I'm a monster!

I had my interview last Monday and it was quite the event. The only directions I received were to go to the main door and ask for the interviewer. So I went to the main door at the hospital...luckily I was early because the interview was at a different location two roads over. My interviewer was really understanding and acknowledged that she hadn't actually told me where to go :) so I don't think being 5 minutes late was held against me. The interview went well I think and I hope to know if there will be a next step soon. They are interviewing 4 people, including myself, for two positions and I like those odds. I should know by next week, fingers crossed. I appreciate all the well wishes and luck i can get.

Cheryl generously lent me some clothes to wear...which is where my monster tendencies ruined everything.

Nice shirt huh?!? With my brutishness I ripped a huge hole in it. This is why I can't have nice things.

I've been unpacking like a crazy person and I've finally unpacked all of the boxes.

My guest room is now filled with empty boxes. I'll have to deal with them at some point but it's pretty satisfying knowing they are all empty. I have some furniture rearranging still to do but other than that I'm pretty settled.

I'm going to have a different couch soon so that one will go in my bedroom. Eventually I want to get a grey chair as well, but that'll be down the road a bit.  Something like this...

I'm really enjoying making the space my own although it does feel really big. I don't think I've ever had this much space all to myself and I don't know what to do with it. I think it'll be a slow process to decorate the place to fit me, but it'll be satisfying once it's done.

I got to Skype with Ali and Deb on Sunday night. As expected, the moment the camera started Ali became a crazy kid performing :) I miss her so much. She's grown taller in the month since I left which is so sad to me. I don't even want to think about how much she will grow in the coming months and years. I am sad that I won't be there to see it happen but I'm happy there are ways to stay in touch so the change isn't too dramatic.

I just hope she doesn't forget me!



A lot of people are leaving Friday for Ireland, South Florida, and Michigan... I'm going to work hard to not become the recluse I know I'll want to be with everyone gone. I'll make sure to go to the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday spin classes and do my grocery shopping but I would love to hear from friends next week...otherwise I'm afraid I'll turn into a crazy lady and talk to myself :).

chugging along

I knew I wouldn't be consistent with this...sorry mom :)

The last week or so seems to have flown by. I've been working out every other day and I've been feeling great! It's really nice to feel good about my body again. I won't lie...I'm the weakest one in class but I can feel the improvement. I'm getting stronger. Pretty soon I'll look like this:

I'm being really good about my sunblock use :) We went to the beach on the 4th and I surprisingly didn't get a burn! I'll give myself a little pat on the back for that...although a few days later I missed some spots on my arms when we were water skiing...doh. So now I'm splotchy.

The beaches are beautiful and the water is perfect. It's warm but cool enough to be refreshing. We spent the morning with John and Jenna, two of Cheryl and Jay's friends...and now mine.

And of course my lovely hosts...

I'm really happy I'm not the only pale kid in this town :). Thanks Cheryl!! This must be why so many people ask if we're sisters.

 The beach was beautiful. Daytona Beach, while nice, is obviously pretty touristy. Drive 15 minutes up the coast and the crowds disappear.

There are some genuinely beautiful scenes...and a few awkward ones.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that they bought the crosses with the intention of bringing them to a church for decoration...and not that they were carrying them around as a statement.

A pretty amazing statement, although accidental, was found in a local Irish dive bar.

I mean who wouldn't vote Vagina!!

I've been feeling a bit homesick lately. I miss my friends. I miss the familiarity of my neighborhood. I've been having a lot of stress dreams lately. I don't read into dreams beyond the idea that they are subconscious feelings. My typical stress dream usually involves choices (packing clothes for a trip, filling a tray of food from a buffet, etc) but not these ones. These ones seem to involve swarms of cockroaches attacking, people losing their memory, or people here being mean to me. I think it means I'm confident about my choice to move down here but I'm worried I won't succeed or be accepted...but then again that's just silly because I'm delightful.

On a positive note, my vault arrived this morning. I'm oddly excited to have all of my stuff. I think it's going to solidify my position down here and help make it more real and more safe...if that makes any sense. I'll move into the condo this weekend and focus on unpacking and settling in next week.

I'll be happy to not have to think about security systems in my place. Yesterday morning was quite eventful in the security world. While I was sleeping one of the employed dwellers of the home set the security system. When I let Caramel out to pee the alarm went off. I put in the code but for some reason it didn't work and the alarm company was alerted. When they called for the alarm code I gave them the only one I knew...which was 100% wrong. A few minutes later a grandfather clock started to chime...turns out that was the front door. As I sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, I saw three cops creep around the corner and look into the window. Luckily I have an innocent face and they believed me when I said I was staying here. It was quite the morning. It even tired out the poodle:

This week is a busy one one that's not going to slow down anytime soon. Busy is good.

three hours into my morning and I realized I was wearing my dress on backwards...

I feel really lucky. I have an incredible family and wonderful friends. The amount of support I have received has been overwhelming. Thank you!!!

My days are balanced between working out, job searching, and relaxing...It is a balance that I'm going to appreciate for as long as I am able to maintain it. I know soon enough (hopefully sooner rather than later) I will be working full time and won't be able to relax quite as much :).

I put off going to the gym all the time in Boston but I'm determined to maintain a routine here. I think exercising is important for several reasons not the least of which is that it makes you feel good. While I think I'm being really proactive about finding a job I am finding it really difficult not having one. I feel like I'm not contributing appropriately by not having one and I'm not sure how to manage that feeling. I know I'll find one soon but until then I want to make sure to stay positive...working out will help with that. Right now I'm doing yoga and spinning, with minimal amounts of running :)

After class we like to treat ourselves to breakfast and coffee. Incidentally I discovered that coffee decreases ones risk of getting skin cancer... so really my morning coffee is about protecting my paleness :).

Don't worry mom... I'm eating healthy too!

I've started to do yoga, something I never thought I would get into. There are two places I've gone to down here. The first place is called Blue Moon Fitness and Yoga and the classes there are all heated. On Sundays they have a free flow class, ideal for us unemployed slackers :), which is an hour long. It's an intense experience during which I sweat my ovaries off. I leave that class feeling destroyed and invigorated all at the same time. This studio has the feel of a gym in that the experience seems to be more about the physical that the spiritual.

The second studio is called Daytona Yoga & Wellness Center and it's right across the street from the beach, so the location is pretty amazing. The environment is totally different from the first studio. There was incense being burned, wind chimes playing, and rich colors all over the studio. The class had a slower pace which meant we held the positions for longer. I really enjoyed the connection between the physical and the emotional. With the long holds it was quite a workout but the focus on smooth transitions and connecting with where you are in that moment was ideal. I left the class feeling like the last vestiges of stress/anxiety left from  my old job were melting away. They did lose me a little when the teacher started talking about sending out love to everyone in the class, in the country, and then in the world. I'm not really into sending out that much love....but I get what she was saying :).

These little guys are all over the outside of the house. At first it was a bit disconcerting but they're kind of fun to watch. Word on the street is that they are lucky...and I could use some luck in getting a job. Has anyone worked at a temp agency? What was it like? I'm a little hesitant to do it. I get nervous with new starts and I feel like starting somewhere where I knew the time would be limited might be more anxiety provoking than helpful... but then again I need to work and it might be a good way to meet new people and learn new skills until I am employed full time.

I'm really excited that Mamma Jackson is coming to visit in August and two friends are coming in October... anyone else want to visit?

I miss you all!!!!

Saying goodbye to my loves

Upon request of family and friends I decided to keep a blog of my adventures. I make no promises of the quality of my writing or this blog...but I still feel the need to apologize ahead of time :). My goal with this is to keep family up to date on how things are going with me now that we're living so far apart.

The decision to leave Boston after 10 years was not an easy one to make. I have loved the city from the first time we drove over that last hill on route 2 and I saw the whole city laid out before us. For a long time I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. The city has all of the conveniences of having so much so close but is still small enough where you can't stay lost for long. It was home.

view from the redline over the Charles.

Over the past two years many friends and family have moved away and the city started to feel a little different.  Between Florida, Canada, Oregon, California, Washington DC, Virginia, and New York my loved ones were moving on to new adventures and I began to feel like I was missing something. My parents and sister (with her family) moved here, and with them went my last strong tie to this area. Since I wasn't going to move to upstate NY I thought it would be fun to move somewhere completely new: Florida.

Saying goodbye to the wonderful friends in Boston wasn't easy but I'm hoping to see everyone soon, either in Boston or Florida. I won't go into the specifics of my goodbye because those are my personal memories but I will say that I was so touched by them.  I am so grateful for the wonderful people I have in my life. This is the third big move I've made (NY to England, England to MA, and now MA to FL) and the goodbyes don't get easier.

I packed up all of my worldly goods into a box in order to have them shipped south (thanks to Josh and Stacey for the help!).

I'm so happy that everything fit, especially my bike. On Monday, June 25th, the truck came and picked up the box:

On that same day I got a ride down to CT (thanks to Cat), to meet up with Jay and Cheryl. We celebrated Jay's 30th birth with dinner and a movie. I'm pretty sure Brave could be my life....except my mom has yet to try to force me to marry someone for the sake of our Scottish clan :).

On June 26th we jumped on a plane bound for Orlando. Despite moving three times before finding a seat with a working tv the flight was pretty comfortable. We flew over tropical storm Debby right around Georgia/northern Florida. The ride got pretty bumpy around then. The most intense moment was when there was so much turbulence I got jerked out of my seat. I've never experienced turbulence like that so I was a bit freaked out for a little while, only finding it awesome/fun once we landed safely.

My first two days in Florida have been relatively quiet. Jay and Cheryl went back to work and I've been lurking around the house and hanging out with this kid:

Today I scheduled an interview at a local hospital for July 16th. I'm still looking at other positions but it feels good to have something on the books. It makes me feel like I can relax a little and enjoy this time off...maybe with some coffee and breakfast on the back porch.

I am missing my Bostonians already but I'm feeling really good about this move. I always have a room for visitors so let's start making plans!