I'm happy.

My mom texted me this morning and asked me if I am happy. I realized I didn't have to think about it and the answer came immediately. YES! I am happy. Occasionally I will think about how it is harvest time at home and how the leaves will be changing soon. The four seasons are wonderful and fall might be my favorite. I spent some time smelling candles today to catch the scent of apples and cinnamon. I think of what my family members are doing and how much fun it would be to spend time with them. And I miss it. But it is okay to miss home. It would be a sad thing if I didn't.

The fact that I am where I know I should be makes everything ok. The realization of how happy I am here stuck with me throughout the day. I have been very blessed with an amazing boyfriend, an interview with Disney (it's something!!) and housing that I am more grateful for everyday.

Today my landmother (as Travis refers to her, don't worry Mom, she is not going to replace you) asked me to watch Twilight with her. I can tell that she needs a friend and is lonely a lot. She spends a lot of time in bed because of fibromyalsia, but she can tell stories and talk. It was nice for me too.

Tonight Travis and I went to dinner and had a laid back evening. I like those. When we would be able to see each other before we would always try to pack in as much as we could to our week and not have much down time. Those weeks were really fun and I wouldn't have changed them, but the day to day stuff is more real. I enjoy his sweet strength, how he can talk about anything for hours but also let there be moments of silence and reflection. He makes me laugh.

I'm not sure how things are going to pan out financially still, but I'm working on figuring that part out.

I've made a good choice to come down here to Florida. I'm very happy Mom :)

Lizards

Since I arrived here, lizards have been my constant companion outside. They are every where!! I walk into the house and I have to watch to make sure I don't step on three or four that cross in front of me. I really don't mind the little critters though. I'm very glad they aren't spiders...

The house I live in is very secure. The doors and windows are always locked, and there is an alarm system. I should know because I set it off the first night...

Side note: every night when I get home I have a routine to avoid setting off the alarm. Before I unlock the door, I take my shoes off and put them in my purse, put my phone in my pocket and after unlocking the door I run to the kitchen where the alarm pad is to enter the code. Lady like? Definitely not. Does it work? No alarms have been going off since Saturday :)

So in all of that security, I realized it would be a little difficult for a burgler to make his way inside. What I didn't think about was how it would be for a lizard to make its way in. Getting home from running errands today and walking through the kitchen I saw him. And I came to a realization that it wouldn't be the last time there was a lizard in the house.

Florida Life

I've had many questions about how I am doing now and what I am up to here in Florida. I'll start with when my dad and I got here. It was Saturday at 8 am that we pulled up to the house. It is a nice house in a very nice neighborhood where the streets are TINY!! I look out my window and I see trees and a lot more trees. If I can't have mountains, these trees are my perfect view :) Five minutes away from Disney World and I have trees outside of my window. Amazing.

My dad and I took a few minutes to look around at my room and then took naps until early afternoon. I am renting part of an upstairs from a married LDS couple whose kids are grown up and moved out of the house. My part is separated by a temporary wall, which turned out to be one of those orange dividers from church kinda things, and a door. And my part contains a bathroom and closet. I was hoping to put a mini fridge in to store some beverages or something, but that idea got shot down by the landlords, so I have a drawer in their fridge to keep things cool. Yes, I'm still a little bitter about that, but oh well. It isn't the best place I've ever lived, but it sure isn't the worst either. It has a lot of perks to it. Like a community pool :)

Dad, Travis and I went to dinner Saturday night at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. We got a table right on the water and I'm afraid Dad wanted to sleep instead ha ha. I really enjoyed it and I was glad Travis was able to meet Dad and vice versa. After that Trav took us to the Boardwalk where he works and let us see the Presidential Suite. It was awesome and very expensive to stay there.... so I never will.

Taking Dad to the airport was not so much fun. One, because it was at 430 in the morning, and two because my comfort zone was leaving me. Thanks to the long drive and an extreme lack of sleep, I slept through all three of my alarms for church so spent the day unpacking. I met up with Travis later and he showed me around some other areas and how to get to the temple. The Orlando Temple is gorgeous! It is a smaller temple, but looks like one of the bigger ones.

I decided I needed a couple "adjusting" days so I wouldn't get home sick and spent them with Travis, since they also turned out to be his days off :) We went to a beach on the East coast with his sister Sarah and a couple of their friends from out of town and then ate at a place called Breakers where you are still on the beach. I love that I am close enough to both coasts to enjoy them :)

Now that I know I love Florida and spending time with Travis on a day to day basis, I am searching more to find a job. I went to the Casting building for Disney today to check on my application. It is an Argyle building. Yes. Argyle. I should have taken a picture!

Life is good. I am happy and having faith that I will find a job if I work hard at applying myself to doing that. Time to go hem my interview pants...

Iowa

I'm waiting for my dad to bring my car back from the shop. The brakes were making grinding sounds when we went down steep hills, so we wanted to get it looked at. They were supposed to be finished by eight this morning, it is now past eleven. Go figure.
The trip is going well. I've had fun with Rock, DeAndra and Aaron although it would have been nicer to have more sleep and energy so I could have played more. My batteries died too early in Rock's opinion :) Driving through the night will do that to you.
Tonight we were planning on going through Georgia and hopefully push past Atlanta. I'm not sure how or if we will actually do that now that our travel time has been delayed, but I do know this: I NEED SLEEP!! ha ha ha I am exhausted and can't sleep in the car. Which means I have to try a lot harder to be cheerful and happy... My poor dad.
Rock has been quite the entertainment. He knows he is cute and funny and loves to turn the tv off so he can once again become the center of attention. He loves giving kisses and for a second he even brushed my hair this morning :) I'll miss him and his parents.
When we were driving through the longest state ever, yes that would be Montana, we saw a plethora of deer. It was crazy how many were eating on the side of the road and didn't care that we were driving past. There were some bucks with HUGE racks right outside my door. I learned I never wanted my car to break down in Eastern Montana. I think those things would eat me!
Another thing I learned was that you shouldn't hit a skunk "dead center" as my dad would say, with the driver side wheels. You also should not hit another skunk fifteen minutes later with the passenger side wheels. Every time you slow down, you will smell skunk and the guys that work on your car the next morning won't be very happy with you :) Maybe that's what is taking so long. They had to wash it first.

Packing

I'm sitting here at almost midnight, six days to go before take off, and there are clothes, boxes and giant plastic tubs, all creating a waist high maze in my room. My goal is to whittle it all down to six (or seven) apple boxes, one plastic tub, sewing machine, blanket and pillow, and my purse. I think I'm being overly optimistic. I've sorted through all of my clothes once to take out the ones to give away, but that leaves me with roughly 14 boxes worth of clothes.... Way too many for a cross country trek! So I get to sort and prioritize my clothes once again and say goodbye to some. That's always the hardest part, because invariably a time will come when I will NEED an article of clothing that I am giving away now. So I need them all right??? :) I am sure that I will be all packed in a few days, or at least five minutes after we are planning on leaving :)

Thanks to the constantly cutting hours where I work, I haven't been able to save money like I was wanting. Fearing a rerun of "The Boise Experience," it has me more than a little worried. Then I remind myself that I'm not spending money unwisely...yes, my not stopping at a stop sign and getting a 124 dollar ticket was very unwise, but other than that, I'm doing well budgeting my money. As I pay my tithing and make smart decisions, I'm sure my needs will be taken care of somehow. I need to relax and exercise my faith in that promise.

Despite the getting rid of clothes (I needed to do it anyway) and extra stress of finding a job, I'm excited for this next step. It has tested my patience, trust and courage, but I think that is good for me. It has made me grow and step outside of my comfort zone (by 3,004 miles to be exact) which is precisely what I need to challenge me. I'm excited to get going and test out my wings! (Jonathan Livingston Seagull.... I'll have to blog about him next)