"did you get in a fight with paint can?"

As I’m sitting here trying to find something really cool about my new really adventurous really awesome life to write about, I’ve come up with, uh, nothing.  Well, maybe not nothing.  I’ve done some things since being here:

-          Started investigating gyms to join.  I didn’t realize it was so expensive to go somewhere and secretly judge everyone in the room whilst they are judging you.  One gym has a sauna, Jacuzzi, pool, classes, etc.  LOTS of amenities, and of course it’s the one that’s 60 bucks a month more than the other one with the basic large room with mirrors and equipment.  Decisions, decisions.  You’d think after deciding to move to Alaska, every subsequent decision would be a piece of cake.  Which leads me to my next ‘thing’ on my list…

-          Had my first hairdressing experience in Alaska.  Doing the responsible thing, I asked around to find someone who was reputable, but I learned that doing so cannot always guarantee a good stylist.  Now I know people have bad days, or years, especially in the creative risk taking profession of hair styling, but this chick was in a league of her own(I should have been warned that it may not end well when the salon also has an extensive selection of hats to purchase).  This chick was a jack of all trades: hairdresser, actress, painter and apparently a master of none.  I thought I was playing it safe by just having her match my red in the front and giving me all over highlights, but that was a task too mighty for this little jack.  After the wrong color, color bleeding, and cut I didn’t decide on, I called my good friend Daisy back home to commiserate.  Daisy has been doing my hair for over two years and also happens to be one of my most favorite friends.  She sympathized and advised me to use Dawn dish detergent to strip the color, which it did!  She’s always there to help me out whenever I need it.  Has been a good icebreaker with my patients though...hence the title of this post.

notice the hats!!!

-          Became Pediatric Advanced Life Support certified.  Why might you ask should a girl who is equally scared of kids as they probably are scared of her 5’11 stature (with bizarre hair) care about learning to resuscitate an “infant or child before the age of puberty”?  Because, at my new job I may be required to care for pediatric patients and was highly advised to take (read=saw my name registered for class on schedule).  Scary, I know.  I try to avert my eyes from that hallway in hopes that I never see my name on the assignment for the north hall.  That being said, I already feel more well rounded in my nursing abilities, just by spending a couple days discussing the various things that can arise with peds patients. 

-          Painted my room.  Actually just a wall, but that was the plan.  I chose a pretty plum color as the color for my accent wall.  Always felt painting was therapeutic.  Repetitive, yet tough, work to make a space your own.  To cover up the past or just to solidify movement into the future.  Paint can have many implications.  I wonder if the lady at Lowe’s knew the power that gallon pail held as she handed it to me and said ‘have fun!’

-          Carved some pumpkins.  I can’t remember the last time I carved pumpkins to be honest, so it was actually kind of fun.  I went with my roommate as her family had a little pumpkin carving night with good chili and pumpkin cupcakes.  I couldn’t find a big one so I ended up carving three smaller ones.  A happy face, a scary face, and uh…chicken?  Yes. Chicken, first idea didn’t pan out so next best thing I could come up with was a chicken. 

As I continue to get settled into what is my new home, I'm starting to get the itch to get out there are start getting the real adventure on.  Seems like the natural progression in a journey such as this.  I can't just sit back and wait for awesome things to fall into my lap just because I'm here.  Getting here was the first step, organizing my room and 'space' was the next, getting settled into my new job was another and now I've got to get going on the social aspect.  Makes me excited to be done with the whole settle in process but also means I've got to get back to doing work on this next step!!

what i see every time i get off my exit

sunrise at work