Packing + Nicole = Disaster

I woke up this morning and told myself that I was going to get completely packed and ready to go for next week so I could go out and really enjoy my last few days with family and friends. And after 2 hours of messin' around and going through boxes I was no further than when I started.



I got up early around 7:30 unpacked boxes, did some laundry and began to fold my clothes into different piles based on what was going, staying or being donated. Well after about 45 minutes I looked up and just saw a mess of clothes everywhere and all sense of organization and structure was lost. I wanted to open a Heinekin and sit down to try and figure out what the heck kind of mess I had created, but it was only 9 AM and I was feeling a bit uneasy about opening a bottle when I was already feeling very overwhelmed by the entire situation. So needless to say I decided to just throw all the piles into the laundry baskets or my luggage and start again on Monday - wouldn't want to be stressed out for the big party tomorrow :)

McGoverns Patio

I really couldn't have planned my move back to MN any better - the weather has been sunny and beautiful everyday!!

Last night I met up with my friend Maddie who I haven't seen in forever it seems like! We did spend the last 4 years together at college and living down the street from each other, but for whatever reason never managed to cross schedules. So it was nice to have a chance to get caught up on all the MN gossip and see each other once before I leave.

Tomorrow is the big going away party for me and my cousin so I am off to Sam's to pick up what I can only expect will be a large amount of hamburger meat and cookies!

Poolside at the Club

Spending the last few days enjoying the 90 degree weather in the Midwest before having to pull out the jeans and sweaters again in Melbourne. :(

JCREW by the pool

Ellie wearing my 'inappropriate for the David's family' swimsuit

Day 2 at Home - Homesick Already

I've been back in Minnesota for two days now and for some reason St. Paul doesn't feel like home to me anymore. It's always great to come back to MN and be with my family and friends, but nothing feels quite right to me. I've noticed that everything is so quiet here and I am convinced that the population has decreased by at least 25% since the last time I was home. I hate that in the past 24 hours I've driven more miles around the city to see friends, go to the grocery store or even to the mall than I have in the past 4 years that I lived in Chicago. I miss being able to walk everywhere, hop on the train or choose from one of 5 million cabs driving down the street. I miss having all of my stuff in my own apartment all organized and neat. I miss being able to hear the train outside my window and see the lights of the city from my bedroom. I hate that we have to organize cars to get to the bar and sort out designated people to drive us home. I hate that ordering a Peroni or Heineken is like speaking a foreign language to most bartenders and if you are not a Miller High Life fan you will not survive most Tuesday and Wednesday nights throughout the entire metro area. I miss my friends being a 10 minute walk, the liquor store delivering until midnight and I can't believe I'm even going to admit this, but I actually miss the stupid little rat dogs outside my apartment. (Sorry for the rant on MN I'm clearly feeling a little homesick today for Chicago and getting a bit nervous for the next big move - bear with me I'm sure it will all pass soon enough. I'm really not normally like this.)

We made the trip back from Chicago to MN in one piece even with me driving a 20 foot U-Haul and my mom trying to keep herself calm with the occasional gin and tonic along the way. After 8 hours of driving and only one legitimate accident scare, my life is now scattered around the basement in 25 boxes waiting to be organized and packed up for Australia. I will admit that yes as the days pass and the big moving day gets closer and closer I am getting less sleep and a little more nervous with each hour. Over the past three weeks I have probably woken up at least once every 5 days or so in the middle of the night freaking out about leaving the States. It's not that I'm scared it won't work out or that I will hate it, it's just the fact that I don't have my own apartment sorted out yet, the people I know can be counted on one hand and all of my good friends are still in Chicago, enjoying all of the amazing things that the windy city has to offer during summer as I go off to another stupid winter! (seriously this was a decision that I really should have thought through a little more than I did!)

Don't get me wrong I'm not regretting the choice that I made and I am really very excited to go, it's just all happening so fast and I don't feel like I have a lot of control at this point. I am so used to a very structured and routine schedule, that the thought of having the next 30 days off and no real priorities to attend to stresses me out. ( I know. I know. The smallest violin in the world is playing in each one of your hearts for the very tough little life I lead :) )

Enough sappy and emotional postings. Here are a few pictures from my first weekend back in MN. We had a bunch of summer BBQ type stuff to go to right away with the senior graduation season upon us, birthdays and Father's Day. So needless to say tomorrow's weather forecast of 90 and sunny is going to be a perfect excuse to head to the beach and relax! (Lakes are one thing that MN will always do best!)

Moving and The Single Girl Syndrome

Been a busy week/weekend here in Chicago and I can't wait for the day that I have an organized apartment again. Granted that day could be weeks away and miles from where I am now, but regardless I HATE living out of boxes. I sent all of my dishes, glassware, utensils, microwave - basically everything out of my kitchen and linen closet is now back in St. Paul stored away for the duration. I found someone to buy my flat screen and have packed up all of the lamps and other klunky crap laying around. The last thing left on the list is my clothes and I've been avoiding this day for weeks! I have no idea where to put it all or how to efficiently pack it so it all fits easily into four suitcases. Anyway packing is going good and the big move day is less than a week away. It's so weird that this is all really happening. It's definetly exciting and I want to take the opportunity to go, but I'm already starting to miss my friends here and the comfort of calling this city my 'home.' I know that I will feel this way again about the next city, it's just all becoming a very real reality and making the packing and logistical crap be that much harder.

Anyway enough about the move stuff. I was supposed to go to San Francisco today and tomorrow for my other job, but since I only have three days left at my full-time job, it was kindly suggested to me that taking Monday off was no longer an option. So I spent the weekend with my friend John who was visiting from Minnesota and played tourist Friday and Saturday. We had a good weekend and it was nice to be able to spend one on one time together, since I know the week or two that I will be home before Australia will be a mess of trying to make the rounds of 'goodbyes.'

Today he got up and left early to try and avoid the Twins fan traffic headed back to the cities after the Cubbies series this weekend; so I got up and decided that I needed some much needed 'Nicole Time.' I went and did a little shopping in the morning, followed by a pedicure, and a massage at the Peninsula Spa. (SIDE NOTE: Spa at the Peninsula = HEAVEN! If you ever get the chance to go you should take it! I had such a great experience and couldn't have had better service.)

Freshly Painted Toesies.


The one thing I do need to vent about are these two old ladies who took it upon themselves to give me their life stories about love, motherhood and marriage. (Keep in mind that these women HAVE NEVER MET ME BEFORE they just plopped down next to my pedi chair.)

So I'm sitting their reluctantly chatting away like old pals and they are asking a million questions about my job, the trip to Australia, where I'm from in Minnesota....yada yada yada. Finally they get to the, "Well wait you've already graduated college and you aren't in a serious relationship? I don't understand you are a pretty girl - don't you think that you should have a serious boyfriend."

Again I would like to reiterate that I have never met these broads once in my life. So I'm trying to quitely recollect all the nice words that I know to replace all the naughty words going through my head and explain to them that I am still young and am not in any rush. Well of course that opens a can of worms all in itself about how the one lady waited till she was 24 to get married and found out shortly after that, that she was going to have a hard time getting pregnant and wouldn't end up having her first until she was 30 - obviously throwing off her whole plan.(Which cleary is the most awful thing that could ever happend! God forbid you don't get to choose the exact date and gender your babies are born.)

Long story short their marriage 101 lecture condluded with them saying, "There will come a day when you will want a successful man to be in your life and you should be thinking long term whenever you go on dates." I can aparently no longer 'continue to be going out on casual dinners - it's time to be serious in choosing a mate.' ARE THEY FREAKING KIDDING ME!!! I thought I was going to cause a scene right there in the chair.

When did graduating college become the magic age of committed and marriage track relationships?? And why is it that older generations of married women believe that younger women can't be happy on their own? When did being single become some sort of syndrome that needs to be cured?

Sorry for the long rant needed to get it off my chest - this is actually the 3rd converstaion I've had with someone about not being a relationship that is heading for the church.

New Jersey Here I Am - Where Are you?

Just arrived at the Hyatt in Morristown, New Jersey and man is this place a sorry little excuse for a city. I think I saw one little diner/restaurant thing, a Staples supply store, and Dunkin Donuts on the way in - that was it. (sorry to all the jersey bloggettes who live near here I'm sure I"m exaggerating and this city is probably really interesting most days)

Anyway flight went well on the way out - aside from an 80 year old man asking me to untie his shirt napkin from around his neck and look at his 6 teeth to see if he had pepper bits stuck in them! Seriously the last time I ever eat at Wolf Gang Puck in the airport again, I swear something very strange happens there ever time I go in - I think I may even hate that place as much as Ed Debvics down the street from my apartment. (Don't even get me started on why I would pay to go to a restaurant to use plastic utensils, wear an inappropriate paper hat and have crappy service - that's another post just in itself)

Finally started to pack for real for my Australia trip and for the move back to Minnesota. I've decided to sell a few of my bigger items on eBay and feel much better about the mini shopping spree I took the other day after work. I am still homeless in Melbourne so no news there but the job front is much better than expected. I'm super sleepy so I will update you all on that later in the week!

Face-Lift Complete with Minimal Scarring

As you can see the new design is here and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I love that I finally have three columns to sort everything out 'cause the two column thing was getting way too cluttered. I worked with Krystyn over at Krizzy Designs and couldn't be happier with the results. She is very reasonably priced, fun to work with and VERY patient with high-maintenance and at times unreasonable customers! Would definitely recommend using her if you're thinking of doing a blog make over. And actually I think she does custom invitations and stationary type stuff too which I'm sure are just as fabulous!

San Francisco Bloggers??

Finally have the New Jersey trip sorted out and plan to meet up with 2 Jersey bloggettes for drinks after one of my sessions on Thursday evening - which I'm very excited about! This will be my first real world meet up with girls that I have only known via bloggerworld!

I decided not to stay the long weekend for shopping in New York as I have a ton of packing to do still for my MN move and I have now been asked to go to San Francisco the next day for a conference until Tuesday. So I will be flying back to Chicago on Friday and leaving early Saturday morning for California until the 16th - which if you're keeping track now pushes my MN move to weekend of the 19th once again.

Any bloggettes going to be in the San Fran area June 13th - 16th??