I've come to the conclusion that life has a speed dial with exactly two speeds. Hardly moving and Just Trying to Keep Up. When change happens, it seems to happen all at once. Sometimes you know and expect that change is going to happen, that it's going to take some adjustment, and you better hold on... you move away, suddenly you have roommates, a new job, and school or whatever else. All new experiences. You go on a mission, you give up phones and friends, technology, and dedicate your life to serving the Lord. That is a complete change. You come home, and you're expected to transition back to normal life, date, get married, finish school, be an integrated part of society. Other times, you may spent months waiting, looking for, and working towards a change convinced it is never going to happen, and then all of a sudden your speed dial is changed and life is pulling you along, and you're still trying to get past the feelings of inertia so that you can keep up.
This is a little bit how I feel with my life right now. After learning I wouldn't be able to return to the mission field, my life felt for a time as though it ground to a dead stop. So many options, so much unforeseen, and nothing that seemed to be working out. I put in over a hundred job applications, re-applied to school, spent hours knitting, and felt as though I was in a place of just waiting. Waiting for the ability to move forward. I had some good heart to hearts with the Lord during temple time, and then waited... as patiently as I could, for something to work out.
Now, my life is finally moving... at least aspects of it are. Maybe every aspect of life has a different speed dial (work, church, social, dating, family, etc), the differing movements of which can give us the feeling of being drawn and quartered... or nearly so. So, some of my dials have jumped to full speed. I finally this week was able to obtain employment, and have 24 hours on a time card with my name on it. I am working full time (plus a 45 minute commute), knitting a project for work which needs to be done in approximately one week (turbo knitting), and will be attending Stitches West in a week and a half ( all for work). I feel as though I'm dedicating nearly as many hours of my life to this new job as my dear friend Scumbag puts in on his job, though I'm sure the hours are still not really comparable, and my job is far more enjoyable, so it's almost more like play than work at times. Who wouldn't want to be employed by a lady who dyes yarn for a living? Shortly after I accepted the job in Fresno, I learned that I might also have the chance to return to utah and work there for another company. Now I am faced with the decision of staying or going.... what to do, what to do?
Our stake also just announced brand new boundary changes. I haven't really ever stuck around here long enough to get to know people in the stake outside my ward, so this should be an exciting, though somewhat difficult change. we'll be losing many of the people from our ward I've grown to know and love, so I guess that I'll have to get to know and love new people.
So, life is finally starting to move, change, and progress. Some of my dials I'm afraid might be irreparably broken (dating, social life), but I'm grateful that at least some of them remain intact. It may be difficult for a while keeping up, but I'm ready for this ride!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Solo Vacationing
As a precursor to this blog post, I just want to say: I am tired of apologizing for not having pictures. Apparently I am just not that much of a picture person, so if you're looking for a blog with more pictures than words (and I realize those blogs can be much more exciting), then I recommend looking elsewhere, because it is likely that this blog will remain wordy and less than visually appealing. So, with that said....
This last weekend I went on vacation. I've been home about three months now, and up until this last weekend, I hadn't really done anything to just enjoy being home. It has been doctor's appointments, job hunting and projects... which are fun, but don't feel as relaxing when it is what you spend your entire day doing for weeks on end, so I decided to get out and just enjoy myself for a while... I planned my first solo vacation. (different than a solo trip, which I have done many times across the desert between California and Utah, between semesters of school or for job interviews, etc. ) Vacationing involves sight seeing, relaxing and no commitments... or something along those lines.
My weekend of fun started with a trip to Ridgecrest to see my boys X-Man ad Tobster. Friday was a beautiful sunny day in Ridgecrest (quite the contrast to the weeks of fog and gloom that has been the norm for the last few weeks here in the grand ol' CV), so I had plenty of opportunity to soak up that sun playing hopscotch, hide and seek, tag and other games X-Man style. This proved quite interesting as rules changed every few minutes according to how X-man could most be benefited, but the hours were definitely well spent.
(Insert mental image of me hiding behind too small trees here.)
Saturday morning I got up (not early), and headed into LA. I had full tank of gas, a list of things I wanted to do, and an entire day in which to do them. My first stop was the LA temple visitor's center. This was a bit of a variance from plans as neglectful packing had ensured that my temple recommend was safely stowed in my temple bag back at home. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable trip to the new visitor's center, and it has left me with a good excuse to return soon... I will someday see the inside of that temple.
(Insert mental image of me in front of LA temple here.)
Next on my to do list was a quaint little yarn shop in Santa Monica. Any time I go somewhere I try to find a yarn shop I can explore and buy myself a little trip fiber souvenir. So, I made my way over to Wildfiber, a yarn store I had found online. (thank you Ravelry!) I am not sure if I've ever seen such a busy, yarn store, there were at least two groups of people knitting, and people coming and going regularly. They definitely seem to get good business! I made the mistake of walking into the yarn store without a pattern in mind, and so spent a great deal of time looking over patterns and trying to decide what I wanted to make next. This is a difficult task whilst sitting among so many fabulous yarns... the possibilities are endless! After much thought, consideration, contemplation, and several trips around the store taking in the wonderful yarn, I decided on a gorgeous skein of sock yarn. A safe buy now, find pattern later option. I've now actually settled on this pattern, and am ready to get started as soon as I finish this baby blanket I'm going to be doing for my sister. I am really excited!
(Insert mental picture of skein of yarn here.)
So far so good, I left the yarn shop and continued west... as far west as I could go without a kayak or other form of water transportation. What is Southern California without at least a little bit of time watching the waves? I spent a few hours walking the beach, people watching, and again, enjoying the sunshine. I got myself some dinner and then watched the sun set over the water.
(Sunset on beach photo here.)
As soon as the sun faded behind the clouds on the horizon, it was time to be on the move again... Ten miles and 70 minutes later I found myself at the USC church building ready for a very good fireside with Elder Clayton. It was a Q&A forum and so many interesting topics were brought up and addressed. Good job Brother Stanley (we still wish you hadn't ditched us for them) and institute committee for putting on such a great fireside.
Finally, I ended the day being taken on a brief tour of downtown LA, a late night dinner, and then a two point five hour trip through the desert back to my sister's. If you ever really want to see stars, I recommend the desert outside of Mojave at two in the morning. Amazing! (I looked for stars on my run here last night. There are none). I had a slight hiccup in returning home. My phone died just after the fireside ended around nine, and the last text I sent home was misinterpreted as saying I was coming home, so my sister and family expected me home three hours before I got there. Oops! Hopefully I'll remember to charge my phone next time to avoid such worries.
(Insert mental picture of starry night sky.)
I spent the rest of the weekend with my sister's family and made the three hour journey home Monday. 700 miles later I'd say I had a pretty successful Vacation. Now I'm ready to start planning the next one. Any suggestions?
This last weekend I went on vacation. I've been home about three months now, and up until this last weekend, I hadn't really done anything to just enjoy being home. It has been doctor's appointments, job hunting and projects... which are fun, but don't feel as relaxing when it is what you spend your entire day doing for weeks on end, so I decided to get out and just enjoy myself for a while... I planned my first solo vacation. (different than a solo trip, which I have done many times across the desert between California and Utah, between semesters of school or for job interviews, etc. ) Vacationing involves sight seeing, relaxing and no commitments... or something along those lines.
My weekend of fun started with a trip to Ridgecrest to see my boys X-Man ad Tobster. Friday was a beautiful sunny day in Ridgecrest (quite the contrast to the weeks of fog and gloom that has been the norm for the last few weeks here in the grand ol' CV), so I had plenty of opportunity to soak up that sun playing hopscotch, hide and seek, tag and other games X-Man style. This proved quite interesting as rules changed every few minutes according to how X-man could most be benefited, but the hours were definitely well spent.
(Insert mental image of me hiding behind too small trees here.)
Saturday morning I got up (not early), and headed into LA. I had full tank of gas, a list of things I wanted to do, and an entire day in which to do them. My first stop was the LA temple visitor's center. This was a bit of a variance from plans as neglectful packing had ensured that my temple recommend was safely stowed in my temple bag back at home. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable trip to the new visitor's center, and it has left me with a good excuse to return soon... I will someday see the inside of that temple.
(Insert mental image of me in front of LA temple here.)
Next on my to do list was a quaint little yarn shop in Santa Monica. Any time I go somewhere I try to find a yarn shop I can explore and buy myself a little trip fiber souvenir. So, I made my way over to Wildfiber, a yarn store I had found online. (thank you Ravelry!) I am not sure if I've ever seen such a busy, yarn store, there were at least two groups of people knitting, and people coming and going regularly. They definitely seem to get good business! I made the mistake of walking into the yarn store without a pattern in mind, and so spent a great deal of time looking over patterns and trying to decide what I wanted to make next. This is a difficult task whilst sitting among so many fabulous yarns... the possibilities are endless! After much thought, consideration, contemplation, and several trips around the store taking in the wonderful yarn, I decided on a gorgeous skein of sock yarn. A safe buy now, find pattern later option. I've now actually settled on this pattern, and am ready to get started as soon as I finish this baby blanket I'm going to be doing for my sister. I am really excited!
(Insert mental picture of skein of yarn here.)
So far so good, I left the yarn shop and continued west... as far west as I could go without a kayak or other form of water transportation. What is Southern California without at least a little bit of time watching the waves? I spent a few hours walking the beach, people watching, and again, enjoying the sunshine. I got myself some dinner and then watched the sun set over the water.
(Sunset on beach photo here.)
As soon as the sun faded behind the clouds on the horizon, it was time to be on the move again... Ten miles and 70 minutes later I found myself at the USC church building ready for a very good fireside with Elder Clayton. It was a Q&A forum and so many interesting topics were brought up and addressed. Good job Brother Stanley (we still wish you hadn't ditched us for them) and institute committee for putting on such a great fireside.
Finally, I ended the day being taken on a brief tour of downtown LA, a late night dinner, and then a two point five hour trip through the desert back to my sister's. If you ever really want to see stars, I recommend the desert outside of Mojave at two in the morning. Amazing! (I looked for stars on my run here last night. There are none). I had a slight hiccup in returning home. My phone died just after the fireside ended around nine, and the last text I sent home was misinterpreted as saying I was coming home, so my sister and family expected me home three hours before I got there. Oops! Hopefully I'll remember to charge my phone next time to avoid such worries.
(Insert mental picture of starry night sky.)
I spent the rest of the weekend with my sister's family and made the three hour journey home Monday. 700 miles later I'd say I had a pretty successful Vacation. Now I'm ready to start planning the next one. Any suggestions?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)