one for the kiddos

My most recent nanny gig just ended, and while I'm embracing the extra free time with my whole heart, I'm also missing these kiddos (and maybe the weekly paycheck...?).

Whilst holding a huge Molly Moon's ice cream cone, Henry lovingly told me, "You're going to be a great mom." I'm sure that statement was 90% brought on by the ice cream, and much less brought on by my parenting skills. Which are stellar, by the way.

Because Eva was in school longer, I spent the majority of my time with Henry. We clocked a lot of hours at the library, where he would "read" to me. Sometimes we would play construction (top right). Other times (aka most times) he would pose as a Sounders player and tell me that since I live in Seattle now, I should be a "Sounders cheerleader." 

Eva: "Honestly, who decided what's a weed and what's a flower?" My little philosopher at heart.

And that picture of Henry with the Diva Espresso cup sums up my methods of employment. If only I had thought to have him reading an Alaska Airlines magazine...missed opportunity, I guess.

I will most miss the dance parties. Henry was really into Ratatat, and sometimes Michael Jackson. That kid can car dance like a champ, meaning he did a great 'shoulder scrunch.'

up in the air & out of boxes

I had a full-time job. I loved my co-workers. I had health/vision/AND/dental insurance. I typically went to bed before midnight. I lived in a kick-ass apartment with hands down one of the best housemates I could have asked for. I received a paycheck twice a month. A nice one. I sometimes even bought myself over-priced fitness attire and expensive organic fair-trade chocolate. The post-college life was looking pretty posh.

Then I did the unthinkable

(especially during "these crazy economic times"): 

I quit my job. 

There was a lot of thought put into it, don't worry. There was also a lot of fear. Okay—tons of fear. But I learned quickly to not let fear be your guide, or else you go...nowhere, except for maybe back to bed. It's a scary-fricken world out there. 


My goal in quitting my 8-5 office job in a growing medical management company was to figure out what I actually wanted to do with my life. So far I can cross off "work in a medical management company." Even if it is growing and our gym memberships were paid for.


I realize that this of course sounds very first-world of me. "Quit my salaried day job to search for my heart's deepest dreams!?" Gasp! Rough times. And maybe it even sounds a little (or a lot) like I'm dabbling in what this NY Times article calls the newest 20-something stage of life: emerging adulthood. In all seriousness, that article is onto something. Read it if at all possible. Big thanks to my previous boss, who sent it to me the week after I quit. No hard feelings...

 

I dabbled in part-time work. I can now cross off "part-time bookkeeping" from my list as well. Or any type of bookkeeping, really. Or any form of opening other peoples' mail and paying their bills.
Then came true and golden unemployment. Or fun-employment as it's been called.
During this season I spent a good amount of time sleeping in, going on long runs in the sunshine, tanning on sandy beaches, and meeting my responsible and fully-employed friends on their lunch breaks.
Oh and how could I forget? I also went to Italy for all of October. I tend to bring up Italy a lot. Apologies for all the jealousy that might cause, but it was a truly good time. Minus the 15-hour plane rides.  

My life is up in the air...and out of boxes. I returned from Italy and promptly moved out of my chic, kick-ass apartment...and into my younger sister's old room at my parents' house. I don't know where any of my stuff is. My clothes are all in a dresser that is in a room down the hall from where I'm sleeping. I accused both of my sister's of borrowing/stealing one of my cameras, and a month later I found it in an old purse, wrapped in a blanket, under a yoga mat, in a crate in the corner of the closet that I've commandeered for the time being. That sentence holds relatively true for most things I urgently need to find lately. 


Forgive the lack of quality pictures lately...I also can't find the USB cable for my dSLR, and have resorted to my phone camera. I'm sure it'll turn up eventually. Perhaps in one of the below Yogurtland boxes that my dad brought home tonight. Score!

Yes, sadly...they're empty.

I will go into more detail in a later post, but these last two months have been:

• hard
• trying
• frustrating
• exasperating
• disheartening
• downright infuriating

With that said...

I'm moving to Seattle on Friday! FRIDAY. Maybe even Thursday night. It's up in the air as well. Seems like quite the theme lately. 

I'll be moving with Sister #2...

Taken circa July 2008...pretty sure it was the EXACT DAY we decided we would one day live in Seattle together.
Check out that Space Needle in the background...symbolic.

Come on...it's pretty dang cute. Currently referring to it as The Beehive, but obviously open to worthier suggestions.

So. Excited. About. This. Kitchen.
!!!

Love to you all and thanks for reading (onnnnly if you actually did). More on the emotional side of things tomorrow...doesn't that sound like fun?!?!  :)

{ peach polish }

Possibly the most shallow post yet...but hey, I have some time on my hands.

It's not orange, coral or dusty rose. 

It's PEACH! 

I've been looking for this color for months—no joke—in every K-Mart, CVS and beauty supply store.

You'd think it would exist everywhere, in the spring and summer months especially, 

but now I just appreciate it all the more. 

Now even my nails can embrace funemployment. 

On a more serious and hard-working side note, I have picked up not one, but two part-time jobs to pass the time and bring in some extra cash.

 Not every bone in my body is lazy. 

More on those ventures later...I'm off to the beach, 
and then a pre-college photo shoot with my youngest sister and her best friends!

{ lazy Sunday }

What day is it, anyway?

Like I said, I need to get on this whole productive unemployment thing. 

But it is rather lovely to wake up not knowing for sure whether it's Sunday or Monday...

...and then realizing, Hey, who cares!?

I might not have left my house today...except to go to church. 

My roommate is in NYC, and living alone has never boded well with me.

But at least I took some pictures of the relaxation... :)