brief escape

I'm going to keep y'all on hold for a little while longer on parts 2 - 4 on the interesting events series. Curtains are frustrating and not happening yet, and I'm still perfecting the lemon pepper bread recipe, and although I've been biking I did not get very good pictures because it was too late in the day to get the fluffy cow-clouds milling about, like I wanted. To it's credit, the midwest is wide and beautiful, and it has beautiful skies and clouds.

This weekend I went to Omaha to visit a handsome gentleman whom I love. It was a lot of fun, up until the last 6 hours (which was the ride back) My check engine light came on about 20 minutes into the drive. (it had been fine all the way down, even to Lincoln and back)
It was downhill from there. As long as I was on the highway and cruising, it was fine. Anything different, any time it had to shift, it freaked out. I worried the whole time about being stuck on the side of the road in a state where the only phone numbers I have are people in Minneapolis.
I limped into town, and this morning it wouldnt start. I got a ride to class from one of my neighbors and made it just in time to take the test that we had!

Come to find out later in the afternoon that the check engine light had nothing to do with the troubles it was having, which was that the transmission (that left me on the side of the road last summer, if you remember) was trashed, and they said it was a miracle that I made it back to Red Wing.I was quite thankful for that miracle, because as much as I wouldn'tve minded being trapped in Nebraska with my honey, I have classes that I can't afford to miss. Plus, if I had broken down anywhere along the way, I don't know anyone in this part of the country that it wouldn't take hours to come rescue me.

But, fortunately I have many offers for rides to school until my car is fixed, and a very smart dad who can talk to the car-fix-it people and get done what needs to be done.

And, I'm starting a collection of car-fix-it places. Pretty soon I'll know every shop in the country. I should just save myself time and have that be the first thing I look up whenever I move to a new town.

Coming Soon:

Classes and other Violiny Projects!

A Series of Interesting Events: Pt. 1 The Cities

I met a girl about two years ago. She is a friend of my friend Jason (also from Minneapolis), and she slept on my couch when she came down to Nashville to visit him. I didn't see much of her, but she was friendly and fun and we became friends on facebook. Fast forward to the point where she is the ONLY one excited that I'm moving to Minnesota, because she lives on my side of the city (so a nice 40 minute drive instead of an hour and a half to the other side of Minneapolis, where Jason lives). So, we had a dinner date and then we were going to a get together at Jason's house because he happened to be in town (even though we hung out right before I left, it was nice to see someone I actually know up here instead of people I'm just starting to meet).

I left a couple hours early. I figured I would leave time enough for me to get lost and found again, and with my time to kill I could enjoy some brief civilization and see what stores I ran into that I can't find in my little town of Red Wing (which is basically anything thats not Target or Walmart) (Or JC Penney's). I thought perhaps I'd go to Ikea, and quickly decided not to, realizing that I'd spend money there for sure, if I went. My aim was a Kohl's or something similar (btw, huge perk to living in Minnesota is no tax on clothes or shoes!!)

I did indeed get lost.
My ancient GPS was no help. She told me I shouldn't stay out late tonight anyway, I might as well give up, and promptly directed me back to Red Wing.
I disagreed, and headed in the direction that I knew was towards the cities. Soon, I found where I was.

Ikea.


So I bought a kitchen table and a lamp.
But that's not the point of the story.

I met Karen for dinner at Chipotle, and then we went to Dunn Bros coffee (which is apparently a Minnesota thing that everyone should do - they don't have one in Red Wing, all we have is a Caribou Coffee. And I've heard tell of a Starbucks though I have not seen it) And then we headed over to Jason's house. It was supposedly a get together of all his friends, the night before he left to head back to Nashville. There were four of us, so we hung out with his parents and ate cookies and sat around a bonfire til I got tired and left.

It was lovely. So, I didn't really get to hang out in the cities at all, besides going to Chipotle. But it was really nice to see people I knew after a week of moving in and staring at my walls with no internet.

Stay tuned for Parts 2-4 of the interesting events, as well as an exciting post dedicated to my classes, which involve trees and power tools! Hooray!

Landed.

This is a first land-life post, due to the overwhelmingly large response of readers wanting to hear more, clamoring all over my comment page, begging me not to stop writing just because my cruise contract had ended. Fine, fine, I will continue to write! Let me get you up to date on the things I’ve done in the last week or so.

It has been a busy week. Let me give you a photo tour of all the things I have accomplished with no TV or internet! (the lack of TV is self inflicted – the lack of internet was sadly just something I had to wait a week to turn on. I am beyond Comcastland and thus at the mercy of the local internet company)


Moved to Minnesota.

I’ve never lived west of the Mississippi, north of the Mason-Dixon, or even in a town farther than fifteen minutes away from a major airport. It was (and continues to be) quite an adventure to move to a town with only one McDonald’s. It has been lovely to live within a half mile of a Target AND a Walmart – though if I need anything from every other store, such as Kohl’s or Ikea, I have to drive an hour, north towards the twin cities.

Put together a dresser from Ikea (the happy picture directions direct you to not attempt this on your own. I personally think you only need one extra hand for this sort of thing, not necessarily two extra hands, but in any case I managed.)

Installed a new showerhead in my bathroom.
I should mention that the showerhead, the dresser, and the killing of two spiders all happened in the same evening, and I felt quite independent and powerful.

Figured out an easy way to hang the violins I’m working on next to my kitchen table. (which is not so much a kitchen table as a kitchen bench for getting useful things done, like varnishing violins)

Successfully painted and hung large art above my couch:

Baked some yummy Ciabatta bread, ate it all myself.

Experimented with lemon pepper bread recipes, trying to recreate the favorite from the S.S. United States, the specialty restaurant on the Infinity. Still haven’t found the perfect one. (stay tuned)

Made serious headway on other assorted artsy projects which are not quite ready to be revealed (or cannot be revealed because they are surprises for people!)

Made some interesting discoveries about myself regarding packrattedness via unpacking things that I haven’t looked at since March: (now, in my defense, and to explain to those who just joined us: I went on a cruise for 4 months before moving from Nashville to Minnesota, and was working full time every day until the day I drove to Maryland before the cruise - so in March I pretty much threw things into boxes for the move, and put everything into storage. I didn't have the time or the brain capacity to be organized about it.)
- I own a lot of plaid shirts.
- I hoard matches and lighters (maybe I’m subconsciously a pyro?)
- I apparently lose flash drives and then buy new ones, and then unpack 6 months later and find them all. (same with socks)

_____
Also, I have realized a huge difference between Southern Hospitality and Northern Niceness. Northerners are not meaner than southerners, but they definitely keep to themselves much more. They are quite nice, but they are not friendly. Actually, the friendliest person that I have come across in a week of being here was a Canadian. (with a dog named Wiley)

And to top it all off, I have lost most of the weight I gained on the cruise ship. Hooray!

Classes start on Monday, and I am looking forward to getting to know some people, and starting a new normal.

This was brought to you by Williams Fine Violins – eatin good in the neighborhood!

Posts coming soon:

Going to the Cities! (St.Paul and Minneapolis)
Lemon-Pepper Bread

A Curtain Adventure

Biking and Minnesota Scenery

Lord, she never even stopped.

Well, I am a few days away from my grand move to Red Wing, Minnesota... by way of some grandparents in Louisville, KY. My awesome parents are coming to Nashville in the middle of this week with a van and a trailer to help me get all my stuff up to MN. 

Living on a ship has made me realize how little one actually needs to live on, and I am hoping that this realization can balance out my extreme packrattedness. Maybe I can whittle down my collection of "things" once I get up there. 

I am already looking forward to coming back to Nashville this time next year - I have a wonderful job here, I may even be able to get my old apartment back, and I'm starting to get ready to settle down for a bit. 

In the meantime, I'm still ramblin!

Look out here she comes, she's comin'
Look out there she goes, she's gone,
screamin' straight through Texas
like a mad dog cyclone.
. . .Lord, she never even stopped.