Baby steps

So I got a call from the work peeps saying that my credentials have been cleared *high five* which means I have a job BUT I still do not have a start date.  I am 2 weeks after my original start date :( That is two weeks later than I hoped without a paycheck!
Good news for us is that we will be moving into our condo tomorrow!  We found a fully furnished 2 bedroom condo in a nice part of town.  One thing we did not realize is that due to it being higher in elevation, it is usually 7 degree cooler than the valley which is going to come in handy pretty soon!  It looks like we will be in the 90s within the week and probably climbing! Also....I will be able to lay by the pool while waiting for a start date!
We cannot wait to have our own space and be out of this extended stay hotel.  Even though we have a small kitchenette, we still have been going out more than we should to eat.  I think the main reason is because we just need to get the hell out of this room!  
Joe and I do well in small spaces. Hell, we were living in a studio apartment for 8 months with no problems. The problem we are having now is that neither one of us does good in a holding pattern where we have no control over things and we are just waiting on other people.

Since starting this update this morning plenty of things happened and are lining up!  Will finish later...

Got an update about my job, there is only one person to do security appointments and she was out all this week...so, fingers crossed for at least a Tuesday start date.
Condo....getting cleaned for us as I type and we can move in as early as this evening!
Truck/camper build: I know I haven't given much updates on that but we got an update on part of the build this morning and Joe is happy with the quote and the plan for the build so that is moving forward!

One thing I have learned, and Joe and I do well together, is not to get caught up in things we don't have any control over.  We are not bystanders in our lives but we are also not going to get overly emotional about things.  I realize that the energy we put out is what we get back so if we were pissed about all these delays, complaining about every little thing, I will put money on the table that our lives would be worse off right now.  We've acknowledged the upsets, felt the irritations and anger about things falling through but then we let it go and move forward to what we can do.  Sometimes it takes longer than we'd like but things work out as they should and it's all good :)

One of our many jaunts to The Strip to kill time and get some walking in....we have to stop for refreshments of course :)

Time for a reset

Tux is not amused!

We've had a couple of good visitors but now it's time to get down to business.  As you can see, Tux isn't a big fan of being productive but it's what we have to do... damn adulthood!  But before I get into that stuff, our summer in Alaska is coming to a close :(

Mom's visit...she brought in some good HI sunshine!

Mom came for a month long visit and we had some decent weather while she was here!  We did some tourist stuff but I couldn't take a lot of time off so Mom was left to her own devices and she got familiar with our bus system.  She got out and about and saw Anchorage on her own.

We did the Kenai Fjords Tour which was amazing!  We saw whales, otters, puffins, otters, seals, glaciers, and amazing scenery!

Although this glacier was BIG it has shrunk dramatically over the years :(

We visited an old abandoned mine which is a quick drive from our house.  The park was closed, but we could walk around and it was beautiful.  Alaska amazes me on a regular basis!

We have been busy with Mom's visit but now she is back home in Hawaii and now we are in purge mode!

Like I mentioned in a previous post we are moving from our 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment to a studio apartment AirB&B.  We have a month to purge all of our stuff!  It's a mental process just as much as physical one.

We've been slowly downsizing and I've been keeping my buying down to a minimum.  Whenever I'm out and about, shopping or window shopping, I always ask myself now "do I need this? how will this fit into my traveling future? what will it replace?".  Knowing my goals and what I truly value has allowed me to stay focused in my day to day life.  I am able to ask myself how does this thing or this action fit into my value.  If I can't answer that question, I move on from it.  

For the past few weeks I've been thinking about my bathroom.  As a female we have tons of stuff in our bathrooms.... make up, hair products, face products, and just random stuff.  Today I purged my bathroom and my jewelry.  It is already feeling "more simple" and I'm just getting started!

In addition to this physical purge of all of our stuff we are doing a reset on our bodies.  With our visitors our eating habits have gotten out of whack and we both feel like our mental and physical selves need a reset, just like our purge of stuff.  

24 day reset!

We've done this once before and what we like about it is that we don't have to totally change our diet.  We eat healthy and as clean as possible.  So...for us that means less eating out and no alcohol LOL. So starting on Tuesday, after the holiday of course, it's game on!

one step at a time

Life is crazy and we never know what is next.  Being able to know your true self and your values allows you to keep moving forward in a way that fills one's soul.  

New home, no furniture

We moved into our place on Monday and that day was full of errands getting things set up.  We got an air mattress, set up utilities and of course internet!  We are both feeling off and Joe thinks it's because of the time change, even though it was gradual.  I think part of it is that fact that we have been going hard and fast since 4 September and now we have come to a screeching halt!  We found out that the required delivery date for our stuff is 10 Oct :(. 
No furniture or kitchen stuff until then!  ugh

I have a massage scheduled for this afternoon and then probably buy some work out clothing.  I got nothing to do so I guess I can start a work out regime.  We have a gym walking distance from our place that we are going to look at becoming members off (they have an indoor pool).
With neither one of us going to work anytime soon we will probably go exploring more and more once we get all the adult stuff handled (DMV etc.).  
One thing that I have noticed already about this area is that most people are happy and engaged.... and the diversity!  We are both loving the diversity here compared to where we were in Florida!

Made it to Alaska!

We made it to our hotel in Haines Junction and settled in.  It is a small village and the hotel was suspect.  It was old, as most things are on the Alcan, but it was comfortable and had hot water for a decent shower so I"m good :P. We walked over to a restaurant for some grub and a beer.  While there a local lady started to chat us up, she "works for the Chief".  I was curious to ask what work she did but for some reason didn't, she was a chatter anyway.  I told Joe about wanting to ask her that and he was like he wondered too but didn't ask because she was already somewhat full of herself.  Liked to talk and had limited listening capabilities.  

People like to give us advice about this move, which is appreciated, but they hardly listen to what we already know and how we feel about things.  Once this becomes apparent we let them talk and then we go about our day.  

Our hotel did face a beautiful snow capped mountain range!  Amazing beauty in this area!

We got up and the coffee shop across the street actually served espresso drinks! Praise be! this is the first morning that Tux is making it apparent he's over this traveling business and hid under the bed when we were getting ready and packing up the car.  Poor guy but he's a trooper and it wasn't a big production to get him in his carrier so that's a blessing.

It was a very short drive to Tok, Alaska but it was good because it gave us a lot of down time.  We are both getting worn out and tired with the driving and packing.  Crossing the border was easy and they asked about any guns.... seriously people we have no guns!

We had a big lunch and lazed around a little bit before having a light dinner and going to bed.

The next morning, Tux hid again, poor guy.  But it was off to our new home.

Joe has been keeping in touch with the lady that owns the condo we are interested in and we gave her a heads up that we'd be there later that day and that we'd like to see the condo later that afternoon.

We have rented an AirBnB close to downtown Anchorage, 2 bedrooms and a kitchen for us to relax a bit.  We got settled in the AirBnB and then went to find some lunch and found the Gumbo House which worked well for us.  This whole weekend is overcast and rainy so it was nice to have some jambalaya to warm us up!  We were getting worried about not hearing back from Kelli, landlady, but decided to drive and check out the area.  

It's about 20 minutes from down town.  We were hoping for something closer but it's hard to find garages near downtown and that is one of 'would really like" to have.  It's just a little bit smaller than our apartment in Florida so we will have to do some wrangling with our stuff, more downsizing which we are cool with!  The area is quiet and it's on a lake.  No threw driving, which Joe likes.  We are on the top floor so no one walking above us and we think the one below us is an AirBnb.  We liked the drive by and still hadn't  heard from Kelli so we were getting bummed and then she got back to us with some times, late that night (after 8pm) and tomorrow! Ugh... Joe mentioned tomorrow due to wanting to see it during the daylight and she asked if we could see it "now" and we were like 10 minutes out so off we went.  She was suppose to meet us there but after 20 minutes of waiting we got a call.  She had someone walk into her office with no appointment but told us how to get in to the condo and let us look on our own (which I like to do).  

Walking around the place, the only "con" was figuring out where to put Tux's litter box! LOL. Like I said it hit on the things we were looking for: garage, space, price range, and close to my work.  With it being a condo we work directly with the landlady to get things fixed etc.  We don't have to worry about snow removal, that's covered already!  Oh and the place has a gas fireplace :). 

We are going to meet with her at noon today to do the paperwork so we can move in on Monday when we are due out of the AirBnB.  We haven't heard about our shipment from TMO, it is due to be here 25 September (Monday) but we'll buy some sleeping bags that we will need to get anyway :P

We really didn't want the stressor of trying to find a place while living in hotels etc.  We've been looking online for months and this one has been the best fit for all of our "wants".  I didn't find one closer to downtown but less square footage :( 

Animal sittings:

Buffalo: a big herd…. while typing of this entry!

Caribou: 9 alive and 1 carcass
Deer: 5

Dall Sheep: 1 mob

Rabbit: 1

Prairie Dog: 1

Tundra Swan: 6

Sunshine State!

We've been in Florida for a little over a week and we're still pinching ourselves.  The move went SO smoothly, we were really blessed.  We had great packers and movers, everyone was professional, nice, and did a wonderful job!  

Sami and Tux are such traveling professionals themselves at this point!  They were sequestered while everything got packed up.

They handle road trips like champs!  Mostly sleeping with a couple of check ins to see what is up!  The drive from NC to FL was about 11 hours or so, it was a long day but with the regular stops for Sami breaks and gas it wasn't too bad.  Since Sami got her walking breaks, Tux was not happy to be stuck in the car all day!  

We made it to the temporary living facility (TLF) on Tyndall that evening and we got settled.  When we walked Sami that night we came across a deer.  Later on we were informed that there are bears on base!  In our apartment complex, there is a rumor of a gator in one of the ponds and Sami and I came across a snapping turtle on a walk!  

The next day we walked over to the marina, yes walked, and checked it out and then drove into town to check out Panama City.  

far in the background is Panama City Beach where we live!

We got a two bedroom apartment in Panama City Beach. Most people told us not to live in PCB due to spring break craziness but we wanted to be near stuff so here we are!  We are not in the middle of everything but a quick drive and we have this....

I can deal with some crazy months of heavy traffic and people, and then have quick and easy access to the awesome relaxed low key beach the rest of the year!  Amazing!

The furkids have settled.  We have a good sized screened in porch, aka lanai, and with the cooler temps we leave the sliding glass door open a lot.  It didn't take those two long to get settled out there!

Not only are they settling in, they have started conducting crimes together.  I think Sami is more of the criminal due to opportunity and that Tux is the instigator.  

Exhibit A:

Noticed the scratch marks?  Dogs are not that neat BUT this was found on the floor and Sami doing her best to lick it clean!  I just opened this last night and within 24hrs it's gone!  My chubby monkey Tux is already overweight and he acts as if he's starving! Crazy cat!

Needless to say, all is well and almost normal in our household with this move :P

I start my new job on Monday with three days of orientation.  It's always nerve wrecking to start a new job but I need to get back to work.  Although it's a PRN position (as needed), I am scheduled for 15 days in October!  Looking at the other therapist's schedules the average is between 13-20 days/month so we will see how this goes. I'm looking forward to putting my degree to work!  Bonus is that I am working with a population that I want to work with, veterans!

We are going to do our best to "survive" the next couple of years here ;) Oh did I mention all the fresh seafood?!  This weekend.... Scallop and Mussel festival, last weekend it was a lobster festival! OMG!  

5 days to a new home!

We make the move this weekend!  We are SLOWLY packing.  I think my lack of motivation is due to we are moving across town and I am only working one day next week.  We will pack some stuff and then go do something else.  The furkids are keeping an eye on everything.

I am worried about how well Tux will make the transition but it's not like he has a choice.  I will just try and make it easy for him.  Sami has moved and adapts well so she should be o.k.  Not only is this a big change for us due to downsizing from a house to an apartment but also relationship wise.  We have a lot of space and we are going to small space, we will need to adapt ourselves!  Not only that but with Shane's retirement, he has some big transitions for his self.  

It's going to be an interesting next couple of months.

You're IT!

On the days that I'm not so rudely woken up by my alarm clock I get to play tag with the sun.  With each weekend night that keeps me up passed 1am, I'm getting better at this game.  I've been holding strong and have yet to purchase a window a/c unit and there have been some rough nights but then a storm will come in and I'm good again.  But in the morning.....

This is my bedroom at around 9am (yep I slept in today).  Not sure if I wasn't too blasted by the morning  sun or I'm getting better at the avoidance but either way I feel like I won this morning.  You may be thinking "why don't you close your blinds?!" to which I point out I HAVE NO A/C and any breeze that I can get I'm going to utilize but come 7am I'm scooting this way and that way so I am not cooking in my own bed.  Sometimes I got some clouds that play defense but other times, it's useless and I have to get up.  Which isn't bad, it just means a nap is in my future :)

I usually have pics from my holidays but nothing from this last 4th :(  but it was a busy weekend!  Friday night started at the Green Pig for a pretty good blues band and some killer nachos :D Then we closed down the Tavernacle before heading home and chit chatting till 530 am!  I was up the next morning, or later that day at 730 due to my game of tag.  I lost :(  Oh well, misery loves company and I woke up my couch guest by making coffee and we slowly woke up with our java talking some more until he left.  Needless to say that was a lazy day but that evening it was off to Wiseguy's with the girls!  Good show, good company, good drinks, and good greasy club food.  After the show we went off to the Green Pig for a few more drinks and as it turned out some good ol' eye candy! YUM.  Sunday came and I packed a bag and headed over to the Brown's.  Once I got there we packed a cooler of snacky snacks, some adult beverages disguised as tea and lemonade and off to the pool.  It was a wonderful, lazy day.  Monday, the 4th, the Brown's had a few folks over and we hung out, ate, and drank for a nice day.  

I did notice that 4 days of drinking, not so good for me.  By Monday I started to feel the looming meh/funk but I soldiered on and it's all good!  

Regardless of the meh/funk weekend hangover I had a great weekend!  The joy of living downtown, I can and did walk everywhere Friday night:)  

AWESOME!

I had a good week doing week 1 of my 2 week annual tour.  I worked on briefings and next week...well it's inventory time in a hanger.  Can you say hot and sweaty?!  It's good for the soul right, a good sweaty purge!  LOL  The great thing about doing my days is they do 10 hr days and are off on Friday :)  That's the best schedule EVER!  Yesterday I was productive and did some major cleaning and now my weekend is free for fun and whatevers!

So, last night I was suppose to meet a past coworker for dinner, drinks, and catch up but due to other things we rescheduled.  No worries, my friend came down and we had dinner and a movie.  Went and saw Horrible Bosses, GREAT movie.  Well, maybe I liked it cuz I really don't like my current job but it was funny!  Came back here and chit chatted till 2ish again.  Tonight I got the Kenny Chesney concert and then maybe tomorrow the Avett Brothers at the galavan center!  

Yep, life is good!

Furniture Assembly

Alright here's the deal.  When I moved into my cute little apartment I moved with no furniture.  I have a built in kitchen table which is being used for a computer desk as of right now.  I really don't need that much room to eat, and my dinner guest have been limited to one at a time.  I have an air mattress with a cushy top, along with a down mattress top so it wasn't unbearable.
Well, Ikea is in town and they have some "easy to put together" in my price range furniture.  So I get to shopping.
Last week while Mom was here I had my couch delivered.  That was put together in a short amount of time, I would say less than two hours.  Mom had a new bed to sleep on and I now had somewhere to sit in my living room besides a yoga mat.  The other things I wanted to buy during our Ikea venture: mattress, bed, dresser... were not available but the guy said we could probably get them ordered online.  Good enough!

We didn't make it to Ikea the day I wanted for shopping but ended up at Trolley Square and I saw a lovely bed frame, so no Ikea bed frame... but the way I look at it you cannot be stingy when it comes to how your bed looks or feels right?!

Anyhoo.... last night my mattress and dressers were delivered.  WHOOHOO  It's Friday night and I'm FINALLY going to get my clothing in dressers and off of cardboard boxes.  AND I get to sleep on a actual mattress.

I make room for dresser assembly which means moving all my clothes on my couch (which already had folded laundry on it) and onto my packaged covered mattress.
Time for business.  Open the dressers and check out the instructions and this is what I need:

Notice how the little dude is smiling? Not a lot of that going on in this house hold.  Being the "badass wahine" that a friend said I am, I had these tools in my tool box :)  

So it's time to get down to business.  But there are a lot of screws and apparently my Phillip's head was stripped so it was no good....hmmm 

Ah HA my cordless screw driver.  So this is the new requirements....

Or course my life isn't that easy and both batteries are pretty much dead.  I try charging and I'm worried that they batteries are dead dead.  On the charger it has picture explanations for the red light.  Long blink = charging, steady red = charged, fast blinks = dead dead.

I haven't charged or used this thing in well over 4 years so I had no idea what was considered a long "blink".  

I was starting to feel defeated and frustrated.

When I looked at my apartment this is what I saw:

This is box 1 of 2 open and splayed out, noticed the mattress (yes it's under the clothes and dresser parts) still in it's original packaging.  

My lovely couch, also covered in discarded bedding and clothing.  SO even if I wanted to give this adventure a good nights rest,  and tackle the dresser assembly in the morning... I would have to figure out where to put all my freakn' stuff cuz I would have to sleep somewhere.

Hmmm and I don't like giving up....

So I mess around on FB, IM with some folks, who so gallantly say they would put together my dressers if they were here (thanks but THAT'S NO FKN' HELP, even though the thought of one of them doing it without his shirt was a nice mental break ;), and text with other people.  I would go and look at my rooms and feel frustrated, defeated, and just tired all over again.  

But wait the fast or not so fast blinking light is now a stable red! 

EUREKA I HAVE MY POWER TOOL!

Time to show this dresser who is the boss!

A couple of hours later:

And just a little bit longer:

I am woman with power tools! Hear me ROAR!

I cleaned off my bed, unwrapped it, made it and had a wonderful sleep on my mattress!  BUT I woke up at 5am :( So I wrote this.  

Today I get to tackle another dresser but it's smaller AND I got this down!

On Monday my bed frame is getting delivered but they are putting it together themselves AND taking away all the packaging! WOOT 

Maybe I'll be lucky and they'll noticed this stack and take it too?!

"What the hell" visit from my Mom!

Actually it wasn't like that completely.
A couple of weeks ago in the morning I was messing around on FB and was putting out there events I was attending.  The SLC Tattoo convention was going on this past Saturday and I've always wanted to go to one.  Well, I was planning on going solo...not a lot of interest from those around me but Mom and I started talking about it (this was a Wednesday).  Next thing I know she's flying out Saturday to hang out with me for a week and go with me to the convention!
AWESOME!

Now, the convention wasn't what we thought it would be.  Not sure what we had in mind but both of us were like "meh" about the whole thing.  We both left wanting new tattoos though.  The best part of the day was running into and meeting Shanghai Kate.  We were walking by her booth and she was working on someone.
"Hey Mom, check her out!"  She has white hair and is an older lady!  I thought it was great to see her working there.  So we started checking out her table and a young cute guy working there starts talking to us.  We noticed all the Sailor Jerry stuff and we were drawn in some more.  Turns out Shanghai Kate apprenticed with Sailor Jerry, she has the rights to his work, and has some original flash of his that she's selling and a book he wrote.  I bought the book!  Mom bought something for Dad.  Dad has a Sailor Jerry tattoo :)  Once we got home I got online to check out her and she is a fascinating women.  A gypsy if there ever was one.  Right now she is based out of Alaska but also spends a lot of time in Hawaii.  She travels everywhere.  My type of woman!  I also read about the whole Ed Hardy mess who is making money touting Sailor Jerry stuff, saying it's family owned! LIE and Sailor Jerry Rum.... he didn't drink so it's not his recipe, another LIE!  If you want Sailor Jerry things, go through Shangai Kate's page!

Sunday we were going to go to Ikea so I could get my furniture.  Well, the snow prevented that so we walked to Trolley Square. I saw a bed I loved at Pottery Barn, came home and ordered it.  Yep, it's a far cry from Ikea but a bed is one of the most important things in your house right?! ;)  We made it to Ikea on Monday after work and Tuesday evening....couch delivered and assembled :)  Now just a few more essential pieces of furniture and I'll be good to go!

All "have to have" furniture has been bought, but not yet delivered :( In the next week I should have everything.  Mom had lunch with her cousin that lives out here.  They had a good time and she gives 2 thumbs up to Curry in a Hurry. I've driven past it numerous times so I'll have to check it out now!

On Monday Mom went and ventured SLC.  She went walking and I think the original plan was to check out the capitol.  Well, she got side tracked.  She saw the hospital signs so decided to check out where I worked up in the Avenues.  Little did she know.... it's a freakn' hike up that hill!  She was worn out! But she had a good time. Didn't make it to the capitol, wasn't about to walk down that hill just to hike up it again!


Well, I dropped Mom off at the airport yesterday morning :( She's back home in OK and I'm getting back into my routine.  Monday night = laundry LOL, doing yoga in the am, getting my coffee and updating my blog before work :P
I'm SO looking forward to this coming weekend.  No alarms will be going off, I don't HAVE to do anything as of right now.  I'm going to enjoy myself :)

I miss having my parents so close to me, I love them so but this is where I need to be for now.  The future is funny and who knows what will happen!

Random apartment stuff

I've been in my new digs for a total of 4 nights and here's what we got:
I know how to break into my apartment.  Yep, I got the whole locking one self out while doing laundry out of the way.  Not doing that again.
Keeping true to my form, walked to the store... weird people talked to me.  But I love all the diversity while I'm out and about.
When the broiler is out, the heat goes bye bye.
Whenever I turn the water on I have to let it run for a minute to let the rust flow threw... I'm thinking that is what it is :P 
Lovin' the historic buildings!
I'm trying a Thai restaurant tomorrow night that is walking distance away :D
L&L is right around the corner.  I had some Loco Moco for dinner the other night, felt guilty and ugh due to the unhealthiness of the meal BUT it was so Hawaiian :P
Even though I'm WAY closer to work, it seems to give me an excuse to hit snooze just one more time :P
I may not have furniture but it's still comfortable here for me :) and Ikea has some cheap furniture that I have my eye on :) but with February being so dang busy I may not be able to get there until March! Oh well... that gives me more money to spend by the time I go shopping!