Home alone

So here I am, home alone. It's quite possibly the strangest transition that I have had to make since moving to Minnesota. Moving in with someone, even as a temporary thing, meant giving up all of that alone time I had really grown to love over the years. I understand that my "mom" friends might be a little miffed at that last statement, since alone time is perhaps the rarest of luxuries for you and I also understand that I am so completely fortunate to be with my boyfriend, especially because I couldn't do that for so, so long, but it really is difficult and a little bit draining. Don't misunderstand me, though, I love Nick and I love being here with him, but sometimes I just want to sit around in solitude doing, quite frankly, anything I want to. Today I am doing some much needed laundry, cleaning, reading and finishing up a long overdue project I started before I left Sacramento (sorry Kellie). I know I can do each of these things while Nick is here, but it just seems to be moving along more efficiently today while I am alone. It's probably in my head, but I am loving today! Is that weird? I mean, seriously...no one looking over my shoulder while I attack the bathroom armed with a toothbrush. Not having to worry about the Chinese Laundry(ish) with my clothes hanging all over the house as I let everything air dry. No raised eyebrow and vampire comments while I continue reading the Twilight books (I'm in Eclipse) and I can have anything on in the background while I tackle Kellie's closet. Is it odd that I have the British Open on? Oh well, it reminds me of Nick and makes me feel close to him while he's away. Wait a minute!!!! Well, maybe the best part of being alone is looking forward to having my boyfriend back home again.

Reunion "copy and paste" post

Nick and I were in his hometown of Spencer, Iowa (June 26). His mom had hip surgery and it was his 20 year HS reunion. The reunion was at the county fairgrounds, at the 4H barn and the attaching deck (I'm not kidding). It was also BYOB, which his friends all pitched in $10 for a keg (also not kidding). This is important to know because when the tornado siren went off (again not kidding) and Nick suggested we (he and I) go to his mom's basement to wait out the storm I said "Grab the keg! We're going to Vesta's!" So...keg, food (pulled pork sandwiches, slaw, etc.), and 1/2 of the people at the reunion (about 40) all headed the 6 blocks to Nick's mom's to wait out the storm. It was a great party and when the last 8 people finally left, at 4am, we were exhausted! Nick looked at me with eyebrows raised and said "You throw a great party." It was the first time it occurred to me that he didn't really mean for everyone to go to his mom's and she might not be pleased with the whole thing (she was still in the hospital) but he was right...it was a great party!

No joke

Sooo....I was at the airport yesterday, waiting for my flight to Sacramento, and got to chatting with a gal that was on my first flight. She was in Minneapolis for business and is there quite often. She really hates it! As the words were coming out of my mouth I amazed myself. I was not only defending the city I've been complaining about for a month, I was telling her what a great city it is and even gave her my number to call me the next time she's in town. I am going to take her out and about to show her how fabulous it is! WTF???? I guess I can liken Minneapolis to a younger sibling...I can beat it up all I want, but if someone else tries to...watch out! I will duel to to the death. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but still. I suppose I am happier than I thought. That's good news. :)

Run, Run, Run!

Well it's been so incredibly hot, but the training must continue. We, the running group and I, went out for our Tuesday night run. Some may not realize that the temperature doesn't exactly vary from morning to night (and all the points in between) so my plan to get up early on days such as this to run while it's cool, I've learned, doesn't really make a tremendous impact on my overall body temperature, so the evening running with the group, while unbelievably hot, beats running alone on am almost equally hot morning. (Hidden message...I miss the Phat Girls) Anyway, we took an alternate route on Tuesday, to try and shelter ourselves from the heat and sun. We ran off the usual lakeside paths and on some trails that wound through the wooded areas around the city. It was quite beautiful and I can't tell you how relieved I was that the majority of these trails were completely shaded, regardless of how many trees and bushes that skimmed my body, head to toe. I stupidly decided against running with my new bff, my water bottle, because, well, I really hate carrying it while I run. (Baby!) Wouldn't you know that the first water fountain was broken? Just my luck. By the time we made it to the next one I was feeling a little light headed, my muscles were cramping up and what appeared to be a bit of a rash was starting around my ankles. Fortunately this was the turn around point. I was glad to be turning around and heading back. It was then that I noticed the mosquitoes that had decided to come along with me for this journey. Three of them on my legs. Gross! When I got home Nick, as he usually does whenever I leave the house, hoping that I had the greatest time ever so I won't entertain thoughts of moving back home, said "Did you have fun?" To which I replied. "It was awesome! I got dehydrated, some heat cramps touch of heat exhaustion and the run through the woods produced multiple mosquito bites that I am hoping don't turn into West Nile (do people get that here or are they immune because of the vast amounts of mosquito activity present), possible poison oak or ivy (I'm not sure which resides here) and maybe some lyme disease. Again, awesome!" Fortunately, all that has lingered are the 13 mosquito bites and the realization that I should NEVER register for anything that requires intense training during the summer.

The Sloth

So after a weekend of running 11 miles, swimming 1.25 miles and walking for about 2 1/2 hours I was a completely lazy bum today. Why do I feel so guilty? I feel like I should have been out running, biking, walking, exploring, etc. Why, oh why, did I lay aroung watching "Divine Design" all day? Oooohhhh...that's right...it was raining, no POURING most of the day, with several funnel clouds spotted. Oh my gosh! I'm going to have to learn to treadmill again. Maybe I should just scrap the whole exercise thing and consume more and more of my favorite crop, grapes (for wine to be exact), and stay drunk until I get a job. Sigh.

Interviewish tomorrow. Wish me luck!!!!

Day Off

In keeping with my "no more complaining" theme I took yesterday off from the blog. Why you ask? Well, I decided it was time to finally go into the MN Board of Cosmetologists to transfer my Estheticians License from California. It turns out that I have to have some information transferred and it's going to take about 5 months!!!! Soooo, then I checked on the massage therapy certification and guueesss whaaat? There are no requirements to go into business as an MT, but you can't get hired unless you are National Certified, which is 400 more class hours! That's about 9-10 more months. So much for my "I'll always have my trade to fall back on." WTF??? Can I catch a break for crying out loud!! Then, today I went on my 15th interview. I went on my 15th interview today! That's an average of 5 a week, btw. They liked me, but as usual nothing for me at this time. Seriously! This is getting ridiculous. I know that eventually something will happen. I mean it has to, right. Just by the law of averages (I think that's the law) the more I interview that more likely I will be offered a job. I suppose that on the bright side I haven't been offered a crappy job that I would really, really hate but feel like I had to accept it simply so I could be employed. Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day and it happens to be a holiday weekend so now one will be looking for employees which lets me off the hook for being rejected. Another day off. Sigh.