Moving: Out and On

My favorite picture of us from this Christmas

I'm packing my bags and heading south! ....Well...south by a block from my current apartment that is...

It's time for a change and it's time for me to move on.
I've spent the last year picking up the pieces of my life, and now I'm ready to make something more from it.

Part of the new view

For the first time in my life, I am moving into an apartment that I picked out 100% by myself, 100% for myself. And it's perfect- a balcony deck with a decent view of the space needle and fresh sky, a washer and dryer, a dishwasher (GASP I've lived five years without one), underground garage parking for Rupert... It's a beautiful place. And the best part is that it's in Queen Anne AND cheaper than what I currently pay. If you know Seattle and Queen Anne especially, you know that is the steal of the year.

New apartment is coming together...slowly!

Funniest part of my new apartment? The only reason I was able to snatch it up before anyone else was because I was incredibly sick. After teaching class one Friday, I got hit with the horrible virus of the year (I completely blame my 4 year old students, who like to inform me that their mom or brother or sister has the flu... "But don't worry teacher I don't have the flu... yet!".....grrrrreat). I spent five days miserably in bed, barely able to get up to the kitchen for more gatorade or medicine, and took a whole week off from work. If only it had been an actual week off full of fun things! Anyway, on the sixth day, I was bored (you can only sleep and watch so much netflix on your phone) and was searching craigslist. Bam! Apartment in Queen Anne, sounded perfect, and it was only a block away from where I live now. I kept thinking, "I could walk a block. I could do that." So I did. I called the guy 20 minutes after his post, saw the apartment, and filled out the application later. There was a huge line of people to see the apartment with their applications and checks ready- but I got the apartment because I was first. There's no way that would have ever happened if I had been working my normal 50-60 hour work week.

Is there a point? Maybe.
Being sick was terrible and miserable- and that's not including the day where I put some chicken stew in the fridge to thaw and there was a hole in the bag and I discovered chicken stew flooding my kitchen floor, dripping through the fridge door and covering all my fruits and veggies...ick.  But being sick gave me the perfect window of opportunity to meet my future apartment. I wasn't even actively searching for one that week. It just happened.

I can only hope this means that things which at first appear horrible and feel terrible just might perhaps have a greater purpose than we can see or realize at that time.

Maybe that trite saying of things falling apart so that better things may come together is true. Maybe your job becomes a dead end right now because you're meant to be doing something else soon. Maybe you're heartbroken because there is someone better. Maybe you're surrounded by certain people because they will need you. Maybe you will need them. Or maybe you're sick so that you have ten minutes to find the apartment of your young adult life dreams.
Or maybe not.
Sometimes losing a job is just losing a job. Sometimes being sick really is just being sick. But I really do believe that there is a bigger picture, more than we know or see, and that it is working all the time even when we can't see or feel it.

As for me right now, this girl is back to feeling well, back to her 50 hour work week, and pulling out her hair wondering how in the world she thought she was going to accomplish all of this moving at once. But it's happening, box by box, friend by friend, and one day at a time. That's all I can really do. And I am thankful for that.

Here's to a new chapter, a new year, a new beginning, a new Seattle home away from real home, and a stronger me. And here's to any potential terrible things in your lives having a greater purpose.

-A

"So this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that can be."
-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Goodbye 101, I will always remember you

Ps. A silly story for you-
based on true events, produce and pride was hurt in the making of this story 

The Amberlee's show, Episode 1:

We pan through a local grocery store, where our protagonist searches for fruit. Confused, she asks the produce man where she may find some dates. He looks her up and down, smirks, and says, "That shouldn't be too difficult for you... Or were you hoping for me?"

 

She furrows her eyebrows, then horror spreads across her face in the form of red. She rushes to the check- out line, mortified. We scroll to her carrying her groceries. A bag rips underneath her arms. She chases produce down the street, opens her trunk, throws it all in, heaves herself onto the trunk door in hopes to reach it to close, turns to walk away and...Whoops! Skirt caught in the door. She hits the pavement hard, as two teenage boys and a 5 year old agape in wonder.

Finally in her car, she drives home. Dateless and date-less. Her life is a comedy, she just hasn't read the script. Yet.

Valentine's care package from the family: note the dates