Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Travels

Coming back home from an amazing weekend away (this time DC) can sometimes feel like a let-down. Going back to reality - especially when that reality means living at home - requires an adjustment to regular routines and responsibilities. That first day back can be a little rough.

What makes days like these significantly easier, however, is discovering amazing flight sales to my first love - Nashville, TN. After a last-minute gChat discussion with Caitlin, I decided to jump on the insanely low fare (non-stop and all!) and will be flying down October 23rd to see Caitlin. Not only did I promise her I'd be visiting this fall, but we also determined yesterday that we've been friends 15 years. I won't lie, it gives me the warm fuzzies knowing that 50 years from now we'll be old and grumpy together and will actually be able to say that we've been best friends since 4th grade. Clearly a visit to celebrate our anniversary is in order, and clearly I can't talk about visiting Nashville without quoting my favorite musical Nashville reference. No, it's not Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" (what is a Nashville party?!).

It's Nappy Roots' "Aw Naw" (can you catch the reference?):



I'm going to go ahead and make the bold statement that I like Nappy Roots better than Luda when it comes to Southern rappers.

I'm getting sidetracked. Nashville last time was ridiculous - roadtrips, Britney, very little sleep, and slapping people all played integral roles throughout the weekend. I anticipate this next trip to hopefully involve less slapping, equally little amounts of sleep, and lots of impromptu dance parties. 3 weeks.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Moment to Breathe

Or more fittingly, to blog.

Tomorrow marks the 3-week point in my experiment of living at home. So far, so good. I've been working remotely for my SF company for the past few weeks, which is an exercise in patience and motivation (I just want to go outside!), but that's done next Wednesday, to no small relief I must admit.

The next day I start my new job (gig?) as a part-time babysitter/nanny for a family that lives about 10 minutes from me - by foot. When I moved home I made some personal resolutions that I wouldn't lose every aspect of my city life, and walking places was among them. I'm pleased to say I've been keeping this up pretty well. Whereas high school Julia would have driven to the gym (.75 miles), the coffee shop (.5 miles), and people's houses (varying, under a mile though), city-to-suburbs Julia is keeping up the walking pretty well.

Okay, I digressed.

The family I'm babysitting for is pretty lovely. The mother is a Philly mural artist (check some of her work out here), the dad is a commercial real estate developer, and they have 4 kids and 1 dog. It's going to be regular, set hours which is a relief, both for my bank account and my fears of being bored.

I'm also babysitting more occasionally for a few other families, including 2 little girls who I sat last Saturday. What were the major lessons I taught them that evening? Not to go into dark alleys alone, and never to pull your shirt down, point at strangers, and yell "hey boyyyys." Especially never in tandem. It's the little things, really.

Honestly, I had a big SF-retrospective post planned. Things I did, people I saw, etc etc. The motivation slipped away from me though, and now I find myself focused much more on the present and future, so I think the entry is abandoned...for now. Sometimes it takes a while to gather one's thoughts after a life shift, and this may be the case here.

I do think living at home, and especially working with kids, will result in some entertaining and blog-worthy moments. I'm already planning an entry on the neighborhood bunny, pictures and all. You're excited, I know.

Also, everyone send some good thoughts Ben's way - he's currently in the midst of the GA flooding. And Ben - living at home isn't so bad, and I fully support the decision.

Friday, September 11, 2009

..............

Yes, I'm alive. Back safe on the East Coast, working part-time remotely for the old job and getting settled in. As of yesterday all my boxes arrived, and with the exception of needing to bring massive amounts of clothes to Goodwill and taking out the trash, my room is feeling less like storage space and more like, well, my room.

I owe posts, I know. I'll get there!


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