Things I wanna do...

I really want to learn to play the ukulele! I think it would be neat. I’d like to learn Spanish too. I’d like to actually be fluent, not just master sophomore level vocab. I also want to live on a houseboat, or would that be IN a houseboat. Would you live on it or in it? Anyways, not something long term or anything, but for maybe a year. Something different, something new, something not everyone does.

So, one of the things that have been on my “things I wanna do” list for a long time is learn to surf. Ever since middle school I have wanted to be a ‘surfer’ but I had never even touched a surfboard. A couple years ago I went to Hawaii to visit a friend who moved there. Besides the fact that it was the most FANTASTIC vacation I had ever been on, I got my very first chance to try out surfing. More on Hawaii later… fast-forward a couple years, now I live in Florida. I’ve driven to the coast a couple of times and had the opportunity to rent a board to try out my skills.

Like anything, the more you do it the better you get. Using my logic meant that I needed to own a surfboard so I could go more often. I happened upon a surfboard without even looking for it. I found it in Costco of all places. An 8-foot foam board. Foam boards are a better beginner board for a couple of reasons: reason one and most important to me, they are cheaper! They are also softer when you land on them, you know if you happen to fall trying to learn to surf, that probably happens... Less upkeep as well, no waxing, no worrying about cracked fiberglass.

I looked at it a couple times before I actually bought it. I actually ran into a surfer in the store and told him about my background and how I wanted to learn. He told me “you need this board” and proceeded to put in into my shopping cart. Convinced by the “pro” surfer I clearly met at Costco, I took it to the beach the next day. I’ve got a long way to go, but I am on the right track now. At least I have actually touched and even SURFED on a board (I caught a couple of decent waves when I was in Hawaii). This will be ongoing and wish I were closer to the coast so I could go more often. Luckily summer is coming and the board fits into the back of my car with ease. Now, I just need Costco to sell a houseboat and I will be all set!

I'm an AUNT

Ella Grace Wynveen was born on March 14^th around 4am. Seven pounds seven ounces and 21 inches long; I am officially an aunt. If I see cute baby stuff, I will no longer be a crazy lady when I stop and linger or even buy things. Her picture is my background on my cell phone and if anyone seems even slightly interested I scroll through the dozen or so pictures I have of this seven-day-old baby. Everyone keeps saying what a beautiful baby she is. And I don’t think it is one of those times when people say she is a cute baby when really they are just afraid to say it like it really is… PEOPLE, there are ugly babies our there and we should just own up! BUT, this is not one of those times. She is really cute, just can’t wait to meet her in person. That’s only negative. She lives in Chicago. I can’t even argue that she should move here due to cold weather because it was 80 degrees the day she came home from the hospital.

In just 16 days I hop on a plane back to Chicago to meet my niece. I’m thinking I will spend the weekend sleeping on my sister’s couch just to savor every minute I can. I know those five days will fly by, then I will be back in Sunny Florida. I’m not worried about it though. Over the past year or so I have gotten used to cramming in my social visits and really cherishing the time we have. Of course I would always love to have more time, but I will definitely take what I can get. Because at the end of the day, I am still an aunt!

I am going to be an aunt?

As weird as it is, my sister is going to have a baby. I say it's weird because I just don't feel like we are old enough for all of that. Time has just flown by so much I sometimes forget that we are really adults. Don't get me wrong... I am SUPER excited. In every store I HAVE to walk through the baby section to look at all the cute stuff (although I'm slightly disappointed that I have found way cuter boy clothes than girls clothes but we will go with it). 

The baby is coming towards the end of March, so I just booked my flight to go home in April to meet her. Here is my concern... I will only be home for 5 days. How I am going to meet this new little person who is going to be fabulously amazing and then just say, 'gotta catch a flight, peace!'? The shower was a couple weeks ago, as you might have guessed it, I couldn't attend. It got me to thinking about the other events I won't be able to be there for. When she is actually born for one thing. But not just baby stuff that I am missing. There are birthdays, minor holidays and parties (Fourth of July for instance and the Superbowl), even when my mom and siblings just go out to impromptu dinner. 

This is why I have decided that EVERYONE should just move here too. I don't want to move back to Chicago, that actually isn't even a consideration at this point. I just want them all to come here. My new niece, siblings, mom, grandma, cousins, friends, everyone. I'll even help everyone unpack when you get here. Better get the show on the road though, because in March I am going to be an aunt and I don't want to miss that!

Happy New Year?

Happy New Year? Where did 2011 go?!? It's hard to believe that it was a year ago that I started to talk about my great escape. Last January I started telling people that I was moving out of the state in the summer. I started planting the seed throughout my family and friends so that I would have eventually told too many people to back down. I played a game of chicken with myself and I didn't swerve out of the way.

Thinking back on 2011, it was a big year for me. And I can honestly say when the clock struck midnight on December 31st, 2010, there is no way I could have ever dreamed where I would be just one year later. But when as the countdown got to one on New Years Eve, I was so happy. I felt like I really accomplished something, I felt like I actually moved forward instead of just standing still. I shook up the snow globe of my life and sand settled on the bottom. What a fantastic change of pace!

I'm actually not sure what the point of this post was.... I think it was to reflect on 2011 but I really want to just say how fantastic my New Years Eve was. Around my family and Andrew at the little motel we spent so many holidays when we were growing up. I wanted to freeze that moment and hold onto it, just as it was. But I think 2012 holds a whole new set of adventures, so we celebrate at midnight and we keep moving forward. Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

My Apologies

My apologies to all the bloggers and bloggees (a bloggee is someone who reads blogs... give me a minute and I will add it to Wikipedia). I have been TERRIBLE at blogging over the past month or so... really I haven't been consistent enough overall. I know "they" say you have to keep your audience engaged or you are going to lose them. Maybe I can claim writer's block!!! In reality, it was laziness and the holidays. Well, I am back in action. I have a whole line up of topics... don't get your hopes up or anything, I will be as equally entertaining as before... which I hope is at least semi. So, get ready to READ ON, my happy bloggees ('bloggees', it's gonna catch on!) 

Thoughts on an Airport from an Airplane

Can I just say a couple of things about airports? Some people dread the idea of the whole experience of an airport: lines for security, hours of waiting, giant terminals to navigate, extreme pricing on the most basic of necessities. But I enjoy my adventures to the airport. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I start my day in one place and end it somewhere completely different, but I really look forward to it.

I am not a patient person by any means. Anyone who knows me can vouch to that. But for some reason, I stay completely calm and relaxed at an airport, even waiting in the most ridiculous lines. I in fact enjoy arriving early for my flight, just so I can browse the terminals and read a book at my gate. I find that airport bookstores are so fascinating. I always find at least five books I would buy instantly if I had somewhere to store them for the flight. I guess it is because they only have a small space to work with and it is prime real estate so they have to have the most interesting of books, but I still can’t resist the gander. Speaking of books, I get the best reading done in airports and on airplanes. It is probably because I can’t feel guilty that I am just sitting around reading because, really, what else could I be doing at the time?

And I know most people don’t feel this way, but I really enjoy traveling alone. Don’t get me wrong, I love having right company with me, but traveling alone is some people’s worst nightmare. I find it relaxing. People watching is fantastic at the airport because you get some of the craziest people. I just today saw the worst sweater dress ever made!  You see businessmen and military men, you see families and college kids. And then you see sweater dresses…

But if you are friendly, people are generally friendly back. I am always talking to strangers at the airport. I’ve even met someone at the airport and became pen pals half way around the world! I had a man say to me today at the airport that I was too pretty to carry my own luggage, however, he did not offer to then carry my luggage for me for the remainder of my trip…

But thinking back to the beginning, I think my favorite part of the airport is that you end up somewhere else. I like seeing and experiencing new things that the airport is the best at facilitating that. I suppose it is less enjoyable when I am not really going anywhere.

Visiting “Home”

My first visit “home”… it is hard to put into words. I’m sure everyone who has moved away has experienced it. I’ve mentioned before how quickly the time has flown by and so when I rolled into Lake Zurich, it felt like I hadn’t been away at all. Everything was mostly right where I left it. Everything was as familiar as it had always been. But yet, it felt different. Even when I went away to school, when I came home, it was home. When I walked in the front door of my parents’ house, it all felt slightly off. The cat came around the corner and he looked like a different cat (honestly, he looked like the cat that came and ATE the old cat). My old room had none of my stuff anymore. But the weirdest feeling of all was the fact that it just didn’t feel like “home”. At one point I even said that I couldn’t wait to go home and sleep in my own bed.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved seeing my family and friends. Catching up on old times and goofing off with my siblings, those are things that I really do miss. I hate that I won’t be around when my very first niece is born. I hate that I can’t be home for holidays and get together randomly with the family. But this trip has confirmed for me, without a doubt, that this move was the right thing to do and it was the right time to do it. It was time for an adventure!