The Long Haul..alright, the two-day haul

June 19th, at roughly 1pm (and roughly 4 hours after I would have liked to leave--I underestimated the volume and number of my belongings) Richel, Murphy and I packed up the car, got some Sonic for the road and headed out of the SLC.


The car was packed. I don't know if the picture below fully explains how PACKED it was!


We hit traffic right away. Of course.


And then we were in Idaho.


I had great co-pilots.


We made it into Oregon...even though Oregon didn't really play along with our "take pictures of the state signs" game.


We stopped for day one in Ontario, Oregon at the Sleep Inn. We headed down into town to Romio's (I spelled it like they did!) Pizza to get some delicious dinner! The little downtown was cute, but rundown.


However they did have a tuxedo/coffee shop. How could they go wrong?


Murphy relaxed in the pet-friendly hotel.


The next day we drove across Oregon and up to Lacey. We drove through rain most of the day. The highlight was the car show that we landed in the middle of!


We drove through lots of turbines, and I can understand why! The winds were very high so we proceeded with caution. Luckily, the sun came out when the winds came up.


When the winds died down, the evergreen trees started to spring up and the rain began to fall again.


We hit the Washington state line about 3:30pm.


I wanted to arrive by five. Guess what? We made it at 5:05!


We unloaded most of the car. Richel found a great new way to carry my collection of soccer/futbol scarves from the car to the apartment.


We grabbed some dinner in Olympia. My first PNW meal as a local. Great burgers!


Two great days with a great friend and now I'm a Pacific North Westerner!

The Chair of My Birthday Dreams...

Thanks Momma and Daddy!


Before

After!

AA1377A: It Has Begun

My U-Box (U-Haul's version of a PODS) showed up this morning! Yay! Now I can move all the packed things out of my spare room and feel somewhat accomplished.




I've loaded what was in my car: my tent and a disassembled version of the hutch below.


I got these two great lamps for my living room, however one harp is an inch taller than the other. What is that about? I figure they will be on different sides of the couch and if it really bugs I'll just buy two new harps.

Going Blue

I did some scratch-and-dent shopping yesterday at Down East's furniture sale. A lot of the places that I am looking at are 2 bed/1 bath and so I'm planning on doing my second bedroom in blue/beachy/shabby-chic decor. I found this great hutch (new in box, not scrathed or dented) for $50!


Then I stopped off at 2nd Hand Chic on the way home and grabbed this ladder (I'm going to use it as a book shelf) and old pail (trashcan).


Then, I went home and did some major packing. My spare room is getting full quickly!

A Mini Voyage to the City

This weekend is Commencement (and my last real event) at Westminster, but last weekend I took on the big, bad city of NYC all by my lonesome. Well, kind of. I went to NYC for a Young Adult Cancer Advocacy Summit , but I can't go to the City without some Broadway. "Some" might be the wrong word. I saw four shows in 3 days! NYC is my one of my favorite places in the world, and even on a short trip, I was able to get a lot of qaulity time in.


I stayed in New Jersey, which has definte pluses. It's cheaper, not a bad commute, and it's quieter. The minus is that you go into the City in the morning and are pretty much homeless until you go back at night.


I had a great view of the city, though!




Of all the times I've been to NYC, I've never visited the Irish Hunger Memorial. It's such a great little piece of history and space. There is a wonderful view across the river. It's a 30 minute or less event and well worth it.


Friday night I saw American Idiot. It's the Green Day Musical. If you're over 35, weren't a missguided youth, or love the government (any government) then this probably isn't for you. ;o) It was worth the low ticket price and high up seat, though.


Saturday morning I had every intention of trying to do "lottery tickets" to some shows, but alas I met a sweet older couple who has three extra seats to a sold out Addams Family. They sold me one of their lower orchestra tickets for about $75 under face value. The show was UH-MAZING! Bebe Neuwerth and Nathan Lane were phenomenal. My little Wesley Taylor was great as well. I'd highly reccommend this one!


I went to TKTS in Times Square after Addams Family and stood in line for tickets to Rock of Ages (probably my favorite show ever) because I wasn't going to chance not getting in. I got a 1/2 price ticket for an orchestra seat. While I was waiting for the show to start I got some dinner at the Mean Fiddler next door to the theater and checked my facebook/twitter. I follow both ROA and two of the stars, Constantine and James Carpinello, on twitter. Constantine had tweeted that he saw a Banksy (Banksy is a British street artist) near the theater. I tweeted back and asked for the cross streets and HE TWEETED ME BACK! TWICE! :o) Once with the cross street and once because I replied after I saw it that it looked like it might have been put up by someone else. He said he'd heard it was in fact Banksy and that made my night even better. The Banksy is below. I had seen Constantine at a Sundance premiere for Banksy's documentary "Welcome to the Gift Shop" in January, so I guessed he was a fan, too, and I will take his word for it.




Sunday I went to the i2y cancer summit. It was a great event. The presentations were amazing and I learned a lot. Sometimes events like that make me feel like I'm on the island of misfit toys, because it draws a very interesting crowd. But, nevertheless it was a great experience.


My last show was Sunday night and it was Next to Normal. No, that's the name of the show, "Next to Normal." ;o) It's about a family where the mother is bi-polar. It's a rollercoaster of emotion, but such a good show.


Monday at 5am I headed to the bus that took me to the train that took me to the bus that got me to the airport for my 8am flight home. On the way to the bus I saw this chair. If only someone would have thrown it out in SLC! It was PERFECT! What a waste.

I hope you have a great holiday weekend! Only three weeks until I'm Washington bound!

I Thought You Were Going Back to School?

Yeah, me too. I did get into FSU last year a got a "no" from BC about PhD programs. I still haven't heard from UNC Charlotte about the MUD program I applied for. Alas, I am staying in the work force. I actually love working, so it's not a huge loss for me. At Saint Martin's I am close enough to the University of Washington that I could (and most likely will) apply for either a PhD in Higher Ed or a Master's of Urban Planning for Fall 2011. Maybe both.

So, Where Are You Going?

I'm glad you asked! I'm going to break this up into a two-part answer:
1. Lacey, WA.
2. St. Martin's University

Lacey, WA is adjacent to Olympia, WA which is the state capital. It's in no way the largest (or even on of the top five largest) city, like SLC is in UT. So, from what I gathered on my 20 hour jaunt over there, it's kind of quaint. It's an hour south of Seattle and about 2+ hours north of Portland, OR.



Here are some pictures of the area (thank you Google image search)





Finally, this is why my father will visit me.... just kidding!


It was the fist stand alone Cabela's from what I hear.

Saint Martin's University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin's was established in 1895 by monks of the Roman Catholic Order of Saint Benedict. Yes, there are monks on campus. There is a monastary and an abbey. The mission of the University is "to know, to care, to serve, to educate the student, the community, and the world." Sounds pretty great to me.

Here is a picture of Saint Martin's Old Main building. It's their "postcard buidling" and was pretty much the only builing on their 300 acres until the 1960s. Then and Now.





Another bonus....They have NCAA II sports and a baseball team!



Next time I will post more about my new job. Stay tuned!