Thursday, May 27, 2010

Insomnia

Three days now
Is it the heat? I think perhaps it is the impending move. I believe I get insomnia at most major changes - I cannot say for sure, though, because it is one of those psychosomatic events that I can convince myself of. Such as, perhaps I do not always get insomnia, but because I am so tired, and I have a history of convincing myself of things, I can say to myself "of course, I always get insomnia".

Am I worried? No.
Excited? yes! about what?: ALL OF IT!
Moving, tomorrow's party, the new puppy-that-turns-out-to-be-a-girl, possible sailing in the near future, next week's trip to connecticut, SUMMER!

Summer things I am excited about: growing things, sitting on the balcony with margaritas, enjoying air conditioning, sitting in the library, getting really really sweaty on purpose and then swimming in the creek (and ignoring how filthy it is), cold beers and simple food, barbecues, long dinners with friends, lots of time outside at night, parties!, trips, beaches!, walking the dog

etc.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Friends

I have these beautiful women in my life who appear fatefully as soon as I need them. They all articulate different aspects of my life, but bring with them an awareness of those aspects like an aura. They are kind of gurus to me - their presence breaks up the spiritual knots and gives me an opportunity to explore these areas when they go.
I have had the opportunity in the past few months to spend time with all of them, and they have given me a great spiritual massage.

Whenever I am feeling particularly frustrated in my life, these women materialize. When they leave, the change I need seems ever more possible, ever more necessary, and clear as a bell.

Their love reminds me of all I have to offer as a human being, all that is in my power to be in my life. They are sending me the love of the universe with their smiles.

Thank you!

Great weekend

Soon I will extol for you the virtues of specific friends of mine, but for now I want to explain how fantastic this past week has been in my life.

Quick moral of the story: life is changing, and I am going to work with it.

First of all, my friend L from Florida came up to celebrate her birthday. How lucky I am that I have these beautiful women willing to put in so much effort to let me help them celebrate their birthdays! I cannot explain much of a gift this is to me that I can be with them. This visit, I threw a party, a joint Birthday party and Going Away party. I had a lot of fun. I have so many beautiful friends that make me happy – my brother and his friends showed up, my friends from St John’s, my boyfriend was there, and several others that made me giddy in their presence. We played kings, we drank, there was a pool that was very very cold. Thank you all for helping me love this apartment that I am leaving just a little bit more!

Second of all, my boyfriends’ family just got a new puppy. An 8 –week old as yet unnamed puppy that I have completely fallen in love with. Thoroughly. Joy! Super cool that I get to spend my weekends with this loving furball (I mean, the canine one, not my boyfriend ;-) )!

Third of all, this is my last week in the apartment. I work a few nights this week as a cook for a family, and the other nights I must move my large record collection and remaining clothes to my moms. I am growing more and more excited about this move – I am treating it as a giant lifestyle change.

I realized that, by making this move, I am making a thorough commitment to myself to continue with this Westerly adventure planned for the fall. And if I am making this commitment, I better commit to the rest of the elements necessary to make it as perfect as possible. Such as – get myself into shape, save all the money I can, learn some things.

Okay, so you may be saying “Annelies, aren’t these the exact same goals you always have, that you come back to this blog and report that you have not been committing yourself to them as much as you would like?”. My answer is: yes.

However, I have not made such a great commitment to this lifestyle I believe I am failing at living since paying for the marathon. I am spending this week coming up with specific habits I want to change and specific goals to enact upon my move to ensure the success of the change.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Croquet and Radish Goat



Boyfriend looks kinda upset - I believe this was after a significant amount of beer and champagne and at that point I make him take pictures of me and he gets annoyed at me, with good reason. The Weeping Radish goat is my new mascot.

Sledding during the Blizzard

My beautiful wonderful kids!

Some random beach in Delaware

FAVORITEST PEOPLE

Blizzard Fun

Danny's Typewriter

Annapolis in the Winter

Fallingwater

FAVORITE PEOPLE!!

Some people that make me happy

Pictures from France





Breakfast

Lately
has been a smoothie made of : banana, strawberry, flax seeds, cranberry juice and spinach,
along with a blended drink made of : kale juice, melon, home-made ginger ale, lemon juice and parsley.

It's amazing. I am acquiring super-powers from it. You should try it.

TV

I watch a lot of TV on the internet. This will stop presently.
So far, I've found many shows that I really love. Unfortunately they were all made five years ago and have been canceled since then. It's like your parents decided to fall asleep in the middle of reading you a great bedtime story.

My Vegetables

are growing in my windows!!!
Peppers and two types of basil and mint and spinach :-)

Training

I FINALLY FOUND A TEACHER TRAINING TO DO!

By this point next year I will earning mad money teaching people how to be gumby. maybe i'll even teach you!!! best part: the training is in nassau. that's right - i'll be living in the bahamas for a month. I WIN!

time to celebrate. bring on the wine!

Friday, May 7, 2010

apt

on ANother note-
if anybody knows of anybody looking into the DC area that would love such a wonderful, cute, convenient, cheap, and lovely place as that which I have been living in, and seems like they would get along with my lovely and agreeable roommate, let us know. we are open to suggestions.

huge decision, and three weeks of independence left

So this past week has blown my mind. I made a pretty huge decision that is pretty crazy. I am moving back in with my mom and brother.

Okay, big deal you say, haven’t half of us reading done that?
True, except your mom and brother did not move into a smaller space when you were 20 years old so that, by moving back in with them, you are quite literally choosing between a bed on the living room couch, or sharing a bed with your mother.

Yeah, so that’s what’s happening. The largest anxiety-inducing factor in my life this past year has been money, and I have tried everything I can think of to change the fact that I am spending all of it on bills: tried to sell my car, got another job, stopped buying food, and now I am moving out of the apartment. And believe me, there is nothing that reminds you so well what a sweet situation you have than by moving in with your family.

On the one hand, I am SO SUPER EXCITED because this change will solve SO MANY PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!! And on the other hand, I realized last night that the next three weeks very well may be the last three weeks that I have any element of personal privacy EVER IN MY LIFE. Seriously, think about it. I will move from here to my mom’s couch. And then out west with the boyfriend. And if all goes well I will never be living alone again. And then there will be children, and privacy will be a big joke told alongside stories about when you were younger and used to drink until dawn and hadn’t thought of what retirement plan to contribute to yet.

Great things about moving in with mom:
- washer dryer
- full kitchen with all possible appliances
- gym in the basement
- NO RENT
- full balcony with lots of sun
- I can save enough $ to travel for a month or two when I leave
- NO RENT
- parking
- right on the metro
- giant across the street
- I can save enough $ to pay off all my minor debts
- I’ll be forced to spend time with friends so I can get some space from the brother
- 1.5 mile walk to downtown Bethesda
- I can save enough $ to possibly go to teacher training in the winter or next spring
- NO RENT
- lots of mother/daughter bonding
- forced to go through all my shizzle and get rid of things unnecessary
- NO RENT
- I am super comfortable running around the neighborhood at night because, lets be honest, I am surrounded by white Catholics who either babysat my mother, babysat me, babysat WITH me, or who I have babysat, also their Hispanic nannies.
- I can save enough $ to go do yoga after work

Not-so-great things about living at my moms:
- Mom and Kees are MESSIER than I am (honestly, that’s pretty much everybody in the world sometimes)
- No privacy
- Boyfriend cannot stay over
- I can’t sleep on my own mattress
- possible back pain from where I WILL be sleeping
- extra bus ride to the metro in the morning
- need to overly label all my food so brother will not eat it, and still risk it disappearing
- the building superintendant has a lot to fix in the apartment
- no space for my stuff

All of the above can be dealt with by patience, patience, and the knowledge that this is UBER temporary.

And honestly, if moving out west with the boyfriend is something I want to do so badly, than HELLLZ YES I will live with two of my favs people ever for a while to make that happen!