Still alive and slightly kicking

Our trip across country to move to Maryland was quite awhile ago now (sorry about the silence!). Packing was not fun, saying good-bye was awful, leaving LA was pretty exciting--though I'm so desperate for good non-American food (Mexican mainly, but also Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mediterranean...) that I'm almost willing to move back. My friend Stephanie and Charlie's dad came out to help us drive the truck towing my car and Charlie's car. This was my first time driving across the middle (as opposed to going more to the North or South) and the Colorado mountains really are awesome!

Before leaving, our friends Jessica and Clint came over for one last game night and dinner and brought us a going-away present full of yummy goodies for the road trip. Each little goodie had a message attached to it to explain the reasoning behind including it in the care package. On top of all that, Jessica made a mix-cd for me and Clint for Charlie, both of which I was listening to for the first day and a half of the trip (love them!). Charlie, being in the truck, unfortunately did not have access to a cd player (his loss, my gain) :).

The first week in Maryland was a little hectic with some unpacking, showing Steph around a little before she fly home, and celebrating my future mother-in-law's birthday and the 4th of July. Afterward, for me, it's been a pattern of reading books (finally!!), applying for jobs, watching How I Met Your Mother, and playing lots of board games. Charlie is enrolled in a Criminal Justice program and will be starting classes in just a couple weeks. We've agreed he will go to school full time and I will work full time. Helping him look at classes though is making me actually want to go back to school and take all those history and art history classes I didn't have time to take the first time around. (I know, I'm weird and a bit crazy.)

On the job front, I have had only a couple of interviews and a whole lot of rejections. As a recent grad/entry level professional, I fall into the category of under-qualified for anything in my field but over-qualified for retail or any other position that will get my money to pay my bills. Charlie's GI Bill will definitely help but I feel like such a mooch having to ask my parents to pay my bills and live in my future in-laws basement. I'm also thinking of knitting a few things and trying to sell them. If it works then great, I'll have a bit of spending cash to play with. If not, I might be back on here seeing if anyone wants a present. :)

Speaking of presents, my 26th birthday is a week from today and for once I'm not looking forward to it. The truth is, I haven't updated this blog since moving here because I'm too depressed, dejected and embarrassed about my current status to want to update anyone. I keep hoping things will look up and Charlie enrolling in school is a start but it would be nice to get our own place, become self-sufficient once again then finally be able to set a date for the wedding...all dreams that are apparently much farther in the future than I anticipated. Oh well, I'm trying to keep my spirits up. A friend of a friend has taken on the task of knitting 60 scarves for soldiers in her husbands unit that apparently do not get a lot of mail and I have been helping. I like having something to do that feels productive (even if it's accomplished while watching TV shows and movies on Netflix all day) and is for a good cause. Focusing on that gives me a bit of sunshine in my life.

I'll end here with a Happy 3rd Day of Fall! Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures uploaded soon for everyone's viewing pleasure.