packing,decisions and unforeseen mishaps - 54 dias to go!

Sitting here in front of a full functioning fan, I am soaking in the conveniences and amenities that are my life. In just 54 days I will be heading to D.C. for staging ( refer to FAQ)

I just got back from one of the most successful shopping trips I have ever done. My mom called me and asked to meet me at Old Navy - they are having a 40% off everything in the store sale and there was no way I was going to miss this - I could get everything I need for so cheap! This was my first shopping trip for clothes that I have done since I applied to PC last August - I saved quite a good amount of money! I was so excited that I was pulling things off racks and my mom kept saying  " aren't you going to check the size?" It probably looked like I had never been into a clothing store before! It was great! Once at the register, the cashier made a comment about her hopes that I wont have to shop for a year or two because "I would never spend this much on clothes". Mind you, I got 31, give or take 2, items of clothing (including 3 shoes and a bag) for under $300.00 - shout out to my awesome mother who helped me with this!!!  thanks mom!! Driving home I could not wait to unpack my three very large, very white, plastic old navy bags and lay out everything I have! I didn't realize how much this help actually see what I have so I can go straight to my to do list and just start crossing stuff off! So liberating! This is what I have so far and I think it may be it!

And this is what I walk out of my room to every day - it makes me happy and has been continuously piling throughout the weeks - all the clothes I am taking fits in the bottom 3/4 of this basket :)

Now that I had a little shopping adventure, I came down from cloud nine to finish helping my mom - did I mention how great she is? well she is doubly great for helping me with invites. These invites are for a huge send-off party that my family is having for me. It will be in our backyard, BBQ style! Since I was in high school, we have always been having cookouts, parties and casual hangouts in our backyard and deck. It has become an every summer type gig where everyone just gathers here - my friends, my brothers and sisters friend, family friends, etc - I couldn't think of a better way to leave than to gather everyone again for one last hoorah! especially because my parents will no longer be living here when I return in 2014...tear. So, back to the invites - they have been quite the adventure themselves. Initially my mom and I thought, "easy...how hard can this be?" that's where we made the mistake - we assumed this would be no problem - printable invitations! Well, we had the wrong paper, printer setup, ink...you name it, we didn't have it! So we went to Fed-Ex where the very nice gentleman who reminded me of Bill Cosby helped us out! We were good to go and my plan was to get them done ASAP - then an unforeseen, unfortunate event happened > refer to the Female only section below if you really must know >. So finally I got them done tonight! I was running on adrenaline from my crazy, disjointed and impulsive shopping trip! There was no order, good thing my mom is so go with the flow :)

Final Product!!!

 DISCLAIMER - FEMALE PARAGRAPH - don't say I didn't warn you!

Yes. It Really Happened

Yes, mishaps - I have ran into quite a few actually, including a trip to the Emergency Room - lets just say Diva and I have not been the best of friends the past few days. I thought I was doing the best thing, you know being environmentally friendly and all - turns out mother nature doesn't like me very much right now - diva had gotten "lost" and could not be found for 12+ hours >>> to the ER I went.
That in itself was one of the most awkward and halarious experiences - non of the doctors knew what this thing was and had trouble helping me, the only female around was a student so she had to be observed doing ANYTHING in the ER- this meant there was a male attending, a male nurse, and the student all observing what was happening....suffice it to say, I will not be taking Diva with me to the DR.


Onto happier topics - I FINALLY decided on a laptop and I am in love with it! It weighs two pounds and can do EVERYTHING! This came out of a gift that my brother gave me for my birthday! He began to fill a 500GB external hard drive with movies, Pixar Digital Shorts!, music and photos of all my favorite places so that I can show host-country nationals where I come from. Best brother in the world!
Movies he put on the hard drive
-Center Stage - I love this one - especially at the end when it is all red!
- The Little Mermaid - Classic!
- A Beautiful Life - Powerful movie!
- The Holiday - makes me happy cry! Homesick movie
-What Dreams May Come - makes me sad cry  - I need this sometimes...
- A Secret Garden - how could he not add this...
-The Little Princess - there is no way I would have survived as a child without this!
- Crazy, Stupid Love - GREAT movie!!! - Ryan Gosling, period.
...and a bunch of other ones

I have slowly been crossing things off and it feels great! My hope is to have a lot of this done by the time I finish at my job - I know it seems a bit backwards - why do so much while your working and not wait until you have a few weeks off? well, my plan for some of those weeks is to head up to Maine to spend time with my boyfriend who is currently living in a tent and guiding (whitewater rafting). I also plan on spending time with family - although many would say that we already spend A LOT of time together - it is like culture shock for some people -  but I love it!!!

I will be posting next about an experience I had recently that left me rejuvenated and more ready for this trip than anything yet - yes I know that is a bold statement...stay tuned!


Happy Reading!