Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Oh hey guys. Let me quickly reference where I was the last time I caught you all up.... Oh wow. It's been A WHILE. I mean, this one KINDA counts, but really this was just me showing you a few pictures of shenanigans I had gotten into, and not really a recap of where I had been , or where I was heading....My bad. I'll look to correct that, starting now. So where does that leave me to begin?

Well...

As you may (or may not have?) realized, I have been living in Coastal South Carolina for the entire summer. At my parents house. Which I haven't lived at for 10 years. It has been weird, to say the least. My original plan was to leave all my stuff in Seattle (check!) sell my car on the West Coast (check!) fly home to SC for the summer (check) get a job, work, save, live rent free (check, check, check) and then fly back to the west Coast in late August to start a life over in that area of the country. (not. so.check). You would think, after 5+ years of moving about, randomly, that I would know myself well enough that I wouldn't make 'plans' for something that was 4-5 months down the road...but, alas.

About halfway through the summer I took a trip to Asheville, NC and it hit me that I wanted to call that city home. More than Portland or Seattle or any other smaller town on the West Coast. Asheville is about 5-6 hours from my parents house on the coast of SC, is in the mountains, has a great outdoor scene, lots of local breweries, and in general is an cute as hell town, and a great size. (Also, four seasons, great music, good food trucks, brick buildings....yeah). I discussed much of this with my sister Hayley, and she agreed that Asheville sounded like a good fit, and wanted to move with me. I knew I had a few obstacles to work through (a music festival in Atlanta I already had ticket for mid September. A gig house sitting the beginning of September in a close town on the coast. A cousin's wedding in Seattle the beginning of November. A camping trip throughout the PNW the beginning of October.) So I started brainstorming.

I had a new plan, which included moving to Asheville in November after the wedding. Then work started sucking (fiscally and otherwise) so I quit, mid August. This changed things. I immediately bought a ticket to Seattle, flew out late August, bought a car in 4 days, and then began my drive back across the country, new car packed full of all the stuff  left there 4 months earlier on its way to a new home.

Travel time again! and a S'more cupcake outta Springfield, MO

My new Lady, a 2004 Subaru Outback (so fancy!) and me atop the Flat Irons in Boulder, CO

What? Katie's shoes in a undisclosed location? (Montana), Tubing with friends on the Wyoming/Utah Boarder

The new plan was this: House sit for a few days. Go to music festival. Get PFD from Alaska deposited the beginning of October, and move immediately after that to Asheville, having to give up my PNW camping trip, but hoping to still have money enough for my cousins wedding in November. Well then I got two tickets for expired plates on the drive cross country. And unfortunate circumstances canceled my housesitting gig. I was now back on the coast, SUPER in debt, without a job for a month, scraping together money for rent and deposit in Asheville. 

I applied for a barista position I saw on craigslist. Figured, hey, why not. Work a month there (don't tell them that till I'm hired) make some extra cash, and be on a little better footing before moving in a month. done.

I go in for a interview at a local boutique that wants to also become a coffee bar (which we lack in these parts). I can walk to it from my house. The interview? 'Can you make me an espresso drink?'. Immediately I know that this is more than a barista position. They need my help. They explain they love coffee, know nothing about it. Want to hire me as someone who creates their coffee menu, sets price points, makes list of what they need to order. Hires other baristas and trains them. I know I cannot give them just a month, we talk. We strike a deal. I give them TWO MONTHS, get the ball rolling, set up a coffee bar for them, they pay me WELL and (under the table). So, now I have a new plan. I get a chance to create something new (which really excites me) without having to use my own money (more exciting) and come November 10th, I'm done. Hayley and I head to Asheville. I still get to go to my music festival in Atlanta. I still get to go to the wedding in Seattle the beginning of November. I will have money to live off of in Asheville while getting my footing, and I may even sneak in a Neutral Milk Hotel show in ATL mid October. It  took a lot for me to push back leaving Pawleys (it kills my soul a bit) but as long as I'm doing something worth while, and making $$$ I can give up another month. To quote the basement wall in Egypt: 'Oh life, stop being so funny.'

So, that's where I am at. In the GRAND scheme of things. (I also have this little item going on, but no updates as of yet). I have a  few more posts coming up to detail some smaller events that have happened over the last few months, but I figured a general catch up was due. I leave you with my favorite portion of Wallace Stevens 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird', a poem I was reminded of recently while reading a good  book :D

V

I do not know which to prefer,   

The beauty of inflections   

Or the beauty of innuendoes,   

The blackbird whistling   

Or just after.   

Jauntaroo DREAM JOB

Yesterday morning I woke up to a text message from my kickass friend Tyler that pointed me to THIS ARTICLE.  As I read, I was astounded. This has to be a hoax, no way this is like, for realz. Here I was reading, word for word, my dream job description.

"Help wanted: An "enthusiastic" traveler to fly around the globe for a year, all expenses paid, earning $100,000 in salary for blogging about it – and for volunteering to leave each destination “a little better than when you found it.”

The company in question? Jauntaroo.com  Don't worry, I hadn't heard of them either. I immediately hoped on over to THEIR site and took a look. To my amazement, only 72 people had applied for this job. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME. I mean, just 72!? Have we really gotten THAT lazy? Well, So I HAD to apply. It was that simple. I go to see the requirements and it is simply to make a 60 second video on why I would be good for the position. Okay. One) I've never worked with video software in my life Two) What the hell am I going to say, that someone hasn't already? Isn't that always the hard part? So I take a look at the videos that have already been posted.

Now, I don't mean this mean or anything but.... really? I mean, YES there are people who have traveled a shit ton. and YES there are some very qualified post college students who have journalism degrees. But YES they also all seem like snore fests. I'M SERIOUS. so boring. How can this be? So I look at more videos. More snores. I mean, I don't even want to watch a full minute of these people, how am I supposed to be interested in the travel they are going to represent for Jauntaroo?

So I buckle down. A video. I can do this. i start rifling through all the old video footage I have on my hard drive. Spoiler: It isn't a lot. I decide I def. don't want to do a video of me just sitting there talking. I also don't want a video showing far away places, because, duh. that is what travel is. But you know what else travel is that no one has seemed to care to show? FUN. Frickin' dirty, stinky, messy, laugh inducing fun.

Okay, so I have to silly video. That explains me pretty well...But what else? Do they need to also know the serious stuff? The fact that I never wear pants? or that I obsessively take photos of my feet in different locations, b/c loafers and tiles are cool? You know, the hard hitting, get me the job, type stuff. I decide they do. And this, this is what I end with...

Now, even though you just watched the video here, can I PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE implore you to click the link below, and simply click 'Like' at the top of the page? You don't have to watch the video again, I promise. You just have to tell the world you like me, and you think I'd be a cool person to travel around the globe. OR maybe you just want to get rid of me for a while, well here's your chance for a WHOLE YEAR. So DO IT.

VOTE HERE. OH GOD PLEASE.

Then, pick up your smart phone (you have one don't lie) and hit the 'like' button on that link again. Then your tablet. Then your girlfriends tablet. Then your cats. and I BEG YOU, tomorrow, REPEAT. You never have to watch my face again in that video, you simply have to take a minute out of your day, vote on all your electronic devices, and then be on your merry way. Think of the children. 

Oh lord I need a day off

As I write this, I am tired. Like, really deliciously tired. Why am I not sleeping then? No idea. My eyes hurt. I have to work a double tomorrow, and yet, here I am writing. Why? Well, most likely it is because when this tired hits, so do the rambling thoughts. And what better time to write a blog post than when the rambling thoughts are in full force, yes?

Slowly, as I have spoke of, I am converting this space in to a more thoughtful space. Not a fashion, DIY, 'hey look at me!' space, but a fashion, DIY, 'hey look at me being THOUGHTFUL' space. total difference.

I came to a realization, that technically I already knew, but sometimes it is the correct voicing of said realizations that hit the nail on the head. I was talking with a friend the other day, and I spoke of how much travel means to me. Which, FYI, it's a lot. Whenever I get in a funk, or starting dreaming of the future, my thoughts always first go to my next 'move' or adventure. Currently I have thoughts of more volunteering at music festivals this summer, or going to AK for a wedding in July, or moving to Portland/west coast this fall, or going to the Big Island of Hawaii again this winter. This is just the tip of it too. These are the big things. B/c then I move onto smaller thoughts of day trips to go hiking, and weekend camping getaways into the NC mountains, or traveling to Savannah, GA to eat delicious food just for an afternoon.

All these things, these are the things that make me tick. Make me happy. That exploring. And if I had all of these things, I know deep down that a life of working as a barista and server, of thrifting for fun and selling stuff on Etsy just to let me continue thrifting in exchange, of having a small flat, all this.... this would be a perfectly acceptable life. But the key to all this? The partner in crime. All the trips and travels, I want that person that hops into the car with me on a days notice and goes to Wilmington, b/c we never have been and its only 3 hours away.  Who plans Hawaii, AK, and a west coast wedding all in the same 6 months time span. Whose job doesn't define them, or hold them back from living life outside their job.

I knew all this, but it is saying it aloud, that really does the trick. As I get older, and constantly meet new people, I remember how much I really like meeting new people. Man you have to sift through a ton of crappy people to find good ones, but, uhm... WORTH IT.  So how bout I keep meeting new fun people, and one of them fits this mold, mmk? But preferably, can I do this outside of South Carolina? kthanx.

ps. I promise more pictures in blog posts. But when the rants come, you just cant prepare to have 'life decision' photos waiting in the wings.

Just two months later, NBD

So, We last left off in that I was heading to Mexico and SXSW for three week in March. Both trips were glorious, and (hopefully) I will have a recap of the whole trip posted up here within the next week. But, right before I left for those trips I had decided that it was time to move out of Alaska after four years, and see what other locales in the USA had to offer me.

Upon returning from SXSW I had exactly 11 days to finish packing up my cabin, giving away most of my random shit that you so easily acquire living in Fairbanks, pack my car up, and hit the road with my sister, who had flown up from South Carolina to travel with me over the next month.

Here was the plan: we were going to drive out of Alaska through Canada, and down the west coast, stopping in major cities, staying with friends and family, and then crossing the USA along the south until we were back to our parents home in coastal South Carolina. I figured this would give me a chance to see all the west coast had to offer (briefly) and then I could stay with my parents for a month (rent free!) regroup, and head out to wherever was next...('next' in my head meant most likely back to the west coast to settle down and start working on all those aspirations I had started to have while living in Fairbanks; it also meant maybe keeping my stuff in storage and going and doing something like being a camp counselor for an entire summer, even if I am most likely too old to be a counselor anymore...)



(Canadian traveling. Mount Vernon Tulip Festival. Point Reyes Lighthouse. Santa Cruz Beach Times. Park sunshine in Seattle. Portland Foliage.)

Well, what you plan to happen, and what actually happens is always quiet different I find, So here the scoop on how my trip and summer have actually played out. I drove down the west coast as far as Santa Cruz, where after much thinking/logistics/speaking with friends and my mother,  I decided the best plan of action would be to not drive across country but BACK up the west coast to Seattle, where I would store all the items from my car (in a trailer at my aunts), try and sell my car (success!) and buy one way plane tickets for me and my sister back to South Carolina, where I currently sit. As for this summer, I shall live in SC all summer long, work my ass off (one morning serving job acquired, night serving job still elusive) live rent/car insurance payment free, and save save save all the money I can (while paying off credit cards from travel and my mother) and then come September head back out (most likely west) and settle into the great unknown.


(Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach. Pacific Coast along highway 1)

...But then again, like I stated earlier, what you plan on happening, and what actually does are totally different. A lot can change in four months, so I'll keep you updated.

Currently: Rants and Rambles

WORKING ON: Getting Dresses up at my etsy store! I am having dress form problems  but once that is set, IT IS ON. I have already measured and acquired some great pieces...soon they shall be up, soon. I am also working on gettin ga new job! oh yay! Man, the last thing I want is to dive into another job right now, but man mine has become shitty. Excuse the language  but I just don't know how many times I can get dicked around there. Lots of broken promises, raises that never happen, and now apparently where a necklace with an otherwise required black scope next t-shirt and black trousers is too gaudy...and I was required to take it off. As well as my earrings. Because both of those change how great a server I am...we live in Fairbanks, AK Silver Gulch Brewery. Know your population.

THINKING ABOUT: TRAVEL. I am officially heading to Ajijic, Mexico and Austin, Texas for SXSW in Feb/March 2013 and am so excited! I will be gone for almost a total of 3 weeks. All around this is exciting b/c I have never been to either of these destinations, and I will be with people I love and adore at both! My grandmother lives in Ajijic, and has been down in Mexico living for 12-13 years. My whole (immediate) family is going as Christmas Presents to ourselves. VERY excited, getting to see family and explore new areas, SCORE. From there I will be heading to Austin for 8ish days for SXSW. At this point I do not plan on buying an actual pass as those are SUPER pricey, but friends who have gone in the past say that there are enough other and free shows that it doesn't really matter. I will be meeting up with friends their and (hopefully) crashing with them for the most part, which will allow me to save some $$.

ANTICIPATING: An AWESOME HOOK themed Thanksgiving with my friends! You heard right, HOOK THEMED. How rad, right? We are using the creepy basement of a friend and going all out with decorations, neon pies, fruits, roasted things, lanterns, lost boys costumes, you name it!

(I have always wanted to do this. I mean, DREAM OF DREAMS)

WATCHING:  A lot of the usual (New Girl, Walking Dead, Mindy Project, HIMYM) And a few reallllly guilty pleasures that can go un-named....

EATING: So, it is only day 5, but for the month of November I swore to not buy any food out! This is esp. hard WORKING at a restaurant  and I will admit to eating a pretzel for lunch yesterday since I worked the 12-8 shift... but I dint buy it! I feel not buying food out combats to things I need to curb: Spending ridiculous amounts on food at restaurants  and not cooking enough. And hey, it could be a handy diet too, b/c when I DO cook, I cook veggies (mostly). So, Let's see how this November goes! I AM allowing myself to have drinks out though....tea, beer, decaf coffee. I consider these all social aspects though, haha

PLANNING FOR: life?