Why I'm leaving Saratoga

I've gotten asked about this several times (which makes me think that the people doing the asking haven't really considered what it'd be like to live in rural Wyoming without a family and without any family members within 800 miles) but anyway...

It turns out that I fell in love with Appalachia without knowing it. I had going Out West so stuck in my head that I didn't realize how much I loved where I was, or maybe it just took me coming out here to figure it out.

I miss driving down 664 between Logan and Lancaster. I miss all the crazy festivals they have in South-Eastern Ohio. I miss the way fog collects in the valleys in West Virginia, so you can just see the tops of the mountains, black against the evening sky. I miss Kentucky, Ale-8, the Red, white churches with steeples along every highway, West Virginia, the New, and the Monongahela Wilderness (but not enough to check to make sure I'm spelling it right). I was so afraid I'd come to Wyoming and never want to leave...and here I am, in the Rockies, 6,700-some feet about sea-level, and all I want to do is go back.

Listening

Listen to the Mustn'ts, child
Listen to the Don'ts
Listen to the Shouldn'ts, the Impossibles, the Won'ts
Listen to the Never Haves, then
Listen close to me:

Anything can happen, child
Anything can be.
-Shel Silverstein

It's just that friendly

John and me in the Cinncinnati Airport

I LOVE Lexington!! =) After the craziness of flying, meeting John, and driving away from icky Cinncinnati as fast as we could, Lexington just seemed like the best place on Earth...college town, old houses, places to eat, places to shop, delivery pizza, smile-y sunshine license plates, people my own age (who understand the importance of college basketball!), trees, green grass, plants that were already growing, rainy weather (who'd have guessed I'd miss that) and John (yay!!!!)

It was a great weekend with lots and lots of laziness...I could blame that on John being sick but really, I'm just kind of a lazy bum ;) but we did go out to Q'doba...which, if anyone is wondering, is much better than Chipotle ;) and we went to Pazzo's, which was excellent, walked around UK, looked for a UK tshirt for me (but in my infinite pickyness I never did find one), watched tv, hung out with John's roommates, and just had a fun time...it was so hard to leave.

Oh, and I didn't get the scarf finished...I did take it with me and was brave enough to knt in front of John's roommates (and only got made fun of a little...but it was ok...if I can dish it out I better be able to take it) but I didn't get that far on it. Frantic knitting doesn't work that well...so I'm going to take my time from here on out...and probably get it finished here in the next couple weeks.

Another crazy night...

I stayed up until 3...knitting! Wild times, huh? =) Actually my dinner turned out so incredibly awesome that I decided I needed dessert. Went to the store (before 8 because that's when it closes) and bought brownies, made them, and ate some even though I can't seem to get brownies right at altitude (move to the mountains and your baking skills go totally out the window...its a drag). I was wired up from the chocolate and decided that I wanted to get a foot of John's scarf finished before I went to sleep...yeah, didn't get quite that far...but I still got up at 9 this morning and I've already been knitting up a storm...I'm trying to get it finished before I leave for Kentucky this weekend, which means I have 40-some inches to go.Wish me luck and hope that my fingers can hold out ;)

Happy...

Things I love about today...my Valentines Day Card, the scarf I'm going to start making as soon as I get off the computer, the awesome oatmeal I made for breakfast this morning, the email card from Heather, trying a new recipe for dinner (raspberry pork chops--keep your fingers crossed), sending off another resume, finding two more jobs to apply for, having no kids show up for reading patch club so it turned into my own personal do-crafts-with-construction-paper-club, having doors held open for me twice, the adorable little boy at the Dollar Store/Craft Store, and finally shelling out the cash for voice mail...so now I can be online (dial-up) all day long without feeling one bit guilty ;)

Winter Carnival

Snowmobile Race, Winter Carnival

Last weekend, I volunteered to help with the Winter Carnival. So I got up in the morning and spent about 4 hours standing in the snow timing cross country skiers, and then 4 1/2 hours in a little wooden shack, selling tickets to the snowmobile races (which are loud and look really dangerous) but I did get some pictures that I liked. Here's one of my favorites.

me too! me too!

"My life has been an unending field trip. And I have tried not to be a tourist. But to be an adventurer, a traveler, an explorer, and a pilgrim." - Robert Fulghum from Maybe, Maybe Not

Yep, I've got a blog now too...just couldn't resist the temptation of letting the WHOLE WORLD (ok, maybe just a little part of the world) know what's going on with me. So what is going on with me? Well, today I'm planning on going to the library, picking up a book about writing cover letters (so I can stop writing ones that are super perky and cheesy), and papering Lexington, Ky with as many resumes and cover letters as I can in hopes that someone will take mercy on the soul of a poor English major and actually call her for an interview.

Why Lexington? It's an hour from the Red River Gorge (if I can remember how to climb after a year off, luckily backpacking is just walking so I should be able to handle that). I miss green things like trees, grass, plants...(most of Wyoming has more of a yellow brown cast, all year round) and I miss civilization....don't get me wrong, there are some really nice things about living in a town of 1,726 people...I know about half the town by now, I can walk everywhere, there's no traffic, the mountains are really beautiful, and I've done things I never would've in Ohio or Kansas (went to my first rodeo, helped at an ice fishing derby and a cross country ski race, learned to knit socks, went snowshoeing). It is a really nice place to live, really it is, but I'm glad its not permanent...and I mean no offense to all the wyomingites when I say.....4 MONTHS AND 18 DAYS!!