growing up I never really went anywhere. Every time my mom and I went on vacation we went to California. California. California. There is nothing wrong with the Golden State, but I really missed out on a good 20 years of traveling to new and exciting places on my parents' dime. Gotta love her, but now firmly grounded in her 60s, my mom has only been to a chunk of states and Canada (possibly Mexico?). What I find more troubling about this is it doesn't seem to upset her in the slightest.

I'm guessing our parents come from a simpler time when plane travel was less prevalent and necessary. My mom, like her sister and her mother before her, just doesn't see the need to circumnavigate the globe. Sometimes we are the way we are because of our parents and sometimes in spite of them. I want to go to every part of the world because my mom didn't, not because she did.

Anyway, I bring all this up because I recently discovered Round the World Plane tickets. For those people who knew about them long ago than my apologies for how overly excited this discovery made me. One plane ticket with so many possibilities. I could spend hours on staralliance.com or oneworld.com just planning out a traveling adventure. I feel like the tickets are so cheap for how many places you can go!

Take a look at the itinerary I made: Seattle - Edinburgh - London - Barcelona - Zurich - Rome - Goa - Bangkok - Tokyo

I've been told I have the rest of my life to travel extensively, but I kind of disagree. If I choose to have children I feel like my dreams of seeing the world will be squashed. So, I told Justin we have until I am 33 to buy a Round the World ticket. It will happen!

Bullets

I think my new approach will be making a bulleted list of my recent thoughts. I will try to accompany these with photos in the future. This one will be short

• is it weird that i can recognize any former Top Model cast member? hello chick who walked like a duck and now sells Macy's furnishings

• today i was waiting for the bus and a man walked up who had very visibly urinated on himself. i got really sad/ grossed out because how am i ever to know if someone like that sat on the seat before me

• i've realized Justin's attentiveness has made it so I'm unable to take care of myself or get anything done when he is gone. i currently need to go to the dry cleaner, tailor, bank, store and dmv

• why is it so easy for me to get sad? lately i feel so lonely when i often have no reason to be. i worry about my friendships and people i haven't seen in a while. do they like me? are we friends anymore? why am i afraid of using the phone?

• do you think i will eventually be forced by society to get a smart phone? i feel like it is going to happen and i dread that day

• sometimes i feel like i'm really very stupid, but somehow have tricked people into thinking i'm competent for many, many years. i mostly feel that with my new job

• i commend steig larsson for making me a reader again. i will gladly pick up his books instead of flipping on the t.v.

• i want to travel so very badly. i am itching ITCHING to go anywhere

new things

I really so very, very badly want to write in this, but I just can't get myself to do it! Mostly because I'm lazy, partly because I don't have anything interesting to write about and also because I don't think anyone ever, ever reads this. But does it matter? I should write for myself. For me!

Life in Seatac/Kent/Des Moines is a slightly lonely one. I miss hosting people at my apartment. Maybe I wouldn't miss them if I ever invited friends over. Once our new couch and chair comes it's so on.

I started my new job on July 6th. I am now the Marketing Coordinator at Emeritus. Emeritus specializes in senior living, which doesn't sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but I'm pretty jazzed about this new opportunity. So far I am doing a random collection of things. Today I worked on designing apartment floor plans all day (random? yes).

Our office is right next to the Olympic Sculpture Park on Elliott. The views from our 6th floor perch can't be beat. Blue waters as far as the eye can see. The company is pretty huge with a lot of employees, so I hope to meet new people. So far my face is nuzzled next to the glow of the computer screen all day without much interaction with others. Right now I'm cool with it since the last gig required me to ask for money by phone or in person many, many times a day.

I somewhat started a new hobby when I was unemployed. Cake/ cupcake baking and decorating. I had so much time to dedicate to it when I had nothing but empty day hours. I did make a new recipe and brought the results to work yesterday. I was horrified that all 24 cupcakes were eaten and only a few people even said thank you. If you eat a handcrafted cupcake provided to you without prompting, why would you not go out of your way to thank the baker?? Horrible

Here are some of the things I've made so far:

In celebration of Dani getting married

In honor of True Blood

July 4th

For KPLU employees

Balinese themed cupcakes in honor of Melissa's departure to Bali

I clearly need more reasons to make cupcakes/ cakes. I have a baby shower to bake for soon, but other than that someone is going to have to give me an excuse to craft something. 

Okay more later. Bed time!

death and moving

moving
oh sheash. i am moving next week to a land ever so far away called SeaTac. shock! amaze! horrify! i'm pretty torn up about the whole thing. the apartment we are moving to is brand new and 3 bed/2 bath, so i am compromising nothing as far as size and niceness is concerned. however, i have this terrible notion that people who move past the west seattle bridge or north of green lake are forgotten forever.

i think i would be less depressed by the idea of living farther away if i knew where i would be working. if i work in tacoma i have to drive back to seattle to see friends. working in seattle isn't much better b/c a lapse between work ending and hanging out means i drive all the way home and then back to seattle or hover and wait. hover. hover. wait. sigh. i have to acquire things that will lure people to SeaTac. examples: HBO for True Blood viewing or Rock Band for fun or a giant trampoline

death
Girl is dying. who is Girl you might ask? Girl used to be my Dad's dog and at some point became my Mom's dog. she has a truly unfortunate name my Dad bestowed upon her, so do laugh at its ridiculousness. some people look at animals and think "You make a lot of high-pitched noises, I shall name you Squeaky" or "You are orange, I shall name you Carrot Top." My Dad must have said "You are female, I shall name you Girl."

  Girl as a wrinkly little puppy. So cute

Girl is 15 years old, which in human years means she could practically be Betty White's mom or at least her wise, significantly older sister. My mom called me earlier this week to let me know she decided to put Girl down this weekend. She has a hard time standing and is in a lot of pain (Girl, not mom). I agreed to go down tomorrow. I want to go down to support my mom, but I honestly have no attachment to the dog and would rather imagine she took a long vacation than sit and watch her die. Did you know you can be right there as they are euthanized? Ack!

My lack of sadness over the thought of Girl dying made me start to think I am a terrible person. But then I thought of my Mr. Tyrone dying and felt like the world would end. We aren't expected to love every animal unconditionally I suppose.

What does make me sad is thinking of how Girl is such a strong representation of my Dad. My Dad loved her so much and that dog loved him tremendously. She was able to be apart of the things my Dad missed and carries that terrible name as a reminder of how wonderfully weird my Dad was.

I will write in this

Too much swirls around in my head and I need to put some of it down.

I'm pretty proud of myself that I gave my blog a new, swanky look. Maybe I will be more enticed to write in it if I like how it looks.

So much is happening these days. I thought that unemployment would be a life of leisure, but I am either busy, busy or being toooo leisurely. While I am really happy I decided to quit, I am also worried about so many things. When I had a job I ignored all of the articles, news segments, and talk about the recession. "I have a job - it must not be that bad" Well, it is. With our California trip, I guess I've only been looking for a couple weeks. Why does it seem like forever?

So far I haven't volunteered or read dozens of books or learned Spanish or picked up a new hobby. My day usually starts at 11 and I look at jobs and watch t.v. in my pajamas for hours. I like sleeping and pajamas so much. Justin does like having dinner ready and waiting at 5 p.m., though.

No more for now. Much to say, but later

wow this is one neglected Blog. i only have one thing to say:


I'M ENGAGED! YAY!

update

- i got a job if you didn't know. as of May 23 (a day after i get off the road forever with BER) i start at the Alzheimer's Association in Seattle as their Donor Relations Coordinator.

- getting a job did not relieve my post-travel job woes a bit. for a while i constantly looked at craig's list for an uber cheap apartment. Liz Fact: i obsess over money

- just today Justin and I were hired on as Property Managers in Capitol Hill. Property management = free rent. A free 2 bedroom in a nice area at that! Can I get a woot, woot!! exciiiiiited. do you live in capitol hill or the seattle area? yes? than we will haaaang out

- tonight i was supposed to be flying back to seattle. however, portland, maine hates me. and i hate it! i got delayed here which meant i woulda missed my connecting flight so here i am at a holiday inn waiting for my 6 am flight tomorrow. my one day in seattle in a 5 week period. my one day!! portland, me delayed my arrival in vegas, too. damn you maine.

really. i guess that's all. if you have a decent couch, table and chairs or bike to sell i will be needing those items. cough em up


toodles