Interesting Turn of Events

T minus three weeks and counting until I am in Florida!  I'm very excited, past the point of anxiety and onto adventure-mode.  This past Sunday was Easter and since the mall that I work in is closed on Easter, I got a given day off and so did Haruko.  Lindsay almost always has Sundays off, so that worked out perfectly for my plans.  I had the girls come over and help me go through my stuff to pack it all away, and I supplied wine and pizza.  We got all my clothes down to three tall shipment boxes I brought home from work, not including my shoes.  That is quite a feat considering I had two closets full of clothes and shoes.

Lindsay went home with a bunch of my clothes, since we wear exactly the same size in everything.  Mostly jeans that I hadn't worn in about a year and a couple tops.  I think she got a couple pairs of flats as well.  Haruko took home a couple tops of mine as well, so I know that my clothes are going to good homes.  I also purged about three big bags worth of clothes that I'm donating to Good Will or Salvation Army or someplace like that.  And half of my shoes.  Or what feels like half.  Either way, I got rid of a lot of stuff.

I was worried there was going to be a lot of crying that day but we were all too busy figuring out what to keep and what to throw away and getting everything packed up to do that.  There was one instance where I thought I was going to break, but I held it together.  That is until I saw Lindsay's FB post before she came over.  It was along the lines of, "Going to help my best friend of 10 years, who has never been more than a 30 minute drive away for as long as we've been friends, pack to move 700 miles away.  Super sad face."

I cried for an hour.

The only thing that distracted me enough to pull it together was playing Draw Something.

The day before Haruko took me on an adventure around metro Atlanta.  I went to the Color Run with her, not actually running because I didn't want to pay $50 to run a 5k and have people throw colored corn starch at me when I'm supposed to be saving money, and got color bombed anyway.  She ran up and gave me a hug after she finished, so I decided to just have fun with it and went nuts with the color myself.  Then we went to an indoor trampoline place called Sky Zone, but I call it Jump Jump.  That was intense.

In between Color Run and Jump Jump we kind of drove around Gwinette and she decided that we were going to get Korean ice.  It's like Hawaiian Ice but with actual fruit and other stuff on it.  The way she explained it before I actually tasted it was kind of odd, so I just had hers in case I thought it was gross.  It was delicious!  Also, she pointed out I was the only non-Asian around.  "How's it feel to be the minority?  Haha!"  Yeah, well, Haruko says herself that she's a bad Asian because she's white on the inside.

After Jump Jump we went and had pho (pronounced "fuh"), which I had never had before.  Total noms.  I got cultural on Saturday.  

The only thing that is bothering me right now is that I have no idea what store I'm going to be in once I move down there.  The transfer has already been approved and we've talked about my hours, pay rate, all that good stuff.  I know what mall my new DM wants me in, just not what store.  

I like to have a plan.  I like detailed plans so I know exactly what to expect.  That's my Type A personality coming through because I was texting my sister almost flipping out about it.  She calmed me down though.  It's only the 10th and I don't actually start working until the 5th of May I think.  Plenty of time.

I just want it to happen.  Three weeks goes by so quickly, especially when you have a lot of stuff planned, and I want to savor every minute of it.  But there is that little part that can't wait for this new chapter in my life to start.  =)

So until next time,

xoxo

PS This is what I looked like at Color Run about 10 minutes after Haruko hugged me and before the color toss that I got seriously bombed in.

Quarter-Life Crisis

Maybe I should start off with an introduction.

Hi, I'm Bekah.  I currently live in NW Georgia right below the Appalachian Mountains.  I've been out of school for about two years with my bachelor's in business management and I actually have a job in my field, thankfully. Thanks to the recession/depression that the US is in it took me about a year after graduating to find it, but I am thankful none the less.  Also thanks to the economy, I still live at home.  Honestly, considering the circumstances of everything, this is not uncommon.  In fact, this is very common.  Had I graduated from college the same time I graduated from high school, I'd have had three or four jobs to pick from before I was even out of school and I'd probably have already been living somewhere that is not my parents' home.  But c'est la vie.

Don't get me wrong, my parents are great people.  It's more of a roommate situation, they leave me alone and I leave them alone.  They let me keep my dog.  There is just one little thing that's been bugging me though.

I'm turning twenty-five this year.

And I still live at home.

Do you see my dilemma?

My sister lives in SW Florida about an hour and a half away from Miami with her husband and two kids. Their moving was pretty sudden because of issues I'd rather not discuss on the internet, but nothing unsavory.  I took a week's vacation time after the holidays in January to see them and I decided that I needed to do something to change my situation.  Sissy had been telling me that I should move down there since she left two years ago and now I completely understand why.  The town they live in is beautiful and very safe, and the weather is perfect.  I was on the beach tanning in January while it was 45* F at home.

So when I got back with my lovely tan I talked to my boss and his boss and let them know that I wanted to transfer.  It was nothing about being unhappy at my current store (I work in retail) or the people I work with, it was just something I felt like I needed to do.  I felt like I'd hit a plateau in GA, nothing was changing, I really wanted to move up with my career, I have no love life to speak of, and it really bothered me that my niece thinks I'm the phone and my nephew doesn't think of me as his aunt.  

So my District Manager got me in contact with the DM down there and I'm transferring, starting work in the beginning of May.  And I'm on the verge of an anxiety attack almost every day.  Not because of work or anything like that--I have a job waiting for me when I move, I'm good.  I'm nervous because I'm moving 700 miles away from everything I've ever known.  Sissy is wonderful and letting me stay with them until I can afford to live down there on my own and can find roommates, but still.

Normally when people first move away from home it's just down the road or a county over, or if they go far away it's to go to school.  Apparently my subconscious is the "Go big or go home" type and decided to pack up and move two states away.

So, this is my quarter-life crisis.  What's that, you ask?  It's where in your mid twenties you freak out and either change jobs, change your location, or both.  So far, I'm just changing my location from the mountains to the sunny Gulf coast of Florida.  Thank baby Jesus that I at least have my sister and her family as a support system.

I'll be using this blog to relate the experience to anyone who decides to read it.  I'll probably post on a weekly basis if something interesting happens or I have some insight on something or have a breakdown.  

Until the next time. 

xoxo