8 million years later,

I am finally settled into my apartment. I just- and I mean JUST- finished hanging my curtains.

I love curtains. Especially now that no one can see through my windows at night.

As far as settling into the city, I'm not sure. It feels so natural to be here, like maybe I was supposed to be here all along or something. So in one sense, I feel right at home. In another sense, I'm still getting lost every other day and calling Bac to look up directions for me online to get me back home. Thank God for Bac. And thank God for the internet.

But I am finding a little bit of a rhythm for myself at work. Maybe I'll make friends here someday, too. :)

Meanwhile, here are a million pictures of my apartment! Tell me what you think!!










Well, that's my place! I thought the last picture was funny for some reason. My bathroom is hilariously tiny. But there's plenty of space for all my buddies to come visit- so start looking for those plane tickets!

See you in the city,

h

Obviously,

I made it. And can I just say, I love my job.

I know it may sound outrageously corny, but really- if I could have designed a Starbucks for myself to work at, it wouldn't be a bit different than the one I just transferred to. It's in a GREAT neighborhood with a solid manager and the people at the store made big cute welcome signs for my first day!! They act like they love me and half of them haven't met me yet. It's really sweet.

And....

I found an apartment!! Woo hoo!! It's small but cute and is in an AWESOME location- less than a mile's walk to work, right by a major busline that goes down town, and literally 3 blocks from a Starbucks, grocery store, bar, and lots of little shops and cafe's.

I may never use my car again.

So it looks like this week or next week will be moving week yet AGAIN before I finally get settled. My new place is basically a studio that has one section off to the side with a screen that I can pull across to separate the bedroom from the living space. It's teeny tiny but still perfect for me!

For now, I'm exhausted. I opened today and yesterday, so I probably just need a nap. But I at least wanted to post a quick update.

I'll post pictures of my new place soon!

love love,

h

Last Leg, Here We Come!

Tonight I am in Meridian, Idaho. It's just a few miles outside of Boise, where my dad graciously bought me and Bac and couple of hotel rooms. We are running about 4 hours behind on our big trip, mostly due to the small blizzard we had to drive through leaving Colorado Springs this morning.

It was awful, and I almost cried. Right now the kitties are miserably cooped up in my car hating me for putting them through this. Just another week, guys, and you'll have your new home.

Just a few things to note about my trip:

1. I love tumbleweeds in Oklahoma.
2. I hate Colorado weather.
3. I love the mountains in Wyoming.
4. I hate that there is no place to stop in Wyoming. Not ever. Hilary, this place would be your worst nightmare what with your running out of gas paranoia.
5. Today was the first time I set foot in the state of Idaho. And even though I've been here for a solid 4 or 5 hours, I won't be able to SEE the place until tomorrow.


I really do love Wyoming. It's just so unbelievably beautiful. Though it is terribly unfortunate when your bladder is about to pop and your closest reasonable bathroom is the shrub on the side of the road that's big enough to cover you while you pop a squat, the immense amount of space in the state is surprisingly freeing. There is room to breathe and think and feel, and I found myself wondering why more people don't live there. We saw giant wind farms and ranches and mountains and one beautiful sunset. I think it sparked a tiny dream to one day live and work for a summer on some sort of horse ranch out here.

I'll eat steak and ride horses and wear cowboy boots and spend my days herding cattle and yelling things about getting such and such horse or cow into the corral. And it'll be great.

Tomorrow is my last leg. I'm sore all over. But only 6 1/2 hours left to go. And then I will live in Seattle.

Heck yes.

h