Ready to go Home

I've been on the road for almost a week. I left Washington, DC on Friday. Took my first ever solo train ride here in the States from DC to Baltimore to get to BWI. The train was delayed by almost half an hour, but I built in a two hour window before my flight. The flight to Grand Rapids was non-stop, which is always awesome. I actually arrived almost half an hour before my dad was expecting me, so I had to wait a few minutes for him to come get me. Luckily I have a nice new down coat so waiting wasn't a problem. It was actually kind of enjoyable after the stale plane air.

The weekend was slightly crazy because I got shuffled back and forth between my family and my in-laws. Or, to be fair, I chose to be shuffled back and forth. But it was awesome to see everyone again. Well, I didn't get to see my sister, but I'll see her at the end of February since she's coming to live with us for three weeks. It was so good that I told my mom to turn around when she was dropping me off at the airport. Unfortunately, I had to continue on to Portland, OR for a business trip, so not going wasn't an option.

The business trip has been good too, though. I got to hang with some of the best minds of our organization and listen to them strategize. The best part was that I actually knew what they were talking about, after only four months of immersion in the subject. The only curveball for the week was an impromptu job evaluation. The good, the bad, and my supervisor's expectations for the future. At the end of the day, I think they're satisfied with my work but not quite ready to believe that I might actually have something concrete to contribute besides my awesome organizational capabilities and up to date technological skills. I'm not sure if it's my age or because I don't have a masters degree yet. Oh well, I'll just have to work harder to convince them that I'm smart and have something to say that might actually be helpful.

I fly back tomorrow afternoon and arrive back in DC around midnight. I can't wait to see my husband and my cat. Five days is fine, but seven is just a little too much to be away from home, at least when it's for work.

Stopping at Home

We have not looked at any houses yet, and won't start until next weekend. Part of the problem is that Eric and I have not found any time together. Eric did make it through Restaurant Week last week largely unscathed. Past restaurant weeks have done a major number on his hands. If you've never seen the hands and forearms of a working chef, you don't know how much I dread restaurant week every half a year. He doesn't cut himself on his knives too often, but he manages to cut himself on just about everything (from a broom to tin cans). He also comes home with grease and fire burns all the time. He can also pick up hot plates with his bare hands without even thinking about it, which is a problem when he then hands said plates to me. Although I worked in a restaurant for several months, I just never gained the tolerance to heat that so many career servers and cooks develop. However, back to my original point... we didn't have time last week because Eric worked a 6 day week, and his only day off was Wednesday.

This weekend is my fault. I am flying to Portland, OR next week for a work strategy meeting. But I'm leaving late afternoon on Friday of this week and stopping in Grand Rapids, MI on the way. Both my parents and my in-laws live there and I'm beyond excited to get to go home for two days. Eric gets to stay and hang out with our cat. I've already finished packing everything. All I need are my keys and I'm good to go. I've even packed my toothbrush and will have to either use Eric's or pull out my spare (wherever that went).



Sir managed to climb on top of a stack of chairs not seconds after Eric had stacked them on the table to vaccum.



Moving?

I've started to get the feeling that Washington, DC just isn't the place for me. Sure the public transportation is great, my job rocks, and there are a ton of free things to go and do, but on the whole I'm just not happy here. The cost of living is insane, there's no way we can afford a decent little house or apartment close to the city without ending up in the worst neighborhoods, and even the free things to do have lost their charm. We've been talking about renting a house with some friends of ours, and that still sounds good. But unfortunately our budgets seem to differ greatly, and the only houses we've found so far are above what we feel comfortable paying. Not to mention, that even though we're prepared to go a bit higher, it would erradicate any savings potential. We want to save for a downpayment on a house, instead we're wasting that money on ridiculous rent amounts. So, for now, unfortunately there is the very real possibility that I will apply for the Portland, OR position that just opened up at the company I work for. I absolutely love what they do for the environment, it gives me good, happy feelings when I think about my work, I just don't want to stay in DC.