Six months early?

Carbondale was pretty today. Sunny, about 65. I ate my lunch outside at one of the metal tables, with my sun glasses on and Welcome to the Monkey House patiently waiting for me to finish eating. There were runners and bikers going all about; this sunshine makes doing something almost necessary (proof: Dan and I walked, together, to the grocery store.)

Dan got some unwelcome news today. SIU won't be offering a class he was expecting to be offered next spring, and now his plans for the next two semesters are thrown off. He wasn't able to find the people he needed to talk to today at the school, but hopefully tomorrow will make them appear. In the mean time, all sorts of worrisome thoughts came to the forefront, loads of what-ifs and if-thens. I'm jumping to conclusions by sharing, but if the best-case-senario plan works out, Dan's Semester Away course would be pushed to Spring, (in Springfield instead of Jackson, MO) and we would be going back to Bloomington at the end of next fall's semester. Dan would commute from there to Springfield, with the hopes of not having any responsibilities in Carbondale.

Like I said, I am jumping the gun, as that may not be an option after talking to who he needs to talk to, but it's what we're hoping works out. If not, then, well, Dan will be really sad, he won't get the classes he wants/needs, and we'll stick it out in Carbondale as first planned.

But if it does work out...!!! We would be in Blono (read: closer to friends and family) six months earlier.

Other things that happened today:

• Trish accepted an offer on her house! Congrats!
• Kodak did adventure outside, for a good four minutes.
• A customer saw my apron at work and is coming back to talk about having one made for her ("There are just no cute aprons out there!") which then lead me to thinking more seriously about...
• planning to sell things I make

Bloomington Weekend #2

I'm at the Coffee House in Normal this morning. Rain forest crunch granola and coffee. I'll go home today after I meet Kristy and Trish for lunch.

I started the day by cleaning out the last of un-necessaries from the second bedroom, and collected some books I've been wanting from the shelf. I noticed I still had Bob Steinman's copies of Simone de Beauvoir's The Woman Destroyed and She Came to Stay.

It seems the universe and I were in tune for a while. As I was driving through the maze of streets that Normal has deemed it's "uptown," I saw Bob and Anne pulling into the Medici. I quickly pulled over, popped out, grabbed his books and said hello. It was a nice couple minutes, with hugs and questions about Alaska. After all of the drama with Medici, I'm glad Bob and I came to an understanding about many things, and I can honestly say I'm friends with one of the crankiest men in Blono.

My reason for coming up this weekend was to say goodbye to my friend Danny Reid. He and another friend, Sam, are moving to Fairfield, California, where Danny's precious girlfriend is stationed. I'm completely excited for all of them!

A perk of being up for the weekend (besides seeing some of my favorite people) was attending ISU Pride Drag Show for the first time. It was amazing to have student performers gathering the courage to get in front of such a huge crowd along side some truly talented professional queens. I didn't take photos, but wow. Afterward the party was at the Bistro, where I stayed only long enough to have a picture taken with Kristy, get her chest unwrapped, and visit with Trish for a bit. The picture is a bit creepy, as Kristy was still in her John Wayne Gacy outfit - so be warned:

I'll drive back down to Carbondale, listening to podcasts and the beginning of Neil Geiman's The Graveyard Book. The four hours will go fast, I hope.

A year of blogging!

A year ago I started on my way to Alaska. I was packing up my things after a week with Dan, and heading through states I'd never seen on my way to my best friend, the always remarkable, Sarah Rupke. I can't believe it's been a year! I am so happy to have done and seen so many things! I'm happy to have quit my job at Medici. It makes me feel empowered to know I can find a way to pay my bills and be happy, not stressed with an eye twitch and unable to spend time with important people in my life.

I'm trying to see my friends. At this moment, two of my besties are together in Phoenix. Sarah at her house, and Rena is traveling through after having some doctor's visits and surgery. *Side note* Have I ever introduced Rena to you?
She is a wonderful, energetic, life-loving lady I met when I was going to Church at Life Center while in high school/early college. We ran into each other and pretty much stuck. She is a talented web designer (you can see at Firelabstudio.com) and great to have in your corner. **

I'm not going to go to AZ, but there is a chance to visit Sarah in June while she's home in Massachusetts, and maybe see Rena if Dan and I get a chance to head to Spokane before the summer is out. But. That and the trip to Guatemala is a lot of time away, and I don't know of any business people that would allow an employee that much time off. I'll try. I want to see my people!

The other item that might make all that difficult, is the possibility of getting a second job. Common Grounds it great, but this whole recession thing puts a damper on things. My condo is without a renter, and I can't wait around until hoping that more ads will do the trick. Plan B is another job. On the job hunt again!

Thanks to everyone for the comments and support over the last year. Originally this was intended to keep people I care about informed about my time in Alaska, but that has come and gone. I said before I don't really know what this blog will continue to be, but I like having it, and I'm told you like reading it. So thanks.

For a sewing update, here is the bag I gave Ciara when she was here visiting. It's hard to see all of the details, but Ciara likes it, and that's all that matters!



I'm making an apron for one of my girls at the shop this weekend. Here are the materials. I love these fabrics! It was hard to part with them!

Have a great weekend!

2010 GLRBC

The Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition is this weekend in Milwaukee! I can't wait to hear how it goes! Good luck Baristas!

It's been a minute

Be rest assured you haven't missed anything. It feels like I'm either working, reading, or sleeping. PS, I'm usually asleep by 8:30 now. When did that become routine?

I just finished my first solo week at Common Grounds, with Alec being gone, and me answering questions for "the Manager." I like it. It's good. Also, this week is spring break at SIU, and things have slowed down. I am getting a feel of what the summer business will be like, with just town folk coming in.

The sun is out. I planted some seeds (probably too early), and I'm happy to have the windows open. It rained yesterday. I heard a bit of Washington and Juneau creep in the day somewhere, and today I can't help but miss them.

Other things: After finishing Neal Stephenson's book Anathem, Dan bought me a copy of Dune, raved as one of the best science fiction novels ever written. I'm zooming through it. I don't know if it's the best, as I just getting into the genre's mainstays, but it is worth reading.

Jam = very yes

Mana from Mail Heaven came today.

I walked in the front door about five minutes after Dan got home. I was grinning because there were two pieces of mail for me that were in the mail box, and I was half way through reading the first note. Dan asks, "What'd we get in the mail?" "It's all for me today!" I am not shy about my love for mail. Apparently I misheard him, because I look down at my feet and there are two huge boxes sitting there! One box from Johnson to Johnson, and one from Swift to Swift. It was like Christmas.

With my sister moving in six months, she is currently whittling down some of her stashes. Today, I got snippets of her jam stash and her fabric stash. Dan was understandably more excited about the bounty of jam that came, and not so much the pretty fabric. As happenstance was in the air, Dan also received a bit of cloth and some tasty treats, although, technically, the treats were sent to me, and it is at my digression the amount of sharing I deem sufficient. Pants and Pecans for Dan, fabric and jam for me. Everyone is happy!

The cats then played with the boxes for the next 45 minutes.