stagnancy

I admit, I’ve been a little stagnant on here, lately. I’m not really sure why. The initial excuse was because work got INSANE this tax season. And then I was busy with my new(ish?) boyfriend. And then I’ve been busy with moving out of my apartment. And now I’m busy with quitting my job. MY LIFE IS INTENSE, OKAY?

I think a big part of my lack of writing on here is that for the first time in awhile, I am being forced to constantly express myself to the people around me. More and more people are popping in and out of my life and wanting to say something (usually hello or goodbye) to me before I leave. And they all ask me the same questions, most of which I’m going to answer in this post.

Also I’ve been blocked on twitter at work for the last six months, which… really is where I get 90% of my material. Hopefully I can start tweeting often again soon. I really miss my twitter buddies.

So let’s try to start from scratch!

Facts about me:

My name is Brittknee, Brittneigh, Brittnooooooo. Yes, all three.
I spell my name these ways because nobody ever gets the legal spelling of my name correct anyway and also these ways are way cooler and much more me than anything else.

Yep, that’s me, but I bet you knew that.

I’m about to move from Portland, Oregon (land of hipsters, craft breweries, and rain) to Austin, Texas (land of hipsters, craft breweries, and heat).
I’m starting a graduate program at the University of Texas. When I am done, I’ll have a Masters in Educational Administration, which means that I’ll have a Masters degree to work at higher level administration in academia. I’ll hopefully eventually end up running a tutoring center, but we’ll see where I end up.
I have a graduate assistantship in my department and I start almost as soon as I get to Texas. I’m simultaneously terrified and excited.

Yep, that’s Austin.

I am only taking four suitcases and attempting to minimize my life. (So far I’ve taken six loads to Goodwill, only more are to come!) I move out of my downtown apartment tomorrow and have… significantly more than four suitcases worth of stuff. Hopefully I can make a little more headway into that in the next month.

I haven’t seen my studio in Austin yet, only a few craigslist pictures. Google Maps tells me it’s a fifteen minute walk to campus / the building I’ll be doing most of my work at, so that’s a relief! I have yet to see how I fare walking around outside in extreme heat.

This photo is almost ten years old! I’m not in it, but I was there.

Next week I am going on vacation(BABECATION) with a group of my closest girlfriends. The plan is to sit around, read romance novels out loud to each other, and eat a lot of food. We’ll be on the Oregon coast for six days- a perfect goodbye to my beloved west coast. After that, I’m off to California to meet part of my boyfriend’s family for a few days. Hopefully I’ll get to spend some quality time with my parents in the weeks following before I move.

Man you guys. This summer is already crazy and I haven’t even done any of these things yet!!

Oregon Coast

We went to Cannon Beach this weekend!

It was sunny and beautiful and full of people. We walked in the water until our feet got numb and then laid in the sand and almost froze to pieces.

I always think that the beach seems a lot calmer in retrospective. Vacation and travel is always so frantic that sometimes I have a hard time calming down and enjoying the fact that I am there. Don’t get me wrong, I love the beach. I wish I could move to the Oregon Coast and be cold and wet and sandy all the time. It would be awesome to ride my bike in the damp and feel my joints rust and chase seagulls every morning while I drink a cup of coffee.

Of course, vacation and life are two different things.

I think the highlight of our trip (for me) was discovering a rare Oregon elephant in the wild behind the ever-so-amazing Camp 18 diner.

I went with three of my girlfriends from high school. We had a fantastic time getting covered in sand and eating mustard pretzels on the beach.
I’m lucky that I have an enormous group of friends. I adore each and every one of them for completely different ways. The longer we know each other, and the more things we do together, the more we are a family.

And I really like that.

What’s on my mind – 2nd week of June

• The PRETTY SNAKE Etsy Shop is amazing and terrifying and I need at least one of those cat t-shirts.
• Since the weather has gotten nice, I go completely out of my way to avoid socks and shoes and to wear my Chacos.
  You guys, I am obsessed with these shoes. I got them last summer before my Hawaii vacation and wore them all over the island. While scuba diving, walking, hiking and lounging. They are the most comfortable shoes.

  I have gone through a few phases where the straps have been hard to adjust, but now that I’ve got that system worked out, they are the BEST shoes. They provide fantastic arch support AND give you the best tan line ever. The initial price on them is a bit hefty, but oh, they are so worth it.

  
  Yes, those are my feet.

• The only reminder you have ever needed.
• A few weeks ago, Black Prairie was featured in the iTunes music store and I downloaded their free single on a whim. I need to remember do to this more often- most of the time the music is super good, and this single has not disappointed.

  I love how melancholy it sounds! They are coming to the Rose Garden amphitheater here in Portland on August 6, and I am definitely going to try to attend.

• My latest flickr contact is Alan Herbert, and his photography is beautiful, haunting, and terrifying.
• So there is this book I just discovered, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher and I super duper think I need it.

  
  I mean seriously, how awesome is that?!

• Berries berries berries berries berries berries berries.

  
  I had some internal debate this week over whether or not I can/should spend the money on fresh raspberries again this week but omg berries so good lose ability to talk om nom nom feed me.

Finding my zen

I waver between being a high stress and a low stress person. So much so that it irritates the people closest to me.

Every so often my Mom will give me a look and point out the extreme nature of my personality, ie: how if I care about something, I care about it with my whole being, and if I decide to not care about something, I again do so with my whole being.

When it comes to work, I have decided to try to be zen about it. To not care, to just embrace and roll with the punches and the stress and the stupidity. In some ways, this is totally working and in others it isn’t at all.

So I’m not looking for a job right now, since I’m too busy, I’d rather save money for my Hawaii trip, and my summer is too crazy to fit in a brand-new-job on top of everything else. And that is actually a huge relief. I feel like every year I try to shove-cram-fill everything I possibly can into my summer only to realize, at the brink of a panic-inducing season, that there is simply no reason to do so.

And then I let loose and allow myself to enjoy some sunshine.

So I’m being zen, and I’m trying so very hard to not care about the daily stresses and the suffrages and the stress of new coworkers and upcoming craziness and life not going as smoothly as it should.