Again?!

It's snowing again today....and is supposed to keep snowing until Sunday.  High today is 23 degrees and the low is 7 degrees.  Time to start getting ready to hibernate for the winter.

On the plus side...one more month and I will be back in sunny Florida.  For two weeks anyway. 

"Leaving Home"

I put the locket that you gave me in a shoebox
With all my favorite high school pictures in a Ziploc
So when I think I’m by myself I know that I’m not

Thanks for the extra cash,
Please take good care of dad
And I promise you I’ll call along the way

Chorus:
Mama, don’t you cry
I’m moving on, but know this ain’t goodbye
We might be miles apart, I’ll carry you in my heart
I’ll send you kisses on the phone
But mama, I’m leaving home

In only four months, I’ll be coming home for Christmas
I bet that all the time will fly, you know how it does.
Maybe I’ll go and find a nice guy and fall in love
I’ll do my best to make you proud
Keep my room the same for now
Just in case these big ol’ dreams don’t work out

Chorus:
Mama, don’t you cry
I’m moving on, but know this ain’t goodbye
We might be miles apart, I’ll carry you in my heart
I’ll send you kisses on the phone
But mama, I’m leaving home

We knew this day would come
And as bad as we wanna hold on
We both know it’s time to let go (let go)

Mama, don’t you cry
I’m moving on, but know this ain’t goodbye
Mama, don’t you cry
I’m moving on, but know this ain’t goodbye
We might be miles apart, I’ll carry you in my heart
I’ll send you kisses on the phone
But mama, I’m leaving home
I’m leaving home
I’m leaving home

Making the decision to leave and move up to North Dakota was one of the biggest and hardest decision I have had to make.  However, I now know how much strength I really do have....and I feel as if I am a better and stronger person for it.

Snow Baby Snow

I can officially say this Florida girl has seen snow! Last Tuesday, it started snowing while I was at work.  Me being the typical Florida girl that I am ran outside to see the snow for the first time (while all the North Dakota natives just shook theirs heads).  It was all fun until the drive home from work. The first half of my drive (which is about a little over 40 miles one way to and from work) was fine.  But then on the second half it started snowing again and the roads were covered with this slushy snow.  It was too soon for the roads to be plowed so I had to only follow the tire tracks from the person before me. I couldn't even see the road.  It was pretty intense to say the least.  At one point my back end of the car started sliding and it was sort of fishtailing back and forth.  Thankfully, I was able to keep from sliding into the ditch, which I saw two cars in the ditch on the way home that day.  It kept snowing and snowing throughout the night and Wednesday morning I was officially snowed in and could not go to work....Bummer! So I went outside and played int eh snow by myself for a little while but it was so wet and sticky that I didn't last very long outside.  I was told the snow wouldn't stay on the ground but here we are almost a week later and the snow is DEFINITELY still on the ground!  So now I have to go out and start my car about 10 minutes before I leave the house in the mornings to make sure it can warm up before hitting the road.  And I have had to experience my first time of scraping ice off of my windshield in the morning as well. 

*sigh* I think I am over the snow already....but it has only just begun.....

R.I.P Trooper

So two weekends ago (10/16) I had gone into the "big town" of Minot to do some running around and pretty much just kill some time.  Yep, that is what my life has come to now a days...killing time.  So after spending a few hours in Minot, I began the 90 mile drive back to my place.  All was going well, or so I thought.  I was about 15 miles west of my town and just jamming to some tunes when my lovely "Trooper" died on me....while I was going about 60 on a two lane highway.  I lost all power in the car and could neither brake or accelerate.  So with some minor struggling and a battle of wits between myself and the Trooper, I managed to get off the highway and onto a gravel side road.  Then, I proceeded to freak out and try to figure out what to do next.  Meanwhile it is about 30 degrees out and getting dark.  Thankfully, a nice farmer came down the gravel road and attempted to rescue me.  He tried to fix the car but to no avail.  So I had to wait two hours for a tow truck to come and get the car.  Then, another teacher came and picked me up and brought me home.  It turns out the engine locked up and it would need a new engine, which was more than the worth of the car.  So my company decided not to fix it and just get me another vehicle.  So an entire week later I had another car....with one catch.  It was in a town 3 and a half hours away.  Now remember, I HAVE NO CAR! The company ended up sending me a cab to go and get the car and then I drove it back.  So needless to say, the Trooper is NOT a trooper!

North Dakota and I have a major love/hate relationship going on...without much love.

My Aha Moment

There comes a time in your life when you have to just take a deep breath and jump....
....jump into becoming your own.
And whether or not this adventure will help me do that, I'm honestly not sure.  But there's only one way to find out.  And so I'm jumping.

At some point in your life you just have to ralize that all experiences serve a purpose and happen for a reason; some might be bad, some might be good, and some we just might not be able to figure out the reason.  But I have come to learn that they all have a lesson hidden in them somewhere and I can honestly say that since I've been up here, I have been schooled.  

So all in all my aha moment came this weekend, when I did realize that I can be independent and handle things on my own when there is no family or close friends around to help me out.  It's been an adjustment but all I can say is that each night brings a new day.  And you never know what that day will hold.

Here we go again...

Well I am officially back in North Dakota.  Needless to say, I had quite a welcoming back.....but not by anyone or anything pleasant.  When I returned to my apartment unit (after a looong day of flying and being in grimy airports), I walked in to an apt filled with flies....both living and dead.  After momentarily freaking out (due to the extreme grossness of it all) I promtly marched my behind up to the front office and had them put me in a hotel room.  There happened to be a wedding taking place at the lodge that night so they only had one room left and were forced to give it to me (free of charge of course).  But on a happier note, this one room available just so happened to be a suite.  So I had a mini kitchen, a jacuzzi tub, and a king size bed.  Woot woot! I stayed there for three nights and am hopefully moving into my new apt unit after work today....minus the flies!

And yet again.....gotta love North Dakota!

Freaking Freezing!

There is definately a freeze warning for tonight...this is going to make waking up at 4:45 tomorrow morning all that more enjoyable. I love my life! However, it is very well worth it.

On a different note...I had a very interesting experience last night.  I had to get gas from the gas pump below...all alone, at night, and freezing my tushy off.  And it took me awhile to figure out how to work the stupid thing but I stood there trying to figure it out for like 2 full minutes because I didn't want to look stupid and have to go inside and ask how to work it. (But I think the ship had sailed on not looking stupid). Live and learn....

  

Hat day!

Today is Hat Day/Favorite Team Day at work today....for Homecoming Week. So of course I wore my USF hat and jersey!

Some people asked me what USF stands for....yep I'm not in Florida anymore (also proven by the fact that it was 46 degrees out on my way to work this morning).

It's already begining...

So I had a pretty defining moment in my life last night.  After going in the bathroom to check and make sure the heat was off three times....thats right THREE times (once was after I was already in bed), I realized.....I am becoming my mother! Every girl knows this will happen at some point in her life....mine just happens to be when I'm 24.  But I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing though.  I mean my mom is a pretty cool chick. 


On a different note I did see some more deer yesterday on the way home from work.  Well correction...I almost got hit by a deer....yet again!  And then I actually saw three more standing perfectly still on the side of the road.  They were like statues, blending in with the wilderness that is North Dakota. 

I must say...the drive to and from work is quite an adventure!  This Florida girl is getting quite a schooling on "real" wildlife.

Weekend Warrior

Well I consider my first full weekend to be pretty successful if I do say so myself.  On Saturday, I dragged myself out of bed fairly early....around 10:30...and went to the little travel/tourist store in Dunseith where I am working.  There I spent probably more money than I needed to or should have.  But its ok because that i s omething that I have NEVER done before haha.  After chatting with the very nice older lady who runs the place, I traveled down the road to get gas at (the infamous) Dale's Truck Stop.  That in and of itself was quite an adventure.  And now comes the highlight of the day....WAL MART! One plus about the one and only wal mart up here is that it isnt very crowded. I guess I can add that to the Pros side of my list for moving to North Dakota. 

Today was my big adventure day....I went to the mall.  Now this isn't just a quick trip to the mall however.  I made sure to leave the apt by noon so I could make the 90 mile drive....yes, 90 miles ONE WAY to the mall...and do some shopping and then make the 90 mile drive back home.  It took me longer to drive there and back than the total amount of time I spent at the mall.  Geesh! But at least I got to sport my new ride bahaha! Once again....gotta love North Dakota!!

Holy Moose

Well I had my first moose encounter today....I was driving to work around 7:15 this morning. I was on a back road (like always) and out of no where a ginormous brown moose came running down a hill towards the road.  It was quite frightening needles to say.  So not knowing what to do I just swerved and luckily enough the moose was smart enough to stop right at the end of the road and then I looked in my rearview mirror and what do I see....the moose just running down the middle of the road like its cool.  Oh my! Gotta love North Dakota.

I mean really...come on now!

Well I am finally out of the hotel room and into my apartment unit....much to my dismay.  I would sadly enough rather be staying back in the hotel room.  My apartment is super tiny but that isn't even what bothers me about it.  For starters, there are no closet doors and no dresser or night stand in teh bed room....pretty much just a bed chillen in a room.  Then, there are no blinds in the bed room or on the front door, so in true classy form I have a towel tacked up in the bedroom window.  Also, there is no microwave or cooking untensils in the kitchen....I guess some people jsut have different ideas about what furnished means.....Ugh so far North Dakota is not making a very good impression on me!

Oh yeah, and the living room just has one small couch and a tinyyyy tv.....what am i gonna do about this yall???

The beginning of my new life....

September 7, 2010

Soooo I arrived in North Dakota on Sunday 9/5. My adventure began by departing from the Tampa Airport at 8 am...yep 8 am, which meant being at the airport by 7am...then flying to Denver, waiting around for a 2 and a half hour layover (thankfully I was able to find a Starbucks...actually 3...in the airport so all was right in my world for the time being.  After boarding the plane in Denver, I along with the other 20 people (no I'm not joking) then flew to Minot, ND.  Now is when the fun part of the journey began haha. I had to get my checked luggage and make my way to the car rental counter to pick up my car.  Now silly me was thinking that they would go and get the car for me and pull it up outside of the doors for me....well thats not how they do it ND.  Soooo I then was faced with the challenge of lugging all three pieces of my luggage and my purse and my body to the parking lot to get my rental car.  Needless to say,  it was a sight to see.  It was only 60 degrees out and I was breaking a sweat, luggage falling all over the place and me about in tears.  Lol.  Then, I proceeded to drive the 90 miles to the town of Bottineau where I will be living.  Hands down the most boring...yet pretty...drive of my life.  On the plus side I was able to get in some quality karoke time with the steering wheel since I managed to find two country stations on the radio....I know, I was shocked to find country stations in ND too!  But in the end I made it safe and sound to the lodge and am currently still in the hotel room while waiting for the apartment stuff to get taken care of for me.