Lifestyles of the Young and Renting

In getting ready to fly home for Christmas and have a couple interviews, I realized that my wardrobe is not winter-ready. In the biz-cazh climate of California, the closest things I own to a suitcoat are a lime-green one-button blazer, and a corduroy number that has been through the washer almost more than its $30 self can bear.

I didn’t really think that lime-green was appropriate for interviews in Minnesota in the middle of winter, as I would be forced to either buy lime-green pants to match (unlikely), or wear my bright white trousers. Please imagine me in a snowy landscape, my pants disappearing into the white background, my lime green blazer reflecting all the sunlight into the eyes of my interviewers. At that point, I don’t think it would matter how good my resume is. 

So, time for a new suit. I ended up with a thick brown number that Matt says looks "dirty," but that my girlfriends feel is the height of fashion. I then considered my footwear: my brown ‘professional’ shoes are tiny little sling-backs. Please stop again to imagine me in a snowy landscape, with my bare feet covered to my ankles with snow (remember, in California, we don’t wear hosiery either).

Off to find a pair of dress boots…of which there are 400 variations, and none that meet my criteria. Most wanted to give me a three-inch stiletto heel with ‘wicked witch of the west’ pointy ski-toes. Please now imagine me in a snowy landscape, upside down in a snowbank, with my witch toes in the air and my resume in the mud.

After three hours at the mall, I finally settled on the most average pair of shoes I could find. They are taller than my ankle, but not by much. They are pointy, but keep me out of Kansas. The heel is a skinny little stick, but is only an inch high. And they were 50% off. Thus, I now own a pair of brown, pointy, stubby, spats. But I can wear socks with them, and at this point, that is all that really matters. 

 I leave tonight on a red-eye to the homecountry - I just finalized my second interview in MN and had to adjust my flight such that I will be gone for three weeks. Perhaps when I get back, winter will have arrived here, and I will have more opportunities to wear my pointy shoes. Chances are, they will serve more as a memento of an event in time rather than a functional piece of footwear. I wonder, if I filled them with potting soil first, they might hold water.

-l 

I don’t have much direction for this post, I just felt I should say hello to all of our friends and family. I will let Matt post about the race, but let me just say that I am incredibly proud of him and was so glad to have been able to be there. I would also like to say that his father and I deserve small medals of our own: we figured we completed a quarter-marathon with all the walking back and forth that we did. At one point during our trek to meet Matt at the finish line, we had to rest at a park bench. Within minutes, we stopped talking and fell into a 30-minute nap in the heart of Honolulu.

Now I am back, and have one week here before heading to Minnesota. During this week, I will have my last sessions with three of my clients, two of whom I have known for over two years and will miss deeply, and my last full week with my friend Michael, who has become like family to me. When I get on the plane Tuesday morning, I will not only have to have all of my Christmas shopping done, but I will also have to be prepared for my first internship interview on that Thursday. 

This is just an odd time…a slow-motion kaleidoscope where things aren’t moving too fast, but there is a lot of change - and who knows what the next frame is going to look like (anyone?). The only reason I am not anxious is that I am surrounded by amazing friends, deeply supportive family, and my most incredible husband. You can do anything if people go with you.

I send my love to you all.

-l 

We’re off tomorrow (Friday) for Honolulu!!! We return on Monday and will post some pics shortly after.

-m

Yesterday, I was spending time with some of my favorite people under the age of 10 (Morgan and Molly, you are of course, my favorites), and I was reminded why children are a fabulous part of this world: my friend Michael, with his limited vocabulary, spent 20 minutes directing his 6mo old yellow lab to get into her kennel. As he is still somewhat skeptical of this animal, he would follow the dog around the house, staying about 5 feet away. With one little finger pointed at the kennel, he would demand, "This way! THIS WAY!!!!" (only recently have these become two distinct words - it used to be "thissay")

When the dog refused to obey, but skirted away from him, staying close to the wall and the couch, Michael finally went for the tail and tried to get her in backwards, still calling, "This way!"

I had finally convinced him to engage the dog in a little game with a slimy ball, when his mother walked up to whisper something in my ear. She and her older daughter had been in the kitchen, working on homework, when Kate needed to sharpen her pencil. She went to the sharpener, whizzed her pencil to a fine point, and said proudly, "Ah, pencil, I love you. Nice and sharp. Sharp as a wheel."

 So there I am, on the floor with a dog I think may have fleas (or at the very least, leaves mysterious bumps on my skin), wearing a shirt with someone else’s boogers on it, in an absolute moment of joy.

-l