Photo Recap: Melbourne

It's been a while since I posted Oz photos - I plum forgot!  Enjoy!

I do believe I have the most random photos anyone has ever taken of Melbs!   

All photos are mine, please don't steal.

xo! n.

Of Travel and Trees and Tip Jars.

Ugh.  I'm not really a pack rat, and pretty much everything I own is contained in my bedroom, but the idea of selling my furniture and packing up my car is just daunting. Ugh.

 Add to that the fact that I LOVE my bed & dresser.  I know they're just things but the bed was the first adult furniture purchase I made, my dresser is so cute & vintage, and it's gonna be sad to part with them.  Ugh.

"How do I cram it all in!!??"  Ugh.  (from weheartit.com)

AND Teeter, Chick and I have lived together for 5 years - we've made some purchases together, our kitchen stuff is all entwined - I'm breaking up the awesomeness trifecta.  We call it the "divorce."  Luckily they don't have to divorce just yet; they're getting two friends to move in & cut down the rent.  That's right, two; I'm too awesome of a roommate to be replaced by just one person!

 I have around two months to make this all happen.  I need to get my ass in gear.  UGH.

 Anyway... looking on the sunny side of things...

Last night I bartended an event for Tree People up on Mulholland.  If you're in the LA area, care in the least bit about the environment & don't know about this organization, go check it out.  Awesome group.  They plant trees and educate people on the importance of a green city; you can volunteer with them every weekend to help plant or maintain trees around LA.  Even more fun, they sustain a beautiful public park with great hiking trails - check it out!

from weheartit.com

Anyway, the building I worked in was built out of recycled materials, including jeans - what!! - and showcased interesting artwork made from natural and recycled materials.  They had a live band, it was a beautiful night, and everyone was so friendly.  They even invited me to have dinner & drinks with them when I was off the clock, and I totally would've but I thought it would've been a little uncomfortable & maybe against the rules.  :)  And on top of all that, I tripled my actual paycheck in tips!  You just can't beat a night of work like that.

 They also take people on Full Moon Hikes; the next one is April 28 at 7pm, and I'm gonna do it.  Who wants to come with?

On a different note, I want to send out a hugenormous thank you to all the friends that have been so supportive of my decision to move.  I've gotten so many facebook comments, comments here, emails, and even a few phone calls, all of them sad but excited.  It means a lot to know y'all are rooting for me.  Thanks, loves.

Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ lovely, amazing and supportive friends
~ green organizations
~ tips!

xo! n.

Giving Up vs. Moving On

I have a new Escape Hatcher post up!  This one is more personal than the others... check it out here.

from weheartit.com

Are any of you going through something similar?  Learning to let go & move on?  I'd love to hear from you...  

xo! n.

It's Official

I'm moving to the East Coast this summer.

The plan is: mid-June road trip across America.  Visit & stay with friends, see places I've never seen (like the Grand Canyon - what! I know!), and enjoy a windows down, music up, singing to the sky road trip.  Arrive in North Carolina just in time for my friend's wedding in August, then drive up to my Mom's house in Virginia.  She's offered to let me live with her for a year while I save money, pay off debt, and figure out my next step.

I know how it sounds - I'm 28 (will be 29 by the time I move), broke, single, moving back in with my mom.  Pathetic right?  And it would be if I HAD to do it, or if I was just too lazy to do anything else.  But I'm choosing to do this.  It will be good to be near my family (it's been a long time) and great to save some money; it'll be a perfect jumping-off point for whatever's next.  I've been going through a dirty, duuuuurrty quarterlife crisis the last year and a half, and I've come to the conclusion that what I thought I wanted is not, in fact, what I want (or what I've ever wanted - just what I thought I should want) and therefore I can go anywhere; LA has no hold on me.

Besides my friends, which is a whole other weepy, gonna-miss-you-so-much story that I'd rather not get into right now.

If I stay here, yes, I'm staying with people who love me and inspire me and have picked me up every terrible time I've fallen down (sigh), but I'm also staying in a place that has disappointed me, given me heartbreak and uncertainty, and holds memories and anxieties that have held me down for way too long.  It's time to make a fresh start.  It's time to write the next chapter of my life.

I plan to get back into theatre.  Working the Awesome Festival in Perth reminded me how much I love live theatre, in every capacity, not just acting, and made me realize I'd like to be somewhere it's more respected, not just treated as the bastard step-child of film.  There are some amazing theatre companies in VA and DC, and I have connections to at least one theatre festival on the east coast.

I plan to travel the world.  Saving on rent is gonna make that way more possible.

I plan to sort out what I want to do next.  New city?  New country?  Grad school?  The more I think about it, the more I feel that there's a way to balance my nesting instinct with my wanderlust and that this is the first step.

both images from weheartit.com

 And don't y'all worry, I plan to write.  And write and write - you'll be included every step of the journey.  I'm sorry I haven't been great about it recently; I wasn't ready to make this official yet & that's what I was working through.

It's going to be a huge change, and it's gonna be sad.  But I'm excited.  It's time for a new adventure.

Today I am so grateful and happy for:
~ a simple, relaxing visit from my best friend
~ my roommates supporting my decision & having a good plan for when I leave
~ the next big thing to look forward to

xo! n.

Random thoughts on a lovely spring day

Every morning I wake up to birds singing, nesting in the trees right outside my window, and the sound of children's laughter from the daycare in the park.  Are there happier sounds to wake up to?  I think not.

On Easter Sunday, we had friends over, as we do every year.  We painted eggs, had three egg hunts (that's right, tipsy 20 & 30 somethings running & yelling around the apartment complex searching for plastic eggs like toddlers with potty mouths), and a sublimely delicious potluck dinner. 

 Easter Montage!

Our neighbors' guests got into a fistfight in the driveway (yeah you heard me - a fistfight), and then, by way of apology I guess, they brought over their cat with her Easter miracle newborn kittens.  There was much talk of gobbling them up and putting them in pockets (we say some weird stuff when we think things are cute!), and they said we can have first dibs if we want a kitten.  Oh sigh.  Do you think a kitty cat would be a good road trip companion...?

Baby kitties and a protective momma

As I sat on the couch, watching my varied group of friends talk and laugh and play silly games, I realized I was sublimely happy in that moment.  It was almost as if, as cliche as it sounds, time slowed down & I wasn't thinking anything, wasn't worried about anything.  Just enjoying the happiness and friendship around me.  How many moments like this have passed by while I was too preoccupied to really live them?  Way too many.  Time to WAKE UP.

That said, today I walked to the bank to make a deposit (yay for paychecks!!) and it was so gorgeous outside that I grabbed a blanket and a book & sat in the park.  It was loverly.

This period of relative unemployment is really spoiling me.  Rotten.  And broke.

 Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ a beautiful day spent outside
~ reruns of The Office on TBS
~ my dad is ok (he hurt himself at work)
~ acting like I'm five again

xo! n.

Quick Fix to Happiness

New Escape Hatcher post up!  Check it out here.

from weheartit.com

Leave a comment & share YOUR gratitude list with me!

Today I am so happy & grateful for:

~ black tea

~ cozy sweaters

~ yumalicious veggies

xo! n.

feelin' groovy

Lately, I've been feeling down.  I don't know if it's because I am back to "ordinary" life, because I don't really have a job & wake up every morning without much of a purpose, or because I don't really have a plan & figuring that out feels completely overwhelming.  Maybe it's because I'm living in a house with 2 other girls again & have killer PMS.  Maybe it's E: All of the above.

But today I woke up to a friend's phone call, a happy dream melting into awareness, a blue sky sunshine morning, and Chick's laughter.  And from that joyful place, possibilities started a-brewin.

I don't think I'm ready to outline a plan here yet - knowing me, it'll change a million times before it happens - but let's just say it involves theatre, the one thing I've always loved & the one thing I know, and it involves road trips, and it involves a big blowout around-the-world trip of a celebration.  It even involves a possible long-term plan, which I haven't had in a long time.

I'm open to ideas changing, but it feels really nice to have a place to start from, a plan to get excited about and motivated in.  This is going to be the best decade ever.

 from weheartit.com

Today I am so happy & grateful for:
~ letting my brain sit with a "problem" - it takes some time but damn it comes up with some creative solutions!
~ things to look forward to
~ spring flowers

xo! n.