six months and 982 miles later.

Six months ago I was sitting in my Iowa office. Today, I am in my apartment in Atlanta getting ready to begin my Ph.D. on Monday. I could say a lot has changed in the past six months but I don't think "a lot" is a very accurate descriptor. I packed up my lousy Iowa apartment and moved everything to a fabulous apartment in Atlanta. Although I briefly considered commuting to Iowa from Atlanta, I ended up quitting "life with decent paycheck" to return to "life with small graduate stipend." In between I had a brief layover in "life with no job." In between that I stumbled upon Adam and eventually brought him and his kitty home with me for good. While in "life with no job" I took approximately seven thousand pictures of the kitty all of which are stored on my iphone in case of any sudden increase in stress. I also developed several new addictions (Frosted Mini Wheats, Magnum PI, and Lego Batman) and successfully maintained a few old addictions (twitter, instant netflix watching, and peanut butter english muffins). This summer I kayaked, white water rafted, went to movies, concerts, and plays, visited Florida, ate at all sorts of fantastic new places, successfully navigated traffic and downtown Atlanta, and made the new place seem more home-y in a few months than the old place ever did in three years. Life here is hot and busy but above all, life here is incredible.

true story.

Sometimes the best part of my day is between classes when I can sit in my office with the lights off listening to my itunes. Today it is dark and rainy out and sitting here by the window is so incredibly relaxing. As if that weren't good enough on it's own today is thai thursday. Thanks, life.

ibliss.

I am well aware there is a widely held belief that all iphone owners are snobs. I don't understand it but I know it exists. It is similar to the belief that all people who went to Valley High were rich spoiled brats. Someone is clearly giving iphones and Valley High bad reputations but I feel like I have done my part to counter the stereotypes a little. I finally took the plunge and got myself an iphone and I had to blog about it purely so I could bask in the glory a little but I promise that I won't become an iphone snob. I mean, not being a snob doesn't prohibit me from making out with it and then spooning until we both fall asleep, does it? Just kidding. Kind of. I have actually been doing a rather nice job of not doing my usual "get sucked into my new toy and forget to do other important things" routine. The next thing on the to do list is to make myself some ringtones so it really feels like my phone. Anyone have good suggestions for songs I should turn into my new ringtone?

My fortune cookie tonight was such a debby downer.
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late night moving panic.

In many ways I am grateful for having a year off of school before heading back into the grad school gauntlet. However, the hardest thing has been knowing exactly what I am going to do when I am done and yet not being able to do much planning. I am, of course, an excellent planner (although notably less excellent on the following through part) but it is just too early to plan many parts of the move. I occasionally peruse Craigslist in hopes of finding an apartment gem but it generally just induces panic. My stress often manifests into dreams and moving is no exception; I often dream that I forgot to ever find a place to live and end up trying to take everything I own to each of my classes.

The worst part of finding a place to live in Atlanta is that everything costs approximately 1 billion dollars per square inch. That might be an exaggeration but compared to the small Iowa college town I have called home for eight years it is startling to think about spending that much money on walls and a roof. Of course the logical solution to high prices is to split the cost with someone else. Unfortunately, no one wants to split the cost unless they can live there too. I have lived alone for so long that I am terrified of the idea of a roommate. Partially out of fear that they will be a freakshow and partially out of fear that they will discover my inner freakshow. I have been watching a lot of Grey's Anatomy lately and if you have seen it you know that they make the roommate plan seem totally workable. Maybe it would be if I pretended to be part of some tv series. I recognize that normal people do not make serious decisions about living arrangements based on television but I am at a loss for how to make this decision.

The truth is that I will probably make the final decision in a split second when an opportunity arises based on what my gut tells me that particular day. I know this and yet I still spend countless hours terrorizing myself with the anxiety of moving. I took a year off to relax a little and have ended up spending 75% of it fixated on the impending stress of moving. It is freakshow tendencies like this that I am worried about a roommate discovering.

This morning I realized enough time had passed that I could finally east oatmeal for breakfast again. So I made some and put it in the microwave and went on about my business. I knew just how long to put it in for and had just the right amount of time to get juice and carry it over to the table. I returned to the microwave just as it counted down the final three seconds.

As I opened the door in eager anticipation I was greeted by an oatmeal explosion. Definitely a breakfast fail if ever there had been one. But I just stood and watched - thinking about the wasted oatmeal and the mess that had already begun to harden. Who changed the rules on oatmeal? I took a few months off and all of a sudden it began coming with tnt flavor packets? Before cleaning up the mess, before making the call about which portions were still edible and which were not, before checking the box for any new cooking instructions, before any of that I just stared. Fully soaking up this breakfast trainwreck.

Time to just stare at your own messes a while is good for the soul. It locks it into your brain, presumably so you won't ever do it again, and gives you something else to do to distract you from tossing the whole damn microwave out the kitchen window.

Tonight I went back and cleaned up the oatmeal crime scene to the point where you would never know it had happened. But it did. And so tomorrow I am going to eat yogurt.

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all in good time.

Always being the short girl has it ups and downs but I really hate the process of taking pants to the tailor to get hemmed. Now I know that I could just do it myself. However, after a very memorable night in Chicago I learned that hemming pants just isn't something I will ever get motivated enough to learn to do well. So off to the tailor I go. The problem is that after I part with some of my hard-earned money to buy something I want to take my something home immediately. I want to play with my new toys, wear new clothes, eat new food, etc. This is why I hate paying for insurance; I don't ever get any new somethings to play with. Right now I feel like my new pants are spending the first week of our relationship with some guy in the mall. But alas on Wednesday we will be reunited and I am sure we will live happily ever after.

I have been spending my vacation in Des Moines and although the whole tailor debacle is a downer it does give me a nice excuse for staying another couple days. I know that few people ever feel ready to go back to work but still. I love my job but I wish it was in this city. If anyone out there is planning on shifting some tectonic plates in the near future might I suggest putting Des Moines, Cedar Falls/Waterloo, and Atlanta all right next to each other? That would be superb.