January in South Carolina

I.Am.An.Awful.Blogger. Sorry. It's just so crazy that this year is not quite as exciting as the last. BUT it's still an adventure. I do have to say, I don't mind being in South Carolina for winter. There has been zero inches of snow, a minimum of maaaaybe 30 something degrees. We have had a couple 70 degree days in January and February and you won't hear me complain about it. I was able to get out and play some bocce, go on a walk, a bike ride, really not too shabby for January :)

Let's see what else I was able to do in January...I was able to go to Atlanta with work and had a great time. I was in Atlanta for my training back in August for 4 days but didn't step foot out into the city because my bed at the Marriott was just too comfy to leave (This had only been a week after returning from NCCC in which I spent about 8 months total sleeping on an air mattress...)  There was a donor who offered for 25 Big Brothers Big Sisters matches to take a trip to Atlanta the Saturday before Martin Luther King Day. And lucky for me staff is invited to go! We were able to go to the MLK monument which was cool because the bigs were able to teach their littles a little bit about what the day was all about. Then we headed to the aquarium where I absolutely fell in love and could spend the whole day there just staring at the amazement that exsists there. Just love it. And then we went to the World of Coke which in all honesty, kinda sucks. But, hey, got to see it so that's pretty cool. I got to taste a bunch of Coca Cola products from around the world, there is a lot of nasty ones, but I personally think apple soda is a brilliant idea. And then we ended the day by going to The Varsity for dinner. This was one of the things I had so many people tell me I needed to do while in the city. It is quite an experience. I had to wait in line about 20 minutes to order my food and I got a burger, onion rings and their "orange drink" which is just like Hi-C orange, but it was all very delicious and I'm glad I was able to experience Atlanta properly after failing to appreciate it when I went for training.

Then on Martin Luther King Jr Day us VISTAs were all team leaders for groups of people to go out and do a service project. I was so happy to get out and do some direct service again finally. But what did I get to do? I worked in a thrift store dusting shelves and putting price tags on clothes (sound a bit familiar Fire 6?) and I had a group of high schoolers who honestly just didn't want to be there. They were a part of an AmeriCorps group in which they go out and tutor kids in school, and as I asked them why they were here today they basically all agreed they were there "For the hours" and didn't want to answer any of my questions about MLK and made me really frustrated. I could have sat there for an hour talking to them about how important community service is and why they should be wanting to do this, but I held it in and let them go. I just got very frustrated that they felt they were there by requirement only. I wanted to instill in them what AmeriCorps is all about and that it is  more than a resume builder (which that ain't too shabby either). But it made me think that maybe this is a good way to tie together my love for working with kids and my newly found love for AmeriCorps and community service. We'll see!

A while ago a mom in our program told us she was a part of a bike club and they wanted to raise money for us and mentioned they would like someone representing BBBS at their event on a Saturday. My co-worker had asked her the obvious questions, Where is the event? When should we be there? What is the dress code?...the answer was The Clarion, at 9:00pm (and that we would be going on after the lingerie show...red flag, right!?) , cocktail attire. So the Clarion is in a sketchy part of the city, so I told my Co-worker I'd go with her to be safe. So I start driving in and I call her and I say "This is a sketchy area" and she told me "just wait till you get to the parking lot"...I pull in and the parking lot is so full and there are biker people walking around everywhere! I pull into a parking lot behind the hotel and was quite honestly afraid to get out of my car. So we go to go inside and the place is surrounded by about 20+ FBI...not a good sign going into it...and the woman told us we would want to stay where we were cause the lingerie show was happening now and we probably didn't want to go back there right now. So we waited around as all these big motorcycle guys were walking around and women in some of the sluttiest outfits I've seen (a lot of sequence and sparkles...and a lot of skin...) So it comes time for us to accept our check and my brave brave co-worker agrees to be the one to go up on stage and accept the check (she was surrounded by about 20 of these women, looking a little out of place in her cute sundress and cardigan (I was wearing a sweater dress, also not blending in very well)) and she did a much better job than I ever could do! And we got out of there as fast as we could...not exactly appropriate for us to be there, next time we will know to just have them send us a check and that we are not available on a Saturday at 9pm after a lingerie show. Quite an interesting experience and don't think I'll be joining a bike club anytime soon...

A lot of you might have seen my FB status related to me MCing our volutneer appreciation banquet. We won some money from the United Way and had to use that money toward volunteers so we decided since January was National Mentoring Month we should through a little thank you banquet for our volunteers. So I spent most of the month planning out this banquet and trying to get as many people to this event as possible. I wasn't quite sure how the event was going to go but it went so amazingly. We had it at a restaurant called City Grill which is a fairly fancy place, so it was nice to be able to treat our volutneers to such delicious food. We had it setup that we had some people speak (a couple of board members, a Big Brother who has been with our program since 1999 and our CEO), showed a slideshow, and presented our Big Brother and Big Sister of the year with awards and videos of their little brother and sister thanking them (it was super cute). What got to me the most was the Big Brother that spoke. He told his story of how he has had 4 little brothers with our program and is currently in his 4th match right now. He still talks to 2 of his other little brothers, one even has a family of his own now. One of his little brothers asked him why he was in a job that he didn't enjoy and told him "you are always telling me to follow my dreams, what is your dream?" and he said how he's always wanted to be a teacher and they made a pact that they would both follow their dreams. The Big Brother is now a teacher at Spartanburg High School, and that little brother is a student there and he wants to become a lawyer. I sat there with my jaw dropped and told myself "this is exactly why I am here and am doing what I am doing." Had a little bit of a revelation and a boost that I had been needing to appreciate this opportunity I have been given to give back and improve a community that so deserves it. Especially for the children in this community who But I did a perfectly fine joare benefiting from a mentor they otherwise wouldn't have. b of MCing. I had a whole script written out to help me but I ended up not having to use it because I forced myself to introduce myself to every person who walked into the room so I wasn't talking to a bunch of strangers. So I got up there and let my personality shine and did a pretty good job for someone who absolutely dreads speaking in front of large groups of people. We got many compliments as to how well the event all came together, so I was very excited to hear that.

What's up next for me here at good ole Big Brothers Big Sisters is we are needing to make a certain number of matches by April in order to get a really big grant which would be amazing, so we are working our butts off to get as many matches made as possible. But also we have our biggest fundraising event coming up called Bowl for Kids Sake. Some of you might have heard of it before, I remember hearing about it when I was back in Maine, the BBBS there does one as well. No matter where you are you can be a part of this fundrasing event for your local BBBS by either getting a team together and raising money or finding out how you can donate. Enough of my promoting my organization. But I'm very excited for this event and hope we do a decent job of raising some money!

In other news, not much else has been going on here in good ole Spartanburg. I have started looking into what the heck I'm going to do with my life come August (yes, it is only 6 months away that I have to figure out the next chapter of my life, NBD...). It is an amazing yet scary thing that I can honestly go anywhere I want. I have considered Denver, DC, Maine, and staying here in SC as to WHERE I would go. But the other part (kinda a big part) is WHAT I want to do. Not only do I need to decide between a) Going back to school or B) Finding a job, I also need to figure out what I would go to school for, or what kind of job I'm looking for. I've been saying how it's crazy that I'm basically complaining that I can do anything with my life right now. But that is so gosh darn intimidating! If you know me, you know I don't like choices and having to make decisions, so when it's as open ended as these options, I'm going a little cray cray down here. So that is going to be a long and stressful 6 months coming up, but I know I'll be fine. I just have absolutely no idea where I'll end up because a year ago I certainly never would have thought in a millioin years I'd be living in South Carolina...I still honestly can't believe it.

As I look back at the last year and a half of my life I don't regret any of it. I have grown so much as a person and was exactly what I needed. 2 years ago I never would have said "Why, yes, I would love to move to Denver and travel every 2 months and not know what kind of conditions I would be living in" or "South Carolina is a place I've always wanted to live! I don't know anyone at all but sure, I'll pack everything I own and move there, I love meeting new people". But now with pure confidence I can say I invite new opportunities, new places and new people into my life. I love the idea of adventures and the unknown (or am at least much more comfotable with them) now. I am excited to see where I end up a year from now and hope that I can say that I love where I am, love the people I've surrounded myself with and most importantly am happy and content with what I am doing with my life.

Well. That was much  more than I expected to share in this blog entry! But I'm sure it will have made a lot of you happy to know that I am doing just fine and am happy for the most part with what I am doing. If anyone has any feedback or suggestions as to what they think I should do or where I should go come August please feel free to text/call/email/facebook/skype me. (there are many ways to get a hold of me) Thanks all for reading, if you made it this far, I'll be very impressed and thanks for caring enough about me to read all my junk.

I will end with the poem that our Big Brother shared with us at our Volunteer Appreciation Banquet.

Our Deepest Fear

by Marieann Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

That is all. You is all nice and I like you (well, most of you)

To Maine and back

Well. It was nice to go home for Christmas. Saw a lot of awesome people and relaxed a lot more than I probably should have. Got to go to L.L. Bean twice, ate 3 cheese pazzos, 2 bags o Humpty Dumpty chips, lobster for Christmas dinner, walked down Spring Point, girls night at Margaritas, had a slice at Otto, went to christmas parties, went to 2 Tuesday night dinners, played board games and ate Chinese food for new years eve, got to go out and listen to local music multiple times. I miss it all already. But that sums up a winter break in Maine pretty well.
So I'm back in good ole Spartanburg. As of right now I wont be coming back until August, but we'll see if I can actually last that long. At work I've got alotta work ahead of me to help organize the Bowl for Kids Sake which is our biggest fundraiser of the year. And I just found out today that a week from Saturday I get to go on a field trip for work to Atlanta and go to the mlk monument, aquarium, world of coke, and eat at the Varsity! I'm very much looking forward to that.
I'll attempt to keep up with my blog by popilar demand but not much is going on down here. Stay tuned!

November/December in the South

I'm really bad at this apparently. But luckily I haven't been up to too much anyway. Since the last post at work I helped to organize our Christmas Party. I had the pleasure of calling around 100 parents to find out what their children wanted for Christmas, then go shop for about 90 of them (about 6 hours at walmart and $1,000 later). It was kind of fun, but stressful at the same time. So that was most of my month of November at work. Then I was able to go home for Thanksgiving :) it was so nice to be there I didn't want to go back, but then I realized I would be back in 3 weeks anyway (now it's only 3 days away!!!!!) Had a fantastic Thanksgiving and got to see a bunch of people and had a nice time relaxing (I needed a little break).

I was able to go to the Portland Tree Lighting
and see the lovely Whitney and Beth :)

Once I got back it was go go go to get this Christmas Party ready. Good thing I'm such a master shopper and wrapper! My silly useless skills have come into play (maybe not as useless as I thought)!! yay!! The party went really well, we had the largest attendance in the history of their Christmas Parties so that made me feel good that my hard work to get people there worked! And we had a bunch of food, a step team from Boys and Girls Club (not to be confused with Big Brothers Big Sisters like it always is), a gospel rapper, and a ShutterBooth, one of those photo booths that you get to take 4 pictures and it comes out on a strip, so the Bigs and Little were able to get some pictures taken to take home :) everyone really enjoyed it. And then we handed out the presents apparently the fastest and smoothest they ever have before (I am good when it comes to organization as well) I don't have any pics of the party yet but I'll try to remember to post some when we get them...can't promise anything cause we all know my memory is completely awful....

BUT as for fun stuff this weekend we had our Ugly Sweater party with all of the VISTAs

Yay for ugly sweaters!

Then we headed to downtown Greenville which is 30 minutes away and a much bigger city than Spartanburg and this is the first year they have had an outdoor skating rink. So of course I was in my element and only the best skater of the group! Everyone was shocked that I live down the street from a pond that I can walk to and take my skates to and skate as much as I want to (Which I miss a lot...maybe next year).

Ice Skating in downtown Greenville,SC

Last night I went to karaoke, but the thought of getting up on the stage terrified me...that's a fear I have to work really hard on before I even DARE get up there and sing. I can barely sing in front of a couple people let alone a room full of people...although I like to sing, I don't want anyone to hear it but me...

And last but not least! Friday at 7pm I will land in good old Portland, Maine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait. Sad thing is it might my last time there until I leave in August....we'll see if I can really last that long, it'll be a test for me for sure. But I will be home for over 2 weeks and leave on Monday, january 2nd. SO if you wanna hang out, let me know, I will be carless most of the time and don't have a lot of definite plans, just play it day to day! I cannot wait. 2 1/2 more days in this office. Then off on another plane! I should have gotten frequent flier miles a while ago...oh well. Happy Holidays to all and see you Mainers in a couple days!!

Halloween Weekend and Such

Hello! Been fairly busy lately which has been good.  A few weeks ago I got to go to an amusement park normally called Carowinds, but on weekend nights they decked it all out with haunted mazes and everything scary and called it Scarowinds.  I had a lot of fun, but...I now get sick on rides...and that's no fun.  The first thing when we got there we went on a roller coaster called the "Intimidator" (for those of you who have been to Six Flags in MA, it is similar to the Superman (now Bizzaro) roller coaster.  So it taked you up 232 ft. and you go down about an 80 degree drop and go around 80 mph on this roller coaster. Love it.




The Intimidator



Shayne, Snoopy, Veronica, myself, woodstock and Andy at Scarowinds



Margaret, Nicole, Me, Veronica, and Kaitlin



We attempted to go apple and/or pumpkin picking, but it turned out it was too late for either.  So we just spent some time walking around Niven's Apple Farm

Nicole, me Liz and Veronica on a tractor at the farm!

Veronica, Margaret and I enjoying our walk in a park (obviously we're taking a break from the walk)

Had a pretty laid back weekend last weekend, didn't do much, enjoyed the beautiful South Carolina fall weather.  Veronica and I attempted to drive to the mountains to be leaf peepers, but as we were getting to the pretty part of the mountains, my car decided to not go 70mph anymore but decides it won't go anymore than 50mph, smell awful, and sound awful. So we were about 5 or 10 miles from the next exit, but I decided to turn around then cause who knows what the heck the car was going to decide to do.  It made it back, a week later its still running, should probs get it checked out but...well..lets face it, I'm lazy and don't want to know the diagnosis.



This past weekend was the weekend to celebrate Halloween! We started by volunteering at a local Zombie Crawl.  Don't know if I have talked about the Artist in Residence(AIR) program here in Spartanburg, but there are 4 artists who are given a place to live and room to work on their art, and they are here for a year to work with the community and introduce and promote art.  So we've become friendly with the 3 current AIRs and they were the ones putting on the Zombie Crawl so we thought it would be nice to help them out a little bit.  I had gone in earlier on Friday to attempt to help them set up (I'm not all that creative, but can follow directions).  Later on we went early to become zombies and take our places to help out.  People came and paid money to support the AIR program and in return we provided a bloody wardrobe (I was helping at the dressing room area) as well as zombie makeup and a video as to how to become and act like a zombie.  After that we (in the cold rain) started to march down to downtown Spartanburg and had about 50 zombies overtake downtown (kinda freaky).  We at one point went up to a building that was having a get together (all fancy shmancy) and went up to the glass doors moaning like zombies until the security guard came out and told us we have to leave.  We stopped by the local Hub-Bub Bookstore and had someone do a zombie reading.  Afterward a dance party was had and it was a good time.



Kristi, Shayne, Liz, Veronica and I "attempting" to be zombies...



Zombie crowd listening to the reading at the bookstore downtown



Vistas as zombies!

Veronica, Me, Liz, Shayne, Andy and Kristi in front of the fountain downtown
(it is supposed to be pink for breast cancer awareness...just happens to look like
blood for the zombie crawl!)

Me and Veronica's awkward zombie prom picture

Zombie attack at a fancy party (note security guard coming out to shoo us away)

Then on Saturday night we all got together (Vistas) in Greenville at the home of two ex-Vistas and had a potluck and went downtown Greenville to celebrate Halloween!  Greenville is about 30-40 mins west of Spartanburg and is a bigger city.  We had a bunch of delicious casseroles and cider and desserts before heading downtown

Me (Rapunzel), Kristi (artist), Nicole (Black Swan), Veronica (TopGun dude), Shayne (Cat), Andy (punk),
Kaitlin, Liz and Margaret (Skittles) at the potluck

Then we headed downtown to a bar called the Velo Fellow which was really neat.  There were 2 dudes playing some sweet 90's tunes and we all just sat around and talked for a while.

Me, Nicole and Margaret at Velo Fellow



Then we headed to a place I honestly never found out the name of for some dancing (until 2am...) I've been staying up way too late these past couple weekends, but it's all for the sake of fun! And Sunday I was able to relax in my bed for 90% of the day. Love those days!

Rapunzel and Skittle dancing!

The side affect to dancing for Rapunzel...she lost her hair..

"Put your hands up!'



Punk and Rapunzel havin a good ole time

So that's my past couple weekends wrapped up into a blog post.  No plans coming up anytime soon.  Just a countdown to home! 18 days! Can't wait, I am definitely in need of a break. Well..that's all I've got for now...send me Fbook messages or emails if you want to comment and can't comment on here! Love to hear from people and how much they enjoy my blog! I'm keeping up with it for those of you reading, so let me know who you are! :) <3

Life in the South

Hello!  My time here has improved a lot.  I have been busy every weekend and had something to do on of the two weekend days.  I went to the International Festival they had which was a smaller version of Epcot at Disney.  In a park they setup a bunch of tents and a bunch of countries had a display in them.  Then they had the food section which was awesome because there were so many options to choose from!  I ended up having food from Laos, chicken on a stick and egg rolls (delicious) and then for dessert I went to Bethlehem for some baklava!  Nom nom nom.  But it was a fun experience all together!  It's neat that in Spartanburg all these people can represent all these countries. 

We then got together and watched football.  It is so interesting that I am getting into football a little bit.  I don't mind watching it because it's a good way to get together with people and socialize.  So Saturdays we tend to watch some college game and it's fun to just get together and bring food and hang out.

On Friday night there was an event called Auction for a Cause in which different non-profit organizations recieve the profits made from this event.  It was really nice to get out and be surrounded by the community members.  There was delicious free food and a silent auction followed by a live auction.  I was tempted to go for the 4 disney world passes but I figured I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend right now...

This weekend I'm going to an amusement park that is open till midnight and it's all Halloween themed and scary stuff everywhere, but I'm very excited to finalyl go on a roller coaster! I've been dying to go on one for the longest time.  And then we're going to go on a hike the next weekend.  And then the next weekend is Halloween weekend and I'm going to help at a zombie crawl on Friday and probably go out Saturday night.  I still have no idea what I'm going to be so I could use some help if anyone has any ideas!!! 

But I thought I'd update you on my life.  It's been packed with fun cultural things and I'm enjoying myself! AND I got talked into flying home for Thanksgiving and will be home November 18-26!  My boss was nice enough to let me have the week off since there won't be much going on here in the office.  SO keep an eye out for me around that time and let me know if you want to do anything!  I won't have a car so that will be kind of annoying but we'll make it work!   

The reason I am writing this while I'm at work is I'm observing a parent/child interview and don't want to look creepy listening in so I am looking busy by typing a whole lot.  :)  Hope all is well, if anyone wants to send mail-

Annie Cavallaro
1465 Grant Circle #11
Spartanburg, SC 29307

More than welcome to send me a nice little letter :) I always love surprise mail.  Love to all.  <3

Spartanburg, SC

Well hello! Long time no talk! I didn't think blogging would be interesting while I'm here, but I realized that you people still want to know what's going on with me!

So I've officially been here for a month.  I had flown down to Atlanta for training, then flew to Spartanburg to partially move into my new townhouse.  After another training on Monday I flew back home to Maine to finsh up some loose ends and to get my car.  I took a 2 day journey driving from Maine to South Carolina.  For the first part of the trip my brother Brian and his girlfriend Lindsay were with me and I was able to drop them off in Maryland near DC, spend the night and continue the journey on my own from there.  It was a long drive simply for the fact that the air conditioning in my car doesn't work and I was driving through the south.  But I made it.

So now that I've been here for a month I'm getting a lay of the land.  Have some good friends who are VISTAs here as well.  They all work at different non-profit organizations around Spartanburg.  I live with another VISTA and two others live in the same townhouse complex, so that's convenient.

At first the job was slow going and there wasn't much for me to do.  With this job I am recruiting volunteers, interviewing them, interviewing parents and children and making those matches.  So a lot of the work I can only learn by seeing them happen first.  So now I am able to go out to college fairs and recruit volunteers on my own, I can now interview a volunteer on my own, I can now interview parents and children, so the work is starting to pick up.  It was just earlier thi week that I had seen my first interview with a parent and child, and it is heart wrenching.  It definitely made me realize why I'm here and doing what i do because these kids are in situations that aren't their fault and just need a positive role model in their lives.  So I'm enjoying the job somewhat, sometimes it can be slow if there isn't much to do but I try to keep myself busy!

As for my social life here in SC it has been going really well.  We've generally found a lot of things to do that are fun and cheap.  This past weekend I did something that I neeeeever would have everdone before.  I went Contra Dancing.  We drove out to this middle of nowhere place, were surrounded by college kids as well as older adults and you learn the basic moves, then similar to line dancing learn a specific dance, have a partner that is a stranger and get to know them by sweating on them and getting very very dizzy spining in so many circles.  But I had a great time and talked to strangers (that sounds bad, but was a good experience) and went out of my comfort zone and became comfortable with it.  A couple weeks ago we also decided to go test out the local "dance club" Rome.  It was quite interesting, a great place to go if you really enjoy dancing to techno music and have creeps around you at all times.  But once again was a good experience to have.

I have gone to a couple events downtown that they have including "Music on Main" and "Jazz in the Square" which are just music shows downtown and being able to enjoy music and the downtown area.  Coming up this week we are going to the Greek Festival which i am so excited to eat me a Gyro! And next weekend is their International Festival, so we've got a lot of cool culture activities to do around here and keep us busy.

So that's all I have for right now, but thought that I'd update as to what my last couple months have been like and it was pointed out that I should keep up with it even if this work isn't as exciting as what I was doing last year.  So.  I will try.  Adios.

The End.

Well.  This is it.  Last day in AmeriCorps NCCC.  It has been such a fantastic year, but I'm also so ready for it to be over.  Had a nice week off, really just sat around most of the time relaxing.  Some of the people on my team and I were able to go to a water park, which was nice and relaxing, some of us went to an open mic to see my teammate David perform, that was really good. 

Kelsey, Brandon, Greg and I out downtown

This week has been dragging on, everyone came back and we had our transition week to finish everything up business wise.  Yesterday was fun, we had our "AmeriLympics" which was essentially a field day!  We did trivia, frisbee golf toss, classic relay races, name that tune, ultimate frisbee, kickball, and feats of strength.  Our team, although not the best at everything, should have won for team spirit.  It was nice to come together and have fun.  as a team we won the name that tune and frisbee golf toss (we had 50 throws in 10 minutes while 2nd place only had 34...we were awesome...) So that was a fun day.  Then at night they had a banquet for us off campus at a really cool venue called Mile High Station.  We had some delicious dinner and sat through some awards, but it was extra fun cause we got to dress all fancy.  I stole a bunch of pictures below from Mary and Kiera cause they are just so darn good!!


My team Fire 6 at AmeriLympics



Waiting in line for Classic Relay Races



Ya, I'm crab walking, jealous!? (My body hurts real bad from this)

 

Emma and I being cowgirls



Love this picture of Emma, Mary and I at the banquet

<3 Fire 6 (I have the blue fingernail polish on)

Fire 6 at the banquet

Not the whole team, but such a good picture! Everyone looking all snazzy

Mary and I as Woody and Jesse

Love Love Love this picture :-D

So today we have been busy running around tying up loose ends and finalizing everything.  Mom got in a couple hours ago but is doing her own thing getting the car/relaxing at the hotel, and we'll do dinner tonight.  Then tomorrow is graduation where we have to wake up at 5:30AM!!!! gah it's going to be painful to wake up that early.  Then we are busy bodies till graduation at 10am and then everyones being booted off campus at 12noon.  Mom and I are going to go to the county fair after graduation tomorrow.  And in the 2 days we're here we plan on going to Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks and just wander around 16th St mall!  Then we'll be home midnight Monday and I'll be home through the next Monday and then again the 16-19 of August! 

Can't believe this is all ending. Everyone's so busy packing, but me being me I've been done packing 2 days ago and cleaned this morning...so I just get to relax waiting for our last meeting then off to dinner!!  I am going to be very said to say goodbye to some people, and can't wait to not have to deal with some peoples crap anymore!  I am so ready for my next journey.  It's exciting but I don't think I've fully realized that this time next month I will  be calling South Carolina home.  Just the simple fact that I'm perfectly ok with moving to SC shows how much I've grown this year and will continue to as I'm on my own in the South for a year!!  I hope my next journey after that is exciting as well.  This year has shown me that the possibilities are endless, especially at this age when I can really do anything I want/go wherever I want.  I can always come back to Maine if things don't work out.  But until then I want to explore new options and new places.  GAH I am just so darn happy with life right now and it was a long journey to reach this happiness...rough long journey but I am perfectly happy with where I am right now.  Ecstatic to come home in 4 days and so ready to move on!!! Will update how Mom and I's vacation goes! (It will be amazing I already know it!)