Taking a Break from Laundry

Well I guess I'm settling in here in my new home. I still haven't really unpacked, but I'm getting there. I'm really liking Richmond now that I live here. Its actually pretty different from anywhere I've ever lived. Its not a small town like home, but its not quite the same brand of city and suburb as the Northern VA/DC area. Its much bigger and more urban than Roanoke/Salem too. Its like its own little mini-urban bubble. I'm finding it hard to describe but I'm enjoying it. Everything you'd want is accessible, and I'm loving that. A huge difference from New York is the walking. I haven't walked anywhere. I'm cooking from scratch lots and eating at home every day and I can feel the difference. As soon as I get a job I'm definitely going to have to join a gym.

Last weekend my friend Allison took me to the Richmond Folk Festival while Jake stayed home to work. It was really fun, though we mostly strolled around talking. Allison is a friend from camp and there is always plenty to talk about. She works for Social Services and we're hoping she can put in a good word for me should a position open up in that agency. It was a really nice evening and I'm looking forward to spending more time with her and her boyfriend Ray.

In regards to job hunting I'm making headway. I signed on with a second temp company and they have a position for me making plenty more than I did at my last job and working full time. Its temporary through January so it'll get me by and give me time to find something more permanent. I'm feeling pretty positive about it and wish I could start today but there's plenty of paperwork and so forth to be done beforehand.

I joined meetup.com on the suggestion of my friend Sarah and am considering going to a book club meeting tomorrow night. I need to finish To Kill a Mockingbird by tomorrow evening if I want to go. I've read that a few times but I feel like its cheating not to have it fresh in my mind. It would be nice to meet some new people though.

My laptop still isn't working but Jake's friend Jesse may be able to hook me up with another one which would be terrific. I miss the internet very much and sharing is hard. Jake doesn't think too much of facebook so he gets antsy if he sees me using it. I always did enjoy a leisurely facebook browse. Because of my lack of regular internet access I've started using foursquare on my phone. Foursquare is a social networking game where you post updates about where you are when you're out and about and you can see where other people you have as friends are too. You can also see what other users say about different locations and sometimes you get special deals. If you check in at a location more than once you can sometimes become the mayor of the place which often means nothing more than that but sometimes there are prizes. I'm now the proud mayor of the county library and CVS. Jake thinks this is hilarious and laughs at me for it whenever it comes up. Anyway the idea is to explore your neighborhood so I'm enjoying it very much and encourage everyone to try it. I wish I'd had it in NYC.

Well the laundry is beckoning. I do NOT miss laundromats in the least but I will say that when you only have one of each machine it seems to drag on. I need to start setting an alarm to remind me to put in the next load because I keep forgetting to stay on top of it and there's always another load to be done.

Katy is Still Here, Somewhere.

Just wanted to stop by and let you all know I'm still alive! Jake and I made it back to Virginia easily and took care of all the U-Haul business. Unfortunately we've been so busy I haven't unpacked much of anything. We spent several days in Strasburg last week so I could attend the funeral of my Great Aunt Bettie. We got to see a lot of my friends and hang out with my mom which was lovely. Now we're back and I'm becoming a pro at putting off unpacking. I always manage to find an unrelated task like laundry or cooking a meal from scratch to take up my time and attention and help me ignore the boxes. Today, for example, we're heading to Jake's Grandparents' house to watch the Redskins game. I mean, we don't have cable and I'm not going to just miss the game! I have to make up for last season when I was living in New York and couldn't just turn on the games.

Tomorrow though, I'm heading to the temp agency and I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!