secrets

someone has two international trips planned for the first half of 2015 :)

i'll give you a hint: one is fun in the sun on a beach, one is in all snow and ice

oh and i bought my plane ticket for the snow and ice this morning on a whim.  i had no plans to go but tickets were half off ... so i jumped on it.  damn you, airfare deal emails.

and this, dear friends, is how you travel cheaply.  you get on those deals when they come to you.

real life

we're back from greece!  well, we've been back for 6 days but i haven't had any time to sit down and just chill.  which is weird because that's pretty much what we did for 3 weeks in greece.  trip posts are coming, but not until i finish unpacking.

coming back to real life after this trip has been weird.  i didn't return home.  i returned to somewhere that is supposed to be my new home, something that is still very unfamiliar to me, but yet something that is still permanent.  the day after we got back the movers came and unloaded all my boxes.  so many boxes that it's proven to be a very difficult task to unpack because there's no space to unpack.  my first weekend back sam was here, which was awesome, but we were not at home in dallas or at an aggie game.  we were still in unfamiliar territory.  came back to my new job on monday, got sick tuesday, and i can't just curl up in my bed and watch a movie because a) i haven't found my bedsheets yet and b) i haven't had room to unpack my tv.  it's an interesting feeling, coming "home" to somewhere that isn't yet your home and has none of the comforts of home.

i knew this would be a part of the deal - missing home, missing friends, missing family, but it's weeks like this where i'm trying so hard to get comfortable in this new place and it's just not happening quickly where it hits me that this won't be home for a while.  friends that have dealt with this years ago because you moved right out of college - congrats on getting through this part of the move.  send me a little love and advice (and maybe ranch and gravy packets) to let me know i'll make it too.  i'm looking forward to this new part of my life and i'm happy i'm here, but i'll always be a texas girl.

california

oh california.  so far you have been interesting, frustrating, and awesome.  i expect this will remain for as long as i'm here (which will be a very long time)

i've put together a fun list of things i've noticed about los angeles so far for your entertainment:

• parking sucks.
• lanes are smaller
• parking spaces (if you can find one) are even smaller
• traffic is only ever bad in one direction
• traffic is only ever bad if you choose to drive at certain times, but people choose to do it anyway
• people love fruits and nuts (that's for you dad)
• but seriously, the level of health obsession is concerning/weird/notnormalforatexan
• which means no one ever says "let's go get giant steaks" and that makes me sad
• i need a grill.  so i can make my own steaks.
• there is an endless supply of choices of food.  really, every kind of food you can imagine you could find here.
• rent is expensive
• the majority of places to live are tiny and expensive
• real estate managers who say "street parking is pretty easy to find" are big fat liars
• the produce here in the grocery stores is amazing
• no one ever goes to the ranch aisle so it's all mine :)
• no one seems to ever be stressed out
• it's always foggy/smoggy in the morning
• people don't obsess over the beach as much as i thought they would
• the ones that do go to the beach go at odd hours
• handicap permits really don't get you anywhere when it's street parking
• businesses/apartments don't do "guest parking"
• parking sucks
• everything is expensive
• there are a billion stoplights.  that's a real number, i'm sure of it.
• people move often
• you will never see anyone outside without sunglasses.  these people never forget to grab them like i do
• people generally ignore you unless you approach them first.  this is something i have to get used to, but i have met some very nice people while looking for a place to live
• if you miss a turn while driving, you're pretty much screwed if you don't know the streets without looking at a map.  there's nowhere to pull over because there aren't any parking lots.
• the same street might have many names.  you have to know all of them.
• the weather is always perfect.  and always the same.  i don't have to look at the weather every morning anymore before getting dressed.
• you can walk a lot because unlike texas, everything is crammed in.  which is nice because i can save gas
• and that's nice because gas prices are ridiculously high
• people actually dress cute here.  which makes me stick out in my standard t-shirt/nike short combo.
• i'm hoping goodwill here has cute clothes because rent is going to render me broke
• parking sucks
• but so far i like it here :)

let me know if you're ever here to visit (after july starts, i'll be gone the second half of june)!

life decisions

well, i did it.  i finally made a decision.

this is my last month living in texas.  starting in june, i will officially be living in california!

i will be transferring to a different position within SpaceX (so staying with the same company) at headquarters near los angeles.  i'm extremely excited for this new job, new opportunities, being close to my boyfriend, and growing as an engineer.  i'll miss the friends i've made here in waco, firing rocket engines, being close to my family and friends in dallas, and being close to Texas A&M.  overall this will be a huge and scary move for me, but i'm looking forward to it.

maybe i won't be traveling full time just yet, but after a lot of thought and consideration i decided i cannot miss this opportunity and that working towards my dream of becoming an astronaut is more important now than traveling full time.  of course i'll still travel when i can (greece trip is still ON), about as frequently as i have been the last few years, but i'll also still be in the working world.  SpaceX is in an amazing position to be the first commercial company to send people into space, and hopefully by making this choice now i'll be putting myself in a good position to be considered.

everyone in texas, i am going to miss you so much.

everyone in california, hope you're ready for me :)

halfway

we're 1/3 of the way through the year, and i have been struggling for answers on what the next phase of my life will be.  healing has been going semi-ok, so i'm comfortable enough to do low-activity things (yay potential progress!).  i think the job part has been sorted (not official yet... more to come), but sorted enough to have a decent-ish plan.  more importantly, sorted enough to be able to buy plane tickets!  i'm happy to announce that for most of june i will be in GREECE!!  even better, bf and i are leaving on our one year anniversary, which just happened to be a coincidence we didn't realize until after we bought our tickets.  sun, beach, scuba, architecture, history, food, here we come.  now all i need is for the next two months need to fly by...

obviously i couldn't get to the second half of the year without leaving the country for an adventure :)

2014

new year, new adventures.

this year is a bit different for me in that i don't actually have a set list of places and dates ready to go.  since i'm dealing with medical issues, i can't really adventure much until i'm all fixed up.  kind of a bummer, but since i'm on crutches and i've been temporarily banned from anything fun (aka anything slightly dangerous, like skydiving or snowmobiling), it's probably better that i heal first and then go exploring later.... despite my wishes.  i have a vague list, but it's all dependent on the waiting game at the moment (waiting on a few different things that will guide me - more on that if i get answers soon) so i can't make any real plans yet.

however, for those of you that aren't broken, start planning!!!  it's easier to budget and save for trips both close to home and far away if you figure out how much you think you'll need now and automatically transfer a little bit into savings with each paycheck.  that's how i've done it in the past, even though it might seem like i just magically have funds on a whim.  it takes planning and saving, but there is so much to see so start now!

tell me where you're going or are wanting to go!  if you need any help researching, let me know, i'm always up for reading about new places :)