but as life would have it, i got to try a taste of what a lot of people have been suffering through in the u.s. right now…luckily for not as long as many of them out there.

but that period has ended. after a short stint at west elm, that gave me a few hours a week of work since the holidays, i unexpectedly got a call back from a salon i interviewed with pre-thanksgiving. the position reopened and they wanted me! turns out i was ‘number two’ all along, and some of the girls wanted me to be hired in the first place.

i started my first day on monday, as the receptionist (but basically the catch-all doing whatever i can all day to make the hair salon run smoothly). i have really enjoyed it so far, and it will definitely be a job where i never have slow days, and always be doing something. the girls are wonderful, and i can tell it’s a similar tight knit ‘family’ environment that i had left at alcott. surprisingly, the biggest learning curve will not necessarily be the computer system or the daily tasks, but knowing the hair treatments! i’m somewhat of a novice for growing up with my mom trimming my hair, only getting a drastic salon cut maybe once a year or so as an adult, and only using a boxed dye once. i see a visual transformation soon….ideas?

it may not be design, but i have the rest of my life to pick up design again. i used to wonder why people wouldn’t try their everything to do what they went to school for, but now being in that position, i know i have way too much life ahead of me to be worried about not working in the design field for a few years. and as ecclesiastes assures, there is truly a time for everything.

Days here consist of not much- in a good way. Wil often sleeps in late, and if I am not joining him, I meet our friends for breakfast at the cafeteria. The highlight of many mornings are the waffle machines where you can make them fresh for yourself. : ) Laura and I have gotten into the habit of taking the dogs for a mid morning walk, which they love. We just do a loop around campus, usually catching one of the main orchestra’s practice on the way, and hardly a mile later the girls are exhausted.
I have to say, the cafeteria is not great. We sprinkle in some local burritos, thai, or pizza (or even taco bell) into our days and nights when the food is just not really edible… you can only be creative on the salad bar or make a pb&j so many times before getting bored of it.

I’m trying to sit here and think about what we usually do during the day…and it doesn’t amount to much. Some afternoons are laundry days, nap time, reading, guitar hero, recitals or afternoon concerts to go to. On hot days we’ve gone down to the dock for some sun and a dip in the chilly lake (watch out for snakes!) But for the most part, it’s any combination of the six of us…Laura/Jason (who asked us to come and is Wil’s ‘boss’), me/Wil, and Matthew/Sarah (came back from last year as the high school deans… Wil is the college dean). We eat together, sit on the porch together…

What has consumed the majority of our time and what we do every night while the deans are on call for any issues is watching The Office…Laura and Jason had never seen it, so we are going start to finish! It’s just as enjoyable to watch someone see the Jim & Pam story unfold for the first time, as it is to see the episodes again.

We stay up late…maybe have some wine or beer (funded by offering high schoolers 5 bucks to drive them into town as opposed to a $7 cab…he he), and Wil locks up the college hang out around 1am. And that’s the life. The concerts have been amazing- the larger scale ones take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but there’s constant practice and things going on throughout the week. Music literally fills the air at any given moment. We’ve seen some amazing musicians and an opera already (Hello Dolly is this weekend!). Matthew likes to give us a hard time for the fact that no one famous comes from Oregon- but there is a 15 year old violin prodigy that’s pretty amazing to watch (he came last year too)…if you ever hear of Brandon Garbot playing with any of the symphonies in Portland or around home, you must go see him. (Wil picked him up from the airport when he first arrived, and told Brandon all about how he had heard about this amazing young violin player…all the while not realizing he was talking to him.)

As for life outside of Brevard…Wil’s been working on looking for apartments online. He’s got a few leads, but nothing can really happen in that department until it’s closer to September, when we can see things in person, and depending on what’s available. I started working on my portfolio- I’m giving myself a couple hours a day every other day or so to research stuff online, get my info together, etc. I’m not feeling the most encouraged or motivated…it’s hard wrapping my brain about working again when not working is so fantastic. But we won’t survive without the income if Wil is too busy to not have a job during school…ugh…being an adult…

Well, shoot an email if you want- we are finding more pockets of internet around here…right now by some stroke of luck, one of the networks way across the field picks up in our cabin ever so often. Trying to get back on the grid!

-love-

technically, isabella and princess are our cheerleaders, sabrina makes our draperies and we call/email her about 5 times a day, and kim is her daughter, who worked with us about a year ago. carolyn barry, who joined us later for dinner is equally as special- she does our carpet and we talk to her a million times a day to, whether it’s work related or over a bowl of afternoon ice cream!

love these ladies!

(yes, we were all a mess during most of the times at dinner…and i did not realize people would give me gifts for leaving…that did not help the tear-fest! isabella kept rolling her eyes and saying “there they go again, everyone’s crying again!”)

i am blessed.

i don’t know if i really stopped and prepared myself for the mental part of today. we have special clients and vendors coming over for cake, and then all us girls are going to dinner tonight. it’s going to be a blubbering-fest in a few hours, i know it.

sad day.

and on a dumb note, our internet was not broken. i always thought you had to reset the modem when you had issues, but it was just the router. fixed after a minute long conversation with wil. and here i was fretting about our online bills, craigslist, posting on here…ugh!

and on another dumb note, i did my third attempt at a cake last night. third fail. i accidentally had the oven set at 300, instead of 350 for the majority of the baking time. so they were short and spongy. we might be ordering a cake at the last minute in montana for all i know. the ganache frosting was pretty great though.

wil walked into our cabin-home for the next two months right about the same time i stepped into our nashville-for sale home.

yesterday i went with my boss to atlanta…she goes once a month and this was my last time accompanying her (it’s usually every other month between me and cassie who joins). it was lame to add two days to the tally of being apart from wil, but before realizing that, i knew i wanted to take advantage of my last chance of visiting atlanta and our usual design stops.

wednesday we leave at 7 am, and it’s a 4 hour drive…we head straight to the design center…walking through showrooms looking at furniture pieces and different lines, requesting fabric samples to take back, and any other odds and ends that we are looking for at the time. it’s always really enjoyable to see things in person and also match faces with names of the people we talk a lot with on the phone.

it also made me curious if whoever i might work for visits the seattle design center and what that might be like.

we wrap up right at 5 when it closes, and usually have a great dinner…last night was no let down. we more often than not will shop for an hour or two- this time we visited the mall (usually it’s philene’s basement). but thursday has in store a very early start with lots of walking, so we honestly go back to the hotel and go to bed very early!

now, i know wil and all those starbucks folks are used to getting up at 4 and 5 in the morning, but it’s not so easy for those of us who are used to getting up 2-3 hours later. it’s rough! but we do it not so much for the deals, but by getting to the antique market while everyone is literally pulling stuff off the trucks, you are ensuring you get the best stuff before someone else! we wake up at 4:45 nashville time, and get to the buildings at about 6…

here is not long after we arrived in the south building…this row of vendors was just starting to unload. carolyn was checking out the size of a chest to be used for in a powder with a sink. it didn’t work.

this is maybe 3 or 4 hours later, and mind you, this view shows about 1/15th of what this building holds, plus a 2nd building of the same size…the ‘booths’ in this building are less defined, except for those hanging blue signs of letters, and tend to look a little more sparse than the north building because the south tends to have large furniture pieces and the north all the lighting, and other piddly things like silver, jewelry, books, etc. and it’s kind of madness the whole time. the economy has hit it, with usual vendors not showing up, or repetitive inventory, or just less inventory like this picture shows…more often than not you are maneuvering between pieces close together.

there’s definitely a lot of interesting nice pieces, but there’s still junk and stuff you wonder why someone bought that thinking someone else would want to buy it from them… our favorite usual dealers are either european, or go to europe themselves.

one very specific thing about scotts is the food. there are ‘food courts’ all over, and it’s all junk! this one is particular makes the whole center smell sooo gross..greasy southern food. just think about smelling fried catfish at 9 in the morning. pleasant.

oddly enough, after a lucky morning after buying a bunch, the power went out in the whole building while we were trying to look at oriental rugs. instead of picking a rug in the dark that we thought was brown and unroll at home and find out it’s like hot purple or something, we left about an hour early. i was quietly thankful, because usually the last hour is the hardest on my feet and mental endurance.

we got to nashville earlier than usual, and i made my way to our quiet home…i don’t want to get myself all down, but it’s really weird sitting at the computer just waiting to hear for the dogs to come up the stairs and see me.

wil, on the other hand, made it to brevard! yesterday was full of goodbyes and last social endeavors…golf, lunch, driving around, dinner, games. and i got a picture from his phone last night…

we decided in the last week to actually let the dogs be on the couch since it was the end of their time with that couch, and who cares! gracie had definitely tried to establish this for the last….well, forever, so you can tell she was all over it, and i don’t think ava quite gets it. : )

it looks like wil might have been stuck in some traffic, but he’s there! i asked him to take a picture of our cabin, so i will share. or maybe he can! maybe we can separately update the blog while we have our own adventures. that’d be fun.

i am all for routine, predictability and whatnot…if something expected gets unexpectedly changed, i can handle it, but it might not be as enjoyable (depending on what it is). anyways, today was unlike any other monday for very piddly reasons, but it seemed to all add up nicely.

we went to a friends for the superbowl yesterday, and since they lived near wil’s store and he was just getting off, i met him at the store and we drove together. leaving in such a tizzy to make it back home to see the office, we pulled into an empty garage last night, realizing we left my car 20 minutes away at his store. bummer. luckily wil would be leaving before i’d need to be at work, so we drove together so i could retrieve my car.

getting up an hour early was well worth it (i couldn’t say the same if he had to open that morning), because i got to spend a little extra time with him. while he would say that his morning was all messed up because i interferred with his methods and morning systems, i enjoyed actually seeing him and spending a few minutes in the car together…we rarely see each other in the mornings because he’s either opening and left after my groggy goodbye, or he’s off and sleeping in while i go to work. i loved starting my day with you, wil.

getting to his store, i got to eat some yummy oatmeal, and being on his schedule, i still had quite a chunk of time to kill before going to work…so i got to chat with good friends behind the bar that i never see that time of day. another plus.

i was able to get to work a half hour early, with a warm drink in hand (plus!), and if i did this any other day, i would just leave work early that evening.but being that we left the house at 7am, the dogs would have had an 11 hour day. with a free half hour available to me, and for the sake of my house and the girls, i took some extra time at lunch to give them a break. i don’t know why, but that midday escape was so great, the warmth of the winter sun got us up to 60′s maybe (plus)? and my cute, groggy, surprised puppies were joyous to see me for 10 minutes or so (plus), after sleeping the morning away.

also earlier that morning, i was excited to find out our work website went live over the weekend (plus!), and i was happy to see that up and running, since i put it together over christmas (not all the pictures, some were by me, but the good ones were professional!)

i had found out that morning that my best friend may have very likely found their first house to buy, and her excitement was contagious. by the time i had come back after lunch, she had found out that not only was the house in foreclosure, her father-in-law knew the owner, therefore knew how much the bank had invested in it, giving them some great knowledge on the deal and leverage for an offer. it made me want to buy houses again!
the break made the afternoon pass so swiftly (plus!) and there was no drudging through a long workday even though it was a monday and even though i had been functioning for a couple hours longer than usual.

and although oh-so-minor, i took a different route home, and i got home nearly 10 minutes faster than usual (plus!).

yay for daily life!

it’s bigger than coffee.

a display of 3 month old coffee plants…about as long as half a football field…

one of the levy walls that broke during katrina…

amy (farthest in the following picture) won manager of the year out of the entire mid-america! woohoo!

enjoying a balcony of bourbon street…

karaoke (no, wil informed me he did not partake of it)…

an entire wall of starbucks cups…

eating lunch on the field of the superdome…

listening to THE howard schultz (wil said BONO was their keynote speaker as starbucks and “red” are teaming up!)

i know he’s having a great time, but i can’t wait for my man to come home! : )

no it’s not that bad, as i am happy to just relax. today was an interesting morning. i was *almost* a fully legal starbucks employee today…had the apron, wore the dress code, served the pastries…just no paycheck. (i got $7 in tips though!)

wil’s store agreed to have a booth at a “fall fitness festival” for a grand opening of a nearby ladies fitness center. (bizarrely enough, the fitness center looked like it has been there for a decade or so, so i’m not sure if they revamped or got a new name or something?) i helped him and our friend/his coworker laura man the booth from 8-1…serving free stuff: brewed coffee, pastries, hot chocolate, and bananas. i really hardly did anything, except act like a barista and pretend like i knew what was going on…but unfortunately for the fitness center, there were hardly any people at the fair, so the morning consisted of most of the people from the different promo booths walking around visiting the other booths to all get free stuff from one another. (i don’t know how well it was promoted, and it was in a parking lot behind a movie theatre, where the fitness center is, so not great for drive by traffic).

not to be negative though- it was a nice morning. we’ve made the fantastic transition to cool fall weather, so it was perfectly crisp out, where the warmth of the sun made you feel toasty and cool at the same time. so great. laura’s husband came by halfway through and sat with us, which was nice because the four of us like to hang out outside of sbux whenever we can. we were entertained by a singer songwriter who performed next to our booth, and then watched ever so often when they did aerobics/weight class demonstrations out in the middle of the fair with the hip hop blaring and the lady giving instructions on how to do squats over the loudspeakers. also, one of the vendors was a ‘booth free’ business…a lady that just walked from booth to booth with her ADORABLE great dane (that was a perfectly behaved, off leash, so mellow, therapy dog) with brochures for her doggy day care/grooming/boarding place. i kept visiting “gilda” (who was wearing a full size tshirt) a few times, and watched her from afar. around lunch time, the man making some amazing pulled pork hooked us up for half price sandwiches. yum. and the most exciting part was that i won a free 90 minute massage in the raffle…so stoked for this because massages are one of those luxury things in life that are so awesome, but something i would never spend the money on. and 90 min! woot!

i played my role well, and convinced everyone there i knew what i was doing…i helped wil and laura take everything down when it ended and headed home (wil had to go straight to work to then work at the store for another 7 hours, yucky for him)…i can’t imagine for him but i was pretty tired when i got home…no sleeping in on a saturday morning, talking to lots of people and relaxing in the fall weather for a few  hours all combined to make me a very mellow sleepy girl when i got home. so i have zoned out on the couch while wil watches the red sox attempt to come back and win another game in the series to not get knocked out.

but since i can’t go into too much detail, there is a new positive change that i can talk about instead…wil and i decided we needed to be more healthy so we got a membership at the ymca…although there are a couple y’s closer to our house, we’ve got one about 5 minutes from my work, next to whole foods and the future trader joes (saw a sign posted at the empty building so that’s a good thing!), and a few friends already frequent that one.

we just got it two weeks ago, and haven’t had a regular week yet, but wil and i usually meet there when i get off work mon, wed and fri…wil’s very excited about the ability to swim again (he’s been watching the olympic swim trials nonstop right now btw), and we are happy about the prospect of working out together and being more active. they offer a health scan thing to show you your overall health based on the fit averages of your gender/age by measuring a few things, so we thought it’d be good to get that first off to see what areas to work on. while both of our flexibility was in the ‘needs work’ category, we were both pleasantly surprised to see we had fairly good overall scores to begin with…i told the tester girl when i saw my results ‘i should not work out more often!’ (ha ha, i know i’m such a clever comedian). i also was excited to brag to wil that my bicep strength was beyond the excellent category. ha! it’s probably from all the antique tables and chests and chairs we are constantly moving around our office and at clients’ homes.

so, it’s a good thing we’ve started and it seems like we’ll keep it up.

oh, and the excitement we got ourselves into this weekend? it ended up we planted a tree on saturday (i hope it lives because i saw this morning that ava thought it was a good idea to dig it last night)…and we saw wall-e on sunday. everyone must see wall-e…it was so great. and like all the reviews i had read prior…it’s not just a great animated film, it’s truly a great film, period.