Adventures in big girlhood
Hello my lovelies,
This weekend officially marks the one year anniversary of my new downtown big girl life! It seems fitting (and fabulous) to celebrate this milestone by blathering to all of you about my adventure while enjoying my live urban soundtrack (sounds a lot like traffic, skateboards and dogs for those of you who haven't yet experienced my new digs) and a glass of wine on the patio.
What a year this had been! When we started hauling crap in here 364 days ago I was so unsure of myself, my decision, my decision making skills in general and my overall surroundings. I tried so hard to seem confident and strong and independent and not like the weak, insecure, terrified jackass that had inhabited my body and brain. I also now realize how collassaly I failed at that. My sincerest apologies to those of you who had to repeatedly help put this humpty-dumpty back together again and again and again and... If you only knew how many tears I shed those few weeks/months in this apartment. If I'm being honest there are still tears today, but fortunately they are a lot fewer and generally much farther in between.
Rather than my normal sarcastic jackass writing I thought I take a moment and drag all of you on a little trip down memory lane with me. Here are a few of the lessons I've learned on my new big girl journey.
- Cooking for one sucks! I think you all know how much I enjoy being in the kitchen. I truly believe that food is love and sharing a wonderful meal with people you enjoy and care about and respect is one of the most precious gifts we can give one another. I've had so many wonderful nights since I've been here. It is absolutely awesome the opportunities and food experiences I've had with friends in the last 12 months, but there have also been a whole lot of lonely, bored nights alone. In so many ways I've learned to appreciate the solitude of the single life, but there are nights when the thought of preparing and eating a meal by myself is so overwhelming that I forego dinner entirely, I mean unless you count a bottle of wine as dinner. FWIW, my liver also wishes I was joking about this, but not joking. There have been some (OK, more than I'd like to admit) BAD nights.
- Cleaning up after me and only me is the BOMB! I absolutely love the fact that any mess that exists in my 1200 sq ft of fabulous space is mine and mine alone. A few weeks after Ray died, I actually remember confessing to NaNet that I missed being annoyed. I'd spent so many years being annoyed that I had to clean up after someone that it became yet another thing that I had to grieve over. Sadly, I can now recognize that I definitely had a larger part in the slobbishness that pissed me off so badly than I was willing to admit at the time.
- Traveling alone is AWESOME, being alone at the destination is LONELY! Barcelona was amazing. It was something that I so desperately needed to do for, and by, myself. It was a fantastic, scary, sad, lonely, funny, exciting, exhilarating, depressing experience. I would, and will, do it again and again and again!
- Mass transit is fantastic! If you enjoy this nonsense you may be pleased to hear that my new job will, once again, have me commuting via light rail. I trust that you all remember how much coffee fodder light rail provided previously. I rode the train a couple of times last week I assure you it most certainly will provide outstanding fodder again quite soon.
- Walking is much more enjoyable that driving. Earlier this week I drove my car and had a shocking realization that in nearly six months I've driven less than 1000 miles. Remember that whole nonsense about buying tires, yeah, well at this rate the 60,000 mile life of those tires will way more than outlast the car that they are mounted on.
- Controlling the remote control isn't as fun as I thought it would be. Full confession I watched some stupid shit when I first got down here because I was unemployed and finally able to watch all the crap that Ray would never watch. I've since realized that it really is all crap and there is a good reason that he didn't watch it.
- Laundry for one is really easy, but really wasteful. I remember having full loads of laundry, now I only have a few small loads every week. It's so easy, OK well, now that my dryer works (there's a whole fire department story behind making that happen) it is easy.
- Lyft and/or Uber are not likely the most quality places to find dates. Sooooo, there's chance that I might possibly have asked a Lyft driver out on a date and it's conceivable that said Lyft driver didn't say no, therefore it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that I've hung out with this Lyft driver a few times. UGH! I've got nothing! I know this is not a great idea. He's really cute, that's something, right? This is definitely not a thing that will go anywhere, but I will admit it's been a fun distraction.
In my Ode to Yoga pants diatribe earlier this month I mentioned the PMP exam, I am happy to say that I successfully passed the test earlier this week. I still hate it and everything about the PMI organization in general, but now I get to say that I am certifiable.
On Monday, I start my third job in ten months. I know that sounds like a terrible track record and it is, but I also believe that in this case the third time really is the charm. Fingers crossed!
Until next time...
XOXO