Busy Bee

I just set up "shop" on a little grassy knoll outside the Evergreen library to do some more job-posting-cruising, finance-checking, and people-connecting. I'm watching a plump and (might I say) happy looking bumble bee checking carefully in which each and every clover flower in the vicinity. It appears to be a college visit day here on campus with groups of teen/20-somethings roving around trying to look confident and friendly, but also looking extremely nervous and unsure. Of course, there are also the packs of parents following tour guides asking questions like, "is this a dry campus" and "what sort of meal plans do you offer?". Let me also not forget the fact that everyone has a name tag dangling from a string around their neck that leaps up and hits them in the face with every passing breeze. Ahh... I remember those days. I get to thinking about Logan heading off to school in the fall and all the adventures he'll come across, just like these kids. Different places, different people, but the same quest of "finding oneself"... in fact, the same quest I claim to be on.

After several requests for more information about the new "home" I posted about last time, I figured I'd best be giving you more details.

The apartment is above a restaurant (doesn't open until 11am, and isn't open late) and one small house away from the west-side co-op. As I mentioned before, it will be fairly equidistant between Evergreen campus and downtown Olympia. I'll be able to ride my bike (or easily bus) into town and even walk to the babysitting/gardening job I have right now. There's a little stairway access to the apartment from a separate door on the outside of the building. When you get to the top, one of the doors will be ours. You'll enter to the main room that is about 2/3 the size of the main room of my Decorah apartment. At the far right end of the room is a doorway into the kitchen which is modest, but a lot nicer than many of the others we saw on our search. We'll have room in the kitchen for a little table and a good deal of cupboard space for all the food and for Caleb's large selection of cooking gadgets... (have I mentioned he loves to cook and I love to eat his creations? It's a pretty good set-up if you ask me!).

The other door off the main room leads into a smaller room which leads into a nice big bathroom with a full tub and everything. The main room and kitchen will have south-facing windows, so we should be able to keep plants alive and well in the space. The whole apartment has nice, high ceilings. I guess I'll just plan to show you pictures after we have access to the space. We move in the 1st (or perhaps a little early if the current occupants manage to clear out as anticipated).

In other news,

... sorry, lost my train of thought after a pair of fire trucks zoomed past on the sidewalk and a group of first responders got out and started tending to a person who's been laying in the grass for a while... yikes. I hope they're ok. Just a minute and I'll keep going...

... still don't know the story because I don't want to get in the way, but everyone seems fairly calm. It appears one of the tour group members must have collapsed. They got out a neck brace and a board and an I.V. My guess is dehydration after a long, hot day touring campuses in the sun...

OK, back to the other stuff:

In other news, I didn't get called back for the interview about the art teaching position. I guess it isn't impossible that something will still come of it, but I don't feel like it is probably my best bet. I'm still on the search. Monday was my first afternoon taking care of the McLain kids after theater camp and all went well. I also have a few more leads on places to look into employment after that experience. I'll keep you updated as more information arises.

I spent today riding busses, running errands and (FINALLY) made it to the Wells Fargo on the edge of town so that I don't have to redo all of my finances with a new bank.

As I've been going around, doing stuff (descriptive, I know) and getting to know my new place, I've been running into a few faces over and over again. Most of them, I don't have names associated with yet, but others are classmates of Caleb's that I'm getting to know, his sister Kirrie (who we had an amazing asparagus-based dinner with last night), Lauren Schriber (a Holden-ite from last summer), and one wonderful Whitney Bingham (the sister of a dear friend, travel companion, and former roommate). It's fun to start feeling like I know my way around and can run into people I know on some level or another. Olympia is really just a big small town.

Well, I promise to give you pictures and more information after moving at the end/start of the month, but for now, the sky has clouded over and it's starting to sprinkle on my grassy knoll. Can't have that! I'm going to traipse back through the woods to the cozy little glorified toolshed I call home and I'll check back in with you soon.

Love, love, love!

Lauren